Monday, March 12, 2007 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
George Arias CAL,ANA b. 1972, played 1996-1997
Bob Barr BRO b. 1908, played 1935, d. 2002-07-25
Steve Finley LAA,LAN b. 1965, played 2004-2005, All-Star: 1997, 2000. Good for the Dodgers, miserable for the Angels after a collision with a wall injured his shoulder, he was a teriffic centerfielder for many years with the Orioles, Astros, and Padres before joining the Diamondbacks and winning a ring with the 2001 squad. He's hitting .400 in spring training this year, so it's possible he might end up working for the Rockies — making him one of only a very few players who have played for all NL West teams.
Greg Garrett CAL b. 1947, played 1970, d. 2003-06-07
Shawn Gilbert LAN b. 1965, played 2000
Greg Hansell LAN b. 1971, played 1995
Ruppert Jones CAL b. 1955, played 1985-1987, All-Star: 1977, 1982. The 1986 Angels' canary in the coal mine, that is, what's a 31-year-old outfielder who hits .229 with no power doing sucking up half the corner outfield at-bats? Collapse predictably ensued.
Raul Mondesi LAN,ANA b. 1971, played 1993-1999, 2004, All-Star: 1995. Rookie of the Year in 1994, his is a story of underachieving talent; after years of run-ins with management, he eventually got shipped to the Blue Jays for Shawn Green.
Horacio Pina CAL b. 1945, played 1974
Frank Schneiberg BRO b. 1880, played 1910, d. 1948-05-18
Darryl Strawberry LAN b. 1962, played 1991-1993, All-Star: 1984-1991. A player of the Mets' dreams, and of the Dodgers' nightmares, Strawberry was the premier free agent in the 1990/1991 offseason; the Mets, well aware of his problems, elected to let him go, and though it took the rest of the decade before the team was once more competitive, it proved the right choice. With the Dodgers he was injury-prone, and drug addiction problems also kept him off the field.
Jimmy Wynn LAN b. 1942, played 1974-1975, All-Star: 1967, 1974-1975. "The Toy Cannon" (so nicknamed because of his diminutive stature) came up with the Colt .45's (later the Astros) and set many franchise records there; he remains in the top 10 for a number of important offensive categories, such as career OBP, SLG, OPS, games played, hits, total bases, and many more. He was part of two trades involving the Dodgers: first, when the Dodgers unloaded Claude Osteen to get him, and second, when the Dodgers gave him up to get Dusty Baker two years later.
Miscellany
- I note in passing that while Long Beach State's basketball team has made the big dance, it's their baseball team that's quietly gone about dismantling a number of better-ranked opponents, in this case 11-ranked (coaches poll, 15th-ranked by Baseball America) Arizona State. The Sun Devils turned it around on Friday to beat the Dirtbags 7-6 in late innings, but the Beach took Saturday's game 8-7 and clinched the series on Sunday with a 16-9 blowout. It'll be interesting to see how the new weekly poll results turn out once these weekend games are taken into account.
- Apparently current Rockies lock at short (and former Dirtbag) Troy Tulowitski came to work out with the Dirtbags since both were coincidentally in town, as did reliever Cesar Ramos, currently in Padres camp.
Ramos and Tulowitizki remain close with the team and worked out with the Dirtbags before they had to report to their respective camps. Tulowitzki serves as a somewhat of a defacto infield coach and I asked him to compare himself as a sophomore to current stud sophomore shortstop Danny Espinosa.
“He switch-hits, which is great but he is a little better from the left side. Though I saw him in a series against Texas earlier in the year and he looked just as good from the right side. We are a little different size-wise. I brought a little more power and he brings a little bit more of a well-rounded offensive game.”
- And now back to the majors... why else do you pay agents except to have them issue public statements about your alleged PED usage:
"Gary regrets the distraction this story has caused the Angels' front office, the manager and his staff, teammates and fans," agent Scott Leventhal said in a statement.
Tim Mead declined to comment, and does that mean that Gary Matthews, Jr. now has a grievance? I was reading Stephen Smith's latest on the subject, which called Arte Moreno a "bully" for his treatment of Matthews, and making the claim that Matthews' Fifth Amendment rights were being violated. I thought it a specious claim at first, but there may be something to this. Since Smith doesn't defend his claim adequately, I'll take it up briefly. The real problem was last year's Senate steroid hearing spectacle, providing an uncomfortable example to what happens to players of whom politicians Would Make An Example. That is, the likes of John McCain and other public moralizers have neatly taught obsequious men like Moreno (who have millions at stake) to do their work for them, or else. Call it law enforcement by proxy; it's one reason this country doesn't have private tax collectors. Down this road lies the breathalyzer at the office door, and cavity checks for all at the airport."However, given the ongoing investigation, he simply cannot discuss this matter until appropriate to do so. Gary sincerely apologizes for this distraction and is determined to resolve this issue in a timely manner."
- Update: The Angels have demoted three to minor league camp, all pitchers: Ryan Aldridge, Nick Green and Kasey Olenberger.
- Jason Repko's injury was to his quadriceps, not his groin as earlier reported.
- Troy Tulowitzki got hit by a pitch but has no obvious fracture; he's scheduled to be x-rayed. Update: they came back negative.
- In other news... Buster Olney thinks MLB hasn't been helpful talking to its fans about Extra Innings ($):
Major League Baseball has done a terrible job communicating with its customers about what is happening, and in acknowledging that for some fans this could be a real stinker. There is still time for MLB to make some sort of substantive gesture, if in fact DirecTV gets exclusive rights. Sandomir writes this:
"[Baseball president Bob] DuPuy acknowledged that baseball listened to the fans' anger and adjusted, which makes one question why Commissioner Bud Selig showed such a lousy grasp on the art of customer relations in his recent declaration that the controversy over the potential loss of Extra Innings to DirecTV is 'ridiculous.' If it was a silly tempest blown out of proportion by sportswriters, why adjust one's negotiations for it? If devoted fans around the country willing to pay $179.95 are squawking loudly, why label it ridiculous?"
Labels: angels, dirtbags, dodgers, spring training
: 3/13/2007 09:49:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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