Add Bavasi to Your Christmas Card List

Could there be a worse GM in baseball? Bill Bavasi is doing his best Matt Millen impersonation this offseason. His latest signing? Our buddy ol' pal, Hair Weave, who somehow wrangled $8.325 million out of the Mariners' clueless GM. Just take a look at this rotation and laugh. It's OK.

1. Felix Hernandez (OK, great pitcher. Moving on...)
2. Boingo
3. Weaver
4. Miguel Batista (Better poet than pitcher)
5. Horacio Ramirez (WOW! And who did they trade to get this guy? Rafael Soriano. Brilliant!)

The bottom line is, I'm very happy Weaver is back in the AL West. If the M's don't lead the majors in home runs allowed, I'll be shocked.

TW Hit List - Lou Gehrig

The Pride of the Yankees. Considering the history and success of the franchise, it is quite an audacious title. But I’ve haven’t read or heard anyone who disputes it. Even decades after his retirement, who can doubt that Gehrig epitomizes the power, style and glory of the great Yankees? At least this is Williams’ opinion. After what we’ve said about Ruth, that he carried baseball on his shoulders in the twenties, what does it say about a man who played at the same time for the same team and emerged as a star in his own right, nearly as popular as Ruth at the time of his retirement? It says that he was one heck of a ballplayer. Lou Gehrig was simply a spectacular hitter and it is possible that no team will ever again have the one-two attack of Ruth and Gehrig.

In a day when they weren’t very many college ballplayers, Gehrig came from Columbia University, on a scholarship in baseball and football. He made it to the big club in 1923, but then did not claim the starting first base job until June 1, 1925, famously playing 2,130 consecutive games through April 30, 1939, a record which stood until Ripken broke it on September 6, 1995. The “Iron Horse” was finally put out of the game by the disease that now claims his name. The man who set a record of durability was defeated by a disease that completely stole his strength. “Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature.” His legend status was sealed by his fateful words spoken on July 4, 1939 to an admiring Yankee Stadium crowd, “Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

But Williams puts him at number two for his bat. The year that Ruth hit 60 home runs, it was Gehrig who lead the league in doubles and RBI’s and was voted MVP. He was two-time MVP and won the triple crown in 1934. He still holds the record for most career grand slams with 23. In the 1932 World Series, he hit .529 with three home runs and eight RBIs in only 17 at-bats. His career OPS of 1.080 is second only behind Ruth. He finished with 1,990 RBI’s despite barely breaking 8,000 at-bats, a remarkable RBI every four at-bats. The man was even know for being a very good runner and stole home 15 times in his career. He was a monster at the plate for pitchers, and Williams wonders what it must have been like for an opposing pitcher on a hot afternoon seeing Ruth and Gehrig back-to-back. At the end of it, Gehrig became the first player ever so-honoured by having his number retired by the New York Yankees.

I suspect none would dare speculate that he would be accused of foul play if he played today as “Phil” avers about Ruth in the combox. Phil is likely wrong about Ruth anyway, but who would question Gehrig? His beloved manger, Joe McCarthy, called him “the finest example of a ballplayer, sportsman, and citizen that baseball has ever known.” That was spoken over sixty years ago, but it’s easy to think that Gehrig still holds the title.

the baseball diaries

"A better world we go to.
Those in time, time times two..."

Yes kids, the cool cat himself, Frankie Rodriguez, signed a one year, $7 million extension with the Angels to avoid arbitration. Frod had a league leading 47 saves last season coupled with a low 1.73 ERA, walking 28 and striking out 98. Yes, I know it sounds like big time money, but hey, I'll take this guy on my team any day! He is awesome without a doubt!

Scot - Doug E Fresh - Shields and Babyface also received contract extensions for one year with One T getting $3.4 million and B'Face cashing in $1.85 million. I for one am glad to see both of these blokes coming back for one more season and hope that Shields fixes whatever ailed him in the season past when he would blow games in massive losses of composure. As for Babyface, he in my humble opinion, is a good bench guy and was pretty clutch when called upon. He'll never have an outrageously productive year, but he plugs away and can fill in at 1st or 3rd with halfway decent defense. Here's to an awesome season!

dil8d halo

"Stars above, stars below.
And what is man...?" -- the Ocean Blue

TW Hit List: Babe Ruth

Having done with the preliminaries (except for all the stuff I forgot to say which will be interspersed in future posts), we can look at Williams’ top 25. I don’t planning on saying much, so these posts should be fairly short. On the upside, this will hopefully mean I will post one every day.

Number one is, of course, Babe Ruth. Williams goes far enough to say that he was the greatest player of all and cites not only his hitting numbers, but his pitching also time (2.28 career ERA through 140 decisions). But his emphasis is on Ruth’s person and effect on the game. This may have impacted Williams’ choice to make Ruth number one, but then, it needn’t do so. It may very well be that Ruth was the greatest. I’m inclined to agree with Williams that Ruth was at least the greatest hitter to ever play the game. For Teddy, there was and is no debate.

As Williams says, Ruth dwarfed everyone else in the game when he played. And by this, not only are his batting feats meant, but his personality. He almost was baseball for a time. Following the Black Sox scandal, when baseball was allegedly at a low, Ruth rejuvenated the game. And the game came to cater to him. No wonder. The man not only dazzled with the bat, but he was an outrageous personality. He was gregarious, zesty, even charming in a way that possibly only Americans relish and appreciate. And so he was an American star in the great American game.

When the dust settled, Ruth’s 1.163 OPS is the best all-time. His numbers were gaudy when he retired, but they remain nearly so decades after. He is remembered for the 60 home runs in 1927, for the alleged called shot of the 1932 World Series, for the hitting the first home run in All-Star game history, for being the undisputed home run king for years until Aaron finally broke through, for hitting a home run at an all-time best, every 12 at-bats. I doubt anyone will ever be as synonymous with baseball as Babe Ruth. As Williams says, “The diamond heroes of yesterday are still revered and they provide the standards by which the next generation is judged.” Each generation of hitters subsequent to Ruth has played in his shadow.

San Diego Super CHOKERS!

Slightly pissed right now...

The Luckiest Man Alive

This makes me sick. Are you freaking kidding me?!?!???!? The Classless One is set to sign a THREE-YEAR deal with the Mets, for $10.8 million. One more reason the hate the Mets, 10.8 million more reasons to hate Schoeneweis. I hope you repeat the wonderful season you had last year, Scotty. That 6.51 ERA was impressive!

Ted Williams' Hit List cont.

“. . . there is an emotional element at work when people defend their favorite players, and God knows those choices are none the less valid for that.
--Ted Williams

Williams says that in his own career he followed the three golden rules of hitting: (i) get a good pitch to hit; (ii) proper thinking at the plate; (iii) be quick with the bat. But in each of his 25 greatest hitters, these rules are refracted through certain character traits that each of them had in various measures and these Williams calls the five ingredients. These are: Intelligence, Courage, Eyesight, Power, and Timing. Williams lists Intelligence first and he seems to give it the greatest emphasis. After all, someone can have the other four in spades, but if he doesn’t know what to do with them, what good is it? He of course is not speaking of general intelligence or IQ scores. We don’t compare Ruth’s and Mays’ SAT results. He means a sort of intelligence for the game, “baseballic” intelligence. A hitter ought to know his situation. He must consider the pitcher, the count, the ballpark, his own strengths and proclivities. He must be constantly able and willing to adjust. A great talent who does not study his game will not progress as well as the intelligent batter, though he be less talented.

But the great hitters were/are also courageous. Courageous? When I think of courage, I think of the movie, “Braveheart”, but again in a baseball-context, courage is not worrying about the pitcher’s intentions but rather remaining almost religiously focused on getting your pitch. “This ain’t going to stop me!” The great hitters are determined to succeed. And if courage and intelligence seem a bit more ephemeral, the other three are quite tangible and easy to understand. Williams says eyesight can be overrated, but no doubt all great hitters must have good eyesight. If a man can’t see, a man can’t hit. Williams believes power and timing, while partially inherent and/or instinctive, can be nurtured and improved through practice of proper technique. No doubt he is correct, and no doubt he is also right to say that timing is everything to a hitter. The difference between a drive down the line for extra bases and a weak ground-out is a fraction of a second.

So taking these into consideration, how did our faithful guide determine the who’s who? (Again, this book was co-authored by Jim Prime, but I don’t know what he contributed. It usually reads in the first-person. I will only cite Williams’ name going forward for ease of discussion.) As the quote at the top suggests, Williams does not simply wish to dryly cull and analyze statistics. He believes part of the beauty of the game is the subjective elements of fan passion, eyewitnesses, ballpark differences, changes in the game, etc. However, it is clear that statistics are a decisive influence in establishing a standard of achievement for players and so he chose what was called Production (PRO.) when he wrote the book, but we now know and love as OPS. (On base Plus Slugging). OPS has become very popular, especially with the stat-nerds and though I am by constitution anti-stat-geek, I appreciate the statistic. It is very plain and easy to calculate and interpret. Williams shows some prescience here I think. The book was written in 1996. If memory serves, OPS had still not caught on mainstream and was simply a plaything of Pete Palmer and Co., through the stupendous Total Baseball. But Williams states that he thinks it is the best stat to use to conveniently evaluate the hitter’s productive contribution to the game. He also is very favorable toward taking home runs, hits, strikeouts, etc. and normalizing them against at-bats, i.e., dividing these by the number of at-bats so we get a per at-bat measure instead of simply a raw number. He prefers this because he says some hitters were clearly superior but for various reasons did not have nearly the at-bats as others. (One of the big culprits for those players in the 40’s and 50’s was War. Williams himself lost over three full seasons of playing due to time served for Uncle Sam.)

By using OPS and per at-bat measures along with his own personal observations and opinions regarding players and ballparks and the game in general, Williams comes to his list of 25. As mentioned, some big names are not there. And some names are sure to surprise. Next post, we’ll begin with number one.

Ted Williams' Hit List

"The first pitch, he laid one right in there. I pushed at it. Line drive through the box for a base hit."

In order to break an ugly dry spell, I will be beginning a series I hope to update every other day or so. This will serve at least two purposes: (i) to finally get into the habit of consistently posting on the blog and (ii) to excite myself for the coming baseball season. This blog was started with little fanfare and less hope, but what hope there was, I take at least partial responsibility for stoking the flames. So now, I commit myself to posts of substance in the coming days, and I plan to keep on posting until I stop.

We will be looking very briefly at some of the greatest hitters of the game, based upon the observations of the Splendid Splinter himself, Ted Williams, as found in his book (co-authored): Ted Williams’ Hit List. I’ve chosen this book for the following reasons:

--Terrible Ted was himself one of the greatest hitters of all time.

--The Kid was not just a good hitter in his own right, but he thought about hitting and plainly respected the talents and skills of others. He theorized about hitting.

--Mr. Williams speaks plainly and clearly. I get the distinct sense I would have liked him if I knew him personally.

--The book is a short, easy read and easily translatable into blog-bites.

--I received the book as a gift and figured this would be a good way to use it as I otherwise was likely not going to get around to read it. And what better show of appreciation could I give to the gift’s giver than to highlight the book on our esteemed blog? Especially when I don’t remember who gave me the book, which I would otherwise be ashamed to admit publicly, but I know nobody is reading this anyway.

In Williams’ book, he chooses the 25 best hitters of all time based on his opinion worked around a makeshift statistical system. He makes plain that he is discussing the best 25 hitters, not all-around players. There are some notables that don’t make it, and perhaps we’ll get to talk about them in another post. But for the next post, we’ll discuss his “five ingredients” and mention his statistical preferences. Following that, we’ll begin with number one and work our way through to the end, barring a World War, my death, or the return of the Lord.

We'll see you in Tempehhh!

The Angels today invited the following players to spring training: pitchers Nick Adenhart, Ryan Aldridge, Nick Green, Marcus Gwyn, Matt Hensley, Tommy Mendoza, Robert Mosebach, Casey Olenberger, Alex Serrano and Matt Wilhite; catchers Tim Duff, Brent Del Chiaro, Ben Johnson and Flint Wipke; infielders Mike Eylward, Sean Rodriguez, Casey Smith, Hanley Statia and Brandon Wood; and outfielders Nathan Haynes, Aaron Peel and Curtis Pride.

Adenhart? Cool. Nick Green? Love the guy. Deaf Cab for Curtis? AGAIN???

Anybody else excited for March 15?

Fat Tire Freed

I'm glad it happened. And sad at the same time. The Angels designated Chris Bootcheck today, widely referred to as Fat Tire . And by widely I mean the three contributors to this blog. Like Matt Wise, Fat Tire was not given a fair shake in my opinion. Instead, we ran losers like Jason Christiansen, Bret "Fresh" Prinz, Millhouse, Alpha Romero and Sugar Shane Moseley out to the mound. Could I have done a better job? Yes. Could Bootcheck? Most definitely. So check the transactions page in the next couple of days and I guarantee you someone like the Brewers or Dre's picks him up and he's pitching in the majors in 2007. So raise your glasses and toast the man - Fat Tire.

Football of a different sort.

Yes kids it's Thursday, which marks the return of my soccer update. Of note is Americans Clint Dempsey of the MLS club New England Revolution, and Oguchi Onyewu from Belgian side Standard Liege, were both in talks to move to Fulham of the English Premier League. Fulham currently employs two Americans, Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra. Dempsey looks to be on his way there, but 'Gooch couldn't agree on terms with the Cottagers. He is also in talks with AC Milan, so stay tuned...

Knights FC, fully kitted with our new Protestant Orange shirts, take the field tonight after two weeks off. Once again we face the Skallywags, who have beaten us four times. The thought itself makes me sick. Tonight however will be different. We hope to have our best players on the field and we should punish them. Come see Knights FC battle the Skallywags, 7:30 pm at The Theatre of Dreams.

the Templar

Playoff picks. Here. There. Everywhere.

This should be easy:

Cowboys def. Seahawks
Colts destroy Chefs
Eagles trounce Giants

And the upset of the week:

Jets stun Patriots!

dil8d halo