Team Health Report: Atlanta Braves February 2003
No, the most contentious sports battles of February are fought not in football rinks or hockey stadiums, but in hotel conference rooms in Tampa and Phoenix, where owners and agents will square off against one another all month long in a series of arbitration hearings that will be fully nasty enough to recall the high period of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling circuit, except without quite as much hair-pulling.
Re-signed INF-R Benji Gil and DH-L Brad Fullmer to one-year contracts.
Signed OF-R Eric Owens to a one-year contract, and LHP Rich Rodriguez, 2B-R Adam Riggs, and UT-R Oscar Salazar to minor league contracts.
Avoided arbitration with 2B-L Adam Kennedy, INF-B Scott Spiezio, and LHPs Jarrod Washburn and Scott Schoeneweis.
Claimed C-R Wil Nieves off of waivers (from the Padres).
New DH David Ortiz has a history of nagging ailments and a need for a platoon partner. Johnny Damon’s knee doesn’t bother me after a full off-season of healing time. The Sox lack depth and minor league insurance for their star players, but they have enough pieces to get through everything but a catastrophic loss.
Do the Sox have enough to beat the Yankees? On paper, no, but injuries – or the lack thereof – could be a deciding factor. As the mainstream press watches Lucchino vs. Steinbrenner and Pedro vs. Clemens, I’ll be watching whether Jim Rowe or Gene Monahan can keep his team healthier.
Even healthy, the best thing this team can do is collapse completely and cause new managing partner Robert Basham (no relation to the Reds prospect) to send Chuck LaMar and Cam Bonifay packing and start over. The best prospects coming up haven’t been properly nurtured, and there aren’t even enough of those flawed few to offer hope.
NICE GUYS FINISH LAST
“The main factor for Craig was that he was being asked to move to a new position in the last year of his contract. We had empathy for that and we wanted to show what he has meant to the Astros over the years.”
–Gerry Hunsicker, Astros general manager, on signing 37-year-old Craig Biggio
QUOTABLE CATCHERS: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
“I’m going to spring training to win a job…It would be pretty stupid for me to say, ‘They’ve given me this job,’ when I’ve been in the big leagues for all of six minutes.”
–Josh Bard, Indians catcher
“I’m not an underwear model…I’m a baseball player. I like food. I’m building my body up to break it down during the season. If I’m going to catch 130 games this season, I’ve got to be strong.”
–Bard, on gaining 15 pounds in the off-season
“Blocking the plate is a pride thing…I had a play against Paul Konerko last year. I went 0-for-5 that day, but I tagged him out at the plate and we beat Chicago by a run. I considered that a good day.”
–Bard
The Reds, more than any other team in the last five years, have been defined by injuries. The most notable has been to Griffey, but by losing other players while Don Gullett rebuilds guys like Jimmy Haynes and Pete Harnisch, they’ve been able to stay under the insanely low budget constraints forced on them by ownership, while remaining competitive. More than any other team, a run of good health could make this team quite good and potentially a serious NL contender.
Team Health Report: Colorado Rockies January 2003
I’m going to look at the 2000 draft, which is far enough back that we can make some conclusions about how the acquisitions turned out, and how the teams dealt with draft compensation.
Team Health Report: Chicago White Sox January 2003
Although the specifics haven’t been laid out for public consumption, it is widely assumed that four teams would be added to the post-season mix, raising the number of participants from eight to 12.
Major League Baseball’s recent decision to base home-field advantage in the World Series on the outcome of the All-Star Game runs contrary to the way Commissioner Bud Selig normally operates. Spurred by last year’s All-Star debacle in Milwaukee, the entire process – from concept to approval – took only six months, and failed to employ even one sub-committee of analysts to explore the issue. More typical of Selig’s decision-making process is his announcement of the newly-formed special task force for “The Commissioner’s Initiative: Major League Baseball in the 21st Century.”
Team Health Report: Texas Rangers January 2003