The Hot Corner

Holes In Our Sox

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:51:00 +0000

It's been quite the turnaround for the Red Sox. One minute you're on top of the AL East winning games day in and day out in "late and close" situations, the next you're watching your All Star closer blow (undeserved) back to back saves. Sprinkle in two outfielders, one shortstop, one starting pitcher fighting off injury and illness and one reliever being designated for assignment, and you have the perfect recipe for losing five of your last six games.

For the first time that I can remember, Tampa Bay is in first place by half a game. No wonder my head has this weird buzzing feeling. The good news? Tomorrow is an off day and the kids come back home before opening up the first interleague series of the season against the Milwaukee Brewers.

I bet Eric Gagné thought he'd never have to see us again, huh?

Du retour d'une amante

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:37:00 +0000

Here's the funny thing: I used to hate the Boston Bruins. As a kid growing up just outside of Hartford, Connecticut, my dad used to take me to Hartford Whalers games. If you've any sort of NHL knowledge, you know that the Whalers were one of the truly terrible league expansion teams, a minor league club in a market that was much too small, with terrible management and an inability to push past the first round of the playoffs. Still, they were the lifeblood of Connecticut sports, the blue and green littered my youth. I still vividly remember trying to convince my folks that I could play youth hockey for real, despite my size; and I will never forget the day they traded Ron Francis to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a bag of pucks and a roll of tape. It was the only time outside of 9/11 that there was a moment of silence in the classroom. Peter Karmanos (may he burn in hell) held the carrot in front of the fans' collective mouths, promising to keep the team in Hartford if only he could bleed a few more full-season ticket plans out of them. I remember being in awe of the kid at my new middle school whose father was part of the coalition attempting to buy the Whalers and keep them local. But it didn't work out, as we all know, and the blue and green forever left the Civic Center, taking with it the true meaning of "Brass Bonanza" and the hearts of too many hockey fans.

The NHL did everything in its power to alienate me after that. With the Whalers now the Carolina Hurricanes, I had nobody to root for, and it was just as well. The league became, essentially, irrelevant with the infusion of expansion teams in born and bred hockey cities like Tampa Bay, Anaheim, Nashville and Phoenix. The strike two years ago was just proof positive that it was a screwed up sport on the decline, and that there was no reason to go back.

Until last week.

I hated the Bruins growing up a Whalers fan, but there was no way in hell I could allow myself to root for the Rangers or Islanders, so with the distancing of my Whaler allegiance, I adopted the Black and Gold as my own. Loosely, mind you, very loosely. Occasional games are fun to watch, but the Bruins under Jeremy Jacobs seemed destined to repeat the mistakes of their former rivals to the south. Joe Thornton, a lightning rod young center was sent packing to San José for the same bag of pucks and Marco Sturm, who would end up being the only part of the trade that would work out for the B's.

When Patrice Bergeron went down this October with a concussion, I figured that the season would be more or less the same as the rest, but something about Claude Julien's salt-of-the-earth Canadian face and X's and O's system kept the young Bruins pressing onward into the playoffs to face, of all teams, the Montreal Canadiens.

After a miserable opening period in Game 1, the Bruins put on quite the show, going toe-to-toe with the best offense in the east, and losing some hard-fought and unlucky games, eventually ending up down 3-1 at the Bell Centre. There they staged a massive third period rally to rattle rookie goalminder Casey Price and send the series back to the Hub with a 5-1 win. At the new Garden, the old denizens of NHL seasons past came out from their hazy, dust-covered shelters and filled as many seats as they could around the contingent from Canada, just in time to witness a stunning 5-4 victory to force a Game 7 back on the road...

...where, tonight, the Bruins were shut out, 5-0. I am by no means a diehard hockey fan, but for the last week I was unable to rip my eyes from the ice as I came to love Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, and Zdano Chara. I was comforted by the paternal image of Claude Julien so cool behind the bench. I was able to deactivate my automatic translation of PK to "penalty kick" and activate the automatic response of "penalty kill". I dug up the definition of icing and remembered all the hand signals for the various penalties. I let myself be at ease, surrounded by French Canadian names so similar to my own, like Bégin, Bouillon, Julien, and Carbonneau, while waiting for the return of a savior named Bergeron. I found myself kneeling on the floor screaming at the television as the B's created a lot of traffic in the Habs' zone but couldn't find the net. I finally figured out why they were called The Habs.

It is truly unfortunate that the Bruins were unable to finish off Les Glorieux in a remarkable first round comeback, but somehow, it's OK. My love of hockey was never able to mature. I never learned the subtleties or the nuances of the game, grew to cling faster to my first love, baseball. But this week has brought me back to hockey in a way that so few other things could, so much so that I will be waiting for next season; and while my heart will forever hold tight to blue and green, it now finds itself wearing a sweater of black and gold.

Huge Night in the Hub

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:52:00 +0000

Before I hit the Sox game I think everyone should take a moment to tip their caps to the Bruins tonight. This is a team who, after finishing six games under .500 in 2007 and have been without their star player since the end of October, has managed to bump, thump and crash their way back from a three games to one deficit and force a Game 7 on enemy ice. The climax is Monday night in Montreal, and the Sox won't even have to be bumped off of NESN because of the early Patriots' Day start.

On the diamond it was another disappointing outing for Jon Lester. He managed to get one out into the sixth inning but gave up 10 hits in the process. The fact that he only allowed 3 runs speaks more to the defense and the suckitude of Gerald Laird than it does to Lester's ability to pitch effectively. Luckily, the bats woke up in the late innings and managed to scrape out a 5-3 win on the back of Manny Ramirez yet again.

Until Lester can move in and out of the strike zone with confidence and consistency he's going to continue to struggle against big league lineups. His stuff isn't overpowering, though he can be deceptive enough to miss bats. Still, it so frequently seems as though he's just crossing his fingers and hoping it gets into the zone.

Buchholz goes tomorrow in the third game against Texas.

Who Says Baseball Is Just a Game?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:12:00 +0000

From today's New York Post, "High 'Jinx' Hits Yankees."

Evidently one can claim that Red Sox Nation has spies, spies everywhere when a construction worker seals a piece of Sox memorabilia in the concrete beneath the future visitors' clubhouse of the new stadium. Some people may write it off as silly rumor or just plain stupid, but I for one am super-psyched for the possibility that we got to the very core of Ruth's House early. Maybe it can counteract the effects of the good luck charm placed in the framework of the current stadium during construction in the 1920s. Either way, it's a fun read.

Last night's game was, frankly, not very interesting. The Bruins and BC Eagles were playing postseason games on the ice, and the Sox managed another run-of-the-mill game, one where Wakefield was decent, the offense very quiet until the final innings, and where the middle relief was just freaking god-awful. The good news is that the Sox will activate Mike Timlin off the DL before the start of today's Yankees game, and though he may be 80 years old, I trust him more than 75% of the bullpen right now.

Tonight's matchup of Chien-ming Wang and Clay Buchholz could certainly prove to be a nailbiter. Buchholz has been at times dominant and always streaky (as is a young pitcher's wont), and facing the potent Bomber lineup will be a test of the highest caliber. Wang, on the other hand, is dominant with most of the league but has a tendency to get lit up when pitching against Boston. The cold weather will benefit both pitchers, but Wang a bit more just because of his prevalent sinker/slider use.

It's All About Going Home

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:28:00 +0000

The Red Sox were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief today. Beating the Detroit Tigers 5-0 today was sweet, sweet success behind the masterful dealing of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who allowed nothing across to move to 2-0 on the season. Add to the win the receipt of World Series rings and the redemption of Bill Buckner, and it was, at the very least, a moving early spring day in the Hub.

It's always great to fête the accomplishments of seasons past, particularly when those accomplishments include winning the division for the first time in 12 years and winning the second world championship in four years as well. Unlike in 2004, this year's ceremony hit the amount of pomp and circumstance just right. The banners, the rings, the city celebrities were all just to the perfect degree, without any of the oversentimentality so common with the events of Charles Steinberg. The best moment for me was by far the walk of Bill Buckner from the outfield to the mound to throw out the first pitch. He was absolutely buried in standing applause, and it was incredible to see a man so publicly reserved about his time in Boston moved to tears as he was asked to throw out the first ball. Really, just incredible. Whoever managed to pull off that coup deserves free coffee for a week.

The game itself was encouraging. Despite walking four men he managed to strike out seven in the free-swinging yet (theoretically) potent Tigers lineup. Going into the game I had a sinking feeling that we could possibly have ended up the slumpbuster for the recently impotent Detroit nine, but Matsuzaka impressed early. His fastball, though not perfectly located, he kept down in the zone and was thrown consistently for strikes, which set up his devastating changeup and off-speed pitches. His biggest jam came in the sixth, when he loaded the bases with two outs, but managed to get Carlos Guillen to fly out to center.

The offense came in spurts, though there was resounding encouragement from David Ortiz, who missed a grand slam in the early goings by barely five feet, a difference caused by the wind blowing in from center.

The best part of today was the knowledge that tomorrow night will be a 7:05 pm EST start, with Jon Lester toeing up with Jeremy Bonderman, praying to God he's as effective as he was in Oakland. It's taken 19 days and three countries, but today, finally, felt like true Opening Day.

Post script: Steve Tyler singing "God Bless America"? Not that impressive.

Help A Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:17:00 +0000

Got this in the HC inbox this evening:

LOST RED SOX HAT!
Hello my name is Chad Dolby from
New Jersey. On a cold Friday night
there was trouble in the Bronx Zoo. A
Red Sox fan had decided to wear his
Red Sox hat to Yankee Stadium. As usual
the crowd went wild with hate. His hat then
preceded to be thrown down level by level until
it somehow reached the concourse area, where
it was found by a friend of mine.
We are looking for the owner of this hat.
It was lost during a Tampa Bay Rays game
against the Yankees on 4/4/08 in Bronx, NY.
Any help from Red Sox Nation in finding
him would be great! It looked like his favorite hat.
Well-worn and probably precious.
I am a Met fan looking to heal open wounds
who was tossed in the middle of a heated rivalry.
If you could post the poster on your website that
would be great!
Thank you all very much for any help you may give
on this vital search.
~ Chad Dolby

It looks strangely like all those emails I get from the former wife of the late Zambian president looking to give me cash for Catholic charities due to a lack of heirs, so this could be a total hoax. If it is, it's something very dear to my heart. As a true believer in the existence of "The Hat" for each individual, I can certainly comprehend the desire to seek it's return. Plus, it makes Yankee fans sound like absolute jerks, a characterization that has been made numerous times by rooters of opposing clubs in the Bronx. If you know anything, give the guy a shout.

When The Man In The Middle Is DFA'ed

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:02:00 +0000

Ever want to take a pitcher who has blown a close game in the span of less than an inning and cut him from the roster straight away? Well, we all got our chance today when Kyle Snyder, after promptly coughing up whatever hopes the Sox had of keeping the game against Toronto close, was designated for assignment. Out of minor league options, Snyder will linger in Waiverland until another team (like Detroit, Kansas City, or many others) decide to take a flyer and try and help their miserable bullpens. Either that, or he'll go to Pawtucket in hopes of some sort of midseason callup miracle. Thanks for the dimishing K:BB ratio, Bronson Arroyo Lite.

It's been a damn shame to watch a team that seemed to really warm up in Oakland fizzle north of the Border, but there has been a silver lining. In five innings of work Clay Buchholz managed to strike out 7 Jays and pitch himself out of some serious jams. His line of 6 hits, two walks and 4 runs allowed (3 earned) are not at all indicative of the kind of game he had. It all unraveled with a textbook bunt single and a cringe-worthy error by Sean Casey at first base that chased the young starter from the mound. If it had been Youkilis, there's a chance the Sox would have escaped the inning unscathed.

Still, Buchholz was good. His changeup was disgusting, his fastball was decent, and when his curveball was in the strike zone, it was mind-blowing.

Back to Normal

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:41:00 +0000

The Sox return to Oakland was a happy one, with two satisfying victories over the A's. Both starting pitchers threw exceptionally well, something that is not often said about Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester, considering they're known for being high pitch-counters.

A few notes from the end of the longest series:

- David Ortiz got his first hit of the season, a little bloop over the infield. He then followed it up with a two-run jack.

- Jonathan Papelbon is clearly just fine after striking out the side on Tuesday night. His touchy performances in Japan and Los Angeles had been cause for concern.

- Kevin Youkilis broke Steve Garvey's record for consecutive errorless games at first base, with 194.

- It's much nicer to watch a ballgame when it's not 5 am or midnight.

Another thing that came out of this first series was our first glimpse at how the outfield is likely going to shake up as the season gains momentum. J.D. Drew's back spasms had allowed both Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury playing time, but when Drew returned this afternoon (going 1-5 with 2 K's and 4 men LOB), we all had our first collective cringe upon discovering that Crisp and not Ellsbury would be patrolling center field. Granted, Crisp had two hits this afternoon and scored a run, but he just looks so insecure at the plate and so clearly devoid of any sort of approach to his at-bats that he's painful to watch. I would much rather see Francona commit to Ellsbury and use Crisp as a utility man, or vice versa, than have this constant juggling. Then again, it makes the most sense to play Crisp as much as possible, in hopes of moving him to a starting role somewhere else.

Land of the Rising Fans

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 02:37:00 +0000

This morning was a testament to just how deeply rooted baseball's rhythms are to one's own body cycles. When I awoke at 6 am to start getting ready for work and turned on the radio to listen to the opening game of the 2008 season, my body became immediately confused. Here were the sounds and silences of summer evenings weaving textures over the dawn sky. I felt just a little bit disoriented, to say the least.

It was definitely a good game, too. Daisuke stunk up the joint with his first three innings of work, missing wildly with just about every pitch he threw and giving up Jack Hanahan's first home run of the season and Kurt Suzuki's first career stolen base. He settled down after that and ended up with a line much like Tim Robbins' character in "Bull Durham" after his first outing. The offense was surprisingly quiet, with J.D. Drew out because of back soreness and Brandon Moss his fill-in. It was, ironically, Moss who ended up hitting the game-tying home run in the top of the ninth inning to keep the Sox alive, and it was Manny Ramirez, he of the $20 million option years, who brought in four of the six Sox runs. Jonathan Papelbon was human, but effective, and everybody went about their work day a little bit happier.

The sad part about the game today was Kyle Snyder, who managed to ruin Daisuke's win opportunity with one meatball served right down the middle of the plate. It was Snyder who made me a little bit regretful that the Sox were unable to find a more effective tweener reliever than he, and made me fearful of the future bullpen implosions just waiting to happen.

Still, what was most important was that it was baseball that counted, and that soon those radio broadcasts will reclaim their rightful place in the dwindling daylight of summer evening, and all will be right with the world. See you in the morning.

Manny-san

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:13:00 +0000

There are certainly downsides to this trip to Japan: the fact that it carries over into the regular season, that the games are hell to listen to, and the fact that you feel like you're living in some sort of alternate universe where you need to use complex fractions just to figure out a game's start time. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, despite the drawbacks to this trip, it's a blast to see the Sox heralded like conquering heroes from across the sea, and it's nice to see them engaged in a friendly contest, an exchange, it seems, between nations and cultures. Add to all the warm fuzzies an article by Amalie Benjamin revealing that Manny wants to finish his career in Boston and hit 7,000,000 home runs (or 700, I could be wrong), and it makes for a good read.

Manny's a funny guy. Not funny in the "ha ha, Manny just went into the scoreboard" kind of way, but funny in the way the fans perceive him. I've given my share of crap to a lot of players over my long 25 years, but I can't recall very many instances of giving it to Señor Ramírez. No, it's the Coco Crisps of the world that drive me to obscenity; all those I-like-to-talk-a-big-game-bug-swing-at-anything-thrown kind of players make me climb the walls. They don't (as Theo put it in the above article "understand it", the "it" being hitting, of course. They don't get their role on the team, they don't understand hitting as a philosophy. They don't learn from at-bat to at-bat, but rather go up their hacking, the embodiment of a single solitary link ignorant of the rest of the chain that surrounds it.

It's true that Manny's defense can be frequently below average and occasionally atrocious, that his effort in the field has him jogging after balls instead of sprinting. His time with the media in the last few seasons has been countable on one hand, and he's provided more conflicting copy than just about anybody currently on the team. What isn't true is that he's cheated the fans. When he stands and the box and strikes out, there's a knowledge that he's walking away from the plate having learned something, even if it's a small sort of something, that is going to help him the next time. When guys are all turned around, having confused their big fly swing with their Texas leaguer swing and have killed the thought of The Other Way swing, Manny has shown us how effective that little flick to the right can be, or how a clutch walk can turn the tide of an inning.

He's a goofy guy, no two ways about it, but I love Manny Ramirez. When he stops producing it will be absolutely tragic, and it will be sadder still when he inevitably leaves the Hub. But for all the haters of the world who jump on the Walter Reed bandwagon and scream bloody murder from the rooftops, I say, Leave the guy alone.

A Sit-Down Standoff

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:51:00 +0000

We all know the Red Sox and A's are going to Japan, right? And we all know that the games played in the Land of the Rising Sun are going to bring in buckets of money and publicity for Major League Baseball, right? What about the fact that the players get an impressive $40K purse just for making the trip? Sounds decent, doesn't it? Then I guess that with all these dollar signs floating around that team employees should be compensated at least for any expenses the may incur during this MLB-imposed outing, right?

Wrong. As usual, Bud Selig and his minions have managed to step knee-deep in the smelly stuff. This time they're reneging on a prior agreement to pay all Boston and Oakland coaches, trainers and other personnel a stipend similar to the ones the players are receiving. Fortunately, the sense of decency so lacking in the league's New York (fitting) office has managed to hang on inside the hearts of our very own. The team voted unanimously this morning to boycott their final Spring Training game against Toronto this afternoon unless the league agreed to pay the coaches as previously settled.

Rest assured, the matter has apparently been resolved and the final game of the spring is now underway. With all the negative press and fallout that has arisen in the wake of the steroids scandal and Sox issues like the release of Doug Mirabelli and the center field sniping, such unity in the face of blatant usurpation of league power over the faceless cogs of the major league machine is both refreshing and inspiring.

Here's to Japan, and smooth sailing back to Boston.

If You Read One Thing Today

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:13:00 +0000

Make sure you make it this three week old article from Slate.com. I know there's been a lot of rumor-milling, grandstanding, and just plain excessive coverage of the Clemens v. United States affair, but I hadn't really read a thoughtful, original piece on the whole affair until just this morning, and I think you'll agree with me.

But as always, you don't have to take my word for it.

"Bush Leaguer," Stephen Metcalf

All About the Benjamins

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:05:00 +0000

We're all abuzz about how calm camp is, if you can believe it, but this week Jonathan Papelbon decided that he would try his darnedest to provide copy by complaining about his sad, unfair contract. I have to say, the man has a point. Really, $425,550 is just so unfair.

Give me a break. Look, I realize that Papelbon, Pedroia, Buchholz, Youkilis, etc. are key to this team, but they're playing by the rules that their union agreed to. They aren't victims of a team's right to renew young players for the first handful of years, they're just part of the cycle. It's been depressing over the last few days to see all the articles reporting on how Prince Fielder and Nick Markakis are upset with their contracts. With all the steroid news finally in the background now that camps are open, picking at this stubborn scab just doesn't seem to be in anybody's interest.

The young players that have come up over the last several years have been a breath of fresh air for the game of baseball. When contracts appeared their most bloated and players their most distant, in came a class of rookies ready to just play baseball. They hit, ran, glove, threw, pitched and slugged their way into the hearts of fans everywhere. When they start using the press in that time-honored tradition as mouthpieces because they don't have the stones enough to just sit down with management, it turns me off completely. Even guys like Papelbon, whom I love to watch play.

Perhaps most surprising is that this contract nonsense (which has been settled, by the way, with Paps getting $775,000) comes on the heels of the team's visit to Walter Reed last week. All anyone could say was that the trip made it so obvious how lucky the players were to be allowed to have a game as their living. So many people would give anything for just a day in a ballplayer's hoes, and even more would give more for just a day of their pay. When you turn on the radio to hear stories of people scraping by below the poverty line followed by Papelbon's bitching about being a victim to poor salary, it just make me shake my head.

Jonathan Papelbon, grow up.

So A Congressman, Roger Clemens, and the King of the Gungans Walk Into a Bar...

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:15:00 +0000

Enough is enough. I want Roger Clemens taken down a few notches, but seriously, do we really need to launch yet another investigation by the Department of Justice? It's just like with Barry Bonds: we all know he did it, we all think he's a scummy guy, but 25 to life and the utter annihilation of his reputation aren't going to make the record books any more pure. I surely hope that this ESPN article referencing a rumored draft letter to the DoJ is false.

More locally, after locking up Tito the Sox decided they really liked Star Wars Episode I and signed Bartolo Colon (known here as king of the Gungans) to a minor league deal worth roughly $1 million.Although he won 21 games with Anaheim as recently as 2005 he's been more or less a bust after that, going a combined 7-13 over the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Considering it's a minor league deal this is really a win-win for the Sox. Colon, if healthy, could be a valuable addition to the back of the rotation come midseason, and at the very least he'll spot start when one of our horses need their planned midsummer shoulder rest.

Also, on a side note, I think everyone should stop holding their breath for a Coco Crisp trade before the season begins. There just isn't enough demand out there for a player of Crisp's caliber, and at the very most they'll only recoup B-level prospects from most teams. If he were traded, the Sox bench would become immensely weaker, and the backup outfielders would have to be someone along the lines of Bobby Kielty or Brandon Moss. Seriousy, Coco's better. I know that by keeping him one runs the risk of Jay Payton a few years ago, but it's a risk that at the very least maintains team depth.

Besides, Coco can't be traded until his premium Red Sox Nation membership expires.

Congratulations, Tito

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:57:00 +0000

We've all given him our fair share of garbage over the past four years, disputing lineup shuffles, bullpen use, and Lord knows how many other things he's done; despite all of that, however, I think we can all agree that some congratulations are in order. Terry Francona and the Red Sox agreed to a three year extension (excluding two more options). If everything remains the same, we should see Tito take the team through Fenway Park's centennial celebration in 2012, and hopefully, thensome.

Kudos.

Morning Becoming Eclectic

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:20:00 +0000

So with all the rumors and rumblings across the camps in Florida and Arizona, sometimes it's hard to focus on what's really important. Roger Clemens was at Jose Canseco's party, according to newly released photographs he took with a boy at the party; Manny changed his agent to Scott Boras one day after declaring he wanted to finish his career in Boston, and that's not necessarily a bad thing considering Boras' relationship with the front office; Coco Crisp stated his desire to play full time or be traded, but not in a malicious way, and Jacoby Ellsbury seems to be OK with the competition; David Ortiz's knee is close to 100%, and Curt Schiling's shoulder is starting the long road through rehab. These are all the big "business" headlines that I've been keeping up with over the last week, and if you've been doing your reading, maybe you have, too.

Still, weekends are slow, so maybe you decided not to check your online link list, or maybe you decided to hit the ground running on this snowy Saturday morning and skip the morning paper. Wait for Sunday, right? Well, if that's the case then you missed a fantastic piece by the Globe's Gordon Edes. Nothing you'll find on Sportscenter or even scrolling across the BottomLine, but something that's somehow more important than everything mentioned above. I won't ruin it for you. I'll just post the link to this creation here and at the bottom of the post.

Happy Reading.

"Camp Sights," Gordon Edes

Rocket Crash Lands in Washington

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:26:00 +0000

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Hoo, boy. If you stayed home to watch today's Congressional hearing you were in for a treat. We had everything from stupid questions and feigned indignation, to hubris uncovered and a body destroyed.

In short, we had what we always have when baseball comes in front of Congress.

There were a few new facts that came to light today. Among them, the fact that Roger Clemens' nanny corroborates McNamee's claim that Clemens was at Jose Canseco's gathering, that an independent expert examined the MRI of Clemens' buttocks and determined his abscess couldn't result from B12, and that you don't need to be much smarter than a 5th grader to be a congressperson. Most importantly, however, we learned that Andy Pettitte is a much more upstanding man than his friend. It was there, in the made-public sworn affidavit of Pettitte, that we find the most compelling evidence. Pettitte backs up McNamee's side of the story, and is such a God-fearing man that even Clemens himself has a hard time doing anything but claim that Pettitte "misremembers."

>Beyond this evidence is how strikingly arrogant Clemens is, and how visibly frustrated he becomes when placed in a situation where he is not in control. On repeated occasions he interrupted Rep. Waxman and other representatives to comment on his own, and was even allowed to speak entirely out of turn and independent of any line of questioning to make a statement regarding his wife. As Howard Bryant writes in this fine piece at ESPN.com, Clemens decided to point the finger at everybody around him: his trainer, his agents, his lawyers, the MLBPA, the commissioner's office, the faulty memories of his teammates, and even his wife. It was their fault that he is being investigated, their fault that he is being unfairly targeted on a national stage.

Please.

The funny thing about all this is that baseball will emerge unscathed. The Mitchell Report managed to withstand the criticism thrown its way, becoming an even stronger and more important document. So many players have gotten caught and come clean that there is a strange sense of absolution in a lot of ways. Once again, players like Andy Pettitte stand next to players like Roger Clemens and look to be made of much purer stuff.

I've moved on. While I'm interested to see how the Clemens legal situation evolves over the coming months, I have no more interest in partaking of a league-wide witch hunt. Ex-players with blogs and microphones can spare me the clubhouse rhetoric and affected innocence; there has been enough evidence to convince anybody that there was a serious problem. Now we should all attempt to move on.

As camps open tomorrow and practice fields fill with young, impressionable minor leaguers, teams find themselves in a position to promote the right kind of development. Fans young and old now have a more precise lens with which to view their heroes, and such heroes will hopefully be chosen for the right reasons.

Unfortunately for Roger Clemens, he no longer gets to be one of them.

It's OK to Start Counting Now

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:20:00 +0000

Conspiracy Theorists Abound

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:50:00 +0000

We've all looked at the results of the Mets-Twins trade this past week; we've seen the super-mega-excellent contract extension that Johan managed to land despite not being a free agent; finally, we've seen the miserable pack of prospects that Minnesota was able to drag in out of the cold. What we haven't seen is any sort of proof backing up the whispers of conspiracy being uttered across cyberspace. "The Mets gave up what? Minnesota got what? There must have been a wink-wink nudge-nudge deal between the Yankees and the Red Sox." That's right, folks, we're talking collusion and conspiracy.

I call BS.

Look, Minnesota really got a raw deal here. If I were a fan in the Twin Cities I would be screaming for blood. Unfortunately, there's nobody to blame here but Bill Smith and Carl Pohlad. Smith, in my opinion, misread the desire of the Sox and Yankees to have Santana in their rotation. At the Winter Meetings the iron was hottest with both teams ready to bring him in and move on with the offseason. As the days turned into weeks tuned into months, all of baseball began to look at the potential deals differently.

For the Big Two, the announcement of their luxury tax payments was likely the first push in the direction of not trading with Minnesota. The Twins tried to play chicken with both front offices and basically ask for Boston and New York's top five lists. There again, another push. If Minnesota was so convinced that the loss of Santana would be eventually made up for by these prospects, was it even worth getting rid of them in the first place? C.C. Sabathia, big hulk of a left-hander that he is, should be up on the free agent block next season. Even if he commands a contract in the same ballpark as Santana, it won't be accompanied by the loss of the cream of the farm system's crop.

I know that the union and a number of players and pundits got their backs up when Theo Epstein and Larry Beinfest had a GMs-only closed door meeting to discuss needs and wants in December, but since the initial barking their has been no bite in any form. To go further, both Theo and Brian Cashman are smart enough individuals to arrive at the decision to hold their cards instead of throwing them all away on one man. They don't need to talk to each other to make what were ultimately wise decisions.

Bill Smith screwed the pooch on this one. He waited too long and was unable get what he wanted. Come to think of it, Smith may even have been better waiting until midseason to try and trade Santana. At least then there would be teams in the position to say "OK, Santana will put us over the hump and in the best position to win." Instead he blew it, and can only hope that Delmon Young ends up a lifetime Twin and Hall of Famer.

Move Over, Menino: Boston's New Mayor

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:44:00 +0000

In filling their last infield need with veteran lefty first baseman Sean Casey, the Red Sox look like they're just about ready for Moving Day and the reporting of pitchers and catchers on Valentine's Day. Casey's contract, pending a physical, is for a reported $800,000, and came without the loss of a draft pick due to Detroit's decision not to offer the former Mayor of Cincinnati arbitration. The addition of Casey means "Thank you, and good night," for Eric Hinske in Boston and maybe the rest of the league, as Hinske was just awful.

As you've no doubt heard by now, Casey's nickname "The Mayor" came from a great clubhouse presence and personality. His dedication to his teams and to those less fortunate took center stage in 2005 when the Globe did an exposé on Casey's community service work with Lawrence priest Father Paul O'Brien when the Reds were in town to recreate 1975. After the fractured clubhouse persona that took root in 2005, Casey should certainly be viewed as welcome reinforcements for locally heralded Mike Lowell.

On the field, Sean Casey is no slouch. Unlike previous manifestations of our backup first-sacker, this guy can hit. Although he's never cracked the 200 hit benchmark, he's also never racked up more than 88 strikeouts in a season. It's an impressive feat for someone who has nearly 5000 career ABs over a twelve year career whose line hums at an impressive .301/.366/.450. He'll never belt 40 home runs or steal 3o bases, especially at his ripe age of 33, but he's prime for part-time and shared duties at first with Kevin Youkilis. Want a comparison? Think Lyle Overbay with five more years of service time but only 79 more K's. Casey is ideal for this sort of situation. His puts good wood on the ball so much that we won't have to wince in pain every time he's asked to pinch hit or spell Youk for a day, like we did with Hinske.

Contract for less than $1 million, good contact, great clubhouse presence, and no draft pick forefeited? Let's call this what it is: a good deal.

Minaya's Big Fish

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:26:00 +0000

Tip your cap to Omar Minaya, he's caught a keeper if the reports ring true. He's managed to reel in Johan Santana for league center fielder Carlos Gomez and hurlers Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. In truth, Minaya has only really guaranteed himself the right to discuss a contract extension, but I doubt there would be a trade of this magnitude without Santana agreeing in advance to sign with the Metropolitans.

If you ask me, it looks as if the Twins ended up getting the raw end of this deal. Gomez, the only position player, looks about as average as average can get at the plate with a .278/.339/.399 line over his four years in the minors and nothing to write home about in his 58 games in the bigs. He does have speed, though, with 12 swiped bags in the majors and 141 in the minors.

As for the pitchers, Humber is the only one with any sort of major league service time. The five games he played for Willie Randolph were certainly forgettable, but he's got a surprisingly attractive walk rate for his time in the minors. After Humber, however, it becomes more of a guessing game. Mulvey saw nearly all of his action in the Eastern League but posted a WHIP of almost 1.3, which could be an early indicator of troubles later on; Guerra hasn't gone any higher than high A ball, and has put up the usual "learning curve" numbers to go along with it.

On the surface, at least, it appears as though the Mets came out of this one on top. Thing is, we all know how good that player development staff is out their in Minneapolis. Don't forget, they're the ones who got Johan as a Rule 5 in the first place, and most recently grabbed Francisco Liriano and Joe Nathan for a grumpy A.J. Pierzynski. Only time will tell.

And for those of you who may be sad about missing out on Santana, look at it this way: at the very least he won't be wearing pinstripes for the next 6 years.

And the excitement continues...

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:37:00 +0000

Ok, so, brand spanking new news to report! According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Johan Santana could be traded within the next 10 days! Seriously, only 10 more days and this could be over.

This has been a miserable offseason. Nobody cares about Andruw Jones, the Athletics and Diamondbacks made the only trade worth really looking at, and the Mitchell Report did nothing but tell Joe Fan that there was and may still be a problem in baseball, but nobody knows how to fix it. Add to that the fact that the last thing I really got excited about was the possibility of a Santana trade at the winter meetings that never materialized and it sure has been ho-hum.

The best part of all of this is that it appears as though the Sox have taken Lester out of the equation for good, meaning that they're more impressed with his makeup than with newly-minted Boras-ite (and $100+ autograph guru) Jacoby Ellsbury. Considering what Lester has gone through and the way he handled himself in the World Series, it would be nice to stick with the feel-good story. Plus, imagine what a vote of confidence it would be for Coco if we tossed the youngster and stuck with him?

I mean look, Santana would be fun to watch, but there's just way more that can be done with all of the pieces that would be sent to Minnesota over the next 4 years. Besides, when $20 million dollars is invested in just one player each season, he becomes the biggest liability ever.

Pitchers and catchers should just report now so that we all have something to read and write about.

Timing Is Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:34:00 +0000

Isn't it interesting how one day after the Red Sox reveal that their uniforms will carry the EMC corporate logo for the opening series of the 2008 season in Japan, out comes a story describing how nearly all sources of revenue for the Olde Towne Team have dried up?

For so long, advertising has been verboten in the most sacred areas of the game. The ballpark walkways and scoreboards are alright, as are the programs and officially sponsored spray bottles, but when baseball tried to put movie advertisements on the bases to promote "Spider-Man", fans revolted and the gimmick never came to fruition. When ads were being discussed for the cleared sections of the ivy-lined outfield fence at Wrigley Field, the entire whole of Chicago's North Side worked up a frothy lather of outrage. So why is it deemed acceptable for the Sox to brand themselves with the mark of this sponsor overseas? Why, frankly, does it bother me as much as it does?

The world's biggest sport, soccer, has plastered its players with ads in abundance, so much so that a lot of teams have become more synonymous with the company emblem than with the team logo. That hasn't stopped the frenzy or tribal allegiances that soccer produces in its fan base. It makes sense for the team to maximize its advertising profits, even if it means using the logos to proclaim ownership over the players' bodies themselves. The Red Sox and every other team could certainly use the revenue, right? If it all goes to player development, then I should say "Go, team!", right? Only thing is we all know the money doesn't go straight to the players or farm system, so "Rah rah corporate logos!" will not be coming out of my mouth any time soon.

I think the root of my dislike stems from the fact that, unlike soccer (or any other sport for that matter), baseball has been recognized by government as more than just a game. That's why everybody gets so worked up about everything. Steroids, drug abuse, amphetamines, gambling, all of it has been attacked from the highest points of government. Of course, all of it is based on this completely false notion that baseball is something sacred and pure, but still, it's cute right?

That's why I don't like having corporate logos on the player uniforms or movie ads on the basepaths. I know it's imperfect, I know it's completely illogical, but when I turn on the TV at 6 AM on March 25 and see "EMC^2" on the shirts, I'm going to feel like I've just been turned out by baseball. Granted, only three games, but I'll feel used and just a little dirty.

Is the extra revenue worth more than that little bit of idealism?

Lowell and the Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Mike Lowell addressed the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, and here's what he had to say in regards to a blood test for human growth hormone, something Houston Astro Lance Berkman came out 100% in favor

"If it's 99 percent accurate, that's going to be seven false positives," the Red Sox third baseman said Thursday before the annual dinner of the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "Ninety-three percent is 70 guys. That's almost three whole rosters.

"You're destroying someone's reputation. What if one of the false positives is Cal Ripken? Doesn't it put a black mark on his career?"

I have to admit, the guy's got a point. It was refreshing, in a way, to see someone like Berkman come out and unabashedly advocate a blood test to clear the sport's name, but leave it to a man like Lowell to be the cooler head prevailing. A blood test might work, sure, and it might not. The number of potential false positives is disheartening, to the point where it may not seem worth the effort. Yet, if handled correctly, a blood testing program could be incredibly beneficial.

Say they institute a test with the oversight of USADA and WADA. A positive test by a player could lead automatically to ameeting with both MLB and USADA, simultaneously. The player could then be given a chance to clear his name and explain his position. If it turns out to have been a true positive, the player, upon confession, could return to play without any penalty or stoppage of playing time on the condition that further positive tests would result in suspension. Players with false positives could be given a chance to disprove the test, with no immediate disciplinary action forthcoming.

It isn't a perfect system, but at the moment it's better than the available options.

15 Minutes and a Congressional Hearing

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Brodeur) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:13:00 +0000

Someone with no interest in the soapbox, that's what we need. And after today's congressional hearing with Bud Selig, Donald Fehr, George Mitchell and a room full of puffed-up elected officials, we need it more than ever. Today's hearing managed to do one thing, and that was get MLB and the MLBPA to accept at least partial blame. It's like getting caught in the act by your parents; you have to at least fess up, right?

But where do we go from here? The only thing, in my opinion (and this is my soapbox, so I'm not the man for the job) is to get the players behind reform. That's the only way anything will change. How do you get them behind reform? I dunno, but maybe it starts with (as Mitchell and el Señor Gammons have suggestedD) with an amnesty program. Come forward with your sins, say your ten Hail Mary's and five Our Father's and your transgressions will be forgiven, my son. We've already seen what the media has done to players who have come forward, and what they've done to those who've dug their heels in and denied three times before having their round in the spotlight. It makes more sense to promote healing than it does to promote fire and brimstone righteousness.

Yet that's what we got today, isn't it? He saids and she saids and "It is all under review, Congressman." It's somewhat entertaining to see the government take an interest in the national pastime. Makes it feel more, well, national. But in the end, Potomac meddling is just more spinning of the wheels.

Isn't there anybody out there who hates soapboxes?