Like any number of other folks with a long-running obsession with all things sports, I’ve spent a fair amount of time engrossed in simulation games. For much of my youth, I played hours upon hours of Lance Haffner 3-in-1 Football on my trusty and abiding Apple IIe. I once famously led the 1986 Michigan State Spartans and QB Dave Yarema to a majestic Rose Bowl win and a national title by instituting what I believe to be a heady forerunner to the once de rigueur run-and-shoot offense (in real life they were a paltry 6-5….Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, George Perles). Years later, guided by my steady, knowing hand, Max Knake of TCU would pass for more than 800 yards as my Horned Frogs crushed Texas 86-21.
Nineteen eighty-six was also a fine year for my incursions into Lance Haffner Full-Count Baseball. In a stroke of organizational genius, I, as potentate of the Cardinals, engineered trades for Dave Magadan of the Mets (whose card had him hitting a robust .444/.524/.444 in 21 plate appearances) and Mark Ryal of the Angels (.375/.412/.562 in 34 plate appearances). By having the faith and foresight to plug them into the lineup full-time and lavishing the team with “sample size be damned” statistical goofiness that followed, the disappointing ’86 Redbirds became pennant winners when fashioned in my image.
The 2004 Mets are on pace to do something that only eight other major league clubs (that we know of) have ever done: steal bases at an 80 percent clip. I say “that we know of,” of course, because for many years, nobody was writing down when men were getting caught.
Why not? Because America was a happier, more optimistic place back then. We weren’t all about negativity and failure in those days–no sir! Well, that’s one theory anyway.
The party line on steals in these parts is that they are overrated as an offensive weapon–you all know that. When a team gets up over an 80 percent success rate, though, even the most heart-hardened theft-cynic begins to contemplate granting absolution to the thieves. Hall of Famer Joe Morgan is often cited for his base-stealing acumen. Morgan stole right at about that rate for his career. These clubs are, then, his equivalent on the team level–or something like that.
With the trade deadline a bit more than a week away, speculation about who’s
going where and for whom is at its annual peak. It’s a great time to be a
baseball fan, what with more than half the teams in the game harboring at
least some hope of reaching the postseason, and a mix of perennial contenders
and low-profile upstarts chasing playoff spots.
Many of those teams have glaring holes that have to be repaired, and part of
the fun of July is guessing how those holes will be filled. Here are four
trades—not trade rumors, but actual trades, coming from between my ears—that
make sense for contenders and rebuilders alike, and which could change the
course of baseball’s races.