6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

David Pinto passed on an excerpt from a Mike Axisa essay about the Yankees possibly buying low on Aroldis Chapman:

I think it’s pretty gross the Yankees essentially used a domestic violence incident to buy low on a player. That’s how I feel. You’re welcome to feel differently. The Dodgers had a deal in place for Chapman earlier this offseason, then backed away when news of the incident got out. (Here’s the story if you haven’t seen it.) The Reds then dropped their asking price — Brian Cashman confirmed it during a conference call yesterday — and the Yankees swooped in. There are a lot of people out there whose lives have been impacted by domestic violence and I think turning a blind eye to it sends a very bad message. Pro sports teams — it’s not just baseball, it happens in every sport — have shown time and time again they will overlook stuff like this as long as the player is good enough. I’d like to think the Yankees hold themselves to higher standards but it’s clear they don’t. It’s one thing for a player to be a jerk and difficult to get along with. Allegations of domestic violence are much more serious. Not a good look, Yankees.

There are a lot of potential responses to that. A particularly greasy, commercial observation came from (at least) MLB Trade Rumors, when they noticed that if Chapman misses 45 days (the maximum possible for the domestic violence offense he's accused of is 50 days), the Yankees could end up with not one but two years of team control. This means the Yanks might land arguably the best available reliever in baseball at a comparatively bargain price, and on a multiyear deal, no less. (No telling how Chapman might react if it turns up the Yanks schemed to get the commissioner's office to throw the book at him in full force.)

But if Chapman's poor self-control off the field costs him in his contractual matters, it says very little about what sports leagues more generally need to do about domestic violence. One of the bigger off-field cases to come up in recent years was that of the NFL's Michael Vick, which I wrote about at the time. Vick's depravity to dogs, his lack of remorse, and his failure (entirely due to the state prosecutor in the case) to spend a single day in prison on animal cruelty charges led me then to conclude the league had taken inadequate steps to deal with the situation. It did not help that the league itself appeared to be a willing participant in the charade, even going so far as to hand him a farcical Comeback Player of the Year award. From what, exactly, did he come back?

And so with Ray Rice, whose pugilistic elevator exploits had to be broken on TMZ Sports, of all places, presumably because ESPN owes the NFL a great deal. Certainly, the cable giant is not in a position to want to tarnish the NFL's brand; quite the opposite, as Deadspin documented amid arched eyebrows. This pattern of the league covering for an active player — and in the case of Vick, a former (and newly rising) star — seems nothing if not constant.

Largely, the fans have been complicit with such efforts, provided enough time elapses between the observed complaints and the player's reinstatement. Vick continues to play unimpeded, most recently for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but previously for the Philadelphia Eagles a mere two years after his initial suspension due to occupying a jail cell. Ditto Rice, who didn't even have to wait that long after TMZ's release of the surveillance video, winning a reinstatement the same year. Protests have been muted, and have had little lasting effect. Particularly, the league's mealy-mouthed domestic violence policy changes amounted to a nothingball, something Roger Goodell could have implemented on his own had he chosen to do so. While Rice remains for the moment sidelined, it's hard to imagine this state of affairs will last beyond next year, and may not even survive the coming offseason.

Why these things are as they are should be obvious, given the direction of incentives: the player, the team who employs him, and the league more generally do not want bad press. The player presumably is a valuable commodity, someone who can fill a limited number of open positions and do it creditably (or even well); the team is a part of the league, and has some say in its operation; and the league is the captive of its constituent teams. All of which is to say, none of these entities can be relied upon to manage the interests of third parties not subject to contract or for whom liability only weakly attaches. Expecting teams to adjudicate this liability in any way other than for their own benefit is, charitably, naive, and more realistically, a fool's errand. Ultimately, it becomes a test of the fan base's overall sense of disgust with the particular crimes at hand (itself a question of the nature and graphic detail of the publicly available evidence), and the distance in time to them. Those expecting otherwise are like Charlie Brown hoping Lucy will really hold that football this one time, despite all those other times.

And so, I discharge sports leagues from enforcing the criminal laws on their contracted employees. Such work rightfully belongs to the police, and while the Rice case in particular made it evident that municipal gendarmarie are also not immune to the same forces that hushed up the video record of his offense, at least their paychecks come from a source not directly tied to the NFL. That much cannot be said for Roger Goodell or the Baltimore Ravens.

Labels: domestic violence, football, yankees

It's been a long offseason, and I've felt little to nothing newsworthy to write about; the Angels moves are largely an afterthought of two consecutive offseasons of disaster, between the Pujols and Hamilton contracts, with only the former ending before the decade does. Whether, as Matt Welch intimated in his writeup in this year's Baseball Prospectus, this is the fault of owner Arte Moreno or of GM Jerry Dipoto, the contracts are now inked and indisputable and due, sunk costs. It is not insignificant that the Angels have two of Grantland's 15 worst contracts in MLB.

But it is now Go time for the Dodgers. If the Angels have bad player deals, it is because their shiny new Fox Sports contract enabled them to spend stupidly and big. The Dodgers decided they needed to one-up the Angels, and in an effort to do so, launched their own cable TV network. In this, they followed the Yankees, who created YES Network in 1999. But, as happened in San Diego (also this), and to a lesser degree, Houston, the Dodgers now find their own greed locking them away from the fans they claimed they wanted to reach.

The cable operator is optimistic that it will have wide distribution by the time the Dodgers' regular season starts March 22.

"We're coming off a tremendous season and interest in Dodger baseball is at an all-time high," Time Warner Cable Sports President David Rone said.

But that may be wishful thinking.

Many distributors are upset about being pressured to carry a new sports network in a region that already has several similar channels, including not only Prime Ticket but also Fox Sports West, Pac-12 Los Angeles and Time Warner Cable's SportsNet and Deportes.

"It is really hard to understand why everyone needs their own channel when they didn't need one before," said Andy Albert, senior vice president of content acquisition for Cox Communications.

Those channels, along with ESPN, cost customers as much as $20 a month whether they watch them or not. The Dodgers channel threatens to dramatically increase that figure.

I will not be surprised to learn there is a considerable amount of pushback among the cable operators, who weary of downside cable-cutting should prices escalate too high. And there are signs that we have reached the moment of collapse.

Joe Kennedy, the bootlegger and patriarch of that political family, famously got out of the stock market when even cabbies and shoeshine boys started giving him stock tips. So we begin to suspect the jig is up on cable TV networks when the likes of icon YES Network sells itself to Fox. Why might they do such a thing?

One of the next things on the YES Network's to-do list is to negotiate a new carriage contract with Time Warner Cable, one of the largest cable operators in the New York metro region. Time Warner Cable has said the channel's distribution agreement is about to expire.

Some have speculated that the negotiation process could be ticklish because Fox and Time Warner Cable have clashed in the past. Fox lost the rights to televise L.A. Lakers and Dodgers games after Time Warner Cable agreed to pay the teams substantially more than Fox had been paying.

In other words, the Yankees still get the benefits of operating a RSN without the headaches of having to extract revenue from cable operators. This, to me, is the rats leaving the sinking ship -- with the Dodgers viewing such a ship as their salvation. One expects one of those views will prevail, and it isn't the Dodgers'. Well, it wouldn't be the first time the Bombers proved better than the Bums.

Labels: angels, astros, dodgers, padres, tv, yankees

Nary a peep around here about the baseball postseason, but I will say I expected the Giants to be deposed in the first round. That they didn't seems to me more like luck than anything else; they got hot at the right time, and their starting pitching turned unaccountably invincible. The Tigers' feel-good story ended with the last out of the ALCS, vanquishing the Yankees in seven sweeping the Yanks, and proving that just because you have plenty of rest doesn't mean your pitching will be better for it.

An interesting followup on yesterday's last out: Sergio Romo's fastball really sucks, except when it doesn't.

Congratulations to the Giants, and bring on the hot stove.

Labels: giants, postseason, tigers, yankees

In my mental map of this year's season, the season had several false starts: the series win over Baltimore, the sweep of the Twins, but none of those were against contending teams. If tonight the opportunity to sweep the Yanks comes to fruition, it would be nothing short of astonishing, the Angels capping an improbable winning streak with an exclamation point.

The guys now we are starting to grow accustomed to getting the job done offensively — Trout and Trumbo — also had a thunderous ovation added to that list by Albert Pujols, the man paid as a Cooperstown bat but who has mostly played like a reserve all year. Yet, Pujols has homered five times since May 22, so the small sample size theater is ongoing and positive. Trumbo's homer, particularly, was a monster shot to the rockpile in center; if Andy Pettite had anything in the tank, it certainly didn't appear so.

Dan Haren was generally masterful (his third straight good outing), Scott Downs threw a scoreless inning, and while Ernesto Frieri was wobbly (loading the bases on a hit batter and a pair of walks), he escaped unscathed. Get 'em tonight, boys.

ESPN box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, yankees

I look forward to years of writing about Mark Trumbo's explosive power, and to more wins like this one — minus, of course, the early removal of Jered Weaver due to a sproinged back (MRIs and such due later today). I'm hoping he'll pull it out and only miss a start or so.

Minus Weaver (who didn't last long enough to even record a single out), the Angels did surprisingly well by running a chain of relievers out there. Bobby Cassevah, whom I expected would get impaled, allowed all his inherited baserunners to score, but settled down in subsequent innings to limit the Yankees to just the three runs (all charged to Weaver, unfairly) plus one more on a Curtis Granderson solo homer in the second. Cassevah should not be mistaken for a guy you want in a tight spot, but he performed adequately under the circumstances.

That opened the door to Takahashi, Carpenter, and Isringhausen, all of whom gave up at least one run, so that by the end of that line, the score was all knotted at eight. Then Cory Wade, then Mark Trumbo — who, by the way, ended the day a mere single away from hitting for the cycle. Mike Trout homered earlier in the game, against Phil Hughes, whom the Angels pretty reliably battered and must by now be running into significant questions about his longevity in the rotation. He exited the game with a 5.64 ERA, snapping a string of five straight good starts.

Good show, guys. That's seven wins in a row. I'm still not convinced this is anything but a .500 team, give or take a few wins, but it's nice to see a few rack up on the W side.

Angels recap • ESPN Box

Labels: angels, recaps, woo hoo, yankees

It seems to me that Albert Pujols is picking up a retirement check, and not much else. Whoopee, a single and an RBI. Yay.

Jerome Williams was a nice story last year, and just another fifth starter this year. He didn't get out of the third. Takahashi and Carpenter continued last years' story of bad (or at the very least, inconsistent) bullpen pitching.

ESPN Box

Labels: angels, recaps, stupid ideas, yankees

I just about don't have anything to say about his craptacular game, except that I do wonder when the Angels will awaken from their torpor. No, this can't go on forever, but it doesn't bode well for the rest of the year.

It really pains me to see them struggle like this, especially with all the money sunk into the team. Hiroki Kuroda did very well in this game, eight innings of shutout ball, and I have to wonder what the Dodgers could possibly have been thinking when they let him walk.

In related news, the Angels designated Rich Thompson for assignment and called up Brad Mills.

ESPN box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, transactions, yankees

A brief note from earlier in the day before I get to my writeup from today's Angels/Giants scrimmage: the Yankees released Preston Mattingly from his minor league contract signed in January.

Labels: ex-dodgers, spring training, transactions, yankees

For those of us who thought the 2009 postseason where the Yankees went to a three-man rotation was a travesty, well, you're in luck: MLB's newly announced 2011 postseason schedule has only travel days off. Hopefully that means pitching-poor teams like the Yanks will be forced into actually using a fourth starter once in a while.

Labels: postseason, yankees

Bobby Abreu Did What? Angels 6, Yankees 4

Twitter being this high-speed, low-signal-to-noise medium that it is, I don't now recall who mentioned this, but Abreu had hit one home run per month up until yesterday — at which point he got a pair in a single game, one of them off Mo Rivera. Whether that qualifies as a miracle or not depends on how good you think Rivera is at this stage of his career. He carried a 1.87 ERA into yesterday's game, so you can scarcely complain if you're a Yankees fan.

The most hilaripus part was the ending: with Mark Teixeira at the place, Curtis Granderson erased himself trying to steal second, which sounds like the kind of mistake Mike Scioscia would make. It's what I love about this game: every day, there's something else weird.

Dan Haren pitched well through six, but got into trouble in the seventh that Fernando Rodney predictably amplified by allowing all his inherited baserunners to score, foreclosing on a win for Haren, who surely deserved better.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Bryan Stow Beating Suspects Plead "Not Guilty"; Stow's Condition Improves

Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood pled not guilty to charges they beat Bryan Stow, according AP reports.

In related news, Stow is moving his arm and kissed his sister, according to a press release from his family. Prosecutors in the case say Sanchez and Norwood made 'admissions' regarding the events of the day.

Dodgers To Lose $29M In Attendance Revenue

Wow.

Happy Garret Richards Day!

A fun post in the Register by Sam Miller about what to expect from newbie Garret Richards, lately hauled up from AA Arkansas.

Eddie Bane Speaks Out

He said, she said. I disagree with Sam Miller when he says, "I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bane firing hangs over his head more than any player move he has made. More than Kazmir, more than Wells." That's because Bane drafts weren't that great, and the team wasted picks on some players who clearly weren't going to sign.

Labels: angels, bryan stow, dodgers, recaps, yankees

Mark Teixeira got soundly booed again and did in his former team with a couple home runs, exactly the way this impotent script was supposed to play out. Tony Reagins underbid for the services of a competent first baseman, and he comes back to haunt the team. Of course, this narrative forgets the presence and now absence of Kendrys Morales, but in a year that has been so probable, the likely has happened, and to ill effect.

The Angels looked their best offensively in the third, when they tied things against Yankees revivified starter and ex-Angel Bartolo Colon. (Remember when the Angels actually won bids on the services of good free agents? Me neither.) But the Angels kept stranding baserunners, as the limitations of smallball became increasingly evident. In all, the Halos stranded ten, two more of which would have sufficed to tie the game.

During the course of the game, the radio team — I think it was Terry Smith — suggested that the Halos lack a true cleanup hitter. It was all I could do to keep from screaming into the afternoon air, "Mark Trumbo"! Even if you believe in Mike Scioscia's ancient religion, Trumbo is outhitting Hunter, and not by a little: .256/.346/.488 including three home runs, where Hunter has an anemic .225/.337/.268 with two extra-base hits of any variety (a double and a triple). While I do not claim that the broadcasters are necessarily close to the understanding of the people helming the team, they do get a chance to talk with them on a daily basis and are thus infused with some of it. I do not for a second doubt that Scioscia doesn't feel Trumbo is sufficiently advanced at this point to take over batting fourth, but at this point, what could he possibly lose by moving him up, say, to fifth in the order? Indeed, Hunter led the team yesterday with a -.411 WPA, capping a ridiculous afternoon with a GIDP to end the game while the tying runs were at first and third.

Finally, one comment about this violation of rules 7.06(a) and 7.06(b):

Basepath obstruction: it's not just for home plate anymore! Of course, the Rev informed me on Facebook that Bobby Grich used to do this with impunity and was never called for it. You want to end those kinds of collisions at the plate, calling this and plate-blocking what it is — a clear violation of the rules — and you've made a big step to preventing the kinds of injuries sustained by Buster Posey.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, blecch, ex-angels, recaps, yankees

Coming out of April, Jered Weaver was one of the two reasons the Angels spent unexpected time at the head of the AL West. With six straight victories, all of them convincing, he looked like he might be an early Cy Young contender. Contrast that with May, though, where he looked merely competent but otherwise unremarkable, rattling off three quality starts in five tries (and two of those missing by only an extra run). This is not a team that, like the Yankees, will give their pitchers an extra leg up with run support, so Weaver narrowly avoided joining the ranks of .500 pitchers.

Last night started with an explosion, Weaver locked against Jeter in a 15-pitch at-bat that saw the Yankees captain foul off 9 straight. I haven't seen such a battle in person since Alex Cora's 18-pitch at bat against Matt Clement. Unlike the general ennui filling the crowd in the seventh inning of that game (the Dodgers were ahead 2-0 in the seventh and the Wave was going on during this taut battle), Angels fans were very much into it. Fortunately, the thing ended with a fly ball out to center, but after that one at-bat, Weaver's future in the game was immediately called into question.

Two batters later, and things looked even worse, as he left the first inning with 27 pitches on the odometer. I steeled myself for another bullpen loss; this pen just doesn't have what it takes to get through the Yankees for more than a couple innings, and asking them to come in in, say, the fourth or fifth and finish a game is begging for trouble. After Weav threw 26 pitches in the second, and gave up a run doing it, I was utterly convinced this was going to get ugly around the fifth or sixth.

Yet, it never happened. Weaver got out of the third on ten pitches, and though it took him another 26 to escape the fourth (while letting the lead slip from his fingers), he never again needed more than 20 pitches to get through a frame.

In that, the Yankees had some of their own woes exposed. Derek Jeter's 2011 has a lot of 0-fers, and his .327 OBP is the lowest of any season with more than 200 plate appearances. In fact, Weaver kept all of the Yankees' top three hitters off the basepaths entirely, save for a walk to Jeter in the fifth.

The Angels offense did a good enough job against Ivan Nova, one of surprisingly only six Yankee starters used by the team this year. For all their pitching woes have been advertised, they are fourth in the league in starter's ERA, behind Seattle, Oakland, and the Angels. The Halos got to him immediately in the first for a couple of runs on Bobby Abreu's RBI double and Alberto Callaspo's scoring groundout. Again in the fourth, the Angels loaded the bases with one out, and Peter Bourjos drove in what proved to be the winning run. But everyone else, Bourjos included, was stranded after Nova struck out Izturis and got Aybar to fly out to left.

Weaver ran his pitch count up to an absurd 119 tosses, sparing the Angels having to use Rich Thompson against the bottom of the Yankees order, a move that seemed to me to be a bad idea given that group's relative scuffling. Bourjos came in again to save the day with a fine running catch to nab Jorge Posada's second consecutive hard-hit ball of the game. As Kevin Goldstein tweeted during the game last night,

Whenever they show Peter Bourjos running I think they've sped up the video.

I like those legs working for our pitchers.

Before I go, I should mention Russell Martin, who had a rare Bill Dwyre piece written about him yesterday. While I'm happy for Martin that he's doing well in New York, I have to wonder how long he'll keep up that .452 slugging average, over a hundred points higher than anything he posted in the last two years. I'm betting he doesn't.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, yankees

Really, an astonishing game when you look at the score alone, especially considering it was Tyler Chatwood's major league debut second major league game. I always feel like I should derate a rookie's first run because of the league's inexperience against him, and just so today; but then there's the tendency to fold and fail the first time, too. I listened to maybe three of the nine innings today, and it was a doozy, a fun romp at a time the Angels needed some to help pump them up to near the division-leading Rangers, who lost 5-2 in the Bronx. Only a game back now, and that's something considering the weakish stumble they made earlier.

Homers by Howie and Hank. Woot!

ESPN Box • Recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps, white sox, yankees

John Lackey lasted five innings in today's season opener at Fenway Park while giving up six runs, all earned. That fact prompted Jon Weisman to take a look in the rear view at the 2009/2010 offseason in which some Dodger fans were thinking the team should have made a run at him.

In retrospect, that would have been a terrible move. Lackey's 2010 splits show some amazing numbers; he blew up against Cleveland (10.13 ERA), Colorado (6.75 ERA), Detroit (6.43 ERA), and Toronto (8.61 ERA), among his other bad outings. The point being, his overall 4.40 ERA was not due exclusively to facing the Yankees three times.

Labels: blue jays, ex-angels, indians, red sox, rockies, tigers, yankees

At least, this version, as applied to the outfield.

Labels: angels, funny, yankees

Via David Pinto, the Yankees have signed Andruw Jones to a one-year deal worth $2M. Just putting that in perspective, the former Dodger will still be on that team's books through 2014, with $3.2M owed him each year.

Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, transactions, yankees

Just can't get too excited about it. The deal is for one year, but dollars have yet to be disclosed.

In related news, the Dodgers signed former Dodger Dioner Navarro; Rotoworld reports a one-year/$1M rumored contract.

Labels: dodgers, ex-dodgers, hot stove, transactions, yankees

David Pinto forwards an ESPN New York report that the Yankees will offer Derek Jeter a very rich contract, on the order of $15-20M per year for 3 years. It's hard to imagine he'll be worth anywhere near that.

Labels: hot stove, rumors, yankees

• Ron Washington and the Rangers are in extension talks. I'm not sure if this is a good thing; some observers noted Washington was outmanaged by Bruce Bochy, which isn't a great mark.

  Update: Ron Washington has signed a two-year deal with Texas, according to Maury Brown.

• Jay Jaffe has an excellent review of the Yankees' surprisingly perilous financial situation; it might not be possible for them to retain Jeter, Pettitte, and make a run at Cliff Lee, too.
• Jay Gibbons will return to the Dodgers on a one-year deal, according to Dylan Hernandez. The deal is apparently worth $400k with incentives.
• Robothal says that Scott Podsednik declined his 2011 option with the Dodgers, but both sides remain in discussions.
• The Yankees have announced they have no plans to pursue either of Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth. This would make Crawford more amenable to the Angels, but his perilously low OBP is still a concern, especially at an age when he should be peaking.
• Sparky Anderson, who helmed the Reds and Tigers through some of their best seasons, passed away at age 76, from complications of dementia.
• Update 7:12 PM: The Giants bought out the balance of Edgar Rentaria's contract instead of exercising his 2011 option. The 2010 World Series MVP had an injury-plagued year, and is considering retirement. Via David Pinto.

Labels: dodgers, hot stove, yankees

Over the last 48 hours, I've seen various people carp on Twitter, and now in Sabernomics, that the upcoming Giants/Rangers World Series is not, in fact, a small-market series, this according to Nielsen market breakdown. That's all well and good, but it fails to take into consideration the hidden issues of how valuable each team's fan is, both to the broadcasters (indirect value) and to the team itself (direct value such as ticket sales, parking, etc.) I would be willing to bet that the Red Sox are much better at monetizing their fans than the Giants or Rangers, i.e. they have more engaged fans than either team. And of course, the Yankees have more fans than anybody.

Also: converted to actual market size numbers, the gap from a Phillies (3M)/Yankees (7.5M, total 10.5M households) World Series to a Giants (2.5M)/Rangers (2.6M) World Series amounts to a difference of nearly half.

(Nate Barlow at Deep Into Sports last year did a calculation on a related issue, payroll dollars spent per audience household.)

Labels: giants, postseason, rangers, red sox, tv, yankees