Results tagged ‘ Washington Nationals ’
Congratulations, Washington
A lot of people thought that when the Expos moved to Washington, D.C., they would be able to turn things around. Baseball was ‘back’ in the District and that was great. Well, it’s a step up from playing your games overseas because no one at home cares. Unfortunately, it does not produce the W. I no longer subscribe to MLB.TV, (because I have no money and, even more importantly, no bandwidth at school,) so I can only catch a game on the rare occasion that one is on TV and I have a chance to step in. Which isn’t often. And that’s how I ended up watching Nationals v. Braves last night. As far as baseball games go, this one was not spectacular. Summary: 8th inning, Smoltz is still in a 0-0 game with runners on the corners. Belliard singles to right field to bring home a run, and the Nationals went nuts. Ryan Church, in the dugout, yelled, "we got ahead, finally!" Sadly enough, he wasn’t referring to just this game. This was the first time in 61 innings that the Nationals had held a lead. And so the team freaked out. Not wanting to jinx their ‘rally’ they returned to their previously occupied positions on the bench. Another single by Zimmerman brought in yet another runner, 2-0 Nationals. Go team!
Technically, this was the Nationals first in-game lead of the year. Their only previous lead this season was a walk-off, game winning single by Dmitri Young. So that Nationals weren’t really ahead in that game, technically speaking. But enough of how bad this team is. Starter Jason Bergmann went 6 innings, walking four and giving up just one hit while striking out eight. Remarkable, because in his last outing he gave up six walks in 3.2 innings. Bergmann explained his sudden improvement by recalling a "nice chat" he had with GM Jim Bowden, in which he told him that he was disappointed in him, but behind him 100%. Jason decided that walks, "are just not fun," and that’s our story. Didn’t anyone ever take this kid aside in A-ball and tell him to stop giving the other team free bases? Well, this is the Nationals organization for you. They’re so bad, it’s even hard to make fun of them. This should be a good year for cracking at the cellar dwellers. We’ve got the Royals, Marlins, Devil Rays, Nationals, Cubs, Pirates… is it just me, or are the bad teams multiplying?
Thanks for the comment geoff, good to see someone is back… as of now we’re still a few years out on the medical degree. Alright. I’m running home for a day to take care of the taxes. Amazingly, there are too many distractions here at school for me to sit down and just get them done. And, of course, we’re getting up against it. See you guys in a day or two.
"I saved a life – my own. Does that make me a hero? I really can’t say… but yes."
-Michael Scott
Nats owner news, Royals, Mariners, and big news
We all know the Nationals have a new owner now. What we didn’t know is that this makes them a better baseball team. Well, at least ESPN’s Tim Kurkijan thinks so. Actually, don’t read that article. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m serious. I’ve never read anything so BS in my life. Here are some quality excerpts:
Our long Nationals nightmare is over…now the team can start moving forward… The Nationals can begin to operate like a realmajor league team… The team has struggled this year, and attendance is down slightly, mainly because it was a rudderless team that
hasn’t gotten the support it needs from MLB, or the city… The first year and one month of existence for the Nationals was just practice. Now, the franchise officially begins… All the Nats needed was an owner. And now, finally, they have one.
No. The Nationals nightmare is not ever, and the team still isn’t going anywhere. The reason they’ve been so bad this season is not because they didn’t have an owner, it’s because they’re a flat-out bad team. The players don’t put up good enough numbers to win games. Don’t try to tell me that they went out there last year under the impression that they were playing 162 exhibition games. This team stinks, no two ways about it. If having an owner makes you a championship-caliber team, there would be (theoretically) 30 teams with .500 records at the end of the year. Tim also cites RFK stadium as being a "significant disadvantage" for the Nationals. Why is that? When the Nationals come up to bat, do they push the fences back 20 feet, only to move them back in when the opposing team steps up to the plate? Do you really think the Nationals are gonna go and set the world on fire now that they’ve got an owner? Heck no. Sure, firing Jim Bowden will make your team better, no doubt. But again, too little too late. Remember, call your shot in the Jim Bowden firing pool – so far, Jason has dibs on June 19th.
The Royals are still bad, and now they’re "your team"
The Nationals still have a shot at saving this season, but the Royals do not. By the way, they lost again last night. They’re now 5-20. As I said before, but how can you be that bad? Imagine taking the field five times and walking away with one win. The Royals also have a new slogan – "Your team. Your town." Of all the bad baseball slogans, that’s probably the worst. First off, that doesn’t tell me anything. Second – if I lived in Kansas City, that’s exactly the kind of thing that would make me want to move to, say, St. Louis. I’m guessing the average K.C. citizen had these thoughts upon seeing that slogan:
Just because I live in K.C., I have to be associated with the Royals? What will my friends think of me? Will I still be able to get a job? Will I be able to take out a loan? Rent a car? Vote?
Hearing that the Kansas City Royals are "your team" has got to feel a lot like getting hit in the forehead with a ton of bricks; pain so severe and hideous that you just black out. And of course, whenever I mention the Royals I need to mention PFC Mark Grudzielanek. Whatever General is heading up Mark’s War needs to develop a new battle plan. The current strategy isn’t working. Reports from the front indicate that the army is retreating, blowing up every bridge behind them, and that soldiers are deserting en masse. Doesn’t look good. If you don’t know why I continue to refer to the Royal’s season as a military campaign, wait until the "What you missed" post, coming up tonight or tomorrow. Or hunt the reference down here.
Everyday Eddie out of the closing role; Mariners still bad
Well, you didn’t need a crystal ball to see this coming. The Mariners have finally put Eddie out his misery, removing him from the closer role. Who’s the new closer? The best arm in the game, closer-by-committee. If you don’t know what this is, see Dusty Baker’s explanation. I’ll say the same thing here as I did when someone drafted Eddie as the #86 pick in my pay league draft this year – two picks in front of Thome, no less: "You can’t go wrong with Everyday Eddie. Wait… that was 2002." His career stats are misleading as well. For example, in 2004 he had just a 2.78 ERA. However, he blew 7 saves out of 25 total opportunities. If you’re the Mariners and you’re struggling to stay one step ahead of the Royals, you really can’t afford those kinds of losses. Then again, if you’re going to run an organization based on sound logic like that, you wouldn’t give a guy like Adrian Beltre $64 million for 5 years. Beltre’s 2004 fluke with the Dodgers was probably the most standout anomaly in the world. Of course, 2004 was Adrian’s contract year, so after he went wild he jumped ship and signed with Seattle. For the following statistical analysis, we’re going to look at Beltre’s stats for 2004 compared to his average stats from 1999-2003 and 2005, when he played full-time. I present the following visual aid: 
Note that the difference between the slugging and batting averages is diluted because of the scale; they are .443/.629 and .265/.334. As shown, Seattle is probably very angry with Adrian. Now, Adrian didn’t just fall from the sky in 2004. LA had been waiting for him to develop for some time. But after he went wild in 2004, did they try to re-sign him? I’ll give you a hint – the Dodgers are in the NL West. Remember the old 7-man batting order trick? Anyway, you’re probably asking – how can I jump on Seattle for signing him, yet jump on LA for not trying to sign him? Well, that’s a good point. But if you’re the Dodgers and you think you’ve got the sell-high candidate of the century and you’re convinced that he had a fluke of a year, so you don’t want to give him the money that you know he doesn’t deserve, you don’t just let him walk away. You test out the market and see if you can move him. If you think you can, you resign him and flip him away. If you didn’t think he had a fluke of a year, you shell out the cash to better your team. Beltre is currently hitting .202 in Seattle, with 1 HR and 6 RBI in 104 AB’s.
Tigers lose; Leyland’s clothing at fault
Remember when I talked about superstitions? I said that although Steve Finley’s magic bag doesn’t make him a better hitter, he thinks it does, so it does. Looks like Jim Leyland just developed a real good superstition. One that’s gonna make him a really popular guy whenever the Tigers are winning. Leyland had been wearing the same clothes since the Tigers began their 6-game winning streak. However, when the Tigers played the Angels today at home, Leyland had to change because he "looked like a hobo," and the team is about to go on a road trip. Well, the Tigers lost this afternoon, 7-2. Good job, skip. The team is now 19-10. So we’re still above .500, which is Detroit’s benchmark for success. If the Tigers had won today, it would have been their first 7-game winning streak since 1993. I was in elementary school then.
Quick notes
Jose Contreras has won 13 straight… I have nothing. San Diego is currently on a four-game win streak, dating back to last Sunday’s miracle win over the Dodgers. I suggest you read that, because it’s unbelievable. Let’s just say the World’s Worst Offense came back from being down 5-0 in the bottom of the 9th. On a related note, of the six division leaders, the two worst records belong to – guess – the AL and NL West. No way. Texas and Colorado both have 16 wins and 12 losses. If another 82-80 team goes to the playoffs, it’s Game Over. BPS agrees, as we’ll see soon. Check out the solution to this problem that I wrote a few days ago. By the way, that’s probably the 80th time I’ve made a post saying that the Padres and NL West are bad.
Comments and Notes
BHGM got some serious run on BPS today. Thanks Geoff.
I sauntered over to our boy Reid’s blog a few days back
and read one of his many posts bashing the Padres and the NL West [found here]. The BPS had consistently come down
pretty hard on the Pads and their whole miserable, rotting, wasteland
division. And you have to understand, Reid is the type of dude who asks
for his readers to throw him some questions, and then he proceeds to
hammer out an elaborate discourse on whatever it is they come back
with. Why? Because, as I commented on his blog a few days ago, he is
the Original Dedicated Baseball Monster. The ODBM. My question to him
(just to see what he would do with it) was what MLB can do about
wretched, barely-.500 teams like the Pads from ever making the playoffs again. Take a look
at what the kid wrote.
Great stuff. I have no idea how long it took him, but I know these
things don’t take fifteen minutes. The ODBM, a dedicated monster.
I would have paraphrased that (and I did take out a few words), but then you wouldn’t be getting the full effect. It took me about an hour and a half. But that’s really not that bad, because I spent the rest of the day – no joke – in class, from 8a-3.30p. Made that post at 5.45p. See how it goes? As for the next 5 days at BHGM, leading up to May 10th, when I go home – we’ll either be seeing a lot of posts or a little. I’m not sure how hard I’ll be studying for finals, (one on Saturday, Monday, and two on Wednesday.) However, the "What you missed" post is on it’s way. BHGM has picked up a lot of new readers in the past couple weeks, and they’re probably pretty confused when they read things like the account of Mark’s War found above. I’ve already made the list and I’m currently writing it out. It might even get out tonight. It should be good for a lot of laughs. As for the comments – your June 19th bid has been recorded, Jason. Thanks for the submission. If anyone else wants to enter the BHGM "Call Jim Bowden’s Shot in the Unemployment Line" Contest, drop me an email or leave a comment anywhere. There will be a prize. I haven’t decided what yet. See you guys later tonight.
This Just In: The Nats have an owner!
Hooray! Seems like Bud’s jig is up – it turns out that the Lerner’s won the team after all, at a price of $450 million. This is more than shocking after last week’s debacle, when another ownership group ‘accused’ Bud of having selected the Lerner’s already, precipitating a day of denials and false promises of interviews with personalities like Ken Griffey Jr.
So that’s right: the Nationals have an owner. Lerner and Co. Now we can start calling Jim Bowden’s shot in the unemployment pool. In your comment, tell me when day you think Jimmy will be fired (yes, you can guess ‘today.’) But keep in mind that Lerner won’t assume operation of the franchise until "mid-June." Whether or not that means he still has fire/hire control, I have no idea. Probably not. So you can start your guesses at the "mid-June" date of June 15th. The winner gets a prize.
There is also a huge scuffle within The District, as some people with power are saying that Lerner’s group didn’t do enough to include minority investors. On the other hand, the two other groups in the front running for the team, the Smulyan and Malek-Zients syndicate, included many minorities and consistently lobbied DC officials – while Lerner’s group hung around Bud and kept quiet around everyone else. So for all you MLB Team Owners-to-be, next time you’re trying to win a team – remember to talk to Bud. But I don’t really care, it’s irrelevant anyway. Have you heard anything about the potential baseball-related ownership policies yet? No. It seems everyone has forgotten that they’re buying a baseball team here. Again, we’re talking Royals and Nationals here. You just went from really bad to really bad with an owner. Great, any of the DC Fans that do exist have one more group of people to blame for their team’s failures.
Hopefully this won’t be like the day MLB announced they were moving the franchise to DC. That went something like,
DC: "Great, we’re glad to have you. You’re paying for the stadium, right?"
MLB: "Uh, no… you are."
DC: "Well, we can’t, you’ll have to, especially since the team you gave us has no owner. You’re still coming, right?"
MLB: "Uh, no."
Thankfully, some person in power stepped in at the 59th minute of the 11th hour to salvage the deal, and now they’re doing the whole groundbreaking tomorrow. With the new owner. Well, have a nice day, and remember to call Jimmy’s shot.
Happy Birthdays and Nationals ‘War’
First off, Happy Birthday to BHGM (1 year old tomorrow,) and my Mother (not telling.) I’ve got a great Mom who supports most of the stuff I do. But she thinks I’m wasting my money on anything baseball related. Oh well. In the next week or so I’m hoping to put up a post that will highlight the last year’s worth of blogging here on BHGM, so look for that soon. It should be pretty funny.
Do the Nationals have an owner yet? Well, no. Now, here is where it gets confusing, which is actually normal when you’re talking about the Nationals. See, on Wednesday, rumors were circulating that MLB was about to name a new owner. The rumors were apparently started by Jeffrey Smulyan’s "people." Smulyan is one of the three groups expected to receive the bid. The other two groups in contention are the family of Theodore Lerner, and a "syndicate" led by Fred Malek and Jeffrey Zients. Anyway, on Wednesday, (or was it Tuesday?) Smulyan’s people were telling everyone that the Lerner’s had just won the bid.
And this is where it gets really, really weird. See, Smulyan’s "people" were all over it too; according to one reporter, Smulyan’s "people" called him and told him that Ken Griffey Jr. would like to meet with him at RFK Stadium (where the Reds were playing the Nats,) and talk to about Smulyan as an owner, since he owned the Mariners when Griffey played there. Now, forget for a minute that Smulyan’s ownership tactics are absolutely irrelevant, and that it really doesn’t matter what Ken Griffey Jr. thinks about them anyway. In any case, Griffey never showed, and so the reporter asks one of the club’s PR managers where he is. Of course, he replies that Griffey is rehabbing a knee injury back in Cincinnati. So Smulyan’s people say that Griffey will call this reporter in the afternoon, but the call never came. Meanwhile, Smulyan himself is denying the reports, as are Selig and Bob Dupuy, MLB President.
But here’s where we climb deeper into the rabbit hole. Now, Bud Selig is saying that they are close to selecting an owner. In fact, the owner will be present at Thursday’s groundbreaking for the new Stadium that the city is building for the Nationals. Now I realize that you can deny that you’ve selected an owner, yet say that you’re close to doing so without bending any laws of logic. However, isn’t it just weird – not stupid, and not crazy – that a day after a story breaks saying they’ve found a new owner, MLB says they’re close to finding an owner after spending the entire previous day denying it? But whatever, that can be justified, even if the reasoning is standing on very shaky ground.
What can’t be justified is the $450 million price tag for the team. Yeah. Apparently, eight groups are asking MLB if they’ll take $450 million off their hands in exchange for the Washington Nationals. This is what’s really crazy. Ever see a house on your block for sale, and you decide you’ll check it out at the open house just to see what it’s like? You’re thinking, ‘compared to my house, this thing is probably worth $150,000.’ Then you see the owners are asking $300,000. And then the house sells in its third day on the market. You pretty much feel like you’re the only sane person left in the world. This is how I feel about the Nationals. Now, don’t get me wrong – like any real baseball fan, my dream is to own a baseball team. But not the Nationals. No one is going to the games anymore, they’re not winning games anymore, and their general manager has all but demolished the team. In short, off all the bad teams in the league, (with the possible exception of the Royals and Pirates,) they probably have the smallest upside. Oh yeah, and the oft-hated Padres. And you’re gonna give up money – almost half a million, no less – to get in on that?
Whatever. These guys must have made their money somehow, so they must know what they’re doing. They can probably pull an Angels marketing trick, (lest we forget that the name change was intended to make LA fans feel more included and draw them away from the stinky Dodgers,) and find some way to draw from the Orioles. Which won’t be too hard, seeing as they’re really bad. No doubt, that will make Peter Angelos go ballistic. Recall that he didn’t want the Expos coming to DC because they would draw from his fan base, and he made some outrageous claim along the lines of a $1 billion loss or something. It’s good to see that Angelos is more concerned with a competing team than he is about the fact that his team is getting worse and worse every year. Here’s a hint, Pete – if your team wins, you’ll sell more tickets. However, if you’re really bad, you won’t draw fans to the yard. I think Selig gave him a television network and he shut up.
Bottom line: Jim Bowden can get in the unemployment line now, because he’s about to be out of a job. The fact that the new owners are willing to pay for the Nationals makes me doubt their reasoning skills. But even the most rudimentary rules of business that even the most basic businessman knows dictates that what Bowden is doing to the team – destroying it – is a big no-no. He’ll be fired. Maybe at the end of the season, at the latest.
Strong showing on the comments, guys. Three for all of yesterday. We’re getting there. As far as the posting schedule goes, we’re looking at hopefully seeing something Saturday night or Sunday morning. Then we’ll be back to a daily format until Thursday or Friday, (4th/5th.) After that, we might see short posts like yesterday’s that aren’t too extensive and don’t have a lot to do with specific games until the 10th. I head home from school the night of the 10th (Wednesday,) and after that it won’t be long before the podcasts and website starting coming online. The website can be found at www.baseballradioshow.com. Anyway, I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think that the next 10 days are gonna be the "new" BHGM – it’s just a short break.
Nats and Pirates
Right now I’m really pushing at the end of school. My last finals, (Calc and Bio) are on May 10th, but I also have a Chem and Calc exam tomorrow. I’m going to be really busy for the majority of the next two weeks. I still plan on making posts, obviously, but I don’t know how regular or of what quality they’ll be. Today is one of those days where, sadly, I don’t have time to write much. Here goes. If any of you non-MLBloggers out there have something you would like to say, email me (link is on the left,) and I might just throw you in as a guest writer.
The Nats are still looking for an owner. They want $450 million. Meanwhile, they’re getting swept by the Reds, recording record (low) attendance numbers, and basically being a downright awful team. According to one of the 19,000 fans that attended Monday’s game, "There was more excitement at Olympic Stadium when Expos fans used to bang the empty seats up and down as noisemakers."
The Pirates have lost 7 games in a row. And they’ve held a lead for exactly 1/2 of an inning, when they scored 3 runs against the Cardinals on Tuesday in the 3rd inning to go up 3-2, only to have 2 runs dropped on them in the bottom of the same inning. They’re now 5-18. They’ve lost 9 of their last 10, have allowed the most runs in all of MLB, and have scored the 6th-fewest as well. They’re ahead of terrible teams like Kansas City (74), San Diego (80), Florida (84) and Oakland (92), with 94 runs scored. With the exception of Oakland (but not really, unless you’re SI, who called them the 2nd best team in MLB,) there really aren’t any shocks there. If you continue up that list, Washington has scored 95 runs, Minnesota has 96, and Boston has 99. Again, no real surprises.
Also, in one of the stupidest acts ever committed on a baseball diamond, Devil Rays minor leaguer Delmon Young flipped his bat after striking out. At the umpire. The bat connected with the ump in the chest. Are you kidding me? That’s assault, bro. Heck, you can get a lengthy suspension for bumping an ump, let alone chucking bats at them. What a psycho.
That’s all for now. Geoff is right, this no comments deal is bs. We’re now at one comment since Tuesday morning, and if Geoff hadn’t stepped up we’d be at 0. That’s really pathetic. I might be back with something on Saturday night, otherwise sometime on Sunday. Tomorrow is my Mother’s birthday, as well as BHGM’s first Birthday. As I’ve said before, I suspect that this is one of the oldest blogs in the Blogosphere, just, no one really knows it.
Midday Quick Shots
Today’s not a big baseball day for me. You regular readers know that Wednesday is my 9hr workday. And in between classes today, I had to write a 5pg math paper. That’s not fun at all. I have a calc and chem exam (9a and 10a, respectively,) on Friday as well, then a Bio focus group, and then home for the Mom’s Birthday. It might get lonely here. That said, a couple interesting things. Some short shots, if you will.
Albion College is nearby to an elementary school. Every day you see little kids walking around the campus in groups of about 60. I don’t know why this happens. Today I got to see them cross the street, military style. Anyone who has seen Black Hawk Down or Band of Brothers knows what I’m talking about. Proper military technique dictates that one soldier cross the road at a time; when he reaches the opposite side, the next soldier does his thing. That’s akin to what I saw today. A whole bunch of 6 year olds, all crossing the street two at a time. Really weird.
If you thought you were going to use the bathroom in my building today, think again. The bathroom is closed, to fix a water problem that I didn’t know existed. Well, that’s not entirely true. I know that there are only two showers with hot water. I know that one of the showers has water pressure. I also know that one shower, (which coincidentally has the hot water and pressure,) went out of commission about two weeks ago because the handle fell off. I also know that none of the water in all of Calhoun County tastes like water. So maybe there is a problem.
There are whispers that the Nationals are about to announce their new owner. MLB has denied the report. Nonetheless, Theodore Lerner’s bid is said to have beat out all others. The Nationals are his, if he wants them. Seeing as All-Star GM Jim Bowden is in the front office, they just got swept by the Reds, and the manager is already taking shots at the team’s record, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned down the franchise. That would hurt.
I’ll try to make another post tonight. I got back from chem lab early today, and tried to watch a baseball game – only to get the slideshow effect from MLB.TV. It’s important to note that this is not MLB.TV’s fault, but Albion College’s fault. The entire 2000-student college has about the same bandwidth as my home network… no joke. There is no segment on comments today because no one left any comments. You guys should be ashamed.
The Nationals and the NL East
Frank Robinson won his 1,000th game as a manager the other night with the Washington Nationals. Well, congratulations. Now, let’s take a look at the Nationals. Before the 2005 season started, things weren’t looking so good – in fact, they were looking awful. MLB had just awarded the team to DC, but then there was the whole issue of how the stadium would be funded. Then it looked like the deal was off. DC had a team for about 12 minutes, before they said, "wait, you’re gonna have to pay for half of the stadium… you’re still coming, right?" to which MLB replied, "Uhh, see ya later."
That was pretty close to being a disaster. Then someone stepped in at the 59th minute of the 11th hour to rescue the team from another disturbing year in Montreal, where they apparently don’t like to play baseball. However, by hiring Jim Bowden as their GM – and no, I don’t know who ‘they’ is, since the Nats still have no owner – they made a colossal mistake. If your goal is to
drive from Detroit to Orlando, you don’t start by shooting holes in your gas tank, slashing your tires, and punching out your headlights. Yet, this is pretty much the handicap the Nationals were forced to deal with when they started – not exactly helpful. For more on why I hate Jim Bowden, check out here. And here, here, here, and of course here. Nonetheless, they beat the odds and shocked millions when they started out the year and carried all the way through the All-Star Break on top of the NL East. Then they found their place and nosedived, managing to finish in last place in the NL East. Now, that was with an 81-81 record, and had they been in the NL West and won exactly two more games, they would’ve walked away with the division. That said, the Nationals haven’t really recovered. In fact, they’ve picked up right where they left off. After they made the mistake of the year by picking up Soriano, which was actually just routine incompetence for Bowden, they started off the regular season losing games again. Actually, they were already working on being bad in Spring Training. After Royce Clayton bobbled a "tailor-made double play
ball," he decided to toss it to Vidro at 2nd, mostly just for fun, since the play was already over. He missed, and Vidro proceeded to literally sulk after the ball as it rolled to third. For a while
it looked like the ball might out ‘run’ Vidro, but he eventually caught
up with it. By then, the Nats had already made 48 errors. Not good.
Like I said, it was bad news from the get-go. Back to the story of the 1,000th win. Before departing on their current road trip, the Nationals were 2-8. At that pace, Robinson was probably worried that he would have to wait until 2007 to get that win. But, a miracle came in the form of 2 three-game sets against the Marlins and Phillies – or so we were led to believe. The Nationals lost the first game against the Marlins 3-5. In game 2, they just barely squeaked by with a 2-1 win. And, in the all-important game 3, they were able to come out ahead 7-5. Fantastic – you just took 2 of 3 from the worst team in the game and you only managed to out-score them by one run. And so the Nats dragged their 4-9 record to Citizens Bank Park, where they beat a Philly team I had mistaken for a contender, 10-3. Next game, they lose 6-7. Tough. Now Robinson is sitting at win number 999. And the Nats manage to beat on the Phils, 10-4. Robinson has got to be going crazy inside, right? Actually, no. Apparently the post-game ‘celebration’ went something like this, according to Mr. 1,000 himself:
Mitchell Page was shaking my hand after the last out and he said, ‘Congratulations.’ He was holding on to my hand, shaking it. And I told
him, ‘Let go. What are you doing? Let go of my hand.’ He said, ‘Congratulations on your 1,000th win.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s right.’ It
was the 4-2 road trip I was looking at… I tell you one
thing, they didn’t have the champagne iced down, though, because they
weren’t too sure when the win would come. But it tastes pretty good,
even hot.
So the dude was more excited about taking 4 of 6 from the Marlins and Phillies than he was about winning number 1,000. That’s when you know things aren’t going well. And then, Robinson was ready to take some shots at his team. Speaks for itself, really. The Nats are already having a straight-up bad year, and it’s only April. They’ve got six guys on the DL: Luis Ayala, Ryan Drese, Brian Lawrence, Robert Fick, Cristian Guzman, and Pedro Astacio. The club dodged a huge bullet after Jose "lose the ‘tude" Guillen strained his oblique in BP and had to sit out 6 days. Soriano isn’t doing half bad, and somehow has his average at .299. I know, a really shifty stat in the beginning of the year, but that’s remarkable for Soriano and his career .321 OBP. The problem with the Nats is that they have those holes – and they don’t have a player that can just load up and carry them through a bad stretch, and the team isn’t deep enough to perform consistently.
As for the Mets, I haven’t decided whether they’re for real or not, but they were certainly helped along by their weak schedule. The Braves, on the other hand, haven’t looked good of late, but they still are. Again, baseball’s version of a vampire. Their pitching seems to be back under control. Oh yeah, and after losing to the Mets 3-4 on Monday, they went ahead on them 7-1 and 2-1. Now they’re 8-8. Not dead yet, huh?
Still pissed about the comments. After I called on you guys to post a big 5-spot, you put up a meager three. Three. Now, I know I only gave you about 18 hours. I know the last two posts were a long one-two punch. But three is pathetic. Keep your eyes on the prize, guys. As for John requesting a link to the Greatest Play of All Time – I try to work that in whenever I can. Apparently, that story pretty much has taken on a life of its own. It’s posted on message boards, emails, and is quite a hit on Google. One such email even made its way to Korea. Which is good, because it deserves it. Check it out here. Also, if you ever need it really bad, there’s always the Classic Posts on the sidebar. And the search is working again, (try that out at the bottom of the sidebar.) Good to hear from Jason and Aaron again as well. Obviously Jason is another Yankee guy who made the trip to Toronto. Aaron runs another Tiger blog, for those of you interested.
AL v. NL, Mariners, Nats, and more!
AL v. NL
Why is the AL so much stronger than the NL? I think I’ve got it. When a dominant player rises through an organization, he still has to be able to field. If he can’t field, or there is nowhere for him to field, he can’t hit. At least not in the NL. Take Ryan Howard. Rookie of the Year last year. But he played first base, so the Phillies traded away Thome. Lyle Overbay, (who was actually just an average 1st basemen, despite all the run he gets from his doubles and OBP,) was traded away by the Brewers to make room for Prince Fielder. Within the NL, this makes no difference, as all the teams are handicapped equally. But when they play the AL, the teams that have traded away some of their valuable players because their positions forced them to are matched up against teams that have one overflow spot when it comes to hitting talent. Whenever you’re forced to trade away a player, you’re probably not gonna get the best value for him. NL teams are continuously put in this position because they don’t have the DH rule; AL teams can always DH someone. Yes, I understand that some teams have entrenched DH’s as well – Cleveland’s Travis Hafner, Oakland’s Frank Thomas, etc – but at least Oakland didn’t have to give up the rising Dan Johnson to acquire Thomas. See the point? It’s a little tough to wrap your arms around at first, because it has nothing to do with the lineup. But the bottom line is that the National League will always be trading away a hitter that is at least the 9th best hitter on the team, (likely higher, as 1B is probably a better hitter than the 2B you’re forced to bat because he has to field.) Additionally, did you know that while the DH usually hits for the pitcher, he doesn’t have to? During interleague/postseason play, I want to see St. Louis employ that little known fact with Jason Marquis, just for fun. I’m serious. Put a DH in for Junior Spivey, and have Jason Marquis bat. Has anyone ever actually done this?
Seattle Mariners
In SI’s Baseball Preview ’06, Tom Verducci compares Felix Hernandez to the Hope Diamond. This is alluding to the fact that the Mariners want to show off Hernandez, but must be careful – he can’t be stolen, sold, or borrowed. However, if he just sticks around in the Smithsonian forever, he’ll be of no good to anyone. So, the Mariners have to find some sort of competitive equilibrium. He then notes that if Hernandez makes 32 starts this season, at 7 innings per start (which wont happen,) he’ll pitch 244 innings, including Spring Training. Verducci notes,
Jobe’s Law [a pitcher's innings should max out at his age times 10] would confine Hernandez to about 180 regular-season innings this year, which for the desperate Mariners may be as difficult as counting calories in an ice-cream parlor. The team has lost more than 90 games for two straight years, and average attendance has dropped by more than half a million fans over that time… So, where do the Mariners cut out 40-plus innings? Do they pull him from games after six innings even if he is pitching well? Do they skip six of his starts at assorted times over the season? Do they shut him down for the year in August? And how difficult will that be if the Mariners are in contention? How hard will it be for a manager with somewhat shaky job security and a general manager on a year-to-year contract to intentionally not use their best pitcher?
Is this an April Fool’s Joke? The Mariners in contention in August? As I said in a previous post,
I saw on MLB.com that Ichiro
returned to the Mariners with ‘Classic-like’ intensity. Hold it right
there. Ichiro can hit .900, get 400 infield singles, and never make a
single error. Heck, he can be in the batting order three times for all
I care. The Mariners still aren’t gonna mean anything this year, and
that’s that. Welcome to West Coast Baseball,
(minus the Angels.) And yes, I know the Mariner’s aren’t in the NL
West. I’m trying to show a pattern, people. (Get it, NL West… AL
West?)
Have the Mariners done a single thing this offseason? Here’s your Seattle Mariners 2006 Team Overview:
The Mariners acquired lefty Jarrod Washburn, now their 3rd starter. They also acquired DH Carl "Fan is short for fanatic – he’s crazy about something he doesn’t know about. And it’s proven that 99 percent of baseball fans have no idea what they’re watching" Everett. Centerfielder Joe Borchard and his .263 average – from AAA – replaces Randy Winn. They also acquired catcher Kenji Johjima, who will become best buddies with Ichiro but not do much in the batter’s box. In short, the Mariners are still a very bad team. End of overview.
Washington Nationals
I’m watching the Nationals v. Orioles game, and Nationals SS Royce Clayton just bobbled a "tailor-made double play ball," and then went to toss it to Soriano Enemy Number One – Jose Vidro. Even though Royce just made the toss to avoid looking like a 3rd grader, it was a bad toss and Vidro missed the catch. Whichever Orioles prospect who was running to 2nd had already been safe for about 4 minutes, so the play was over. Anyway, the ball rolled a third of the way to 3rd base while Vidro – literally – sulked after it. For awhile it looked like the ball might out ‘run’ Vidro, but he eventually caught up with it. And did you know that Clayton has played for 8 teams in his career? And that the Nationals have made 48 errors in Spring Training so far? The team is already depressed and downtrodden. Looks like we need to send them to another city already, because the scenery change that lit up the whole team in the first two-thirds of last season seems to have dried up. That, or the entire clubhouse – including Frank Robinson – is so furious with GM Jim Bowden that they can’t breathe. What was Jim Bowden thinking? The National’s 2006 Overview? The entire team will land in psychotherapy before the close of the season. Jim Bowden will pull a Jimmy Hoffa, and Frank Robinson will announce that he can no longer deal with the stress of managing, and will become a 3rd base coach for a few years before another team offers him a gig.
More on SI’s Baseball Preview
Also, I know SI wants to be original and exciting, but when predicting the division winners, remember, this isn’t March Madness. In fact, a 162-game baseball season can’t be any further from a 65-team, single-elimination Battle Royale. The Oakland A’s probably aren’t the 2nd best team in Major League Baseball. Likewise, the Devil Rays are not likely to hop over the Orioles in the AL East, although this isn’t a total impossibility. And how can you try to sneak in the A’s as the 2nd best team in the game, yet rate the Tiger’s as the 18th best? You can’t make the bold prediction for the A’s and completely ignore the Tigers. By the same token, the Red’s may be bad, but they aren’t the 3rd worst team in Baseball. I’m the first guy to kick a bad team when it’s down, but the Red’s simply are not that bad. They haven’t really done anything bad to the team since they finished 73-89 last year. They’ve lost Sean Casey and Willy Mo Pena and placed Rich Aurilia into hiding. Casey was an average 1B, Aurilia is going the way of Frosty Bret Boone in more ways than one, and Pena didn’t really fit into the team’s lineup, (back to why the AL is better than the NL.) Then again, any guy who hits a HR every 16 times he steps up the plate should find a way into your lineup… whatever. Meanwhile, they acquired Tony Womack, Scott Hatteberg, Chris Hammond, Bronson Arroyo, and Dave Williams. And if Eric Milton pulls it together, they’ll be… a little better than last year.
Other than the above, there don’t seem to be too many weird ideas. I’m not gonna tell you all the predictions, but basically they’re the same any commoner would make, with the exception of the NL Central going Cards, Brewers, Cubs, Astros, Pirates, Reds. I would say Cards, Cubs, Brewers, Astros, Reds, Pirates. Big diff. Neither of those predictions will be correct, because as I’ve said before, preseason predictions are a crapshoot. And then they have White Sox over Cards in the World Series, which won’t happen. White Sox, maybe. Cardinals, no. You don’t get farther in the postseason by using ‘addition through subtraction’. And yes, losing Reggie Sanders, Larry Walker (basically worthless last season, but still,) and Mark Grudzielanek is subtraction.
Opening night is less than 24 hours away. Exciting!
Will the Braves make it…15 straight? NL East overview
I’ll focus on the two major threats to the Braves this year – the Mets and Phillies. I’m really not an expert on the NL East, so this is really uncharted territory for me. You’ll probably notice throughout the year that I root for the entire AL and the NL Central.
Atlanta Braves
I was pretty sure before the last two seasons that the Braves were through. Uh, no. They’re like baseball’s version of a vampire. You think they’re dead, you start throwing dirt on the grave, and then they come back, again, and again, and again. Don’t get me wrong – there’s no other team in the NL East I would rather see win, with the possible exception of the Phillies, because I’m starting to like them. But how do they do it? I’m not gonna waste my time trying to answer that, so I’ll move on. I think that this may be the year the Braves end this insane run. I’m not sure if it will be the Mets or the Phillies, but… I don’t like the rise of those two teams, combined with the loss of Mazzone and Furcal. Maybe Mazzone was nothing special, and he just had good pitchers to work with – that’s certainly part of it, anyway. And maybe Renteria comes back and puts up some good numbers. I just think the Mets and Phillies are too good for it to matter. I don’t think that the Phillies will steal the division, although it’s certainly a possibility. However, the Braves have 38 games to play against the Mets and Phillies, and that will certainly make things difficult. But before we listen to everyone proclaim the Braves’ demise, let’s examine carefully the supposed threats coming from those two teams.
New York Mets
The Mets have done good things in the last two years, but that ship is still full of holes. It’s afloat, and it’s not sinking… yet. Such a hole can be found at 2B, where the Mets are fielding Kaz Matsui. Matsui used to be a pitcher until he was converted to a 2B by his former Japanese team. However, if you looked at his batting stats, you’d never guess! In 265 AB’s last year, he was able to produce 3 HR, 9 doubles, and 68 total hits. His average was .255, his OBP was .300, and his slugging percentage was .352. Grand. He did a little better in 2004 but not much. I know he’s kinda new to the whole America thing and all, but whatever. It’s possible to win a division with that. Now it’s time for me to include an excerpt from the Rabid Mets Fan, from MLB Radio’s Stayin’ Hot with Seth and Bone last year… or maybe Under the Lights with Casey Stern. Can’t remember.
Well I found this year’s Kaz Matsui trade. Danys Baez to the Mets. For Yusmeiro Petit! Don’t do it Omar! Don’t do it Omar! Why would you do that! I think Baez is the worst closer in baseball! Is he better than Braden Looper!? I dunno, I should, cuz I see him every night, but what, is he gonna take us to the World Series!? No… why would you trade him away for someone who’s working his way up through the system?!
There’s a lot of wasted words there, because that’s how the guy talks. The point is that Mets fans want Kaz out of there, for some reason. I don’t like ever saying that a team’s season depends on a few guys, but for the Met’s I think it’s true. If Beltran comes back to his old form, David Wright has another good year, and Peddy somehow manages to pull it together again, they have a good chance of overtaking the Braves this year. The biggest hole is the Met’s rotation. I still don’t understand it. Let’s lay it up:
1) Pedro Martinez – 5′ 11" dude that frankly, I don’t like. Pedro played Villain too long in Bean Town.
If the Universe turned on it’s skull and Pedro somehow landed in a Yankee uniform, I would go out back and hang myself. In any case, this run isn’t gonna last forever. I’m just waiting for the season to come when Pedro has a 4.20 ERA, strikes out 100, and wins 8 games. Mediocrity. Let’s see how he deals with that.
2) Tom Glavine – Turned 40 today. And he’s exactly 25 wins short of 300. His ERA was only 3.53 last year, but he just got 13 wins. That was a bullpen problem. If he can tough it out for another two years he’ll be good. I don’t see him breaking down too much more this year. One cause for concern is the fact that he’s a lefty, and left handers are batting .323 off him.
3-5) Steve Trachsel, Victor Zambrano, and Aaron Heilman? – As I said earlier, I’m really no expert on the NL East. I do know that Trachsel is not that good, Zambrano is worse and looks even goofier than Trachsel in his profile picture, and Heilman is a train wreck. The Mets have been trying to start Heilman for years and the experiment has never really worked out. Meanwhile they keep hiding him in the bullpen, but it looks like they won’t have that option this year.
This is what I don’t get. The Mets offense is strong, but let’s go back to the analogy of the Mets team as a ship with a bunch of leaky holes. The offense/defense has a few of the holes, but the ship is still afloat. Add the pitching to the mix and it’s like you just struck an iceberg. I can’t see the Mets making a reasonable run in the playoffs unless they can shore up that rotation and bullpen. The one bright spot is Billy Wagner, (courtesy of the Phillies, ironically enough.) Wagner might be a tiny and goofy looking dude, but he’s lights-out. Much better than Braden Looper. I remember writing this after the Met’s opened 2005 by having their bullpen sabotage their first few games.
The Mets bullpen is not good. They’re 0-2 now in holds and saves. Their bullpen consists of Manny Aybar, who said that parts of his family are unaware that he’s an MLB pitcher even though he’s been in the Majors 8 years. Felix Heredia is a lefty specialist who can’t get any lefties out and had an ERA of 6.28 in 39 innings last year. Mike DeJean is about 90 years old. Dae-Sung Koo is 36 and made his MLB Debut just this year. Roberto Hernandez is 41 years old. Mike Matthews had an ERA of 6.30 in 30 innings pitched last year. And Braden Looper, the one supposed bright spot, has yet to get a single batter out this season, although he has given up 3 runs. Bunch of firestarters.
But that was last year. This year, Chad Bradford and Duaner Sanchez will do their best to hide a bunch of 5.00+ ERA stars. Bradford and Sanchez are actually 3.50-.75 ERA gems themselves. All this team really has to do is make it to the 9th inning with a lead, and they’re good. The problem is, with that weak rotation and that 2-man pen, how many times will that happen? Last year, Pedro was terrified to leave any game before he had to because he knew that bullpen would screw it up. Hopefully – for the Mets – this year will be different. I doubt it. But if they were able to finish 83-79 last year – enough to beat that entire West Coast League – and they’ve only gotten better, it seems they have a legitimate chance, somehow.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies’ main if is their pitching. The Phillies are trying to re-tool Tom Gordon back into a closer. This is unlikely to work out. I’m making this statement based on one fact – Tom Gordon’s own admission. About two years ago, I was listening to an interview of him and he said he didn’t believe he could ever close games again, because he only had two pitches. I’ll tell you what’s happening here. He was sick of winning, I mean, playing for the Yankees. First, he obviously thinks he can close; he left because he wasn’t ever gonna close in New York unless a lighting bolt struck down Mo. He would not have taken a closing job if he thought he was just gonna make a fool out of himself. That being said, the last time I checked, age 38 wasn’t the best time to turn a guy back into a closer. Let us not forget, he has 116 career saves. But only 18 in the last 4 years. He’s been putting up great numbers; from 2002, his ERA has dropped per the following: 3.38, 3.16, 2.21, 2.57. But he’s been away from the job for too long, I think. I’m not sure what it is I don’t like, because if you just look at his numbers he almost checks out. But the numbers are all over the place. Of course, the craziest part is where he saved 46 games for Boston in 1998. That was 8 years ago. In any case, it doesn’t matter that he just isn’t as good as Wagner. What I’m concerned about is his ability not to totally flop. You know the Phillies would’ve preferred to sign someone a little more solid, but they couldn’t. They’re just as nervous about Gordon as I am.
Other than that, the Phillies have a lot in common with the Mets. A mostly-experimental infield, an
anchored (Bobby Abreu) outfield, and a shaky rotation. The Phillies rotation looks much more solid than the Mets’, but I’m not even sure I can break it down because I don’t even know that much about it. It looks like Ryan Franklin, Cory Lidle, Jon Leiber, Ryan Madsen and Brett Myers will form it up. With the exception of Madsen, all have career ERA’s between 4.20 and 4.50. This typically translates into a reliable, albeit not lights-out, rotation. Brett Myers appears to be the leader (read: opening day starter,) of this little band after he pulled together a reasonable 2005 campaign, but it’s likely that Leiber – 10 years older than Myers – will likely be doing most of the actual leading. Madsen has only started one MLB game; he made 51 appearances in relief for the Phillies in 2004 with a 2.34 ERA, and 78 in 2005 for a 4.14 ERA. In any case, he’s filling in for Randy Wolf, who’s out recovering from a Tommy John-er and will be back by the middle of the season, hopefully. The problem is that if any of these guys go down, there’s no one to fill in. The bullpen is already weak with the departure of Madsen to the rotation. And Arthur Rhodes, Robinson Tejeda, Aaron Fultz, and Tom Gordon are your big men. Tejeda and Fultz? Arthur Rhodes is one of the sketchiest guys in the league, and we already talked about Gordon. There’s simply no one there if a starter goes down or if (when) Rhodes/Gordon do something weird.
That said, if the Phillies somehow make it through 2006 with their fragile pitching intact, they too have a legitimate chance of overthrowing the Braves. I didn’t delve into their hitting because I don’t think that will be their problem; it’s average and you’ve been reading long enough.
Washington Nationals
Baseball in the District. Fantastic. Jim Bowden in the District – catastrophe. Frank Robinson will have a fun time battling through the trash that Bowden through in his lap – mainly, Alfonso Soriano. That said, the Nationals have too many holes in their ship to keep afloat for the entire season. As if that wasn’t enough, Tony Armas Jr., Pedro Astacio, and Ramon Ortiz comprise 3/5 of your rotation. At least they’ve got horse Livan Hernandez to anchor it; the Phillies have no such ace. Without stretching it out, the Nationals are still too much of a puzzle team for the big time. Too many ifs, and too many potential problems. I don’t see them playing through the entire season and ending on top. Furthermore, I think the NL Wild Card will likely go to a Central team, or the Phillies/Mets/Braves – not the Nats.
Florida Marlins
Someone needs to alert GM Larry Beinfest that he needs to field a Major League Baseball team in less than two weeks. 50% chance you’ll catch him unawares. After the Pokey Reese defection/escape, the Marlins line up like this, from the 1-9 spot on the defensive depth chart.
1) Dontrelle Willis will be leading this band of unknowns – SP
2) Josh Willingham? – C
3) Mike Jacobs? – 1B
4) Dan Uggla? – 2B
5) Miguel Cabrera – 3B? They finally shifted the bus to the infield.
6) Hanley Ramirez – SS. I know the name… but his MLB experience is 0-2, with 2 K’s.
7) Chris Uguila? – LF
8) Reggie Abercrombie? – CF
9) Jeremy Hermida – RF. Rookie of the Year candidate.
Manager – Joe Girardi. Rookie Manager.
The question marks are because, lets face it – six of those eight position players have less than 100 AB’s at the major league level. Chris Uguila has 123, and Miguel Cabrera has played 63 games at 3rd Base. The rotation is more of the same.
The Marlins aren’t a major league team. They’re a team of unknowns.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading.
What was Jim Bowden thinking?
Shock of all shocks, Alfonso Soriano isn’t going anywhere near left field. I talked about Soriano’s refusal to move about a month ago,and now it looks like the National’s nightmare is for real. Seriously,
could things have crashed to the ground any harder? Forget for the
moment that everyone saw this coming, even more so if you’re employed
in the National’s Front Office. Now the season starts in two weeks and
the Nationals need to fix this problem. First, if you’re National’s GM
Jim Bowden, why in the world do you trade for Soriano? You traded for
the best offensive second baseman, even though you had no intention of
playing him at second base. And you thought he would just happily shift
to left field? And now, you can’t even trade him away because, "we
have not had a trade proposal from any team in baseball that we should
consider," said Bowden. Note that in the picture to your left, no one is flashing a genuine smile. They already know they’re all screwed.
But the most impressive thing is the way it all went down.
There wasn’t a press conference where Soriano said he was unwilling to
play the outfield and would prefer the Nationals reconsider their
position. Not a chance; the Nationals took the field for a game, but
they were minus one dude. Frank Robinson had to go out and tell the
umpire that he was sorry, but he had to change the lineup. In other
words, Soriano didn’t even feel it worthwhile to tell his team that he
had no intention of playing in their baseball game. Not that they
would’ve needed a crystal ball to see it coming, but still, it would’ve
been nice. Now the Nats need to get rid of Soriano in the next two
weeks or place him on the disqualified list, in which case they don’t
have to pay him and pretty much get to wait until someone crazy enough
offers a good trade.
The details are out, and basically it happened like this; Soriano
showed up for the game on Monday and told Robinson that, while he was
sketched into the lineup card for left field, he wasn’t going anywhere
near it. Robinson told him to shut up, because Vidro was playing second
base and Soriano was playing left, and that if he didn’t like it he
wasn’t gonna play at all. The team took batting practice, and then
there was another meeting between Soriano and Robinson, along with GM
Jim Bowden. This went pretty much the same way, with Soriano asking,
"Why didn’t you try to talk to me before you made the trade?" Uh, good
question. As wrong as I think Soriano is in his handling of the
situation, he’s not the bad (or worst, at least,) guy. He didn’t ask to
be traded, and if he had, he would’ve said there’s no way in heck.
Think about this from Bowden’s perspective. You’re in your 2nd year
in DC, and you’re getting a new stadium, but you cannot make any stupid
mistakes. You don’t have a ton of money to mess around with, and you
can’t just absorb a contract if you screw up. That being said, if you
need a left
fielder, you go out and acquire a left fielder. If you
can’t do that, then you sit tight. You don’t grab a second baseman to
fill that spot in your outfield. And, if you’re so high that you’re
gonna try to pull that off anyway, you make sure that second baseman
hasn’t publicly said that he’ll never switch positions because he’s
much more valuable at 2nd than in the outfield. If you’re still
not clued in, and you decide to go ahead with the deal, you make sure
that 2nd baseman is in on the plan before he gets shipped out. If he
isn’t, (or if you don’t know because the Rangers won’t let you talk to
him,) then you call the deal off. If, after all that, you still
acquire your All-Star 2nd baseman and he tells you it’s not gonna work
out, you immediately set about moving him or your current 2nd baseman.
For example, sitting around through the entire WBC with your head in
the sand just hoping he’ll change his mind was probably a very bad
idea.
Simply, it doesn’t appear that the Nationals are acting logically
here. Someone please tell me, did I miss something? Is there something exceptionally weird going on that makes this whole thing ok? Was Vidro not
supposed to be back this year? Did Soriano just now become a full-time
second baseman? Are the Rangers forcing the Nationals to hold Soriano
captive because he’s a bad guy, and now that they’ve cleared Rogers out
of the clubhouse they want to keep all the bad energy as far away as
possible? I don’t understand. Nine out of ten little leaguers aren’t
going to move from 2nd to outfield, let alone the best 2nd baseman -
offensively, mind you – in Major League Baseball. This is outstanding. Way to screw up your season, Jim. Have a nice year.
I also came across the fact that Jim Bowden screwed up the Reds before he headed to DC.
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