Positive Signs: The Indians started off this season almost as badly as their mates here, but then knocked off four straight against Baltimore and Boston before a Wednesday loss. Pleasant surprises have included the performance of lefty Cliff Lee who has gone five games, though not very deep into them–only 28.1 innings–hasn’t allowed a home run yet, and in his last three games struck out 17 in 18.1 innings. Lee is a 6’3″ guy with a rare repertoire for a pitcher of his size. He gets batters out with movement and his wicked slider more than sheer speed, and his success is a testament to the Indians’ ability to look at what their prospects can do, rather than fixate on trying to get the big guy to throw 97 and close. Lee was part of the deal with the Expos that brought in Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and (cough) Lee Stevens in exchange for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew.
Meanwhile, catcher Victor Martinez is creaming the ball: .286/.364/.519 (through Wednesday) and looking like the stellar catching prospect that we saw in him back in the day. Like Lee, Martinez is just 25 and part of the Indians youth movement that could build the next contender. Martinez also got some national attention when he hit a two-run home run in the first inning off of Curt Schilling on Monday that stood up in a 2-1 win. These two are backed up by Travis Hafner, who’s mashing at a .313/.417/.550 rate (through Wednesday).
I got more than a few e-mails yesterday about Webgate, MLB’s plan to, as put
by most people, desecrate the bases with a promotional graphic for the
upcoming Spider-Man 2 movie. It’s a moo point–“Friends”
tribute–now, as MLB has backed away from the logoed bases in the face of
overwhelming fan and media backlash.
During the day that the plan was in place, I couldn’t get worked up about it,
in the same way that I couldn’t get worked up about the ads that appeared on
uniforms during the season-opening series in Japan. While I know that some
people consider these things to be an affront, as well as an aesthetic
nightmare, I consider neither to be the case. Certainly uniform and base ads
are less intrusive in person than ballpark signage or between-innings
advertising blasted at 110 decibels. For those watching at home, ads
superimposed on the backstop on every pitch are clearly a greater incursion on
the experience. If MLB could mine one more revenue source without detracting
from the game–and six-by-six painted squares certainly pale in comparison to
the profile of the other marketing messages being conveyed–then more power to
them.
Jose Contreras was banished all the way down to A-ball. The Mariners finally euthanized that dying animal known as Kevin Jarvis, while extending Bob Melvin’s contract for 2005. The Brewers signed Scott Podsednik for another two years. All this and much more news from around the league in your Friday edition of Transaction Analysis.
The calendar has flipped, we’ve all celebrated that strange Mexican holiday by cramming fruit in our beers, and power bills around the country are preparing for the arduous climb that will face them in the coming months. Clearly, it’s time to prematurely hand out (a split infinitive… for the people!) awards for the 2004 season. Here’s my hardware for the season’s first checkpoint. For my criteria, I’m using the dread “If the season ended today…” qualifier that leads to so much analytical white noise. Five months from now, these picks may be as relevant as Justin Guarini circa 2007, but, nevertheless, here they are…