A conversation about MLB, on the field, off the field.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

From the Basement Feb 10 07

Bud Selig, what a hypocrite, he will not be in attendance when Bonds breaks Aaron's record. He's known for years that MLB was juiced and chose to do nothing about it. Now he's taking the moral high ground, screw him.

Today I read something that conflicted with something I blogged about recently. Evidently not only will the humidor still be used at Coors Field but MLB is mandating that all 30 teams store balls in a "temperature - controlled" setting. Hmmm is MLB looking to decrease offense in reaction to the BALCO scandal?

Interleague record last season, AL 154 wins / 98 losses. Parity or mediocrity, choose your own term, that is the NL.

Wow is MLB flush with cash. I have been reading that slightly over 1 billion dollars was spent this off season on free agent contracts. Buster quotes a figure today approaching 1.6 billion. Maybe this higher figure represents not only free agents but arbitration eligible players who were signed to multi year deals?

Roy Halladay. As mentioned a few days ago, Baseball Prospectus reports that Halladay is hurting. Today in the Globe & Mail Robert MacLeod reports that Halladay threw a bullpen session earlier this week in Dunedin and was fine. MacLeod goes on to report that Halladay "struggled with forearm stiffness through much of last season". I was in the camp last year that thought Halladay was pitching hurt. I think the evidentce is the decline in strikeouts to IP ratio. Stated another way, he wasn't as dominant. Having said that, pitchers pitch hurt, it's part of the game. Halladay hurting is still a frontline pitcher. Maybe Burnett should take a cue from Doc.

Ran across Kevin Kouzmanoff's name today in an article about the Padres. He is much talked about this offseason, the Padres acquired him from Cleveland to play 3rd in exchange for Josh Barfield. I saw him play for Buffalo against Ottawa last year and he was incompetent in the field, but he did hit a home run. I predict it will be a failed trade for the Padres, his glove will be too big a liability and given how difficult it is to hit home runs in Petco his bat won't be enough to compensate.

Good game of chicken being played between Hennepin County and the folks who own the property where the Twins proposed new ballpark will be built. I suspect they will reach an agreement, the landowners are simply trying to extract every last dime they can from the taxpayers. In the event that they can't cut a deal the Twins are in a weaker position than they have been when negotiating with local governments. The threat of contraction, with a new CBA, is off the table until at least 2012. Relocating the franchise. With a team now in Washington alternate markets are scarce. Portland would seem to be next in line.

Bernie Williams has declined the Yankees invitation to their camp on a minor league deal. He would be an ideal 4th outfielder with the Jays. I think Stairs can still hit but I haven't seen him play enough recently to comment on whether or not he can still play the outfield. As well, Adam Lind would be betterserved by playing everyday in Syracuse rather than part time in Toronto.

Baseball Canada http://www.baseball.ca/ recently posted profiles of 3 up and coming hosers.

1. Local boy Philippe Aumont. Bby all accounts will be drafted this year in an early round. Philippe is a right hander.

2. Joey Votto, MVP in the Double A Southern League last season. Expected to start the year in Triple A Louisville as the everyday 1st baseman. I think Votto is the next prominent Canadian big leaguer, catch him at Lynx Stadium this year if he comes through town with Louisville.

3. Blake Hawksworth, I thought he was Canadian and then I wasn't sure and...well Baseball Canada knows, is scheduled to start the year in the rotation at Triple A Memphis but don't be surprised if he gets a shot with the Cards this year.

Why is John Henry investing in NASCAR? Revenue sharing avoidance. Similarly, the Red Sox investment in Dice K is very much about avoiding luxury taxes on payroll. The 50 million "posting fee" does not count as salary. I think Dice K is a really smart investment. Avoiding Revenue Sharing is also the reason the Giants hosted the Rolling Stones at AT&T in November 05. This is a term you see often when baseball accounting is discussed - Related Party Transactions. Lies, damn lies & accounting.

New York is the media capital of the world. Lots of press recently about the Yankees being at the forefront of developing baseball in China. Well, looks like all those reports were not entirely accurate. The Dodgers have been in China for quite a while.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-baseball10feb10,1,5968716.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true

First manager fired this season: Clint Hurdle.

MLB and Bud Selig are so petty with Bonds. They reject Bond's contract on some insignificant " promotional appearances " clause, they leak that he tested positive for amphetamines, they leak that he blamed a teammate ( and name the teammate ) to add embarrassment. Bonds is dirty, get in line. At the power hitting positions I would argue it's been, by in large, a level playing field for a number of years, i.e. Juiced.

Has there been no interest in Bonds from anybody but the Giants because teams think he will hurt their gate or are they afraid of pissing off Bud Selig?

Read today that what Bonds is really pissed about is the leak about the inclusion of language that allows the Giants to terminate his contract if he is indicted. I don't blame him for being pissed about that. If you are bargaining in good faith you don't continually leak details which are embarrassing to the other party.

Peter MacGowan is spineless, he tacitly allows MLB to leak all the anti Bonds info they please by not standing up to Selig on Bonds behalf.

Does Don Fehr return Jeff Borris's calls? Should he?

I'd forgotton about this guy - Dan Meyer - LH SP with Oakland. He was the key guy rec'd from the Braves in the Hudson deal. Typical pitcher, hurt for a couple of years and now coming back.

Evidently the Brewers have already handed a starters job to Claudio Vargas? I read that Carlos Villeanuava thinks he's already ticketed for Nashville? I don't think Vargas is that good, he's not awful but I think it's a bit early to hand him the job.

I am curious to see who starts they year at shortstop for Angels Triple A Salt Lake - Brandon Wood or Erick Aybar. I predict Wood will be moved to 3rd.

A quasi Canuck, Ryan Braun, born in Kitchener raised in California, has a good shot at making the Royals bullpen out of spring training. Has he ever played for Canada a la Jesse Crain?

I think Edwin Encarnacion is going to have a big year.

Is being a Rule V pick good or bad for Josh Hamilton?

Says here that Shin-Soo Choo gets more AB's for the Indians this season than Trot Nixon. And I'll still think that when Choo starts the year in Buffalo.

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