2003 ML Baseball Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

the pictures of Alan Trammell... He looks like this losing is sapping out his life-force

I was sad to see Trammell take the Detroit job. He was one of my favorite players when I still cared about MLB. There is no way he can succeed with the Tigers -- this franchise will not win no matter who manages the team. Trammell should have stayed in San Diego and waited for an offer from a real major league franchise in a year or two.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Okay, I submit for your approval the nearly-complete A-Rod Quarter Billion Dollar Bill. I'm going to change the treasury signatures to the name of the Rangers owner for one and maybe Bud Selig for the other. Haven't found an autograph for either, so I'll probably just fake that.

The actual image is 24x55 inches. This one has obviously been sized down.

Comments? Suggestions?

http://homepage.mac.com/aaronreynold...s/a-rod_v2.jpg

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Oh, and funny news --

I bought one of those Toronto Star Season's Pass things, which cost $81 and give you one 500 level seat to every home game, just over a buck a game. Actually, I bought two, one for me, one for my wife. We're enjoying going out to the games.

So, this letter arrives from the Jays yesterday, and inside it are four tickets for section 113, 17 rows from the field (first base seats, really good ones), and a letter thanking me for buying a season's pass. The tickets have a face value of $40 each.

Anyways, they're for Tuesday's game against the Rangers. Good timing! I suppose I'm on the wrong side for taunting A-Rod, though...so maybe we'll just have to move. There are usually plenty of empty field level seats on the third base side (we know because that's usually where we end up sitting).

This season's pass rocks!

 

[Christopher P]

Cool Aaron, you might want to throw in the name of Uber-Agent Scott Boras in there somewhere.

If Mike Hampton pitches like he did yesterday, and Shane Reynolds' first couple performances don't prove to be a fluke, the Braves could have a good year. Chipper needs to get out of his slump though.

Chris

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Jason and Phil: I altered the "This note is legal tender blah blah blah" bit, just for you guys -- it now reads "This note guarantees the absence of decent starting pitching for one full decade" and is endorsed by Tom Hicks. How's that?

I went to the Jays game last night.

Jays beat KC! Got a free visor! Caught a foul ball from a player I like (Tom Wilson)!

Beat that!

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Woohoo! Millwood!

9IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 10K, 1W

Gotta love the no-hitter. Nice farewell present for the Vet.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

And WOW!

Cards beat Marlins, 7-6...


...in 20 innings!!

Fun Sunday in baseball!

 

[Steve_Tk]

I'm disgusted that the Braves lost Millwood. You should see the hate mail they get from Atlanta fans about that trade.

Thank God Ted Turner and 2 others are buying the team back from AOL (which seems to ruin everything).

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Went to see the Jays on Sunday again...showed up late, bottom of the first, look at the scoreboard and find out we're already losing 5-0. Ow.

So I sit back and enjoy the game anyways, and follow the developing no-hitter in Philly on the radio and on the scoreboard between innings.

And then something starts to happen...the Jays go from losing 8-1 to losing 9-4, and then, in the bottom of the ninth, they score six and win the game.

What a finish! Sunday was a great baseball day.

Can't wait for Tuesday. If anyone sees me on TV, let me know.

 

[Brian Perry]

Bill James is awesome--I'm surprised someone hasn't done this before. I know he and his colleauges have been involved in the arbitration process, but I think it's logical that he be solicited for input on trades and even actual game decisions. I will be watching with interest to see how Boston fares (though I realize he can only do so much).

On another topic, what's the rationale for having a 15-day DL when you can retro it? It seems as though it was just a couple days ago when Randy Johnson was placed on the DL, but then he pitched yesterday! Is it some rule that the players union fought for? (Or the owners?)

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, it's not as though Johnson has been used during the days when he was put on the list retroactively.

 

[Brian Perry]

Yeah, I know...it just seems stupid to force a team to declare someone inactive for 15 days, but yet allow them to retro it if that person didn't play anyway.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Some math:

Two teams with weak pitching

plus

two teams with strong hitting

equals

twenty seven runs scored in a four hour long game.

Excruciating!

JP, if you're reading this, please let us Blue Jays fans know that there are some good pitchers coming up from AAA soon, like maybe later this year or early next year. And please tell us that Jeff Tam is just here as a warm body in the lineup while we wait for the real pitchers to show up.

(Dunno if my sign showed up during the game broadcast, but I made the sports highlights on the evening news on a couple of Toronto channels. )

 

[Phil L]

JP, if you're reading this, please let us Blue Jays fans know that there are some good pitchers coming up from AAA soon, like maybe later this year or early next year. And please tell us that Jeff Tam is just here as a warm body in the lineup while we wait for the real pitchers to show up.

Two things:

1. Toronto has a *very* good minor league pitcher named Jason Arnold. I think he's at AA right now but he should be ready soon. Some people think he was the most talented player in the Pena/Weaver/Lilly/Bonderman/Arnold/Ford-Griffin trade. I'm still astonished how much talent was moved around in that trade.

2. The Rangers pitching problems aren't just financial. Their scouting sucks. They passed on drafting Barry Zito because he didn't throw hard enough.

 

[Lew Crippen]

The Rangers pitching problems aren't just financial. Their scouting sucks. They passed on drafting Barry Zito because he didn't throw hard enough.

How can you think that? After all they reviewed the majors a couple of years back and found their ace—Chan Ho Park.

Each time out, I hope that he has turned the corner.

 

[Evan S]

1. Toronto has a *very* good minor league pitcher named Jason Arnold. I think he's at AA right now but he should be ready soon. Some people think he was the most talented player in the Pena/Weaver/Lilly/Bonderman/Arnold/Ford-Griffin trade. I'm still astonished how much talent was moved around in that trade.

That trade was between three teams...Oakland, Detroit and the Yankees. Oakland sent Carlos Pena, Bonderman and Franklyn German to Detroit for Jeff Weaver. Then they sent Weaver to the Yankees for Lilly, Arnold and Ford-Griffin.

The Blue Jays got the two young kids in the Oakland/Toronto/Cincy/Arizona deal this offseason where Oakland acquired Erubiel Durazo, Cincy got Filipe Lopez, Arizona got Elmer Dessens and Toronto got Ford-Griffin and Arnold.

They were two completely different deals at two completely different times...one last summer, the other this winter.

 

[Phil L]

Evan,

I know it was two different trades. I had forgotten about German. All I said was that some people consider Arnold the best player involved in the Yankees-A's-Tigers trade. I didn't mean anything about the players or the later 4 team deal.

I still think Beane is amazing. In a couple of trades he turned Pena/Bonderman/German into Durazo/Lilly.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Phil, is Arnold the guy with the 0.53 ERA that the Jays have in AA?

I had heard about him, but I thought maybe my brain was playing tricks on me.

 

[Phil L]

From baseballamerica.com

PITCHERS W-L SV ERA G GS CG SHO AB TBF IP H R ER BB SO HR HB WP
Arnold, Jason 2- 1 0 0.77 4 4 0 0 79 90 23.1 11 2 2 8 20 1 2 4

Looks like its 0.77 now. Still 20 Ks in 23.1 IP is impressive. Too many walks, 4 wild pitches, and 2 HBP shows he's having control problems. I don't remember what his control used to be like. Still I think he's going to be a good pitcher.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Thanks for the numbers!

Maybe I'll wander over to bluejays.ca and wander through their stats for their minor league teams to try to instill some confidence before I head out to tonight's game. I'm expecting more of the same (though if Sturtze has a good start for us, we can totally beat the Rangers).

However, I'm going from work and I left my A-Rod sign at home. D'oh!

Who wants to place bets on tonight's attendance where the tickets are back to full price?