SteveP

Rotoman said the following smart thing in his column this week at mlb.com.

“The real problem is that as a ballplayer there isn’t a lot to recommend him over Scott Hatteberg, who the A’s are paying a lot of money ($2.45M) to be their first baseman this year. Another way to put it is that the As are paying Scott Hatteberg a lot of money this year to do a job that Dan Johnson could probably do nearly as well for a lot less. ”

We, as roto owners and the A’s as real life owners can’t cancel contracts or trade something ‘smart’ like playing Dan Johnson for pennies against playing Hatteberg for two and a half mill. But what Rotoman says here is VERY smart. There is not a reason to play Johnson over Hatteberg to be sure, but that this is a discussion at all means that there isn’t any reason to pay Hatteberg 8 times what you would pay Johnson. Nothing you can do about it now of course, but next off season when you are looking at your Mike Matheny’s and Omar Vizquels….why not heed the Rotoman and tell yourself that your 2.5 mil guy might not be appreciably better than your triple-A ‘non’ prospect.

Rob Neyer and Rany Jazayerli write an amusing blog about their beloved Royals at this link. Historically they have been…ummm…critical of the organization, the KC press and probably if pressed the parking and concessions as well. In this installment they opine about the parting of Tony Pena. If you want to know exactly how the Royals have come to be what they are….here’s the spot. It’s also a good object lesson in how an organization can drive itself off the pier.

The return of Eric Gagne was somewhat less than spectacular…and then spectacular. After giving up a pair of home runs to Atlanta’s Jones brothers, and a single to Julio Franco, Gagne struck out the next three rather convincingly in a LA loss. Since he is facing this 2 game suspension, it might be better to leave him on the bench this week. For what it is worth Yhency Brazoban didn’t fare too well today coming in down 3-2…not that we needed to be told Gagne’s job was safe.

Manny Ramirez hit his 400th career homerun, seems impossible and that it was just the other day that he came up as a shortstop for the Indians. He’s 33 in a couple of weeks, 500 home runs and the Hall of Fame seem within reach. His three run shot was pretty impressive, he reached out over the plate on an outside pitch that fooled him and got just the end of the bat on it and carried it 10 rows deep into right. STRONG man. That homerun coincidentally helped Gil Meche continue his pattern of pitching very well for every inning but one – this time he got the win.

Aaron Boone got his first RBI since April 27 and went 2 for 4 to lift his average to .142. Not that I am suggesting that anyone play him, but Cleveland seems ready to leave him in regardless of the results and that may mean that somewhere down the line he will be worth owning. Just remember he doesn’t hit for average, it’s unlikely he will run, he doesn’t get on base so his runs won’t be great and he probably no longer qualifies at second base – but that does not mean that if the wheels fall back on, he couldn’t be a pretty good fill-in for a month or two somewhere.

Although it looks like a good matchup and is in a good park, Make sure to try to find the most current news on John Thomson’s back before starting him tomorrow against Stauffer and the Padres. It was reported his back was so bad he couldn’t sit down between innings in his last, non-stellar, performance.

Also tomorrow will be another test for Brad Penny at home against the Marlins. He was battered around pretty well in St. Louis last time out – but now faces an inconsistent offense and the surprisingly effective Brian Moehler at home in Chavez Ravine. Hee Seop Choi’s one for two today lifts his batting average to .312, but Olmedo Saenz’ stellar .333 hitting is keeping the platoon in order. If Choi keeps it up, eventually Los Angeles will need to find out if he can or can’t hit lefties. Although he hasn’t fared well against them so far, he has only faced lefties 8 at bats this season and all of 36 last season.

Egads!!!

Problems with their Staff? The O’s have a problem with Sammy’s Staph (infection). According to The Sun, Sosa will be out probably 2-4 weeks with a serious, drug resistant staph infection on his foot, maybe longer depending on how this infection responds to the new antibiotics.

Prospectus Triple Play

Baseball Prospectus has been a favorite for statistical gearheads for years. Some, including myself, have elected not to pony up for their premium service when this was instituted (not a knock on them, I just have limited time and shekels for such things), but there are still things to be had for free on their site. The complete works of the late Doug Pappas are there and for free (the pre-cursor to Maury Brown’s Business of Baseball site which Rotoman referenced earlier this week – SABR also has Doug’s work here.) and the occasional “Prospectus Triple Play” – which are usually entertaining, insightful and smart looks at 3 different teams/organizations. Normally baseball game centric, there are the occasional bon mots like this one:

“The Marlins’ latest bid for a taxpayer-funded stadium died an ugly death at the hands of the Florida State Senate last week. It’s not a huge surprise or even a huge shame, except to the extent that ownership visits to Las Vegas, Portland, San Juan, Mexico City, and Kuala Lumpur might distract from a terrific season by South Florida’s ballclub. “

They also have all the stats you can shake a VORP*-al stick at.

*(Value Over Replacement Player).

The roto gods giveth and they taketh away…..

After I opined about Miles and Barmes…Miles went 4 for 5 with an RBI and 3 runs. Barmes was 1 for 5 with a run….and was the only hit on my entire team that evening (1 for 29 I think). But hey, Young (not on that roster) was wonderful for the Rangers!!!!

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/scoreboard

Tim Stauffer makes his debut for the Pads in the Great American Bandbox…but against the hapless Paul Wilson. Sounds like some bad baseball to be had there.

Normally Prior vs. Victor Zambrano would be a slam dunk…and may be. But the Mutts have been showing some life particularly from Cameron and Piazza recently. The scrubbies haven’t been exactly bad…but…

Zito in Fenway? Not as bad as it might seem since the Sox have been a mixed bag offensively and Clement has been better than I, at least, expected.

Oswalt vs. Willis seems like the Marquee matchup, Oswalt says his foot feels better, I guess we’ll see.

Aaron Boone was allowed to bat in the ninth against KRod in a one run game. In politics one would jokingly say he must have the pictures. He’s hitting 130-something and doing second inning bunts with 2 outs these days. It’s ugly.

Chan Ho Park had another good game so take out your water witch and ouija board for his next start.

Tino Martinez will be a hot pick up after his fourth HR in as many days. I picked him up. With this talk of Giambi going to the minors (and saving the Yanks 36k per DAY in revenue sharing/luxury tax by the way), he’s not a great play…but probably a good play for the 1B differently abled teams, particularly AL only.

Today’s Schedule and starters

Featured matchups.
Roger Clemens vs. A.J. Burnett in Florida. Houston is 1-14 on the road. It was good to see Pierre get five hits and three steals yesterday. Burnett was touched a couple of times in Atlanta last time out, but was still not bad. His career record against Houston is not good (but in only five starts). Clemens has been very inconsistent this season – sometimes he has been terrific and other times merely very good. Bagwell’s shoulder felt poorly yesterday so he’s not a great play (as are any of these guys against Burnett really). But no one’s a particularly good play against Clemens either. Should be a fun game to watch.

I’ll be curious to see how Tim Hudson does in Colorado. It was interesting that Barmes was moved up to leadoff yesterday and Miles down to two. Miles’ grand slam masks a couple of really bad at bats, so I am not at all convinced that it signals an end to his slump. However he now has both a home run and a walk this year (who had one month in the pool?) He’s going at a rate that will net him 60 or so runs and RBI’s for the season after having batted leadoff for a month. He has a .289 OBP and the grand slam lifted his slugging over .400. (twenty points a pop worse than Luis Gonzalez, who despite slumping and not playing much also has a home run and three!! walks). Anyway, I’ve been pimping Barmes since halfway through last season, so I’m looking pretty good there now.

Two of my favorite second tier starters go in Arizona. Livan and the surprisingly lively Nationals go in against Webb and the Snakes without Vidro, who goes from missing three to five days to wearing a boot and an update to come on Friday…Ouch..Boy, have injuries sidetracked this guy. I have to say though, perhaps it is his chronic knee problems, but he has always looked a bit out of shape in recent years. Since the Nationals didn’t use Ayala and Cordero yesterday when they needed them (probably costing Loaiza a win), presumably they are available today, but I still like Webb at home.

I kind of like Young at home for the Rangers against Detroit. He’s been quite good (and is a pretty good two-starter this week too I think) and I don’t particularly like Wakefield against Oakland in a cold Fenway, Oakland’s offense has been about as a bad as possible, but I wonder whether Wakefield will get a consistent grip or control over the knuckler on such a cold and wet night as is predicted.

Dodgers/Cincy

I could have posted several of these for Sunday’s games. Don’t you hate it when it’s getting towards the end of a meaningless portion of the game and one of several things happens?

1. Atlanta is up by 16 and Orlando Palmeiro gets a meaningless pinch single with 2 outs in the 9th to force up MY Willy Taveras to get one last 0 for 1?
2. Colorado is up 8-2 and they get a meaningless man on base with two outs in the 9th to bring up MY Barmes for an 0 for 1?
3. Cincy is down by six with 2 outs in the ninth and they walk Mike Edwards to bring up MY Choi for an 0 for 1 pinch hit?
4. In the bottom of that inning, The Dodgers bring in Brazoban, in a non-save situation where the best he can give me is a decent single inning, and the worst is he could blow up?

It’s a maddening pastime!!!!

A couple of interesting matchups today.

John Patterson draws Jason Schmidt today and as of this writing no word on whether Jose Guillen will be in the lineup. With Guillen questionable and Vidro definitely out it’s probably not a great play on the road against the Giants if you need a ‘W.’

Pedro goes against Wes Obermueller and the Brewers which has to be considered a favourable matchup, not that you were sitting Pedro anyway. Speaking of things you didn’t do anyway, kudos to everyone who resisted picking up Josh Fogg after the one start…his ERA is now 5.24 and heading north. Russ Ortiz hasn’t been much good, but he looks good against Fogg and the Bucs today. Sean Chacon has been pretty good in his couple times out, but I can’t like his chances against Beckett and the Marlins this evening.

****UPDATE****of course it goes without saying that Fogg has a no hitter through four innings and is up 2-0.

From a real baseball sense, I am interested in the Eaton vs. Carpenter matchup as well as Bonderman vs. Colon. Colon has to be the favorite, but a good showing on the road against the Halos would certainly give one added confidence in future Bonderman weekends. Likewise each good start for Eaton moves him closer to the ‘it is’ side of the annual Eaton ‘is this the year?’ scale. As with Bonderman, proving it against a tough opponent on the road would be a big step.

L (2-2) 2ip 1h 3r 1er 2bb 3k Mariano Rivera
BS, W (1-0) 1.2ip 0h 0er 0r 1bb 1k Octavio Dotel

Adding to the hit parade of closer explosions is Mariano Rivera of the free falling Yankees. (I bet more than one person hopes Bellamy Road wins the Derby). Dotel “blew” his save on a run scored on a ground out, which seems a bit unfair (and you know someone’s gonna look at that and say…see? Dotel blew another save). Well he did allow a run to score, but what happens if Posada doesn’t go to second when Jeter steals third on the previous play and the grounder is an inning ending double play? We applaud him for getting the job done.

But all of this closer volatility reminds me. How much did your league spend on Lidge, Gagne and Rivera and how do their numbers compare with Lyon, Brazoban and Mesa?

Not that I am condoning this means of dispute resolution, but from Japan we have an novel approach that makes Billy Martin’s tirades look rather ineffectual….from Baseballibrary.com
May 6, 2000
In a Japanese League game at the Nagoya Dome against the Yokohama BayStars, home-plate umpire Atsushi Kittaka calls a third strike on Dragons infielder Kazuyoshi Tatsunami. Tatsunami contests the call, and his teammates rush from the dugout, surrounding and wrestling the umpire. Kittaka’s uniform is left with spike marks and his ribs are fractured.

And from Garrison Keillor on the joys of ‘good neighbour’ radio via The Nation.
“The sports talk station gives you a succession of men whose absorption in a fantasy world is, to me, borderline insane. You’re grateful not to be related to any of them, and yet ten minutes of their ranting and wheezing is a real tonic that somehow makes this world, the world of trees and children and books and travel, positively tremble with vitality.”

As I type this, I see that the bullpen woes that have plagued the entire year continue. Billy Wagner blows a save by giving up a 2 run shot to Derrek Lee in the bottom of the eighth, but is about to pick up the win, since Latroy Hawkins gave it right back in the top of the ninth by trying to do a bit too much and throwing the ball away after grabbing a liner back to the mound…allowing 2 runners to score. Naturally, being absorbed in a fantasy world, and not owning either of these two gentlemen, I don’t care!!!! So the disappointing Phillies beat the disappointing Cubs….did you ever think that a team would be hungry to get Joe Borowski back?

Barry Zito goes this evening against the Yankees. I don’t know whether that is more welcome news for the latest member of the Kevin Brown all-stars (Robinson Cano? Tony Womack?) or the Yankees. Zito brings a 5.84ERA and 5 home runs allowed in 37 innings to the game. In one league I am in, a player picked up Zito specifically for this start which just goes to show the wonderful variety of ideas to be found in your local roto leagues….but honesty compels me to admit that this individual is 14 points ahead of me for the moment, so I can’t laugh that loud.

Oliver Perez takes his 7.11 ERA on the road to Arizona to face a possibly rejuvenated Javier Vazquez. Ollie is about to gain a spot on the Kevin Brown All Stars as well. Allowing a .295 Batting Average Against in combination with 6-1/2 walks a game is not the way to warm the roto owner’s heart. Oh and he’s giving up over 2 HRs a game as well. I DO have Ollie on a couple of teams so I do care. Of course his fine start the last but one against Houston sucked him backed into your lineup (it did mine), only to get pounded by that offensive juggernaut that is the San Francisco Giants. Vazquez on the other hand has been good 3 times out (but still has a 5.11 ERA which tells you where he was coming from.

Bump up your St. Louis guys if you have daily changes…going against Darrell May tonight. May occasionally resembles a pitcher, but against a decent home run team, if he is off it could get ugly quickly. I’d say Suppan is a pretty good bet for a win tonight. As ought to be Santana against the DRays and Brazelton – however the DRays are actually hitting pretty well at home .315ba, .824ops On the road? .255/.663 How’s THAT for a split?
In case you missed the news, Cantu hasn’t been playing because of a sore finger. One of the joys of having a Lou Pinella player is that such information isn’t often shared with the listening public. So you have to guess whether the player is hurt, or whether they are in Lou’s doghouse (an easy enough place for a young guy to find their way to….remember to check out the Toby Hall suite while you are there). In other Rays news, B.J. Upton went o for 4 yesterday in triple-A and was tossed arguing his fouth strikeout of the day. BUT he didn’t make an error (he has something like 12 already).

And in our final bit – Aaron “Babe” Boone was 0-3 last night to drop his average back to .118 and he struck out once. But it couldn’t have been expected that he would maintain the giddy pace of Wednesday’s 1 for 4 which lifted his average to .122. I do not understand how they can keep running him out there as he leaves, by my count, about 20 runners on base every game. My condolences to Boone owners, but the best I can say is that only 5 AL 3B eligibles have more home runs!!