Thursday, July 06, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Frank Kellert BRO b. 1924, played 1955, d. 1976-11-19
Omar Olivares ANA b. 1967, played 1998-1999
Willie Randolph LAN b. 1954, played 1989-1990, All-Star: 1976-1977, 1980-1981, 1987, 1989. Unsurprisingly, all but one of his All-Star appearances came as a Yankee; he replaced Steve Sax at second base in the Dodgers' lineup following the latter's exit due to free agency. It actually wasn't a bad move; generating three good years in a Yankees uniform, Sax posted 59.0 win shares over that time, while his replacements, Randolph and Juan Samuel, put up similar numbers (cumulative 51.5 win shares) for about the same cost. (Sax took a modest-by-modern-standards $4M/3-year deal from the Yanks.) But by 1993, the Dodgers' second base situation came tragically unglued as Jody Reed and the Dodgers couldn't agree on a contract, leading to Delino DeShields at second and the worst trade of the modern Dodgers.
German Rivera LAN b. 1960, played 1983-1984
Jason Thompson CAL b. 1954, played 1980, All-Star: 1977-1978, 1982. When a trade goes down and a large amount of cash trades hands, you often hear about the deal having to go through the commissioner's office to get approval. The Angels traded Thompson to the Pirates in 1981 just before the season started, and the Pirates in turn wanted to move him to the Yankees — but Bowie Kuhn rejected the deal as requiring too much money.
One of the few 30-homer men in two leagues, Thompson hit 17 for the Angels in a trade-abbreviated 1980 season. He played a mostly-fixed DH position when Rod Carew held down first base; Don Baylor got that job the next year, and held on to it through 1982.
Roster Notes
- Eric Gagné has been hospitalized for back pain the Dodgers claim is unrelated to baseball activity.
- Jeremy Reed should be out only eight weeks instead of the whole season as previously reported, but it's unlikely he'll get his starting job back when he returns in September.
At Last, Somebody Agrees With Me About The DH
And that somebody would be Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News:WHEN I'M KING of the World...Via BTF.The National League will put an end to the sorry spectacle of baseball's Ryan Franklins bunting and make the designated-hitter rule unanimous... Watching American League teams - even the bad ones - pound the arrogance out of the PHP (pitchers hitting pathetically) League during interleague play has finally driven me to baseball's dark side. It is past time for the National League to acknowledge the flawed logic of much of the game's strategy pinned to the inability of a pitcher to hit much more than his hat size. Franklin actually was laughing in the dugout Tuesday after his lame attempt to move a runner to second. Six weeks of spring training and we're supposed to share his amusement? Shades of John Kruk vs. Randy Johnson.
The arrogant bastard is a member of the BBWAA, the entity that votes for Hall of Fame inductees. Do you know why nobody is ever a unanimous first ballot HoFer? It's because Conlin simply refuses to vote for players in their first year of eligibility. His rationale? His childhood hero, DiMaggio, wasn't a unanimous selection, and so he's going to make sure that nobody else is, either.
And not to nitpick or anything, but if Willie Randolph was an all-star in 1989, as a Dodger, then the introductory sentence (stating that all of his A.S. appearances came as a Yankee) is inaccurate.
: 7/06/2006 10:03:00 AM
-Mark
: 7/06/2006 01:00:00 PMNewer› ‹Older
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