The Healthy Scratch » Baseball

Please Quit Whining about Little League Baseball

Jimmy Bones — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:31:36 +0000

It was bound to happen.

Little League baseball is the latest battleground for the politically correct and bleeding hearts. Apparrently the most important lesson we have to teach today’s kids is “be nice and whatever you do, don’t try to win.”

You’ve all heard the stories by now. Team A intentionally walks a good player to pitch to ‘cancer survivor’ kid to win a game or the other sob stories of the day. The coach of team A gets bashed in the media and this becomes a big story. “What lessons are we teaching our kids is?” the stories all say.

I don’t know about you, but I remember my youth championship teams more than the teams that lost 90% of the time. Those are the memories that stick with you, not the time that everyone pretended to drop the ball so a terrible kid could get his 1st hit. Does the kid feel any better about himself knowing the other team gimped around to let him get a hit? What valuable lesson are we teaching kids here? Feel sorry for people and make sure to treat everyone differently?

Kids aren’t dopes. By the time they hit little league age, they know the difference between right and wrong. They also want to win games. They don’t want to lose so some kid’s feelings don’t get hurt. If the kid isn’t good enough to play little league, let him play softball or something. Does it matter it really matter if the kid isn’t the last out? If he still strikes out every time up, I doubt he feels that good about it.

Just let the damn kids play and quit writing about hard luck stories.

Rants and Raves

Jimmy Bones — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 08:52:27 +0000

Some thoughts about the weekend that was in sports:

Someone should tell Brad Radke that guys with torn labrums aren’t supposed to be pitching, let alone shutting out the best offensive team in the AL. Radke’s probably going to retire after this season and we all should salute him. He’s one of those good but not great players who fall between the cracks when they leave the game. His performance this is year is awe-inspiring.
The White Sox are back in the AL Central race. You’ve read it everywhere haven’t you? I hate to break it to everyone, but the Tigers still have a 5.5 game edge over the Pale Hose. The White Sox still could take the division, but its going to take a serious tank job by the Tigers to make it happen.
I hate to agree with Jeremy Shockey, but when the guy says the NFL preseason is too long, he’s right. And if you think I’m just saying this because I’m bitter my team lost its best player yesterday, well your damn right I am.
The National League wildcard race is setting up to be the most embarrassing thing for baseball since, well last year when the NL West winner was barely over .500. I know the point of the Wild Card was to get more cities involved in the playoff chase, but when a team like Atlanta is still alive with a record of 54-62, that’s a joke.
Two of the best hitters in baseball are Canadian (Justin Morneau and Jason Bay). After years of guys like Larry Walker and Matt Stairs leading our Canadian baseball train, its nice to have guys who don’t look like they were signed off the local beer league to cheer on.
Jared Weaver is the 2nd coming of his brother Jeff. He’ll be great the 1st couple times through the league, but after team’s catch up to his funky windup, he’s going to have troubles.
Junior Seau is going to retire tomorrow. I’m torn on the guy, was he really that great a player or just an overrated media favorite? Either way, he had a nice career and will probably get some Hall of Fame consideration, so good on him.
Annika Sorenstam and family, please stay out of the water. Usually, wet female athletes = hot, but not in this case.

Could the Rocket return?

Phil Frangos — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:00:57 +0000

Even though the trade deadline has come and gone, the struggling Astros could still grant Roger Clemens his wish to possibly return to Boston.

Its crazy to think this could happen, but why not. The Houston Astros are going nowhere. Roger, at the age of 44, is still putting up tremendous numbers going into Monday’s action. The Rocket is sporting a 2.32 ERA, along with a WHIP ratio of 1.07 after 54 innings since his return.

The Boston Red Sox, having lost two in a row to the pathetic Devil Rays, currently sit two games back of the Yankees for first in the AL East, and a half game back of the ChiSox for the wildcard race. With Boston having only one starting pitcher they can depend on every fifth day in Curt Schilling, they desperately need to make a move to improve their starting pitching. Due to their current position in the standings, this is the perfect time to swing a deal for the Rocket as the teams ahead of them cannot block any trades they would attempt as trades would have to be passed through waivers.

Houston is rumoured to be interested in young pitchers Jon Lester, Manny Delcarmen & Craig Hansen in return. It’s highly unlikely the Sox will deal young Lester, but they could afford to deal the others mentioned for the shot at possibly making the playoffs and who knows, we could have a repeat of twenty years ago. Who can forget the Mets and Red Sox of 1986. Its something to keep a close eye on in the coming days ahead.

Chase Utley is Insane!

Jimmy Bones — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 07:43:22 +0000

Someone forgot to tell Chase Utley that the Phillies season is over. Utley extended his hitting streak to 35 games with a 1st inning double last night. With that hit, Utley is now tied with Luis Castillo as the 4th longest hitting streak since Joe DiMaggio had his record setting 56 game streak. Of course this only ranks as the 2nd longest streak on his own team this year, as Jimmy Rollins polished off his 38 gamer earlier this year.

Unlike Rollins, Utley’s streak is no fluke. This guy is one hell of a hitter. Every time you see the guy in the batters-box he’s pounding line drive after line drive. You never see him giving away at-bats or lofting wimpy pop-outs. Utley has surprising power (21 home runs) and decent speed (12 stolen bases). He’s a superstar and now the whole world is noticing.

It’s too bad Utley is stuck on a team that has no chance of making the playoffs. The Phillies are a mile back from the Mets and just had a disastrous trading deadline. Even though they were completely ripped off in the Abreu trade, it was a signal that the Phillies are now Utley and Ryan Howard’s team. For a team that’s rebuilding, those two young superstars are a nice foundation to start with.

Can Utley break DiMaggio’s record? Its doubtful. Thirty-five games is unbelievable and he’s still 21 games away. To put things into perspective he’d have to keep his streak going until at least August 24th just to tie DiMaggio. This is the toughest record in all of sport to break. But Utley has a shot and it’ll sure be fun to watch him chase down greatness.

Things I hate…

Jimmy Bones — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 07:53:14 +0000

It’s been about 9 million degrees outside these past few days and quite frankly I’m a little fired up about it. I could sit here and wrack my brain for something interesting to write, something that would blow your mind and leave you wanting more, but let’s be honest here, its just too hot to think. So instead I present to you a list of people or things that really piss me off:

I load up ESPN.com tonight and who’s there on the the front page: Chris Simms. I hate that jackass. For a guy who’s
known mainly for not being able to win a big game, he sure is a cocky bastard. Chris Simms, you are a below average QB so get your smug face off my TV screen. Your dad is a terrible commentator as well.
I hate Jeremy Shockey. The guy gets more press than Tony Gonzalez and he’s never even had a one-thousand yard season. He’s about as dumb as a concrete block too. Enjoy the concussion meatball.
I hate NASCAR. Actually i don’t really hate NASCAR, I just hate how a sport that’s about as exciting as watching grass grow is on my TV every weekend.
I hate women’s sports. Now I’m not some neanderthal who thinks woman shouldn’t play sports or anything, but if I’m going to commit a few hours to watch a sporting event the people participating better be able to play the game better than I can.
I hate when media people try to spice up a boring story by making things up. Yeah, the trading deadline was a dud, but Roger Clemens wasn’t close to going to Boston. Why is this even being discussed.
I hate this whole steroid witch hunt. How can you keep guys out of the Hall of Fame that have never failed a drug test? If you catch someone doing it, then punish them, but you can’t just hold guys down because of suspicions.
I hate the insanely disproportionate payrolls in major league baseball. The Yankees go add another bazillionaire to their roster, while they battle the Twins who have a payroll that barely surpasses A-Rod’s salary.

That’s enough hate for one day. Heck, if the temperature drops below 100 in the next few days maybe I’ll write a column about things I like. I’m sure that’ll score me some big readership numbers.

Gun shy

Phil Frangos — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:37:00 +0000

After hearing for days about possible destinations for Miguel Tejada and Alfonso Soriano, both players found themselves back in their familiar colours hours after the deadline ended.You have to question what Orioles owner Peter Angelos was thinking when he turned down three good young players from the Orange County Angels, that would have helped improve that pathetic Baltimore team. The deal would have included starter Ervin Santana, shortstop Erick Aybar and possibly first basemen Casey Kotchman. Miguel Tejada will be demanding at least 12 million dollars this off-season and I think getting rid of him would have been the better choice.

The Nationals are trying to play the Alfonso is so excited to be staying in Washington card. I’m just not buying it. He will bolt the minute he’s able to when the last out is made in the final game in September. You can mark my word on that one. Sure the Nationals need to have someone on the roster for fans to get excited about, and have a reason to come to the ballpark the next few months, but i think they too made a big mistake in not unloading their big prize player and I can’t wait to see what will happen with this situation.

Other teams like the Red Sox and Angels also sat and watched what their rivals were doing which surprised me a bit. I thought Boston would mirror the Yankees moves as they always have done in past seasons, especially after Trot Nixon went down the other day.

I guess with the Astros and A’s holding on to aces Roy Oswalt & Barry Zito, we’re sure to have a wild finish down the stretch in both leagues as the races for the wildcards are tightly bunching up.

THS Does the MLB Trade Deadline

The Healthy Scratch — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:18:11 +0000

The rumors have been flying and deals have started, so what better way to celebrate the Major League Baseball trading deadline then to give up some opinions on what goes down. This will be updated constantly until the deadline on July 31, so check back often.

Last Update: July 31, 2006 7:30pm Est.

Dodgers get Lugo in the biggest trade of a boring deadline day
Dodgers get: SS/2B Julio Lugo
Devil Rays get: OF Joel Guzman, OF Sergio Pedroza

Gibbons take: The Dodgers intend to play Lugo at 2B while Jeff Kent heals up and then deal with a logjam when Kent returns. In the end it’ll likely mean that Wilson Betemit will end up in a reserve role once everyone gets healthy. Guzman is the big prospect in the deal. He’s more tools than performance right now, but he’s 21 and already in AAA, so he probably has a future. Pedroza is older and much further away, but he’s got some serious pop in his bat. If the Dodgers has actually filled a need with this move I’d call it even, but since they didn’t: Advantage Tampa.

Frangos take: Kind of surprised that the Dodgers ended up with Lugo as it was rumoured that the Blue Jays were hot to trot for the shortstop. I think his bat will help Los Angeles down the stretch. Tampa did good getting some talent in return as Lugo was going to walk this off season.

Dodgers add Maddux
Dodgers get: P Greg Maddux
Cubs get: SS Cesar Izturis

Gibbons take: Maddux is done. I hate to say that as he was always a favorite of mine growing up, but he’s just not up to the task anymore. He started the season on fire, but hasn’t had a month with an ERA below 5.00 since. In Izturis, the Cubs get a younger version of Neifi Perez. He’s never going to be an all-star again, but there are worse players around. The edge on this goes to the Cubs.

Frangos take: Again I am surprised the Dodgers of all teams get Maddux. Who would have thought this hall of famer would get traded for a guy hitting .252 with 1 homerun? Not exactly the kind of return you’d expect, anyways I think Maddux has some gas left in the tank, and you never know with the Dodgers in the west. It’s anyones division to win.

Mets add arms, deal Nady

Mets get: P Roberto Hernandez and P Oliver Perez
Pirates get: OF Xavier Nady

Gibbons Take: I like this deal for the Pirates. Nady has some good pop and could excel given a full time role in Pittsburgh. Roberto Hernandez is 100 years old but he might help in the bullpen. Oliver Perez has turned awful for some reason and I don’t think he’s going to turn it around. Chalk this one up for the Pirates.

Frangos take: The Pirates needed to add a good bat after trading Casey and Wilson in earlier trades. He’s a young player that hopefully can grow into an everyday major leaguer with the Pirates. The Mets needed to replace Duaner Sanchez who was injured in a cab ride. Not sure however, if Hernandez and Perez will make that much of an impact. Good deal for the Pirates.

Casey to the Tigers
Tigers get: 1B Sean Casey
Pirates get: P Brian Rogers

Gibbons’ Take: Hooray for mediorce 1st baseman. Casey’s very average, but since Chris Shelton has forgotten how to hit, this is a decent little move. Rogers isn’t much of a prospect, but the Pirates need anything they can get.

Frangos’ Take: Same old story about a team like the Pirates dumping a player, in this case making $8,500,000 in Casey for a prospect. Oh by the way, I guess someone told Chris Shelton he’s Chris Shelton.

Reds continue to load up on pitchers
Deal One:
Reds get: P Kyle Lohse
Twins get: P Zach Ward
Deal Two:
Reds get: P Rheal Cormier
Phillies get: P Justin Germano

Gibbons’ take: The Reds remind me of that fantasy owner who’s team loses because of terrible pitching, so the next year they draft 50 straight pitchers and realize they have no hitting. Cormier should help in the bullpen. But Zach Ward has some good numbers in the minors and Kyle Lohse is pretty weak. All in all, I’m bored by these deals.

Frangos’ take: The Twins should have traded Lohse along time ago. Getting Ward is pretty good for them. As for the other deal, meh.

Ronnie Belliard goes to St. Louis
Cards get: Ronnie Belliard

Indians get: Hector Luna

Frangos’ take: If it were Julio Lugo instead of Hector Luna, this trade would have been more interesting, but nevertheless, the Cards improve their roster by making this move as Belliard will only help the Cards as they continue to fight off the Reds for first place. The Indians continue to dump salary and add puzzling names to their roster.

Gibbons’ take: Cards win this deal, but its a minor one.

Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle dealt to Yankees
Phillies get: LHP Matt Smith, SS C.J. Henry, C Jesus Sanchez & Carlos Monasterios

Yankees get: Bobby Abreu & Cory Lidle

Frangos’ take: The Yankees desperately needed to make a splash. Getting Abreu fills that big left-handed bat in the lineup. Cory Lidle adds some experience and is an inning eater that will take pressure off the bullpen. The Phillies, already having traded 3B David Bell to Milwaukee, are clearly mailing it in.

Gibbons’ Take: This is a steal for the Yankees. They traded a guy who can be one of best player in baseball, for a load of blah prospects. Message to the Phillies front office: A lot of crap is still just crap. They got destroyed in this trade.

Carlos Lee goes to Texas
Brewers get: Kevin Mench, Francisco Cordero, Laynce Nix & Julian Cordero
Rangers get: Carlos Lee & Nelson Cruz

Gibbons’ take: The 1st big deadline deal is upon us. I’m not the biggest Carlos Lee fan around and think he can be overrated because he puts up huge RBI numbers, but even I can’t argue with the numbers he’s put this year. Lee is an upgrade on Mench, although not by as much as you’d think. Francisco Cordero could excel with a change of scenery as his stuff is still good. The rest of the players are just guys, although Julian Cordero could eventually become a decent prospect.

Frangos’ take: A great pickup for the Rangers. Lee is just what Texas needs in the middle of their lineup. Mench had become a none factor as a power hitter having only hit 2 in the last 2 months. Francisco Cordero, with the exception of his last outing versus the Yankees where he gave up 4 runs, was starting to get used to the setup role after losing the closer role earlier in the year to Otsuka. I think Mench is a perfect fit for the Brewers and Cordero will helpout Turnbow in the pen. As for the rest of the guys, there just throw-ins as far as I’m concerned.

Great Mustaches: Sal Fasano

Jimmy Bones — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:00:47 +0000

Its finally Sal Fasano’s time. He’s languished for years with garbage teams and no press coverage but my friends, its all about to change. My main man Sal Fasano was dealt just a few days ago the New York Yankees. Sure he can’t hit and overall he’s a fairly terrible MLB player, but look at that ’stache. I went with the black and white photo because that mustache is a pure work of art. When you combine that bushy Fu Mancho mustache with his flowing locks, you are a superstar.

Sadly, the Yankees have that asinine policy regarding facial hair so the Fasano will have to be trimmed and lose some of its luster. The trade and mustache trimming didn’t hurt Fasano’s feelings as evidenced by this glorious quote:

You’re an animal sometimes and you go from zoo to zoo.

Sal Fasano, you most definitely are an animal. We salute you.

Minnesota Twins: Have they Finally Figured it out?

Jimmy Bones — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 08:13:15 +0000

The Minnesota Twins are rolling. They’ve won 34 of their last 42 games and vaulted themselves right back into playoff contention. In fact, with today’s win, their 3rd straight over the White Sox, they’ve moved into a tie for 1st in the Wild Card race with New York and Chicago. Everyone knows why they’ve turned it around (Francisco Liriano, Brad Radke, Justin Morneau, etc) and what they should do in the future, but no one looks back at why they were stinking up the joint early in the season. The fact is for the 1st two months of the season, the Twins were doing what they always do, they were shooting themselves in the foot with poor personnel decisions.

Just look at the Twins opening day lineup, it featured scrubs like Juan Castro and Tony Batista while guys like Jason Bartlett and Michael Cuddyer were either sitting on the bench or in the minors. Francisco Liriano was in the bullpen because the Twins had to have Kyle Lohse and Carlos Silvia in their rotation. The Twins seem to have this aversion to hurting the feelings of veteran players. They have to absolutely stink up the joint in order to lose their job no matter if a much more talented guy is waiting in the wings.

This isn’t a new thing either. Let’s not forget that this is the same team that had Johan Santana in the bullpen for a year and a half even though he was obviously the best pitcher on the roster. And I’m sure all Twinkie fans still have nightmares about the worst decision the Twins ever made. They decided to stick with Doug Mientkiewicz at 1st and cut David Ortiz. Just think about that for second. They cut Ortiz, who can hit 50 home runs in a season, for a guy who’s hit 59 homers in his entire nine-year major league career.

These decisions weren’t exactly brain teasers either. Its not like guys like Bartlett and Liriano need more minor league seasoning. Bartlett hit .332 with an OBP of over .400 last year in AAA. Liriano had a 1.78 ERA with over a strikeout an inning at Rochester in 2005. These guys were obviously better than Castro and Lohse, so why did it take the Twins so damn long to figure it out? Who knows the answer, but for all Twins fan’s sake, let’s hope they’ve learned their lesson.

We’ll know the answer soon enough. The Twins have a couple of uber-prospects in Matt Garza and Kevin Slowey on the way up. They are both currently dominating in the upper minor leagues. Sometime next year they’ll be ready to push their way into the rotation and if the Twins are ready to push guys like Carlos Silvia aside, we’ll know they’re finally ready to take the next step. The Twins wasted the early years of this decade screwing around with their roster when they could have won a championship, it looks like they’ll soon have another chance to show how it’s done.

Break up the Tigers

Jimmy Bones — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 05:47:55 +0000

The Detroit Tigers are the best team in baseball.

Let that sink in for a while. The Detroit Tigers, who spent the last 10 years as a laughing stock, are absolutely dominating this year. They are 6 and a half games better than any other team in the majors and showing no signs of slowing down. How the hell is this happening and are the Tigers for real?

Lets answer the 2nd question first. The Tigers are real and here to stay. You just can’t fluke your way to a .673 winning percentage. To put their current record in context, they are on pace to win 109 games. The 1984 Tigers, the team that started the year 35-5 and is regarded as one of the best Tiger teams ever, only won 104 games. You can’t credit an easy division either. The AL Central features three of the best teams in baseball (The Tigers, White Sox and Twins) and another competitive team in the Indians. This isn’t the AL Central of a few years ago that was full of patsies, this may be the best division in baseball.

So how is all this happening? How did the Tigers turn into a powerhouse all of the sudden? You don’t have to look further than the mound to see the main reason. The Tigers feature two of the best young starters in baseball in Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander. Bonderman’s been around for a few years but he’s only 23 and will probably get even better in a few years. Verlander’s has been nothing short of outstanding in his rookie year. He’s a tall pitcher who can rally crank it up.

If you add in Joel Zumaya and Curtis Granderson, the Tigers have four stars all under the age of 26. If it wasn’t for Francisco Liriano’s dominance, MLB could have already mailed the rookie of the year trophy to Detroit, they’d just have to figure out who’s name to engrave on it.

Now there are some warning signs that the Tigers could come back to a earth a bit in the 2nd half. Kenny “The Roaster” Rogers faded badly in the 2nd half last year, those kooky old guys can’t pitch forever ya know. Detroit also has an AWFUL closer. Homophobic jerk Todd Jones doesn’t scare anyone. This is a guy who just two years ago was begging for a job and now all of the sudden he’s going to be a closer on a top contender? The sooner the Tigers give the closers role to Zumaya and kick Jones to the curb the better. If they don’t Tiger fans better keep defibrillators handy when their team has a one run lead in an October playoff game.

But for now, its high times in Detroit. The Tigers are back baby. You gotta love it.