Six Weeks With roughly a quarter of the season left to go, all teams have a responsibility to use the remaining games for goals that they can accomplish. Because I’m either hopelessly optimistic or needlessly cruel, I like to think teams will be using this time to do whatever they can to help themselves win…
Dodger Blues As we predicted at the start of the season, the race in the NL West is tighter than Pamela Anderson's wardrobe, with only two and a half games separating the two contenders. What we failed to predict is who the contenders would be, again giving the Los Angeles Dodgers more credit than they…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Acquired LHP Scott Karl and cash from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named. [8/22] I’m sure the Angels think getting Scott Karl out of Denver will help, and while it can’t hurt, it won’t reverse years of decline. Karl’s road stats this year are still ugly: a 5.68 ERA, a…
Last week, I covered the technical problem behind revenue sharing: it’s so toxic to the penalized owners that it’s unlikely to work. Trying to convince an investor that he has already made enough money is like trying to convince Pat Buchanan that the last great anti-trade crusade gave us the Great Depression. It’s a fool’s…
Now that the roster has been announced, I’m much more optimistic about the United States Olympic baseball team’s chances than I have been. While I disagree with some of the choices, the fact is that most of these guys take walks and some of them hit for power. Some even do both. The pitching choices…
If Bill James were to assemble a Ken Phelps All-Star Team in the Year 2000, there is a good chance that Billy McMillon would be named as captain of the squad. Despite having the ability to help most major-league teams, McMillon has languished in Triple-A for the better part of the last five seasons. On…
One of the late-night discussions I’d imagine many of us have had at one time or another with our friends is talking about what time period we would have liked to live in. When I was younger, my standard answer was the 1950s, because it seemed like a fun time to be young in America,…
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Placed 1B-L Erubiel Durazo on the 15-day DL (sore wrist); recalled 1B/OF-R Alex Cabrera from Tucson. [8/20] Erubiel Durazo is considering having surgery on his wrist, which would end his season on the spot. While that would be a tough loss when you consider that the Snakes would then have only Steve Finley…
Last night, the Rangers’ Doug Davis beat the Red Sox, throwing 142 pitches for his first major-league complete game, 6-2. If you’re expecting a rant against Johnny Oates in this space, you may be disappointed by what follows. No, I don’t think it was a particularly good idea to let Davis finish the game. I…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Placed C-B Matt Walbeck on the 15-day DL (knee – tendinitis); purchased the contract of C-R Shawn Wooten from Edmonton; transferred RHP Tim Belcher from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [8/18] Recalled RHP Brian Cooper from Edmonton; activated RHP Al Levine from the DL; optioned IF-R Keith Johnson and RHP Eric Weaver…
THE GOOD WITH THE BAD "I was no good, but I was happy to get the win. On the other hand, I was not very good." — Tomo Ohka, Red Sox pitcher, through an interpreter, on his first major-league win "Fortunately, we got the three games in. But unfortunately, the results weren’t good." — Dusty…
One of the many benefits of Rany Jazayerli beginning his residency is that I no longer get daily e-mails bemoaning the use of Rey Sanchez in the two-hole or contemplating a world in which he actually liked the Royals’ manager. On the other hand, he doesn’t have as much time anymore to pepper me with…
Back in April–you remember April, don’t you?–you couldn’t click your mouse without reading about how baseball had simply become slow-pitch softball with warmer, more expensive beer. Scoring was up, ERAs were up, home runs were up and interns were being run ragged chasing the latest, greatest freak stat to prove that the game had gone…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Signed LHP Bryan Ward and assigned him to Edmonton; claimed 2B-R David Eckstein off of waivers from the Red Sox. [8/16] Talk about bargain shopping, because the Angels just nabbed two guys who can play. Neither one will ever star, not unless you’re a Lance Blankenship groupie or a geriatric member of the…
A few weeks back in a column I wrote reviewing the first half, I made the claim that Kirk Rueter could be expected to decline from his good first half. I made this prediction based on his poor strikeout rate and strikeout-to-walk ratios. Rueter, of course, has pitched even better in the second half. In…
The subjects of revenue sharing and fixing the alleged performance disparity between "large-market" and "small-market" teams won’t go away. This despite the stellar performance of the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s, teams once firmly entrenched in the "small-market" camp. Indeed, to listen to WEEI (the great sports-talk radio station in Boston), one…