Category: MLB General

mlb-general

Categories
MLB General

Didn’t these guys learn anything from "A League of Their Own?"

Apparently the good people over at Maxim do more than just compile sexy spreads of some of the hottest babes under the sun. In fact, according to our sources, their magazines actually have words in them. Who knew? As a result, we did a little hunting of our own and found one of these mysterious “articles” we had been told of, and it turned out to be quite entertaining. So, without further ado, we give to you “Baseball’s Biggest Wuss Bags.”

#10-Mike Piazza, Oakland A’s

#9-Chuck Finley, California Angels

#8-Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants

#7-Vince Coleman, New York Mets

#6-Jose Canseco, The Surreal Life

#5-This guy

#4-John Kruk, Philadelphia Phillies/Baseball Tonight

#3-Mark Prior, Chicago Cubs

#2-Bobby Crosby, Oakland A’s

#1-Carl Pavano, New York Yankees

It’s a pretty accurate list considering that it came from a picture book. Ya know, Playboy might want to consider this concept of using stories in their mag as well.

Links:

[MaximOnline.com]: Baseball’s Biggest Wuss Bags

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: How to waste $8.3M a year


1. The Offseason’s Worst Signing: It always fasinates me that teams choose to sign a pitcher they know is bad instead of bringing one up from the minors and saving $10 million. For example, the Mariners paid Jeff Weaver $8.3 million a year this offseason even though they knew he couldn’t pitch in the AL. Didn’t they know how bad he was, considering he had a 6.29 ERA and 3-10 record last year when he player for division foe Los Angeles? Well, this year, Weaver has been the single worst pitcher in baseball easily. After another shelling Thursday against the Tigers, his ERA stands at 14.32, his WHIP is 2.59, and opponents are batting .459 against him. Add that to an 0-6 record, and you have the single worst signing this offseason by any team. In games that Weaver does not pitch, the Mariners are 15-9, a winning percentage that would be good enough for the division lead. Weaver gave up 6 runs in 5 innings against the Tigers, which actually lowered his ERA. Justin Verlander got the win for Detroit, who is 9-1 their last 10 and took over the division lead.

2. One year makes a difference: In 2006, Toronto finished ahead of Boston for second in the AL East. This year, they aren’t even in the same league as the Red Sox; Boston swept them in a three game series and leads them by more than 10 games. The Blue Jays have now lost 9 in a row, and have a worse record than the Devil Rays. Even their ace is struggling. Roy Halladay came off a 12-hit, 9-run start last week and allowed 7 runs to the Red Sox. Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield continues to be one of the more underrated players in baseball, as he improved to 4-3 with a 1.79 ERA. In his last two starts, Wakefield has allowed zero runs in 14 innings. Boston now has a seven-game lead over the Yankees, while the Blue Jays’ playoff hopes are pretty much already over.

3. If you think the Blue Jays are bad…: The Kansas City Royals might never be a good team again. They have failed to make the playoffs since their World Series title in 1985. KC has finished in last for three straight years, and it’s a guarantee that this year will be their fourth in a row. They were walloped 17-3 by the Oakland A’s, a usually light-hitting team. The A’s hit six homers, including two each by Dan Johnson and Jack Crust. The Royals had three different pitchers allow more than four runs as they fell to 11-24. The A’s are just one game back from the Angels for first place.

Player of the Day: Dan Johnson, A’s: 4-4, 4 runs, 4 RBIs, 2 HRs in a 17-3 win over Kansas City.

Stat of the Day: 47…That’s the number of homeruns the Reds have this season, the most in the majors. Would anyone have guessed that at this point in the season, the five most powerful teams would be Cincy, Milwaukee, Florida, Texas, and Tampa? The Reds are led by Adam Dunn with 11 homers, Josh Hamilton at 8, Alex Gonzalez at 7, and notably Ken Griffey Jr. with 6. Griffey has 569 career jacks and is tied for ninth on the all-time list.

Categories
MLB General

Rickey Henderson is still humble after all these years


So, now that Roger Clemens has made his return to the big leagues, Rickey Henderson has been all over the place trying to get a gig of his own in the pros. But while he waits for some sucker to sign him, he’s enjoying his free days by getting reacquainted with America’s pastime and on Monday he took in a game between the Mets and Giants at AT&T Park.

Turned out Rickey was in the right place at the right time because he ended up snagging a foul ball while sitting in the stands. No big deal, right? After all, it’s not the first time that Henderson has made a nice catch. But apparently Henderson wanted to add the ball to his personal collection of memorabilia and he refused to give it up to some lil’ tike that was sitting by him. What a swell guy!

Everybody was asking me for the ball,” Henderson said Tuesday, according to the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. “I said, ‘You’re not getting this ball. I always wanted to get a foul ball. This one’s going on a shelf at home.’

But to prove that he wasn’t a complete jerk, Henderson did sign a ball that the kid already had. Seems to us that he could have just flipped the ball to the kid; c’mon, is he really going to move his AL MVP, Golden Glove or ALCS MVP awards down the shelf so that he can prominently display the foul ball he caught? Everyone knows just how selfish and conceded this guy is. Who else but Rickey says stuff like “Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But today, I’m the greatest of all time,” after breaking a record? Oh well, as Rickey would say, “That’s just Rickey being Rickey.”

Links:

[SignOnSanDiego.com]: Want a foul ball? Then catch it, kid

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Smoltz vs Maddux


1. Pitcher’s Duel, Hall of Fame style: It’s not often there’s a pitching matchup features two starters that are future Hall of Famers and former teammates. But that’s what John Smoltz vs. Greg Maddux had to offer, and it lived up to its billing. The game marked Maddux’s return to Turner Field for the first time since leaving the team in 2003. I went to Turner Field to see these two greats face off. One of the more interesting moments occurred during Maddux’s first at-bat. The crowd at Turner Field gave him an enormous standing ovation, then Maddux lined a single off Smoltz. Earlier that inning, Geoff Blum hit a solo homer, which was matched the next inning with an opposite-field shot by Adrian Gonzalez. But Smoltz was never rattled by these errors, as he moved down many of the batters he faced to finish with 7 innings, 2 runs, and 7 strikeouts. Maddux, meanwhile, was his usual, efficient self. He was taken out early after just 72 pitches, but Maddux pitched a great 5.1 innings, only surrendering one run. With the Padres up 2-1 and stud reliever Cla Meredith in, it seemed over for the Braves. However, the Braves reeled off four straight hits, including RBIs by Chipper and Andruw Jones. For Andruw, it turned out to be his second night in a row with a game-winning RBI. That’s because when relievers Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano came in for the Braves, they were utterly unhittable. Gonzalez, with his awkward windup and wicked curveball, quickly ousted the bottom third of the Padres’ order. Soriano, who came in as the closer, struck out 2 using his 96 mph fastball. The Braves won 3-2, with John Smoltz receiving his 198th career win. Another note in this game was Braves leftfielder Willie Harris, who was very speedy on the basepaths and hit the ball well. Overall, this was one of those games that came in with a lot of hype and completely lived up to it.

2. Unlikely Aces: Jason Marquis sucked last year with the Cardinals, as he put up a 6.00+ ERA and was left off the team’s postseason rotation. But this year with the Cubs, he has dominated and won five straight starts. On Wednesday, he gave a complete-game shutout, three-hit effort, good for a 1-0 win over the Pirates. The game’s only run was scored on a leadoff homer by Alfonso Soriano. For the rest of the game, Marquis (5-1 with a 1.70 ERA now) was the story. Elsewhere around baseball, some breakout pitchers emerged. The Devil Rays’ James Shields pitched as well as Marquis–nine innings, three hits and no runs allowed–but his team lost. That’s because opposing pitcher Erik Bedard struck out 10 and shut out the D-Rays, and this game went 0-0 into extra innings. Aubrey Huff of the Orioles hit a game-ending homerun. Also, Gil Meche of the Royals, the most widely panned offseason signing, pitched well enough to lead his team over the first-place A’s.

Player of the Day: It’s too hard to choose among the pitchers, so I’m going with David Ortiz, Red Sox: 4-5, HR (9), 3 RBIs in a 9-3 win over Toronto.

Stat of the Day: Maddux and Smoltz have combined for 533 wins and 5 Cy Youngs in their careers. It’s not the most ever for opposing pitchers in either category, but it’s still impressive.

Categories
MLB General

Rickey Henderson getting senile in his old age


What’s the first thing you thought when you heard that Roger Clemens signed with the Yankees? If your answer was “Man, that just means Rickey Henderson is due for a comeback!”, then your name must be Rickey Henderson. Rickey Henderson thinks that Rickey is ready to kick some ass on the field again.


Seeing Roger come back, all the seed that it plants is ask me to come back one time. I’m going to look at it at the end of the year. I might come out with some crazy stuff, a press conference telling every club, ‘Put me on the field with your best player and see if I come out of it.’ If I can’t do it, I’ll call it quits at the end,

Is Rickey talking about a steel cage match? A dance off with the mascot from Tampa Bay? That would be something worth watching. Rickey is the best base stealer ever but there’s a reason he’s been out of the majors since 2003.

Links:
[NY Daily News]: Rickey: Clemens? Sign me!

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Exceeding expectations


1. A Penny Earned: Brad Penny has exceeded everyone’s expectations this year in being one of the best pitchers in the majors. On Monday he had his most dominant start of the season against the Marlins. Penny had 14 strikeouts in 7 shutout innings. Amazingly, he only had 15 strikeouts the whole season up until this game. Now Penny is 4-0 with a 1.39 ERA, good for second in the majors behind John Maine. He has reeled off seven straight quality starts this season, and has yet to give up a homer. The Dodgers won 6-1, helped offensively by Jeff Kent and breakout catcher Russell
Martin. They have a one-game lead over San Diego in the NL West.

2. Best vs. Worst: The best team in the league played the worst one on Monday, and the result was basically what you would expect. The 22-10 Brewers shut down the 9-23 Nationals as Chris Capuano gave his best start this year. Capuano went 8 innings, had 9 strikeouts, and played a huge role in the 3-0 shutout of Washington. Capuano is now 5-0 and has a 16-inning scoreless streak. As the season goes on, Milwaukee is starting to look less and less like a fluke and more like this year’s Detroit Tigers.

3. Other unbeatens: Penny and Capuano are among a multitude of pitchers who have not lost this season. Most notably is 6-0 Josh Beckett, who has won the most games in the majors this year. CC Sabathia and major league ERA leader John Maine are 5-0. At 3-0 there’s resurgent Bartolo Colon of the Angels, who’s pitching better than he did in his Cy Young season. Also, Mike Maroth is 2-0 despite a 5.35 ERA, Jeremy Bonderman is 1-0 with five no-decisions, James Shields of Tampa is 3-0, Baltimore’s Adam Loewen is 2-0, and Milwaukee’s Claudio Vargas is 3-0. All those undefeated pitchers combined with the 24 who have an ERA under 3.00, and it’s no surprise that pitching has been dominant this season.

Player of the Day: Bengie Molina, Giants: 2-3, 2 HR, 5 RBIs in a 9-4 win over the Mets. Both of Molina’s homeruns and all of the Giants’ runs came in a 9-run fifth inning.

Stat of the Day: Roy Oswalt is 19-1 in his career against the Reds. He beat them on Monday to improve to 5-2. Only four other pitchers in major league history took 19 of 20 from the same team, according to Elias Sports.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Return of the Rocket


1. He’s (almost) baaaacck: Roger Clemens is back with the team he won two World Series titles with. The Yankees, who have been desperate for starting pitching since the beginning of the season, signed the Rocket in a $28 million deal pro-rated over four months (so he’ll make $18.5 million). While this deal comes as unsurprising, it could have a huge effect on the league this season. When Clemens returns to the mound within the next month or so, the Yankees with have a solid rotation: Clemens, Mussina, Ming-Wang, Pettitte, and Hughes. But since an already old team is adding a 45-year-old pitcher, it also shows the Yankees need a World Series title this year. As Clemens moves from the National League back to the American, he’ll see a rise in ERA from the past two seasons. But with increased run support, he will have a better record than he did with the Astros, and he will help make the Yankees at least competitive with the Red Sox for the division title. I still favor Boston to win it, but Clemens certainly makes the race more interesting.

2. Phenom meets phenom: Barry Bonds didn’t play on Sunday Night Baseball against the Phillies, but the game was still interesting due to a lot of offense and a matchup of young pitchers. The Phillies sent their ace-to-be Cole Hamels to the mound to face the Giants’ Tim Lincecum in his major league debut. Lincecum had lit up the minor leagues for a 0.29 ERA in five starts this year, but he allowed two homers (including a shot to Ryan Howard) and struggled with his control. After four innings and 100 pitches, Lincecum left with 5 runs and 5 walks allowed. Hamels allowed 5 runs as well, but only 3 of them were earned and he had 9 strikeouts. He was credited with the win and improved to 4-1 on the year. Another thing worth noting for the Phillies was the emergence of a new weapon on the basepaths. Pinch-runner Michael Bourn came in on first, stole two bases on two consecutive pitches, then scored on a routine grounder to short that usually would have been an out. The Phillies may only be 14-17, but they certainly have a lot of offensive weapons.

3. Detroit Dominance: The Tigers may have just faced the pitiful Royals over the weekend, but they took advantage of them and extended their winning streak to 7 games. A three-game sweep of Kansas City gave Detroit a share of the division lead with Cleveland. On Sunday they dominated 13-4 and had four different players with a homerun. Gary Sheffield hit his third homer of the past five games and has suddenly heated up after a cold April. Also, rookie pitcher Chad Durbin had one of his better starts with 7.2 innings and just 2 runs allowed. The 19-11 Tigers will be tested with back-to-back road series against the Red Sox and Twins over the next week.

Player of the Day: Trot Nixon, Indians: 5-5, 4 RBIs in a 9-6 win over Baltimore.

Stat of the Day: Padres starter Jake Peavy has struck out at least 10 batters in three consecutive games, while throwing for only seven innings in each game.

Walk Off: An ESPN poll about Barry Bonds shows only 58% of people think he should be in the Hall of Fame. This goes to show the complete unintelligence of baseball fans. Even if you think Bonds cheated in every way possible, he was a Hall of Famer before his alleged steroid use. His is the best hitter in a generation, and should be a unanimous Hall of Fame selection in addition to being considered one of the greatest hitters ever. He has broken more records than anybody since Babe Ruth. Don’t let the crappy person Bonds is diminish his unbelievable numbers.

Categories
MLB General

MLB Cost Index for May 7 2007


The MLB Cost Index is one measure of how well your GM did over the course of the offseason and during the season. The Index takes a look at the payrolls for each team and calculates a Cost per Win number. Pretty simple stuff right? But in the wide open world of baseball with no salary cap, it’s the best way we can think of to judge teams on a level (monetary) playing field.

Not much changed with the Cost Index in the past week. The biggest mover was the Chicago Cubs who jumped from 29th to 20th by virtue of 5 wins in a row. However, their south side rival White Sox dropped down to their 29th spot. The Tigers also made a big jump up in the rankings to 12 but everyone else pretty much stayed the same.

The complete MLB Cost Index after the jump.

Continue reading “MLB Cost Index for May 7 2007”

Categories
MLB General

MLB Power Rankings Roundup for May 4 2007

Well folks, it’s unanimous: the Red Sox are the best team in the land. They have the best record in the majors at 18-9 and they seem to have the AL East locked up already. Meanwhile, in the rest of the league, the Indians, Diamondbacks and Brewers made the most noise in the power rankings this week, moving up the charts. The Yankees and Tigers are the big losers this week.

Here are the major power rankings:

Rank Sportscolumn ESPN FoxSports Sportsline USA Today TSN.ca
1 Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox
2 Mets Mets Indians Braves Mets Mets
3 Braves Indians Mets Mets Braves Brewers
4 Dodgers Tigers Braves Indians Dodgers D’backs
5 Brewers Braves Angels Brewers Twins Dodgers
6 Indians Brewers D’backs Angels Indians Giants
7 Tigers Dodgers Brewers D’backs Angels Twins
8 Twins Twins Dodgers Twins Padres Angels
9 Angels Padres Twins Tigers Brewers Tigers
10 D’backs Angels Tigers Dodgers White Sox Braves
11-30 more more more more more more

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Yankees get much needed sweep


1. Double Trouble: After going 1-8 in a one-and-half week stretch and falling to the bottom of the division, the Yankees cranked out a much-needed sweep of the Texas Rangers. On Thursday, they won both games of a doubleheader, based on the strength of their pitching, believe it or not. In game 1, Andy Pettitte pitched six strong innings and the bullpen held him up in a 4-3 win. In the second contest, Mike Mussina came off the DL with an excellent 5-inning, one-run effort. After a period in which it looked like the Yankees’ pitchers couldn’t stop a Double A offense, now they’re at full strength again with the return of Mussina and Chien Ming-Wang. More good news for them is that they play the Rangers again next week.

2. Cleveland Comeback: The best team in the league is currently the Cleveland Indians, and lately they’ve refused to lose. The Indians have a 10-1 record in their past 11 games, and on Thursday they completed a sweep of the Blue Jays. Toronto had captured a four-run lead early as Troy Glaus hit his fifth homer, but Cleveland stormed back thanks to Victor Martinez and others. Martinez went 4-4 with two RBIs, and Grady Sizemore hit a game-winning double for a 6-5 victory. The Indians still only have a 2 game lead, because Detroit has been hot lately as well.

3. Criticize him now: The most widely panned signing of the offseason was the $10 million-a-year contract the Royals gave to Gil Meche. But so far this year, he’s been worth it. Meche is 3-1 on the league’s worst team, and has an excellent 2.23 ERA. His pitching was good enough to lead the Royals past the first-place Angels as they became the last team in the AL to reach the 10-win mark. Meche pitched 7 innings and allowed just 2 runs, which came on a first-inning homer to the untouchable Vladimir Guerrero. The Royals’ 5-2 victory gave them a 2-2 tie in the four-game series. Meche now ranks first in the AL in innings pitched and third in ERA.

Player of the Day: Manny Ramirez, Red Sox: 2-5, 2 HR (5) including the game-winner, 3 RBIs in an 8-7 win over Seattle.

Stat of the Day: Since his first start of the season, Daisuke Matsuzaka has allowed 22 runs in 31 innings, good for a 6.38 ERA. He got torched for 7 runs against the Mariners on Thursday.