This Week In Baseball 7/16 - 7/22

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The Cubs traded Cesar Izturis to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Probably the precursor to a Jack Wilson trade, although off the top of my head I'm not sure who needs a SS.

[Brett Favre 0]

Sure you do. Jack Wilson is at least a good defender.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Sure you do. Jack Wilson is at least a good defender.

 

 

If you're suggesting that the Red Sox would prefer Jack Wilson over Julio Lugo, you're crazy (besides Lugo's actually mashing the ball right now). The only way they'd consider that is if they had a deal in place already to move Julio Lugo to another team or there was a significat piece coming from Pittsburgh that would require us to eat Wilson's ridiculous contract. I just don't see either of those scenarios playing out at the trade deadline.

 

Wilson, if he's traded, would likely go to Toronto or a team that, you know, actually needs a SS.

[Brett Favre 0]

I didn't know Wilson had a big contract. Everywhere you turn it's Julio Lugo sucks ass and stuff like that.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I didn't know Wilson had a big contract. Everywhere you turn it's Julio Lugo sucks ass and stuff like that.

 

Yeah, Lugo had an OPS of like .300 in June and looked totally cooked. He's had an OPS of 1.000 over the past 15 days or so. Both are small sample sizes, but it at least looks like he's back to being the player the Red Sox thought they'd get when they gave him $36 million in the offseason.

 

Wilson makes quite a bit of money as well and his contract runs for a few more years. He can't even put up a .700 OPS. I don't think that he's worth it.

[CanadianChris 0]

Wilson, if he's traded, would likely go to Toronto or a team that, you know, actually needs a SS.

What on earth would we need with ANOTHER slick-fielding, light-hitting SS?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Kind of funny when you think the Cubs traded Greg Maddux AND cash for a PTBNL. Still glad to have Izturis gone.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Lou Pinella said Izturis was traded to a place where he'd get some playing time. So where does Izturis fit in with Pittsburgh? Utility infielder?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I think Wilson had a blow-up with the manager or some coach the other day. He's as good as gone.

 

I also heard that Ian Snell may be available because management isn't high on him or some crap. The Pirates... can't understand why they are about to have their 15th consecutive losing season.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Lost in all this Izturis hype is that Bonds homered in the second inning.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Forget about this Bonds character. I need to know more about the SS with the .629 career OPS.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I wish I were getting this game. It sounds so bizarre. Highlights include Ted Lily being over 80 pitches through four despite only walking one and fanning one, Cliff Floyd scoring from second on a wild pitch, and Ted Lily singling AND stealing second.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Going to be an interesting couple of days in Scranton. Jeff Karstens starts rehab on Sunday, followed by Phil Hughes on Monday. I'll be at both games. Erubiel Durazo is also playing for the AAA Yankees.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Will Oh-Man, lefty extraordinare, just gave up a three-run shot to Bonds. More importantly, it cut the Cubs' lead to one run.

[MFer 0]

Bonds basically pulled another of those "fuck you all" games out of his hat.

[Fartsauce 0]

Barry could tie the record in Milwaukee and take over against the Braves. Welcome to his next 7 games.

[CanadianChris 0]

My favourite team actually WON a baseball game today. Good pitching performance by McGowan and some timely hitting in the seventh.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Totally stealing this info from another board, but Peter Gammons was on ESPN radio today and remarked that the Red Sox now blame Scott Boras for fucking Craig Hansen's mechanics to high heaven. According to Gammo, Boras keeps his own staff of coaches who advise his clients to keep deliveries that will prolong their career even if it alters the player's ability. Jayson Stark has remarked that the same thing has happened to former stud Mike Pelfrey and that it is a situation that is now permeating throughout the league.

 

If this is true, then wow. I've always supported Boras' negotiation tactics because he always had the interests of his clients at heart, but I don't think he should be tweaking the players or interfering with the team's coaching.

[vivalaultra 0]

On that same token, remember when Barry Zito came over to the Giants with his 'new and improved' delivery? And who is Barry Zito's agent? Scott "Satan" Boras.

[vivalaultra 0]

I hate to double post, but I just read an article in the St. Louis paper saying that Chris Carpenter is undergoing another elbow surgery that will put him out for the rest of the year and a 'significant portion' of next year.

[Guest Smues]

Barry could tie the record in Milwaukee and take over against the Braves. Welcome to his next 7 games.

 

Christ just kill me now.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Same with Rick Ankiel and Matt White. I don't want to deflect all blame to Boras, but it is sort of suspicious that some of these guys were so highly regarded and have come under serious fire later on for failure to adjust their mechanics properly.

 

And for those that don't know, Craig Hansen was the Red Sox first round pick in 2005. He was supposed to take over at closer by the end of that year. He literally had a flawless resume with a zero point something college ERA, an untouchable slider and endless comparisons to Billy Wagner. However, he's been a wreck for the past two years in the minors and it's been blamed at length on his mechanics. He did have a very violent delivery in college that many are assuming Boras tinkered with.

[strummer 0]

Jayson Stark has remarked that the same thing has happened to former stud Mike Pelfrey and that it is a situation that is now permeating throughout the league.

 

I knew it. There was talk that Pelf had "altered" his delivery in the offeason but the "blame" was put on Rick Peterson. Thank you Scott Boras for turning a potential stud power pitcher into a guy that can't strike anybody out or even get a swing and a miss.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Shame about Carpenter. If the Cards were contenders this year, I may be not shun the news, but this guy was one of the legit feel-good stories to come out of baseball the last several years. Has a WS team dealt with this much adversity the following year?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Shame about Carpenter. If the Cards were contenders this year, I may be not shun the news, but this guy was one of the legit feel-good stories to come out of baseball the last several years. Has a WS team dealt with this much adversity the following year?

The 1978 Yankees had Thurman Munson die the next season.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Transcript on the Boras-mechanics issue.

 

Felger: Peter, how has Scott Boras ruined Craig Hansen? How has he ruined other pitchers?

 

Gammons: Well, you know, they have their coaching staffs. Craig Hansen, when I saw him on the Cape, the only better pitcher I've seen was Billy Wagner, and he's going to the Hall of Fame. Hansen threw short-arm out of his delivery, great sinker/slider. And now it's all cross-seamers, throw high in the strike zone, extend your arm, you know. He throws it 98 and they hit it out at 198 because, that's, you know, you see the ball with his delivery and he needs to be coached by people here and not by the people in California at the Scott Boras clinics. It's the same thing with Hochevar last year when Kansas City gave him all that money. They gave him $4 million as a four-seam/curveball guy and they changed him into a two-seam/slider guy this winter and, you know, he's got about a 5.80 ERA in AA which for $4 million doesn't hack it. And there's too much of this tinkering. Agents don't know more about baseball than the people who coach them.

[Boon 0]

That's pretty interesting. Boras is a badass as an agent, but fuck that guy for messing with mechanics. Stick to what you're good at.

[Mike wanna be 0]

That's pretty interesting. Boras is a badass as an agent, but fuck that guy for messing with mechanics. Stick to what you're good at.

What would you call "Making a player 2x more durable, yet 10x less talented, all while maintaining the possibility that they are one mechanics change away from being as dominant as they could be/once were" other than being an agent?

[Boon 0]

I'd call it detrimental to player development. It makes sense from an agent's standpoint for Boras to try and extend Zito because he's already got his ridiculous contract. Someone like Hansen has absolutely no value since changing his mechanics- can't get paid with a 5.50 ERA in Pawtucket.

[Guest •]

Interesting bit of news, since Boras himself was a player whose career was ended by injuries, for the Cubs, no less/of course.

 

As for the Izturis trade, I wish we had immediately gotten a tangible human being in this trade, and didn't have to pay two-thirds of his contract, but whatever. We were in like a 10-game home run drought because the last time Aramis Ramirez hit one (to win against Milwaukee in the 9th), Cesar administered a prostate exam of sorts to our third baseman. Nobody else wanted one.