TWIB #4: now to the end of the month

[Guest NYankees]

Delmon Bat Incident

 

Give him 50. No, 100. That's inexcusable.

 

 

Yup. He argues balls and strikes, gets ejected and then tosses a bat at an ump.

[Guest NYankees]

Matsui with a big single to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead over the Devil Rays.

[Guest NYankees]

Al, when you get a chance can you please explain Derek Jeters hot start.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Al, when you get a chance can you please explain Derek Jeters hot start.

A .320 player is bound to have 100 AB stretches where he hits .380. Jeter hit .396 in June of 2004. He hit .425 in July of 2003. You see these kind of performances all the time. That it's April just makes them stand out.

[Guest NYankees]

Oooo Al I had another question for you. They were discussing on Baseball Tonight the other day about Curt Schillings chances for the hall of fame. I dont know if you have done an evaluation on here about your thoughts. If you get a chance please feel free to add them.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Schilling came into this year with 192 wins and no Cy Young awards. Realistically I think he needs at least 230 career wins. Otherwise there's not much statistically separating him from a dozen other pitchers who had a few great years and missed the Hall.

[naiwf 0]

Schilling came into this year with 192 wins and no Cy Young awards. Realistically I think he needs at least 230 career wins. Otherwise there's not much statistically separating him from a dozen other pitchers who had a few great years and missed the Hall.

 

Even if he ends up with 3,000+ K's? Only 13 other guys have done that, 14 if Pedro gets 139 this year.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Schilling came into this year with 192 wins and no Cy Young awards. Realistically I think he needs at least 230 career wins. Otherwise there's not much statistically separating him from a dozen other pitchers who had a few great years and missed the Hall.

 

Even if he ends up with 3,000+ K's? Only 13 other guys have done that, 14 if Pedro gets 139 this year.

I don't think 3,000 Ks is as impressive as it might have been 15 years ago. High strikeout totals are a product of our time, and I'm not sure if the voters will take that into account or not.

 

In fairness though, Schilling performs well on the various HOF Standards tests, and he's 8-2 in the postseason. I thin he'd miss if he retired today, but he should be able to pad his resume for two seasons.

[naiwf 0]

Schilling came into this year with 192 wins and no Cy Young awards. Realistically I think he needs at least 230 career wins. Otherwise there's not much statistically separating him from a dozen other pitchers who had a few great years and missed the Hall.

 

Even if he ends up with 3,000+ K's? Only 13 other guys have done that, 14 if Pedro gets 139 this year.

I don't think 3,000 Ks is as impressive as it might have been 15 years ago. High strikeout totals are a product of our time, and I'm not sure if the voters will take that into account or not.

 

In fairness though, Schilling performs well on the various HOF Standards tests, and he's 8-2 in the postseason. I thin he'd miss if he retired today, but he should be able to pad his resume for two seasons.

 

I was just curious about what you thought about the K's when you consider that it still takes 15 seasons at 200 or 12 at 250 to reach 3,000. 200 wins is going to be a lot from now on, so there's got to be some other marks that make someone more of a lock to reach the Hall considering the magical 300 win total won't be hit again after Glavine, assuming he gets that far.

 

I don't think Schilling's a first ballot HoF'er but given that only Clemens, Maddux, Glavine, Pedro and Randy are amongst active starters he's up there for consideration down the line along with guys like Mussina, Wells & Smoltz .

[Guest NYankees]

Schilling came into this year with 192 wins and no Cy Young awards. Realistically I think he needs at least 230 career wins. Otherwise there's not much statistically separating him from a dozen other pitchers who had a few great years and missed the Hall.

 

Even if he ends up with 3,000+ K's? Only 13 other guys have done that, 14 if Pedro gets 139 this year.

I don't think 3,000 Ks is as impressive as it might have been 15 years ago. High strikeout totals are a product of our time, and I'm not sure if the voters will take that into account or not.

 

In fairness though, Schilling performs well on the various HOF Standards tests, and he's 8-2 in the postseason. I thin he'd miss if he retired today, but he should be able to pad his resume for two seasons.

 

I was just curious about what you thought about the K's when you consider that it still takes 15 seasons at 200 or 12 at 250 to reach 3,000. 200 wins is going to be a lot from now on, so there's got to be some other marks that make someone more of a lock to reach the Hall considering the magical 300 win total won't be hit again after Glavine, assuming he gets that far.

 

I don't think Schilling's a first ballot HoF'er but given that only Clemens, Maddux, Glavine, Pedro and Randy are amongst active starters he's up there for consideration down the line along with guys like Mussina, Wells & Smoltz .

 

 

Part of me sees Smoltz getting into the Hall for the fact that he was dominant as a closer and as a starter. Smoltz was also a big game pitcher in the playoffs and won a Cy Young award in 1996. As far as Mussina, he needs a little more than 70 wins and 600 k's to reach 300 wins and 3000 strikeouts. He is 37 right now so he is going to have to pitch as a starter until he is 42, 43 to reach the wins and strikeouts. If he is able to do that, he is going to put himself into the Hall of Fame.

 

Edit

 

Randy Johnson has 266 career wins. I can picture him also getting to the 300 win total after Glavine.

[KingPK 0]

Mussina is 37? I thought he was in his early 30s.

[naiwf 0]

Part of me sees Smoltz getting into the Hall for the fact that he was dominant as a closer and as a starter. Smoltz was also a big game pitcher in the playoffs and won a Cy Young award in 1996. As far as Mussina, he needs a little more than 70 wins and 600 k's to reach 300 wins and 3000 strikeouts. He is 37 right now so he is going to have to pitch as a starter until he is 42, 43 to reach the wins and strikeouts. If he is able to do that, he is going to put himself into the Hall of Fame.

 

Edit

 

Randy Johnson has 266 career wins. I can picture him also getting to the 300 win total after Glavine.

 

I think Smoltzy gets in for sure, but on his second or third attempt depending on who is in his class. However, he could stamp his ticket on the first try with a couple more good years, just like Schilling.

 

As far as the 300 win plateau, I can't see Mussina picking up 73 more wins considering that he's only gotten 25 in his last 2 seasons. Even with his 3 this year I think it's a lot to see him winning 15 per for 5 more years, but I could be wrong. I hedged my bets on Randy even though he's only 34 away because I think that takes him all of this year, the next and a little bit into 2008. The guy's gonna be 43 in September and with his back issues, I'll say he ends up with around 290-295 before calling it quits just because it's hard to go at least 5 innings with the lead and keep them. He also has a good shot, but I don't know if a 44-45 year old who relies mainly on his heater can hold up for another 34 wins, even on the Yankees. Mo's gotta wear out someday, and blown saves will end up eventually costing those two victories as Glavine can attest to since the Mets' bullpen cost him at least 5 to 10 wins in the last 3 years.

 

 

More bad news for Moose's quest. . .

 

Despite his solid start, Mike Mussina may not be pitching in the Bronx next season, the Journal News and New York Times report, as the Yankees are unlikely to pick up the starter's $17 million option. (updated: 04/26/2006)

[Bored 0]

In the Where Are They Now? file...

 

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/face/...0dm009000c.html

With these words, Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo announced his plans to end one of the more unconventional careers in Japanese professional baseball.

 

What the fans at Tokyo Dome didn't realize when 34-year-old Shinjo told them on April 18 that he was removing his uniform, was that he was speaking literally, according to Shukan Gendai (5/6-13).

 

...

 

Post-baseball life doesn't appear to be too lonely for Shinjo, though. The enormously popular outfielder is already apparently being swamped with offers for work once he's finished playing. And that's where it comes to taking his uniform off for the last time. As it turns out, it seems likely that his baseball uniform won't be the only garments Shinjo plans to shed.

 

"Actually, Shinjo's thinking about releasing a collection of nude photos. Straight after he announced his retirement, the president of a major talent agency Shinjo is expected to join on his retirement called the player and said, 'If you're gonna do nude stuff, let me look after it for you.' And, as a bit of an extra for his real fans, there's also talk of Shinjo and his wife doing a nude shot together. If they don't want to go all the way, it could be a shot of them in some pretty racy underwear. The Shinjos are a lot more appealing than David and Victoria Beckham," Motoji Takasu, a publishing company producer, tells Shukan Gendai.

 

While some may seem surprised at the suggestions of the Shinjos stripping, the likelihood is considered high when his previous outlandish behavior is taken into account. And, it shouldn't be forgotten that Shinjo's off-field resume already includes a successful stint promoting skimpy undies for major undergarment manufacturer Gunze.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Who?

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Former Met, Giant, etc.

[Guest NYankees]

Shinjo sucked anyways. As far as the Yankees and Mussina, can you blame the Yankees for not picking up a 17 million dollar option on a 37 year old pitcher who is going to be 38 next year. I am sure they could probably work something out though.

[Guest Felonies!]

I love the self-righteous dorks reacting to the Young thing like

 

"Oh my GOD. This is UNBELIEVABLE. 150-game suspension....MINIMUM! And jail time, if I had anything to say about it!"

 

Good thing you don't.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Czech, what punishment do you think Young should get then?

 

It was a blatant attempt to injure an ump. There's not much worse a player can do on the field other than what he did. I don't care if it was an impulse thing to getting rejected... you can't do that shit.

[Guest Felonies!]

Did you see the clip? It looked too nonchalant to be blatant. You just see a bat fly over and hit him. Blatant would be hitting him with the bat in his hands. This was just tossing a bat over his shoulder and it happened to hit the umpire, who really showed no signs of being hit. It just bounced off his chest protector. Give him 50 games for being a dumbshit and that'll be enough. If the umpire was injured, I'd say more.

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/new...t=.jsp&sid=l117

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

The bat came flying in on a line. A nonchalant toss over his shoulder would have had more arc on it.

 

From your link:

Young then took a couple of steps and threw the bat at the umpire. According to AP reports, Young flipped the bat underhand. It sailed end over end and hit the umpire in the chest.

Doesn't sound like it just happened to hit the ump by chance. To me, it definitely looks/sounds like he was aiming at the ump.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The way it was initially described, I pictured him going into a full swing and just letting the bat fly at the ump.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

It was definitely intentional, and it was direct. He should be suspsended for the season and told to shape up or ship out. Honestly, who here wants another crybaby asshole "superstar" to come into baseball at this point?

[The Man in Blak 0]

Did you see the clip? It looked too nonchalant to be blatant. You just see a bat fly over and hit him. Blatant would be hitting him with the bat in his hands. This was just tossing a bat over his shoulder and it happened to hit the umpire, who really showed no signs of being hit. It just bounced off his chest protector. Give him 50 games for being a dumbshit and that'll be enough. If the umpire was injured, I'd say more.

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/new...t=.jsp&sid=l117

 

That the umpire wasn't injured has nothing to do with it, in my opinion. The issue is with the intent - as Spiff pointed out, the throw was far too direct to imply anything other than that Delmon was aiming for the umpire, which really is inexcusable in this case, scab or not.

 

I would imagine 30 games being the minimum, due to the public exposure and Delmon's past encounters, but I could see it being much more, should Selig choose to send out a message. It reminds me a lot of the Artest situation in the NBA where, even though there were previous precedents set, the event was so damaging to the league's reputation that Stern had to drop the proverbial bomb.

 

Anything less than 30 games will bring on a PR shitstorm from all angles, in my opinion, especially given Delmon Young's status as the best prospect in the minor leagues. I wouldn't be surprised if it stretched to 50 games or more.

[Mik 0]

I think Delmon is on the fast track to being another Albert Belle. Monster stick, unquestionable talent, perennial all-star, and first class jackass. He's had problems with umps before, he's ripped the Devil Rays in the press for not promoting him to the majors when he's clearly ready (which is probably true, actually) and now this.

 

Plus, he ALWAYS looks miserable.

 

[naiwf 0]

I think Delmon is on the fast track to being another Albert Belle. Monster stick, unquestionable talent, perennial all-star, and first class jackass. He's had problems with umps before, he's ripped the Devil Rays in the press for not promoting him to the majors when he's clearly ready (which is probably true, actually) and now this.

 

Plus, he ALWAYS looks miserable.

 

 

I think most people would be miserable if they were in the D-Rays system especially since they keep guys in the minors longer than need be just so they can avoid paying them. Even pro athletes don't like the equivalent of a jail sentence they can't escape for years. That doesn't excuse what he did, but when you're the minor league player of the year and they're keeping you in AAA for financial reasons, that's complete bullshit.

[The Man in Blak 0]

It's not really "complete bullshit", though - the Tampa Bay outfield is stacked with Huff/Gomes/Crawford/Baldelli/Gathright, and they obviously haven't been able to find any takers on Huff, so there is a legitimate reason that Young is blocked, minor league player of the year or not.

 

Furthermore, it's not like Young has been incarcerated in AAA for a long period of time - this year was set to be his first full season in AAA. And while his line of .285/.303/.447 in 200+ AAA at-bats last year is impressive for a 20 year, it's still not a line that would indicate that Young is ready to hit the Majors.

 

Contrast his situation with BJ Upton, who has seemingly been ready to take SS or 3B for years now, but has toiled away in the minor leagues while watching the club acquire stiffs like Alex Gonzalez and Nick Green to suck up at-bats in the infield.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Greg Maddux just saw as many pitches as the first five hitters in that inning. I can't complain too much since there were three doubles in the inning, but Neifi Perez and Henry Blanco each popped out on the first pitch, while Maddux worked seven pitches out of his at-bat. The point is: Maddux hits better than Neifi and Blanco!

[naiwf 0]

It's not really "complete bullshit", though - the Tampa Bay outfield is stacked with Huff/Gomes/Crawford/Baldelli/Gathright, and they obviously haven't been able to find any takers on Huff, so there is a legitimate reason that Young is blocked, minor league player of the year or not.

 

Furthermore, it's not like Young has been incarcerated in AAA for a long period of time - this year was set to be his first full season in AAA. And while his line of .285/.303/.447 in 200+ AAA at-bats last year is impressive for a 20 year, it's still not a line that would indicate that Young is ready to hit the Majors.

 

Contrast his situation with BJ Upton, who has seemingly been ready to take SS or 3B for years now, but has toiled away in the minor leagues while watching the club acquire stiffs like Alex Gonzalez and Nick Green to suck up at-bats in the infield.

 

What I was trying to get at with Young is that the D-Rays as an organization keep players blocked in the minors for monetary reasons, as you explained with Upton. Eventually, Tampa will end up losing at least 2 of those outfielders because they won't pay market value, or those guys will get more money elsewhere when their jail term is finally up. Young probably won't be brought up to the bigs until they absolutely have to and when you've already proven you're the best in the minors what more are you supposed to do? Yes, he's only 20 and can get better, but how much better is he going to get against AAA pitching when anyone who is halfway decent finds his way to the bigs sooner rather than later? Don't get me wrong, this is only the Devil Rays and their penny pinching ways will guarantee that they always suck, always get high picks which lead to good prospects and then blow it because they won't pay for them when they mature into good ballplayers. In essence they are the new Montreal Expos.

[tominator89 0]

Schilling came into this year with 192 wins and no Cy Young awards. Realistically I think he needs at least 230 career wins. Otherwise there's not much statistically separating him from a dozen other pitchers who had a few great years and missed the Hall.

 

Even if he ends up with 3,000+ K's? Only 13 other guys have done that, 14 if Pedro gets 139 this year.

I don't think 3,000 Ks is as impressive as it might have been 15 years ago. High strikeout totals are a product of our time, and I'm not sure if the voters will take that into account or not.

 

In fairness though, Schilling performs well on the various HOF Standards tests, and he's 8-2 in the postseason. I thin he'd miss if he retired today, but he should be able to pad his resume for two seasons.

 

How much does Schilling's time in Philly hurt his chances?

[Guest NYankees]

Schilling did have alot of Medicore years in Philly. If he was even above average he would have alot better numbers right now in his career.

 

Edit

 

1992 14-11

1994 2-8

1995 7-5

1996 9-10

1998 15-14

2000 11-12

2003 8-9

2005 8-8

 

Schilling always had a great era plus. In this age though, pitchers are supposed to win games and usually the press only looks at win/loss records. That is 8 years of average pitching in tersm of win loss record for such a great pitcher. It might just keep him out of the Hall. Injuries and a ton of average years might just kill his chances.