It’s time for Dodger baseball!
{ Monthly Archives }
This special time of year, it’s a good thing to remember what’s really important in life.
Like how there’s only 46 days until the pitchers and catchers voluntary reporting date. ;D
Happy new year to one and all! Let’s hope it’s a good one for all of us and for our favorite team.
It’s crazy-peculiar when different parts of your life meet for the first time.
John Scalzi is an award-winning SF writer, as well as one of the more famous and entertaining bloggers, but one who isn’t exactly a sports fan — at least he doesn’t blog about it much, if ever.
Thus today’s entry took me by surprise: “Kim Ng” –
Check this out: a Newsweek story on Kim Ng, with the subhead: “She knows her baseball and is in line to become the sport’s first female GM.” Right on. She and I lived in the same dormitory at the University of Chicago — at the same time, even.
Cool! Small world. :)
Most of the time, I enjoy FOX baseball analyst Kevin Kennedy’s commentary. At worst, it’s harmless, and at best, he offers insights into how the old-school game was played.
This time, however, I think he swinging at a pitch outside the zone.
His new article on FOX Sports today posits “Giants now have shot at NL West crown”.
When the Dodgers signed former Giants ace, Jason Schmidt, it appeared they had a leg up on the division with their combination of veterans and youngsters, and a very strong rotation. But the addition of Zito in San Francisco levels the playing field because he joins a rotation that includes a talented veteran, Matt Morris, and two very promising youngsters, Noah Lowry and Matt Cain.
How does adding Zito level the playing field exactly?
With Barry Bonds likely playing his final season, Schmidt gone, and Dave Roberts replacing Moises Alou, the team is already saving money and can justify the Zito signing. Assuming he continues to pitch well and shows his usual durability, Zito will become the new face of the franchise and the Giants should have a shot at winning the division.
Still not seeing it. A case can be made for the 2008 rotation, certainly (which Ken Arneson makes well enough over at Catfish Stew today), but replacing the .301/.352/.571 Moises Alou with the .293/.360/.393 Dave Roberts does not bode well for an already anemic offense (11th in Runs in the NL, 13th in OPS).
Sure, pitching is important. Some might say it’s more important. But given that the Dodgers, Padres, and (potentially) the Diamondbacks have all improved their rotations, while the Giants have replaced one ace with a pseudo-ace… barring catastrophic injuries, I just don’t see it.
Inevitably, the New York rags began their critiques this morning of Mets GM Omar Minaya’s failure at grabbing Barry Zito. Pitcher names are randomly sprinkled across all of these columns, but they all mention Dodger Brad Penny.
Newsday has two articles on the topic, both of which are trying to out-do each other for most tortuously artificial headline.
“SF rolls 7; Mets say: No dice” by Anthony Rieber.
Minaya will explore trade possibilities, and pitchers such as Brad Penny of the Dodgers, Joe Blanton and Rich Harden of the A’s and Javier Vazquez and Jon Garland of the White Sox might be available. So far, the price has been too steep, and the Mets might not want to part with Pelfrey, Humber or outfielder Lastings Milledge for any pitcher they’re not in love with.
“No joy in Metville; Omar has struck out” by Ken Davidoff
As for trade options, to get a Brad Penny, Jon Garland or Dan Haren, the Mets would have to take away from the very stash of young pitchers to which they now point as an asset. And it’s not certain the price will drop.
Dan Granziano over at the Star-Ledger has the relatively modestly punned “Minaya needs to find ace in empty deck” headline and a small mention of Penny on the second page.
The Old Gray Lady, concealing her story behind a useless registration system, has the straightforward “After Again Not Landing Pitcher, Mets May Test the Trade Market” from Ben Shpigel (who seems to missing a vowel):
Minaya repeated yesterday that he would be fine beginning the season with the rotation as currently constituted. But to keep up with teams like the Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minaya figures to redouble his efforts at trading for an impact pitcher.
Of pitchers who fit that bill, the Dodgers’ Brad Penny may be available, but he has had injury problems. The San Diego Padres are not inclined to trade Jake Peavy. If the Florida Marlins’ Dontrelle Willis is made available, it would be a safe bet that Minaya would pursue him.
“I don’t believe championships are put together and won in December,” Minaya said as he geared up for more work on the phones.
They can be lost any month, however.
The Daily News has the lame “Pursuing Zito, Mets net zero”.
The Post subtly screams “GIANTS LAND ZITO / CAN’T RIP METS FOR SAYING NO TO BARRY”.
That rounds out the Penny mentions, but neither sounds particularly sold on the idea.
I’ve got to guess that unless the Mets have a tradable 3B or corner outfielder power bat stashed in a freezer somewhere, it ain’t gonna happen.
If I weren’t laughing so hard, I’d post more about this story.
Seven years? $126 million? The biggest pitcher contract in history? Maybe $144 million if an option is picked up?
For Barry Zito?
By the Giants?
Heh heh.
I mean, I like the guy — seems okay, despite his agent. I dig quirky. But that much money for Zito?
Look at it this way — if both Barrys sign, the Giants will be spending a minimum of $34 million on them. The team’s 2005 and 2006 payrolls were a little over $90 million each. Assuming that number doesn’t go up significantly next year, they would be spending nearly 40% of their payroll on two players.
But hey, more power to them.
I have to wonder if Omar Minaya will be on the phone to Ned Colletti inquiring about starting pitchers.
Some of my favorite tidbits from the blogosphere about this deal:
From that standpoint, this may be a fairly smart move if you believe that Barry Bonds won’t be on the team in 2-3 years (true), and the rest of the team won’t be all that expensive. Trouble is, Zito isn’t the pitching equivalent of Bonds, though he’s getting a payday as if he were.
Hasn’t the National League West teams seen, first hand, the consequences of a long term contract for a starting pitcher, i.e. Hampton and Kevin Brown? Were they not paying attention?
Because it looks like Barry Zito isn’t headed to New York to play for the Mets, but will stay in the Bay Area and hurl for the Giants. Ironic, since the composition of the roster had generally made their fans want to do the same.
$18 million per year for Zito is pretty pricey and going 7 years on a pitcher is utterly ridiculous to me. Has no team learned from the Kevin Brown, Mike Hampton etc deals yet?
Is This the Onion???
I swear I thought that I had clicked the wrong link. The Giants took another step towards insuring that they won’t be the dominate team in the NL West any time in the next decade.[...] Thank goodness that the Dodgers had already acquired Schmidt. It’s nice to know that the Dodgers are no longer shopping for a starter because the market for Jeff Weaver just went through the roof.
Sons of Steve Garvey (Steve Sax Comment)
With 57K votes, 87% of ESPN Sportsnation belives the Giants overpaid. Whoo-hoo!
The ONLY thing this deal does is make the Giants look ridiculous. Granted, Zito’s ERA will get a boost from the National League and the Giants’ home ballpark. And this one isn’t as dumb as the Mike Hampton deal with the Rockies. But based on the facts at hand, this looks to me like one of the dumber free-agent signings ever. Zito just isn’t very good. And if he’s worth $18 million per season, Santana’s worth $25 million.
Not to leave out the Giants blogs, here’s a sample from McCovey Chronicles:
Seven years. Insane. While a list of comparable pitchers from Baseballs Reference and Prospectus isn’t perfect, you have to be worried that there aren’t too many pitchers on the lists who were still effective at 35. Or 34. Or, you know, 33, 32, and 31. That isn’t going to be some quirk particular to just Zito’s comps; that’s going to be true of any pitcher. Seven years to any pitcher - Johan Santana, right now, for example - is insane.
I mean, that’s Antwan Jamison money. Insane.
And check these additional contract details out, via Rotoworld:
Barry Zito will get a full no-trade clause under the terms of his seven-year, $126 million contract with the Giants. The option for an eighth year at $18 million kicks in if Zito throws 200 innings in 2013, 400 innings in 2012-13 or 600 innings in 2011-13. There’s a $7 million buyout for the option, so Zito is due a paltry $137 million if it’s picked up.
Here’s a question for you: name a left-handed starting pitcher who is nearly 7 feet tall, and who is now involved in a rumor about being traded to the Seattle Mariners.
If you said Randy Johnson, you’d be half right.
There are actually two, and the other is on the Dodgers — Mark Hendrickson is only 6′9″, to the Big Unit’s listed 6′10″, but he is over a decade younger. And costs over $13 million less. And usually has more facial hair, good for the chillier climate.
The other part of the equation is that Hendrickson is from Mount Vernon, Washington, a couple of counties away from Seattle, so his being sighted by Seattlest in a Pike Street hotel yesterday is certainly just him in town visiting other tall family members. This has not stopped Seattlest speculation.
What do you think, Mariners fans? Would Bavasi dare trade Sexson or Beltre for Hendrickson’s career 4.98 ERA and .291 BAA? Bavasi has high hopes, this pitcher is nearly as big tall as Johnson—and would be a whole lot cheaper. Could it happen?
Nah, probably not. Plus I’m pretty sure he couldn’t meet with the Mariners by the rules. But I bet we could be talked into trading him for Ichiro, straight up. ;)
The heartwarming story was great, and just in time for the holidays. As several other Dodger blogs have pointed to at the Times:
His name is Jim Governale and the recording is of word-painter extraordinaire Vin Scully’s over-the-air description of the final inning of the Dodgers’ 5-0 victory over the New York Mets on June 30, 1962, at Dodger Stadium, the only known surviving audio account of the first of Sandy Koufax’s four no-hitters.
Orel over at “Sons of Steve Garvey” updated their post about it to point out that audio has been posted over on dodgers.com. It is a joy to hear — so much drama in just a few minutes. Even if you know how it turns out, you still get caught up in the moment. And I love the interplay amongst the managers, umpires, and players, as Vin Scully describes their “jawing” at each other.
I wanted to check out the scoring for the game, so here it is over at Retrosheet: Mets at Dodgers, June 30, 1962. It was a Saturday game. None of Vin’s human drama is there, but there’s nothing like seeing that line of zeroes marching across the box score.
Baseball Almanac has a page about the game up as well, which includes a couple of cool tidbits:
Did you know that during the first inning Sandy Koufax also recorded a fabulous feat when he threw only nine pitches and all nine were strikes?
Two time batting champion Richie Ashburn almost ended it all during the sixth inning when he hit a sharp line drive into left field. The ball was lost in the lights by Tommy Davis who barely recovered and made a spectacular catch preserving the no hitter!
There’s also this choice quote from Sandy:
“To win. Nothing else matters, and nothing else will do.”
Matt Krupnick writing in the Contra Costa Times has a point about the difficulties of maintaining the Giants-Dodgers hatred nowadays:
The Giants have made it clear they don’t care about their own fans, but they could at least show some respect for Dodgers fans. Good rivalries don’t work without cooperation from both sides, and the Giants are broken right now.
So do I have to switch my primary hatred to the Padres? That’s a team dedicated to a productive offseason, so perhaps they deserve my ire these days.
Burn! Read the rest of Matt’s article, “One fan truly blue over Bonds”.
Good news, Dodgers fans: The team’s beloved hot dog hasn’t yet opted out of any contract to bolt for shinier grills in Boston or Texas.
In fact, the Dodger Dog, one of the few remaining links to the days when the team relished World Series titles, has been nominated by AOL CityGuide for its City’s Best Hot Dogs 2007 honor in Los Angeles.
LA Times sports writer Mike Penner needs to have his joke license suspended for a couple of weeks for that one.
Rather than stoop so low as to make more bad puns in reply, I will instead link (sorry) to this cool page describing meeting up with the fabled Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in Woodland, California: “Biggest Wiener in Woodland”.
“I noticed that the Oscar Mayer Web site is laden with hot dog puns,” I said to her while unwrapping my new whistle. “Do you and Katie come up with new hot dog puns on a regular basis?”
“Of course,” she said. “Just the other day I sent my parents a St. Patrick’s Day card and wrote Irish I were an Oscar Mayer hot dog!”
Classic.
From the perspective of a Dodger fan, there are two teams that are Evil with a capital “Eeee!” — the Giants and the Yankees.
There have been other rivals of the Dodgers over the years — back and forth with the Cardinals in the 50s and 60s, tangling with the Big Red Machine in the 70s, and then later, the NL West foes — but not even the disgust felt for the Anaheim Angels of Orange County can match the unmitigated Evil of the Giants and Yankees.
Which is why it’s so disconcerting to come across someone so out of touch with reality as to think the Dodgers are the evil team.
Such is the case with one Dennis Bennett of the blog Peridyd’s Progress, who is a fan of the Mariners and Padres. Dennis has a list of three teams that are, as he puts it, “inherently evil” — the Yankees, the Braves, and the Dodgers.
Dennis was almost ready to take the boys in Blue off the list, what with their off-season pitching strengthening and, as he writes,
This coupled with the fact that the Dodgers are no long owned by Rupert Murdock should mean that they aren’t on my short list of teams whom I always and unequivocally root against.
Almost ready, but he is unable to do so. Check out this snippy leap in logic:
So why the title of this post, you might well ask? Because the Dodgers, despite the fact that they were soundly beaten in the head-to-head contest with the Padres and therefore won the wild card, and not the division championship, despite having the same record as the Padres after 162 games, are claiming that they’re the “defending NL West co-champions”.
Hmm. Well, he is correct that the Padres won the season series, which is the tiebreaker when it comes to potential playoff seeding. And, in a strict reading of the rules:
Scenario #1: If there is a tie for a Division Championship and the winning percentage of the two Clubs tied for first place is higher than the winning percentage of each of the second-place Clubs in the same League, the Division Champion shall be:
The Club with the higher winning percentage in head-to-head competition between the two tied Clubs during the championship season…
I think it could be read both ways, but Dennis doesn’t like the idea of the tie.
Those aren’t the rules, guys. The rules state that if you end up having identical records at the end of the season, then the winner of the season head-to-head contest is the champion. Period. The Dodgers won the wild card, not the division. The Padres, ever lackluster in the post season, did, however, win the division.
It could be argued they won the division for the purposes of playoff seeding only, but it doesn’t really matter because here’s the crux of the matter:
That they would claim otherwise smacks of unsportsmanlike conduct–in the front office, which, to my mind, negates any boon they might have garnered by sloughing off the infamous Murdock as their owner.
In short, there are still 3 inherently evil teams on Amy’s and my list: Yankees, Braves, and, once again, the LA Dodgers.
I can’t begrudge Dennis his Mariner/Padre fandom. His love for his teams is obviously heartfelt — so much so in fact that he leaves aside rationality to declare the Dodgers inherently evil. Fandom is not supposed to be rational.
Besides, I think we all know the real reason Dennis and other Padres fans are being rules lawyers when it comes to the 2006 season:
And by the way Dennis, just in case it wasn’t clear:
;D
See you next year!