No, they didn't elect Bert Blyleven. But they did admit Will Carroll, Christina Kahrl, Rob Neyer, and Keith Law into their ranks. And thank goodness. I don't know much about Kahrl's work, but Carroll, Neyer, and Law are all excellent baseball writers who are far more well-versed in the game and its history than at least two-thirds of the previous BBWAA electorate. And I'd be willing to bet Kahrl would join the others.
So: thank you BBWAA, for making most of the right decisions in the awards balloting, and thank you for admitting four people who will raise the collective intelligence level.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
5
From Jordan Bastian's blog:
Ricciardi said the Jays won't go five years on a new deal for Burnett -- not guaranteed or with any kind of option. Said Braunecker [Burnett's agent]: "I'm not going to say that eliminates them or anybody else. What I will tell you is, as I've maintained for the last two weeks, is if he wants five years, he's getting five years."
So... The Jays won't give him five and he won't take less than five.
Have faith Jays fans, your team is still in the running. JP Riccardi can apparently overcome the laws of logic.
Ricciardi said the Jays won't go five years on a new deal for Burnett -- not guaranteed or with any kind of option. Said Braunecker [Burnett's agent]: "I'm not going to say that eliminates them or anybody else. What I will tell you is, as I've maintained for the last two weeks, is if he wants five years, he's getting five years."
So... The Jays won't give him five and he won't take less than five.
Have faith Jays fans, your team is still in the running. JP Riccardi can apparently overcome the laws of logic.
We're still alive....
From the ESPN Winter Meetings blog, the worst pun I've seen all day:
Street hitting the road?
First of all, that's a pretty lame pun.
Second of all, that makes no sense. Streets don't travel (hit roads). If his name was Huston Trucker, then it would make sense. But hey, it's Steve Phillips. I've given up on expecting what he says/writes to be logical.
P.S: NO MORE RAMON HERNANDEZ IN BALTIMORE!
Street hitting the road?
First of all, that's a pretty lame pun.
Second of all, that makes no sense. Streets don't travel (hit roads). If his name was Huston Trucker, then it would make sense. But hey, it's Steve Phillips. I've given up on expecting what he says/writes to be logical.
P.S: NO MORE RAMON HERNANDEZ IN BALTIMORE!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
I Think This Article Was Written Specifically to Infuriate Me
We’re a bit late (like two weeks), but we’ll make an exception for our best friend/worst enemy Bill Plaschke. Because here at BPS, that’s what we do.
Dodgers should put money for Manny to better use
Cash that would go to the free-agent outfielder could be used to shore up team in other ways.
Are we serious here? Bill Plaschke, Juan Pierre’s biggest/only fan, is arguing for not signing an outfielder? Wait. That actually makes a lot of sense. Plaschke realizes that if the Dodgers re-sign Manny, then Pierre’s playing time will get cut. And Plaschke can’t have that! But perhaps he knows just how ridiculous saying that in his column would sound, so he’s covering it up with a bunch of things that he doesn’t really believe, but make his bizarre Pierre obsession seem less obvious. Because nobody could be stupid enough to suggest that retaining a guy who had a 219 OPS+ in just over 225 PA would be a bad move. Could they?
Plaschke starts off by saying that Manny should gladly take a 2/45 deal from the Dodgers, and throws out this line:
A guy who has proven he will turn into a dog the first time somebody guarantees to scratch his belly?
I have no idea what that means.
Contrary to the esteemed opinion of grown men dressed in fake dreadlocks, there is life after Manny.
The Boston Red Sox advanced to within one game of the World Series in their first months without Manny.
The Cleveland Indians won 91 games and their division title in their first season without Manny.
Please tell me who is going to provide a replacement for Manny's offense. With the Red Sox, Jason Bay did almost as well as Manny had, Youkilis had a career year, and Pedroia won an MVP. On the Dodgers, you've got Andre Ethier to count on, and maybe Loney, Kemp, and Martin, though they're all question marks.
The 2001 Indians are an even worse example. They got a 170 OPS+ from Jim Thome, 150 from Roberto Alomar, 148 from Juan Gonzalez, and 137 from Ellis Burks. If the Dodgers had these guys that could have seasons like this, then maybe letting go of Manny might make sense.
If the Dodgers do it right, using the Manny Money for more important pursuits, they can make even bigger hits.
Say, like, advancing to their first World Series in 21 years.
If Manny Ramirez couldn't carry this current team to that final lap during a postseason in which he hit .520, what makes you think he could ever do it?
This is combining probably my two least favorite things people use to "analyze" baseball into one. 1) blaming the performance of a team on one outstanding player, and 2) basing anything on playoff performance. Plaschke seems to be insinuating that Manny didn't perform sufficiently in the 2008 postseason. Which deserves an old FJM phrase: fuck the heck? His OPS was in the 1.750 range. He had arguably the best postseason ever. What more do you want him to do? Why are you penalizing Manny for the rest of the Dodgers' ineptitude? If it's not for Manny, maybe the Dodgers don't even make the NLCS! Maybe they don't even make the playoffs!
And that's not all. Do you know how many games the Dodgers played in the 2008 postseason? Eight. Do you know what their record in those eight games was? Four wins, four losses. So in essence you are saying that because the Dodgers failed to win three games, they should jettison a guy who, for two months, was the best player in baseball.
You, Bill Plaschke, are an idiot.
Plaschke says that with the money that would be spent on Manny, the Dodgers should first sign CC Sabathia. He presents this to justify this claim:
The lack of a true No. 1 starting pitcher was the reason the Dodgers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, and even a lineup full of Mannies won't change this.
Yes. Yes, it would change that. And very drastically. Last year, for the Dodgers, Ramirez created 15.2 runs per game. You don't need CC Sabathia to allow less than 15 runs per game. Do you know how long it took me to find that information? Ten seconds.
#2 on Plaschke's list is sign Randy Johnson. Because he can still "win games and strike fear". Not necessarily pitch well. But because he can "strike fear". Still, this isn't totally stupid, except for the fact that Johnson is 45 and Plaschke was whining earlier about signing Manny to a two-year deal because he would be 38 when the contract expired. Let's move on.
#3 is re-signing Rafael Furcal.
When healthy, Rafael Furcal is the most invaluable piece of the Dodgers offense. There are no minor leaguers ready to take his place. There are no current Dodgers who can do what he does.
http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=6864
#4 is bringing back Adrian Beltre. What? It's not 2004 any more. Adrian Beltre is not a superstar. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Plaschke a huge fan of Blake DeWitt? And how would trading for Beltre accomplish Plaschke's next goal, which is...
Count on the kids.
It's interesting how some of the same people who have been applauding the club's youth movement have also insisted on re-signing Ramirez.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Unlike your proposition to block at least two position prospects, plus probably another in the rotation. Don't believe me? Name the young, highly-touted outfielder who's been tearing up all levels of minor league ball and who the Dodgers just can't afford to keep in the minors any more. No, it's not Xavier Paul. The only person Manny would be blocking is Juan Pierre. And the more people blocking Juan Pierre, the better.
Of course, Plaschke doesn't really think any of these are good ideas, nor has he dealt with the fact that Sabathia, Furcal, Johnson, and Beltre are going to cost more than Manny. He's just worried that Manny will cut Pierre's playing time. And Bill Plaschke loves to watch Juan Pierre.
Dodgers should put money for Manny to better use
Cash that would go to the free-agent outfielder could be used to shore up team in other ways.
Are we serious here? Bill Plaschke, Juan Pierre’s biggest/only fan, is arguing for not signing an outfielder? Wait. That actually makes a lot of sense. Plaschke realizes that if the Dodgers re-sign Manny, then Pierre’s playing time will get cut. And Plaschke can’t have that! But perhaps he knows just how ridiculous saying that in his column would sound, so he’s covering it up with a bunch of things that he doesn’t really believe, but make his bizarre Pierre obsession seem less obvious. Because nobody could be stupid enough to suggest that retaining a guy who had a 219 OPS+ in just over 225 PA would be a bad move. Could they?
Plaschke starts off by saying that Manny should gladly take a 2/45 deal from the Dodgers, and throws out this line:
A guy who has proven he will turn into a dog the first time somebody guarantees to scratch his belly?
I have no idea what that means.
Contrary to the esteemed opinion of grown men dressed in fake dreadlocks, there is life after Manny.
The Boston Red Sox advanced to within one game of the World Series in their first months without Manny.
The Cleveland Indians won 91 games and their division title in their first season without Manny.
Please tell me who is going to provide a replacement for Manny's offense. With the Red Sox, Jason Bay did almost as well as Manny had, Youkilis had a career year, and Pedroia won an MVP. On the Dodgers, you've got Andre Ethier to count on, and maybe Loney, Kemp, and Martin, though they're all question marks.
The 2001 Indians are an even worse example. They got a 170 OPS+ from Jim Thome, 150 from Roberto Alomar, 148 from Juan Gonzalez, and 137 from Ellis Burks. If the Dodgers had these guys that could have seasons like this, then maybe letting go of Manny might make sense.
If the Dodgers do it right, using the Manny Money for more important pursuits, they can make even bigger hits.
Say, like, advancing to their first World Series in 21 years.
If Manny Ramirez couldn't carry this current team to that final lap during a postseason in which he hit .520, what makes you think he could ever do it?
This is combining probably my two least favorite things people use to "analyze" baseball into one. 1) blaming the performance of a team on one outstanding player, and 2) basing anything on playoff performance. Plaschke seems to be insinuating that Manny didn't perform sufficiently in the 2008 postseason. Which deserves an old FJM phrase: fuck the heck? His OPS was in the 1.750 range. He had arguably the best postseason ever. What more do you want him to do? Why are you penalizing Manny for the rest of the Dodgers' ineptitude? If it's not for Manny, maybe the Dodgers don't even make the NLCS! Maybe they don't even make the playoffs!
And that's not all. Do you know how many games the Dodgers played in the 2008 postseason? Eight. Do you know what their record in those eight games was? Four wins, four losses. So in essence you are saying that because the Dodgers failed to win three games, they should jettison a guy who, for two months, was the best player in baseball.
You, Bill Plaschke, are an idiot.
Plaschke says that with the money that would be spent on Manny, the Dodgers should first sign CC Sabathia. He presents this to justify this claim:
The lack of a true No. 1 starting pitcher was the reason the Dodgers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, and even a lineup full of Mannies won't change this.
Yes. Yes, it would change that. And very drastically. Last year, for the Dodgers, Ramirez created 15.2 runs per game. You don't need CC Sabathia to allow less than 15 runs per game. Do you know how long it took me to find that information? Ten seconds.
#2 on Plaschke's list is sign Randy Johnson. Because he can still "win games and strike fear". Not necessarily pitch well. But because he can "strike fear". Still, this isn't totally stupid, except for the fact that Johnson is 45 and Plaschke was whining earlier about signing Manny to a two-year deal because he would be 38 when the contract expired. Let's move on.
#3 is re-signing Rafael Furcal.
When healthy, Rafael Furcal is the most invaluable piece of the Dodgers offense. There are no minor leaguers ready to take his place. There are no current Dodgers who can do what he does.
http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=6864
#4 is bringing back Adrian Beltre. What? It's not 2004 any more. Adrian Beltre is not a superstar. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Plaschke a huge fan of Blake DeWitt? And how would trading for Beltre accomplish Plaschke's next goal, which is...
Count on the kids.
It's interesting how some of the same people who have been applauding the club's youth movement have also insisted on re-signing Ramirez.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Unlike your proposition to block at least two position prospects, plus probably another in the rotation. Don't believe me? Name the young, highly-touted outfielder who's been tearing up all levels of minor league ball and who the Dodgers just can't afford to keep in the minors any more. No, it's not Xavier Paul. The only person Manny would be blocking is Juan Pierre. And the more people blocking Juan Pierre, the better.
Of course, Plaschke doesn't really think any of these are good ideas, nor has he dealt with the fact that Sabathia, Furcal, Johnson, and Beltre are going to cost more than Manny. He's just worried that Manny will cut Pierre's playing time. And Bill Plaschke loves to watch Juan Pierre.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Murray Chass Doesn't Know What Outsourcing Is...
Just as the title says. Judging by this little gem, he can't (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page).
Much of the outsourcing that United States companies do these days is located in India. The companies that outsource elements of their operations do so because the cost is cheaper. Now the practice has come to baseball.
It has? So this logically means that to reduce costs, we're relocating the league offices or the hired help therein or maybe giving the jobs to the people who answer the phones for mlb.com's tech support to people in India.
The Pirates are outsourcing their future.
Huh? No, seriously...HUH????? There's this little thing about the future being impossible to outsource unless the Pirates actually announce a future MOVE to India (which I kinda doubt, considering how jetlagged the players would get).
They signed two Indians last week to professional contracts. Those are natives of India, who have never played an inning of baseball.
By this logic, every single team signing a player born outside of the United States of America is outsourcing its future. I can't put into words how stupid that is. And I tried for a solid twenty minutes, too, so don't tell me I can. Does this mean that because the Cardinals have Albert Pujols, a Dominican, they're outsourcing their success? Or the Mets' Johan Santana, from Venezuela? How about the Toronto Blue Jays, who don't even play in the United States for half the season (and yes, you can technically outsource to Canada, though doing so would not be cost-effective)?
Incidentally, I'm almost positive Murray's wrong about left-hander Rinku Singh and right-hander Dinesh Patel not having played an inning of baseball. I'm pretty sure both of these guys played Little League, which, last time I checked, was indeed baseball.
With a major league record-tying 16 successive losing seasons, the Pirates haven’t been able to get it right so how bad can it be trying to develop inexperienced Indians?
I get Murray's message here (I think), that it can't hurt the Pirates to try out new ideas, but he finishes the sentence as if the Pirates had just signed a pair of Neanderthals simply because neither of these guys come from a place considered to be a baseball country. It also has a slight smell of xenophobia with the whole the-Indians-are-just-a-bunch-of-people-who-take-American-jobs-and-don't-know-baseball thing. Well, the Mets signed a catcher out of Germany last season named Kai Gronauer, who is doing pretty well. I can already imagine Murray calling the guy a Nazi once he finds out he exists and asking him where he keeps his copy of Mein Kampf.
Signing some dude out of a foreign country not usually associated with baseball does not automatically mean that said dude will automatically not distinguish a baseball from a rotting log, which is precisely what Murray seems to think about Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. It also does not mean that the the players are stereotypical primitives. Uh, Murray, you do realize that they have cricket in India, right? Try figuring that EXTREMELY complex sport out and come back to me when you do. Because while both of these "inexperienced Indian" guys were javelin-throwers, they're also big cricket fans, according to their own blogs on themilliondollararm.com.
The unfortunate aspect of the foray into India is that it is the Pirates who are doing it. Even if there’s a glimmer of hope that decent players could be developed in India, you have to remember it’s the Pirates who are trying it. The Pirates haven’t been able to develop outstanding college and high school players into major leaguers. What makes anyone think they can turn baseball neophytes into baseball prospects?
Because we all know that Pedro Alvarez (**gasp** a foreigner!), Robbie Grossman, Paul Maholm, Matt Capps, Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit, Steve Pearce, and Yoslan Herrera (**gasp** another foreigner!) are absolutely useless and have no talent or future. Seriously, did Murray Chass miss the Pirates changing General Managers from the awful Dave Littlefield to the very good Neal Huntington? Was he sick the day the Pirates said they were planning to spend a lot more money on the draft? Did he forget about Pirates beginning to rely on Sabermetrics? Did he have a traumatic experience that blocked out the trades that netted the Buccos Jose Tabata (**gasp** yet another foreigner!), Jeff Karstens, Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, and Bryan Morris? These are not the Pittsburgh Pirates of 2005 or 2006.
This is like someone looking at the early 2000's Tampa Bay Devil Rays and concluding that because they sucked then, they must still suck now. Screw the AL Pennant. Screw the new hirings that seem to be Neal Huntington's model. They must suck. They're the Rays, or Devil Rays, or whatever.
All right, maybe it’s only a gimmick; that’s always possible.
You want to know who else were basically signed as a gimmick? The A's designated runners, Allan Lewis (Ahh!!! A non-US born person!!!) and Herb Washington*. Where's the contempt directed at them? I realize Washington took hell after he was caught stealing in the 1973 World Series and in hindsight, both of Charles O. Finley's designated runners look pretty useless, but at the time, they weren't treated with the disdain with which Chass is treating Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel (did you notice that he doesn't even mention their names?).
Yet, Patel topped off at 90 mph after never having seriously pitched before or conditioning himself to pitch. If someone did this in the United States, you can bet there would be scouts looking at him. And Singh supposedly throws a very good split-fingered changeup (a Vulcan Change for people who followed baseball in the eighties) in addition to a high 80's fastball. Again, that's something an American scout would look at. These guys have the chance to become much better than Lewis and Washington.
*Before someone emails me about Larry Lintz and other A's "designated runners," those guys had legit baseball careers before Finley signed them just to pinch run.
But it’s the Pirates who are doing it, and no one has ever accused the Pirates of being capable of doing anything clever.
Because Murray and I agree that Dave Littlefield was a brain dead moron when it came to baseball. It's just that Murray doesn't seem to grasp the concept that he was fired late in the 2007 season and replaced with this other, better guy named Neal Huntington.
So there you have it folks. Ol' Murray thinks the Pirates are outsourcing baseball to India because they signed two guys from India who genuinely look promising. I'd love to hear his take if we sign some guy from the Middle East...
Much of the outsourcing that United States companies do these days is located in India. The companies that outsource elements of their operations do so because the cost is cheaper. Now the practice has come to baseball.
It has? So this logically means that to reduce costs, we're relocating the league offices or the hired help therein or maybe giving the jobs to the people who answer the phones for mlb.com's tech support to people in India.
The Pirates are outsourcing their future.
Huh? No, seriously...HUH????? There's this little thing about the future being impossible to outsource unless the Pirates actually announce a future MOVE to India (which I kinda doubt, considering how jetlagged the players would get).
They signed two Indians last week to professional contracts. Those are natives of India, who have never played an inning of baseball.
By this logic, every single team signing a player born outside of the United States of America is outsourcing its future. I can't put into words how stupid that is. And I tried for a solid twenty minutes, too, so don't tell me I can. Does this mean that because the Cardinals have Albert Pujols, a Dominican, they're outsourcing their success? Or the Mets' Johan Santana, from Venezuela? How about the Toronto Blue Jays, who don't even play in the United States for half the season (and yes, you can technically outsource to Canada, though doing so would not be cost-effective)?
Incidentally, I'm almost positive Murray's wrong about left-hander Rinku Singh and right-hander Dinesh Patel not having played an inning of baseball. I'm pretty sure both of these guys played Little League, which, last time I checked, was indeed baseball.
With a major league record-tying 16 successive losing seasons, the Pirates haven’t been able to get it right so how bad can it be trying to develop inexperienced Indians?
I get Murray's message here (I think), that it can't hurt the Pirates to try out new ideas, but he finishes the sentence as if the Pirates had just signed a pair of Neanderthals simply because neither of these guys come from a place considered to be a baseball country. It also has a slight smell of xenophobia with the whole the-Indians-are-just-a-bunch-of-people-who-take-American-jobs-and-don't-know-baseball thing. Well, the Mets signed a catcher out of Germany last season named Kai Gronauer, who is doing pretty well. I can already imagine Murray calling the guy a Nazi once he finds out he exists and asking him where he keeps his copy of Mein Kampf.
Signing some dude out of a foreign country not usually associated with baseball does not automatically mean that said dude will automatically not distinguish a baseball from a rotting log, which is precisely what Murray seems to think about Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. It also does not mean that the the players are stereotypical primitives. Uh, Murray, you do realize that they have cricket in India, right? Try figuring that EXTREMELY complex sport out and come back to me when you do. Because while both of these "inexperienced Indian" guys were javelin-throwers, they're also big cricket fans, according to their own blogs on themilliondollararm.com.
The unfortunate aspect of the foray into India is that it is the Pirates who are doing it. Even if there’s a glimmer of hope that decent players could be developed in India, you have to remember it’s the Pirates who are trying it. The Pirates haven’t been able to develop outstanding college and high school players into major leaguers. What makes anyone think they can turn baseball neophytes into baseball prospects?
Because we all know that Pedro Alvarez (**gasp** a foreigner!), Robbie Grossman, Paul Maholm, Matt Capps, Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit, Steve Pearce, and Yoslan Herrera (**gasp** another foreigner!) are absolutely useless and have no talent or future. Seriously, did Murray Chass miss the Pirates changing General Managers from the awful Dave Littlefield to the very good Neal Huntington? Was he sick the day the Pirates said they were planning to spend a lot more money on the draft? Did he forget about Pirates beginning to rely on Sabermetrics? Did he have a traumatic experience that blocked out the trades that netted the Buccos Jose Tabata (**gasp** yet another foreigner!), Jeff Karstens, Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, and Bryan Morris? These are not the Pittsburgh Pirates of 2005 or 2006.
This is like someone looking at the early 2000's Tampa Bay Devil Rays and concluding that because they sucked then, they must still suck now. Screw the AL Pennant. Screw the new hirings that seem to be Neal Huntington's model. They must suck. They're the Rays, or Devil Rays, or whatever.
All right, maybe it’s only a gimmick; that’s always possible.
You want to know who else were basically signed as a gimmick? The A's designated runners, Allan Lewis (Ahh!!! A non-US born person!!!) and Herb Washington*. Where's the contempt directed at them? I realize Washington took hell after he was caught stealing in the 1973 World Series and in hindsight, both of Charles O. Finley's designated runners look pretty useless, but at the time, they weren't treated with the disdain with which Chass is treating Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel (did you notice that he doesn't even mention their names?).
Yet, Patel topped off at 90 mph after never having seriously pitched before or conditioning himself to pitch. If someone did this in the United States, you can bet there would be scouts looking at him. And Singh supposedly throws a very good split-fingered changeup (a Vulcan Change for people who followed baseball in the eighties) in addition to a high 80's fastball. Again, that's something an American scout would look at. These guys have the chance to become much better than Lewis and Washington.
*Before someone emails me about Larry Lintz and other A's "designated runners," those guys had legit baseball careers before Finley signed them just to pinch run.
But it’s the Pirates who are doing it, and no one has ever accused the Pirates of being capable of doing anything clever.
Because Murray and I agree that Dave Littlefield was a brain dead moron when it came to baseball. It's just that Murray doesn't seem to grasp the concept that he was fired late in the 2007 season and replaced with this other, better guy named Neal Huntington.
So there you have it folks. Ol' Murray thinks the Pirates are outsourcing baseball to India because they signed two guys from India who genuinely look promising. I'd love to hear his take if we sign some guy from the Middle East...
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