Thursday, January 31, 2008 |
Marlins Sign Dallas McPherson To 1-Year Deal
Labels: ex-angels, marlins, transactions
Rosenthal: Marlins Sign Luis Gonzalez
Labels: ex-dodgers, marlins, transactions
If They Held The Apocalypse And Nobody Showed Up, Would The Angels Vs. Dodgers Thing Be Any Less Lame?
Labels: angels, dodgers, stupid ideas
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 |
Twins, Mets Reach Deal For Johan Santana
Also via Ken Rosenthal.
Update: If you can tolerate the slow load time, Metsblog claims Santana rejected a 5-year, $20M/per deal from the Twins, holding out for $140M over the same span.
Labels: mets, trades, transactions, twins
Monday, January 28, 2008 |
BA Ranks Angels Top 10 Prospects
- Brandon Wood, 3b
- Nick Adenhart, rhp
- Jordan Walden, rhp
- Hank Conger, c
- Sean O'Sullivan, rhp
- Stephen Marek, rhp
- Sean Rodriguez, ss
- Nick Green, rhp
- Peter Bourjos, of
- Anel de los Santos, c
Sunday, January 27, 2008 |
Mariners Trade Adam Jones For Erik Bedard
It is confusing and distressing to witness a team that claims to be interested in fielding a competitive team over the long term trade a player of Jones’ talent and value, along what we reasonably expect to be highly valuable pieces, to the Orioles for a pitcher determined to test free agency at the end of his contract.And there, in a nutshell, you understand the problem with this deal. More: "Two great pitchers and mediocre everything else is not a formula for consistent success."
Labels: mariners, orioles, trades, transactions
Saturday, January 26, 2008 |
Angels Go To Arbitration With K-Rod, Other Notes
- The Angels will go to arbitration with closer Francisco Rodriguez, who is asking for $12.5M; the club has proposed $10M.
- The Angels also invited Dee Brown and Chad Hermanson to spring training as NRIs.
- Both Kendry Morales and Ervin Santana have had fine seasons in the Dominican Winter League:
On Monday, Santana outdueled former teammate Bartolo Colon in a 5-1 victory over Cibaenas in the DWL championship series. Pitching five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out four, Santana subdued a lineup that included MLB regulars Miguel Tejada, Rafael Furcal and Edwin Encarnacion.
"We've gotten solid reports on him," Reagins said of Santana, who is 3-1 with a 2.13 ERA. "His concentration and confidence have been outstanding, and the location of his fastball, breaking ball and changeup have been great. His last two outings, he didn't give up a run. He's pitching with confidence, and that's exciting to see."
...
"Kendry has been focusing on hitting the offspeed stuff and improving from the right side," Reagins said. "He's hit .275 with four homers and a nice OPS. He gives us power from both sides, and we're hoping for big things from him."
- I completely missed Tommy Murphy signing with the Nationals.
- The annual Randy Johnson will be back healthy soon smoke signal has come up from Arizona, and so we must be getting closer to pitchers and catchers waiting for labrum injuries.
- The A's signed Chad Gaudin to a one-year, $1.775M deal, avoiding arbitration. He was the team's last remaining arbitration-eligible player.
Labels: angels, athletics, contracts, diamondbacks, transactions
Dodgers Sign Mike Myers, Tom Martin To Minor League Deals
Labels: dodgers, transactions
OT: Up On My Roof
While waiting for pitchers and catchers to report (heck, while waiting for Long Beach State's season to start — thanks to the new, dumb NCAA rules, they won't be in gear until February) here's a shot of the San Gabriels taken from the peak of our roof. Southern California is getting a good, well-needed drenching, and the mountains have more snow than I've seen in years. How glorious!
Sadly, with the dogs' health so precarious (Foley started bleeding out his nose again this week, and Hannah developed a lung tumor the surgeon doesn't feel comfortable operating on because of her age), kenneling them for a week was out of the question. We're going to enjoy our time with them while they're alive; much as we may miss spring training, there's always next year.
Labels: offtopic
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 |
Don Mattingly Steps Down As Hitting Coach
Easler, 57, was the St. Louis Cardinals’ hitting coach from 1999-2001 and served in the same capacity for the Brewers (1992) and Red Sox (1993-94). He spent the last two seasons as a hitting coach in the Dodgers’ minor league system, first with Double-A Jacksonville in 2006 before being promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas prior to last season. In that role, he worked extensively with Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andy LaRoche, Tony Abreu, Delwyn Young and Chin-lung Hu, among other Dodger prospects.
Labels: coaches, dodgers, slow news day
Monday, January 21, 2008 |
Dodgers, 66ers Run 3-For-1 Promotion
Sunday, January 20, 2008 |
Roster Notes
- Casey Kotchman earned a raise to $1.45M on a one-year deal that avoided arbitration. Maicer Izturis is also making $1.2M on a one-year deal. Francisco Rodriguez is asking for $12.5M in arbitration; the Angels are offering $10M.
- The Dodgers will play exhibition games in China in March. Brilliant: not only are the Dodgers going to be splitting their spring training over two camps, but they'll be playing exhibition games a world away.
- Brett Tomko has signed with the Royals on a one-year, $3M deal.
- Remember this scene from Tootsie?
Michael Dorsey: Are you saying that nobody in New York will work with me?
Something very like that is going on for Bartolo Colon right now. The Indians have given up on him after he was able to muster only an 87-89 MPH fastball in the Dominican winter league. Before that, the White Sox took a pass because he wanted a multi-year deal. Pfft.
George Fields: No, no, that's too limited... nobody in Hollywood wants to work with you either. - Troy Tulowitzki has signed a 6-year, $30M deal with the Rockies, giving him the richest deal for a player with only two years of service time in history.
Labels: angels, dodgers, ex-angels, indians, rockies, stupid ideas, transactions, white sox
Friday, January 18, 2008 |
Best Award Title Ever
Top 40 Angels, 2008 Edition
Forthwith, the list:
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Changes from 2007:
- New this year: Francisco Rodriguez makes his first appearance at #40, as does John Lackey, the latter leapfrogging over a number of players to open his top 40 bid at #26. As with Vlad (below), he's taking big steps with every season, so I expect him to be in the top 20 all time if not the top 10 before he's done as an Angel.
- Falling off: Leon Wagner, Sandy Alomar. With K-Rod's appearance at #40 and Scot Shields close behind at #43, it's entirely conceivable that Reggie Jackson may fall off this list altogether in the next decade. The numbers required to make bottom of the list have increased by about 1.5 win shares a year for the last few years, and Reggie is starting to look a little tenuous, as is Fred Lynn and Gary DiSarcina.
- Moving up: Vladimir Guerrero galloped from 24th at 81.4 to 12th at 113.0. If he has another season like his 2007, he'll likely surpass Wally Joyner by the end of the year, and might even squeak past Darin Erstad. It's all but certain he'll join the top five before his career is over.
- Staying put: Garret Anderson, as I predicted, didn't have the oomph in his bat to get past Jim Fregosi, but he ended up with a stronger season than I thought. He's only 13 win shares away from lapping the former Angels all-star, and it could happen this year.
- Waiting in the wings: Scot Shields (#43, 58.9 WS), Kelvim Escobar (#51, 52 WS). Both these guys are so close that only injury or an extended bout of gross incompetence can keep them out.
- Coulda, woulda, shoulda: Orlando Cabrera (#44, 58.7 WS). His first year was rough, but he finally did pull it together and had some very good years in an Angels uniform.
Labels: angels, top 40 angels
Writers Strike At Dodger Stadium? 2008 In Reruns
Torre said his conversation with Pierre was similar to one he had with Bernie Williams as manager of the New York Yankees.This of course means Pierre's noodle arm will make regular appearances in left, and he'll get plenty of opportunities to exhibit his gross incompetence there, at least compared to his peers (especially his offensive peers). If the "streak" becomes an excuse to leave him start in left, the Dodgers decision-making process has gotten no better than it was under Grady Little. I like to take into consideration the possibility that managers get perverse pleasure from showing up the GM by making bad but expensive players run out there every day, but that seems too self-destructive to be true."I just basically said to him what I said to Bernie Williams when we signed Kenny Lofton: 'We're going to do what's best for the team and when we leave spring training, it's going to be with the three guys playing the outfield that we all agree will give us the best shot,' " Torre said.
Pierre has played in 434 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the major leagues. Whether that will be a consideration when drawing up the lineup, Torre said, will depend on a combination of what's best for the team and how much the streak means to Pierre.
Torre said that if Pierre is in the lineup, he and Rafael Furcal would probably hit in the first two spots -- not necessarily in that order -- because their speed would distract opposing pitchers.
These days, the good things about the Dodgers -- Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton -- generally outweigh the bad things, so I shouldn't complain too much. They've got a good young core, so long as management is willing to let them grow into the starting jobs they seem destined for. Some of them will not make it, it's true, but that should never be an excuse to keep known boat anchors like Pierre from gumming up the process.
Update: SOSG points us to ESPN fantasy columnist Eric Karabell's doleful prediction that exactly this will happen:
Matt Kemp, Dodgers: His minor league stats scream emerging superstar, and I think Kemp will likely get there. How can Joe Torre keep him out of the lineup? Well, he can. Kemp needs to have a good spring and produce like a middle-of-the-order hitter, or else Andre Ethier will steal at-bats. What about Juan Pierre, you ask? Look, the guy has a monster contract and while he isn't a good fielder or, for that matter, much of a hitter, what he does he does well, and I don't see Torre benching Pierre. He's going to bat second and steal his normal 50 bases. Andruw Jones is a nice comeback candidate, and starts regularly for his run production and defense. Kemp should beat out Ethier, or a trade will solve this situation, but the bottom line is unless I can project more than 500 plate appearances for Kemp, and right now I can't, I can't project the 25-90-15 season we'd all love.
Labels: dodgers
Thursday, January 17, 2008 |
Tampa Bay Picks Up Troubled Ex-Dodger Willy Aybar
Labels: braves, devil rays, ex-dodgers, slow news day, trades, transactions
Astros Sign Nick Gorneault To Minor League Deal
Labels: astros, ex-angels, slow news day, transactions
Bud Selig's In For Three More Years
Labels: bud selig, stupid ideas
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 |
Dodgers Sign Brazoban
Labels: dodgers, transactions
Marlins Sign Mark Hendrickson, Dodger Fans Relieved
Labels: ex-dodgers, marlins, slow news day, transactions
OT: The Disintegrator
Monday, January 14, 2008 |
It's Official: A's Send Mark Kotsay To Atlanta For Reliever Joey Devine And Minor Leaguer
As for Mark Kotsay, his back injuries were well-known to readers of this blog; he went down in August and never came back. The Braves are looking for a hole-filler for Andruw Jones, and while I'm not a competent judge of the NL East, from memory their offense looks pretty tattered without Jones in the lineup. Atlanta can't be counting on Kotsay to deliver too many games, nor to bat leadoff, because he's really suited to neither capacity.
The final piece in the puzzle is Richmond, essentially a 31st-round throw-in. He's no great shakes, but like Joe Saunders, he lives by controlling the longball. He's worked out of the pen and as a starter, so there's some flexibility built-in. On the other hand, he played out his age 21 season for Rookie-A Rome last year.
Overall, this looks like a swap for immediate needs, and maybe for the A's it works out in the longer term. Devine's value had sunk so far so fast that the Braves decided to turn him into a trade chit, and the A's ended up eating some of Kotsay's contract to get rid of him. Call it a wash with some mild upside for Oakland.
Labels: athletics, braves, trades, transactions
Justice Is Served: Dodgers Cleared In Parking Lot Brawl
Whatever Happened To Richard (And Josh)?
Slow, Slower, And Slowest
Preface: Things To Come
The moments are idle and slow, time to read good books and wonder between times whether we'll make it to spring training, what with the dogs and all.Roster Notes
- The Blue Jays and Cardinals are trading third basemen, with ex-Angel Troy Glaus heading to St. Louis and Scott Rolen bound for Toronto. The Blue Jays will send $1.8M to the Cards as part of the deal.
- Mariners' rookie OF Adam Jones has been instructed to leave Venezuelan winter league; speculation is this is a prelude to an Eric Bedard trade. U.S.S. Mariner is happy for every day that passes without a Bedard trade, which seems to be breaking down oddly:
I’m always shocked at how many times bad deals like Jones-Bedard stall or fail because of weird sticking points (like Omar’s knees).
USSM has had an improbability field cast around it, as evidenced by its new logo:
“I’d like to trade you my house and everything in it, my brand new Dodge Viper with secret lifetime speeding ticket immunity pass, and $100,000 for that disposable pen you have there.”
“You’ll have to throw in those shoes you’re wearing.”
“What, my shoes? Never! Why, I bought these at Costco and they’ve been adequate for six months!”
“No deal unless I get those shoes!”
“Fine! I’ll just keep all my stuff!”
“You do that!” - There's talk that Joe Blanton might be on the block, and the Reds are doing the talking.
- Jason Jennings is supposedly close to signing with Texas.
Johnny Podres Passes
Of unknown causes; he was 75. Podres was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series, the only one that the Brooklyn Dodgers ever won. Hat tip: Jon.OT: Mike Carona Resigns
Good riddance.Labels: dodgers, mariners, obituaries, orioles, trades
Friday, January 11, 2008 |
A's Ready Deal To Send Mark Kotsay To Atlanta
Update 1/12: Forgot to mention that the A's signed OF Emil Brown to a one-year deal. Ouch.
Labels: athletics, braves, trades, transactions
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 |
Billy Beane's Role In The A's Farm System Collapse
Both Haren and Swisher are young and productive, and they're signed to easily affordable long-term contracts that lock them up for at least the next three seasons. In short, they're exactly the type of cornerstones a rebuilding club would want to rebuild around. But Oakland's farm system had fallen into such a state of disrepair that the A's decided they had to shed Haren and Swisher to bring in some minor league talent for the future.I think this is probably too strong a position; I like their recent trades. Further, the A's had hit a hard limit on what they could reasonably do in the scope of their budget while in their final year(s?) at Oakland Coliseum, so they cut bait on 2008 and reloaded an admittedly thin farm system. This was not a surprise, especially considering how many seasons they spent at the top of the division early in the decade, and Beane's preferred use of prospects in that era.Billy Beane has proven himself to be one of the game's best general managers, but how he escapes blame for the collapse of his farm system is beyond me. Yes, big league promotions have thinned out Oakland's store of minor league talent, but with 19 first-round or supplemental first-round picks in the last six drafts, there's no excuse. Funny, I seem to remember reading a book a few years ago about how the A's were revolutionizing the draft.
Secondly, there's no guarantee that prospects will pan out. I love prospects as much as the next guy, but unless the three best pitchers Oakland acquired (Brett Anderson from the Diamondbacks, Gio Gonzalez and Fautino de los Santos) all pan out, I don't think the trades will significantly upgrade the A's in the long run. And we all know what injuries and attrition can do to pitching prospects.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008 |
Nothing Major, Almost: Coupla Deals
- Marcus Giles signed a minor league deal with the Rockies with an invitation to spring training.
- The M's signed Miguel Cairo, thus "giving starting second baseman Jose Lopez more prodding to improve." The kids at U.S.S. Mariner note that Cairo was a Mariner for all of three weeks in 1995. Now's his big chance to really see the city.
Labels: mariners, rockies, transactions
HoF Voters Speak (In Tongues?), Gossage In, Blyleven Still Outside
Labels: hall of fame
Woman Sues Dodgers For $1M Citing Lax Security
The central issue in the Los Angeles County Superior Court lawsuit is whether the Dodgers provided enough security at the ballpark in Chavez Ravine. Marta Parra Helenius, a 31-year-old nurse, claims the team didn't follow its own rules on how to handle unruly fans, leading to the assault and making her legally blind in one eye.At first I thought this was just another silly lawsuit, but it looks like the woman involved has suffered serious physical injury. Since the assault seems to have taken place on the Dodger Stadium grounds, there's at least a whiff of culpability, though honestly it's not clear what Dodgers security could have done differently.Helenius was punched in the parking lot after the San Francisco Giants pulled out a dramatic, ninth-inning victory on July 17, 2005, before 47,000 spectators. Denise Ordaz was charged with hitting Helenius, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 270 days in jail last year.
"The Dodgers failed to follow their own fan code of conduct and their written security procedures, and negligently allowed this assault and battery to happen," according to Helenius' lawyer, David R. Glickman.
The trial began today before Judge Richard L. Fruin Jr.
The assault followed hours of verbal sparring during the game, much of it profane and loud. Helenius, though wearing a Dodger T-shirt, came with friends who were Giants fans. Seated nearby along the right field line were Ordaz and a group of Dodger fans.
In pretrial statements, Helenius said Ordaz was loud, abusive and insulting to the group of San Francisco fans with her.
Helenius complained to security guards, who moved Ordaz and her party 45 feet away. Ordaz said guards also detained her momentarily after the game, apparently in an attempt to keep the two groups separated.
When Helenius had walked about 400 yards from the stadium, Ordaz ran up screaming, punched Helenius once and fled, according to the police report. Security guards were flagged down, and Ordaz was detained, according to the lawsuit.
Ordaz said she acted in self-defense and that Helenius was about to hit her. She said she entered the plea last year not because she is guilty, but because her lawyer advised her to.
My reaction is to avoid going to Giants games altogether. It seems to draw the worst kind of morons into the stadium.
Labels: dodgers, lawsuits, stupid ideas
OT: Roll-Your-Own Vacuum Tube Triodes!
Even when I was a kid, I had no idea how these were made; I have fond memories of going to the Sav-On drug store and using the tube tester there (you used to be able to service your own TV!) every so often. Of course, since Dad also had his General amateur radio license, he had a Yaesu rig that was far more romantic. I used to tune in for hours listening to the steady beat of radio station WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado at 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz... at the tone 15 hours, 28 minutes coordinated universal time. The voice never changed, stentorian and ever-present amid the faint yellow glow and hot breath of Dad's receiver. You can still hear that voice at 303-499-7111.
Sadly, the same cannot be said of the telephone company lady you got when you called 853-1212, the old local time service. Callers to that number will find her replaced by a recording saying the time service was discontinued last September. These days, we have NTP to keep our computers synchronized, and cellphones use GPS to keep their clocks aligned properly; both connect to atomic clocks for timekeeping far beyond the ken of the invisible man. We're better off in some ways, but the romance steadily drains out of our lives.
Monday, January 07, 2008 |
Rumors, Rumors, Everywhere, Rumors
- Luis Gonzalez thinks the Brewers would be a good fit... and I want a pony.
- Joe Blanton to the Mets... for what?
- Edwin Jackson to the Mariners? Feh.
Labels: athletics, brewers, ex-dodgers, mets, rays, rumors, trades
Saturday, January 05, 2008 |
Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Rumor: More Paul Konerko Silliness
Labels: angels, rumors, trades
Friday, January 04, 2008 |
But I Repeat Myself
Juan Pierre: .293/.331/.353, 4.4 RC/G (668 AB), signed through 2011 with $36.5M remaining
John Rodriguez: .301/.374/.432, 5.5 RC/G (183 AB), signed today by the Devil Rays to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.
And did I mention that Pierre is 29 while Rodriguez is 29? No? (Rodriguez will be 30 on Jan. 20.)
Labels: dodgers, rays, stupid ideas, transactions
Chris Jaffe Shortchanges (A Little) The Angels' 2002 Game 6
4. 2002: Angels 6, Giants 5. Rarely has such a large gap been surmounted with so much at stake.The drama was actually a bit more than he let on here, because he overlooked as denoument Robb Nen's last professional pitch. Troy Glaus's RBI double to left-center was the story, according to Eric Neel:
The Angels needed to win to stay alive. For four innings, no serious scoring threats occurred.
In the fifth, the Giants broke the ice, and poured it on from there, taking a 5-0 lead at the seventh-inning stretch. Only nine outs separated the Giants from their first title since moving to San Fran almost a half-century before.
The seventh began with a ground out against Giants starter Russ Ortiz. Eight outs. However, the Angels got back-to-back singles for their first rally of the day. Relief pitcher Felix Rodriguez came in to face Scott Spiezio. In a key battle, Spiezio fouled off numerous pitches to work the count full, then smashed a home run to make it a 5-3 game.
The Giants escaped without further damage, but the Angels began the eighth inning energized. The first four batters combined for a homer, two singles, and a double for a 6-5 lead with none out. Anaheim held on to win the game, and its first title the next night.
His first pitch is a cut fastball tailing out and away for ball one. His second is a slider, also outside, but Glaus hacks at it anxiously and the count is even at 1-1. The third pitch, another slider, cuts two feet outside, and Glaus, chastened by the last swing, holds back."He wasn't right out there that night," Neel continued. "Check that. He had nothing … nothing but a pitching shoulder full of torn labrum, torn rotator cuff and a whole lot of want-to." Nen never pitched in the majors again, his World Series saves erased by one blown, one that continued the heartache for Giants fans.Two-one. Hitter's count. Enough with the slider; Nen is coming in and going all-out.
"I knew Glaus was sitting dead-red, but I had to throw the inside fastball," he says. "I couldn't stand the idea that later I'd think maybe I hadn't thrown as hard as I could in that situation." He fires. The ball starts off inside, but it fades when it should bite. It comes out over the plate.
Nen sees the flight of the ball and winces.
Glaus tracks it and tattoos it.
Labels: angels, giants, history, postseason
Roster Notes
- The Padres signed Robert Fick, ex-Angel Jeff DaVanon, and LHP Mike Megrew to minor league deals. I guess it goes without saying by now that Keith and Maya have moved on ...
- Hideo Nomo has signed a minor league deal with the Royals, saying "I want to hang in there no matter what, hoping that I won't get injured." Good luck with that, Mr. 39-year-old.
Labels: ex-angels, ex-dodgers, padres, royals, slow news day, transactions
Thursday, January 03, 2008 |
And No, Wilson, We Didn't Forget About You: Valdez Sold To Koreans
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Nope. Heart still not broken.
Labels: dodgers, slow news day, transactions
OT: Attention, Surfers!
Labels: offtopic
Oakland Pushes Contention Further Away, Deals Nick Swisher For Prospects
My initial reaction to this is that Billy Beane has determined that the club wasn't going to contend for even the division in 2008, and so he's rebuilding for 2009 and 2010. Swisher would have been a big part of the team's 2008, so they're throwing in the towel early, at least as far as I can (without too much digging) tell. But let's look closer at what Oakland's getting in return:
- 21-year-old LHP Giovany Gonzalez was a first-round pick (38th overall) by the Chisox in the 2004 draft. Featuring a high strikeout rate and very good control (11.10 K/9 and 3.25 K/BB in the pitcher-friendly Southern League), he's young for his league and on track for a late 2008 or 2009 major league debut. Gonzalez knows a thing or two about being traded: while he was drafted with the Chisox, they packaged him with Aaron Rowand and pitcher Daniel Haigwood for Jim Thome, and then he was sent back to his drafting team when the Pale Hose shipped Freddy Garcia to the Phils. This was his second turn in AA, and he appears to have corrected inconsistency problems that plagued him in 2006 during his first tour.
- Fautino de los Santos is a 21-year-old righty who posted a 9-4 record with a 2.40 ERA for single-A Kannapolis in the Sally League; he was named the league's top prospect, and made both all-star games. Together with Gonzalez, the duo represented the Chisox' best pitching prospects.
- Ryan Sweeney has seen two seasons of major league action, but has yet to produce respectable numbers there; in his defense, he's only seen 80 at-bats in the Show. Baseball America ($) projected Sweeney as the White Sox' "No. 3 hitter of the future", so this is quite a haul for Oakland.
I had Gonzalez as my number one White Sox prospect, and De Los Santos as number two, both Grade B+, both among the best pitching prospects in baseball. ... I must admit that I am not sanguine on Sweeney. He strikes me as an outfield version of Sean Burroughs, in the sense that his power is just not developing the way it was supposed to. I don't think he will just disappear like Burroughs, but I think he's going to be just a platoon player, not an impact bat.I really like this deal for the A's considering where they were and where they intend to go. One year isn't much to give up for what looks to be a really strong team in 2009. Here's the BTF chatter, if you're so inclined (I always am).
Labels: athletics, trades, transactions, white sox
Another Feather In Bert's Cap: Blyleven 17th All-Time JAWS Score
Hall of Fame voters perform Olympic-level gymnastics in attempting to justify why Blyleven doesn't get their vote, most fixating on his relatively unimpressive winning percentage (.534), his 250 losses, a win total on the wrong side of 300, and his failure to garner a Cy Young Award or top 20 wins more than once--all of those related to the level of support he received from his teammates (not to mention unenlightened voters). His career totals place him in elite company: fifth all-time in strikeouts (only Ryan, Carlton, Clemens, and Randy Johnson are ahead), ninth in shutouts, 11th in games started, 13th in innings, and 26th in wins, with virtually everybody around him on those lists either in the Hall of Fame or headed there. The Davenport numbers tell a similar story. Only 12 Hall of Famers have higher PRAA than Blyleven, only five have higher PRAR, and just 10 have higher WARP totals.Just to recap Rich Lederer's basic argument for Blyleven's inclusion (all numbers are career total rankings):The first time I tackled the Hall of Fame ballot for BP, Blyleven polled at just 35.4 percent in his seventh year on the ballot. Thanks to an Internet blitz that's centered around Rich Lederer's campaign at The Baseball Analysts website (one that's even swayed actual BBWAA voters, including 2005 Spink Award recipient Tracy Ringolsby), he crossed the 50 percent threshold two years ago, attaining 53.3 percent of the vote in his ninth go-round. He fell back a bit last year, as did practically every holdover candidate in the presence of Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn, but the advocacy efforts continue, and his eventual enshrinement is hardly the ballot's most farfetched proposition.
- Fifth in strikeouts.
- Ninth in shutouts.
- 24th in wins.
- 14th in run-support-neutral wins.
- 17th in runs saved above average (RSAA).
- 19th in career ERA for pitchers with 4,000 or more innings pitched.
Labels: hall of fame
Tuesday, January 01, 2008 |
OT: Dick Clark, Please Retire Before You Die On Camera
Update:
Labels: offtopic