I’ve been called a hater…

By somebody I love.  My Aunt.  My favorite aunt at that.  

On several occasions, but the most recent is what’s sticking in my craw like a bad piece of that green stuff thats sprinkled on top of your Italian food at the Olive Garden.
First: Curtis Granderson.
Sit down and shut up, all of you.
Granderson leaving town was probably the best thing to happen to the Motor City kitties since Bobby Higginson started playing golf full time instead of right field.  
Austin Jackson will probably hit about as many homers as Edwin Jackson does in his career, but be that as it may, it doesn’t matter because he is head and shoulders better than Curtis Granderson ever was.
On both sides of the ball–which is something many of us have forgotten in the age of steroids and moon blasts.  Jackson should win the Gold Glove this year (he won’t) and should have a stranglehold on the award for as many years and his legs still carry him around centerfield in Detroit (but he probably won’t do that either).
Phil Coke?  Jury’s still out, really.  
But hear this: the Yankees wanted Granderson, got rid of Melky Cabrera, and still are planning on going after Carl Crawford as soon as midnight strikes Sunday night and the free agent free-for-all begins.  Which means the Yankees let go of a young centerfielder who was underperforming, albeit at a young age, for another underachieving centerfielder who’s a little older.
And it also meant that they had a roster that included a starting outfield of Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Brett Garder, with Randy Winn on the bench and traded for Austin Kearns in mid-season.
And he still didn’t do squat against lefties all season.
So if (when?) they sign Crawford, who’s riding the pine?  If he didn’t have such a huge salary (relatively, the Yankees can afford an 8 million dollar bench player) it would be him and Gardner, who can fly in the outfield, would take over as the everyday centerfielder.
But I don’t run the Yankees.
And don’t want to.
Second: Edgar Renteria
This is the latest instance of my Aunt calling me a hater.  
My grandfather is an ornery old soul and during a discussion prior to the World Series he got a little lively when pointing out how many former Tigers there were in the series this year.  And there was a plenty.
I mentioned that it wasn’t much of a loss with Renteria or Huff (neither of which did much in the Motor City and Renteria hasn’t done much since), which started an argument, of sorts, because gramps knows best (he thinks, anyway).
The rest you already know: Renteria was WS MVP and had a clutch double in game three and a huge homer in the clincher.
Yeah.  Awesome.  Sweet.
Don Clendenon.
Gene Tenace.
Bucky Dent.
Pedro Guererro.
Ray Knight.
Jose Rijo.
Scott Brosius.
David Eckstein.
Heard of any of them?  Ignore Brosius and Eckstein.  Heard of any of the others?
Okay, forget Bucky Dent, everybody knows who Bucky Dent is.
The thing they all have in common is this: they’re all WS MVPs.
The point is: it isn’t always hall of famers who end up being WS MVPs.
Blind squirrels find nuts too.
–RM 

I’m over the Carl Crawford sweepstakes already

Apparently the Yankees already have their new left fielder and already boast a rotation with two Cy Young winners in it.

Carl Crawford has been fitted for his pinstripes and Cliff Lee is just getting loose in the Big Apple before he moves their permanently.
Oh, wait, that hasn’t happened yet, but we are all sure that it will.  
Here’s why I think it shouldn’t.
Not because of any sort of philosophical problem with players going where they choose, but there are better places than New York to go if you want to win.
And I know I’m taking a huge leap of faith here by assuming that’s what is the driving force behind the free agency market…
But realistically look at the Yankees right now:
The average age of their core position players (Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada) is 33, with Cano being the only player under 30.  
Their pitching staff, anchored by CC Sabbathia at age 29 averages 31 years in age with Phil Hughes pulling that way down being 24.
Now fast forward a year, the year theoretically that Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford will be moving into one of the five burroughs, add a year to all of them.  Sabbathia will be thirty and we’ve seen that thirty is still thirty and not the new twenty like i was in the ’90′s.  Pettitte, if he stays, will be 39, Vazquez, if he’s kept will be 35 and probably still as ineffective as he was at 34, Burnett will be 35 and he’s as unpredictable as there is as far as productivity, and Hughes will still be young, but he hasn’t proven he can do it for the whole season.
The Yankees are entrenched at the corners for the next decade with A-Rod and Teixiera which is good for now, but A-Rod has shown that post-steroids he isn’t as young as he thought and Teixeira has dropped in batting average and on-base percentage steadily the last three seasons.
Jeter, while a franchise face, is losing steps at short stop and by all sabermetric accounts (admittedly not my favorite thing) not helping his team win defensively.  Now that his offense seems to be declining at age 36, combined with Posada’s age and deterioration offensively (he was never much of a defensive catcher anyway) and Granderson not being the answer in Center, 75% of the middle of the Yankees defense is a question mark–at best.
So lets assume that the Yankees get rid of Vazquez, like they should and have been rumored to be doing as soon as humanly possible, which would open up a spot for Cliff Lee and let one of the plethora of outfielders on their roster go (Gardner, Granderson, Kearns, whomever) to make room for Crawford.
It doesn’t make the Yankees any more dynamic a team than the one that ran out 162 times in the 2010 season.
They would get younger with Crawford (slightly, he’ll turn 30 in August of next year) and Lee is a clear upgrade over Vazquez, but that’s it.
The left side of the infield will be 35 and 37, their catcher will still be a question mark even if they promote that wunderkid catching prospect they have in the minors and Granderson wasn’t the answer to Centerfield in Detroit and isn’t the answer in the Bronx.
And sure, they would have the two best left-handed pitchers on the planet, but that isn’t enough.
For evidence I cite the 2010 Cardinals (Adam Wainright and Chris Carpenter) and to a lesser extent the 2010 Phillies (Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels), one team that didn’t win their division and the other who is on the ropes right now with the Giantts.
I can see adding both of those players to the Yankees making them better, but whether they win the World Series this season or don’t I can’t see adding both of those guys making them any more likely to repeat or win it next year.
If Crawford wants to win he should sign with San Francisco or, ironically, Texas.
San Francisco has a stellar pitching staff–just ask the Phillies–and have the easiest route to making it to the post season for the next few years.
Texas, if they retain Carl Crawford, would be able to shift Nelson Cruz to right (where his howitzer-type arm would be of serious use), shift David Murphy to another team, and possibly flip Julio Borbon for some prospects.
Their lineup would be something like this (though I don’t pretend to know how Ron Washington thinks):
1.  Elvis Andrus
2.  Michael Young
3.  Carl Crawford
4.  Josh Hamilton
5.  Nelson Cruz
6.  Ian Kinsler
7.  Mitch Moreland
8.  Whoever is Catching
9.  Whoever DH’s
To go along with a very good pitching staff.
That would be a lineup as formidable as the Yankees, AND Crawford wouldn’t have to worry about having to beat the Red Sox or Rays every season to win their division.  The Angels, Mariners and Athletics aren’t really in the position to challenge much.
Lee, if he wants to win, should probably stay in Texas.  
I cite my previous argument even if Crawford doesn’t sign with them.  That’s still a great team.
But again, winning isn’t what drives free agents, money is, and lets face it, the Yankees are the only team than can afford 10 million dollar bench players.
–RM

When it stopped being about the game

About the eighth grade, I think.

For some it might even be prior to that, which is a shame.  
I’ve read a lot from ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, BaseballAmerica, and even random blogs which all conclude this: Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee have better than average chances at ending up in the Bronx next season giving no chance at all to their current teams at retaining their services beyond right now.  
Now I read today in the Denver Post somebody already, already, sizing Troy Tulowitzki up for his pinstripes when he’s available to leave the Rockies.
It’s four years from now!
Granted, the Rockie scenario involved Colorado trading him rather than losing him because they can’t afford him when he’s a free agent, but the point is still this: it is a financial decision to trade him, nothing else.  Tulo will be 30 and in his prime.
Which begs the question: when does it stop being about the game?
And I say again, probably around the eighth grade.  
As a prep star in high school I too fell victim and it began to be less about the game than it should have been.  Fellow teammates also started playing for something other than the game–one of which still (at age 25) posts pictures (and stats) from his senior year of high school baseball with taglines like, “hit .443, 12 homers and still wasn’t all state” on his facebook page.
Never mind that now, with a clear dose of reality and self humility, I can say that none of us, especially the aforementioned teammate, were really all that good.  We played in a small town in a small league with very little in the way of competition.
Which means we should have been the last place to find kids playing for anything but the love of the game.  
My junior year, the year most often cited as the most important year for college recruiting, I was a mess.  Every at-bat I was trying to drive the ball into the next area code, every ground ball I was trying to turn into a highlight reel play, every strike called against me I was taking issue with.
And I hit under .300 for the season and had an all-around lousy year.
Because I was trying to earn a scholarship.
A novel goal one might say, but the point is I was looking to make money–college is expensive and if somebody wanted to pay me to play via a free education you can bet I was going to jump at it.  
At age seventeen I began playing the game to better benefit myself, not just to play the game.  
I have many college friends who were also athletes while they were pursuing the undergraduate studies and many of them used to post witty paragraphs which displayed why they played the game: because they love it.
Forgetting that they were being paid and thats why they were playing, it was a nice sentiment that almost always ended with: “Because all of us will go pro, just not in sports.”
Cute, and a great use of public relations by the NCAA to reinstill confidence in the educational system as something more than the minor leagues for the NFL (which for the most part, I believe, it is or we wouldn’t have games being scheduled around TV time slots).
But it misses the point: College athletes, with the exception of the four year walk-on who doesn’t receive scholarship money, are being paid–WITH THEIR EDUCATION.
In the movie The Program there is a scene where a defensive lineman is though to be using steroids (which is ultimately is) and the coaching staff is discussing what to do about it and the ultimate decision is to do nothing because of the possibility of jeopardizing the athlete’s draft status if a steroid allegation were to leak.
Would the same be true if that athlete is accused by the Police for possession of a controlled substance, which is exactly what the coaching staff would have been doing?
If it were truly about the game, in any sport, dialogue like that would have no bearing and would be un-relatable to us, but point it fact we could relate and still do.
Baseball, probably unlike most other sports, has a system in place that all but encourages greed amongst its players.  I’m not a big fan of Donald Fehr, or the baseball union in general, but what they created, the most powerful union outside (and maybe not even outside) of the UAW, could have been avoided all together if the owners tried something that hardly any big corporation ever tried: fair labor practices.
We’ve all heard the Black Sox scandal, maybe even seen the movie, but that could have been avoided if Comiskey had paid his players a livable wage.
But remember, the term “livable wage” is fluid and doesn’t happen in a vacuum.  Until the mid seventies almost all players had second or third jobs outside of baseball.  Baseball was their profession and there is no reason why those men couldn’t have been provided with a wage to live off of.
But today?
Because the owners chose to act like the way they did, treating players (workers) like cattle, controlling rights, withholding benefits and keeping wages down, the MLBPA was born and became a force to be reckoned with.
What they’ve been able to do is absolutely amazing and an example of what is wrong with unions to begin with: they start out because something needs to be done and end up becoming an animal nobody knows how to control.
The fact that we are already hearing rumors and whispering about the fate of a Colorado franchise that has two of the most dynamic position players in the league some four years before the scenario is even born is a clear example of that.
I’ve heard numbers like 100 million as a starting point for the Cliff Lee discussions.  Something similar to Carl Crawford.
I’ve also heard bleeding heart arguments and wishful thinking that one, or both, will say, “Its okay, I don’t need 15 million per year for five years to play in the Bronx, I’ll take 9 million per year for five to stay in Tampa and enjoy success with a great group of talented ball players and win for the next five seasons.”
Won’t happen.  I’d love to see it happen, but it won’t and not because the player is selfish, though he may be, but because the union won’t allow it.
It can’t.
Cliff Lee could very well stick his nose up to the Yankees and make CC Sabbathia look like a greedy, money hungry, jerk and pitch for Texas for the next five years for half of what Sabbathia got from the Yankees if he wanted to, but the Union would never let it happen.  
Because yes, Cliff Lee has the power to do that: pick his contract and dictate his own terms. So does Carl Crawford.  Next year so will Adrian Gonzales and Albert Pujols.  But the other couple thousand guys the union represents can’t.  
Freddy Garcia, Jeremy Bonderman, Mike Cameron, Jermaine Dye, Adam Everett, Dontrelle Willis don’t have the power to do that, and ultimately that’s who the union is (or should) be looking out for.
Lee, Crawford, Jason Werth, will all get theirs (and more) because they are top-tier players they don’t need anybody looking out for them.
Its everybody else that needs to be looked out for.  
Alex Rodriguez was ne
arly the short stop for the Boston Red Sox earlier this decade but the deal was killed by the Union because it required a reconstruction of his contract.  A-Rod wanted out of Texas and away from losing and wanted to win with the Red Sox, a decision as much for A-Rod as for the game itself, but if A-Rod was willing to take less money from his deal to win (what the game is about anyway), why would he union have issue with him doing it?  It is his choice afterall.
Because it would set a precedent that would affect others down the road.
A decision which the union made that would leave no doubt that it stopped being about the game a long time ago.
–RM

Playoffs

In this months ESPN the Magazine there is an article detailing why some teams perform well in the post season and others don’t.  It is a sabermaticians dream, a group of statisticians I don’t quite understand–nor care to.  But what was interesting was Billy Beane’s quote where he says, in a manner of speaking, his way doesn’t work.

And he’s right.
The Athletics haven’t been to the post season since ’06 where Magglio dismissed them with one of the more amazing moments of my sport-viewing life to complete a three game sweep.
But more than that, they never did much in the few years previous when they were regulars coming out of the AL West as champs and there is a reason for it, one that is different from that sabermetric disposition.
The athletics weren’t built for the playoffs, just like the Rays this year weren’t, and the Twins never are.
There are teams that are built for a short series (ala the playoffs) and there are teams built for long series (ala the regular season).
Throw out the Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox and look at a few of the other winners of this decade.  And I say throw out those three because they’ve got a trump card that removes them from the pool of the rest of the league.
Because you need pitching, that’s a given (something the Athletics had for all those years), but you need to hit, almost more than you need pitching (because you can’t win without scoring).  
In ’06 the Athletics won 93 games and swept the Twins in the divisional round only to get swept by the Tigers in the Championship series.  They had Barry Zito and Dan Haren anchoring the top of their rotation, which is good, even if Haren was only 25, but then had Esteban Loaiza in their rotation–which I can’t see as ever being good, and their offense was led by Nick Swisher.
Swisher is a solid every-day major leaguer and is productive, his 35 dingers speak for themselves, but as for leading an offense…I don’t know if he’s the guy I want.  In fact, I know he’s not the got I want leading my offense.  He hit less than .260, and didn’t drive in 100 runs (though more his surrounding cast’s fault I’m sure) and doesn’t run all that much to make up for the lack of average.
And after that they had a lineup that “featured” Mark Ellis, Mark Kotsay (way past his prime), Dan Johnson, Bobby Keilty (more famous for looking like the bad guy from The Incredibles), and a rejuvenated Frank Thomas (who did have a good year, I’ll admit).  The other stalwards of that offense hit a collective .236 (Eric Chavez and Bobby Crosby).
The problem was that they had decent, if not over achieving pitching, but lacked any sort of consistent offensive attack.  Thomas all but disappeared against the Tigers (and their over achieving pitching) and everybody else just played like they had all season, and it wasn’t enough.
The Twins and Rays this season did the same.  The Twins had Mauer, who wasn’t 100%, Young who played all right, but lacked any real offensive threat.  And they had no pitching that scared anybody–even if Pavano sported that awesome ‘stache.
The Rays had their problem highlighted for them and all the world to see, and hopefully it means that they’ll let Carlos Pena go.  They weren’t a great hitting team and struck out a ton. Longoria wasn’t 100%, but that wouldn’t have mattered even if he was.
The other winners of the decade not playing in the Bronx, Boston, or Philly: Diamondbacks (’01), Angels (’02), Marlins (’03), White Sox (’05), and the Cardinals (’06).
The Diamondbacks had that vaunted one-two punch in their rotation and a consistent (if not chemically aided) offense.
The Angels had two boppers in their lineup (Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus) and a handful of guys who would set the table and run the bases well.  Their staff wasn’t overwhelming, but consistent and John Lackey had his coming out party that was shadowed by K-Rod.
The Marlins pretty much applied the same approach as the Angels with two boppers (Derrek Lee and Mike Lowell) and had a consistent rotation and had a few guys celebrate their coming out parties (Josh Beckett and Miguel Cabrera).
A theme should be emerging as the Sox in 2006 had the same set up: Konerko and Dye were boppers and their rotation was headed by Mark Buerhle and was consistent throughout.  Though there weren’t much in the way of unsung guys coming out, Jenks did emerge as a shut-down closer.
The Cardinals in 2006 were a little different and relied on clutch hitting and over achieving pitching after Chris Carpenter, had Rolen and Pujols bopping and Adam Wainright developed into a dominant pitcher.
The reason I leave the Red Sox, Yanks, and Phillies off this list is because: they have money and lots of it and when they win it isn’t because of any formula that they follow its because they can afford the best lineups in baseball.  
This year the Phillies are running out Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels.
The Yanks are sending CC Sabbathia, Andy Pettitte, and AJ Burnett.
To say nothing about their lineups when the Yanks lose their first baseman and everybody wonders what in the world they’re gonna do.  Well does installing a five time all star to first base sound okay?
Only the Yankees can do that.
The perfect situation is what the Yankees can do: roll out perennial all stars three time in their rotation and send a lineup one thru nine who could hit one thru three on any other lineup.
But because most teams can’t do that the formula for success is this:
One ace is preferable, but consistency is more valuable (or the Mets would have beat the Cards in ’06).
Boppers are nice, but again, consistency is more valuable than all star talent.
The irony is that the Yanks boast all stars four times over in their rotation and are being held as the front runners to land Cliff Lee this off season.
Even if they get him it won’t change the fact that Cano is the only guy hitting.
–RM

Things I thought I thought

I posted this a while back, my preseason predictions of sorts and, it would seem, while Nostradamus I’m not, I wasn’t exactly that far off, either.  

My first bold prediction was that Roy Halladay would win the Cy Young award.  Though the prediction in and of itself wasn’t too bold–you could easily make that prediction every year until he retires and have decent odds at being right–but I made some qualifiers.  I said he do it with 25 wins and flirt with 30.
Well, I might get one out of three right.  I think he is going to win the Cy Young award.  21 wins, leading the league, 9 complete games (again, leading the league), ERA under 2.50, and the perfect game (even if it was one of two[ish] thrown this season) probably means the award is his.  He didn’t do it with 25 wins, and didn’t flirt with 30.  But that doesn’t change the fact that I will probably be right about him winning it.  
I also said that I figured that Joe Mauer would stay in Minnesota and for a reasonably smaller tag than was being thrown around prior to his signing.  
I was half right.  He did stay in Minnesota, but for my proclamation that he’d do it for far less than A-Rod money, I’ll admit, I missed.
23 million per year for eight years might not be the 27 million A-Rod gets, but it isn’t exactly Francisco Cervelli money, either.  
I also said that the Yankees wouldn’t win the World Series and, as of this writing, they still haven’t yet.  I can still be right on that one.
I also said there would be one more big name getting popped for the juice, but, thankfully, I was proven wrong on that one, too.  
And then there was my prediction (prayer) that Dontrelle Willis would start throwing strikes again…
If he did, it was for the beer league he’s pitching for in Florida right now.
– RM

Replay…again

I’ve read a lot about instant replay recently, as if I could have missed it prior to the post season rolling around.  And even with the new things happening during the post season I’m still not in support of instant replay.

First:
We don’t need it for home runs.  Blame the ball park construction for that.  We didn’t have much clamor for replay with home runs before the turn of the century and the advent of more “fan friendly” ballparks.
That kid in New York in ’98 was the beginning.  Bringing fans closer to the game only creates problems.  Push the fans back one row and questions about fan interference evaporates.  
Instead of construction ballparks where there is a gap between the foul pole and the wall, build the foul pole flush with the wall.  And instead of having three feet of pole before the grate sticks out the rest of the way up the pole, just build it flush with the wall all the way up.  Isn’t rocket science.
Base path plays (otherwise known as the Jim Joyce Section):
Umpires are right better than 95% of the time.  I have nothing to back that up with aside from nearly a quarter century watching baseball and the instant replay the broadcast puts up on a questionable call–and an article or two which backed up my proclamation.
What other profession performs successfully 95 times out of 100?
Even with the issue of Jim Joyce, and being a Tiger fan to boot, I know he got that call wrong (probably) after instant replay showed us that he did (probably).
But I’ve seen that replay at the very least a hundred times and when they slow it down and show the angle that Jim Joyce was looking at it is clear that Galarraga got to the bag first.  What is not 100 percent clear is that he had control of the baseball.  
Live it did, but slowed down frame-by-frame it didn’t.  He snow-cones it and then pulls it further back into his glove–after the base runner has gone down the line.
Live speed, if Joyce is seeing the snow-cone and re-grip I can see him calling the runner safe.
And probably the most important thing of all: that call made zero difference in the outcome of that game.  The Tigers still won.
Now I read Buster Olney’s piece today about the blown calls having a direct impact on the outcome of the game.
Michael Young’s check swing that was ruled a ‘no swing’ and Buster Posey being called safe at second when replay showed he as “clearly” safe.  
Young homered on the next pitch and Posey scored on as single.  
Young: I’m not sure what a check swing is anymore, to be honest.  I’ve heard if the wrists break its a swing.  If the bat head crosses home plate its a swing.  Well, I’ve seen both things happen and not called, as well as a guy barely attempting to swing get rung up, no wrists breaking and the barrel hardly coming into the strike zone.
Posey, well thats another story all together.  From pictures I will agree he looked out.  Way out.  But the only irony I see is that the manager with the all time record for ejections was in the other dugout and didn’t lean towards arguing the call.
Now back to Young’s homer.  
I believe the Rays got shutout, right?
That call with Young’s (un)checked swing really didn’t have much of an impact, then.  Even if he doesn’t go yard, you can’t win a game when you don’t score any runs.  
Which can be said for the Braves, too.
Though that defense is a little harder to defend when Posey’s run was the only run scored.  
But the problem becomes this: you start opening the door to replay, where does it end?
Balls and strikes need to be checked on more than fair/foul or baserunning plays.  I would actually be in support of a system that replayed strikes, or just eliminated umpires all together from calling balls and strikes.
ESPN has k-zone, Fox has Foxtrax, or something, and they seem to be right on the money.  
I think the problem you’d hear would be from the players themselves.
HItters would come unglued if the strike zone went back to what it was when Mickey Mantle played.
Letter high fastballs are strikes and should be called strikes, but are not.  Players aren’t crying about that.  Pitchers might, but position players certainly aren’t.
Replay is a veritable Pandora’s box.  Once you open that door, its hard to close it.
Never mind that baseball games already can take far too long.  
–RM

Not retaining Pujols, maybe not a terrible thought?

Though on its own a sentiment like that is hard to defend, especially if you’re from the St Louis area and root for the Cards, but think about it.

If he wasn’t Pujols, wasn’t the face of the game, a pioneer for what Major Leaguers should be, one of the top five players of the generation, I doubt he’d be wearing birds on his chest past July of next year.
Especially if the Cards start to slide, again, next season.
A quick side track: there is no way the Reds should have won that division this season.  None.
The Cards, though, are in trouble.  
With the best hitter in the National league and two of the top four pitchers in the National League, they still failed to push past the the Reds, or hold a lead, and managed to lose games to the Astros and Nationals down the stretch.
The Cards need help and have needed help for years but benefited from playing in a weak division.
The Cards need help at the other three infield spots, right and center.  To say nothing about a rotation with a third starter of Kyle Lohse (he of an ERA north of 6.00) and a bullpen with Ryan Franklin anchoring the closer spot (and he won’t be getting by much longer either BAbip of .250 not going to hold forever).  
So think of the haul they might get for Pujols if they trade him.
Again, take his name out of the equation and a forty homer first baseman, right handed no less, are far easier to find than, say, a short stop who can hit for power or average as well as play defense.
Brendan Ryan and his .223 average aren’t going to do it, despite his defense.  Though it might be easier to ignore if Skip Schumaker or David Freese would have contributed offensively.
Payroll is obviously a consideration when trading him.  Any team looking to add him would undoubtedly look for a window to negotiate a long term deal with him–and with some astronomical numbers being thrown around it sort of narrows down the teams that would be able to do it.
Forgetting that the Yankees, Tigers, Angels (assuming their first baseman comes back healthy), and Phillies all have their first baseman for the next few years locked up they’re out of the running anyway.
Imagine what they could get back for him.
Probably two major league ready prospects, and possibly two more top tier minor league prospects too.  
Being the year of the pitcher or otherwise, Pujols led the league in homers with 42, and RBIs, but only (only?) drove in 118–leading the league in that category as well.  Had the Cards been able to put a few more men on base with the guys in front of him they’d have, presumably, scored a few more runs and, again, presumably, won a few more games.  
Wainright won 20 games this season and was stellar all year, Carpenter had a great year too, and Garcia had an awesome season for a rookie (even if he probably won’t keep that up next year), but after that it was a hodge podge of starters.  
Add another guy, a quality number three starter and I think the Cards win the division.  
I’m sure people in St Louis would cry foul if a trade was entertained, but there is precedent for this.
Ken Griffey Junior, once regarded as the best player of his generation was traded for four players.
Alex Rodriguez, another once regarded, was traded (though the Rangers were terrible even with him).
And, well, how can we forget, possibly the greatest player ever being traded (sold)?  Babe Ruth.
Though maybe Ruth isn’t the best example.  The Sox didn’t exactly fair real well in that transaction.
And I’m not saying I want the Cards to trade him and I don’t even think its possible. Even if the Yanks or Tigers  didn’t have their first base position locked up for the near future, neither of those teams have prospects worthy for a trade anyway.  
Besides, with the amount of first baseman hitting the market that same winter, the Cards might be able to get a “reasonable” price for him anyway.
–RM

Some things I think I think

Roy Halladay will win the NL Cy Young award.  And I think he’ll do it with about 25 wins, and depending on a great deal of things, I think he might flirt with 30.  Flirt, not get, but flirting is still an accomplishment too.

He just moved into the weakest division in the time zone after leaving the most difficult on the planet.  And he had the misfortune of being on the worst team in that division so he never had an easy opponent to pitch against.  The number three team in that division went to the World Series a couple of years ago.

At least now he can pitch against the Mets (they’re not any good), the Braves (a solid team but destined to be an also-ran), Marlins (young and talented, but not ready) and the Nationals (do I need to qualify?).

Joe Mauer will re-sign with the Twins.  For far less than the astronomical figures that have been thrown around. 

He could command A-Rod money.  But A-Rod doesn’t even deserve A-Rod money.  Ghandi doesn’t deserve that kind of cash.  But Joe is from Minnesota, loves where he is, and is the Cal Ripken Junior of his era.  Cal was a local kid who played his whole career with the Orioles–and as fate would have it, Mauer shares the same agent that Cal did.

I’m not saying he’s going to play for league minimum, but he isn’t going to back up the Brinks truck, either.  I see a seven year deal in the neighbor hood of about $112 million.  A giant contract, but nothing that is too ridiculous considering he’s got more batting titles than every other American League Catcher, combined.

And if he signs a boat load of money with one of those teams from the AL East, he’d end up being a pariah in his homestate–not something I think he would risk.

The Yankees will not win the World Series. 

No real argument to be made, I just think other squads have a better chance and easier road to do it.

One last big name will get popped for using ‘roids.

If it’s Pujols I’m never watching baseball again.

And finally, and this is more of a prayer than something I think.

Dontrelle Willis will begin to throw strikes again.

Please.

 

–RM

The Tiges…

I’ve been out of the game for a while, and if I still have any fans I apologize for that.  So this post may ramble for a bit, but oh well.

The Tigers are going to look markedly different this season as oppose to last, and I will say right now: I have NO problem with ANY move Dombrowski made.

Not one.

Yes I know that Curtis Granderson was a fan favorite, even I liked him.  He was a good guy, a community-oriented-good-to-his-mother-kept-out-of-the-headlines-face-of-a-franchise-kind of guy.

But I don’t care.

As awesome as it is to have a face of a franchise that is as clean as Granderson, I’d rather have a centerfielder who can throw and hit lefties a little better than his .183/.245/.239 line.

And for his image I could point to A-Rod and say image doesn’t matter if you produce, but you might say, “He wasn’t the face of the Yankees, that was Jeter.”

So what I will say is this: Larry Jones.  You might know him as Chipper.  And he is without question the face of the Altanta Braves.

And he doesnt’ have a squeaky clean resume.  He cheated on his wife.

But again, I don’t care if he did.  He’s a career: .307/.406/.541.

That said, I don’t care if Austin Jackson becomes a womanizing alcoholic mess as long as he can hit lefties better than a .183/.245/.239 clip.

That kid can absolutely run like the wind and has a cannon for a right arm.  He might not hit 30 dingers, but I can live with that.

Which brings me to my next point.

When building the Tigers outfield you need two things: speed and arm strength.  Jackson has both, Damon has speed, and Magglio doesn’t have either. 

In fact, I hope Magglio doesn’t hit a lick all season and can get benched to avoid his option vesting.  He might hit .330, but it will be with zero power and .285 of that .330 will come in blow-outs and mean zilch.

It isn’t that I don’t like Magglio, its that I’ve seen him play over the last few years and his pennant winning homer aside, he hasn’t been clutch at all during his tenure in Detroit.

I move on.

Damon’s signing isn’t a make or break.  I don’t see the Tigers going to the playoffs, and even if they do it won’t be Damon who is the reason-either way.

But what Damon will do is provide tutiledge for Jackson and provide a dependable (read:not Granderson) left handed bat at the top of the lineup to get on in front of Miguel Cabrera.  Nevermind his small collection of World Series rings.

Even the Edwin Jackson trade, which was my least favorite of the off-season wheeling and dealing, should end up paying dividends.  I like Scherzer, if he could ever become what he’s been projected to become, and that Schlereth kid should be all right, and Jackson was gonna make some big bread come arbitration.  So its okay.

And now, another fan favorite saying bye-bye that I’m not too upset about, Placido Polanco.

Lets face it, he was getting older, slower, and not any better.  I think he’ll do all right in Philly, but getting younger and faster for the Tigers is a grand plan.

And if Dombrowski didn’t shell out the money to keep Verlander and I ended up seeing him pitching for Baltimore in the next few seasons I would have been seriously upset.  He’s a man as far as other Major League starters are concerned.  And considering the quickness with shelling out absurd amounts of money to Nate Robertson, Jeremy Bonderman, and (sigh) Dontrelle Willis, I’m not sure why there was so much thinking about locking of Verlander.

Having said all that, I still don’t see the Tigers going to the playoffs, but thats fine.  They got younger and quicker and they should still be fun to watch.

 

–RM 

McGwire/Rose

So, Gene Wojciechowski wrote a nice little piece about Mark McGwire getting a pass and Pete Rose being blackballed–still.  Nice prose to be sure, but I don’t know about his point.  

I don’t disagree that McGwire being let back into the game is a problem–though his exile was self imposed and not sanctioned by Major League Baseball–I don’t agree that if McGwire is “let” back into baseball, then too should Rose.
The opposite, in fact.  
Well, maybe not the opposite, I disagree at any rate.
I don’t think either one of them should be associated with baseball.
To say nothing of the hall of fame.  And to be clear–it has nothing to do with morality, and I fully admit that there are holes in my argument fit for a Mack truck to drive through.  But its my blog and I’ll say what I want.
They both cheated.
The both cheated the game.
You could argue that Rose only cheated the game as a manager, and therefore his accomplishments as a player should warrant his induction into the Hall.
But, no.  
He cheated the game.  He’s done.
McGwire’s transgressions as a player are almost worse than Rose’s as a manager.  He admitted to steroids–though he tried like hell to dodge the help they gave him–and Gene argues that because Rose came clean–but doesn’t mention he only came clean to promote his book–he too should be afforded to come back to the game he loved.  
Admitting guilt doesn’t absolve you of your crime.
Forgive, but don’t forget.
McGwire essentially cheated not only the game, but of the coolest summer of my adolescence.  
Watching he and Sosa tear through record books and captivate an entire country (I blame Sosa for ruining that summer too) was a highlight of my baseball life.  
I was hopping up and down in my dorm room during college at the Congressional Hearing that McGwire vowed not to discuss the past hoping that he would just say, “No.”  I needed him to deny it because when he didn’t I lost faith in the game I love and the men who get paid millions to play it.
I was let down and have since been let down by a number of “stars” who admitted using the juice.
The issue I take with Gene is that it isn’t that Rose should be treated like McGwire, but that McGwire should be treated like Rose.
He should be banned.
As should, A-Rod, Sosa, Tejada, Giambi, Pettitte, and Clemens.
As for the Hall?
That’s not a Major League Baseball choice, anyway.
Thats a Baseball Writers Association thing.
And they’ve gotten it right thus far.
McGwire cheated the game as a player.
Rose cheated the game as a manager.
Imagine if McGwire’s crime had been giving steroids to players.
Would we still be lauding his return to the sport?
–RM
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