Five Rules for the Offseason in Keeper Leagues

As one baseball season comes to an end, the Rotisserie Hot Stove League kicks in big time. And you have to make some early decisions in your keeper leagues. Each is different and the guidelines affect your thinking, but here is what I have been tossing around so far.

Say you play in a keeper league with a $260 salary cap and a $350 in season salary maximum for all your players, which includes 10 reserves.

You spent the season trying to win your league’s pennant, and you traded away star rookie prospects like a Cameron Maybin or Travis Snider, whose salary was a buck, for a Josh Beckett or an AJ Burnett, who went for up to $25. The season has ended, and now your team’s total salary is at $349. You are sitting with guys like Vladimir and Jason Bay and Lance Berkman at 35 bucks plus. No way can you keep or protect all these guys.

What do you do?

Rule Number one: Dump Salary.

If your league’s trading season is open, you had better start biting the bullet and dealing your high priced sluggers and starters for something. Of course, it depends on the number of keepers your league has. If it is a small keeper league, then those guys are horsemeat anyway. But if you play in a deep keeper league and the team in 19th place needs a slugging bat, maybe you can deal a disappointing and high priced Lance Berkman for Carlos Gomez, and the potential of steals he brings to Milwaukee.

Rule Number two: Trade Down.

Every team needs a solid ace in its core of nine or ten pitchers, someone who can stabilize your pitching corps with consistently good outings. I do not mean a Jon Garland. I mean a Dan Haren, some guy you may have to pay 30 bucks for and who will dutifully post a strikeout an inning. I think you go for the strongest arm with the least injury history when it comes to betting the farm on a pitcher. Every pitch is a toss away from TJ surgery, but it seems sensible that if you have to bet, a guy like Josh Beckett, who never misses a start, is a good risk. But if you traded during the season so as to land Beckett and Burnett, and both are 28 bucks each, you had better deal one of them.

So in a league with deep keepers, dealing Josh Beckett at $28 bucks may be worth acquiring Jon Niese, a Met strikeout artist in the minors, at $1. Maybe the last place team is sitting on a $1 dollar 14 game winner in Ric Porcello, who won’t give you strikeouts, but may give you era, whip, and victories. You gotta’ go for it. It may aggravate fellow league owners, but you were going to lose Beckett in the draft, and now you are acquiring a likely starter..

Rule Number Three: Give Up More than You Get.

Another way to play the game in the offseason is to overwhelm your competitor with an offer which in fact helps him and seemingly hurts you. If you need to get down protecting say 15 players at $200, it will not help you having a dozen quality players at $20 bucks each. So don’t be afraid to do a giveaway which benefits your opponent if it gets you a low priced bat. Say you are sitting on a corner bat like Mike Lowell at 15 and Josh Beckett at 28 and there is no way you can pay both $43. Offer them and a rookie to a lower echelon team for a $5 Andy La Roche in the hope he emerges. Is that fair value? Of course not. Still, in a league based on salaries, you have to do that. Would a rebuilding team bite? Only if they need an ace. But you take your shot.

In one league I am in, we do not use salaries, but we really limit the guys you can protect, and we play with a small roster. One dude saw his team was out of the money and he finished last in the league but first in trading. His ingenious method was to steadily improve other teams in trades by offering multiple talents to acquire their best player, hoping to lock them away as part of a protected cast for the following year.

So here, he said, take Brian Roberts, Nate McClouth, and Justin Morneau. Just give me Albert Pujols. Take Roy Halladay, Mark Texeira, Jimmy Rollins. Just give me at all costs Chase Utley.

The season ends and he gets to protect six players next year, and each are the best at their position. Not to mention, he has the first draft pick. Thus, in a keeper league, a two year plan is not out of the question. This guy has a formidable team going into next year’s draft. We only play 17 players in a 16 team league, and his top 6 are in the top 15 in baseball.

Rule Number Four. Score A Solid Veteran

The most fun is being the guy to take the next rookie at 1 buck who delivers 19 dollars worth for you, and becomes a star. So no one wants the 38 year old Casey Blakes and Mike Lowells whose numbers are consistent season after season, but are heartbreaking injury risks. Chances are they will be excellent and cheap late round selections next season. If your league uses toppers, a certain number of guys you get to keep if you bid a buck higher than anyone else, why not trade for one of them as a safety valve for your draft next Spring?

How many teams and owners let Aaron Hill in Toronto escape their eagle eye last season? He was off to a running start in 2008 when he went down with a season ending injury so he was off everyone’s radar, and wound up putting up huge numbers in 09. Trust in medicine. Based on how he started off in 09, you have got to believe a healthy Rickey Weeks can put up the numbers he started to put on the board last April. Remember that an owner seeking to dump a New York Yankees hurler named Wang may be tossing a guy who won 38 games in two seasons.

Rule Number Five. Grab Some Guys in Limbo

A week ago, no one knew if Carlos Gomez had a job. Now he may start in Milwaukee. His value has just soared.

Jeremy Hermida may be a fourth outfielder, but in the Boston lineup with that short rightfield porch and a DH slot available, the guy could blossom in Boston. At Fenway, his value has just soared.

As the season ends, Garrett Atkins has no job, and a team may dump him. Imagine how his value would soar if he was inserted into the Phillies lineup to replace Feliz? Look around for those guys who owners are nervous about keeping and may fool everyone. The Dodgers grabbed George Sherill as an 8th inning guy for their stretch run but no owner may want to pay his salary if he is not a closer. What happens if LA does not keep him and he winds up as a closer in another city? Look for that type of player, like a Hideki Matsui. He is going to hit 25 homers somewhere, but right now you are in a good bargaining position to grab him as the Yankees ponder whether to go with youth or re-sign the World Series Hero. Maybe his value soars if he signs anew and his roster spot gets locked in.

As I said, these rules are not etched in stone because there are numerous variants based on your league’s requirements and salaries and keeper provisions. But it helps to get through the next four months when the only excitement is Rotoworld’s posting of who gets untendered, busted, or traded.

The Artful Dodger: Vin Scully

That Artful Dodgers Voice -- A great story by a writer for the
By MARK YOST
Los Angeles

The Major League Baseball playoffs begin tonight, and with them will come justifiable criticism of some of the abysmal sports commentary that regularly trudges across the airwaves. For a refreshing change, I would direct listeners to the smooth tenor voice and pithy commentary of Vin Scully. This is Mr. Scully's 60th year in the Los Angeles Dodgers broadcast booth, and he is nothing short of the best play-by-play man working in sports today.

The pregame banter for the first of three recent Rockies-Dodgers games was filled with information you could have gleaned from the morning paper or a blog. The Dodgers needed just one win to clinch the National League West (which they did Saturday night); a Phillies loss helped the Dodgers secure the best record in the National League. When Mr. Scully finally took the mike, he distinguished himself in just one sentence.

"It's a very pleasant Friday night here in Los Angeles," he said, telling radio listeners from Petaluma to Panama City something they couldn't possibly have known unless they were here at the game. More important, Mr. Scully, who's 81, wasn't just setting the atmosphere but building a rapport with his audience. "I don't announce," he told me in an interview before Saturday's game. "I have a conversation."

But once the game starts, Mr. Scully is all business. From the first pitch, you need the skills of a court stenographer to keep up with the facts and figures—all interesting and relevant—that he weaves effortlessly into a dialogue that's nothing short of poetic.

For instance, he noted that the Colorado Rockies had been 15½ games back in June and red hot coming into this series. He then reminded listeners that the Rockies were batting a paltry .168 against left-handed pitchers, like Dodgers starter Randy Wolf. Those aren't off-the-cuff remarks, but indicative of the preparation Mr. Scully puts into every broadcast.

Unlike many of today's commentators, he understands that what has happened is more important than what might happen. Thus, when Ryan Spilborghs came up to bat in the first inning, Mr. Scully said: "Rockies with runners at second and third. Torrealba, the butter-and-egg man, just delivered a double to drive in two runs. Wolf has made 30 pitches so far in the first inning and the Rockies lead two to nothing."

Mr. Scully didn't come out of the womb delivering such eloquent and informative commentary. He was tutored by legendary broadcaster Red Barber. In 1950, when he was only 23, Mr. Scully joined his mentor in the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcast booth and learned to never root for the home team, not to socialize with the ballplayers, not to listen to other broadcasters, and to know when to shut up. "Sometimes, nothing says it better than the roar of the crowd," Mr. Scully said.

Although he spent just four years at Mr. Barber's elbow, they were formative years. "In many ways, I was the son he never had," Mr. Scully recalled fondly.

In 1954, Mr. Scully became the sole Dodgers broadcaster. When the team moved to L.A. in 1958, the native New Yorker went with them. It was in Los Angeles that he forever put his imprint on this team and this city.
Mr. Scully credits the transistor radio with his early popularity. In fact, fans from the era told me that so many people brought radios with them to the team's first West Coast home, the cavernous Los Angeles Coliseum, that broadcast engineers were vexed by feedback from Mr. Scully's own voice.

Ross Miller, a 55-year-old Los Angeles pediatrician and Dodgers season-ticket holder, was one of those fans who grew up with Mr. Scully in his ear. "What's amazing, what really speaks to Vinny's talent, is the fact that he was describing a game we were watching with our own eyes, yet his words painted the picture so much better." Indeed, sitting in the Dodgers press box, I found myself averting my eyes from the field, preferring to let Mr. Scully describe the action.

The broadcaster insists that he never comes to the ballpark with any prepared lines, which makes some of his legendary calls all the more remarkable. In 1956, when Don Larsen went into the last inning of the only perfect game in World Series history, Mr. Scully said: "Let's all take a deep breath as we go to the most dramatic ninth inning in the history of baseball." In 1974, when Hank Aaron stepped to the plate to break Babe Ruth's home run record, Mr. Scully noted: "A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol." In 1988, when Kirk Gibson hit a walk-off home run to win the first game of the World Series, the broadcaster said: "In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened."

But perhaps his greatest call of all time came during Sandy Koufax's perfect game: "Three times in his sensational career has Sandy Koufax walked out to the mound to pitch a fateful ninth where he turned in a no-hitter. But tonight, September the ninth, nineteen-hundred and sixty-five, he made the toughest walk of his career, I'm sure, because through eight innings he has pitched a perfect game."

Later in the inning, he said, "there's twenty-nine thousand people in the ballpark and a million butterflies." And when Mr. Koufax struck out Harvey Kuenn to end the game, Mr. Scully simply said, "Swung on and missed, a perfect game," then let the crowd speak for 38 seconds. I can't imagine a broadcaster today shutting up for three seconds, much less 38.

The Dodgers host the Cardinals tonight to start the National League Division Series. The game will be broadcast nationally using the latest high-definition television technology. But I'd argue that the clearest picture of the game will come via radio and, as has been the case for the past six decades, it will come from Mr. Scully.

—Mr. Yost is a writer in Chicago.

Living and Dying By the Sword

Not this time for World Series Hero Jon Papelbon

Francona and Tracy: Live and Die by the Sword

by Norm Kent

Terry Francona is a World Series winner.

Jim Tracy took the Rockies to the mountaintop this season.

Both managers were on the verge of elimination in a key playoff game in the Division Series.

Each team, down at home in the bottom of the 8th, rose to the occasion and saw their team take the lead.

How does not matter, really, does it? Bottom line is that home in the cold Yorvit Torrealba, Mr. Rocktober, drove a shot to the wall that gave the Rockies a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 8th inning of a decisive game, which led to Tracy handing the ball to Huston Street in the 9th. Huston, 35 of 37 saves, Street. Game in the bag?

At Fenway, a few days before, a similar scene. Faced with elimination and extinction, the Sox rise from the ashes in the home 8th. They go to the 9th and Papelbon is on the mound to protect a two run lead. Game in the bag?

In both instances, one thinks of course. But this is October. This is the playoffs. And this is never say die for all the money. And these are guys who know no defeat. Who will not quit. Who will not yield.

Not even with two strikes two outs and the game on the line in 25 degree Colorado cold. Then Rollins singles. Utley walks. Howard ropes a rocket off the wall. And Werth follows with a game breaker, all off Street.

Two days before, Paps on the mound. Two outs. Two strikes, a pitch away from victory. Aybar slaps one to center. Figgins works a 3-2 pitch walk. Abreu raps it off the left field wall. Hunter is walked. Guerrero lines a game winner to center, all off Paps.

And I am thinking, watching both games, how both closers were off the mark, struggling, not finding home plate. Both outside and high on close pitches they needed to win. As a fan, you said: "God, get that guy out of the game. He is blowing it." But I am the fan and the manager has his guy on the mound and he shall not be moved.

But you got the feeling they were not going to get the last out; that the Angels were too good to be denied, and the Phils were defending World Champs for a reason. What a lineup. Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Ibanez, and Werth. Not an easy out anywhere. No reason to give up. And Street was clearly on the wrong intersection. Paps was wild high.

The Angelos started their year with their entire pitching staff on the DL, and one dies in an auto accident. On July 4, they lose Guerrero, Hunter, and Rivera for a month and proceed to win 18 of 20. These teams were just not going to lose. And they did not.

Ironically, in each instance, Francona and Tracy did not budge. They did not remove their ace reliever, though the options were many in the bullpen. Guys like Okajima or Marquis. Loyalty to a fault? What do you think?

Both defeats saw the home team lose leads in the top of the ninth and fail to come back in the bottom half. Both defeats saw crowds lifted into 8th inning ecstasy only to be doomed by 9th inning agony. Only to see their ace closers aced.

Of this, baseball legends and stories are made. Monday morning quarterbacking? Of course. Why not? On the subway home, I am sure that is what all the Rockies fans and Red Sox fans were thinking.

Why did we not make the switch? This was not 2007 anymore. This was a new year. Move with the tide. The managers did not, and the waters sucked them underneath. The Rockies and Red Sox went down to defeat, and so it goes. So it goes.

Back to the Division series. Will the Phils top LA again, to go back to the World Series? Will the Yanks make their first season at their new stadium a World Series endeavor? Can they top the Angels who seem to jinx them? Will their be a first ever Angels-Dodgers crosstown World Series?

Lots of questions, no answers, just some fun baseball ahead.

2002 WS Champs Angels vs 2000 WS Champs Yankees

2008 WS Champs Phillies vs wow its been awhile Dodgers

12 Year Old Homers Off Howard

Well this story sure has generated controversy but there is no doubt in my mind that young Jennifer got wrongfully taken by the Phillies and the result is just and correct and proper. I will comment some more later, but for now interviews with CNN, NPR, and a few others are taking up the day.

Fantasy Furor: Did I Do Wrong or Right

The issue today is whether by doing right by me I did wrong by my league.

Here goes.

Pissing Off Your League's Owners

Did I do the right thing, that is the question....

There are 20 teams in a daily league where the stats come down to the last day, the last inning, the last at bat.

Four teams are fighting for second to fifth place.

Myself, I am in a five way battle to finish between seventh and eleventh place.

For the first five teams, their whip is at 1.34 and CBS Sports can only find a winner by carrying it out to not a hundredth of a point, but a thousandth. The winner could be by 1.345 to 1.347 to 1.348. Thus, a walk, a hit, a bunt single can shift the standings. Can decide who gets $500 for finishing second, or $50 for finishing fifth.

That is how tight the league is. My race is over. I am going to finish 8th, 9th or 10th, out of the money. The others can win or lose hundreds of bucks, depending on how some of my players perform in the one game playoff between Minny and Motown. A SB there, a HR here, can move other teams final stats.

The season ends and after a really bad week, I drop from 7th to 9th by a half point. I want to stay there. In the one game playoff, the only guy I have starting is Orlando Cabrera. I would just as soon not play him as add him into a roster, and use his stats, because there is a league loophole I want to take advantage of.

After the season ends, you cannot add or drop. But you can have up to five disabled players. So those teams that have extra disabled players on their team get to keep them and carry them into the offseason, giving them extra players to trade and deal. I do not.

But since the one game playoff for the title counts towards the standings, you can still add and drop players. However, if your lineup is not legal, the league rule is you get no stats for the day. So obviously no one wants illegal lineups. But what have I got to lose from just one player on one day? If I can pick up three rookie prospects for the entire offseason if I do not drop anyone, I would rather be illegal for one day since I am losing the at bats from one sole player. And yet I snare three rookies to deal or reserve, who may or may not pan out.

I could care less about the stats for that day. Again, all I have to sacrifice is the stats from O Cab. He is the only guy I have playing that day, and I would rather have an illegal lineup but pick up three guys to hold over the winter and see how they do in the spring.

The teams from second to fifth are livid. Some other owners too. They say I am altering the league results by having an illegal lineup. They are insisting I make O Cab active and my lineup legit arguing my greed is changing the end results of the league. What if O Cab goes 0 for 4 and I don’t use him, that stat could push me down a fraction in b.a., and that could change the final standings by a thousandth of a point for the third place team. So I should play the guy, everyone argues. And give up my three extra players. I say Why?

I thought I was playing for my team, not others. Should I care how the others finish? Some of these guys are calling me every name in the book and I did not really want to hurt anyone. I just wanted to help myself.

Do I have an obligation to play with a legal lineup when only one or two players is affected? I mean, I could reserve them to begin with.


The point is am I under an obligation to abide by a legal lineup? I am getting penalized for not doing so; I am losing stats for a day. But really, since it is only one player, why should I care? Does my decision impact the others, or the final standings? Who is to say? The league policy does frown on illegal lineups, but on this the last day of the season, isn't it worth the sanction to score the extra players?

Why are the other owners so angry? Do they have a right to be? Am I being unfair to the integrity of the league? It is a competition. I don't want to risk losing the place I am in or the extra players I am socking away

Would you ? Do you think I have a greater moral duty to the league?

You make the call. I chose to keep the players and have an illegal lineup, doing what was right for me and not what others say was good for the league. I don't think it mattered either way, but was I right? Was I wrong?

Was I being unfair to others by being too fair to myself?

Barmes' Catch Lifts Rockies

If you haven't seen it yet, Clint Barmes' catch Sunday afternoon seemed to be one of those things that makes September baseball great. It was a fantastic catch that preserved a slim lead, keeping the Rockies 2 1/2 games up in the NL wild-card race and preventing the Dodgers from clinching the NL West. The play came at such a dramatic juncture that T.J. Simers' column in the Los Angeles Times hinges on it.

The only problem is that Barmes may not have actually caught the ball. On The Denver Post's Rockies blog today, Nick Groke publishes a picture taken by a Post photographer which shows the ball popping out of Barmes' glove as the second baseman falls to the ground and another picture which makes it appear as if the ball is on the ground.

Watching the replay closely, it's almost impossible to tell if Barmes holds on to the ball or if he scoops it off the ground in one motion as he rolls over. I haven't seen a better angle replay, though if one exists I doubt the Rockies or Major League Baseball would be all that eager to let the public see it. Well, with the Braves losing to the Marlins on Wednesday, and Ianetta launching a late inning HR last nite, it looks like the Rockies are back in the playoffs anyway. Not bad for a team that everyone thought was a one trick pony in 2007.

How could Clint Hurdle have been so bad this year and Jim Tracy so good? Whatever, Tracy now will go against his old team, the Dodgers, in the playoffs.

The Triple Play by Bruntlett

Baseball sweet Baseball.

Bruntlett screws up two plays in a row and is all set to be a goat.

Then this.

A Game Becomes A Classic

It was an instant classic, a historic deadlock where time had no jurisdiction over the game's greatest rivalry and pitching reigned supreme, littering zeroes across the scoreboard well past the midnight hour.
The spotlight of a pennant race never gets much brighter than when the Yankees and the Red Sox share a ballfield, and on Friday, it couldn't have been much better. Alex Rodriguez's two-run homer ended an epic 15-inning contest as the Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 2-0.
"It was a big game at the beginning, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger," Rodriguez said. "You don't want to play 15 innings and use up great pitching performances from both sides. We knew the game was very important, and it was good that we won."
Five hours and 33 minutes after A.J. Burnett threw the game's first pitch, Rodriguez launched the final one into the left-center-field bullpen off Boston's Junichi Tazawa, driving in the only runs of the night and lifting New York to its 10th walk-off win of the season.
The good-night rocket allowed the Yankees to expand their lead in the American League East to 4 1/2 games over their blood rivals. For Rodriguez, it snapped a career-high 72-at-bat homerless streak with career shot No. 573, tying Harmon Killebrew for ninth place on baseball's all-time list.

It also authored a final chapter to a contest that -- through seven innings -- featured an epic duel between A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett. The former Florida Marlins teammates were outstanding, successfully making a pleasant August evening feel an awful lot like October.
"Unbelievable win," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "This was really amazing. There were opportunities, but there weren't a whole lot of hits. Beckett and A.J. pitched great, and everyone in the bullpen pitched well for both teams. We were fortunate to come out on top."
Derek Jeter was on the bases for Rodriguez's blast and could not believe so much of the sellout crowd of 48,262 had remained for the final act, roaring and trying to will a victory in the first Yankees-Red Sox game to progress scorelessly through 14 innings.
"They were outstanding," Jeter said. "I was surprised there were so many fans left there at the end. When I was on first, somebody was yelling at me to steal the base. I was still lucky I was still standing up."
The Yankees' early-morning push brought bleary-eyed relief only after they had their hearts twisted once again in the 14th inning.
Eric Hinske had entered the game in the eighth and was already enjoying his third at-bat when, with two men aboard, he blasted a deep drive to right field, drawing great cries of anticipation.
Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew used every ounce of his remaining energy to flag the ball with a sensational running grab. Pinch-runner Ramiro Pena ran back to second base, and Hinske was left in disbelief.
In the storied history of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, the franchises have played 15 or more innings 13 times. Friday night's nail-biter was the longest game between the two teams since
"I was hoping it was going to fall in, for sure," Hinske said. "I took my helmet off and I was like, 'No way, this is unbelievable.' It's just one of those crazy games that's going to go down in Yankees-Red Sox history."
The most clutch Yankee, Melky Cabrera, then spiked emotions with a bid for what would have been his fourth walk-off hit of the year, drilling a Tawaza offering into right field and galloping down the baseline. It, too, was premature.
The sinking liner smacked turf just a few inches outside the chalk, and first-base umpire Jim Joyce emphatically waved it foul. Cabrera was sent back to strike out swinging, the game went to the 15th inning, and some Yankees looked to the skies in frustration.
"At that point, you figure this game's never going to end," Jeter said. "That's pretty much it. That's one of those long ones. Our pitching staff deserves a lot of credit; theirs as well. We were just fortunate to come up with that home run."
Jeter had been hitless in six trips before singling off Tawaza in the 15th, a run of frustration that included stranding runners in scoring position in the third, fifth and 10th innings. He wasn't alone. The clubs combined to go a staggering 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
"It seems like it was a game of missed opportunities on both sides," Jeter said. "I'm sure we feel a lot better over here because we were able to win it."
Rodriguez spent most of his postgame media session deflecting attention to the starting pitchers, and with good reason -- it was the only time, A-Rod said, he had seen that many swings and misses in a single contest.
"It was a great game on both sides," Rodriguez said. "For me, the story of the day is Beckett and Burnett just throwing darts, and both bullpens were pretty much incredible."
Seeking his elusive first victory over the Red Sox since signing a five-year deal with the Yankees, Burnett allowed a single to the first batter he faced, then ensured that was it for Boston.
Snarling behind a bursting fastball and a biting slider, Burnett clamped the Red Sox quiet with 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, turning in what arguably plays as his signature performance thus far in pinstripes. After his 118th and final pitch, Burnett walked off the field to a lusty standing ovation.
"It was big for us," Burnett said. "I think I battled early but never got too upset with myself. I had quite a few walks there, four-pitch walks, but we were able to make pitches when I needed to, and luckily I got hold of that curveball late in the game."
Beckett also refused to give. The steely-eyed right-hander showcased his sharpest stuff, limiting the Yankees to four hits in a 115-pitch performance that surprised no one.
"He seems like he's always pitching good against us," Jeter said. "When you get guys on base, that's when he's at his toughest. You figure runs are going to be hard to come by."
Burnett's exit sequenced into the bullpen's hour to shine. Phil Hughes got a big out, Mariano Rivera worked the ninth inning against the heart of the Red Sox's lineup, and Alfredo Aceves was summoned to hurl three scoreless innings that would go rather unheralded in the grander picture.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona got just as much production out of the blacked-out names on his lineup card. All the while, Beckett and Burnett retained their seats, staring across the diamond at the drama playing out.
"We were running out of pitching, so we had to do it pretty quick," Girardi said. "[We had] nobody left. It just shows you the importance of the game and what the game means to everyone involved here."
Brian Bruney recorded six outs, some of them loud, and Phil Coke hurled a hitless 15th to set up Rodriguez's heroics. That sent Burnett dashing back on to the field, carrying with him a whipped cream pie destined for the left side of Rodriguez's face.
Rodriguez briefly allowed himself to taste the mess before toweling it off, and the exhilarating victory must have been indeed as sweet as he'd hoped. It certainly beat the alternative.
"Most of all, it's exhausting," Rodriguez said. "I think we were so excited that the ball went over the fence, not just because we won, but because we had a chance to go home and get some sleep."
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

One Fantasy Player You Won't Draft Right Away

DAYTON, Ohio -- A judge has convicted a Minor League pitcher of injuring a fan when he threw a baseball during an on-field melee in Dayton last year.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Connie Price found Julio Castillo guilty Tuesday of felonious assault causing serious physical injury. He was acquitted on a second charge of felonious assault with a deadly weapon.

Twenty-two-year-old Castillo, of the Dominican Republic, was pitching for the Peoria Chiefs, a Chicago Cubs Class A affiliate, against the Dayton Dragons when the bench-clearing brawl broke out. Castillo threw a ball that gave a fan a concussion.

During last month's trial, Castillo testified that he threw the ball downward toward a dugout to try to keep opposing players from rushing the field. He says he was not aiming at anyone.

Castillo is on the roster of the Boise Hawks, another Class A affiliate of the Cubs, but was not allowed to play. The Cubs were awaiting the outcome of the trial to determine whether his status will change.

Thirtyballparks.com

http://thirtyballparks.com/

So here is a real cool tour that you might want to put on your calendar; thirty ballparks in the space of thirty or so days for a summer vacation

My Dream Game

http://www.goldpanners.com/MidnightSunGame/index.html

More than anything else, this is a place I want to go.

Here is a place I want to be.

I wanted to do it last year. I could not arrange it for this year. But for next year, somehow, someway, I would like to schedule things to be in Fairbanks, Alaska. I just did not think having just recovered from a bout of pneumonia that this was the appropriate course of action for me to take in June of 2009. But maybe next year. That's what the Cubs fans always say, right? Maybe next year. And now that I am healthier, maybe a lot more blogging. But at least a trip to the California coast. To the beaches of Laguna, La Jolla, San Diego, and of course, Black's Beach.

Lou Gehrig's 'Bad Break'

The Iron Man of Baseball passed away on June 2, 1941; almost 70 years ago today. This was a ceremony in his honor on July 4, 1939 I believe. In the face of a career ending injury which would lead to his passing, he gave all of us a perspective on life, noting that his baseball career and life's experience made him 'the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.' I think about those words often when I get taken ill, or have a bad break. He stood up in the face of adversity as so must we all.

Doubt that he was ever suspended under a drug policy for 50 games. One of my heroes, with a legacy of grace and guts and he was so young. I saw that Casey Kotchman this week was out three or four days with a 'contusion.' How many times in his streak of 2,130 games in an era when the fields were not well tended, when the gloves were not as strong, when the medicines not as healing, did Lou Gehrig play with a contusion on his knee?

I think Conor Jackson and Casey Kotchman have a ways to go. Here are some astounding facts of that streak, which ironically also began on June 2, 1925, 84 years ago today.

Yankee manager Miller Huggins started Gehrig in place of regular first baseman Wally Pipp. Pipp was in a slump, as were the Yankees as a team, so Huggins made several lineup changes to boost their performance. Fourteen years later, Gehrig had played 2,130 consecutive games. In a few instances, Gehrig managed to keep the streak intact through pinch hitting appearances and fortuitous timing; in others, the streak continued despite injuries. Locked into the American athletes' professional vernacular today is the phrase, don't get 'Pipped,' aka don't call in sick, you may never get your job back.

AS for Lou, look what he endured:

On April 23, 1933, an errant pitch by Washington Senators hurler struck Gehrig in the head. Although almost knocked unconscious, Gehrig recovered and remained in the game.

On June 14, 1933, Gehrig was ejected from a game, along with manager Joe McCarthy, but he had already been at bat, so he got credit for playing the game. On July 13, 1934, Gehrig suffered a "lumbago attack" and had to be assisted off the field. In th

e next day's away game, he was listed in the lineup as "shortstop", batting lead-off. In his first and only plate appearance, he singled and was promptly replaced by a pinch runner to rest his throbbing back, never taking the field. A&E's Biography speculated that this illness, which he also described as "a cold in his back", might have been the first symptom of his debilitating disease.

In addition, X-rays taken late in his life disclosed that Gehrig had sustained several fractures during his playing career, although he remained in the lineup despite those previously undisclosed injuries.

Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games played stood until September 6, 1995, when Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. broke it.

I would like to think somewhere in a small ballfield somewhere else in America today, maybe even in Latin America or Japan, some young kid is saying 'I can do that'; and long after this blog and myself are gone, some other blogger will be writing about the guy who surpassed Cal Ripken. It is the way of sport. Records are made today only to be broken tomorrow.

S Rod and Brandon May Be Bashing Wood in LA Soon

It could be Sean Rodriguez, not Brandon Wood.

Second baseman might get the nod over teammate at triple-A Salt Lake if the Angels promote someone to take over for a slumping Howie Kendrick.

Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times writes today that "Imagine the uproar among Angels fans and bloggers if second baseman Howie Kendrick continues to struggle at the plate, the team makes a move to replace him, and it isn't to call up slugging prospect Brandon Wood.It could happen.

Wood, who is batting .289 with 10 home runs and 21 runs batted in for triple-A Salt Lake, is the player most prominently mentioned when talk turns to in-house options to bolster the offense.Because Wood plays third base and shortstop, his promotion would prompt a move of Chone Figgins from third base to second.But if Kendrick, who is batting .229 with four homers and 20 RBIs, is demoted, Wood isn't the most worthy replacement candidate.Sean Rodriguez is.Fans remember Rodriguez as the slick-fielding but light-hitting second baseman who provided superb defense in place of the injured Kendrick and Maicer Izturis in five stints, and 59 games, with the Angels last season."

But Rodriguez, who also plays shortstop, third and the outfield, has become a legitimate two-way threat. He is batting .280 with 17 homers and 50 RBIs in 46 games for Salt Lake, and don't be surprised if he gets the call before Wood if a move is made."He's really picked it up," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's someone we're paying a lot of attention to. The way he's driving the ball, playing all-around, has been very impressive.

As for Kendrick, Scioscia said, "We're not contemplating a move at this point, but it's something we're watching very closely."Kendrick seemed to find his stroke during a six-game stretch from May 18 to 23, when he was eight for 23 with three RBIs, raising his average from .230 to .247.But Kendrick went hitless in his next 11 at-bats and did not start Saturday night against Seattle."At times, he looks like he's getting comfortable in the box, at times he looks a little frustrated, like he's trying to do too much," Scioscia said. "If a couple hits fall in, I think this guy will start to relax and be productive."

The bottom line is that Brandon Wood has been Fantasy's Babe Ruth for four years now, ever since an astounding minor league season, which has never materialized in the majors. Some take years to develop and get a chance. Some just get passed over. Some like Adrian Gonzales, go through Texas and Florida as the number one draft choice in 2000, only to shine in San Diego nearly 8 or 9 years later. But we live in an age and era of hype, and the Angels have fed into that machine, with Dallas McPherson, Kendry Morales, Casey Kotchman, Brandon Wood, and Sean Rodriguez. If only minor league stats counted, these guys would have been a fantasy delight.

So a shrewd fantasy owner may rush to the waiver wire and find Sean Rodriguez on it. He may replace Kendrick. He may or may not do well. Or he may just find time passed him by. The truth is that none of us know for sure whether this is the year the Wood gets to the plate, or S Rod becomes a dominant force. One thing is for certain, if you are in a fantasy pennant race, the time to deal Wood or S Rod is right now. Their value will never be higher. All because fantasy owners are starting to, like Mike Scosia, look at Howie Kendrick's actual numbers and not the hype.

'Go Cubs Go' Will Not Be Heard Enough this Summer

Nothing is quite as much fun as watching a Cubs game at WRigley Field, and even as a Dodgers fan, it was a spectacular day in the Windy City this afternoon.

Ryan Dempster was dominating, the Boys in Blue were flat, and Larry King, a baseball fan from Miami, sung Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Wish I was there. Wish I could have stopped by Harry Caray's and had a brew.

Celebrated the day with a fantasy trade, dealing D Wayne Wise and an A's prospect for Hideki Okajima and some holds. Big Mike D from Chicago was the taker, and he is a player who plays for fun and trades a lot. I had Dempster in one league and traded him for James Loney, needing obp and b.a. I threw in Griffey, who has had a few HRS but all but established that this is his last year. Dempster has been inconsistent, but shows clear signs that he will win 14=15 games for Chicago. You would think that with the Big Z, Harden, and Dempster, the Cubs should get to the playoffs. Not to mention Lilly is a picture of perfection and consistency. Solid starters through and through.

But times change and so too must the teams. D Lee is not the guy who powered the Marlins to the World Series in 2003. That was years ago. The Cubs search for a CF never worked out, and while other teams have discovered a Markakis and an Adam Jones, the Cubs got stuck with Felix Pie. And A Ram has been hurt, hasn't he? Age catching up with him.

De Rosa had an awesome season but they dealt him, why I don't know. Theriot will be solid, but they need more. Going with Gregg as closer but Wood is gone. Soto's bat has been less than so so at the plate. The Cubs just ain't where they should be. The Cubs just are not as good as they were last year, and they did not win then.

Disappointing. No city deserves to win more. No city wants to win more. But calling upon Bobby Scales and Jake Fox, both journeyman, won't cut it. Friday nite, seeing the game on the line, with two rookies, one 30, one 26, did not make for dreams. Scales did have a pinch hit HR, but where are the Cubs rookies? Who is moving in to excite the crowd?

Teams generate fans and excitement with new blood. The Cubs have a great player in Reed Johnson who will have an occasional great day and make a regular great catch. But Fukodome has been blah, Soriano has not been clutch, and centerfield is lacking. I don't know, but there is something I don't like about the team the way it is set up.

If they could put Soriano at second, land a centerfielder, get youthful strength at the corners, have a pitching staff that was more reliable, maybe I would have more faith. But I think there is going to be a disappointing summer afoot at Wrigley. Doesn't matter, it's one great place to watch a game, fantasy or reality.

Cafardo Says Dealer's Choice on Trades

Heavy trade action may be in the cards, a good column by Nick Cafardo, who is able to pinch blog while I continue to recover from a lengthy bout with the flu, here is an interesting column from boston.com

By Nick Cafardo May 24, 2009

When Jake Peavy rejected a chance to join the White Sox, teams such as the Cubs, Brewers, Phillies, Mets, and Dodgers breathed sighs of relief, hoping that the prize pitcher will instead hand-pick the National League team that suits him best.

While that deal was vetoed by the former NL Cy Young Award winner, it kicked off what should be an active trading period between now and the July 31 deadline.

Normally, teams are focused on the amateur draft at this time, but major league scouts are out there in full force, inquiring about what teams are willing to part with.

Most baseball people feel a Peavy deal will be made because the Padres need to move the guaranteed $50 million-$60 million remaining on his deal. The big question becomes which team can offer San Diego general manager Kevin Towers a substantial package of prospects - as the White Sox did.

The Brewers took a bold step last season when they threw payroll concerns out the window and traded for CC Sabathia, who led them to a playoff berth. The Brewers left themselves some wiggle room this season by electing not to pursue a big-name pitcher, adding only journeyman Braden Looper.

Getting Peavy is complicated, though, because you have to be willing to come up with the package of players and pay out the salary. In some cases, teams may have to commit to picking up a $22 million option in 2013.

The Red Sox always made the most sense for Peavy because they have the prospects, they have the money, and the righthander likes Boston. But they are the team that needs him the least.

The Cubs' new owner, Ameritrade guru Tom Ricketts, should have the $900 million sale in place within a month. When and if that happens, the Cubs could reenter the picture for Peavy.

While the White Sox and Padres are open to deals (the Padres would love to move Brian Giles), a major league evaluator said last week that the A's and Indians also appear to be "wide open" for business, as could be the Rockies and Mariners.

A fire sale could be in the offing in Cleveland, with attractive players such as last year's Cy Young winner, Cliff Lee, who will be a free agent after next season; Mark DeRosa, who would bring a top reliever and has been coveted by multiple teams; and the big prize, catcher Victor Martinez, who is said to be available for a blockbuster package. The Indians also would surely move underachieving shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

The A's could soon field inquiries on outfielder Matt Holliday, who is picking up his hitting, though he simply hasn't taken to the expanse of McAfee Coliseum. The A's would also move Jason Giambi and/or Orlando Cabrera after June 15, the date when free agents signed during the offseason can be traded.

"It seems like everyone is looking for pitching with the exception of the Red Sox," said an American League evaluator. "If it's true that Brad Penny becomes available, they'll have some interested parties in him as long as he's showing he's over his shoulder problems."

The Mariners got off to a decent start, but as their season turns into what we thought it would be - lousy - they'll make some of their more attractive players available. Guys like the struggling Adrian Beltre, Jarrod Washburn, Erik Bedard, and Miguel Batista, who are all in the final year of their contracts, could be had. Batista may fit in Tampa, which is looking for another bullpen piece.

The Mariners and Pirates reportedly were discussing a Jack Wilson-for-Yuni Betancourt deal last week, until it fell through. Wilson, the slick-fielding Pirates shortstop, would be a viable addition for a contending team needing help at that position. That team could be the Cardinals, who are not pleased with Khalil Greene.

The Dodgers could run away with the West if they land Peavy, and if Manny Ramírez returns as a good citizen and infuses life into the lineup, but many of their "prospects" are in the majors.

The Rockies could be dealing with a new manager soon, but reliever Huston Street, third baseman Garrett Atkins, first baseman Todd Helton (who would have to approve a deal), and outfielder Brad Hawpe could all be available.

The Nationals may move first baseman Nick Johnson, who is in the final year of his three-year deal, and having a very good season. The Orioles could attract suitors for Aubrey Huff and relievers George Sherrill and Danys Baez.

The trade season has just begun.

Rantin and Ravin on Fantasy vs. Reality

That Time of Year

If your fantasy team is in 15th place in a 20 team league, it is time to take stock.

You protected Brandon Webb and thought you had a Cy Young candidate. You wound up with an arm injury after one start.

You traded for Brad Lidge and thought you got the Mariano Rivera of saves. Instead, you wound up with a river of excuses, from poor mechanics to bad knees.

You thought you had the next Hunter Pence or Corey Hart in Cameron Maybin and you wound up with the next Corey Sullivan.

You thought Gavin Floyd at a buck was the goose with the golden egg and he has done nothing but lay them.

You kept Uggla as a slugging second baseman and he wound up as a slug with an under .200 average.

Your team looked so good on paper. Then baseball happened.

It is time to respond, redact, and redo. No one is sacred. Everyone is dispensable. Rebuild.

You can help plan your fantasy future by anticipating what the real teams are going to do.

You have to understand that in Cleveland they are clamoring for Matt La Porta, in San Francisco for Jesus Guzman or Nate Scherholz, in Baltimore for Nolan Reimold. And in cities that are not winning, the elder statesman, even if like Brian Giles and Randy Winn, they batted 300 last season, they are toast. They will be moved and replaced by younger prospects, and the older guys will be reduced to pinch hitters on pennant contenders.

This year it will be a David Delluchi. Last year it was Brad Wilkerson. But time comes to an end to all the Geoffrey Jenkins and Jhonny Gomeses. They get passed by, by the younger rookie. Cliff Floyd might find himself somewhere other than a DL, but he is no longer a realistic fantasy option. Nor is Jesse Barfield, Andy Marte, or a half dozen other one time can’t miss prospects. Time has passed by the Jason Bottses of the world. It happens fast. Felix Pie was untouchable in fantasy last year. This year he is for another reason. No one wants to touch him. Ian Kennedy, anyone?

Sad, but true. So what do you do as a fantasy player? Project who will get a chance, which team thinks they can win, and don’t be afraid to deal for strength in teams that will need help today. If the Padres are going to move Peavy for a Dodger stud, it is because they are going to give that Dodger stud the ball.

Chad Tracy has been a bust coming back from his year long injury. Tony Clark is a stopgap already disabled. The director of player management has become their new field manager. The team is losing and not scoring. So Josh Whitesell is crushing the ball in triple a, and he will get a chance to do the same in Arizona.

The Reds have had to deal with the streakiness and inconsistency of Edwin Encarnacion in the past. They do not want to again. He goes on the DL, and yes this kid Adam Rosales has a chance to replace him. So too has Kevin Kouzmanoff worn out a welcome in San Diego. It is significant they are talking about promoting their star prospect Kyle Blanks to LF at Triple A, because it opens up third base for Chase Headley, his natural position. It makes Kouzmanoff expendable.

The Indians gave up the franchise to get Matt La Porta. By season’s end, with the Tribe out of the running, La Porta will be in the lineup everyday. Dellucci will be pinch hitting in Anaheim. Same in Milwaukee. Bill Hall will become Bill Hall. The call will be to Matt Gamel.

As a fantasy owner, you may want to avoid a Phil Hughes whose development New York cannot afford to endure if it costs them a pennant. They will trade away the Kazmirs and the Karstens and anyone else that cannot help them win right here right now. They have proved it in the past. They will do it in the present. Both NY franchises. And their guys are always overly hyped. So be careful.

But in Chicago, with a guy who likes vets as Piniella does, don’t expect a bulging disk to take Derek Lee out of the lineup. Not Micah Hoffpauir or anyone else. And Jeff Samardizija or whatever, may never crack the rotation. But they can afford to let a Luke Hochvear get a dozen starts in Kansas City. They can afford to give the Kia Kahluaha kid the bat and deal Ryan Shealy. Mr. Shealy is no longer the young stud who was going to soar in the Rockie Sky. Neither is Joe Koshansky.

The point I am making is that teams are fluid in their movement. Last year, everyone wanted Alejandro De Aza in Marlinville. He is hitting .340 in the minors today. May be better than Cameron Maybin. No one cares. He is yesterday’s news. So the thing to do is if you are rebuilding is to find tomorrow’s news, but be sensible. Time passes guys by right away. I don't care whether the Reds play Laynce Nix or Chris Dickerson in the outfield, neither is the next Eric Davis. Those stars do not shine yearly. They come once in a blue moon, despite the minor league hype.

Yes, Jose Tabata is a prospect, but a young one, hardly dominating, and out for 8 weeks with an injury. Andrew McCutcheon has not torn up triple A either, but he is more of a prospect than Brandon Moss, whose days are numbered. Congratulations to Bobby Cox, who liked so much Jordan Schaffer the Braves dealt Josh Anderson. But Schaffer has not had an rbi in a month, can’t hit a major league fastball, and is striking out at a rate greater than Cameron Maybin. You know what, if the Braves are contending, they can only ride Jordan so much longer. So maybe if you are a fantasy buff, you make a play for Maybin or Schaffer when their stock is low. You deal an outfielder whose numbers are steady but will not help you at all right now, and line up a prospect, who may help you tomorrow. He could become Felix Pie, your league will scream, and no Dexter Fowler is not worth Aubrey Huff but those are the kinds of deals May will bring.

Manny Ramirez could get you a Travis Snider and Nolan Reimold and thirty dollars of next year’s drafting money to pick up Vernon Wells. If you are out of the running, how do you not make the play for the younger high ceiling prospects? Just line up the realities against the fantasies. If your team is in the running, sure go take a flyer on Adrian Beltre and Andruw Jones for Manny today. But if you are not in the running, you have just traded a real blue chip who could land you a young Zack Greinke for a rusted slug.

Look at the market the kid is playing in and the chances he will get to succeed or fail, particularly how long a team can carry him if he sucks, as Schaffer and Maybin have been doing. That won’t play on Broadway. Note how many times in the last week Bret Gardner is sitting in the Bronx; how many starts a Melky Cabrera they did not want is getting. Hey, if Randy Winn or Brian Giles become available, they wind up in the Bronx, and Gardner on the pine. The Mets gave up Mike Carp to win with JJ Putz. Seattle needs a corner guy. Bryan LaHair was not the answer. Carp can be, but only after Branyan reaches Earth and is dealt when Seattle recognizes he is on a little roll.

I can’t believe the Angels struggling rotation has not dealt Brandon Wood to the Pirates for a pitcher yet, but there is a natural fit for a star like Wood to finally get some bats, paired next to Andy La Roche in Pittsburgh. But for some reason Wood never gets a break, and each time he is called up and sent down, his stock falls. Ask Dallas McPherson.

One final note. Notice how Denard Span supplanted Carlos Gomez in Minnesota. How despite offering Gary Matthews a five year deal, the very next season the Angels signed Hunter and were willing to bench Matthews. The Dodgers did the same to Juan Pierre. The White Sox gave Centerfield to everyone but the hot dog vendor, and after going through all of them, wound up with Scott Podsednick back their this week. Don’t be afraid to stack on a competitive team a Juan Pierre type, who when the main star goes down, is bound to come up and play. The Dodgers are sitting on a powder keg of injuries with ODog, Furcal and Blake in the infield. Man, I want to sock away Blake DeWitt.

The best advice is to play the roll, and understand Lance Berkman and BJ Upton and Alexei Ramirez get better. CC started off real slow last year and teams dealt him too quickly. But if you are in 18th place with a $42 dollar pitcher, Go with the flow. But go in the know. You have to learn the market, know the players, and anticipate where the teams are headed. If time and injuries do not catch up with Carl Pavano, the league will. But he gets a chance to start again and again in Cleveland, while he would not in New York. No one would trade Phil Hughes for Pavano, but if you are in the hunt, who is more likely to get you wins in 2009? Think about it.

So here are the rules:

1. Water seeks its own level. If someone wants to deal Grady Sizemore because he is hitting 225, give up the farm to get him.

2. If you have an old vet on a losing team, he will do better and so can you. Cut your losses and let him go.

3. If you have a young prospect in a contending city, understand he is not going to get the same chance a kid in a lesser market gets. If you have a contending team, don't be afraid to add an Aubrey Huff and his 30 HR pop for what Jordan Schaffer may become. If you are not contending, don't be afraid to head the other way.

4. Success in the minors does not mean success in the majors, especially for pitchers, and more importantly for batters in the Pacific Coast Leagues, where your high school coach could hit 25 hrs.

5. If you are in a league with reserves, contracts, and minors, start stacking away arms at double aa and triple aa that teams will hunger for come the Fall. But don't be afraid to deal them right away. If someone is offering you Roy Oswalt for Luke Hochvear, and you are contending, how do you not go for it?

Niese Looked Real Nice for the Mets Tonite

Oh, this is your classic fantasy blog.

I kept this guy in three leagues this winter. I was positive he would make the Mets rotation.

Then he was shelled all Spring and torched at triple AAA. The Mets said they were going to demote him even. But I held onto Jon Niese, at least until May 4, the day the Mets announced they were calling him up.

Wait a second, I said, impetuously, if they are going to announce that a 41 year old Japanese retread was starting ahead of him, or another version of Casey Fossum, am I going to activate one of these rookie starters for a Jeremy Sowers or Graham Taylor start of 3 innings, 9 runs, and 7 walks. I could not decide what to do. Screw it, I released this guy I protected all winter from two of my four daily leagues.

And I watched him tonite. 6 innings. 7 hits. 5 k's great control, and I am sitting here blogging for the first time in a week saying, ' Damn, how could I have let this guy go?'

No he is not Sandy Koufax but hey it is the Mets, he showed last Fall he can pitch at this level, hurled a shutout in one game, so he is a little inconsistent now and then. Mike Pelfrey will be too. But there is a reason he was number three in the Mets prospect chart by Baseball America, a reason why I kept him, and they all went out the window last week, why? Because I was impetuously dissatisfied with a slow start in Triple AAA?

I see him winning a dozen games for the Mets between now and September. I see him becoming part of their rotation. And I see him on other teams in two of my fantasy leagues where I should have trusted my feelings like Yoda said to Luke Skywalker.

We all make fantasy mistakes. I am making a few this year. But I think the worst mistake we all make is that we are not patient enough to let seeds grow, nurture, and mature. Maybe too it is the same with our own lives.

Look, he could be the next Homer Bailey and fail grandly, though HB has been impressive of late. The point is that sometimes you gotta hold your horses. I knew better. I should have done better. I think I am going to be kicking myself on this one. Of course, one of my curses is that when you are in thirteen leagues, well, hell, I still have him in four more........:-)

The Legal Side of the Manny Wood Mess

My Thoughts on Manny, Reality, and the Fantasy Play

First of all, it’s good to be back. I have been otherwise engaged the past week and not able to do any blogging on my legal or baseball pages. And there has certainly been news.

Here is my take on Manny the Moronic both in and out of Fantasyland.

First of all, let’s go to the reality. I am a criminal defense lawyer. When a guy gets bonded out on a drug offense, he is told he cannot use drugs. When he is put on probation, he is told he cannot use drugs. But some do, and they get caught and reprimanded, even jailed.

One of the things the courts and jurists have learned is that the drug users cannot help themselves and repeat their violations. So they try to outsmart the system repeatedly by using drugs illegally and then employing ‘masking agents’ which cover up their use in the body afterwards. But forensics and science testing being what it is, the masking agent can be chemically discovered in the bloodstream, thanks to Gary Sinise and CSI NY. So what we know is that when a ‘masking agent’ is found it is a clear indication that he may have been using at an earlier date; presumptive proof that the user may not be testing positive today, but it is only because of what he did improperly yesterday.

As a matter of fact, it is now a violation of your pre trial release or probation to test positive for a ‘masking agent’ because it suggests to the court you are using prohibited substances to begin with. The substance found in Manny’s body, a human fertility drug found in women, HCG, is one of those masking agents. It suggests then that Manny went to a doctor and was given a Hobson’s choice.

“I have been using steroids,” he must have said, and “I either have to admit it, come clean, get suspended, or hope that I can hide it with a masking agent, and scientific analysis being what it is, there is a less chance I will test positive if I use the masking agent.” So either on his own or in consultation with others he rolled the dice and lost. Don't buy into the apology. You are not getting the whole story, anymore than you did with A Rod, who clearly needed a lot more counseling before he spoke to the public.

The chemical analysis of Manny Ramirez revealed not the presence of a steroid, but the masking agent designed to cover up its use. And the Major league drug policy, like the courts, bans the masking agents because they know if they are there now, it is because of what was in your body previously. Manny knew it too, and quickly subscribed to the 50 game suspension. This may also account for the reason Manny chose to avoid signing with a team earlier; may explain that he was not only not trying to avoid Spring Training, but that he was trying to avoid the inevitable testing that would come with a signing.

Yes, he was stupid. But deceptive too. Rules, major league baseball included, have exemptions. If the testosterone he sought was clinically indicated by a physician, he could have noticed MLB in advance and communicated the need for the usage. But the need was less than legit. Somehow I am thinking the Doctor in Miami that Manny visited with knew something about the rules, and that given the number of athletes down here, MLB has a list of suggested ones, just as they have a list of those substances which are prohibited under the policy. Someone sold him a bill of goods that these masking agents worked, and not to worry. So he relied on what worked before.

Cops can't pull everyone over who is speeding either. And you don't catch every fish in the ocean. But they are out there, and sometimes you snare a big one.

So Manny the Fun Queen has done to his name what so many other superstars have done before him, tarnished it. And for such a talent, you gotta wonder why. All I can think is that they are spoiled, foolish, misled, and do not appreciate the gifts they have been given, do not grasp the rules applies to president and paupers. There is just too much of a vacuum where the brain belongs. I have no sympathy for him. I have sympathy for the sport I love, the athletes I admire, and the stain they keep putting on the field.

I think I will write about the baseball impact later. This column kind of ruined what I wanted the blog to be about. I want to write about baseball here, the bats, not the brats; the hits not the empty hats.

The D Train Tries To Get Back on Track

Well, a week of legal work has prevented me from blogging baseball or fantasy, but this is one of those feel good stories.

D Train had a little bit of Mark Fidrych in him, I think, when he landed in the Marlins dugout in 2003 from Double A. He was magical and marvelous and a fan favorite. Like Brandon Webb, he opened eyes and shook up the crowds.

Both are on the shelf now. But Brandon's trouble is physical. You can operate on that. Dontrelle seems to have lost the ability to stay within himself and his energies and passions have blown up like a balloon letting out air, spinning wildly in all directions.

We are all hoping he comes back, and is worth a fantasy shot again, of course. He can be had cheap. But do not be overly fooled by hearing he threw six innings of two run ball for the 'Harrisburg Senators.' He has a long way to go from this minor league town to a major league arena, to umps all over the strike zone and fans with less patience. But we will be rooting for the train to get back on track.

Odd though, is it not, this World Series hero, this all star, this multi million dollar salaried pitcher, quietly working things out in a small town, apart from the crowds, the awe, and the spotlight of major league baseball. Sometimes a reminder to walk barefoot in your roots is a good way to get replanted.

Angels Will Roll the Dice on a Shaky Ortega

The Angels have a decimated pitching staff, apart from the tragic death of Nick Adenhart.

In the bullpen, Arreondo and Shields have been shelled. Fuentes has been no K Rod.

On the front lines, Lackey, Escobar, Moseley, and Santana are on the DL. Saunders has been ok, but the door is opening to a tripod of triple a prospects and retreads. A guy named Matt Palmer won with five earned runs yielded yesterdeay.

Now they have to hope they can hit the lotto again Saturday against the Mariners.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before Thursday’s game that the decision has been made (Anthony Ortega) on who will start Saturday (Anthony Ortega) but won’t be announced until Friday (Anthony Ortega).

The pluses with Ortega? He is a well-regarded prospect with at least some Triple-A experience (six starts in Triple-A last season and three there this season). He’s already on the 40-man roster (making for less roster juggling) and he would be working on four days’ rest.

The minuses? He reported to spring training with inflammation in his forearm and was set back in his throwing program at a time when he was supposed to be competing for a spot in the Angels’ rotation. He hasn’t pitched particularly well in his first three starts for Triple-A Salt Lake — including nine runs allowed on 12 hits and a walk in four innings Monday at Reno.

The Angels tipped their hand by promoting Double-A right-hander Sean O’Sullivan to Triple-A Thursday and Trevor Reckling from Class-A to Double-A in the trickle-down wake caused by pulling Ortega from Salt Lake’s rotation.

Here is the thing for fantasy players. You may strike lightning and score with a triple A pickup, some guy who did not get past the spring training cuts. A new guy comes up, hurls a gem, and is suddenly a star. But the Brian Bannisters of the world fall down. The one hot start is a fluke. Play this fantasy wire game and it will bloat your fantasy era and whip, causing your good outings by a Billingsley or Lincecum to dog beat because you think you scored big on Chris Jabukakas. You know, he won for Seattle his first time out and then was shelled in his second start.

The better way to play fantasy ball is to lock in a steady pitching staff that you do not have to juggle in daily leagues by the prospective call ups. Most fail. Most will kill you. Yes, a few will become stars, but if you are playing that roll, cause you are sitting with 100 points in hitting and only 50 in pitching and you are in the middle of your league, understand you are gambling, rolling the dice, and letting it all ride not on the 25 mainstays you chose but the one you are desperate to pick up in the hope that he may deliver. Not a winning way to play.

So Anthony Ortega is on his way to the bigs, for better or worse, free and available in most daily leagues. Wanna roll the dice. After all, Angels hitting behind him, weak Mariners in front of him, who knows what the roll will be?

Sipping A Cup of Major League Coffee

It might not make sense to anybody else, but that doesn't really matter.

Left-hander Tony Sipp, promoted from Class AAA Columbus on Tuesday night, said he felt better walking into a big-league locker room Wednesday with a scar on his left elbow from Tommy John surgery than if he'd done it without having the surgery.

"I had a lot of success early," said Sipp before Wednesday's game against Kansas City. "I'm not saying I'm this type of guy, but I didn't want to come into this clubhouse with a chip on my shoulder. Saying I did this, I did that.

"I've had a lot of time to myself to figure out everything when I was injured. To think about what should happen and how I should get back to where I want it to be."

Sipp remembers lifting five-pound weights at the beginning of his rehab from the 2007 surgery. He was still six months away from picking up a baseball.

"I learned how to deal with a different kind of adversity," said Sipp. "I think that helped a lot. . . . Now I actually have a background to how I got here. It wasn't so easy. It wasn't just success, success, success."

One more human interest story in the game of baseball. Tony Sipp fulfilled his dream last nite, one inning, no hits, one strikeout, and a chance to say for the rest of his life he played in the major leagues.

Bernadina's Big Break Leads to a Bad Break

More on the great catch above in just a moment

Not the Kind of Break Out I Wanted : Lowrie Down

Jed Lowrie may need wrist surgery, one of the guys I handpicked as a breakout candidate for Boston. Why not? Like Dustin Pedroia a year before, he had a soft start on a strong team. But he scored 40 runs and had 40 rbis in half a season for the Bo Sox sluggers. He was destined to score a hundred this year. Not bad for a shortstop at all. So he is hurt and as fate would have it, Julio Lugo is just getting better. Fortuitous for Boston, but do not expect the world out of an older beaten up Julio. No more 38 steals for him.

Speaking of shortstops I said not to bet the farm on, why did the Reds trade Keppinger? Alex Gonzalez is hitting .079, and his backup Paul Janish, a defensive whiz, won’t hit much better. I think A Gon has been gone too long. And those human growth hormones he used to build up his strength after that shoulder surgery a few years ago, well you just can’t use them anymore.

But the worst break of the week belongs to Roger Bernadina of the Washington Nationals. This is a devastating story of hurt. He is in the majors first because the Nats sent down Milledge. Then he gets a start only because Dukes does a Dukes like thing and the bad boy shows up late for a game. So Manny Acta benches him and goes with Bernadina. Roger responds with a game saving catch against the right center field wall with the bases loaded, denying Dan Uggla a clear bases clearing triple.

Later in the game, tied, Uggla is up again with the bases loaded, and he crushes it to center. It is either gone or off the wall. But Bernadina will not be denied. He leaps high, over the fence, and pulls it in. What could have been a two homer seven rbi day for Uggla is going to be an 0 for 6. They show him in the dugout sulking. He is depressed. Meanwhile, Bernadina is on a stretcher. You could see him land on his ankle and then the force of his body made mince meat out of it. They called it a sprain initially but I said no way.

In my Grand Slam Uber League, I claimed him as a free agent at one p.m. By 4:30, I knew he was history. I dropped him. Hours later, he was on the Disabled List with a broken ankle. Talk about bad luck. First day in the Bigs this year. Two awesome catches and a broken ankle.

Reminds me of the dude a few years ago who was beaned in his first at bat and out for the year. Never made it. Can’t remember his name. Just another one of those amazing human interest stories that do not make the boxscore.

Roger Bernadina got his shot for a brief moment in the sun. It rained that day all over his parade.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/18/AR2009041802296.html

One defensive note for Elijah Dukes, who was warned if he was late again he would be returned to the minor leagues. He was apparently at a free unauthorized signing of autographs for a bunch of inner city little leaguers. Don't you cut him some slack for that?

Colonel Sanders Jailed in Japan

TOKYO - He was covered in mud when pulled from the river, and had lost both legs and hands, not to mention his glasses. But Colonel Sanders still had his trademark smile, 24 years later.

A statue of the KFC mascot has been found in a river in Osaka, a city official said Wednesday, nearly a quarter century after being tossed in by crazed baseball fans who felt the image of restaurant founder Harland Sanders resembled a key team member.

"He was apparently found standing upright, which is fitting, because although he was a nice man he could also be very strict and demanding," said Sumeo Yokakawa, a spokeswoman at the chain's Tokyo headquarters.She said the statue was taken from a nearby KFC restaurant and tossed in the river as part of a celebration by baseball fans in 1985, the year Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers, won the national championship.

Local fans thought the Colonel bore a resemblance to Randy Bass, a bearded power hitter and first baseman from the U.S. who played for the team at the time.

Colonel Sanders rises from watery graveMarch 11: Divers searching for World War II bombs in Japan discover a statue of the KFC icon.msnbc.com Fans often jump into the murky river to celebrate the team's successes, but there has been little to celebrate in recent years. Many fans feel the team has been plagued by the "curse of Colonel Sanders" since his effigy was submerged in 1985.

It has failed to win a national championship since, although it did win its division in 2003.

The upper half of the statue was found Tuesday in Osaka's Dotonburi River during construction work to build a new walkway, according to city official Hideo Yuko. His legs and right hand were found Wednesday morning.

Colonel in police custody

The colonel will be kept in police custody for the time being, but Yokakawa said KFC is considering donating him to the home stadium of the Tigers in Osaka. The store where he originally stood has since closed.

The KFC chain currently operates about 1,160 restaurants in Japan, and has about 1,000 Colonel Sanders statues in the country.

Random Roto Thoughts and Some Guys to Think About

The Red Sox staff is already depleted with Dice K down. Look for Justin Masterson to move into the rotation to replace him.

The injury to Alex Gordon moves Teahen to third base indefinitely. It opens up a slot for Mitch Maier to prove that he can play major league baseball and make it in the KC outfield. He is no Nelson Cruz but has never gotten a fair shot. This could be his time. Many guys like that.

The Red Sox need a SS. Don’t be surprised if they deal. Gil Velazquez and Travis Denker are not the answer. Neither is Julio Lugo anymore but they seem to have a false reliance on him.

Cameron Maybin is showing signs of being overmatched. Looks like super utilityman Alfredo Amezaga may be more useful than originally anticipated. Don’t blame Maybin yet. Batting a free swinger eighth in the order was not bright. But then who can fault the Marlins for anything right now?

No surprise to see ageless Doug Mienkevichski go down for LA, on a base hit no less, but it opens up the door for Blake DeWitt to come back to the majors. Speaking of which, kick myself surely, I had Eric Stults as a reserve in every league, and released him before the season when he was torched in his last Spring start and LA sent him down.

Then Kuroda gets hurt, and Stults shows up on the early morning roto news as his replacement, and is swooped up in every league. He is 2-0 already and a good pickup to grab and deal. His history suggests a lack of dominance and while steady, you might get more for him now then he is actually worth. Or if you need pitching, you scored a free agent steal.

Then there is the entire softball team of outfielders on the Nationals. Someone go get Willingham. He has to wind up playing everyday somewhere. Too good a HR hitter to ride pine all summer. But the way they have been going down, it may be in Washington.
I see Dukes already pissed off the team and Bernadina ran into a wall and Justin Maxwell is beckoning.

Also surprised to see that the Angels went with Izturis at DH last nite over Gary Matthews when Vladdy went down. How does that happen? What does that say about how little the manager likes Matthews? He has got to play more now.These are how one dollar reserve pick stars are born. Doors open up that you would never anticipate.

No one is surprised Glaus is out but everybody assumed that David Freeze would be handed third base by LaRussa. Don’t ever. He is totally unpredictable. The early running suddenly has one time Dodger phenom, Joey Baseball, AKA Thurston, playing everywhere everyday and performing ever so well. And with La Russa, it does not matter if like Ludwick, you hit two homers on Tuesday, he sits you on Wednesday. So is Ryan Franklin the new closer? Yes, until tomorrow.

You see, picking players for your roto teams means knowing who the managers are as well. You pick a player for a Pinella team and you are better off with Reed Johnson then Felix Pie because you knew last season the rookie just was not going to get a fair chance. Same with Dusty Baker, who was fine managing septogenarians in San Francisco. Some managers prefer the vets they can count on for the mental part of the game. They value it more than the physical.

Ronnie Paulino is 8 for 16 to open the season and before you know it this twice traded afterthought who was a fantasy dream two years ago could suddenly become a full time one dollar platoon catcher on a winning team. And you spent fifteen dollars on AJ Persnickety. Playing roto ball means more than drafting the stars. It means playing the waiver wire when the season begins to see who is moving into a 7th inning hold role, and who is the backup behind the closer whose manager has a job on the line when the dude loses two or three saves in a row. So prudent guys hold on to a Corpas or Lyon, but many leagues limit reserves, so your task is to be the quickest with the finger on the add button in first come first serve leagues.

If you are not so intense, and play in weekly leagues, you have time to cruise, pick, select, and drop. The difference is like the guy who plays softball once a week as compared to the guy in three leagues five nites a week. The intense warrior is better for the battle than the couch potato.

So here is some specific advice:

Check out teams off to slow starts who typically do not win. Their patience will be less. Look at their minor leaguers.

Look at the guys who got cut on March 30; like Erich Stults, last cut, first up.

Looking for pitching, don’t be afraid to track Double AA guys with dominance. More teams are using Triple A for retreads and older players without ceilings, and promoting kids from double AA.

Anyone who thinks a part time DH player can’t help a deep league ought to see what Jason Kubel did last nite. Wow, Hudson, Kinsler and Kubel have all hit for the cycle in April. No such thing as pitchers being ahead of the hitters anymore in April.

Do you think the Angels are regretting losing KRod? How many saves have Shields, Arrreondo and Fuentes blown already?

That’s all for now. Gotta go.