Saturday, March 24, 2007 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Short list today...Wilson Alvarez LAN b. 1970, played 2003-2005, All-Star: 1994. One of my favorite recent Dodgers and a real trouper, he was the first rookie to play born in the 1970's; he gave up three earned runs in his first and only appearance with the Rangers in 1989, lost the game and made no outs, thus accumulating an infinity ERA for the year. The Rangers then shipped the Venezuelan to the White Sox — along with Sammy Sosa, one of the Rangers' worst trades in their history. There he returned to the starting rotation two years later, and stayed there until he was shipped to the Giants, along with starter Danny Darwin and closer Roberto Hernandez, in the widely criticized "White Flag Trade" of July 31, 1997. Chisox GM Jerry Reinsdorf moved all three players with the Sox only three and a half games out of the division lead; in the case of Alvarez, the Sox had enough of his inconsistency and inadequate conditioning. Moving to San Francisco, he complained of a stiff shoulder and his ERA balooned.
Signed by the Devil Rays to a relatively rich contract, he proceeded to prove the White Sox correct by giving Tampa Bay more injury-plagued, inconsistent years, entirely missing the 2000 and 2001 seasons to shoulder problems. He came back with the Dodgers and was part of the remarkable 2003 pitching staff, mostly working out of the bullpen; as with Hideo Nomo, he was never again as good, and left the majors after his unsuccessful 2005 season.
Jamie Arnold LAN b. 1974, played 1999-2000
Dick Egan CAL,LAN b. 1937, played 1966-1967
Sam Zell Favored To Buy Tribune Co.
The Wall Street Journal ($) reports that real estate billionaire Sam Zell is favored to buy the Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Cubs. Zell's net worth is estimated at $4.5M according to the latest Forbes estimate, which ranks him as the nation's 152nd richest individual. His Equity Office Properties Trust was recently purchased by the Blackstone Group for $23 billion, so those numbers may be out-of-date.Other News
- Blah, blah, blah, Jose Guillen, smacktalk.
- Tony Abreu, sudden shortstop, despite his long-term history of second-basetitude.
- Blue Notes has a useful interview with Will Carroll about the Dodgers. Excerpt:
Blue Notes: Start with the flagship of Dodgers injury potential, Nomar Garciaparra. Last year, he impressed many with his production in a relatively healthy season... in which he still played only 122 games and would have missed more at the end had the Dodgers not been in a pennant race. Considering he played only 62 games in '05 and 43 in '04, how many games do you see him playing this season (and if you had to guess, what will put him on the DL this year? Pick some body parts...)
Will Carroll: First base didn't really help, but I don't think you can blame the shift. An interesting thought -- is it Nomar's body that's breaking down because of his workouts, or are his workouts keeping him playable beyond where he should be? I think he's good for 120 games. He's not stupid and seems to be adjusting to his new-found level. He'll probably pull a hammy, maybe an oblique in mid-May.
- Speaking of Will, I agree with his opinion ("This kind of rumormongering is why rumormongering has a bad name.") on the A-Rod-for-unspecified Angels rumor.
- On the other hand... I had dinner with Brian Clevinger last night, and he reminded me that I haven't been quite as diligent in keeping up with my reading as I had been. One side effect was my missing the Will Carroll piece on closers' health. He still has a red light for Frankie:
Every year, I look at Rodriguez throw and predict his arm is going to physically detach at some point. So far, I’ve been wrong. So far.
I bought into it a couple years ago, but there are others who have been wondering when Carroll will be taken to task for his failed predictions, something he finally seems to be doing. So far. (Takashi Saito rates a green, by the way.)
Carroll's mea cupla was great, but he forgot to mention how off he's been with Frankie, who been the Save leader the last two years.
I will take rumormongering over sacremongering any day of the week.
Someone oughtta revoke Caroll's medical license... What's that you say, he doesn't HAVE one?
: 3/24/2007 12:41:00 PMNewer› ‹Older
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