MARCO'S BASEBALL
BLOG-O-ROONIE
MYSTERIES OF THE
UNIVERSE!
1/Why does the
National League have 7 teams in rebuilding mode and the American
League has none?
Against all laws
of probability, half the teams in the NL fell apart the last two
years. In the East, Atlanta and Philadelphia are total
tear-downs. (Atlanta even traded one of the best closers in baseball
just to get rid of BJ Upton!)The Phillies you know about.
And the Marlins?
Who knows what the horse-pucky they are doing. They say they aren't
trading their stars while they shop them (Fernandez). With or
without him they are still a rudderless joke of a ball team. The
first thing they ought to do is buy Stanton one of those hand
protectors like Jeff Bagwell used to wear because all the
pitchers in baseball throw inside on him regularly.
This leaves The
Nationals and the Mets to fight it out in that
division. The Nationals can't screw up as bad as they did last
season, can they? They traded a closer, Storen, just to remove
some of the friction in the clubhouse. Who they got left is Mr.
Friction himself, Jonathon Papelbon. There's a bunch of other
sore teeth in that mouth and we'll have to see if Dusty Baker
can be a happy dentist.
The Mets must
think they are great or something and didn't bother to keep their 3-4
hitters. Maybe they'll pick up an Upton or someone but right
now they have taken a big step back. They won't have much competition
in that division after the Nats. (Prediction: The Mets have lost two
fire balling young starters to Tommy John in two years (Harvey and
Wheeler)....even money says one of these four will also go
down this year: DeGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, closer
Familia.)
More rebuilds: NL
Central Cincinnati, Milwaukee. Two more weak sisters for the
Cards, Cubs and Pirates to beat up on.
NL West: San
Diego and Colorado.
The Padres failed miserably to redo last year. They're still fumbling
around. Colorado hasn't done anything in the off season and seems to
have given up. They are an embarrassment.
Meanwhile, in the
American League, every team has at least a chance to make the post
season. Oakland looks weak in the West, but they have some
talent and pitching so who knows? I wouldn't bet on Seattle but they
at least have some players. In the Central even the White Sox
have pop and Chris Sales and Cleveland and Minnesota
are pretty good. Every team in the East is competitive.
So we're looking
at wide open baseball in the AL and a limited pennant race in the NL.
Just one of Life's Great Mysteries.
2/Is it a Brave
New World of intra-team computer warfare?
A
Cardinals draft
expert hacked into the Astros
system and spied on all their draft evaluations starting in 2013.
The
commissioner has to come down hard on this first time outrage. I mean
, this is New England Patriots kind of cheating. Look to the
Cardinals to get fined at least 2 million and their first round draft
choice for the next three years. Only question, do the Astros get one
of those draft picks as well as a financial compensation? Other teams
competing with the Astros may get upset if the 'Stros get too much of
an advantage.
This
is the worst black eye that the squeaky clean Cards have gotten since
they almost went on strike to avoid sharing a field with Jackie
Robinson back in 1947.
3/Can feel-good
managers change the chemistry in Washington and Los Angeles?
The
Nationals hired Dusty Baker. The Dodgers
hired Dave Roberts.
Both of these guys are Mr. Popular types that get all warm and cuddly
with the players. Will this work on these two undisciplined sour-puss
teams?
I
say Roberts was a good pick for the Dodgers, which might be the first
sensible thing they've done under their new general manager Freidman.
His other moves? Trading Dee Gordon
to the Marlins so he could win a batting title, stolen base title and
gold glove there instead of for the Dodgers, not offering an extra
year to keep Greinke,
trading for Reds third sacker Todd Frazier
then shipping him off for prospects, trading for Matt
Latos, keeping 6 outfielders
who all should start somewhere and now hate each other, creating an
all left-handed starting rotation (until they got the Japanese guy
Maeda) etc. etc.
Maybe
they need a good time Charlie type to make that club work. It was
either that or go hard-ass with somebody like Kirk Gibson
and I don't think that would have cut it with the spoiled Dodgers.
Dusty
might make the Nats congeal, but his handling of pitching staffs has
always been questionable and his in- game strategy perplexing. Could
be one season and out if they don't win.
4/Why does the
baseball world still consider Billy Beane a great genius?
The
Oakland GM traded Cespedes, Addison Russell
and Josh Donaldson
for borderline prospects and a few months of John Lester
and Samardja.
Nuff said. The A's went from playoffs to last place fairly quickly.
Just
another rebuild? Not when you had Donaldson locked up for three years
and he's an MVP. Not when Addison Russell is close to being the best
defensive shortstop in the league last year and looks like a star for
the Cubs. (The A's also included first rounder Billy
McKinney in that deal with the
Cubs.) Not when you keep Ace Sonny Gray
just entering his prime.
5/Will the
Diamondbacks go broke before they win a pennant?
They
might. On the other hand, Arizona has to go for it now while they
still have Goldschmidt and
Pollard under
control. If they keep treading water, the fans will stay away and
they'll be even broker. So Zack Greinke...”say hello to my $206
million leetle frands!”
6/Why does Ken
Griffey Jr. get to be the highest percentage
first ballot Hall
of Famer of all time?
Let's
sing it: “Cause
he's got “Personality, walks with Personality, talks with
Personality...plus he's got a great big smile...”
Griffey
was a great player, a good citizen, a credit to the game (for the
most part) and a Hall of Famer for sure. No way he should be
considered the most deserving player of all time for election to the
Hall.
Jr.
played in the second best hitter's era of all time in a hitter's park
for the whole of his career. He led the league in homers 4 times, in
RBIs once, in runs scored once and in slugging percentage once. He
won one MVP and finished top ten 7 times. He never won a pennant.
(That might have had something to do with how good the Yankees were
in that era) He was a great defensive center fielder and stole about
9 bases per year on average.
Let's
look at some of his contemporaries: Larry
Walker
(who has not gotten near enough votes for HOF induction) played in
the same era in a great hitter's park half of his career (Colorado)
and a terrible hitting park for the rest (Montreal mostly). Walker
won 1 homer title, 2 on base percentage titles, 2 slugging titles, 3
batting average titles (he hit over .350 4 times for a .313 lifetime
average while Griffey was batting .284.) His lifetime on base? .400.
Lifetime slugging? .565. Both higher than Griffey's. Walker was a
great defensive outfielder and stole about 14 bases per year on
average. Both Walker and Griffey got hurt a lot. Walker won 1 MVP and
1 pennant when he played for the Cardinals late in his career.
Maybe
Griffey was better than Walker, but it's close. And Walker gets no
love from the voters.
Jim
Thome's
career coincided almost exactly with Griffey's and they played in the
same leagues at the same times. Thome played in neutral parks for the
most part but played 3 years in a hitter's park in Philadelphia and a
couple of years in a pitcher's park in Minnesota late. Thome won 1
homer title (but
hit over 30 in a season 12 times! Griffey
did it 9 times.)He
led in slugging once and walks 3 times.
Thome
had a lifetime average of .276 with an on base of .402 and he slugged
.554. (Griffey once again was .284/.370/.538) Thome never won an MVP
but finished top ten 4 times. Thome was on 2 pennant winning teams.
He was a below average first baseman and couldn't run at all.
You'd
definitely pick Griffey over Thome defensively and on the base paths
but Thome was actually a more productive hitter. Thome isn't eligible
for the HOF yet but when he is I doubt he'll get in on the first
ballot.
Frank
Thomas
is in the HOF with a lifetime.301/.419/.555
average/on base/slugging stat line...all well above Griffey. He led
in runs once, walks 4 times, average once, On base 4 times and
slugging once. He won 2 MVPs and finished top ten 9 times. He was
below average defensively and couldn't run. 1 pennant.
Now
none of the above were ever accused of doing steroids. How about one
who has been?
Jeff
Bagwell
can't get into the HOF...maybe next year. He's never been tested
positive but is suspected of doping because of that one insane year
in 1994 when he hit 39
homers in 110 games, batted in 116, hit .368 and slugged.750!
And
that was in the toughest hitter's park in the majors! Bags was also
best friends with known doper Ken
Caminiti
but so was Biggio
who was never suspected. Go figure.
Bagwell
led in runs 3 times, rbis and walks once each and slugging once. His
lifetime stat line: .297/.408/.540. Once again that's a little better
than Griffey's. Bagwell, like I said, played in the exact same era in
the worst hitter's park in the majors. He was a pretty good first
baseman and stole about 14 bases a year. He won 1 MVP and finished
top ten 6 times. 1 pennant.
I
could keep going and name 4 or 5 more players whose lifetime stats
are as good or better than Griffey's. And most of them did not have
the advantage of hitting in bandbox ballparks for their home games.
Not
to put Jr. down too much because he deserves to be a first ballot
Hall of Famer. But so did these other guys and so far only Thomas is
in.
But
Junior has a great smile doesn't he?
Only
30 more days until Spring Training starts! See ya!
