A Reunion of Old Friends

  I have my high school reunion this weekend. I’ll get a chance to see all the folks that I haven’t talked to in years. Will the gals from high school who weren’t that attractive have blossomed into beauties? Luckily I was nice to everyone so that scenario would work out great for me – in theory at least. Will I find out that someone had a crush on me but never told me? Will I learn that I made someone’s day at some point by doing something nice that I’ve completely forgotten about? I’d love to hear how your reunions have gone, so feel free to share in the COMMENTS section below. About all I’m certain of is that there will be much alcohol consumed, and chances are pretty good that someone, hopefully not me, will make a scene… just like in high school.

Oh wait this is supposed to be a baseball blog isn’t it? Guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to throw a few baseball anecdotes up there. Let’s see…

C.J. Wilson will be a free agent this offseason, and rumors are already swirling that the two big boys – the Red Sox and the Yankees – will be interested in bidding for his services. Given the fact that thet Sox were trying the entire last week of the season to add a hurler for game 162 you know all you need to about the state of their rotation. As for the Yankees – Freddy Garcia (25 starts) and Bartolon Colon (26) made 51 starts for the club. Do you think they could use another arm? Wilson, in just his sescond season as a starter, had an elite level effort in 2011 for the Rangers. Wilson won 16 games, one more than Jon Lester and Ricky Romero. His 2.94 ERA was seventh in the AL and better than guys like CC Sabathia (3.00) and Dan Haren (3.17). Wilson posted a total of 206 punchouts, the sixth best mark in the AL and third best amongst lefties (Sabathia had 230, David Prive 218). Wilson was also stingy in base runners allowed with a WHIP of 1.19 better than the marks of Felix Hernandez (1.22), Sabathia (1.23) and Lester (1.26). Add in that Wilson also threw 223.1 innings and the guy has proven that his transition to the rotation is complete. He’ll make a ton of money this offseason.

I’ve been prepping for Halloween by watching old episodes of the TV show Supernatural. Pretty darn good series for those of you who have never watched (I can totally see my brother and I in the two leads, and if you are wondering, I would be Dean). I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it here, but I really enjoy Halloween. In fact, I’m planning out how to lay out my front yard this weekend. Yeah, I’m that guy who decorates his house for the neighborhood. Wait, that had nothing to do with baseball again did it? I’m stuck in a weird loop today.

Eric Chavez might retire, and while some of you might be saying to yourself who cares, it would be a shame. Just 33 years old, his career has been destroyed by injury as he’s appeared in a total of 123 games the past four years. I’m gonna make a bold statement. Chavez was on his way to the Hall of Fame before injuries hit. You might think that I’ve eaten too much of my candy stash while playing how I’m going to decorate for Halloween, but hear me out.

From 2001-06 Chavez won a Gold Glove every season.

From 2000-06 Chavez hit at least 22 homers every year.
From 2000-06 Chavez knocked in at least 72 runs.
From 2000-06 Chavez scored at least 74 runs every season.

Add that all up and this is what we get.

From 2000-06 Chavez was second at the third base position in homers, first in RBI and first in runs scored. Toss in six Gold Gloves in the seven years and there is no way around the fact that, for seven years, Chavez was the best all-around third baseman in the game. A couple more years like that and he would have had a shot at Cooperstown.

By Ray Flowers

MLK Special

I know, I know, it’s Martin Luther King day which is a holiday, and I’ve already been castigated at the Baseball Guys’ Twitter Page for being so stupid as to work on the holiday. Still, I couldn’t help myself, I just had to get a few thoughts on the page before taking the afternoon off prior to attending the San Jose Sharks game with the Calgary Flames tonight.

* Eric Byrnes wants to return to the Bay Area in 2010. Injuries have ruined his play the past two years, and he is owed $11 million in 2010. However, whoever picks him up at this point is only on the hook for the veteran minimum as the D’backs will have to foot the bill for the rest. Byrnes grew up in the Bay Area and was a Giants fan as a kid, so this would be a great story. The Giants could certainly use a solid depth outfielder with energy, and if healthy, Byrnes is just that type of guy. Will the cheap ass Giants pay the major league minimum for the guy? Hard to cry poor when the cost is that low.

* Johnny Damon continues to float in the sea of free agency with no land in sight. Apparently no one wants a guy who can hit .280 with 20 homers and 90 runs scored. Oh yeah, his agent is Scott Boras so the fact that he is asking for $197 million might have something to do with the fact that he has been cast adrift.

* Kevin Kouzmanoff will play third base most of the time this season for his new club – the Athletics. The club is looking at Eric Chavez, if healthy, to fill a utility role playing third, first, possibly some outfield, and even some shortstop. I’m not kidding, shortstop. It was his position growing up, but an aging player with a bad back – does it make sense to move him over there at this point? To read more about the Chavez situation click on Susan Slusser’s piece.

* The Nationals are a mess. Make a decision will you! They still aren’t certain what they are going to do with Cristian Guzman and Ian Desmond. Most assumed that Guzman would move to second with the younger and more athletic Desmond taking over at short. However, the Nats continue to be tied to Orlando Hudson which would almost certainly leave Guzman at short and Desmond at Triple-A to start the year.

Even more of a concern to me is that the club seems uncertain with what they are going to do in the ninth inning. Despite signing Matt Capps, there are still words coming out of Washington that even though he will get the first shot at the closers role that he is far from a lock to hold down the role. “I’d probably start with Capps and go from there,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “There are times you’re facing a ball club such as the Phillies, where they’ve got a strong left-handed lineup, that it might be Sean Burnett or Eddie Guardado, and then maybe you give it to Capps or Brian Bruney or whoever’s freshest.” Seriously Mr. Riggleman? If you go with Burnett or Guardado for any length of time your tenure as the manager in Washington will be short. Stick Capps in the ninth, use Bruney in the 8th, and save Burnett/Guardado for matchup work in the seventh and eighth. That’s a recipe for success.

* Jim Thome still can’t find a home. Odd how no AL team wants a DH who will hit 25 homers with a .365 OBP.

By Ray Flowers

Injuries and Uncertainty

Today I’m going to explain why it makes sense to trust yourself, and why your first “call” is likely the one that you should almost always go with. I’ll also touch on the plight of the injured Athletics, and a couple of NFL quick hitters that I just had to voice my thoughts on.

The Athletics can’t hit (they are last in the AL with a .233 batting average and just 75 runs scored), and they are also dealing with injuries all over the infield to the likes of Nomar Garciaparra and Mark Ellis (both have calf concerns) and the never ending health concerns of Eric Chavez. All of this likely means that Bobby Crosby could return to the lineup on a daily basis, especially if both Garciaparra and Ellis end up with long stays on the sidelines (they will at least be DL’d for 15-days). Crosby isn’t hitting his weight this season (.179 in 28 ABs), this after hitting .226 in 2207 and .237 in 2008. The A’s are in bad shape if they have to given Crosby 400+ ABs this season. Heck, if they give the at-bats to Jack Hannahan are they any better off since he owns a career line of .229/.317/.360 in 595 ABs?

Don’t you hate it when you don’t trust yourself? This weekend in the $100,000 NFBC tournament, I had a decision to make on who to add to my pitching staff when the A’s finally announced that Joey Devine was done for the year with elbow surgery. With Devine’s injury, he was the top closer I took on draft day, I’m left without a full-time closer in the 15 team league (30 players per squad). Ryan Franklin has been a great find, he was taken in the 25th round, but it’s tough to call him a full-time closer with the way Tony La Russa manages the Cardinals.

Anyway, I had to make a decision on who to add to my squad, knowing that I badly needed saves. I had three main choices I was considering: J.P. Howell, Santiago Casilla and Ryan Madson. Clearly Howell isn’t in line for saves in Tampa, but it was still hard to ignore his performance since the start of last season that includes some great work that I detailed in my Chopping Block article, including the best ERA in baseball since the start of the 2008 season amongst hurlers who have thrown at least 95-innings. Madson, he has been a lock the past two years producing an identical ERA of 3.05, and WHIP marks of 1.27 and 1.23. Solid skills, and a stable role, but no saves with Brad Lidge around. That left me with Casilla as my top choice since I have little faith at all that Brad Ziegler will be able to hold down the closers role all year. Casilla is off to a solid start with a 1.59 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in his 11.1 innings, and he has allowed only three hits. If he can avoid his late season failures that have become too common place, and Ziegler is slowly figured out by batters as I assume he will be, then Casilla becomes a very sneaky and cheap pickup with saves potential (I only spent $12 out of a $1,000 FAAB budget to grab him). Now comes word that Lidge is dealing with a knee injury that shouldn’t, but could, end up with him spending some time on the DL. In fact, according to our injury expert Rick Wilton, this type of injury not only often leads to a stint on the DL, it even ends up leading to surgery in a minority of cases (you can read more about his injury analysis in The Baseball Injury Report.

All of this just goes to show you that trusting your gut is always the right move. In this case, that would have been to take Madson or Howell who are likely to me much more stable options than Casilla. If Lidge ends up needing time on the DL, care to guess how much Madson will go for in FAAB this week? I’m betting the bidding would hit at least hits triple digits. Oh, and yeah, that was a report you read this morning on Casilla injuring his calf on Tuesday night right? He will likely be shut down for a couple of days as a result. What is it I always preach– take skill over role? I should have taken my own advice.

I love how the Raiders do their own thing without a care in the world about what others think. Too bad they are never right.

Some team is going to give Michael Vick a shot once his prison sentence and NFL suspension are completed. Not only do I hope that team receives coal in their stocking come the holiday season, I hope the organization goes into a tailspin and doesn’t make the playoffs for a decade. The man is a deplorable human being, and for once I would like the owners in the NFL to stand up for what is right versus what could make them money. I can tell you this – there will be a whole lot of P.E.T.A (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) rallies everywhere Vick goes, and there rightly should be. Sometimes P.E.T.A is way too rabid for my tastes, but in this case, I stand with them.