Filed under: Uncategorized
Lord knows we have our issues with the R*d S*x. (For one thing, they turn small children evil.) But we generally have a grudging respect for the team, the executives and many of the fans. As previously mentioned we admire Jon Lester; we think Big Papi is a good and generous guy, (a 3 on the 1-Clemens scale); we think Theo Epstein is a badass. And we used to think Manny Ramirez was a harmless, childish moron with terrible hair. Then word came that Ramirez assaulted the Red Sox’ traveling secretary over ticket allotment:
Ramirez had asked McCormick for 16 tickets for Saturday night’s Red Sox-Astros game, which is a high number for a day-of-game request, the Journal reports. When McCormick told Ramirez he might not be able to fulfill the request, Ramirez shouted, “Just do your job!”
An argument followed, and Ramirez pushed McCormick to the ground.”
Sigh. Look, we understand that tempers flare, words are fired back and forth, and sometimes a shove or two happens. But professional athletes, with certain exceptions, tend to be fairly impressive, physically speaking. And, with certain exceptions, GMs and traveling secretaries, aren’t so big. You end up with a serious “pick on someone your own size” situation. So we regretfully bump Manny all the way to a 7.5 on the 1-Clemens scale — slightly lower than Shawn Chacon, who attacked a much older man and who offered nothing by way of apology. Though it should be noted that Chacon was dismissed for his transgression, while the R*d S*x took no disciplinary action against Ramirez. Ahh, gotta love a double standard. Take home lesson for the kids: if you’re good, you can get away with it. Like we said, the R*d S*x turn small children evil.
Filed under: Around the League, Yankees | Tags: Mets, Michael Kay, snarkiness, Yankees
As the temperature rises here in New York, so does the bad blood between the crew from Queens and the boys from the Bronx. And we don’t mean the Yankees and Mets players — the sense of rivalry between the two NY teams has long since evaporated; the Subway Series now means little more than an opportunity for a sandwich chain to get some predictable advertising in. No, the bitter rivalry we’re referring to is the one involving the YES Network and SNY announcing teams. In the bottom of the second inning of today’s Yankees-Mets matchup, Michael Kay took a lull in the action as the opportunity to note that an SNY (instead of pronouncing each letter individually, Kay runs them together, pronouncing it “snie” as in the beginning of “snide”) employee asked him why he and his commentating cohorts wear suits, even on these particularly hot days. Kay then relates that he told the SNY employee “because we want to look good.” Kay, David Cone and Ken Singleton then riffed on the casual attire of SNY announcers Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez. Powerful stuff. It remains to be seen if the SNY-ers have been cowed by this verbal assault, or if they will respond. We’ll continue to update you on this epic battle. If you happen to catch any more snarky snipes, drop us a line in the comments.
Word comes down that Hideki Matsui might need surgery on his troublesome knee. Matsui is a left handed outfielder/DH with decent power and OBP. Perhaps there is someone out there who can fill that role for the Yankees. Someone who wouldn’t cost too much. Someone who would appreciate a chance to play and make a run at the playoffs. The Yankees signed Sidney Ponson for goodness sake, and Joe Girardi made it a point to say that anyone arriving at the Yankees has a clean slate, in terms of off-field issues. Yes, it wouldn’t be too pretty; yes New York is already a media circus, and yes it would be a highly scrutinized move, but the Yankees really need to take a good hard look at bringing in Barry Bonds, and soon.
The Padres signed the recently cut Brett Tomko. The excellent Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors thinks this is a no-lose situation for the Pads:
He actually has good command, posting respectable K/BB ratios in recent years. The longball did him in this year with the Royals. A move back to the NL and PETCO should help, and there’s no risk for the Padres at the minimum salary.”
Dierkes is right on the money. Yes, Tomko struggled in K.C. — and in fact he didn’t exactly excel in S.D. during a brief stint with them last year (2-1, 4.61, 5 HR allowed in 7 appearances). But as Dierkes points out, it was the home runs that killed Tomko, in K.C. and also in S.D. But take a look at the percentage of fly balls that turned into home runs for Tomko:
- 2007 (S.D.): 20.3% of fly balls went for home runs
- 2008 (K.C) 16.0% of fly balls went for home runs.
According to The Hardball Times ”research has shown that about 11% to 12% of outfield flies are hit for home runs. For pitchers, significant variations from 11% are probably the result of “luck.” 20% and 16% are ridiculously high, especially for Tomko who had a career average of 10.6% of fly balls going for home runs prior to moving to San Diego in mid 2007. So chances are good that Tomko’s numbers should be at least decent in S.D., and more importantly, as Dierkes notes, for a prorated share of the league minimum, taking a shot on Tomko is a no-brainer.
Which brings us to our main point. Will somebody please sign Barry Bonds? The man is willing to play for a prorated share of the league minimum, heck he’s willing to play for free. At the start of the season, three reasons were given for not signing Bonds:
- He’ll be a distraction
- He’ll cost too much for a guy likely to be hurt and who is a slight risk for falling of a cliff, numbers-wise
- Only a handful of teams need a lefty DH
Bonds’ willingness to play for a couple hundred thousand dollars renders all three of these objections absurd. The media attention he’ll receive will be much less if a team signs him for that amount than if they had signed him for several million, and much less than if he’d been signed in the offseason. Signing him for peanuts will make the move hard to criticize, and with the season in full-swing, the big story will be, “can Barry help this team win,” not “will Barry tear this team’s locker room apart.” Obviously the cost is a non-factor now, and if taking a chance on Brett Tomko is advisable at this price, then taking a chance on Bonds is essentially a must. And as for teams not needing a left-handed DH, well all we have to say is if, as has been rumored, a team like the Rays is looking at trading for Ken Griffey Jr. why on earth would they not look at Bonds first? Junior would cost millions of dollars and some middling prospects. Bonds would cost chump change and no players. (Incidentally Brett Tomko was a piece of the 2000 trade that sent Junior to the Reds). And if the Rays aren’t interested, then how about the Red Sox look at him as a replacement for Big Papi? Even if Ortiz’s return forces Bonds to the bench, what are they losing? He’ll be the cheapest player on that bench. Or how about the Indians? They could either give up on the struggling Travis Hafner or move him to first base. The Royals or the Mariners are in desperate need of a bat, and Bonds seems willing to play anywhere, even for a losing franchise. For the suddenly competitive Twins, he represents a huge upgrade over Jason Kubel and Craig Monroe. The A’s could use him either to platoon with Frank Thomas or to simply take over for the oft-injured Big Hurt. If the Rangers feel Milton Bradley is healthy enough to play the outfield, then adding Bonds would make their lineup quite terrifying. The Blue Jays are in terrible need of a quality hitter, any quality hitter. Even the Yankees could use him, with the trio of Giambi/Damon/Matsui so prone to injury. To repeat: Brett Tomko has a job, Barry Bonds doesn’t. Madness.
Shawn Chacon got demoted to the bullpen. Shawn Chacon got mad. Shawn Chacon got waived. We’re thinking of starting a new section here at DTS dedicated to baseball player’s making asses out of themselves. Adam Dunn, Todd Jones, and now Chacon have each, in turn, made baseball players everywhere look bad. On the 1-Roger Clemens scale (As you’ll recall, the key to the scale is as follows 1-3 = all around good guy. An example of a 1 would be David Wright or Curtis Granderson type, hard worker, talented player, thoughtful, generous with his time, good leader, ideal ball player. A 2 would be a Mariano Rivera or a Sean Casey, good guys, also team leaders, but in a quieter way. A 3 would be a Derek Jeter, solid but aloof. 4-6 ranges from deluded to asinine. A-Rod is a 4, he’s well-intentioned but generally makes a fool of himself without meaning to. Dunn and Jones come in around a 5 — players who run their mouths and act like children. A 6 is starting to become more selfish, but not quite malevolent. Though many would rank him as the devil of baseball, we feel Barry Bonds comes in as a 6. A player who is all about himself, but doesn’t really go out of his way to harm others. Curt Schilling is also around a 6. 7-9 — these are your real jerks, the guys who kick and scream and bite and pout. Think Milton Bradley, Elijah Dukes type. A 10 of course is reserved for those few players who juice, throw law suits around, seduce 15 year olds, cheat on their wives, etc etc etc.) As we were saying, on the 1-Clemens scale, Chacon clocks in at a solid 8.5. Yes this is harsh, and yes Ed Wade was probably yellin’ and cussin’ at him, but Wade is a 52 year old executive, and Chacon is a 30 year old professional athlete, so it’s not exactly a fair fight. Attacking a man 20+ years your senior is downright unacceptable. Do you see Barack Obama throwing down with John McCain? (Actually that would probably go quite poorly for Obama). All we can hope for at this point is that the Yankees don’t decide to give him another look. But with their track record, expect to see Chacon in Scranton ASAP.
