No sooner did I finish reading an e-mail Friday night from Paul Covert, with an excellent analysis of the relative chances of Ryan Klesko and Orlando Cabrera, than Klesko drew his first walk of the season and effectively ended the inaugural DiSar Awards competition. Benji Gil‘s Cinderella run at Jacque Jones had ended earlier that…
Mark Wolfson has been a television producer and director since 1969, and has worked in sports television since 1976, when he set up his own production company in Los Angeles. In the ensuing 24 years, he’s worked on just about every sport, even the World Wrist Wrestling Championship from the Queen Mary. Mark produced and…
HOME OPENERS “I don’t think I’ve ever had an opening day with snow. It was fun.” — Shane Andrews, Cubs infielder “A guy hits three homers to initiate the park. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. That’s a lot of home runs in one day. Maybe we ought to look for somebody that’s been…
Anaheim Angels You don’t need to look any further than the top of the Angels’ lineup to find one of the main reasons for the team’s unexpectedly good start, as Darin Erstad (.492/.548/.738) is reestablishing himself as one of the toughest outs in the game. Less than a month ago, some pundits were questioning his…
Your friendly neighborhood columnist had one too many Cadbury Creme Eggs–thank god these things are seasonal–while watching Randy Johnson, so he’ll send you into the weekend with whatever random things pop into his head: A number of you have written in to let me know that Jacque Jones walked twice on Tuesday night. Jones’s first…
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Acquired 2B/3B Javier Fuentes from the Red Sox for OF Garry Maddox Jr. [4/19] Neither Javier Fuentes nor Garry Maddox Jr. are prospects. This is simply an exchange from depth; the Red Sox are short of true outfielders throughout their system, not just on the major-league level, while Fuentes will be the oldest…
For your enjoyment, here are two pitching performances: Pitcher A: 4 IP, 2.25 ERA Pitcher B: 5 1/3 IP, 11.81 ERA Sure, it’s a small sample size, so maybe it doesn’t mean that much. Let’s look at a larger sample: Pitcher A: 73 IP, 5.47 ERA Pitcher B: 147 1/3 IP, 5.62 ERA Hmmm…not much…
News and notes from the division’s affiliates: Baltimore: Two pitching prospects who had poor springs on and off the field are going in opposite directions at Triple-A Rochester. Jason Johnson is trying to reclaim is spot in the Birds’ rotation, allowing just runs in his first three starts. With neither Jose Mercedes nor Calvin Maduro…
If you missed the last Transaction Analysis, you can find it here. ANAHEIM ANGELS Signed OF Garret Anderson to a four-year contract extension through 2004. [4/14] Garret Anderson had already made it clear he planned on sticking around, and now that he’s proven he’s a better-than-average center fielder, he’s a valuable guy to have. It’s…
With last night’s dismantling of the Rangers, the Yankees have won seven straight games. Five of those wins have been over the Texas Rangers, who really have to be considering the merits of the National League, or the Mexican League, or the League of Nations–hell, any league that doesn’t include the Yankees–at this point. The…
Yeah, But You Should See Their Outfielders Despite 25 World Championships, the New York Yankees have usually gotten by with mediocre shortstops. Phil Rizzuto is in the Hall of Fame, but only partly on merit, and he was the Yankees’ only great shortstop. Until now. Derek Jeter‘s power is his weak link in comparison to…
Roy White has been the Triple-A batting coach for the Oakland Athletics since 1999. He came over from the New York Yankees, where he was a scout, international scout and the organizational outfield coach. He played 15 seasons in the majors, all with the Yankees from 1965 through 1979, never getting much recognition despite being…
It hasn’t been as bad as recent Aprils, but fantasy baseball players have taken their share of hits this month. Most recently, Bartolo Colon‘s rib cage tear has landed him on the DL for a couple of weeks. He joins Kevin Brown, Rusty Greer, Damion Easley and Brian Jordan as prominent fantasy contributors who, well,…
To quote a commercial I saw far too often this weekend: "Too much good stuff." That was baseball the past few days, one of those weekends that had all the variety and all the storylines that keep fans coming back year after year. The biggest story was in Minnesota, of all places, where Cal Ripken…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Released RHP Tom Candiotti. [4/1] Purchased the contracts of LHP Kent Mercker and SS Benji Gil. [4/2] Activated LHP Jarrod Washburn from the 15-day DL and optioned him to Edmonton. [4/9] Optioned RHP Mike Fyhrie to Edmonton; placed SS Gary DiSarcina on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 4/9 (bruised thumb); activated RHP Ramon…
The new Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco is a lovely place to watch a baseball game, interesting and quirky, if lacking in the history that only time will help it accumulate. In all the media coverage of the new ballyard, though, what doesn’t come across is just how goofy the park is. Pac Bell…