Considering that my favorite team in sports was just eliminated on a walk off homerun, I feel pretty good. Going into today I just wanted the A's to pull out one win and then let the Tigers celebrate at home on Sunday as I didn't really want the A's to get my hopes up by winning both games this weekend. Well don't worry about having my heartbroken now. But this series was effectively over after the 4th inning in Game 2 when Esteban Loaiza failed to get a shutdown inning after a Milton Bradley homerun in the 3rd gave the A's a 3-1 lead and for the first time some momentum in the series but it was quickly dashed by four Tiger runs. It was painfully obvious at that point that the Tigers were on a roll that can't be stopped.
Tonight I'll just need to avoid the highlights and avoid reading any lame A's message boards talking about how the A's have no heart and how Billy Beane is a shitty GM. Considering everything that went wrong for the A's this year it is amazing they came this far. Really the shockingly healthy Frank Thomas was the only thing that really broke the A's way this year. They had injury plagued and/or underachieving years from key players such as Eric Chavez, Bobby Crosby, Rich Harden, Huston Street, Mark Kotsay, Milton Bradley, and Mark Ellis. As you've seen by my player rankings at least so far on the offensive side this was simply on paper not a team that you'd think would have won 93 games and swept a very good Twins in the ALDS. The future doesn't look too bright with a depleted farm system and a scary amount of young talent down in Anaheim but this is the most satisfied I've been at the end of the year with an A's team since 2000.
We actually had a tie for the top spot among second basemen between a current Hall of Famer and future Hall of Famer but the current one wins out per Win Shares Above Average as they played in six fewer games.
Top 20 Second Baseman Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares)
1. Ryne Sandberg, 1984 - Chicago Cubs 38.3 Win Shares
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
1984 24 CHC NL 156 636 114 200 36 19 19 84 32 7 52 101 .314 .367 .520 140 331 5 4 3 3 7
2. Craig Biggio, 1997 - Houston Astros 38.3
3. Roberto Alomar, 2001 - Cleveland Indians 37.4
4. Jeff Kent, 2000 - San Francisco Giants 36.9
5. Ryne Sandberg, 1991 - Chicago Cubs 36.6
6. Alfonso Soriano, 2000 - New York Yankees 35.5
7. Roberto Alomar, 1999 - Cleveland Indians 34.8
8. Craig Biggio, 1998 - Houston Astros 34.8
9. Roberto Alomar, 1992 - Toronto Blue Jays 34.2
10. Ryne Sandberg, 1990 - Chicago Cubs 33.8
11. Ryne Sandberg, 1992 - Chicago Cubs 33.1
12. Mark Loretta, 2004 - San Diego Padres 33.1
13. Craig Biggio, 1996 - Houston Astros 32.4
14. Bret Boone, 2001 - Seattle Mariners 31.7
15. Craig Biggio, 1992 - Houston Astros 31.7
16. Chuck Knoblauch, 1996 - Minnesota Twins 31.6
17. Robert Alomar, 1996 - Baltimore Orioles 31.2
18. Steve Sax, 1986 - Los Angeles Dodgers 30.8
19. Craig Biggio, 1999 - Houston Astros 30.7
20. Willie Randolph, 1980 - New York Yankees 30.5
MLB Draft is a couple of weeks away so might as well do some Draftbacks, plus I'm having to wait to do 2006 MVP Watch #2 as Hardball Times doesn't have update Win Shares yet. I picked the 1990 draft because it is an infamous draft for the Oakland A's. They had 4 of the first 36 picks and took four pitchers who would were dubbed the "Four Aces." Those four pitchers were Todd Van Poppel, Don Peters, Dave Zancanaro, and Kirk Dressendorfer. Um ya, they didn't quite live up the hype.
1. Braves - Chipper Jones, Shorstop, High School
Braves certainly can't complain about how this worked out. Has put up a .303/.401/.538 line thru 2005 and won an MVP in 1999. If he can manage to put up a few more good years he may have a case for the Hall of Fame.
2. Tigers - Tony Clark, Outfield, High School
Of course converted to first base has to put together an okay career that peaked early from the ages of 25 to 27. Seemed finished a couple of years ago until having a great year out of no where last season.
3. Phillies - Mike Lieberthal, Catcher, High School
Decent career and any franchise has to be happy if they get over 12 years in the Majors out of a catching prospect.
4. White Sox - Alex Fernandez, Pitcher, High School
Pretty good pitcher who's career was cut short by shoulder problems.
5. Pirates - Kurt Miller, Pitcher, High School
Our first bust and it's baseball so there will be plenty more. Was never effective above Double-A but still some how made it to the Majors as a member of the Marlins. 7.48 ERA in 80 2/3 innings in the Majors.
6. Mariners - Marc Newfield, First Base, High School
Outside of a decent 1996 season was never a factor in the Majors. Twice traded with Ron Villone.
7. Reds - Dan Wilson, Catcher, Minnesota
Another decent career out of a catcher here although it came with the Mariners as the Reds traded him after the 1993 season with Bobby Ayala for Bret Boone and Erik Hanson.
8. Indians - Tim Costo, Shortstop, Iowa
Traded to the Reds in 1991, only played 43 games in the Majors.
9. Dodgers - Ron Walden, Pitcher, High School
First player on the board who never made it to the Majors.
10. Yankees - Carl Everett, Outfield, High School
Put together a pretty good career filled temper tantrums and disbelief of dinosaurs. Never played for the Yankees as the Marlins picked him up in the '92 expansion draft.
11. Expos - Darrell Andrews, Shortstop/Pitcher, High School
Could go both ways apparantly but not to the Majors.
12. Twins - Todd Ritchie, Pitcher, High School
Oddly enough his best year in professional baseball came in the Majors with the Pirates in 1999 when he went 15-9 with a 3.49 ERA. Lousy at pretty much any other point.
13. Cardinals - Donovan Osborne, Pitcher, UNLV
Moderatley effective pitcher early in his career but injuries pretty much shut him down by age 28 although has made a couple of comebacks including with the Yankees last season.
14. A's - Todd Van Poppel, Pitcher, High School
Ahhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooooooooo. Would have gone much higher in the draft but teams were worried he'd enroll at Texas but ended up signing with the A's which ended up being the wrong choice for both parties.
15. Giants - Adam Hyzdu, Outfield, High School
254 career homeruns in the minors, 14 in the majors.
16. Rangers - Daniel Smith, Pitcher, Creighton
Just 29 innings pitched in the Majors.
17. Mets - Jeromy Burnitz, Outfield, Oklahoma State
I suppose he's a journeyman power hitter? Over 300 career homeruns with seven teams.
18. Cardinals - Aaron Holbert, Shortstop, High School
Career minor leaguer who had only three at bats in the Majors until last season when he appeared in 22 games for the Reds.
19. Giants - Eric Christopherson, Catcher, San Diego State
Probably wished they drafted the next guy.
20. Orioles - Mike Mussina, Pitcher, Stanford
Very consistent, good pitcher through most of his career and some would argue he may have a case for the Hall of Fame, although I wouldn't be one of them.
21. Astros - Tom Nevers, Shortstop, High School
Whole career spent in the minors, mostly at Double-A.
22. Blue Jays - Steve Karsay, Pitcher, High School
Once traded for Rickey Henderson, injuries prevented from ever making it as a starter but resurrected his career in 1998 as a reliever after the A's traded him to the Indians for Mike Fetters. D'oh.
23. Cubs - Lance Dickson, Pitcher, Arizona
Debuted just two months after he was drafted making three starts and then never returned to the Majors.
24. Expos - Rondell White, Outfield, High School
Never lived up to the hype but has put together a pretty good career.
25. Padres - Robbie Beckett, Pitcher, High School
6.09 career ERA in the minors yet he still got a couple of cups of coffee with the Rockies.
26. A's - Don Peters, Pitcher, St. Francis
Not even close. FOUR ACES!
Other Picks of Note
2nd Round, White Sox - Bob Wickman
4th Round, Angels - Garret Anderson
5th Round, Mariners - Bret Boone
6th Round, Mariners - Mike Hampton
6th Round, Angels - Troy Percival
7th Round, Indians - David Bell
9th Round, Mets - Fernando Vina
10th Round, Rangers - Rusty Greer
11th Round, Mets - Darren Dreifort (did not sign)
21st Round, Twins - Eddie Guardado
22nd Round, Yankees - Andy Pettitte
24th Round, Yankees - Jorge Posada
What if a day of college football passed without anything interesting happening? Would it make a sound?
Game of the Day: Illinois 23, Michigan State 20. Woof. Texas Tech/Texas A&M was probably better I'm guessing but I only saw the end of that game when ABC put us on the west coast finally out of our misery by pulling Oregon's live rape of ASU's defense. My local Comcast Sportsnet picks up the 4th tier Big Ten game that gets thrown on ESPN+ and these games usually end up being more entertaining that the games ESPN puts on in their early timeslots on the main channels. This game made me sad because it means there's one more BCS team that you can't argue that they might be on the level of Stanford. Hey way to defend the middle of the field after the game Spartans, you think that would have worked during the game? We're all gonna miss John L Smith's rantings after he's gone. It might be tommorrow.
WTF Score of the Day: See above.
Other Games that I Make Lame Jokes and Little Analysis About
Arkansas State 31, Florida International 6. So if Arkansas State loses by 46 to SMU and the FIU loses by 25 to Arkansas State the next week, does that mean FIU gets relegateted to high school?
Virginia 37, Duke 0. Thank you Blue Devils. You're my last hope to eclipse the futility of Stanford.
SMU 33, Tulane 28. This was Tulane's first home game since Hurricane Katrina and obviously only the Saints . Hey SMU now has a winning record. Are they paying their players again?
Georgia 14, Mississippi 9. You know I can appreciate good defensive football and realize that is what the SEC is about but this was like watching flies fuck.
Colorado State 35, Fresno State 23. Something to keep on eye with Oregon's move up the polls is their close call against Fresno is suddenly looking pretty bad right now.
Wisconsin 52, Indiana 17. Let's see Northwestern's coach dies and the Wildcats get crushed by a I-AA team and Indiana's coach returns from brain cancer and they play like this. I feel bad Kansas' fans after Mark Mangino finally has a heart attack.
Whack Pac Wrap Up
Oregon 48, Arizona State 13. Damn that Rudy Carpenter voodoo doll that Sam Keller has is working pretty well.
California 41, Oregon State 13. People are so excited about Cal in the Bay Area that this game wasn't even televised locally. One of the few times the complete indifference to college sports here benefits me.
USC 28, Washington State 22. OMG USC SHOULD BE SPELLED SUC. One thing about the Trojans though is they do need to start featuring Emmanuel Moody more. He's clearly better than Chauncey Washington.
Washington 21, Arizona 10. Watching Ty Willingham begin to resurrect the Huskies program isn't making me feel better.
UCLA 31, Stanford 0. For the first time this year the Cardinal defense forced a team to punt. More progress! Please kill me.
Bobby Bonilla - Third Baseman/Rightfielder
Chicago White Sox 1986
Pittsburgh Pirates 1986-1991
New York Mets 1992-1995, 1999
Baltimore Orioles 1995-1996
Florida Marlins 1997-1998
Los Angeles Dodgers 1998
Atlanta Braves 2000
St. Louis Cardinals 2001
Awards
1988 NL Silver Slugger - 3B
1990 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1991 NL Silver Slugger - OF
All-Star Selections: 6 (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995)
League Leader
1991: Doubles, Runs Created
Career Ranks
None of note
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 3 (499) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 96 (229) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 32.0 (239) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 64.5 (278) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Fred Lynn, Paul O'Neill, Dal Ennis, Reggie Smith, Ken Boyer, Robin Ventura, George Hendrick, Todd Zeile, Gary Matthews, Bob Johnson
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1986: 10/3.5
1987: 16/4.4
1988: 31/8.5
1989: 29/11.7
1990: 23/7.4
1991: 31/10.5
1992: 18/5.8
1993: 16/5.7
1994: 19/7.0
1995: 22/9.3
1996: 19/5.2
1997: 21/5.4
1998: 5/0.7
1999: 0/-0.1
2000: 6/-0.1
2001: 1/0.1
Career Win Shares: 267
Career WARP3: 85.1
Would he get my vote?
No. Solid four year peak from 1988-1991 but for me personally I consider his 1991 season to be the only year where he was among the elite players in the game. Of course cashed in on that season but could never live up to the hype coming into New York and fell far below it. Good hitter but not the cornerstone of a lineup that he was paid to be. Poor defensively regardless of the position he played.
Travis Fryman - Third Baseman
Detroit Tigers 1990-1997
Cleveland Indians 1998-2002
Awards
1992 A.L. Silver Slugger - SS
2000 A.L. Gold Glove - 3B
All-Star Selections: 5 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000)
League Leader
None of note
Career Ranks
None of note
Best Performance
July 28, 1993 - New York at Detroit
Hit for the cycle (5 for 5, 4 RBI) although in a losing effort against the Yankees.
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 2 (582) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 20 (991) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 26.4 (371) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 36.0 (491) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Ken Caminiti, Bret Boone, Vern Stephens, Miguel Tejada, Larry Parrish, Benito Santiago, Doug DeCinces, Gus Bell, Richie Hebner, Bobby Grich
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1990: 8/3.6
1991: 17/4.3
1992: 19/9.0
1993: 28/9.7
1994: 15/6.4
1995: 19/9.4
1996: 17/8.1
1997: 17/7.8
1998: 18/6.6
1999: 7/1.8
2000: 22/6.8
2001: 5/0.1
2002: 7/0.8
Career Win Shares: 198
Career WARP3: 74.4
My Stupid Opinion
He was to be the heir apparent to Alan Trammell at shortstop in Detroit but eventually ended up at hot the corner where he became a very good defensive third baseman. Outside of an outstanding 1993 season at age 24 he never quite became the offensive threat some thought he would be but was a very solid, consistent performer through out the decade. Nagging injuries cut his career short at age 33.
Robb Nen - Closer
Texas Rangers 1993
Florida Marlins 1993-1997
San Francisco Giants 1998-2002
Awards
None
All-Star Selections: 3 (1998, 1999, 2002)
League Leader
2001: Saves
Career Ranks
Saves: 15th
Best Performance
October 26, 1997 - Cleveland at Florida
In Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, with the Marlins down a run he comes into the top of the 9th with runners at the corners and one out and gets the Marlins out of the jam who then tie the game in the bottom of the inning. He proceeds to strikeout the side in the 10th (Omar Vizquel, Manny Ramirez, David Justice) as the Marlins win the Series in the 11th.
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 3 (541) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 24 (925) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 15.0 (471) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 92.0 (112) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 1 (Bruce Sutter)
Other Similar Pitchers: John Wetteland, Tom Henke, Troy Percival, Jeff Montgomery, Todd Worrell, Armando Benitez, Rod Beck, Ugueth Urbina, Jason Isringhausen
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1993: 0/-0.2
1994: 11/5.4
1995: 8/4.4
1996: 19/6.4
1997: 11/4.1
1998: 19/8.9
1999: 8/4.1
2000: 15/7.5
2001: 14/6.3
2002: 15/7.0
Career Win Shares: 120
Caeer WARP3: 53.9
My Stupid Opinion
Anyone else feeling old by the fact that someone who debuted in 1993 is already on a HOF ballot? Nen's career was cut short by a torn rotator cuff and his last appearance happened to come in the 2002 World Series. He was similar to undeserving HOF closer Bruce Sutter in that they both had short careers but were dominate in their roles while they were active. The big difference between the two is Sutter pitched in the pre-Dennis Eckersley era of closers as he threw 327 1/3 more innings than Nen in only 18 more games pitched. Given that HOF voters are more open to closers getting in now and the "heroic" nature of him pitching in the '02 World Series with his shoulder being mush I wouldn't be surprised if he received the necessary 5% to stay on the ballot.
I was trying to figure something out to relate to the NFL Playoffs for a blog entry. I originally thought about looking back at random playoff games from the past that may have been forgotten but doing research on the internet for football is a hell of lot harder than baseball. But as I was watching the divisional playoffs and the Bears were on the ropes against the Seahawks I was wondering when was the last time both #1 seeds lost in the divisional playoffs? The Bears of course won but the AFC #1 seeded Chargers lost but I did find out the last time it happened was the 1979 playoffs when the Cowboys and, you guessed it, the Chargers both lost as #1 seeds in the divisonal round.
So for a random, useless fact list I figured I'd take a look at how each #1 seed has faired in the playoffs. Now I only look at the playoffs since 1978 when the Wild Card round was added as the NFL has the same basic playoff structure (except for the '82 strike year) since then with the only major change being when they expanded the field from 10 to 12 teams in 1990. Good news for the Bears this Sunday is that only four times since '78 have both #1's seeds not reached the Super Bowl, the last being 1997 (Chiefs/49ers). On the flip side both #1 seeds haven't advanced to the Super Bowl since 1993 (Bills/Cowboys), which incidently enough was the last season before the salary cap. Not sure if that is a coincidence or not.
1978
AFC: Steelers
-Won Super Bowl
NFC: Rams
-Lost NFC Championship
1979
AFC: Chargers
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: Cowboys
-Lost Divisional playoff
1980
AFC: Chargers
-Lost AFC Championship
NFC: Falcons
-Lost Divisional playoff
1981
AFC: Bengals
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: 49ers
-Won Super Bowl
1982
AFC: Raiders
-Lost in Second Round
NFC: Redskins
-Won Super Bowl
1983
AFC: Raiders
-Won Super Bowl
NFC: Redskins
-Lost Super Bowl
1984
AFC: Dolphins
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: 49ers
-Won Super Bowl
1985
AFC: Raiders
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: Bears
-Won Super Bowl
1986
AFC: Browns
-Lost AFC Championship
NFC: Giants
-Won Super Bowl
1987
AFC: Broncos
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: 49ers
-Lost Divisional playoffs
1988
AFC: Bengals
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: Bears
-Lost NFC Championship
1989
AFC: Broncos
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: 49ers
-Won Super Bowl
1990
AFC: Bills
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: 49ers
-Lost NFC Championship
1991
AFC: Bills
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: Redskins
-Won Super Bowl
1992
AFC: Steelers
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: 49ers
-Lost NFC Championship
1993
AFC: Bills
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: Cowboys
-Won Super Bowl
1994
AFC: Steelers
-Lost AFC Championship
NFC: 49ers
-Won Super Bowl
1995
AFC: Chiefs
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: Cowboys
-Won Super Bowl
1996
AFC: Broncos
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: Packers
-Won Super Bowl
1997
AFC: Chiefs
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: 49ers
-Lost NFC Championship
1998
AFC: Broncos
-Won Super Bowl
NFC: Vikings
-Lost NFC Championship
1999
AFC: Jaguars
-Lost AFC Championship
NFC: Rams
-Won Super Bowl
2000
AFC: Titans
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: Giants
-Lost Super Bowl
2001
AFC: Steelers
-Lost AFC Championship
NFC: Rams
-Lost Super Bowl
2002
AFC: Raiders
-Lost Super Bowl
NFC: Eagles
-Lost NFC Championship
2003
AFC: Patriots
-Won Super Bowl
NFC: Eagles
-Lost NFC Championship
2004
AFC: Steelers
-Lost AFC Championship
NFC: Eagles
-Lost Super Bowl
2005
AFC: Colts
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: Seahawks
-Lost Super Bowl
2006
AFC: Chargers
-Lost Divisional playoff
NFC: Bears
-???
A.L. West Finals: (12) 1988 Minnesota Twins vs. (6) 1983 Chicago White Sox
Game 1: Twins 6, White Sox 5
Tim Laudner hit a grand slam in the 6th off LaMarr Hoyt. White Sox had the tying and winning runs on in the 9th but Jeff Reardon held them off.
Game 2: Twins 15, White Sox 4
Every Twins starter scored at least one run as they crushed Floyd Bannister and the White Sox bullpen. Dan Gladden led the way going 3 for 5 with a homerun.
Game 3: White Sox 3, Twins 2
Richard Dotson allowed just one earned run in 7 2/3 innings as the Sox steal a win back in the Metrodome.
Game 4: Twins 7, White Sox 5
Twins escaped to take a 3-1 series lead as the Sox nearly made a miraculous comeback from being down 7-0 in the 9th.
Game 5: Twins 5, White Sox 4 10 innings
Twins wrap up the series on a walk off….ground out. With John Moses on 3rd, Gladden hit a chopper to Scott Fletcher and he was unable to throw Moses out at the plate. Kirby Puckett was 3 for 4 with a homerun.
Twins win series 4 games to 1
A.L. West All-Region Team
C: Tim Laudner, '88 Twins
1B: Kent Hrbek, '88 Twins
2B: Tom Herr, '88 Twins
3B: Gary Gaetti, '88 Twins
SS: Dick Schofield, '86 Angels
LF: Dan Gladden, '88 Twins
CF: Rudy Law, '83 White Sox
RF: Harold Baines, '83 White Sox
SP: Frank Viola, '88 Twins
RP: Jeff Reardon, '88 Twins
Region MVP: Gary Gaetti, .365/.402/.667, 96 AB, 20 R, 35 H, 4 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 23 RBI
A.L. East Finals: (13) 1987 Toronto Blue Jays vs. (6) 1980 New York Yankees
Game 1: Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2
An Eric Sodherholm rbi single in the bottom of the 8th broke up a 2-2 tie.
Game 2: Blue Jays 3, Yankees 2
Lloyd Moseby hit a two out, rbi double in the top of the 9th for the winning run. Jim Clancy got the complete game victory.
Game 3: Blue Jays 6, Yankees 2
Jesse Barfield was 2 for 3 with a homerun and Dave Stieb allowed just one earned run on four hits in seven innings. The ’80 Yankees now trail in a series for the first time in the tournament.
Game 4: Blue Jays 3, Yankees 2 11 innings
Willie Randolph booted a groundball with two out in the 11th and then Ron Davis uncorked a wild pitch to score George Bell from third for the winning run.
Game 5: Yankees 7, Blue Jays 6 10 innings
Randolph drew a bases loaded walk from Jeff Musselman in the 10th to force in the eventual winning run and the keep the Yankees alive.
Game 6: Yankees 3, Blue Jays 1
Gaylord Perry and Goose Gossage hold the Jays to five hits to help force a Game 7.
Game 7: Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2
Davis pitched three scoreless innings in relief and Reggie Jackson hit his 12th homerun of the tournament as the Yankees complete the series comeback and now put three teams from 1980 into the Final Four.
Yankees win series 4 games to 3
A.L. East All-Region Team
C: Rick Cerone, '80 Yankees
1B: Don Mattingly, '85 Yankees
2B: Willie Randolph, '80 Yankees
3B: Graig Nettles, '80 Yankees
SS: Tony Fernandez, '87 Blue Jays
LF: George Bell, '87 Blue Jays
CF: Lloyd Moseby, '87 Blue Jays
RF: Reggie Jackson, '80 Yankees
SP: Tommy John, '80 Yankees
RP: Goose Gossage, '80 Yankees
Region MVP: Reggie Jackson, .350/.441/.825, 80 AB, 20 R, 28 H, 2 2B, 12 HR, 19 RBI, 13 BB
So there you have it, three teams from 1980 into the Final Four. The '80 Yankees aren't a huge shock as they won 103 games that year but laid an egg in the ALCS. Didn't see the other three teams getting in though.
Final Four: A.L. Finals
'88 Twins vs. '80 Yankees
Up Next: Final Four: League Finals
The NBA Draft is this week so time for a NBA Draftback. Now I've done this twice before for past NBA Drafts (1989 and 1993) but I do them differently from the NFL and MLB ones as I rank the players from the draft by their career totals in the basketball version of Win Shares. As always I have no idea how reliable the basketball version is but it is interesting way to compare the careers of players from an individual draft class.
Like when I chose the 1987 MLB Draft this year I picked the 1992 NBA Draft because most of these players careers are over or winding down. Also like the 1987 MLB Draft this draft featured one of the most hyped #1 picks ever and like Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987, Shaquille O'Neal in 1992 would go on to become an all-time great in his sport. Hey it also featured Baby Jordan!
1992 NBA Draft per Career Win Shares
1. Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando - 501 Win Shares (1st pick)
2. Alonzo Mourning, Charlotte - 262 (2nd)
3. P.J. Brown, New Jersey - 243 (29th)
4. Robert Horry, Houston - 199 (11th)
5. Christian Laettner, Minnesota - 176 (3rd)
6t. Doug Christie, Seattle - 167 (17th)
6t. Latrell Sprewell, Golden State - 167 (24th)
8. Clarence Weatherspoon, Philadelphia - 163 (9th)
9. Tom Gugliotta, Washington - 128 (6th)
10. Jim Jackson, Dallas - 112 (4th)
11. Jon Barry, Boston - 110 (21st)
12. Walt Williams, Sacramento - 97 (7th)
13. Anthony Peeler, L.A. Lakers - 94 (15th)
14. LaPhonso Ellis, Denver - 90 (5th)
15. Matt Geiger, Miami - 83 (42nd)
16. Bryant Stith, Denver - 79 (13th)
17. Hubert Davis, New York - 76 (20th)
18. Adam Keefe, Atlanta - 75 (10th)
19t. Tracy Murray, San Antonio - 66 (18th)
19t. Oliver Miller, Phoenix - 66 (22nd)
21. Popeye Jones, Houston - 57 (41st)
22. Malik Sealy, Indiana - 50 (14th)
23. Todd Day, Milwaukee - 48 (8th)
24. Sean Rooks, Dallas - 46 (30th)
25. Brent Price, Washington - 35 (32nd)
26. Don MacLean, Detroit - 27 (19th)
27. Lee Mayberry, Milwaukee - 21 (23rd)
28. Harold Miner, Miami - 13 (12th)
29. Sasha Donilovic, Golden State - 12 (43rd)
30. Byron Houston, Chicago - 11 (30th)
31t. Elmore Spencer, L.A. Clippers - 7 (25th)
31t. Chris Smith, Minnesota - 7 (34th)
33. Marlon Maxey, Minnesota - 6 (28th)
34. Tony Bennett, Charlotte - 5 (35th)
35. Litterial Green, Chicago - 4 (39th)
36t. Randy Woods, L.A. Clippers - 3 (16th)
36t. Chris King, Seattle - 3 (45th)
38t. Reggie Smith, Portland - 2 (31st)
38t. Robert Werdann, Denver - 2 (46th)
38t. Matt Fish, Golden State - 2 (50th)
41t. Dave Johnson, Portland - 1 (26th)
41t. Corey Williams, Chicago - 1 (33rd)
41t. Duane Cooper, L.A. Lakers - 1 (36th)
41t. Darren Morningstar, Boston - 1 (47th)
41t. Brian Davis, Phoenix - 1 (48th)
The Zero Club
Isiah Morris, Miami (37th)
Elmer Bennett, Atlanta (38th)
Matt Steigenga, Chicago (52nd)
Never Played in the NBA
Steve Rogers, New Jersey (40th)
Henry Williams, San Antonio (44th)
Ron Ellis, Phoenix (49th)
Tim Burroughs, Minnesota (51st)
Curtis Blair, Houston (53rd)
Brett Roberts, Sacramento (54th)
Most Win Shares with the Team they were Drafted by
1. Shaquille O'Neal, 142
2. Latrell Sprewell, 81
3. Alonzo Mourning, 73
4. Clarence Weatherspoon, 72
5. Byrant Stith, 64
6. Robert Horry, 59
7. LaPhonso Ellis, 57
8. Christian Laettner, 48
9. Hubert Davis, 46
10. Jim Jackson, 38
It's time for Part six of the "Where'd They Go?" series where I take a look at random teams from the last 20+ years and see where they went. I'll end up donig one for every franchise, except for the more recent expansion franchises. I asked Vern/Culloden what Twins team I should do and he suggested the 1996 Twins. I have no idea why the '96 Twins but here I go.
On March 28, 1996 Kirby Puckett woke up seeing a black spot on his right eye. It would turn out to be glaucoma and it would mark the end of his career. After three straight losing seasons things looked pretty bleak for the Twins with the identity of their franchise's career being over. But that season they didn't completely suck, although they were never in serious contention for a playoff birth. After a 4-3 win over the A's on September 12th they were at 74-72 but that would be be the high point of the season for them as they would drop 12 of their last 16 games, finshing six games under .500.
C: Greg Myers (.286/.320/.426, 9.4 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - I suppose if they had a Back-up Catcher Hall of Fame, Myers would have to be part of it. 1996 was one of only four years during his 18 year career that Myers was a team's primary starter although he only made 81 starts splitting time with Matt Walbeck and Mike Durant. Twins traded Myers in late '97 to the Braves and from there he go to San Diego, back to Atlanta, Baltimore, Oakland, and then to his original franchise Toronto. Played only a handful of games the last couple of years and his career appears to finally be over.
1B: Scott Stahoviak (.284/.376/.469, 18.0 VORP, 12 Win Shares) - This was Stahoviak's only year of relevance as the former first round pick only lasted another two seasons in the Majors. Played two years with the Iowa Cubs and out of baseball after 2000.
2B: Chuck Knoblauch (.341/.448/.517, 99.3 VORP, 32 Win Shares) - Placed 4th in my 1996 A.L. MVP redo, this would end up being Knoblauch's career year. He would sign a new five-year deal late in the season but just a year later he demanded to be traded. Before Spring Training in 1998 the Twins granted him his wish and dealt him to the Yankees for four prospects including Cristian Guzman and Eric Milton. Had a very good season offensively in 1999 in New York but the former Gold Glover winner suddenly had a case of Steve Sax disease, having extreme difficulties to making easy throws to first base. Was moved to left field his final year with the Yankees and finished his career in 2002 with Kansas City.
3B: Dave Hollins (.242/.364/.396, 8.1 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - Did not finish the season with the Twins as they traded him in a waiver deal to Seattle in late August for a PTBNL. Played a couple of years in Anahim after that and bounced around for cameo appearances with Toronto, Cleveland, and Philadelphia before retiring after 2002. Oh and who was the PTBNL the Twins received for Hollins? David Ortiz.
SS: Pat Mears (.267/.298/.391, 8.2 VORP, 8 Win Shares) - Played nine years and the only real skill he had was getting hit by pitches. Signed with the Pirates after 1998 and played there thru 2001.
LF: Marty Cordova (.309/.371/.478, 30.0 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - The '95 ROY, Cordova continued to show promise in '96 but his production fell of badly after that due to numerous back problems. Left the Twins after 1999 and had a forgettable year in Toronto but had a surprisingly good year in Cleveland in 2001. This small bit of success convinced the Orioles to sign him to a three-year contract which he gave them a mediocre 2002 and injuries ended his 2003 season early and took away his entire 2004 season. Invited to Spring Training by the Devil Rays in 2005, he retired one day after being signed.
CF: Rich Becker (.291/.372/.434, 28.0 VORP, 20 Win Shares) - By far his best year, Becker was a low AVG/high OBP guy with little power. Twins traded him after 1997 to the Mets. From there went to Baltimore, Milwaukee, Oakland, and closed out his career in the Majors with Detroit in 2000.
RF: Matt Lawton (.258/.339/.365, -3.6 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - With the unexpected retirement of Puckett the Twins had to have a revolving door in right field with Lawton leading the way with just 51 starts. Traded in 2001 to the Mets for Rick Reed and then traded to the Indians following the season in a seven player deal for Roberto Alomar. Signed with the Pirates before 2005, he was traded twice in less than a month midseason first to the Cubs and then to the Yankees where he'd then end up getting suspended for testing positive for steroids. Signed with the Mariners before this season and has recently been designated for assignment after complaining about lack of playing time. Shockingly no one is beating down the door to pick up the washed up outfielder.
DH: Paul Molitor (.341/.390/.468, 42.6 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - His first season with his hometown team this was the future HOF's last good season. He would get his 3000th career hit in September and became the first player ever to have a 200 hit season during the year he got his 3000th hit. Retired after 1998, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.
Starting Rotation
Brad Radke (115 ERA+, 51.2 VORP, 14 Win Shares) - Received a lot of attention for allowing 40 homeruns but actually had a pretty good year. Has of course played his entire career in Minnesota.
Frank Rodriguez (102 ERA+, 28.4 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - To show how out of control offense was in 1996, Rodriguez has a 5.05 ERA but when you took park factors into account he still ends up with an ERA+ above 100, meaning his ERA was above league average. The former much hyped Red Sox prospect never developed. Twins waived him in 1999, played a couple of years in Seattle and finished his in career in Cincinnati.
Rich Robertson (101 ERA+, 30.1 VORP, 8 Win Shares) - Hey another "above average" 5.12 ERA here. He walked 116 and struck only 114 which is always a bad sign for future success. Out of baseball after 1999.
Rick Augilera (95 ERA+, 16.5 VORP, 6 Win Shars) - This was Aguilera's ill fated return to starting pitching after six years as a closer. He went back to the closer role the following season. Traded to the Cubs in 1999 for Kyle Loshe and would retire after 2000.
Scott Aldred (101 ERA+, 20.1 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - "Above average" 5.15 ERA, I'm not sure how he convinced M.L. teams to give him so many shots over nine years but more power to him. Last appeared in the Majors with the Phillies in 2000, hung around the minors thru 2004.
Closer: Dave Stevens (111 ERA+, 13.1 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - "Closer" being used usely here as Stevens had only 11 saves and the Twins as a team had only 31. Last appeared in the Majors with the Braves in 2000.
2007 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is out so as planned I'm going to do individual profiles on each player on the ballot. I'll go in the order of career Win Shares starting at the bottom. No player on this year's ballot is nearly bad as Gary DiSarcina being on last year's ballot and there are quite a few Hall of Very Good players making their first appearance on the ballot. But we start off with a very dubious addition to this year's ballot.
Bobby Witt - Starting Pitcher
Texas Rangers 1986-1992, 1995-1998
Oakland Athletics 1992-1994
Florida Marlins 1995
St. Louis Cardinals 1998
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1999
Cleveland Indians 2000
Arizona Diamondbacks 2001
Awards
None
League Leader
None
Career Ranks
K: 69th
K/9: 64th
Hall of Fame Stats
Gray Ink: Pitching - 33 (696) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 11.0 (696) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 7.0 (1050) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Kevin Gross, Mike Moore, Jim Clancy, Steve Renko, Scott Erickson, Steve Trachsel, Bump Hadley, Tim Belcher, Floyd Bannister, Tom Candiotti
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3)
1986: 3/2.0
1987: 6/3.9
1988: 10/3.8
1989: 5/2.0
1990: 17/6.4
1991: 0/0.2
1992: 8/4.5
1993: 11/5.8
1994: 4/2.8
1995: 9/4.4
1996: 10/4.7
1997: 11/5.4
1998: 1/0.3
1999: 8/2.8
2000: 0/0.0
2001: 2/1.1
Career Win Shares: 102
Career WARP3: 49.9
Would He Get My Vote?
No, shockingly as that might seem. Only had one good year in 1990 when he went 17-10 with a 3.36 ERA which was one of only four seasons that he had an ERA+ of 100 or better. Now any player who played at least 10 years can appear on the ballot but there is still a nomination process where a handful of players don't get on the ballot but there is always a few that make no sense as to why anyone would nominate them and Witt is definately one this year. If you're going to include Bobby Witt on the ballot why even bother with a nomination process? Not that it really matters in the end.
Going into Thursday's games Chicago, Milwaukee, Sacramento, Denver, and Memphis are all pretty much on the verge of elimination. Now they can still lose a game and not be eliminated but they'll have to pull off something that has only been done 11 times since 1984 when the NBA Playoffs expanded to 16 teams and that's comeback from 2 games to 0 to win a series. I need an excuse for an entry so here's a look back at those 11 series.
1987 Western Conference First Round
#5 Golden State over #4 Utah, 3 games to 2
Game 1: Jazz 99, Warriors 85
Game 2: Jazz 103, Warriors 100
Game 3: Warriors 110, Jazz 95
Game 4: Warriors 98, Jazz 94
Game 5: Warriors 118, Jazz 113
You'd think as a Warriors fan I'd remember this series fondly but I have no memories of it because as a kid I was a bandwagon Lakers fan. The only thing I remember about the Warriors in the '87 playoffs was Sleepy Floyd's 51 point game against the Lakers in the West Semis, the Warriors only win in that series.
1990 Eastern Conference First Round
#5 New York over #4 Boston, 3 games to 2
Game 1: Celtics 116, Knicks 105
Game 2: Celtics 157, Knicks 128
Game 3: Knicks 102, Celtics 99
Game 4: Knicks 135, Celtics 108
Game 5: Knicks 121, Celtics 114
I'd guess that no one thought the Knicks had a prayer after giving up 157 points in Game 2. Most impressive about the Knicks comeback was by beating Boston in the Game 5 they ended a personal 26 game losing streak at the Boston Garden.
1993 Western Conference First Round
#1 Phoenix over #8 L.A. Lakers, 3 games to 2
Game 1: Lakers 107, Suns 103
Game 2: Lakers 86, Suns 81
Game 3: Suns 107, Lakers 102
Game 4: Suns 101, Lakers 86
Game 5: Suns 112, Lakers 104
Forgot about this series as the Lakers nearly swept the heavily favored Suns. Very controversial call in Game 5 on a Charles Barkley put back on an air ball where it appeared the shot clock may have expired that forced the game into overtime.
1993 Eastern Conference Finals
#2 Chicago over #1 New York, 4 games to 2
Game 1: Knicks 98, Bulls 90
Game 2: Knicks 96, Bulls 91
Game 3: Bulls 103, Knicks 83
Game 4: Bulls 105, Knicks 95
Game 5: Bulls 97, Knicks 94
Game 6: Bulls 96, Knicks 88
Kincks seemed to determined to end the Bulls dynasty by taking the first two games but it was not meant to be in this the biggest series to have a 2-0 defecit erased.
1994 Western Conference First Round
#8 Denver over #1 Seattle, 3 games to 2
Game 1: Sonics 106, Nuggets 82
Game 2: Sonics 97, Nuggets 87
Game 3: Nuggets 110, Sonics 93
Game 4: Nuggets 94, Sonics 85
Game 5: Nuggets 98, Sonics 94
The first eight seend to ever beat a one seed in the arguably the biggest upset in NBA Playoff history. I just seem to remember Robert Pack playing out of his mind in that series.
1994 Western Conference Semi-Finals
#2 Houston over #3 Phoenix, 4 games to 3
Game 1: Suns 91, Rockets 87
Game 2: Suns 124, Rockets 117
Game 3: Rockets 118, Suns 102
Game 4: Rockets 107, Suns 96
Game 5: Rockets 109, Suns 86
Game 6: Suns 103, Rockets 89
Game 7: Rockets 104, Suns 94
Rockets were left for dead after losing the first two games at home against the defending West Champs.
1995 Western Conference Semi-Finals
#6 Houston over #2 Phoenix, 4 games to 3
Game 1: Suns 103, Rockets 108
Game 2: Suns 118, Rockets 94
Game 3: Rockets 118, Suns 85
Game 4: Suns 114, Rockets 110
Game 5: Rockets 103, Suns 97
Game 6: Rockets 116, Suns 113
Game 7: Rockets 115, Suns 114
If you were a Suns fan circa 1995 you must have wanted to murder the entire Rockets team. This year's loss was even worse as they blew a 3-1 lead.
2001 Western Conference First Round
#5 Dallas over #4 Utah, 3 games to 2
Game 1: Jazz 88, Mavericks 86
Game 2: Jazz 109, Mavericks 98
Game 3: Mavericks 94, Jazz 91
Game 4: Mavericks 107, Jazz 77
Game 5: Mavericks 84, Jazz 83
Mavs came back from 17 points down in Game 5 and won an a Calvin Booth lay up in the final seconds.
2004 Western Conference Semi-Finals
#2 L.A. Lakers over #3 San Antonio, 4 games to 2
Game 1: Spurs 88, Lakers 78
Game 2: Spurs 95, Lakers 85
Game 3: Lakers 105, Spurs 81
Game 4: Lakers 98, Spurs 90
Game 5: Lakers 74, Spurs 73
Game 6: Lakers 88, Spurs 76
Everyone remembers the Derek Fisher basket in Game 5 in that awful, awful game.
2005 Eastern Conference First Round
#5 Washington over #4 Chicago, 4 games to 2
Game 1: Bulls 103, Wizards 94
Game 2: Bulls 113, Wizards 103
Game 3: Wizards 117, Bulls 99
Game 4: Wizards 106, Bulls 99
Game 5: Wizards 112, Bulls 110
Game 6: Wizards 94, Bulls 91
Signature moment was of course Gilbert Arenas' buzzer beater in Game 5.
2005 Western Conference First round
#4 Dallas over #5 Houston, 4 games to 3
Game 1: Rockets 98, Mavericks 96
Game 2: Rockets 113, Mavericks 111
Game 3: Mavericks 106, Rockets 102
Game 4: Mavericks 97, Rockets 93
Game 5: Mavericks 103, Rockets 100
Game 6: Rockets 101, Mavericks 83
Game 7: Mavericks 116, Rockets 76
The first five games were awesome, the last two not so much.
I'm always happy with the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is announced as it means content for my blog! I'll be doing profiles on each the first year nominees over the next few weeks but before I get to what I wanted to talk about in this entry, here are links to old profiles I did for the returnees on this year's ballot listed in order of where they finished in the voting last year.
1. Jim Rice 72.2% (15th and final year)
2. Andre Dawson 65.9% (8th)
3. Bert Blyleven 61.9% (12th)
4. Lee Smith 43.3% (7th)
5. Jack Morris 42.9% (10th)
6. Tommy John 29.1% (15th and final year)
7. Tim Raines 24.3% (2nd)
8. Mark McGwire 23.6% (3rd)
9. Alan Trammell 18.2% (8th)
10. Don Mattingly 15.8% (9th)
11. Dave Parker 15.1% (13th)
12. Dale Murphy 13.8% (11th)
13. Harold Baines 5.2% (3rd)
If a player played ten seasons in the Majors they are eligible for nomination on the baseball writer's ballot but believe it or not there actually is a screening process for the HOF ballot. I always find it interesting to see what players didn't make the cut and originally thought about making brief comments on each player but there were more players than I expected so this is just going to be a random list. Whole lot of back up catchers and middle relievers but there's a few decent players in there.
Mike Bordick
John Burkett
Omar Daal
Joe Girardi
Mark Guthrie
Joey Hamilton
Bill Haselman
Darren Holmes
Trenidad Hubbard
Todd Hundley
Brian L Hunter
Felix Jose
Chad Kreuter
Graeme Lloyd
Keith Lockhart
Albie Lopez
Pat Mahomes
Al Martin
Orlando Merced
Charles Nagy
Denny Neagle
Troy O'Leary
Lance Painter
Craig Paquette
Tom Prince
Jeff Reboulet
Rick Reed
Rich Rodriguez
Terry Shumpert
Luis Sojo
Dave Veres
Matt Walbeck
Mike Williams
Kevin Young
The worst offensive season by a shortstop of all-time was Jim Levey in 1933 with an OPS+ of 24 (.195/.237/.240). Jim was a teammate of Art Scharein on the St. Louis Browns that year who my three readers will remember that he had the worst offensive ever by a third baseman that year thus teaming up for the undisputed, worst hitting left side of an infield in MLB history. Congratulations guys.
Now on to more modern players and the player at the top of this list takes both #1 and #2 spots in back-to-back seasons which is quite the achievement. In case you were wondering, he was considered a great defensive shortstop but me thinks he probably still played more than he should have.
Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Shortstop Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+)
1. Hal Lanier, 1968 - San Francisco Giants 38 OPS+ (.206/.222/.239)
2. Hal Lanier, 1967 - San Francisco Giants 42
3. Alfredo Griffin, 1990 - Los Angeles Dodgers 43
4t. Neifi Perez, 2002 - Kansas City Royals 44
4t. Ivan DeJesus, 1981 - Chicago Cubs 44
4t. Tim Johnson, 1973 - Milwaukee Brewers 44
7. Hal Lanier, 1969 - San Francisco Giants 46
8t. Clint Barmes, 2006 - Colorado Rockies 47
8t. Mike Caruso, 1999 - Chicago White Sox 47
10. Ozzie Smith, 1979 - San Diego Padres 48
11t. Alfredo Griffin, 1981 - Toronto Blue Jays 49
11t. Marty Perez, 1972 - Atlanta Braves 49
13t. Craig Robinson, 1974 - Atlanta Braves 51
13t. Dick Schofield, 1965 - Pittsburgh Pirates/San Francisco Giants 51
15t. Angel Berroa, 2006 - Kansas City Royals 52
15t. Zoilo Versalles, 1967 - Minnesota Twins 52
17t. Rey Ordonez, 1998 - New York Mets 53
17t. Andres Thomas, 1989 - Atlanta Braves 53
17t. Glenn Hoffman, 1982 - Boston Red Sox 53
20t. Ronny Cedeno, 2006 - Chicago Cubs 54
20t. Gary DiSarcina, 1997 - Anaheim Angels 54
20t. Ozzie Guillen, 1986 - Chicago White Sox 54
20t. Alfredo Griffin, 1982 - Toronto Blue Jays 54
24t. Juan Uribe, 2002 - Colorado Rockies 55
24t. Kevin Stocker, 1995 - Philadelphia Phillies 55
24t. Curtis Wilkerson, 1984 - Texas Rangers 55
24t. Don Kessinger, 1967 - Chicago Cubs 55
24t. Ken Hamlin, 1960 - Kansas City A's 55
This Tuesday the United States plays its World Baseball Classic opener against Mexico. As widly documented by now several top players have pulled out from the U.S. squad and other countries thus we aren't getting a true showing of the world's best. The best example of this is now the inclusion of the ancient and no longer effective starting pitcher Al Leiter to the U.S. roster. As much as George Steinbrenner has voiced his displeasure with the tournament he didn't say anything about being upset over Leiter being added to the team as he is not even expected to make the Yankees. Now even with Leiter on the team the U.S. still should win the um, whatever they give away to the winner, but the U.S. men's basketball team should always win the gold in the Olympics too.
So I've decided to pick my own United States roster. Every U.S. born player is available to me in this fictional scenerio. I'll use the same roster set up as the current U.S. team has: 4 starting pitchers, 10 relievers, 3 catchers, 7 infielders, and 6 outfielders.
Starting Pitchers
Roger Clemens
Roy Oswalt
Jake Peavy
Dontrelle Willis
Relievers
Neal Cotts
Justin Duchscherer
Brad Lidge
Scott Linebrink
Joe Nathan
B.J. Ryan
Scot Shields
Huston Street
Billy Wagner
Dan Wheeler
Catchers
Michael Barrett
Joe Mauer
Jason Varitek
Infielders
Travis Hafner
Jeff Kent
Derrek Lee
Alex Rodriguez
Mark Teixeira
David Wright
Michael Young
Note: Let's be real, A-Rod is the best shortstop in baseball even if he plays 3rd now so I'm putting him at short. Hafner doesn't play the field really but there is the DH in the tournament and the way he rakes righties you'd need to have him in there.
Outfielders
Adam Dunn
Jim Edmonds
Brian Giles
Aaron Rowand
Gary Sheffield
Vernon Wells
Ya, Aaron Rowand. I was having hard time picking the 6th outfielder so I went with a defensive specialist. It does give me three center fielders but really you can stick Rowand in a corner late in the game for someone like Dunn or Sheffield. Ya, ya no true lead off hitter on the roster but with this many big bats you don't need one. Giles would make a good lead off hitter with his excellent plate patience.
****BONUS MATERIAL****
Just as I finished this I figured, why not pick the Un-American team? No, no not Venezuela. I'm gonna pick a team of U.S. players you wouldn't want representing Team U.S.A. I'm only taking into account players who regulars last season as obviously I could pick an entire team filled with bench scrubs or guys who had cups of coffee in the Majors.
Starting Pitchers
Mark Hendrickson
Al Leiter (oh the irony)
Joe Mays
Eric Milton
Relief Pitchers
Doug Brocail
Jim Brower
Brian Bruney
Jason Christiansen
Mike DeJean
Alan Embree
Travis Harper
Dan Kolb
Braden Looper
Matt Thorton
Catchers
Brad Ausmus
Chad Moeller
Chris Snyder
Infielders
David Bell
Aaron Boone
Bret Boone
Royce Clayton
Doug Mientiewicz
Aaron Miles
Kevin Millar
Outfielders
Eric Brynes
Steve Finley
Terrence Long
Corey Patterson
Scott Podsednik (ya I said it!)
B.J. Surhoff
New feature! Well I'm gonna burn out on redos eventually so decided to come up with a new idea. I'll take the subject from a Sports Illustrated cover from this date and look at what that person did on that date (if anything), what happened in their sport on that date, and what may have happened in other sports on that date. I definently won't be doing this everyday as it'll probably just be a once in a while thing. I think I'll focus on only covers from my lifetime and typically the main subject will be baseball as retrosheet.org makes researching a breeze. Also to get some perspective on what sports fans were thinking about the time I'll try to dig up threads from the Google message boards. Okay it will be really to find incredibly stupid opinions from sports fans. So the subject of the first one comes from May 7, 1990:
Ken Griffey Jr. at the age of 20 was already becoming a superstar and was the rare commodity of a young player with an insane amount of hype actually living up to it.
Griffey's 1990 numbers coming into May 7th, 1990: 26 games, .385/.425/.596, 5 homeruns, 18 rbi
Mariners record going into May 7th, 1990: 12-14, 5th place in A.L. West, 7 games back
Griffey on May 7th, 1990: Went 0-2 with two walks, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Mariners lose at home to the Red Sox 5-4. Boston scored four runs in the 3rd inning off of Mariners starter Erik Hanson on two, two run doubles by Tom Brunansky and Dwight Evans. Mariners manager Jim Lefebvre is ejected in the 4th inning for arguing balls and strikes.
Other MLB action on May 7th, 1990: Detroit's Cecil Fielder hit his 11th homerun of the season in a 5-4 loss to the Brewers. Oakland's Jose Canseco homers twice in a 5-1 win over the Yankees. Atlanta's Jeff Blauser hits his first two homeruns of the season including a two run homer in the top of the 9th off Cubs' closer Mitch Williams as the Braves win 9-8. Montreal's Andres Galarraga hits a game winning double in the bottom of the 9th as the Expos beat the Giants 7-6 after the Giants had scored three in the top of the 9th to tie the game. N.Y. Mets' Frank Viola improves to 6-0 on the year in a 7-1 win over Houston.
Other Sports action on May 7th, 1990: In the NBA the Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers 96-85 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. In the NHL the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitols 4-1 in Game 3 of the Wales Conference Finals, taking a 3-0 series lead.
Fun with Google on May 7th, 1990: A brief thread on who was more valuble: Ryne Sandberg & Jose Oquendo? No really.
Well it's been a while since I did one of these. Once I finished the Game 5's I wanted to sit down and watch both Game 6's for 1975 and 1986 in one sitting. With all the other games I'd watch them half hour or an hour at a time but for obvious reasons I wanted to be able to watch those two games without interruption. Problem was I never found a chance to watch either game in it's entirety and ended up forgetting about it for a while but with the 20th anniversary of the Bill Buckner play being today I figured I'd skip ahead to '86 to do an entry on the game and finally got around to watching it yesterday.
1986 World Series Game 6 - Mets 6, Red Sox 5 10 Innings (boxscore and play account)
-With Buckner up in the first we have the apperance of the parachuter with the "Go Mets" banner. If this were today there'd be phony moral outrage by Joe Buck, or any other announcer, about a fan pulling off such a stunt and they'd make sure to have the cameras shoot something else but here the announcers love it. Ron Darling even gives the guy a little dap while he's being escorted away by the cops.
-Good omens for the Red Sox as they score in the 1st and the first five games the team that scored first won. Also Roger Clemens was 9-0 on five days rest.
-The Mets on the other hand could not feel good about their chances early on as Clemens was dominating striking out six through three and didn't give up a hit in the first four. Even though effective, he was incredibly inefficient with his pitch count, throwing 73 pitches in the first four. He'd throw 137 pitches in seven innings.
-In the 5th after a Darry Strawberry walk, just the Mets second baserunner of the game at that moment, they shoot some crowd shots and to a couple of fans who at first glance of foam "#1" fingers but they are actually foam middle fingers that I think said "Boston Sucks." The announcers don't mention it of course.
-In the 6th with Wally Backman on first, Buckner attempts to deek Backman on a throw to first by pretending it got by him with an laughably bad acting job. He wouldn't have to fake it later.
-In the 8th the announcers for the first time mention the Red Sox last World Series win. As I mentioned in a prior DVD entry not in this series or the '75 series do the announcers ever bring up the "curse." Very much in stark contrast to FOX's coverage of the 2004 series.
-In the bottom of the inning we had a mini, but not really, controversy. With the Mets down by a run, with a runner on first and no out, Dykstra lays down a bunt. Calvin Schiraldi tries to get the lead runner, Lee Mazzilli, at 2nd but his throw pulls Spike Owen off the bag. Owen pitches a fit and John McNamara joins him but replays clearly show Owen's foot off the bag when Mazzilli slid in. Mazzilli would eventually score the tying run on a Gary Carter sac fly.
-In the bottom of the 9th the Mets got the first two runners on. Davey Johnson elected to pinch hit for a 22-year old Kevin Elster (who subbed for Rafael Santana after being pinch hit for earlier) with Howard Johnson. Scully and Garagiola assume he's going to have him bunt, which is silly to think because why waste a pinch hitter to bunt? Johnson strikes out and the Mets end up failing to score. Scully especially harps on this for the rest of the game until of course you know what happened. My thought is Johnson didn't trust Elster to even bunt who looked rattled in the field after misplaying two balls (just one scored an error).
-You know whenever a player who's hit a past, "clutch" homerun and he comes up again in said situation they always play the clip of the past homerun. What usually happens is the player doesn't do it again. So they play Dave Henderson's Game 5, Donnie Moore killing (awww) homerun in the ALCS as he leads off the 10th in this game. Two pitches later...gone. Really cool, completely forgotten moment (Hendu had the best homerun trot) and would have likely won the World Series MVP for Hendu.
-And of course you know what happens in the bottom of the inning to cap one of the most exciting innings in baseball history. By now everyone knows that Buckner could hardly be blamed for everything that happened. If Schiraldi just manages to get one more out it was over. If Bob Stanley doesn't throw a wild pitch to let the tying run score, the sequence of events would changed dramatically. Also even if Buckner fields the ball, there's a 50/50 chance Mookie Wilson beats a throw to first and nevermind that even if he's out the game still goes on to the 11th. But in the end it was that moment that I'm guessing that the "curse" talk picked up steam and the Red Sox fans made themselves into martyrs for the next 18 years.
-Having this game (and the others) on DVD is simply awesome and I'm sure I'll be replaying it in the future. I could listen to Scully's call of the final play forever. The great thing about Scully is that after Knight scores he just shuts up. There's dead air for three and a half minutes with just the sights and sounds of the what just happened playing out. There was no need for words, something today's announcers should learn.
Albert Belle - Leftfielder
Cleveland Indians 1989-1996
Chicago White Sox 1997-1998
Baltimore Orioles 1999-2000
2nd year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2006: 7.7%
Awards
1993 AL Silver Slugger - OF
1994 AL Silver Slugger - OF
1995 ML Sporting News Player of the Year
1995 AL Silver Slugger - OF
1996 AL Silver Slugger - OF
1998 AL Silver Slugger - OF
All-Star Selections: 5 (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997)
League Leader
1993: RBI
1994: Total Bases
1995: Runs, Doubles, Homeruns, Total Bases, Slugging Pct.
1996: RBI
1998: Total Bases, Slugging Pct., OPS, OPS+, Runs Created
Career Ranks
HR: 54th
SLG%: 19th
OPS: 35th
OPS+: 58th
AB/HR: 22nd
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 28 (62) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 137 (117) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 36.1 (187) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 134.5 (94) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: 1 (Hank Greenberg)
Other Similar Batters: Juan Gonzalez, Carlos Delgado, Jim Edmonds, Jason Giambi, Moises Alou, Vladimir Guerrero, Dick Allen, Rocky Colavito, Tim Salmon
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacmenet Level (WARP3)
1989: 6/0.9
1990: 0/-0.1
1991: 15/4.9
1992: 16/5.3
1993: 27/10.5
1994: 24/11.4
1995: 30/13.7
1996: 31/11.3
1997: 18/5.6
1998: 37/12.3
1999: 24/9.9
2000: 15/4.2
Career Win Shares: 243
Career WARP3: 90.0
Would he get my vote?
No. From a peak standpoint, Belle has a serious case. He was one the most feared and best hitters of the 90's. Four times he posted an OPS+ of better than 150, six times in the Top 10 in the league in slugging, eight times in total bases, nine times in RBI, and nine times in homeruns. Although he isn't listed as one of Belle's comps you can bring up Ralph Kiner who is in the HOF, who like Belle had a very short career and was a dominating power hitter while he was active. But I personally don't view Kiner as a HOF and even though I weigh peak a little more than a player's career I just don't think Belle lasted quite long enough to be a HOF. If his hip had held up just for a couple of more good years I think it would have pushed him over the top. I may also had given him my imaginary vote if he had been a good defensive outfielder but he was below average at best. It was actually a mild surprise he got enough votes last year to stay on the ballot given his on the field and off the field persona but with a much deeper ballot this year I doubt he makes it to 2008.
Dale Murphy - Outfielder
Atlanta Braves 1976-1990
Philadelphia Phillies 1990-1992
Colorado Rockies 1993
9th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
1999: 19.32%
2000: 23.25%
2001: 18.46%
2002: 14.83%
2003: 11.69%
2004: 8.50%
2005: 10.46%
2006: 10.77%
Awards
1982 NL MVP
1982 NL Gold Glove - OF
1982 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1983 NL MVP
1983 NL Gold Glove - OF
1983 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1984 NL Gold Glove - OF
1984 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1985 NL Gold Glove - OF
1985 NL Silver Sluger - OF
1986 NL Gold Glove - OF
All-Star Selections: 7 (1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987)
League Leader
1982: RBI
1983: RBI, Slugging %, Runs Created, OPS
1984: Homeruns, Slugging %, Total Bases, Runs Created
1985: Homeruns, Runs, Walks, Runs Created
1987: Runs Created
Career Ranks
Homeruns: 45th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 31 (54) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 147 (90) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 34.3 (209) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 115.5 (121) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: 1 (Duke Snider)
Other Similar Batters: Joe Carter, Don Baylor, Ron Santo, Gil Hodges, George Foster, Ruben Sierra, Jack Clark, Ellis Burks, Lee May
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1976: 2/0.3
1977: 2/-0.1
1978: 7/1.4
1979: 11/1.5
1980: 28/9.2
1981: 11/4.3
1982: 32/10.2
1983: 32/10.3
1984: 33/9.8
1985: 31/9.3
1986: 22/6.0
1987: 29/11.5
1988: 12/6.8
1989: 14/2.6
1990: 15/5.0
1991: 13/4.7
1992: 0/-0.8
1993: 0/-0.4
Career Win Shares: 294
Career WARP3: 91.6
Would he get my vote?
No. If I had a real vote I'd be very tempted to give Murphy a sympathy vote as it would be nice to see him get more support and he's actually lost support over the years, nearly falling off the ballot in 2004. With Jim Rice I said he needed two more good seasons but with Murphy I think he needed just one more. He had a very good peak, better than Rice's, as he was just incredible from 1982-1985 but he was washed up by age 32. Although he did win six Gold Gloves at a premium defensive position in centerfield, he was not nearly as good as those six Gold Gloves indicate. He was decent but not great defensively.
I mentioned it my last entry that I was running out of Redo ideas in my lifetime and then I realized I skipped over an obvious one in the 1995 A.L. MVP. I can't believe I missed it because I did the 1995 N.L. MVP already and it also gives me an opportunity to reminisce about one of the worst ideas since New Coke.
Edit: I've decided to do the 1995 A.L. MVP redo in a seperate entry that I'll do in the next day or two and leave this as an entry on it's own.
As I already mentioned on the redo of the 1995 N.L. MVP, we came incredibly close to replacement/scab players starting the season as the strike was still going in March. Although that embarassment was avoided for baseball another would pop up that October. The previous season a national television deal split between ABC and NBC had started which was called The Baseball Network. The name was purely for marketing reasons as there was no actual Baseball Network as all it was is ABC and NBC, I believe on a rotating basis, would have a Friday Night primetime game every week after the All-Star Break. Now there was no feature game as everyone just got a local game which the broadcast team being split between to local announcers of the two teams. It seemed very odd as what was the point of having a national game of the week if all you received was a local game? But the presentation of the games was inoffensive and I suppose it was nice to watch a local game with a national feel to it. The strike of course ended the 1994 season and there was no postseason to cover. The Baseball Network deal was still in place for 1995 and it was the same coverage for the regular season. But then came the postseason....
1995 was the first year that the new expanded playoffs would be used with the new five game divisonal round. The format for it initially was a nightmare as someone thought it was a good idea to pre-determine what divisions would play each other and what division would play the wild card team in the divisional rather than basing it on record. So for example in the A.L., the Mariners played the wild card Yankees despite having the worst record of the divison winners while the two best teams in the league, the Indians and Red Sox, were forced to play each other in the divisional playoffs. Then for the five game series they decided to go with the awful 2-3 format where the team with homefield would actually start the series on the road and then go home for three games if necessary.
But now onto the actual coverage of the playoffs. They decided that one network would host the entire divison round and then would switch to the other network for the league championship series. This seemed odd and unecessary and of course created an fairly obvious problem, as in how would they televise the entire division series on one network? The brilliant plan the came up with was schedule all four games at the same exact time, 8PM EST/5PM PST, and only provide a regional telecast. You have to stand in awe of the stupidity of this. The NBA could televise every single playoff game of a 16 team first round yet MLB could only figure out how to televise one game a night. So me being California I only was able to see the Dodgers/Reds series for the first three nights of the playoffs and nothing else.
Now I know what your thinking, or if you've forgotten, "now there's no way they did this for the league championships, right?" They did. The Reds/Braves and Mariners/Indians league championships series would be played at the exact same time, every night and the country would be split between them. I'm not even sure how they handled the Reds and Indians coverage. Can you imagine being an life long Indians fan, a franchise playing in it's first ever ALCS, living in Cincinnati and not being able to watch the game?
Thankfully The Baseball Network deal was only for two years and in 1996 a new deal started with Fox televising regular season games and then splitting the postseason with NBC. All division series games were televised but unfortunently we've been stuck with Fox ever since. But when we whine about the awful coverage of Fox or the fiasco with games being put on Fx and ABC Family channel in the past, just remember for one year it was much, much worse.
Andre Dawson - Outfielder
Montreal Expos 1976-1986
Chicago Cubs 1987-1992
Boston Red Sox 1993-1994
Florida Marlins 1995-1996
6th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2002: 45.34%
2003: 50.00%
2004: 50.00%
2005: 52.32%
2006: 60.96%
Awards
1977 NL Rookie of the Year
1980 NL Gold Glove - OF
1980 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1981 NL Gold Glove - OF
1981 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1982 NL Gold Glove - OF
1983 NL Gold Glove - OF
1983 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1984 NL Gold Glove - OF
1985 NL Gold Glove - OF
1987 NL MVP
1987 NL Gold Glove - OF
1987 NL Silver Slugger - OF
1988 NL Gold Glove - OF
All-Star Selections: 8 (1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991)
League Leader
1983: Hits, Total Bases
1987: Homeruns, RBI, Total Bases
Career Ranks
Games: 32nd
Hits: 45th
Runs: 85th
HR: 35th
RBI: 29th
2B: 42nd
TB: 24th
RC: 64th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 11 (204) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 164 (68) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 43.7 (115) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 118.0 (118) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: 5 (Billy Williams, Tony Perez, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, Dave Winfield)
Other Similar Batters: Dave Parker, Harold Baines, Dwight Evans, Vada Pinson, Fred McGriff
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1976: 1/0.4
1977: 18/5.8
1978: 21/6.0
1979: 24/5.6
1980: 29/9.1
1981: 25/10.7
1982: 26/9.1
1983: 28/8.0
1984: 12/4.9
1985: 16/4.0
1986: 16/4.8
1987: 20/7.2
1988: 19/7.9
1989: 13/4.8
1990: 22/6.4
1991: 20/5.4
1992: 16/6.4
1993: 7/2.1
1994: 1/0.7
1995: 4/0.2
1996: 2/0.0
Career Win Shares: 340
Career WARP3: 109.5
Would he get my vote?
No. Maybe I'm just too tough on outfielders as I've gone through about five of them on this ballot that I was just underwhelmed enough by them that I can't give them a vote. Dawson is the one I did the most waffling on due to defensive brilliance early in his career although his last three or four Gold Gloves were purely reputation awards. Part of the argument for him seems to be that if he hadn't his knees destroyed by the awful Olympic Stadium turf he would have reached several major career milestones which I wouldn't necessarily disagree with. But injuries and the enviroment you play in are part of the game so I can't really justify giving Dawson a bonus for what he might have done had he played on grass his whole career. I'm just not completely blown away by his peak and unimpressed by his career after age 28. Has received solid support though and if he ever does get in hopefully the HOF does the right thing and has him wear an Expos cap.
In my need to always find content after the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is released I plan on doing individual entries on each player on the ballot, even the ones that have no business being on it. The profiles will mainly just be useless information on each player and then a short opinion by me on whether or not I'd vote for them into the Hall of Fame. So as a test run I decided to do one on an active player and Gary Sheffield seemed like a good choice since he has recently been in the news.
Gary Sheffield - Outfielder/Third Baseman
Milwaukee Brewers 1989-1991
San Diego Padres 1992-1993
Florida Marlins 1993-1998
Los Angeles Dodgers 1998-2001
Atlanta Braves 2002-2003
New York Yankees 2004-2006
Detroit Tigers 2007-
Awards
1992 Sporting News ML Player of the Year
1992 NL Silver Slugger - 3B
1996 NL Silver Slugger - OF
2003 NL Silver Slugger - OF
2004 AL Silver Slugger - OF
2005 AL Silver Slugger - OF
All-Star Selections: 9 (1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005)
League Leader
1992: Batting Average, Total Bases
1996: On Base Pct., OPS, OPS+
Career Ranks
OBP: 64th
SLG: 52nd
OPS: 47th
Runs: 70th
TB: 54th
HR: 31st
RBI: 46th
BB: 37th
OPS+: 48th
RC: 39th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 4 (401) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 118 (164) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 57.7 (37) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 132.0 (98) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: 5 (Willie Stargell, Billy Williams, Duke Snider, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews)
Other Similar Batters: Jeff Bagwell, Ken Griffey Jr., Fred McGriff, Frank Thomas, Jim Rice
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3)
1988: 2/0.3
1989: 6/1.8
1990: 20/5.2
1991: 1/0.2
1992: 32/11.9
1993: 16/4.9
1994: 15/5.0
1995: 13/4.3
1996: 34/10.6
1997: 22/7.1
1998: 30/7.7
1999: 24/7.7
2000: 31/8.8
2001: 30/8.8
2002: 26/6.8
2003: 35/11.0
2004: 30/8.5
2005: 31/8.4
2006: 3/1.2
Total Wins Shares: 401
Total WARP3: 120.3
Would he get my vote?
Yes. Whether your a career voter or a peak voter Sheffield measures up. Although he never won an MVP and his black ink number is very low, the overall consistentcy of performing at a high level is deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame. On the other hand because of his personality and some steroid questions due to his brief association with BALCO he might not be a slam dunk in the view of the baseball writers. But with now over 400 career Win Shares he should be.
Quickie this time around.
N.L.
10. Jose Reyes, Mets
9. Bobby Abreu, Phillies
8. Nick Johnson, Nationals
7. Bronson Arroyo, Reds
6. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
5. Lance Berkman, Astros
4. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins
3. Carlos Beltran, Mets
2. David Wright, Mets
1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
A.L.
10. Derek Jeter, Yankees
9. Paul Konerko, White Sox
8. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
7. Jason Giambi, Yankees
6. Joe Mauer, Twins
5. Johan Santana, Twins
4. Curtis Granderson, Tigers
3. Vernon Wells, Blue Jays
2. Jim Thome, White Sox
1. Travis Hafner, Indians
