One day at a time
Every day without a deal’s a good one.
I need a six-letter word for whiff
Third letter is ‘x’.
From the Kitsap Sun:
When two South Kitsap robbery suspects Monday failed to convince clerks at Wendy’s that they wanted more than a “double stack,” they went to neighboring Rite Aid for another go at taking the till, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.
But they failed — again.
Deputies with a police dog were able to catch up with the suspects before they got away Monday night. Evidence gathered at the scene connects the pair to another failed robbery attempt at the Rite Aid a week earlier, which would make them a Richie-Sexson-like zero-for-three.
Beltre’s last Gold Glove
As msb noted, Rolen’s trade to the Blue Jays means there’s a good chance the seven-time winner’s inertia carries him to another eight, nine, twenty Gold Gloves until he retires or is moved to another position. D’oh.
Mariner of the Day: Bruce Bochte
Bruce Bochte was a Mariner for the 1978-1982 seasons, when the team went a combines 302-453 and generally stunk up the place. Bochte did as much as he could, though:
In 1979, after a unimpressive first year with the team, he led the Mariners in batting average (.316, 10th in the AL, OBP, SLG, extra-base hits (and sacrifice flies and GIDP). He represented the Mariners in the 1979 All-Star game, played at the Kingdome (brand new and spiffy). About 59,000 people went, and in the bottom half of the sixth they started to chant for Bochte to pinch-hit, and Bob Lemon, managing the AL team, obliged, hitting a single off Gaylord Perry to put the AL ahead and bring joy to the heart of already-oppressed Mariner fans.
It was a rare thrill that year: mid-week, the team was frequently drawing only a few thousand fans despite still having that new-team smell.
Bochte had another good season in 1980. Then in 1981 he didn’t hit well in the strike-that canceled over a third of the season (“Year of the Messed-Up Playoffs”). In 1982, he returned to form and let the team in batting average, OBP, hits, and walks — his .380 OBP was ninth in the AL.
At which point he disappeared for a year. Didn’t play at all in 1983. Just walked off. If you don’t believe me, check out his Baseball-Reference card. At the time, he didn’t say anything about it. Baseball Library offers this:
After hitting .297 in ’82, he abruptly retired, explaining, “I was the Mariners’ player rep for three years and became aware of a cold, impersonal attitude on the part of management, and wanted no part of that.”
The quote’s unsourced, though, so I’m not sure how much stock to put in it.
A year later, he signed with the A’s and played there for a few years.
And what’s he doing now? I refer you to this fine Jim Moore article from July 10, 2001:
For the past decade, Bochte has worked at the Center for the Story of the Universe, a research affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, which emphasizes higher education for the mind, body and spirit.
Center for the Story of the Universe site.
He studies cosmology, focusing on the origin and evolutionary dynamics of the universe.
He’s also done work with the Bay Institute, as Moore noted, as well as other Bay-area charities.
But check out his cards. He’s a man of expression.
From this ebay auction:
Then in 1982, you get this, which makes him appear like he’s only got one nostril and is missing half his head:
Or check out this one:
And late in his career with Oakland, this classic pic from his 1987 card:
I love those glasses.
Jones not called home, but may be sitting out, or something
All kinds of places reporting all kinds of things. The truth may be just as confusing as the conflicting rumors at this point, as Shannon Drayer pointed out:
Since speaking to the Mariners I have received an email reply from Adam saying that he is still in Venezuela and, “I don’t know what is going on, but I am just trying to stay cool.” If you know Adam at all, he can’t help but stay cool.
Interesting that he is in Venezuela and not playing. Adam has not played in a game for Lara since January 9, did not even play in a double header on the 10th. While the club may not have called him home, it appears that they have told him not to play.
Could be they are debating shutting him down after a good winter or possibly, something is in the works on the trade front.
So at this point, it appears that many places — the Baltimore Sun, wherever — are reporting that he’s been told to return home, which appears to not be true, from the original now-disputed Venezualean report, but at the very least Jones isn’t playing for reasons we don’t yet know.
2007 Defense through PMR
Leafing through the Probabilistic Model of Range numbers for 2007 (check out the whole list), some things that jumped out at me:
Sexson’s surprisingly not near the bottom at his position.
Raul Ibanez is. He sucks defensively. He’s ahead of Manny Ramirez, Chris Duncan, and Pat Burrell. He’s behind Barry Bonds.
So did Jose Guillen. 5th-worst in the majors. Have fun with that, KC.
Beltre does well.
Ichiro is the second-best in center.
Betancourt’s a little below average.
A’s sign Emil Brown and a related long player development rant
May be an indication they’ve all but dealt Kotsay to the Braves (update: yup, Kotsay’s gone). I’m going to burn a lot of words on this.
My favorite quote from the MLB.com story:
Hitting with runners in scoring position has been a problem for the A’s in recent years, and Brown could help in that area, as well. He batted .316 (37-for-117) in such situations in 2007.”That’s obviously a plus,” Forst said, “but I wouldn’t say that was a factor in our decision to sign him.”
Hee hee hee! Oh, the A’s. You guys are so awesome.
Emil Brown’s an interesting player from a team-building and a development view. He’s a decent player, but moreover, he’s a great example of the kind of guy you can get for free if you’re paying attention. Brown started in the A’s minor league organization, then the Pirates took him in the Rule 5 draft. He kicked around the Pirates system for a while, not getting much playing time, then was traded to San Diego in 2001. In 2005, at 30, he signed a minor-league deal with the Royals and in that thin system got a full-time job and hit .286/.349/.455. And the next year he hit .287/.358/.457 — and this is a player the Royals got for free. Read more
’08 M’s, Meet the ’07 Blue Jays
Since it’s the topic we can’t get away from, here’s something I thought of in the last few days – if the Mariners make the Erik Bedard deal and have the pitching rotation of Geoff Baker’s dreams, is there a comparable recent team that was built on similar principles?
I think there is, and ironically, it’s the Toronto Blue Jays of 2007. Isn’t symmetry fun?
Seriously, let’s take a look at the concepts. Those in favor of the Bedard deal essentially argue that having Bedard-Felix-Silva-Batista-Washburn is such a good rotation, and that starting pitching is so vital to team success, that the team becomes an instant contender. Two aces, two innings eaters, and no unreliable guys who have no track record to sabotage things? How could this fail?
I present the ’07 Blue Jays.
#1 Starter: Roy Halladay, the definition of an ace. 225 IP, 3.71 ERA.
#2 Starter: A.J. Burnett, inconsistent but sometimes dominating. 165 IP, 3.75 ERA
#3 Starter: Dustin McGowan, electric arm but command problems. 170 IP, 4.08 ERA
#4 Starter: Shaun Marcum, strike throwing innings eater. 159 IP, 4.13 ERA
#5 Starter: Jesse Litsch, good command contact guy. 111 IP, 3.81 ERA.
Toss in a bullpen trio of Jeremy Accardo (2.14 ERA), Scott Downs (2.17 ERA), and Casey Janssen (2.35 ERA), and the Blue Jays pitching staff last year was the prototype for what the pro-Bedard camp wants the Mariners pitching staff to look like. Two dominant guys at the front of the rotation, solid guys at the back end, innings eaters in the middle, and a shutdown bullpen capable of holding leads.
Not surprisingly, the Blue Jays strength in run prevention led to a 4.00 ERA, second in the American League. Since pitching is the name of the game, this strong combination of power arms and depth carried them into the playoffs, right?
Uhh, no. They finished 83-79 with a run differential of +50 runs – solid, but not a real contender, especially not in the American League. Why didn’t they win more games?
Easy – they didn’t score enough runs. Troy Glaus, Frank Thomas, and Alex Rios were good but not great, and while they got strong supporting performances from Matt Stairs and Aaron Hill, Vernon Wells forgot how to hit again and Lyle Overbay was one of the few first baseman alive as bad as Richie Sexson. The lack of production from several line-up spots killed rallies, and their overall reliance on right handed hitters made them an easy matchup for teams with good right handed pitching.
So, lets see – a line-up with several good but not great hitters, some black holes offensively, and an over reliance on RH bats – where have I seen this kind of offense before? Oh, right, in Safeco Field every night.
Seriously, just run through the comparisons in terms of run production.
Catchers: Zaun and Johjima are basically a push
Corner Infielders: Overbay/Glaus and Sexson/Beltre are about as even as you could get.
Middle Infielders: McDonald/Hill and Betancourt/Lopez are pretty even as hitters.
Outfielders: Stairs/Wells/Rios and Ibanez/Ichiro/random RF is pretty close to a push.
DH: Thomas blows Vidro out of the water.
These offenses are basically the same. You could argue that there are minor differences, but nothing drastic enough to eliminate the comparison.
If the Mariners follow the ’07 Blue Jays formula, they’re very likely to replicate the ’07 Blue Jays results – a decent team that is a big step behind the elite clubs in the American League.
Swapping Adam Jones for Erik Bedard pushes the Mariners towards being Toronto West. And, despite the hyperbole about the amazing transformative powers of having two lights out pitchers at the front of your rotation, the formula fails if the team isn’t good enough overall.
And they’re not – the M’s could have made themselves contenders this winter, but instead, they signed Carlos Silva. Making a disastrous trade for Erik Bedard and replacing Adam Jones with the carcass of Luis Gonzalez and his veteran entitlement wouldn’t make them a contender – it would make them a sad organization hoping for a miracle in lieu of a real plan.
Sigh of relief
We got through another one. I’m always shocked at how many times bad deals like Jones-Bedard stall or fail because of weird sticking points (like Omar’s knees).
“I’d like to trade you my house and everything in it, my brand new Dodge Viper with secret lifetime speeding ticket immunity pass, and $100,000 for that disposable pen you have there.”
“You’ll have to throw in those shoes you’re wearing.”
“What, my shoes? Never! Why, I bought these at Costco and they’ve been adequate for six months!”
“No deal unless I get those shoes!”
“Fine! I’ll just keep all my stuff!”
“You do that!”
May this whole thing fall apart similarly, so that years from now we can laugh about the whole thing.
The big news today is the Indians cut a deal to name Jacobs Field “Progressive Field” like the auto insurance company that once called me at o-dark-thirty in the morning because they didn’t understand the concept of time zones.
As several people emailed me to note, it’s at least incongruous that a company named Progressive will now sponsor the stadium of a team that, while run by a progressive front office, has for a logo Chief Wahoo, by far the most embarrassingly racist of any major sports team in America today.
Wheeee!
No news is good news
Day twenty passes. The M’s sign Chris Reitsma to a minor league deal. Yes, that Chris Reitsma. But a minor league deal is not a bad deal, and the streak continues.