Category: Dailies
Yanks better with joysticks than bats
Off the top of my head …
That video game trumpeted as “the most realistic baseball game” had a worse day than did the Yankees.
A commercial that aired right before first pitch at Yankee Stadium featured a simulation of the Indians-Bombers tilt. Result in the game: Yankees 1-0.
Result on the field: Tribe, 10-2. As Maxwell Smart would say, “Missed it by 
that much.” …
that much.” … The times, along with the House, have changed: A Yankees alignment of Damon-Gardner-Swisher could rank near the bottom of home runs by MLB outfields . …
But, really,until A-Rod returns and Mark Teixeira starts pretending he’s still in Arlington, there isn’t much power anywhere in that lineup. The Bronx Banjos? …
There might be a legitimate Cy Young Award jinx (struggling Cliff Lee and injured Brandon Webb and Chris Carpenter have been among the last eight winners), but I’d also think twice before accepting an All-Star starting assignment.
Last summer’s starters were Lee and Ben Sheets, who is out of sight while recovering from surgery. The 2006 AL starter– Kenny Rogers — won three games the following season. And the NL’s starter in 2005 was Carpenter. …
Speaking of Carp, who snapped a rib-cage muscle while batting Tuesday night: Who gets hurt more often, pitchers batting or batters pitching (here, we’re thinking of Jose Canseco, who once threw out his arm throwing knucklers in a mop-up outing for Texas)? …
Is Nick Swisher in the early running for both the AL MVP and Cy Young awards? …
Early breakout candidate: Ben Francisco, the Cleveland outfielder. …
Sorry – I’ve reached the bottom of my head. …
Something doesn’t smell right
Mothers, don’t let your sons grow up to be scent-sations!
Gustavo Chacin was a left-handed sensation for the Blue Jays by the middle of the 2006 season. He had a 20-12 career record, a splendid ERA and unlimited potential.
Then — a couple of Toronto radio guys thought it would be neat to market some cologne bearing Gustavo’s name. So Gustavo Chacin Cologne Night was held inside the SkyDome on June 27, 2006, with fans given bottles of “Shaseen,” as the stuff was branded.
Chacin – or Shaseen – has won a total of five games since and the 28-year-old was again released the other day, by the pitching-poor Nationals …Â
Dan Johnson, meet Dick Nen: Johnson had a great cameo turn for the ’08 champ Rays, with that pinch-hit homer on his first TB at-bat that unraveled Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning on Sept 9 in Fenway Park.
Forty-five years earlier, on Sept. 18, 1963, in his first at-bat for the Dodger, Nen launched a pinch ninth-inning game-tying homer at St. Louis, when the Cardinals were two outs away from inching within two outs of NL-leading Los Angeles.
Nen, 24 at the time, wound up a checkered career with 21 homers. Johnson, 29, has gone to Japan to keep company with Dusty Rhodes. …Â
Can’t believe Steve Blass is marking his 50th year with the Pirates, which the club will celebrate on April 13. I’ve got a lot of golden memories of Blass, and a sad one: He was so devastated by the death of Roberto Clemente, he lost control of himself and of his pitches.
That never was the official diagnosis of Blass’ mysterious inability to throw strikes, but consider the timeline: Through 1972, Clemente’s last season, Blass had averaged two walks per nine innings; then he walked 91 in 93 2/3 innings and was out of the game at 32. …Â
The Angels didn’t go all-in for Mark Teixeira, instead anointing Kendry Morales as their new first baseman. So how’s that looking? As a wash.
In Spring Training, Tex hit .433, with five homers and 15 RBIs. But Morales was right there with .400-3-17. At this early stage of the regular season, Teixeira is batting .214, and Morales .364. …Â
Rule 1: Know the Rules
Hey, maybe Major Leaguers can explain the NFL’s overtime rules to Donovan McNabb — and McNabb could explain the World Baseball Classic’s mercy rule to the Major Leaguers. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
In reality, just how self-absorbed do you have to be to not know stuff every fan planted in a couch knows? …
Not to imply that the Indians expect great things from new closer Kerry Wood — but the access road to their new Spring Training Complex in Goodyear is Wood Boulevard. …
Brewers manager Ken Macha, the former A’s skipper, told me the Giants faced a tough decision after the 2006 season — re-sign Jason Schmidt, who had won 78 games for them in 5 1/2 seasons, or make a play for Barry Zito, six years younger and coming off a 16-win season.
The Giants invested in Zito, and have gotten a 21-30 record in the first two seasons of their $126 million commitment. But that’s still far better than the one win Schmidt has given the Dodgers in the first two seasons of his $47 million three-year deal. …
While on the subject of contract ouches … how about the Dodgers paying Juan Pierre the same $10 million this season they are paying Manny Ramirez?
I love Pierre’s game and work ethic. Don’t get me wrong — but those contracts reflect the economic differences between 2006, when Juan signed his five-year deal, and 2009.
Above everything else, run production rules baseball (or should). Last season, Pierre produced (runs+RBIs-homers) 71 runs. Manny produced 72 just in his two months with the Dodgers, and 186 for the season. …
Major League players are doing their best to help the ailing newspaper industry’s chief albatross, advertising revenue. Pat Burrell was the latest to take out a full page ad to thank Phillies fans for their support during his nine seasons in Philly.
Burrell was following the examples of Trevor Hoffman’s love letter to San Diego fans, and John Smoltz’s farewell to Atlanta. Now if GMs could deal a few more entrenched and sentimental veterans … nah, nothing can save the myopic newspaper inustry. …
My favorite Classic quote: DR-killing Netherlands manager Rod Delmonico claiming that “I don’t have big names, but I’ve got some long names.” Stuifbergen, Engelhardt and Van’t Klooster could all give Saltalamacchia a run for his spelling-bee money. …
Given this extended Spring Training schedule, this season’s World Series teams will have played a minimum of 218 games and a maximum of 226 (if each rung of the playoffs goes the distance) between Feb. 25 and Nov. 5.
But wait, that’s not all! …
The only thing Ivan Rodriguez’s marketing is missing is a barker like Billy Mays.
All spring, the unemployed catcher has been saying that whichever team signs him would be getting a great deal because he was in such great shape. Pudge even compared it to winning the lottery.
He stepped up the salesmanship in Puerto Rico’s World Baseball Classic opener, going 4-for-4 with two homers with a “Best Buy” come-on on his jersey.
I am told that Best Buy is a corporate sponsor of Team Puerto Rico, but I don’t buy it. That was just another pitch from Pudge. …Â
Jacoby Ellsbury may be happy in Ft Myers to have the Red Sox’s centerfield job all to himself, but he isn’t the only one relieved that the firm of Ellsbury and Crisp has been broken up. Coco Crisp looks like a different player in Surprise. Not just the .471 average for the Royals. He’s swinging more aggressively and playing looser.
If K.C. becomes as big a surprise (no pun intended) as I think it will, Crisp will regain the high profile that got squashed in Boston. …Â
One game into the Indians’ return to Arizona, Cleveland skipper Eric Wedge conceded that Cactus League games tend to be more high-scoring than exhibitions in Florida (due to the dry air) but expressed confidence that his pitchers’ psyches would survive.
Yeah, well they may be on the critical list after allowing 80 runs in the first 10 games. Combined, the Tribe and its opponents have put up 139 runs in those games. …
With this extended spring training, do you realize that a team that has to play a maxed-out postseason will have played 217 games February through November? …Â
Dang, wasn’t No. 1 available? Jet Blue Airways observed Manny Ramirez’s return to th Dodgers by offering Southern California fans discounted one-way tickets at $99 — an homage to Manny’s uniform number. …Â
‘The List’ is history
In the aftermath of Alex Rodriguez’s steroids mea culpa, seems everybody wants the other 103 names on the 2003 gotcha list revealed. For the sake of fairness, or to prevent further slow leaks, or whatever.
Here’s what everybody is overlooking: That list is essentially moot. I’m of the firm belief that most of the players who came up positive in the 2003 survey testing are by now out of the game.
The basis for that belief? Sheer numbers, which are quite remarkable when you break them down.
Let’s start with the Mitchell Report: Of the 90 players named in that tome, 72 are outta here; and, don’t forget, Sen. Mitchell’s report was compiled four years after the 2003 testing.
So consider this: Between 2003 and 2007, an amazing number of 499 players in their 20s bowed out of the Major League. Of course, a lot of them were victims of injuries or competition. But there had to be many who were just trying to stay a step ahead of the steroids police.
The retirees in that time span obviously also included several veterans implicated or directly tied to steroids issues: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jay Gibbons, Sammy Sosa, Larry Bigbie, Jason Grimsley, Ruben Sierra, Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro, David Segui, Todd Hundley and Brad Fullmer.
Add it all up, and A-Rod may be the only one of the Gotcha 104 still active in the bigs. …Â
KA-CHING!: Ken Griffey’s contract with the Mariners is pretty creative, but it still doesn’t approach Orlando Hudson’s deal with the Dodgers. If O-Dog hasn’t yet chosen an intro song, might we suggest Pink Floyd’s “Money,” complete with cash register sounds?
After the usual incentives for plate appearances (i.e., $150,000 at 175 and 200 PAs, etc.), he is due to pocket $10,000 for every plate appearance from 576 to 632. That would be a neat $50,000 tip per game. …Â
JOSE CONTRERAS: Word is, the White Sox righty has “lost” 40 pounds. Nah, he just gave it to Bartolo Colon. …Â
Fear the D-backs
The D-backs are flying under the radar in the up-for-grabs NL West, but this is a team for the others to fear.
In winning the division in ’07, the D-backs were considered precocious, with such “kids” as Mark Reynolds, Chris Young, Stephen Drew and Justin Upton playing major roles.
Well, the kids have grown up and form the nucleus of an impressive lineup.
The back of the bullpen is a major concern, but precedent fuels optimism regarding anointed closer Chad Qualls, who has a total of 15 saves in five seasons: the D-backs gambled in 2007 with Jose Valverde, and he covered the bets with 47 saves.
Furthermore, any rotation headed by Brandon Webb and Dan Haren has to be respected. Then there’s high-potential Max Scherzer, a chief reason Arizona signed free-agent innings-eater Jon Garland.
D-backs manager Bob Melvin said he intends to keep Scherzer’s workload in the 170 innings range, and having Garland in the rotation ahead of him should have a fresh bullpen available for Schrerzer’s turns: Garland has averaged 200-plus innings for the last seven seasons, never working fewer than 191 2/3. …
KEN GRIFFEY: Best part of having him back in Seattle? The Mariners clubhouse will finally have someone to cut Ichiro Suzuki down to size. Ichiro has dominated that room for eight years and, judging by the shots leveled by people who have left the organization, his non-team oriented approach has worn thin. Having The Kid as the new go-to guy in the locker room should humble Ichiro. …
BERNIE WILLIAMS: The accomplished guitarist will debut his second CD on April 14. It is titled “Moving Forward.” Perhaps it should instead be called “Moving Backward,” given Bernie’s hope that his play for Puerto Rico in the upcoming World Baseball Classic might lead to a Major League comeback.
Williams, who has begun to write and arrange his own stuff, is totally committed to the music career. But he entertains the baseball whimsy with perfect logic.
“It has taken me a while to realize I share a love for both, but in music I’m going to have an opportunity to play for a lot of years,” he said. “I can play until I’m 80. In baseball, I know my days are numbered.”
An ironic admission: “Days Are Numbered” was a hit for the Alan Parsons Project on its “Vulture Culture” album.
Williams has sat out two full seasons since his fallout with the Yankees. But he is just one of many players who have heard MLB’s siren song and are working this Spring Training to resume careers after long absences.
There is Corey Koskie, the third baseman who has been missing since suffering a severe concussion on July 5,2006. Canadian Koskie, like Williams, hopes his upcoming WBC play might entice a team into giving him a comeback shot.
And Lance Niekro, who last appeared in the Majors as a first baseman on May 2, 2007 with the Giants and is attempting a comeback as a pitcher featuring the knuckleball – an homage to his late father, Joe Niekro. And Jose Valentin, hoping to hook on with the Mets a year-and-a-half after his last at-bat for them.
Topping the dreamers: Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, trying to come back from an 18-year layoff. Hey, he’s well-rested. …
Arbitration trumps Free Agency
Image you are a Major League player. Which would you prefer to be:
A relative youngster with arbitration rights? Or, a veteran finally getting a shot at free agency, with teams fighting over you as the price soars?
Well, in this weird offseason, it was no contest. Arbitration paid, as usual, and free agents took a bath. As in, getting soaked.
Crunching the numbers (which is what happened to most free agents – they got crunched):
- The 111 players who were eligible for free agency enjoyed a cumulative raise of $267,825,000 over their 2008 salaries, or an average of $2,412,838.
- The arbitration-eligibles pulled down a collective $298,891,250 last season, and pulled that up to $566,716, 250 — even though only three of them (Dan Uggla, Shawn Hill, Dioner Navarro) actually had to sweat through a hearing.
- The 94 free agents who signed Major League contracts had their collective pay slashed by an amazing $115,809,000, from $450,467,000 in 2008 to $334,658, 000 for the coming season. (And don’t forget these numbers would be even more startling if we included the 56 free agents who had to settle for Minor League deals.)
- 30 of the 94 signed for raises.
- Of those, four Yankees (Damaso Marte, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett) pocketed pay hikes totaling $18.75 million, or $4.68 million a piece.
- The other 26 received a combined raise of $39,038,000, or $1.5 million a head.
- The biggest raise among non-Yankees was bestowed by the other New York team, the Mets re-signing Oliver Perez for a $6.5 million salary boost.
- Smallest raise? Jason LaRue, bumped $100,000 by the Cardinals, from $850,000 to $950,000.
- Biggest cuts? Five players took eight-figure hits: Jason Giambi ($17 million), Mike Hampton ($13 million), Bobby Abreu ($11 million), Ken Griffey and Andy Pettitte ($10.5 million each).
Flash forward: Cooperstown?
Ever think of Tom Gordon as Hall of Fame worthy? Doubtful. But maybe you should.
Nope, the durable right-hander who is in the D-backs’ camp trying to make the eighth team of his 21-year career won’t enter Cooperstown as anything but a tourist.
Yet he’s unique among the modern dual-career guys who’ve started and closed, the distinction which ushered Dennis Eckersley — 197 wins, 390 saves — into the Hall.
Gordon, who has made 203 starts (the last for the 1997 Red Sox) and 684 relief appearances, has 159 careers saves and 138 wins.
Besides Eck, of the 59 pitchers with 159-plus saves, only two had more wins: ’60s guys Lindy McDaniel (141) and Hoyt Wilhelm (143), who is also in the Hall of Fame.
Pretty good company for Flash. …
OIL CAN BOYD: So he’s thinking of making a comeback at 49, 18 years after throwing his last pitch, for the 1991 Rangers. Good for him. Any mention of the hyper Boyd brings to mind the late and great Gene Mauch, who used to refer to him as “Dip stick” Boyd. …
BOBBY ABREU: I’ve seen some reference to the Angels digging him out of the “bargain bin.” Huh? The guy is 34, has driven in 100-plus six straight seasons and seven of the last eight, has a lifetime on-base percentage of .405 and is the only active player with 300-plus steals and 200-plus homers. The bargain bin at Tiffany’s, maybe. …
ATLANTA: The Rodney Dangerfield of MLB cities. A.J. Burnett, Rafael Furcal, Jake Peavy, Ken Griffey, even John Smoltz have shown it no respect. The city hasn’t been dissed as much since Sherman blazed through it. …
Father and Son: A Griffey special
I’m not a collector. Have spent most of my adult life around baseball cards come to life, so never had a desire to gather the bubble-gum smeared cards in shoeboxes.
However, one time I couldn’t resist morphing from professional sportswriter to fawning little kid — and Ken Griffey Jr.’s return to Seattle brings it all back.
In 1990, he literally was The Kid, a 20-year-old playing through his second season with the Mariners. Pop was nearing the end of his 18th season, sitting on the Reds bench that may as well have come equipped with rockers.
Ken Griffey Sr. saw the sands of time trickling out of his career and was overtaken by a desire to connect with his Kid in a very real sense. He convinced the Reds to release him on Aug. 24, and five days later was signed by the Mariners.
On Aug. 31, the M’s unveiled their cross-generational lineup: Senior playing left and batting second, Junior batting third and playing center.
They both hit the cover off the ball for two weeks. Then the Mariners pulled into Anaheim for a series against the Angels. Two teams going nowhere, playing out the string, just trying to stay ahead of the chill of the offseason.
Then, on Sept. 14, in the second game of the four-game series, some of the magic dust from nearby Disneyland descended over Anaheim Stadium.
In the first inning, Senior swung at a choice 0-and-2 pitch from right-hander Kirk McCaskill and sent it on a line over the left-center fence for a home run. He circled the bases and was welcomed home by a warm hug from the on-deck batter, Junior.
Then The Kid stepped into the box. The count reached 3-and-0; green-lighted Junior cut at McCaskill’s low-and-outside heater and lined it over the left-center fence for his home run.
Father and son, back-to-back. Never happened before, likely to never happen again.
I worked the Seattle clubhouse after the game, as usual my scorebook tucked under my notepad for reference. As I approached the Griffeys, side-by-side also in the locker room, the singularity of their achievement struck me.
I asked both to sign my scoresheet, and they happily obliged. One below the other, adjacent to their “home run” notations.
It’s the only piece of memorabilia I have, framed on the wall of my office.
So, welcome back to the site of the miracle, Junior.
Rights of Spring
Man, I hate it when Spring Training and actual sounds of the game interrupt that wonderful flow of steroids, government intervention and $$$ news. …
Hate it about as much as New York-style pizza, Arizona sunsets, Clint Eastwood movies and anything by Sade or Jamie Callum (check him out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdm2A7ZsgH4&feature=related). …
SELENA ROBERTS: Is anyone else just a little perturbed that her co-authored expose of Alex Rodriguez in Sports Illustrated turned out to be a precursor to her previously-unmentioned book, the release of which has now been rushed up a month by publisher HarperCollins? “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez” will now hit the shelves on April 14. …
PLAYERS when they sign big contracts: “It’s not about the money.” The same guys, now that the money has shrunk a little, on their way to the retirement home: “Man, it’s just not worth it.” …
SNUGGLES: Yeah, those dumb commercials for the “blanket you wear as a robe.” The part about wearing them outdoors at a Little League game always cracks me up, it is so lame. But darned if a fan didn’t show up wearing a bathrobe (brand unknown) for last weekend’s Notre Dame-UCLA game in Pauley Pavilion. It was a 10 a.m. start, so I guess a good thing the guy wasn’t still chewing his toothbrush. …
STEROIDS-SLASHED STATS: The problem with all this talk about downsizing the home-run counts of alleged cheats is, what do you then do to the teams who profited by them? Do you take away the pennants accumulated by the A’s (Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada), Rangers (Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez) and Yankees (too many to list)? …
DUSTIN PEDROIA: At a listed height of 5-foot-9 (and even that, maybe in high heels), he is the shortest American League MVP in 54 years, since 5-foot-8 Yogi Berra earned the trophy in 1954. Joe Morgan, 5-foot-7 and also a second baseman, took NL honors in 1976. For the record, other 5-foot-9 MVPs have been Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Ivan Rodriguez (1999), Terry Pendleton (1991) and Nellie Fox (1959). …
NEIL DIAMOND: Had the Dodgers not skipped out on Brooklyn, baseball might have had an outfielder with the perfect ball name. The singer revealed during the run-up to last week’s Grammy Awards, “I started taking guitar lessons when the Dodgers left Brooklyn. I was so depressed, so my parents bought me a guitar.” …
YANKEES: How many times. in the wake of the A-Rod Week, have you heard one of them insist, “We’ll support him. We’re like a family.” Or, like Family Feud. We shall see. …
Change for a Nickel 