Tuesday, February 20, 2007 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Charlie Babb BRO b. 1873, played 1904-1905, d. 1954-03-19
Jack Bolling BRO b. 1917, played 1944, d. 1998-04-13
Clyde Wright CAL b. 1941, played 1966-1973, All-Star: 1970. The Rev had him ranked 52nd on his Top 100 Angels page, but by career win shares, he's actually 25th overall. That's despite being below league average as a pitcher for all but two years of his Angels career. One of those years, 1970, he learned to throw a screwball and polled sixth in the Cy Young balloting. After the Angels dumped him for a handful of players in 1973, he spent a few years in the Japanese Leagues. There, he earned the name "Crazy Righto" due to an episode with the Yomiuri Giants where he at refused to leave the mound after being pulled in the sixth. When he finally did go, he tore off his uniform, threw it in a bathtub, and kicked over a garbage can. He subsequently won a Japan Series game (including a rare homer), but lost a Game 7 when his interpreter failed to make his request to get him pulled clear to his manager.
He now operates a baseball school where he teaches youngsters the fundamentals of pitching. He is also the father of the injury-plagued Jaret Wright.
Opt Out Of Your Opt-Out, A-Rod
Murray Chass makes a little mention of J.D. Drew's opt-out clause in his Dodger deal as a troublemaker for A-Rod:Yes, he could simply not exercise the clause at the end of the season — the seventh in a 10-year deal — but the clause would still be there, looming.No, A-Rod has to get rid of the clause; otherwise it will plague him for the entire season, and he doesn’t need that distraction. He has enough potential problems that he can’t do anything about.
His agent, Scott Boras, of course, would not allow him to opt out of the opt-out. That’s Boras’s baby. He used it this winter to get J. D. Drew out of the three years he had remaining on his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and to gain a contract with Boston for $70 million, more than twice the $33 million the Dodgers would have owed him.
Baseball officials and executives of other clubs have suspected that the Red Sox tampered with Drew, letting Boras know that if Drew walked away from the Dodgers, more money was awaiting him.
When I reported these suspicions earlier this winter, Boras was irate, feeling that the accusation belittled his ability to analyze the free-agent market and figure out that Drew would be better off financially by becoming a free agent.
The Dodgers ultimately chose not to file a tampering charge with the commissioner’s office.
One general manager joked that the Dodgers didn’t want to file a complaint because they were afraid they’d get Drew back. But a Major League Baseball official who talked about the possible tampering last week was not joking, saying the Dodgers were furious, spoke to the commissioner’s office and discussed filing a complaint. The official didn’t want his name used because no complaint was filed.
God Is A Bullet
- Derek Lowe for opening day.
- Greg Miller might go back to starting.
- Jonathan Broxton is growing up:
"I was trying to go out and turn heads and keep everybody to where they'd look at us and try to give us a chance instead of going out and backing down and waiting until it was game time to turn it up," Broxton, 22, said.
A similar story from the AP.The approach didn't work. Both pitchers began the season at the Triple-A level but quickly made their way to Los Angeles. Broxton was promoted May 1, and Billingsley debuted for the Dodgers in mid-June. Now that they are one year older and have some major-league experience, they're being noticed - for the right reasons.
"Last year they were like a couple of kids who were battling to impress somebody any chance they got, starting at Day One," Little said. "(Sunday) they went about their business like a couple of major-league pitchers. They weren't fighting every pitch and throwing at maximum effort with every pitch. They were doing their work like they've been in the major leagues for a long time. That was pleasant to me."
- Mike Scioscia details the open positions on the Angels roster:
"I think there's going to be a lot of competition for spots on this club," Scioscia said Monday at Angels training camp. "It's going to be performance that's going to get them playing time. That's where the real competition is going to take place."
Catcher, first base, third base, and maybe one of the outfield jobs... - Howie Kendrick can relax now that he's back at second.
- Jered Weaver could be back on the mound as early as next week.
- Jose Mota was extended as the Angels' Spanish-language color man through 2010.
- Eric Gagne threw off the mound for the first time with the Rangers, a 37-pitch session in which he reported no problems.
- Khalil Greene's finger is still giving him trouble even six months after the initial injury.
- Former Angel Bobby Jenks minded his P's and Q's in the offseason:
"Everybody sits on their couch a half hour a day, at least," Jenks said. "Take that half hour and spend it on a treadmill. Spend it going back to the gym and go on the elliptical. Run. Go outside. Take your dog for a walk. People don't realize those are important things. You lose your motivation.
He also told people at the Chisox Fanfest that he had lost 25 lbs., but turned back on that when he confessed he hadn't weighed himself. Uh..."You want to just sit on the couch, but don't do it."
- And for the love of all that is holy, vote Ron Santo into the Hall. Quick, before they cut off all his remaining appendages.
Labels: angels, dodgers, hall of fame, players, spring training
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