FanHouse

Naturally, Hawk Harrelson Prefers the White Sox's Preseason Position

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-03-10T17:48:00 00:00

Filed under: Cubs, White Sox, AL Central, NL Central, MLB Media Watch

Baseball knowledge is a constantly changing thing. It's like any other form of information: some of it is uniform, and some of it is constantly fluid, changing based on era, culture, and shared experiences. There is, though, one piece of baseball knowledge that pretty much spans the masses. It is this: having better talent is a good thing.

So it is with no small amount of amusement that you will likely read this Hawk Harrelson quote from the Chicago Tribune. Apparently, having less talent than another team is a good thing.

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Andruw Jones Says He's Sorry

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-03-10T12:48:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Dodgers, NL West, MLB Transactions

Andruw Jones has experienced one of the steepest, most dramatic career drop-offs ... well, I was going to say "in recent years," but that seems like an understatement. Jones appeared to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer as recently as 2006, before his OPS+ that year, 126, dropped off a cliff to 88 in 2007. His split stats followed suit. Things got ugly.

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MLB Teams Nervous About Attendance

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-03-09T22:35:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: MLB Biz, MLB Rumors

Have you heard about the economy? It's bad. You've seen this? You've heard about this? (Adjusts tie, looks around, does headlines, steals Conan's thunder.) Anyway, yes, the economy is bad, and sports are not recession-proof. People are going broke. Baseball tends to not be the highest priority when your primary concern is making sure your checking account has enough to pay for utilities each month.

So baseball is expecting a downturn. The question is not whether it will happen, but how bad it will be, and how the teams worst affected will be able to absorb it. According to Peter Gammons, the initial numbers are already coming in. They're not good:

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Peavy Would Accept Trade to Red Sox

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-03-09T22:00:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: AL East, MLB Rumors

In the halcyon days of winter, when Jake Peavy trade rumors were flying to and fro, it was widely accepted information that Peavy had a limited number of teams he would lift his no-trade clause for. Those teams included the Braves and the Cubs in the NL, and the Angels and Yankees in the AL. Those limitations hamstrung the Padres in a variety of ways, and the closest the team ever got to unloading Peavy was a harebrained hypothetical three-way trade with the Cubs that never panned out.

Now, Peavy is either widening his list of teams, or he's making sure the record is straight. Either way, put the Red Sox officially on the board:

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Brandon Phillips Scoffs at OBP

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-03-02T21:31:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Reds, NL Central

By now, on-base percentage is one of the more widely accepted, non-controversial advanced baseball statistics us Interweb-dwellers like to cling to. Actually, it almost seems incorrect to call OBP "advanced." It's really about as simple as it gets: it's the percentage of at-bats in which a hitter reaches base. I mean, that's simple. Really, incredibly simple.

Brandon Phillips apparently disagrees. It's not exactly surprising -- baseball players aren't required to read Bill James from the womb, or something. Their primary function is to do baseball, not think about it. But it is funny to point and laugh at the dummy in the corner. From John Fay at the Cinci Enquirer:

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Will A-Rod Boost Don Hooten's Mission?

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-03-02T20:20:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Yankees, AL East, MLB Biz

When Alex Rodriguez did his big "I'm sorry for cheating" presser, he made repeated mention of working with someone named "Don" and "Don's foundation." A-Rod was talking about steroids activist Don Hooten, whose 17-year-old son's suicide was related to his steroid use. Hooten has long partnered with Major League Baseball to fight PEDs. A-Rod's admission and references to Hooten gave Hooten the opportunity to get the sort of exposure he could never get on the strength of his story alone.

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Cal Ripken Chimes In on A-Rod

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-02-23T22:35:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Orioles, Yankees, AL East, MLB Media Watch

Alex Rodriguez did steroids and now everybody has an opinion about it. I'm just a lowly blogger, and I have my opinion (it's sort of a big deal but probably not as big a deal as everyone is saying), so of course professional baseball players and analysts -- people renowned for their playing ability and/or analytical insights -- are going to want to share their views, too, even if at this point it's utterly impossible to say anything interesting about the topic.

Enter Cal Ripken. Ripken is a man that must be listened to. He's Cal freaking Ripken. But his viewpoint on the matter is about as well thought out as I was during my 10th Guinness last Friday:

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Wallace Matthews Is Done With the Demon Baseball

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-02-23T15:37:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Yankees, AL East, MLB Fans, MLB Media Watch

Steroids are bad. If there is anything the hackneyed newspaper columnists of the world would like get across to you, the fan, it's that: Steroids are bad, the people who took them are evil (rather than flawed but ultimately normal people), and everyone who allowed them to pollute the previously incorruptible national pastime deserves to, I don't know, be flogged or something. Steroid anger is a particularly silly, and yet finely distilled, brand.

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Hamels Rubs More Salt in Mets' Wounds

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-02-23T14:08:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Mets, Phillies, NL East

Last year, the Mets "choked." But what does that mean? What is a choke? We say these words, and we think we know what they mean, but what are they, exactly? The confusion here -- it's existential. I don't want to live in a world that can't properly identify when one sports team has sufficiently screwed the pooch (there's another one of these sports phrases) to qualify as a "choke."

Fortunately, we have Cole Hamels to put these words into perspective:

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Pettitte Talks to Feds About Clemens

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-02-18T11:53:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Astros, Yankees, AL East, NL Central, MLB Rumors

Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens are, by all accounts, best friends. BFFs. Besties. They probably even have the same color Trapper-Keepers. They're just that tight, which makes their different approaches to their use of steroids/HGH a little, well, awkward. Pettitte admits what he did. Clemens maintains his innocence. That could be coming back to bite them.

Yes, federal prosecuters apparently cornered Pettitte long enough to ask him questions about his friend, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Associated Press:

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Jerry Manuel Hearts Manny Ramirez

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-27T16:45:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Mets, NL East, MLB Transactions

Manny Ramirez is still unsigned. The Dodgers are apparently unwilling to offer him anything greater than a two-year deal -- when did Ned Colletti get so stingy with his aging free agent fund? -- the Giants are merely flirting, and pretty much everyone else appears unwilling to make Manny an offer. That includes the Mets.

COO Fred Wilpon thinks ownership is interested in Ramirez, but that the "baseball people," meaning GM Omar Minaya, have essentially taken the option off the table. Weird.

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A-Rod 'Not Bothered' By Joe Torre

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-27T13:18:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Yankees, AL East, MLB Rumors

Alex Rodriguez has always been an object of fascination, but never one of sympathy. After all, how do you sympathize with a super-duper-millionaire who plays baseball for a living? Even for ardent fans of the guy, his clubhouse weirdness, his Madonna thing -- he doesn't make it easy, does he?

Still, if there's one thing we've learned about A-Rod throughout this whole Joe Torre book nonsense -- besides the "Single White Female" anecdote, which is hilarious -- it's that Torre apparently has the power to make A-Rod a sympathetic figure. Who knew?

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Jason Varitek Mulling Red Sox Offer

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-26T16:34:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Red Sox, AL East, MLB Transactions

The Jason Varitek-Boston Red Sox saga has been occasionally baffling this offseason, as the two sides have failed to come to any sort of a consensus on how valuable Varitek actually is.

After the Sox offered the veteran catcher arbitration, and Varitek turned it down, it seemed like all was lost. Why on Earth would the Red Sox offer 'Tek a two-year deal? Why on Earth would Tek turn down a perfectly good one-year offer? It's been a bit of a confusing mess, but it appears -- mercifully -- to be approaching its end.

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Tom Ricketts Wins Cubs for $900 Million

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-23T15:19:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Cubs, NL Central, MLB Biz

The long, arduous Cubs sale is not yet over, but late yesterday it got a good bit closer: Tom Ricketts, the chairman of a corporate bond dealer and the son of T.D. Ameritrade owner Joseph Ricketts, bought the team for a reported $900 million.

That wasn't the highest offer but was the one with the most cash behind it; as the Tribune Company is currently bankrupt, cash is a powerful thing.

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Israeli Baseball Keeps On Keeping On

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-21T15:13:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: MLB Biz

The Israeli Baseball League was a minor topic of fascination among baseball people for a year or so, but in 2007 the league collapsed financially. Apparently Israeli market demand for second-tier baseball players dueling on half-groomed baseball fields is low. Who knew? So Israeli baseball went away, seemingly forever, and I'll admit I totally forgot it was even an interest of mine in the first place. Video games are distracting that way.

Alas, the New York Times' baseball blog informs us today that Israeli baseball may not be dead for long. Apparently, a limited Yankees partner -- who was involved in the first Israeli league but resigned because of his dismay over how poor the league was -- is organizing a new league with an ETA of 2010 or 2011. Why would this league be any different? He seems to have it pretty well-considered:

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With Bush Gone, What of Roger Clemens' Potential Pardon?

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-21T13:36:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: MLB Police Blotter

Back when Roger Clemens was stuck defending his honor from besieged trainer Brian McNamee in front of the House Oversight Committee (months later, the whole thing seems so surreal it's like it never happened), there was brief talk that Clemens might receive a pardon from President George W. Bush, whom Clemens considered a friend. The issue was raised by McNamee's lawyer, who was worried a pardon would ruin the whole thing.

Alas, as of yesterday, President Bush is now Former President Bush. And with him goes Clemens' chance of a presidential pardon:

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Do Not Read List: Kirk Radomski's Book

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-20T16:55:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: MLB Biz, MLB Media Watch

In the annals of Major League Baseball's steroids legend, much has been made of the books of former player and current professional scumbag Jose Canseco. Those books -- the first, Juiced, especially so -- managed to blow the lid off of MLB's as-yet-quiet performance-enhancing drugs story. They also managed to make Jose Canseco look like a terrible person.

One imagines it will be much the same with steroid dealer Kirk Radomski's tome, "Bases Loaded" -- the titles of steroids books are not renowned for their subtlety -- which comes out next week on Hudson Street Press. The New York Times was given a copy of the book to review for a story today (what, no copy for FanHouse?) and Times sportswriter Michael S. Schmidt summarizes the book nicely, preventing either you or I from having to actually buy and read something written by a creepy steroids dealer. Win-win:

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Felix Pie Finally, Mercifully Traded

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-18T18:00:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Cubs, Orioles, AL East, NL Central, MLB Transactions

Among numerous others, the Cubs have long had a question lingering over their roster: What to do with Felix Pie? The young center fielder's offensive game has yet to impress at the pro level, Lou Piniella has no patience for developing hitters, and Jim Hendry spent all offseason signing and curating outfielders. What to do, then, with him?

Today, the Cubs found their answer: a trade with the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers Garrett Olson and Henry Williamson:

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If Your Name Is Jeff Foxworthy, You Are Apparently a Braves Fan

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-14T17:56:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: Braves, NL East, MLB Media Watch, MLB Transactions

On the internet, you learn new things every day. For example: Did you know that the Pittsburgh mayor is changing his last name? Wild, right? I bet you learned about that on the internet today. Want to know what I learned today? That Jeff Foxworthy is a Braves fan, and he is none too pleased about Frank Wren's decision to let John Smoltz play for a team that has a 'B' on their hats rather than an 'A':

"I got a message from the Braves PR department. Derek Lowe was coming in and they wanted me to come talk him into joining the Braves," Foxworthy said. "I was like, not after what you did to my buddy."

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Money Doesn't Buy MLB Team Wins

Eamonn Brennan — 2009-01-13T18:30:00 00:00

by Eamonn Brennan

Filed under: MLB Biz

Every off-season -- or almost every off-season, anyway -- people rage about the evil excesses of high-payroll baseball teams, and viscerally, it makes sense. When your favorite team is the Royals, and your team couldn't pay a fifth of the Yankees' payroll, you're bound to convert to populism. Or at least a salary cap.

The truth is not so simple; baseball teams aren't guaranteed success by their payrolls. Everyone knows this; a quick look at recent World Series winners or Championship Series teams proves the point. But a closer look -- which ESPN The Magazine's Peter Bernstein took today (HT: Shysterball) -- proves the point pretty clearly:

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