Wednesday, October 11, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Not an especially interesting lot ...Bob Chipman BRO b. 1918, played 1941-1944, d. 1973-11-08
Bob Jones CAL b. 1949, played 1976-1977
Gregg Olson LAN b. 1966, played 2000-2001, All-Star: 1990. The first reliever to win the Rookie of the Year award, he was a devastating closer for the Orioles from 1988 through 1993, but a midseason elbow injury cost him an extension with Baltimore. He spent the next five years with seven different teams, trying to prove his arm was healed and he was back to his old self. That finally happened with Kansas City and Arizona; the Dodgers picked him up in 2000, but by that time he was close to being finished.
Bob Stinson LAN b. 1945, played 1969-1970
Jarvis Tatum CAL b. 1946, played 1968-1970, d. 2003-01-06
God Is A Bullet, Etc.
- When/if James Loney struggles next year, will we be hearing an apology out of Bill Plaschke? (It happens that I agree with him that Loney should be handed the starting 1B job. But still.) And no, the Angels shouldn't touch him, either.
- I'm only stating the obvious: Tom Verducci agrees with me that the cost of Barry Zito this offseason just went down. Thanks to Anon in the comments for that pointer.
- The logical high-dollar replacement for Zito, Daisuke Matsuzaka, was given permission to post so he can become an MLB free agent. Not that I necessarily have anything against him becoming a free agent, but it does seem destructive to Japanese baseball that all their best players end up over here.
- John Lackey, Chone Figgins, and Scot Shields will be among the major leaguers sent on a barnstorming tour of Japan.
- Francisco Rodriguez was named AL Fireman of the Year by The Sporting News.
- The A's released RHP Scott Sauerbeck. The team needed to do so in order to make room for Mark Kiger, who had never been on a major league roster before. Sauerbeck had a 3.65 ERA in 22 relief appearances with the A's; Kiger hit .233 at AAA Sacramento, and is expected to be used as a defensive replacement.
- The Twins' Francisco Liriano may need Tommy John surgery to get his elbow right if the rest-n-rehab path doesn't work.
http://www.angelswin.com/bane.htm
Edmonds could be playing his final games for the Cardinals, who hold a $10-million option for 2007. Edmonds, 36, was traded from the Angels to St. Louis in March 2000 for pitcher Kent Bottenfield and second baseman Adam Kennedy.
Seven seasons later, Edmonds would not divulge his potential interest in returning to the Angels, who could be in the market for an outfielder, saying, "I have no comment on that right now."
After a few seconds, he looked over his shoulder and added, "I'll play anywhere where I'm wanted."
Injuries — the most recent being the sore left foot and a bout with post-concussion syndrome — limited Edmonds to 110 games and resulted in his worst year since an injury-shortened 1999. He sat out nearly six weeks until returning in late September, then was four for 13 against the Padres in the NLDS.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nlnotes11oct11,1,5481999.story?coll=la-headlines-sports
After scads of columns about how "experience," "intangibles" & "chemistry" provided by "veteran leaders" are more important than silly things like actual production of younger, better players, we get this piece of tripe extolling the virtues of the latter type of player.
Why?
Because Nomar's not a good quote.
Plaschke never would have written today's piece if Nomar had been providing him with pithy quotes or good scoops during the season.
What a pathetic excuse for a journalist.
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