The Wacky World of Baseball

April 27th, 2010 | by Ray Flowers |

The Rockies made a stupid decision, more star players have ended up on the DL, the Orioles bullpen continues to be a mess and Roy Oswalt has a story that will make you love him.

I don’t get it. The Rockies gave Chris Iannetta a 3-year deal worth $8.3 million. The club then brought in Miguel Olivo in on a 1-year, $2.5 million deal to serve as his the backup. Three weeks into the season, the situation has been reversed. In fact, it’s worse than that as Iannetta has actually been sent down to Triple-A. Does this make any sense? I know that Iannetta is hitting .133 with 11 Ks in 30 at-bats, Olivo is hot as he is hitting .311 with five bombs, but how can the team possibly send out their “starting” catcher after 30 at-bats? Just what in the heck is Chris going to prove at Triple-A? After all, this is a man who has 293 games of big league experience. I know it’s not the best way to compare players, but here is what each man would do based on a 162 game season.

Iannetta: .239-23-86-70 with a .357 OBP and a .799 OPS
Olivo: .244-21-72-63 with a .279 OBP and a .707 OPS

Clearly Iannetta is the more complete hitter, and three weeks doesn’t change that at all. I preach patience all the time in the fantasy game. Clearly, I have to start preaching the same thing to real world teams as the Rockies pulled the classic, knee jerk move of making a move that they will regret when the summer hits.

Jason Bay hit his first homer of the year on Tuesday ending a drought that had reached 108 at-bats dating back to last year. Look for him to relax and possibly take off shortly.

Vladimir Guerrero is playing right field on Tuesday as the Rangers were forced to put Nelson Cruz on the DL with a hamstring issue. I don’t think that is a plan the club should follow. Leave Vlad at DH where he has been ripping it up to the tune of a .371 average, and put David Murphy in the field. Not only does this make the most sense because of the health concerns with Vlad, it also would help my Jed Wars team where I have Murphy as one of my outfielders. Speaking of Jed Wars, here is a link to one of the videos I did for the league. It explains my love of fantasy baseball in The Illustrated Ray Flowers. Do you love my art or what? I know, Picasso has nothing on me.

The Orioles will no longer simply give the ball to Jim Johnson in the ninth Inning. “Whoever can get outs is going to get a chance,” manager Jim Trembley said. “I don’t think there are any roles. There is no closer right now for me.” Seems like Mike Gonzalez will have a good shot at reclaiming the role once he returns. Too bad we have no idea when that might be (a report suggested that he won’t been cleared to throw until Monday).

If you didn’t love Roy Oswalt already, these two stories should clinch it. (1) Oswalt’s parents live in the same town, in the same house, that they have since Roy was a child. Oswalt bought a home that is about ½ a mile from his parents house. The family owns a restaurant there. Oh, and Roy married a gal who is from the same town. Gotta love that. (2) Oswalt’s career was saved by, and I’m not making this up, an electric shock. In 1999 his shoulder was jacked up (it took six Advil for him just to get to sleep). How did he get past it? No, not surgery, but a spark plug. While working on his truck a bolt of electricity ran through his body and fixed his shoulder. If you don’t love all that, I don’t know what to tell you.

Ryan Zimmerman (hamstring) continues to be out of the starting lineup. I’m not ready to call this a Red Sox-like situation with how they handled Jacoby Ellsbury, but if all Z. can do is pinch hit, why not just put him on the DL to make sure both his hamstrings are healthy? He hasn’t played a full game since April 21st.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Astros, Chris Iannetta, David Murphy, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Bay, Jed Wars, Jim Johnson, Mets, Miguel Olivo, Mike Gonzalez, Orioles, Rangers, Red Sox, Rockies, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Zimmerman, Vladimir Guerrero