Psst, wanna see a freak?
You see, Major League Baseball this year has given us something so twisted, so extraordinary, so enigmatic that it belongs in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. So put on your best gawk and prepare to be amazed.
Right next to General Tom Thumb, Robert Wadlow and the great Frank Lentini you’ll find a burly creature with a half dozen arms that don’t work known as the 2003 Cincinnati Reds–the worst contending baseball team in history.
As of today, the Reds sport a 25-27 record while allowing the opposition to outscore them by a whopping 58 runs. They’re on pace to be outscored by 181 runs over the course of the season. A simple Pythagorean equation would predict a team like the Reds would finish with a record of 66-96 playing that kind of baseball. Technically they should be 21-31 at the moment.
Yet there they are, hovering within striking distance of a division lead at 3.5 games out, record-wise playing respectable baseball. It’s thoroughly abnormal. They should be an afterthought by this point of the season.
Frank Robinson, the new manager of the Montreal Expos, becomes the second most famous Robinson in Montreal’s baseball history. Listen closely to his game plan and pay attention to his spring training camp, because managers can have dramatic impact on player performance. Three of the key questions I’ll be looking at in trying to determine…
Just when you thought you had a handle on the influx of Japanese players, along comes Kazuhisa Ishii. Last week, the Dodgers won the rights to negotiate with Ishii, a 28-year-old left-hander, in the same process by which the Mariners acquired Ichiro Suzuki last season. They paid $11.26 million for the privilege, and are optimistic…