Players

Mota Fails Physical

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Do you think the Red Sox didn’t inspect Mota because they wanted Beckett so much and knew they weren’t going to queer the deal even if he couldn’t comb his hair? Or they did inspect him, realized he was in tatters, and tried to spin him before that became obvious? If the Indians were the Yankees we would think the failed physical was more likely George’s attempt to backtrack than anything real.

Jim Duquette Gets His Man

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Orioles get Benson from Mets for Julio, Maine – MLB – Yahoo! Sports

Anna Benson is upset because the Mets signed her husband, and now they’re dumping him. But it was GM Jim Duquette who traded for the Bensons when he was with the Mets, and who has traded for him again. The Bensons have yet to do much to repay that devotion.

Now the Mets should work on getting Duquette excited about Victor Zambrano again.

Baseball Bullet-In

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The Japan Times Online

Tim McLeod, who has taken it upon himself to keep me up to date with Japanese baseball, sent me a couple of stories from the Japan Times today. In the first one, a notebook of baseball news I couldn’t find a link to, the newest Tampa Bay reliever from Japan, Shinji Mori, says with the trade of Danys Baez that he wants to be the Devil Rays’ closer. Also, Ozzie Guillen says that Tadahito Iguchi will be batting sixth or seventh because “he knows his baseball,” and wants him to play to his strength. Finally, Kenji Johjima says he plans on catching all 162 games this year, and hopes to work with Seattle ace Jamie Moyer learning opposing hitters, perhaps over a few glasses of wine.

The link above leads to Wayne Graczyk column, which lists which foreign players are staying in Japan this year, and who the newcomers are. Included in the latter group are Kevin Beirne, DJ Carrasco, Jeff Liefer, Jason Grabowski, maybe Jose Macias, Luis Martinez, Gary Glover, Sean Douglass are the big names. He also explains why Johjima should be Jojima unless Ichiro is spelled Ichiroh.

Thanks Tim.

LA: Lake Arrowhead or Corey Patterson

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Daily Graphing: Corey Patterson — The Hardball Times

I have no quarrel with the graphs or the logic that says Corey Patterson isn’t as good as he could be. But I think we have to move away from the simplistic truism that players will get better by improving their walk rates. It’s awfully stale.

And it isn’t necessarily true. A lot of players balance a diverse set of skills that have made them major leaguers, and taking pitches isn’t an important part of that. Adding patience can be a negative, especially when it throws a player off his rhythm. Maybe the Cubs efforts to make Patterson a leadoff hitter hurt him.

Patterson needs to walk more if he’s going to bat leadoff or high in the order. If he’s going to hit down in the order his other skills are enough to offset his shortcomings, most of the time. It’s too bad that he seems incapable of improving his game, but that’s why we admire superstars. They do things that guys like Patterson can’t imagine.

So, Patterson isn’t looking like a superstar today. But if he is used properly in Baltimore he’s going to be a differencemaker in AL only leagues. His price isn’t going to collapse, but even at $20 (unless his confidence is now totally shot) he’s a bargain. (We’ll have to read the leaves of ST to make a better judgement.)

MLB.com On the Move column

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Major League Baseball Fantasy

I’ve been finding MLB.com’s On the Move column analyzing the offseason player movement to be pretty good, but today’s take on Corey Patterson strikes me as oh soooo knee jerk. Everyone knows that Patterson crumpled last year in the face of insane pressure for him to change his game. Does that mean he “is worth no more than speculative AL-only bench bid” this year?

I don’t think so. Sure, there’s a chance Patterson’s career was wrecked with his confidence last year, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that this guy walked 46 times in 2004 while tallying 63 extra base hits and stealing 32 bases. And he turns just 27 years old this year. Look at Juan Encarnacion for a less talented hitter with no better patience, less power and speed, and his apparent collapse in 2001 as an antecedent. Get Patterson away from the top of the lineup, let him hack and run and the Orioles are going to enjoy what he gives them.

Meanwhile I’m hoping he has a bad spring that drops his price some.