EVIL~! alkeiper

Andre the Giant was hyped as making his return to WWF at the 1991 Royal Rumble, as late as two weeks before the event according to a Toronto newspaper. What happened to nix him from the event? Not in wrestling condition?

The YES Network is showing Williamsport/Staten Island. SI has a beautiful view past their outfield wall.

I should have included this in my discussion regarding Hall of Fame relievers. How many relievers should go in the Hall? It is my firm belief that relief pitchers are simply not as good as starting pitchers. Why should a mediocre pitcher go ahead of a very good pitcher simply because he was placed in an easier role? Easier role? Yes, there is a lot of talk placed upon the closer pitching in such a high pressure role, and how crucial he is to a team. The closer is important, no doubt. But the fact is that nearly all closers are pitchers who failed miserably as starting pitchers, if they even held that role. Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers went 7-17 as a starter. Goose Gossage went 9-22. Lee Smith went 0-5 in six starts. Eric Gagne has a 4.68 career ERA as a starter. Mariano Rivera's ERA as a starter was 5.94. There's an obvious bias at work. Relievers tend to be starters before their prime, and if they were great starters they wouldn't have been moved. Just out of curiosity, I wanted to take a look at starters, as relievers. This is more difficult because great starters in this era almost never make relief appearances. Ace starters in the dead ball era, such as Christy Mathewson and Mordecai Brown, used to double as their teams' relief ace. David Wells made 171 relief appearances as a reliever. Wells had a 3.23 ERA as a reliever, compared to 4.13 as a starter. Pedro Martinez's ERA in 67 relief appearances is a paltry 2.18. There are a few counter examples. Curt Schilling had a lower ERA in the rotation. Again, there's a lot of statistical noise though. What amazes me looking at pitchers like Gagne is that more teams do not make relievers out of their failed starting pitching prospects. The Cincinnati Reds just gave up two starting position players largely for bullpen help. Instead of paying top dollar for relievers, why not try to produce some of your own? A guy like John Stephens, ineffective in the rotation, could become the next Stu Miller. There's room for relievers in the Hall. However, voters must be VERY selective. The current trend of allowing one every few years is wise. It's better to be frugal now than to elect many and make some irreversible mistakes.

Mr. Unclutch Bobby Abreu hits a two run double, and the Phils lead 5-4 in the ninth.

Surprised this didn't get mentioned before. The Northern League All-Star game featured Buck O'Neil batting first for both sides (he was traded mid-inning), and taking two walks. At 94, he's the oldest player ever to play in a professional game.

I think Happ's still a fringe prospect. He's got 9 walks in 16 AA innings, and if he's just getting by on deception, it will take the hitters a little time before they catch up to him. Maloney's having a great season, but I'm puzzled why he hasn't been promoted yet. He's 22, a little old for the league, but not as bad in that regard as Slayden. I'm still on the fence regarding Maloney.

It won't happen, but why not the Phillies? They have Bobby Abreu who's close in salary (remember the Yankees aren't paying A-Rod's entire contract), and a big hole at third base.

This statistic brought to you by the department of redundancy department. I found a game where 22 year old George Stone faced 22 year old Bob Moose. Three problems though. Moose was a righty, Moose had nine wins and won his 10th that game, and Stone pitched in relief. Stone is the only 22 year old lefty in 1969 who won 10 games.

From Buster Olney's chat... Level of desperation? If Philly's not trading for a win now type of player, why the heck would they feel ANY sort of pressure to trade Bobby? He's not even a free agent until after next season, and he's got a team option even then.

It's the Blue Jays. Seven of those home runs came in two starts at the Skydome.

The White Sox are just three games ahead of the Yankees at this point. They've also got the Blue Jays to contend with, and the Twins in their own division.

Is Chipper Jones a HOF caliber player? I'm inclined to say yes.

I love Bob Uecker as much as anyone else, but even he couldn't top Ron Santo.

I thought you meant literally. Damn Ottawa and their 1,500 obsessive fans.

This is the greatest game in Cubs history. Why? Because it's holding up the Espys!

When the 18/58 update came up, I half expected to see "Cubs release 2B Todd Walker."

Rather than bury this in an old discussion, I figured I would start anew. Let me reexamine the top 10 as ranked by Baseball America before the season and then I'll hit on the other prospects Pinjockey discusses. 1. Cole Hamels, SP Cole Hamels had an extraordinary ascent through the minors before struggling at the Major League level. He's struck out a batter an inning though, and control was usually not a problem in the minors. The big thing is that Hamels has reached a career high in innings pitched. Hamels is still on track. 2. Gio Gonzalez,SP 112 strikeouts in under 100 innings for a 20 year old in AA is highly impressive. The home runs as Pinjockey said are high, but Reading's a fairly good home run park. He'd cut that in half in Scranton. Gonzalez needs to cut down on the walks, but he's another top flight prospect still on target. 3. Greg Golson, OF The best athlete in the system. That would be even more impressive if he could play baseball. This is Golson's second year at Lakewood and he still can't hit. .220 batting average with 92 Ks against 18 walks. Until Golson actually produces, he's not a prospect in my view. 4. Michael Bourn, OF Bourn's made a hell of an impression in Scranton, hitting three triples, stealing bases and playing great defense, all in his first week. I think he'll cool off as word of his weaknesses gets around. Bourn has great speed and plate discipline. The problem is that he lacks power, and pitchers will challenge him and defenses will play shallow. There's a fine line between great leadoff hitter and Jason Tyner. I think Bourn at minimum is a good 5th outfielder. 5. Scott Mathieson, SP I don't think the Phils could have asked for a better season so far. Mathieson dominated AA, went to the majors and held his own, and just made a good start at Scranton. He's still just 22, and his fastball sits in the mid-90s. This is a big IF, but imagine a rotation of Brett Myers (25), Ryan Madson (25), Gavin Floyd (23), Cole Hamels (22), Scott Mathieson (22) and Gio Gonzalez (20). That's a ton of young pitching, and I don't think most fans realize how much the Phils have. 6. Dan Haigwood, SP Traded to Texas for P Fabio Castro. 7. Welinson Baez, 3B Baez finally hit on his third trip through Rookie ball and kept it up through Short Season A last year. It was a fluke. Baez is hitting .216 in Lakewood with 111 strikeouts in 287 at bats. Not a prospect at this point. 8. Mike Costanzo, 3B Mike at least has the excuse of skipping a level. He walks, but that's about it. I doubt Costanzo's got much potential. 9. Brad Harman, SS Harman drew good reviews as part of Australia's entry into the WBC. His power dropped off a cliff though, and he does not look like much. Harman's young though, and given that the FSL is a pitchers' league I would give Harman another season before writing him off. 10. Jason Jaramillo, C Jaramillo's struggled this year, but given that he skipped high A and that he's a better defensive catcher, it's not as bad as it looks. Jaramillo's probably at least got a future as a backup. Early reports on Edgar Garcia are encouraging to a point, particularly the 19/1 K:BB ratio. The low K rate worries me slightly, but he is extremely young yet. Jeremy Slayden is a few months younger than Josh Kroeger. Kroeger's in AAA, Slayden's in Low A. Slayden would have to be a hell of a hitter to make up the difference in levels. He's not a prospect. Carlos Carrasco is having an extremely impressive season, and has easily moved into the Phillies' top ten.

I'll have more to add later. Bourn's an incredibly exciting player, both offensively and defensively. Slayden's a non-prospect, IMO. Josh Kroeger's a month younger and three levels higher. Who's the better prospect? Baez and Costanzo have no apparent MLB future. Golson COULD become something yet. He's got some pop and speed and he's still just 19. He's got lots of room to improve. As for Edgar Garcia, early returns are very encouraging but we still need more playing time to judge.

The way my schedule's been I'm lucky to get five minutes and drop in. Heading up the the Red Barons/Mud Hens game tonight, where Dmitri Young is currently on a rehab assignment.

Let me jump in for a moment. Comparing the 1998 Yankees to the 1998 Braves does not discredit the Yankees. The Braves from 1995-99 led the NL in wins five consecutive years, and they're among the top 15 teams in baseball history in their own right. Offensively there's no comparison. The Braves were great because of their pitching. The Yankees scored 965 runs. That's more runs than the 2003 Red Sox scored when they set the record for slugging percentage. As for not lasting, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada are still highly productive. Martinez, O'Neill and Brosius remained productive for several seasons. Knoblauch retired because of his fielding. They weren't a group of old men about to fall off the cliff. They won the next two World Series. Best of all time? If not they're easily top five.

I honestly think the reason for not showing full NFL games and instead showing the NFL Films versions is that it's much easier that way to make the games seem a lot better than they actually were. EDIT: Understand I'm not saying football sucks. Rather, in many sports the past is glorified because all we remember are the highlights. I hear writers all the time talk about how today's players lack fundamentals. I guess all those blooper tapes that were popular 15-20 years ago never existed.

That was mostly 7 months ago, but Frigid popped in a month ago with another similar trade offer like that. It's not indicative of every Sox fan, and we have several good fans on this board.

It's not always a sure thing. Of Rose's top 10 comparables, five failed to clear 453 hits after age 34. Tim Raines hit exactly 453 hits.

If he's got a torn meniscus, he shouldn't be playing those games anyway.

Bingo. Umm, by that logic the NBA would suspend a player for less games. And the NBA DOES hold players out of action in the game before and the game after the All-Star game, if the player opts out. There's a key distinction. That's the Olympics, not the NHL. The problem is that it is in MLB's direct interest to properly market the All-Star game. If players routinely fail to attend, it hurts the overall product. It is in MLB's best interests to coerce players to attend. Otherwise, the interests of the individual teams override the interests of the game as a whole.