Give Me a Break

Most of the time I offer straight analysis. I figure data is data and I can analyze that and let it lead me to whatever conclusion is warranted. For those of you who read my work, I hope you not only see that directive in my work, but that you also enjoy the fact that I try to objectively analyze the situations I review. On the flip side, those who know me personally know me to be quick with the tongue, biting with my criticism, and far from shy about voicing a minority view point (thanks Mom and Dad for that for that inner confidence). In what follows I will present my normal analysis of a couple of players, and to that I will add a couple of personal diatribes. I’ll leave you to figure out which is which – I’m sure it’s pretty obvious.

Astros manager Cecil Cooper will not be receiving a vote of confidence from the front office after his club has lost seven games in a row. “I’ve been a GM now for 10 years…” GM Ed Wade said. “I don’t get into votes of confidence. I don’t think there’s any value to it.” Way to go Ed, I totally agree with you. Cooper should just do his job and the results will speak for themselves. Talk about being pampered with kid gloves. I don’t know about you, but if I continually spelled words wrong, missed my deadlines and offered poor analysis, you think I would be allowed to keep my job? A vote of confidence? What are you, six years old? Do your flipping job – if you need a pat on the back telling you that you did a good job I hear there is an opening in Mrs. Johnson’s kindergarten class. Maybe you can get a smiling face if you do really well too. Goodness gracious. I guess the millions of dollars everyone involved with sports makes isn’t enough. No, I’m not at all bitter, why do you ask?

Tom Glavine, yes he is still pitching, tossed five scoreless innings on Thursday in Triple-A. He wasn’t throwing very hard, most of his fastball were between 83 and 86 mph in the outing, but the zeros are zeros regardless of the speed of the pitch. Pretty amazing that a guy who can barely throw harder than I can continues to get batters out. Do I ever wish I was left-handed.

Brett Myers may be forced to go under the knife to repair his injured right hip which apparently involved some fraying, and possible tearing, of his labrum in his hip. Myers continues to confound with his astronomical HR/9 mark of 2.40. Myers has actually struggled all across the board this season with a 4.66 ERA, a 6.50 K/9 and a 2.30 K/BB mark, all of which would be five year worst’s. An injury seems as good a reason as anything else to explain his struggles.

Chris Ray has been demoted to Triple-A to find out why the heck he has been so ineffective this season. I went into the issue in a bit of depth earlier today, so I wont rehash those facts here, you can read about it by simply clicking on the link to my BABIP Piece. Guess the Orioles didn’t read what I had to say before they made the decision to demote him. Ray will be back at some point, and I still wouldn’t be at all surprised to see George Sherrill traded as we get closer to the deadline. Therefore, I would still recommend holding on to Ray in all AL-only leagues, and he should be kept on your watch list in deep mixed leagues as well despite the demotion.

Carlos Zambrano was suspended for six games by MLB on Thursday for his tirade the other day. He will miss one start as a result. It’s amazing that a guy who is 27 years old, he will be 28 on next Monday if you believe that birth certificate number (I don’t), continues to have such a fantastic lack of self control akin to Sean Avery in the NHL. That act of Zambrano’s will grow really old, really quickly, if his production continues to dwindle as it has early on this season as he has a 4.22 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP in his eight starts despite a solid 8.45 K/9 mark that would be a three year high. Shameful lack of control really no matter if he’s an All-Star or not. Make sure your kid doesn’t idolize this rotund buffoon.

By Ray Flowers