The
baseball offseason is a busy time. Really, no further introduction is needed
for the notes from this past week.
***The
hyperbole machine has been revved up to a fevered pitch now that the 2013
National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot has gone out and people have started debating the merits of
various candidates. I will surely go into who I would vote for at a later time,
but for now can offer up these thoughts:
1. It’s about time to
change how this honor is voted on. It’s ridiculous that the BBWAA continue to
have a stranglehold on this process. Other than longevity and knowing the right
people, there are precious few criteria for who gets to vote. What makes these
writers the experts? Judging by some of their hideous decisions and justifications
from the past, the whole process has become amateur hour. 100 years ago, print
writers probably had the closest connection to the players. However, there are
now numerous forms of media and even fans have unprecedented access to the
game. Obviously there’s no exact or scientific way to determine a
Hall-of-Famer, but let’s standardize the voting process and remove the power
from the ink-stained hands of these dictators of injustice.
2. Strength of character
is one of the criteria used by Hall of Fame voters, but it may be time to
re-evaluate. There are cheaters, racists, drunks, violent criminals and
probably worse currently enshrined in Cooperstown. Trying to keep out
candidates because of indiscretions, especially those related to PEDs seem
laughably hypocritical.
3. Finally, if so much
effort is being made to keep out the “bad guys,” why hasn’t the pendulum swung
the other way to honor well-known fringe Hall candidates like Steve Garvey,
Dale Murphy and Don Mattingly? This idea was first put in my head by an excellent
blog written by ESPN’s
Buster Olney, where he included an open letter from Murphy’s son, Chad,
extolling his father’s candidacy.
***Former Boston
Red Sox stalwart Kevin Youkilis made what is seemingly becoming a rite of
passage by joining his former rival, the New York Yankees, on a one-year,
$12 million contract. Johnny Damon, Derek Lowe, Tom Gordon and Roger Clemens are just some of
the expats in recent years to join the Evil Empire.
Youkilis was
signed to fill in for third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who will be having offseason
surgery on his balky hip. It’s an interesting move by the Yankees, who are
fighting advancing age and skyrocketing payroll. Giving that much money to the
33-year-old like Youkilis, who is coming off his worst season (.235 with 19
home runs) and seemed to be in serious decline, is very risky. He is a gritty
player, but just because the mind is willing doesn’t mean the body will be.
Regardless, Boston fans should wish him only the best. He more than earned
their enduring respect for what he accomplished in a Red Sox uniform.
***The news that
Josh Hamilton signed with the Los Angeles Angels for five-years
and $125 million sent some pretty big shock waves through baseball.
Hamilton had been the hardest free-agent to peg, as a number of teams had
expressed interest, but the consensus seemed to be developing he was going to
have to settle for a three or four-year deal instead of the six or seven that
he wanted.
The Angels had
not been one of the teams closely connected to Hamilton, but evidently jumped
in and snatched up the left-handed slugger once they saw an opening. In the
short-term, the move may prove to be a master stroke, as it’s hard to argue
that their team won’t have the best trio of hitters of any team in baseball,
with Hamilton, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols anchoring the offense.
However, by 2015
the Angels will potentially start seeing the effects of a bloated payroll. That
season they will be paying nearly $70 million total to just three players, Pujols,
Hamilton and pitcher C.J. Wilson. All three will be in their mid-thirties and
potentially experiencing a decline in production. Angels’ owner Artie Moreno
may have the money to burn, but it can be tough to maintain a solid roster with
those types of issues. Just ask the New York Yankees.
***After spending
the bulk of the offseason bolstering the offense with a procession of complimentary
free-agent hitters, Boston GM Ben Cherington finally made a move to improve his
weakened starting rotation—by adding a complimentary pitcher. The team signed
right-hander Ryan Dempster to a two-year,
$26.5 million deal. Many have scoffed at the transaction, pointing to the
soon-to-be 36-year-old Dempster’s age and the 5.09 ERA he had after being
traded to the Texas Rangers this past summer as reasons why he won’t succeed in
Boston. I’m not buying it.
Dempster may be
older and may have some wear and tear on his arm, but he has also thrown 200 or
more innings in four of the past five years.
If you take out
the two stink bombs (gave up eight earned runs in each game) that came in his
first three Rangers’ starts, Dempster otherwise had a 3.77 ERA and a strikeout
per inning with the Rangers. His first Texas start came against the Angels on
August 2nd. That was one of the games he gave up eight runs, and deserves a further
look. It was Dempster’s first game with his new team and the temperature at
first pitch that night was 102 degrees. Those conditions better explain his
performance than him no longer being an effective pitcher.
Dempster will be
just fine with Boston. 12-14 wins and an ERA around 4.00 sounds about right in
2013. If he can produce those results, then the team got a relative steal, given
the $80
million contract the Detroit Tigers doled out to Anibal Sanchez, who
baseball folk would have a hard time proving has been a better pitcher than
Dempster over the past several seasons.
***Knuckleball
pitcher R.A. Dickey appears to be on his way out of New York and headed to the
Toronto Blue Jays through
a trade. Provided that Dickey can agree to an extension with Toronto by
Tuesday, which is considered a mere formality at this point, the deal will be
finalized soon. Not all the details have been made public yet, but it’s
believed the Mets will receive a package of prospects, including highly regarded
catcher Travis d’Arnaud and pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
Although this trade
will put the Mets even further away from contention, it could work out heavily
in their favor if just one of the young players they are getting back work out.
D’Arnaud is projected to be an above-average catcher and Syndergaard has the
potential to pitch near the front of a starting rotation. It may be a few years
before they are at Citi Field and consistently producing, but they look to be
the hope of the future.
For their part,
the Blue Jays continue to gamble big this offseason. In poker terms, Toronto GM
Alex Anthopoulos has pushed all his chips to the center of the table and
declared he has gone all-in. Trading top
prospects for a 38-year-old knuckleball pitcher without
an elbow ligament is a risky move, to say the least. Anthopulos has merged
core players from three sub- .500 teams from 2012 and is hoping they will meld
into winners north of the border. He is either going to win big or lose really
big. There will be no in between. For the time being he at least has jolted the
AL East and made this upcoming season an interesting one to watch from the
get-go.
**********************
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