This Week in Baseball 7/9 - 7/15

[Guest •]

As a Cubs fan and WSCR listener, there's something incredibly bothersome about the fact that the game was lost because the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals opted for the trade-notwithstanding darling of the Chicago White Sox. Has any player this decade been as beloved and celebrated for nothing in particular as Aaron Rowand? He's not an exceptional center fielder; exceptional center fielders make the job look easy, like Andruw Jones does, not as if one's career is on the line with each and every out. He had an unspectacular 2005 amidst dozens of career years in which Scott Podsednik was a scoring catalyst, Jermaine Dye rebounded from a broken leg with 31 homers, Neal Cotts and Cliff Politte were lights-out, and Pablo Ozuna actually made positive contributions to baseball games. There is no instance that I can think of in which Aaron Rowand is a better option than Albert Pujols to drive in the winning run, no matter how much fire and passion he has according to Bill From Melrose Park.

[Guest]

It doesn't matter. No sense in even discussing it, LaRussa didn't care just like we didn't care.

[strummer 0]

The Mets have fired hitting coach Rick Down and replaced him with Rickey~! F'N Henderson!

 

 

 

Believe it.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Some people are using the argument that Rowand and Pujols are hitting around the same right now and since Rowand is hitting well with RISP and two outs in a WHOPPING 38 at-bats this season, Rowand was the man wanted in that position. You can't argue with these people, pointing out that if you take into consideration more than three months, Pujols and Rowand are about as different as two all-stars can get. But hey, it's apparently all about RIGHT NOW with these people.

 

And of course, Al's going to need to explain the Soriano thing. I'd imagine Sori has a better chance of holding up physically may be part of it, but I'll let you confirm.

That's about right. I think Soriano is going to age well, a good bet to still be a good player in his late 30s. I think Andre Dawson is a good comparison there.

 

As for Rowand, he's a good player, not great. His defense is praised but as a Phillies fan, I really don't see it. Rowand gets to a lot of balls but then will fail to make the catch. Shane Victorino is honestly a better defensive outfielder. At the plate can produce here and there, but he's a career .283 hitter. An average hitter who can play center field, which is certainly valuable. Not Albert Pujols.

 

And is he a winning player? The Phillies have a worse winning percentage since they acquired him.

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/12/Southpin...d_causes_.shtml

 

I hate people.

 

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I'm not the only one who found I Love Lucy to be terribly overrated, am I?

[2GOLD 0]

I'm not the only one who found I Love Lucy to be terribly overrated, am I?

 

No, you aren't.

I can stand it being on the television but I don't see where it's really that funny.

And man, that is one ugly ass woman. No wonder she didn't win, she doesn't look like Lucy and he doesn't look like Desi. It looks like that woman from the Chiquita Banana with some Southern Plantation owner.

 

 

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

The guy kind of looks like Jim Belushi. I was wondering if he had started to make a living by entering contests, but then I remembered According to Jim actually got renewed again.

 

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Any recommendations on what the game of the night is going to be tonight? I'm trying to choose which one I want to see on MLB TV and am leaning towards Boston-Toronto but am unsure.

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

I'll be watching that one. Halladay vs. Wakefield tonight.

 

[vivalaultra 0]

The Mets are reportedly releasing Julio Franco and recalling Lastings Milledge. My Dad will be devestated; he loved Franco, for no reason other than the fact that seeing a 48-year old man still performing at a high level made him feel better about himself and his own advancing age.

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

Franco still wants to play till he's 50 (he turns 49 in August). Don't know if anyone will pick him up at this stage though.

 

Al, what in your opinion are Franco's HOF chances as things stand now?

 

[the max 0]

I'll be watching that one. Halladay vs. Wakefield tonight.

 

Bruins first rounder Zach Hamill will be throwing out the first pitch. Hopefully it's better than Bergeron's Mark Wohlers impression last year.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Franco is a nice story, but he has no shot of making the Hall of Fame. He didn't have the peak or the career numbers to justify inclusion. He was never a top player.

[Slayer 0]

The Mets have fired hitting coach Rick Down and replaced him with Rickey~! F'N Henderson!

 

 

Believe it.

So is he exempt from Willie's Yankee-imported facial hair code?

 

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/07/12/Southpin...d_causes_.shtml

 

I hate people.

The couple, who describe themselves as avid Rays fans

This story stretches the bounds of believability

 

 

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Ricky Henderson was supposedly responsible for turning Jose Reyes, free swinger, into a walking OBP-machine. He's probably the hitting coach in name only. Most likely he'll be there to instruct Reyes, Milledge and the other young guys while HoJo handles the majority of instruction and tinkering.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Franco still wants to play till he's 50 (he turns 49 in August). Don't know if anyone will pick him up at this stage though.

 

Al, what in your opinion are Franco's HOF chances as things stand now?

Baseball-Reference.com's database is down so I can't access his MVP votes. His stats say no. There's nothing there.

 

Game of the night is likely Detroit-Seattle. That's at 10pm ET, so you can easily catch A's/Twins at 8pm.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Franco still wants to play till he's 50 (he turns 49 in August). Don't know if anyone will pick him up at this stage though.

 

Al, what in your opinion are Franco's HOF chances as things stand now?

Baseball-Reference.com's database is down so I can't access his MVP votes. His stats say no. There's nothing there.

 

Game of the night is likely Detroit-Seattle. That's at 10pm ET, so you can easily catch A's/Twins at 8pm.

 

 

He received MVP votes in three different seasons, never finishing higher than eighth. Three All-Star appearances and nothing else of note. Only one of his comparable players (Enos Slaughter) is in the hall.

[devo 0]

The Mets are reportedly releasing Julio Franco and recalling Lastings Milledge. My Dad will be devestated; he loved Franco, for no reason other than the fact that seeing a 48-year old man still performing at a high level made him feel better about himself and his own advancing age.

 

Thank God. All Franco had left going for him was his presence as a "clubhouse leader", and I'm thankful that his history is no longer an excuse for his extremely poor performance.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Yeah, not like they had some like Sandy Alomar Jr. they could've cut instead. Oh wait.

[devo 0]

As cruel as it sounds, an emergency catcher is more useful.

[vivalaultra 0]

I had thought they were going to cut Alomar when they called up Dave Williams to pitch against the 'Stros right before the ASB. I can't imagine that he'll be around after Carlos Gomez comes back from the DL, right?

[devo 0]

Actually, it's looking like Carlos Gomez is going to be out for a while, so it's more likely that Alomar will be cut when Oliver Perez comes back from the DL, which could be as soon as this Sunday.

 

Meanwhile, Lastings Milledge just scored from first on a single + bobbled ball, making a beautiful tag-avoiding slide at home plate to do so.

[Mik 0]

Julio Franco has an at-bat against Jim Kaat. Who also faced Ted Williams.

[Guest Smues]

I really hope (but doubt) that someone picks up Julio. I really wanted him to reach his goal of playing through age 50 so his teammates could buy him a rocking chair for the clubhouse.

[Failed Bridge 0]

I've never seen Fridge say that a star player is not going to the Red Sox.

 

Not true as I've said I never believed Ichiro had a chance of ending up in Boston either when those rumors started to swirl.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I've never seen Fridge say that a star player is not going to the Red Sox.

 

Not true as I've said I never believed Ichiro had a chance of ending up in Boston either when those rumors started to swirl.

 

 

I don't understand where your "rumors" come from though. I never heard a thing about Ichiro in Boston, or Oswalt for that matter. I read the Boston papers online every morning and post over at Sons of Sam Horn and I don't hear 1/10 of the things that you often reference in your posts.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

You're obviously not in tune with the alternative media.

[Failed Bridge 0]

I've never seen Fridge say that a star player is not going to the Red Sox.

 

Not true as I've said I never believed Ichiro had a chance of ending up in Boston either when those rumors started to swirl.

 

 

I don't understand where your "rumors" come from though. I never heard a thing about Ichiro in Boston, or Oswalt for that matter. I read the Boston papers online every morning and post over at Sons of Sam Horn and I don't hear 1/10 of the things that you often reference in your posts.

The Ichiro thing was at the start of the year when the media threw out the fact that he was going to be a free agent and he was real good friends with Dice-K. That along with how I guess at one point a Manny for Ichiro deal had actually been discussed.

 

Do you listen to WEEI? They interview alot of inside source type people (Ken Rosenthal for baseball and Adam Schefter for football along with others) so I get some stuff from there. The Oswalt thing like I said was just something I overheard at work and vivaultra explained in detail what was actually placed in the article from the Houston Chronicle.

[Failed Bridge 0]

and this one is via rotoworld.com

 

David Ortiz said after Thursday's game that he has been playing with a torn meniscus in his right knee since the middle of the 2006 season.

 

If that's the case, he should have had surgery after last season. The operation only takes three or four weeks to recover from. "It wasn't anything major," he said. "I just kept playing through it last year. This year, it's been bothering me more than it used to." Ortiz will keep playing through the soreness and then probably undergo surgery in October or November. It seems this won't be the season in which he gets to two steals for the first time his career.

 

He should just have the surgery now then. If he could be back in like three weeks or so then the only tough series they lose him against would be Cleveland. Looking at the schedule though now would certainly be the time to go and have it done. If it goes four weeks or a little more then things would be tough against the Angels and Mariners but with the lead the team has right now they should be sending him off to have this done.