Saturday, November 16, 2002

Oh how I love transactions

If you are looking for a good way to judge exactly how obsessed someone is with the sport of baseball, look no further than transactions.
Now, any casual fan can be interested in Alex Rodriguez signing for $252 million.
Your average fan knows about Bartolo Colon being traded to the Expos or Mike Hampton signing a huge contract with the Rockies.
And the most serious baseball fans can tell you all about Ismael Valdes going to the Mariners at mid-season or the Red Sox signing Alan Embree to a 2 year deal.

But, it takes a special kind of baseball obsessed lunatic to actually care about Mike Rivera being traded for Gene Kingsale or Roy Smith being bought for cash by Oakland.
I am that special kind of baseball obsessed lunatic and the minutia of baseball, the transactions that don't always make the sports section, are one of my favorite aspects of the sport.

It is with great pleasure that I present to you my thoughts on the various transactions that occurred in the last several days.
You won't see anything about Paul Konerko's new contract or the Yankees picking up Andy Pettitte's option for 2003, because, well, those transactions are a little too significant for my tastes.

Detroit acquires Gene Kingsale from San Diego in exchange for Mike Rivera.

This is an interesting trade.
Kingsale is a speedy centerfielder that isn't much of a hitter and Rivera is a good hitting catcher that hasn't gotten the greatest reviews on his defense.

Mike Rivera hit .249/.341/.525 at Triple-A this year after hitting .289/.368/.578 at Double-A last season.
He isn't really young anymore (he turned 26 in September) and his defense is not great, but he can be valuable to a team with his bat.
I am surprised that a team like the Tigers would be willing to let someone that can actually hit (let alone a catcher that can actually hit) go for someone like Gene Kingsale.
Rivera didn't hit very much in his brief stint with the Tigers this year, but his Major League Equivalencies (MLEs) for 2001 and 2002 say he would be good for about .240/.315/.445 in the big leagues, which is pretty nice for a catcher.
I wouldn't be surprised to see him get 200-300 productive at bats for the Padres in 2002.

Gene Kingsale, on the other hand, is just one of seemingly thousands of speedy, decent OBP/no power outfielders roaming outfields throughout baseball.
He is a nice 5th outfielder to have on a team - he can handle all 3 outfield spots defensively, he can pinch run and he won't kill you if he has to start for a week or two when someone goes down with an injury.
But, guys who fit that basic description can be had for a lot less than a catcher that has slugged .525 and .578 in his past two minor league seasons.

San Francisco waives Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

I am not quite sure why this transaction is being worded as a "waiving," because the Giants simply did not excercise their option on Shinjo for 2003.
It was a good call by them because there is no need to pay someone like Shinjo $1.2 million, which is what he would have made.

That said, Tsuyoshi Shinjo has value.
I think one of the tendencies for people in regard to sports (and I suppose other aspects of life) is to look at someone and see what they cannot do instead of what they can do.
Tsuyoshi Shinjo is never going to be a great hitter and he isn't Ichiro!, but he is a very good defensive center fielder and he can hit a little bit, especially against lefties.
I am not saying someone should sign him to a long term contract or anything, but Shinjo has a place on a Major League Baseball team, either as a defensive replacement/spot starter or as a full on platoon partner for a left handed center fielder.
Hmmm...Kenny Lofton is a left handed CF...nevermind.
Heck, on a team with an otherwise solid offensive core, having Shinjo as the starting center fielder wouldn't even be a completely horrible idea, assuming he came cheap.

In 762 career Major League at bats Shinjo has hit .253/.308/.388, which, considering he played in two bad parks for hitters (Shea Stadium in 2001 and Pac Bell this year) basically makes him about as good and maybe even a little better than Darin Erstad at the plate.
Erstad hit .283/.313/.389 in 2002 and .258/.331/.360 in 2001.
Shinjo just got released and Erstad signed a 4 year/$32 million dollar contract a few months ago.

My point isn't that the Erstad contract was bad (I actually think it wasn't horrible), but that Shinjo, used properly in the right situation and on the right team, can be valuable to a ballclub.

Chicago Cubs outfielder Roosevelt Brown announced that he has signed a contract with the Orix Blue Wave of the Japanese Pacific League.

Seems like a fair trade, right?
They send us Ichiro! and Godzilla Matsui (and Shinjo) and we send them Rosie Brown.

Actually, I like Roosevelt Brown as a player.
Throughout his career he has hit pretty much everywhere he has gone, except for the Major Leagues, of course.

Check out some of these numbers for Brown...

In 2001 at Triple-A he hit .346/.381/.626 in 364 ABs.
In 2000 at Triple-A he hit .309/.381/.496 in 363 ABs.
In 1999 at Triple-A he hit .358/.401/.713 in 268 ABs.
In 1998 at Single-A he hit .344/.402/.557 in 244 ABs.

Obviously, the reason he is heading to Japan is his .251/.312/.407 performance in 442 career Major League at bats.
Admittedly he struggled big time in his chance with the Cubs this year, hitting only .211/.299/.314 in 204 ABs, but he did well in short stints with them in 2001 (.265/.326/.506) and 2000 (.352/.378/.528).

Roosevelt Brown can hit and the only difference between him and the dozens of mediocre corner outfielders on rosters throughout MLB is a lucky break here and there or 50 good at bats during a late season call up.

Brown has hit at every level and has dominated during several seasons, including those 2 pretty nice stints with the Cubs.
But, for whatever reason, he hasn't gotten very many real opportunities to establish himself and when he did actually get a decent shot during this season, he blew it.
I think Roosevelt Brown is quite capable of putting up some .285/.350/.475 seasons in the Big Leagues, at the very least, and that could help a lot of teams.
Don't be surprised if you read an article about him winning the Japanese League batting title next year.

With the Donnie Sadlers and Gerald Williamses of the world somehow hanging around long enough to rack up 1,000s of at bats, it is a real shame that guys like Rooesevelt Brown don't have the same luck.

Oakland acquired Roy Smith from Cleveland for cash.

This is a great low risk/decent upside pickup for Billy Beane, who is the master of such things.

Roy Smith pitched for the St. Paul Saints in 1998 and 1999, which automatically makes him one of my favorite players.
If you live in the Midwest and you have not been to Midway Stadium to see a St. Paul Saints game, you are really missing out.
Great atmosphere, good baseball and a lot of fun.
My uncle has had season tickets since their first season (I actually think I remember him saying he was one of the first handful of people to sign up) and I have had the pleasure of attending numerous Saints games over the years.
I saw J.D. Drew, Darryl Strawberry, Leon Durham, Matt Nokes, Billy Ashley and tons of other "interesting" players come through St. Paul, Minnesota, and any guy that can work his way from the Northern League to a possible shot at a bullpen job with the Oakland A's is a man that is to be respected.

Roy Smith is a submariner in what Billy Beane hopes will be the Chad Bradford mold.
I saw him pitch a few games for the Indians in 2001 and I was impressed.
His minor league numbers are also very good.
Smith has a very good K rate (151 in 144 career Triple-A innings) and he does a great job keeping the ball in the ballpark (only 4 home runs allowed in those same 144 innings!).
I wouldn't be surprised if Roy Smith pitched about 70 innings with an ERA in the 3.00s for Oakland next year.
A great pickup for Beane and an even better opportunity for Roy Smith.

And finally, no column about low-wattage transactions would be complete without me talking about the very first Twins trade of the off-season...

The Twins sent Javier Valentin and Matt Kinney to Milwaukee for Matt Yeatman and Gerry Oakes.

I really don't like this deal for the Twins.
It seems to me that Javier Valentin never really got a fair shot with the Twins.
He was up with the Twins in 1998 and 1999 for significant at bats and was supposed to be their "Catcher of the Future."
Somewhere along the way he got passed up by A.J. Pierzynski, which is fine.
But since 1999 Valentin hasn't gotten any kind of opportunity to play his way into a backup job, which is something I think he would be phenomenal at.

Here are Valentin's minor league stats since the Twins decided he was worthless after the 1999 season:

2000 (AAA) = .357/.397/.560 in 140 ABs.
2001 (AAA) = .281/.352/.476 in 431 ABs.
2002 (AAA) = .286/.346/.501 in 455 ABs.

Switch hitting catchers that slug .500 don't grow on trees and I just don't understand why he has been such a forgotten man in the Twins long term plans.
Instead of letting Valentin backup Pierzynski next year (and in 2004 and maybe 2005), the Twins re-signed good old Tom Prince again so he can hit .200 with a little power and all that "Veteran Leadership."

Matt Kinney is a guy that I think the Twins gave up on too quickly.
A couple of seasons ago he was a hot prospect in the Twins organization.
He has struggled a little bit lately, but he still looks to me like a guy very capable of being a solid end of the rotation starter.
In 108 career innings with the Twins Kinney has a 4.81 ERA, which is about what I think he would be good for over the course of a full season.
175 innings of league average pitching might not sound like a whole lot, but it does have value, particularly when it is coming from a young pitcher that is making the league minimum (and will be for several more seasons).

The Brewers got two capable players.
I think Valentin could more than handle his own as a starting catcher in the Major Leagues.
He switch hits, his defense is passable and given 400 at bats he would probably be good for about .270/.325/.440 with 12-15 homers.
On a team like the Brewers, that would be a welcomed addition.

And Kinney, assuming he is healthy, is a good bet to be a league average starting pitcher, which, once again, would be a pretty nice thing for the Brew Crew.

So, what did the Twins get?

Minnsota got 1 pretty good Single-A pitching prospect and a 1 completely useless Single-A pitcher.

Matt Yeatman is the prospect.
He had a 2.48 ERA in 127 innings at Single-A this year, with a good strike out rate (127 Ks in 127 innings).
His control is a little shaky, but what Single-A pitcher's isn't?
He looks like a pretty decent prospect.

Gerry Oakes, on the other hand, looks to be completely useless.
Pitching on the same Single-A team as Yeatman, Oakes posted a 7.17 ERA in 113 innings.
Even worse than the astronomical ERA was hit K/BB ratio - he struck out only 53 batters and walked 84!
He was a pretty high draft pick only a couple years ago, so maybe the Twins "saw something in him," although I highly doubt it.

Looks like two serviceable, major league ready players for a 1 decent Single-A pitcher, which isn't my idea of a good trade.

Okay, that's it for this edition of Aaron's Wide World of Transaction Minutia!
Check back next week for more analysis of career minor leaguers and struggling former prospects!

Friday, November 15, 2002

What? This is a baseball blog?

I generally try to stay away from non-baseball topics on this website.
Usually the only time I stray from my favorite sport is to talk about something funny.

However, in this case, I just can't help myself.
The college basketball season has officially started!

Over the years my interest in the NBA has almost completely vanished and, while I am big football fan, I have never really been fanatic about it, perhaps because I never played football.

But, after baseball (which will always be #1 for me by a landslide), college basketball is the next best thing.

I don't really have a specific topic to talk about regarding college basketball, but I just wanted to give a few of my thoughts and make some quick predictions...

If you haven't heard of Carmelo Anthony yet, you soon will.
Anthony is a freshman swingman at Syracuse and will soon be a superstar.
He can do it all.
He has good ballhandling skills, is extremely athletic and can even rebound the ball pretty well.
But, the thing that impresses me the most about his game is his mid-range jumpshot.
He can stop on a dime, pull up and sink a 17-footer at any time, and that is a pretty rare skill in today's dunk and 3-pointer game.

Carmelo Anthony made his college debut last night against Memphis.
His line for the night:
27 Points
10-23 FGs
5-12 FTs
11 Rebounds (6 Offensive)
1 Steal
1 Assist

That is a pretty great college debut.
The one weakness in his game (at least last night) appears to be his free throw shooting.
Carmelo went 5-12 on the night, including missing 5 in a row late in the 2nd half.
His free throw shooting, along with a horrible shooting performance by the rest of his team, probably cost Syracuse the win.

Keep an eye out for him and remember the name, he is going to be very special.
To steal a quote from ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, I wish I could buy stock in Carmelo Anthony.

Speaking of special players...
My favorite player in all of college basketball is Texas sophomore point guard T.J. Ford.

You know that question on personality tests that asks, "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?"
Well, if I was a point guard, I would be a T.J. Ford, or at least I would like to be a T.J. Ford.
T.J. is the player I tried to be when I was playing basketball.
He is basically an assist waiting to happen.
He doesn't score much (about 10 points a game), but if a Longhorns big man gets open, he will find him for an easy score.
He is fast, extremely athletic, has exceptional ball handling skills and is the best point guard in the country.
Point guards that can score 20 a game are certainly nice, but give me a T.J. Ford, a guy that can run the offense and keep everyone involved, and I will take him everyday of the week and 5 times on John Stockton's birthday.
T.J. Ford is my pick to lead the country in assists this year and he should do it by a pretty large margin.
So, keep an eye on him and remember his name too (along with Anthony's)

I can't do a college basketball column without mentioning a guy that lives on the very same campus that I do.
In fact, Minnesota sophomore Rick Rickert lives in the building right next to mine.
Rickert is the real deal.
At 6-10, he is a phenomenal long range shooter with an improving post game.
He is not a great defender or rebounder yet, but he'll improve with time in the weight room and more games in the Big Ten Conference.
I think Rickert will win the Big Ten Player of the Year and I don't think it will even be particularly close.
I expect him to average about 20-22 points and 8-10 boards this year.

Okay, so those are my 3 "breakout" players to watch this year (and in the future).
Carmelo Anthony is a freshman who is going to be an absolute superstar.
T.J. Ford is a relatively unknown sophomore point guard who is a threat to average 10+ assists a game for a very good Texas team.
And Rick Rickert is a sophomore and Minnesota native that has been spotted by yours truly several times around campus.
Strangely enough, he didn't ask me for my autograph when we ran into each other at Taco John's.

As for my thoughts on teams?
Well, I am glad you asked...

The Minnesota Gophers should have their best season since the Clem Haskins era.
Their front line is the best in the Big Ten and among the top handful in the entire country.
Along with Rick Rickert (14 PPG, .505 FG%) the Gophers also have 6-10 senior Jerry Holman (8.8 PPG, .554 FG%) and 6-8 junior Michael Bauer (9.4 PPG, .431 FG%).
Holman is a great shotblocker with a developing offensive game.
Bauer has been a huge disappointment in my opinion.
He has great talent, but he is basically a guy that likes to hang around the perimeter and shoot jump shots all game, and when he does post someone up, he ends up just shooting a fadeaway jumper.
If he can step up his game a little bit, they will have a dangerous starting front line.
The Gophers also have frontcourt depth off the bench with 6-11 sophomore Jeff Hagen, who redshirted last season and 6-9 freshman Aliou Kane, who is regarded as one of the top first-year big men in the country.

As good and deep as the frontcourt is, the backcourt is almost the exact opposite.
Last year's starting point guard, senior Kevin Burleson, returns, although whether or not that is good news is debatable.
The Gophers should get some help from Ben Johnson, a transfer from Northwestern.
Johnson led Northwestern in scoring while he was there (which is like being the smartest kid in the slow class) and should be able to play significant minutes at both guard spots.
Beyond those two, the guard play is uncertain.
Newcomer Kris Collins, who was supposed to play some point guard, was released from the team yesterday for (apparently) not going to class.
Can you imagine how many classes you would have to miss in order to get kicked off the basketball team before you had even played a single college game?
I am going to go out on a limb and say Collins' issue was not related to alarm clock problems.

Coach Dan Monson is probably going to look to give Collins' minutes to sophomore Aaron Robinson.
Robinson played sparingly and horribly in 2001 and I don't expect much from him.
Incidently, I stood next to Robinson at a bus stop on campus the other day and suffice it to say he is a very little person, no taller than 5-6 or 5-7 I would guess (he is listed at an almost laughable 5-9).

One player that I do expect to step up his game is sophomore shooting guard Maurice Hargrow.
Mo and I went to high school together for 4 years, although I would guess he is completely unaware of that fact.
Hargrow is extremely athletic and fast and has a very good first step.
He isn't a real good shooter yet, but I think he will be a nice surprise for Minnesota this year and should provide some scoring punch off the bench.

The Gophers will go as far as their big men will take them.
I think they have a good chance at winning the Big Ten title, but I predict they will finish in 2nd place (more on that later).

Some other teams I like (or think will surprise) this year...

North Carolina.
Yes, I realize how horrible they were last year.
And no, I don't expect them to be great this year.
I do think they will be much improved with a starting 5 that includes 3 much heralded freshmen and 2 very good sophomores who were the lone bright spots on last year's team.
I think UNC will finish in the top 4 of the ACC Conference, which is saying something after they finished tied for dead last a year ago.

Texas.
The Big Twelve has the most upper level, elite teams in the country, with Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas amazingly all in the pre-season top 5.
I like Kansas a lot, but that isn't really much of a shock.
So, I'll talk a little bit about the Longhorns.
I already mentioned how in love I am with T.J. Ford's game.
I also really like junior forward James Thomas, who is a force inside and is a great finisher (which is key when you have Ford setting you up for easy baskets all over the place).
If Thomas can get some help inside, Texas should be in for a very good season.
Even though they are ranked #5 in the country to start the year, I don't think many people are talking about them as major contenders, but that will change.

Louisville.
Rick Pitino's first season with Louisville was a good one, but not great.
I think the 2002-2003 version will be much improved.
They return almost every important player from last year's 19-13 team, including senior guard Reece Gaines, who is a stud and a good bet to average 25 a game.
Louisville will make the NCAA tourney and it wouldn't surprise me to see them in the Sweet Sixteen.

Now, a team I don't like so much...
Florida.
The Gators are ranked #7 in the country right now and that simply is not going to last.
They play a pretty soft non-conference schedule, but once the SEC season begins, they will start dropping games.
Florida have absolutely zero frontcourt depth beyond Matt Bonner and David Lee.
I have heard that freshman guard Christian Drejer is the real deal and he better be, because the Gators are going to have to score a lot of points to make up for their lack of rebounding and shot blocking.
Plus, Drejer is going to miss the few couple of weeks with a foot injury.
They'll make the NCAA Tourney, but they aren't going to finish anywhere near #7.
Brett Nelson has got to be the least deserving John Wooden Award candidate (2 years in a row!) in the history of the world.

My official picks for regular season champions (because anything can happen in the conference tourney):

Big Ten = Michigan State.
Always tough, can always rebound and this year they have some good perimeter players, even though Marcus Taylor idiotically left for the NBA (where he got cut!).

ACC = Duke,
They are Duke you know. Only the Dukies could lose Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy and still win one of the best conferences in college basketball. I think Chris Duhon will become a star this year, Dahntay Jones is a solid #2 option and they have a ton of good freshmen.

Big East = Boston College (East Division) and Pittsburgh (West Division).
BC has two great guards in Troy Bell (a Minnesota native!) and Ryan Sidney and I am big believer in guard play being the key in college basketball.
They should have enough to hold off a very good UConn team and St. John's.

I really wanted to go out on a limb and pick Notre Dame over Pitt in the West, but I just couldn't.
Pittsburgh finished 29-6 last year and they return almost everyone.
I think ND will be surprisingly very good, but not that good.

Big Twelve = Kansas.
This is a tough choice, as Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas are all possible Final Four teams and even Missouri, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State aren't too shabby.
In the end, I think Kansas will win it, with Texas 2nd and Oklahoma 3rd.
They will all be either 1, 2 or 3 seeds in the NCAA Tourney.

Pac Ten = Arizona.
I just don't see how you can go against them. They are not only deep, but they have some star players too, particularly Luke Walton, who will come real close to averaging a triple-double this year. And Jason Gardner (the actual point guard) isn't too shabby either.

SEC = Georgia (East Division) and Alabama (West Division).
You already know I don't like Florida this year, so I will go with Georgia in the East Division. They return almost everyone and Jarvis Hayes and Ezra Williams are a very good 1-2 combo.
The Gophers play host to Georgia in the 2nd game of the year, which will be a real test for both teams.

I like Bama in the West. They are a good team and Erwin Dudley is a monster inside. It is a shame Rod Grizzard did like Marcus Taylor and went NBAing (and got cut too).

Final Four:
Arizona
Texas
Kansas
Duke

Yeah, I know, I am not exactly going out on a limb with any of those picks.
I think Arizona will probably be a #1 seed and probably Kansas also.
I see Duke as a #2 and Texas as a #3.
So, two #1s, a #2 and a #3, that seems about right to me.

And my national champ...
The Arizona Wildcats.
They were 24-10 last year, they lost absolutely no one and they gained 4 very talented freshmen, including Hassan Adams, who I like a lot.
Look for Bill Walton's baby boy and The White Fox to cut the nets down in March baby!

Did I mention that I am pumped for the season to start?!?!?

By the way, feel free to completely disagree with everything I said in this column because this is, after all, a BASEBALL BLOG!
We'll be back to our regularly scheduled baseball talk tomorrow, I promise.

Thursday, November 14, 2002

I'm back

I hope everyone enjoyed Scott Halgrim's guest column about the ongoing Bert Blyleven saga.
I want to thank Scott for pinch hitting for me, he did a great job.

Like Scott, I enjoy Blyleven in the booth, particularly his relationship with Dick Bremer.
They don't take themselves too seriously, they don't try to act too "cool" and they call a good game.
I am holding out hope that Dick and Bert will be back working together in 2003.

For anyone else out there in cyberspace that might be interested in being a guest columnist on this website, feel free to contact me.
I certainly won't promise that your stuff with automatically make it on here, but if it is good, chances are it will.

The American League Gold Glove awards were handed out today.

Here are your 2002 AL Gold Glovers:
C - Bengie Molina
1B - John Olerud
2B - Bret Boone
SS - Alex Rodriguez
3B - Eric Chavez
OF - Darin Erstad
OF - Torii Hunter
OF - Ichiro Suzuki
P - Kenny Rogers

A few thoughts...

Did you notice that all but Torii Hunter come from the American League West?
Very strange.

I think the voters did a pretty good job this year in the AL.

Ivan Rodriguez was hurt all year and, even when healthy, his throwing was not nearly as good as it usually has been.
Bengie Molina threw out almost 45% of runners this year, which was #1 in the AL.

Doug Mientkiewicz won the GG in 2001 and I think he should have won it this season.
Mientkiewicz is the best defensive first baseman I have ever seen, although I haven't been around long enough to even see Keith Hernandez.
But, John Olerud is a very good defender too.

Personally, I would have given the GG at second base to Luis Rivas.
(A little Aaron's Baseball Blog insider humor)
But seriously, I think Bret Boone is a somewhat deserving winner.
I would have given it to Adam Kennedy, but Boone would have been a close second.

At shortstop, Alex Rodriguez won his first GG.
Omar Vizquel is already complaining about his streak of 9 straight coming to end, but it is more than time for someone other than Omar to win it.
I am not really sure that Vizquel was ever really a great defensive shortstop, but, even if he was, he is not anymore.
Alex Rodriguez deserves the GG award, although he deserved the one Miguel Tejada has a little more.
By the way, that is all you will hear from me regarding the AL MVP "debate."
Sorry to those of you expecting more, you can always take a stroll through my "archives," there is plenty of ARod/Tejada material.
A man can only bang his head into the wall so much - eventually he either passes out or realizes it is pointless.
And yes, that is an original Aaron Gleeman quote.

At third base, Eric Chavez is simply a great defender.
I think Corey Koskie is pretty awesome too, but I can't really complain with Chavez winning.

The GG outfield situation always confuses me.
The voters do not have to vote for a real outfield alignment of 1 from left field, center field and right field.
They just vote for 3 outfielders.

In which case, a non-center fielder should pretty much never win a GG.
Ichiro! has now won 2 in a row.
Ichiro! is a very good defensive right fielder, but he isn't that great and certainly not better than about a half dozen center fielders (not to mention a few left and right fielders).

Erstad was the best outfielder in the AL this year, so I am glad to see him win the GG.
I have talked about Torii's 2002 season before, but suffice it to say that he isn't a horrible choice.
My GG outfield for 2002 would have been Erstad, Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran.

I think the NL GGs come out today, so I'll give everyone my choices before the actual results are given:

C - Jason LaRue
1B - Todd Helton
2B - Pokey Reese
SS - Jack Wilson
3B - Scott Rolen
OF - Andruw Jones
OF - Jim Edmonds
OF - Dave Roberts
P - Livan Hernandez

Looking at the candidates from each league, it seems to me like the AL has a better group of defensive players, overall.
But maybe that is because I am an "American League" guy.

The free agent/trading season has official started and, although there haven't been any major moves yet, there have been some interesting ones.

The Diamondbacks traded away their starting catcher, (former Minnesota Twin) Damian Miller, to the Cubs for 2 minor league non-prospects.
Damian Miller is certainly nothing great, but I really thought he would fetch more than 2 non-prospects.

It is a nice move for the Cubs.
They had a huge problem at catcher, between Todd Hundley and Joe Girardi, and now they have a new starter who is good with the glove and decent with the bat.
Miller does have some health problems and he is set to make some decent money this year, which is probably why he was available.

Cubs catchers in 2002 hit .229/.299/.372 in 564 at bats.
Damian Miller in 2002 hit .249/.340/.434 in 297 at bats.

Like I said, if he can stay healthy, he is a good upgrade, offensively and defensively.

For more on the Miller trade, check out a brand new baseball blog, "Bryan's Baseball Banter."

Bryan is a reader of this website that decided to test the blogging waters for himself.
So, go check out his site.
It is brand new, so there isn't a whole lot to read yet, but it looks promising.

Speaking of checking out other blogs...

Take a trip over to John Perricone's world famous "Only Baseball Matters."
John's current topic of choice is, of course, Mr. Bonds and his 5th MVP.

John also has some interesting stuff about the Giants new manager, Felipe Alou.

Another blogger with some good writing about Felipe Alou is Mike over at "Mike's Baseball Rants."

And, as always, when you are blog hopping, make sure to stop at John Bonnes' wonderful TwinsGeek.com, which is the first website I go to every morning.
Along with his always entertaining and insightful Twins related material, John has a new venture, WolvesGeek.com, which provides similar Minnesota Timberwolves related discussion, by John and several other Minnesota writers.

All the blogs I just mentioned, as well as dozens more, can be found on the left side of this page, under "Other Blogs."
Check a few of them out.
And don't forget to come back here, of course!

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

"Circle Me Bert!" (Guest Column)

Today you get a break from me (don't get too excited, I'll be back tomorrow).
In my place is Scott Halgrim.
Scott is a Minnesota resident and a big Twins fan who contacted me last week about an important Twins-related issue that was on his mind and in the news.
I asked him if he would consider writing a guest entry for this website on the issue and he graciously accepted my offer.

So, without further adieu, I am honored to present to you Scott Halgrim's guest column...


By Scott Halgrim
shalgrim@mn.rr.com

“Thanks for nothing.” – Bert Blyleven.

That quote from the middle of the 2001 baseball season will forever be able to coax a chuckle from me. Since launching in Midwest Sports Channel’s place to start the baseball season that year, Fox Sports Net had been pushing it’s “Fox attitude”® into my relaxing, familiar Twins coverage. In this instance, Fox had started to add a third person to the broadcast. In contrast to Blyleven, the color analyst, and Dick Bremer, the play-by-play man, this new guy looked like somebody from Fox HQ sent to do its bidding. When the game returned from the commercial break, we had to listen to this guy talk about something I remember as complete inanity. He caused us to miss three pitches while he babbled about nothing in particular. When he sent it back to the booth, Dick said, “Thanks, Anthony.” (To be fair, I honestly can’t remember his name.) Blyleven replied, “Yeah, thanks for nothing.” Now, Blyleven may have meant a number of things here, but to me it was him delivering some not-so-subtle pushback to Fox for injecting their “attitude” where it wasn’t welcome.

[Aside: Whenever you read the word “attitude” in this column, you should hear the Fox Voice saying it like he’s really tough and outrageous. Try it. Ready? “Attitude!” Very good. You might consider re-reading the preceding paragraph.]

Blyleven isn’t your average color analyst. He won’t tell you what you want to hear and he won’t play it safe. He’s a homer and a card to Bremer’s (also fantastic) straight man. While Bremer tries to be as journalistic as possible, Blyleven will unabashedly pull for the home team, to the point of entering a quick “Good [harrumph]” when Bremer mentions a misfortune that has befallen an opponent. Blyleven will let you know that he doesn’t agree with the way pitch counts are used in baseball organizations today. And he doesn’t talk about it during the games, but you know that he knows his exclusion from Cooperstown is criminal. Heck, I don’t agree with everything he says, but I don’t agree with everything my other baseball buddies say, either. (I’m writing this immediately after a heated AL MVP debate).

Blyleven makes a Twins win that much sweeter, with his easy back-and-forth with Bremer. A Twins home run is infinitely more enjoyable when he’s either declaring victory with one of his “calls” or chastising Bremer for not making one himself. I can’t tell you why, but Blyelven’s post-game (thanks for shortening that, too, Fox) also makes a Twins loss easier to take. He feels what you feel: I remember a two-week stretch this summer where the Twins offense was having trouble getting going, and after the Twins had put up a big number by the fourth inning, Blyleven became giddy with excitement. I swear that if you listened closely, you could hear the pressure escaping the booth as if a tire were deflating. In short, I really enjoy having Bert with me on summer evenings and weekends.

That’s why I was sad to hear that Fox was working without a net this summer: they didn’t have Blyleven under contract for beyond the 2002 season and didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to get him signed. I’m unable to find the article so I’m working on memory, but I remember reading in the Star Tribune on June 28 that Blyleven was hoping to get a contract beyond the 2002 season. I seem to remember that he was working for cheaper than most color analysts since this was his first contract and was hoping to be paid more in line with industry standards.

I e-mailed Blyleven to ask if there was somebody at Fox to whom I could voice my opinion that I felt he was not only worthy of “industry standard” pay, but that I felt he was an exceptional addition to the booth. I got a reply saying that he thought they were too busy at Fox on “other things.” However, I later got a reply from a Mr. Steve Woelfel indicating he was hopeful they could “work something out…at the end of the season.”

Fast-forward to Friday’s Star Tribune notes article, which discouraged me further. I immediately sent off an e-mail to Mr. Woelfel indicating that I would be very upset if I couldn’t listen to Blyleven on a daily basis next summer. I copied Blyleven on the e-mail and then encouraged about a dozen of my friends to let Mr. Woelfel know how they felt. I was a bit worried I’d overstepped my bounds, but Blyleven wrote to me to thank me for my actions. He said, “My heart is to do Twins baseball again but it's not in my hands as of now.”

Mr. Woelfel indicated that he had talked to Blyleven’s agent that morning, though whether or not that conversation included a counter-proposal is unknown.

There aren’t a lot of hard facts here, but those that exist are:
1. Blyleven says he wants to continue doing Twins baseball.
2. Blyleven says he has had to wait for a slow-moving Fox Sports Network and needs to line up a job next year.
3. Fox Sports says they are talking to Blyleven’s agent.
4. Blyleven says he wants to be paid more than he has been over the past two years.

I don’t claim to know what kind of decision factors or negotiating tactics lie in the minds of either party, but what I do know is that as a consumer of Twins broadcasts, I want Bert Blyleven and Dick Bremer working together in that booth.

[Aside: If you were to contend that I am a consumer of Twins baseball who pays nothing, I would argue that my cost, along with my cable bill, is sitting through the 18,000th promo for Tom Arnold’s show and the Waltrip Beyond the Glory. Aside-within-an-aside: Incidentally, am I the only one who senses Bremer sigh before he has to read the latest Beyond the Glory promo?]

If you would like to at least have a voice in this process, I encourage you to write a quick, respectful note to Mr. Woelfel at swoelfel@foxsports.net and let him know that you, too, would like to see Bert Blyleven back in the Twins booth.

And if your voice goes unheard and Blyleven ends up on ESPN, please help me come up with some silver linings. So far I’ve got two:
1. Wouldn’t it be cool to see “Circle me, Bert” become a national phenomenon?
2. His increased national exposure may help him in the Hall of Fame voting.

Scott Halgrim welcomes comments at shalgrim@mn.rr.com

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

Barry Bonds won his 5th Most Valuable Player Award yesterday.
As those of you who have been listening to me for a while now know, I am one of Barry Bonds' biggest fans.
I believe that, before all is said and done, Barry Bonds will be in a class reserved only for one other man in baseball history, Babe Ruth.

No other player in the history of baseball has more than 3 MVPs.
Barry now has 5.

And he probably should have one or two more.

In 2000 he finished 2nd to his own teammate, Jeff Kent.

Here are the relevant stats for 2000:

Bonds = .306/.440/.687 with 106 RBIs and 129 runs in 143 games.
Kent = .334/.424/.596 with 125 RBIs and 114 runs in 159 games.

Barry got on base more and he hit for a lot more power.
But, Kent did the two things that most sportswriters pay attention to, he hit for a higher average and he drove in more runs.
The RBIs were partly do to the fact that he was hitting directly behind a guy that got on base 44% of the time.
While Bonds was hitting behind guys like Marvin Benard.

I think Bonds should have won, but the decision was not nearly as bad as it was in 1991...

Terry Pendleton won the MVP that year with the Atlanta Braves.

Pendleton = .319/.363/.517 with 86 RBIs, 94 Runs and 10 steals in 153 games.
Bonds = .292/.410/.514 with 116 RBIs, 95 Runs and 43 steals in 153 games.

Bonds had about 50 points of OBP over Pendleton, but, if you think a lot of people don't know much about on-base % now, you should have been around in 1991!
Most people knew more about O.P.P. ("Yeah, you know me!").

1991 has got to be one of the few instances in the history of the world that sportswriters decided to give the MVP to a guy that drove in 30 LESS runs than someone else.
Barry had already won the year before, so maybe they thought they should let someone else have a chance.
They did give it to him the next year at least.

I am not exactly sure why Pendleton won it.
It couldn't have been one of these Tejada/ARod "debates" involving a guy on a winning team and a guy on a losing team.
Bonds' team (the Pirates) won 98 games and the division title in 1991.
Pendleton's team (the Braves) won 94 games and the division title.

It couldn't have been base stealing (Bonds stole 33 more bases) and it couldn't have been defense (Bonds won the first of 8 straight Gold Gloves in '91).
I am not sure what it is, but whatever it was, it was a mistake.

So Barry has won the MVP in 1990, 1992, 1993, 2001 and now 2002.
I think he should have won in 1991 and 2000.
That would have made 7 MVPs in a 13 year span (1990-2002) and that is the stuff legends are made of.

As sad as this sounds, considering the historic season Barry had, I was a little surprised to see that he was a unanimous MVP selection.
In looking at the ballot, I noticed that someone gave John Smoltz a 2nd place vote.
I am fairly certain who that person (read: idiot) is, and I am shocked that with all he has said in the past and with the complete lack of brains that possesses, he wouldn't have just gone ahead and put Smoltz #1.
But, I am glad, because Barry Bonds had one of the greatest seasons of all-time in 2002 and he is certainly, far and away, the MVP of the National League.
And John Smoltz, as good as he was in 2002, wasn't even the best relief pitcher on his own team, let alone the best closer in the National League or the MVP?!

So, congrats to Barry Bonds, the best ballplayer I believe I will ever see play.

Now, if we can somehow manage to get ARod his 1st trophy, all will be right in my baseball world.

Monday, November 11, 2002

BeaneTown

I wrote the entry you will soon read sometime yesterday afternoon.
Late last night, some major news broke that completely changed the entire story.
So, I was basically going to erase the entire column and start from scratch.
But, I started reading it again and it seemed kind of interesting, in light of what happened in the hours after I wrote it.

Here is the entry I wrote sometime AFTER it was announced Billy Beane WOULD be heading to the Red Sox and sometime BEFORE it was announced he WOULD NOT:

ESPN.com is reporting that Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane will be leaving the A's to become the GM of the Boston Red Sox.
This comes a few days after the Godfather of Sabermetrics, Bill James, became an employee of the Red Sox himself.

I am reluctant to believe James will be anything more than a consultant, someone they ask to crunch some numbers or contribute an opinion to a discussion about something.
Billy Beane however, will have a massive impact on the Red Sox organization.

I believe Billy Beane is the best general manager in baseball.
He has a great track record, having put together teams that have won 383 games over the past 4 seasons, including 3 straight playoff appearances and 2 consecutive 100+ win seasons.
And, he has done it all with one of the lowest payrolls in all of baseball.

If Beane can build a highly successful organization with a $40 million dollar payroll, what can he do with a payroll of $100 million?
A lot.

One of Beane's biggest strengths is being able to find quality major league players for very little money.
Guys like Olmedo Saenz or Chad Bradford or Frank Menechino or Jeff Tam or Jim Mecir or Erik Hiljus or Gil Heredia, the list goes on and on.
None of those guys are going to be Hall-of-Famers, but they all had productive stints with the A's and they also were very cheap, both to acquire and to pay.

That skill was obviously very key with the A's because of their extremely limited payroll.
Beane simply could not afford to pay a mediocre player $2 million a year.
So, instead of giving a 3 year/$6 million contract to some "veteran" middle reliever, he signed a guy like Chad Bradford to a league minimum contract and he had one of the best relievers in the AL for 2002, all for about $235,000.

It is not easy to find guys like Bradford.
First and foremost you have to have the skill of finding diamonds in the rough, or at least middle relievers in the minor leagues.
You also need to willing to go against "convential wisdom" and trust career minor leagues or major league fringe players with jobs that most teams give to "veterans."

Billy Beane brings those skills to Boston.

Will it be as important to find a middle reliever than pitch well for league minimum with a $100 million payroll as it was in Oakland?
Probably not, but it is still very significant.

The Red Sox have several "star" players, guys like Pedro and Nomar and Manny and Lowe.
And, star players make a lot of money and take up big chunks of even the largest payrolls.

Which is where Beane comes in.
With Pedro, Nomar, Manny, Lowe and guys like Johnny Damon and Trot Nixon, the Red Sox are paying a lot of money to a lot of "front line" players, which is certainly fine.
Beane will be able to plug holes in the roster for very little money.
Instead of spending $2 million on a backup middle infielder or $5 million over two seasons on a middle reliever, Beane can find productive players at those spots for right around the league minimum, freeing up more money to allocate to keep the star players, something he did not have the luxury of doing in Oakland.

In essence, Billy Beane will still be working with a $40 million dollar payroll.
The difference will be that he already has Pedro, Manny, Nomar, Lowe and a few other guys on the team.
All he needs to do is fill in the gaps with productive players that fit within the budget.

I don't believe in things like "The Curse of the Bambino," but, if I did, I would say that The Curse is on its last legs.

There is a new sheriff in Boston and he has a history of preaching OBP, finding cheap, productive players and making great trades.

The Red Sox front office became "stathead central" all of sudden.
They have the most Sabermetrically inclined owner in all of baseball, guys like Billy Beane and Theo Epstein running the show, with consultants like Bill James and Voros McCracken pitching in.
And they also have a massive budget and some pretty good players in place as building blocks.
It is only a matter of time before there are two dynasties residing in the American League East.

I just became a Red Sox fan.

And now? Not so much.
ESPN.com reported very late last night that Billy Beane would in fact be staying with the A's.
It is a very strange situation and I will be interested to hear if any of the juicy details come out in the near future.