UNREST IN NEW YORK “I don’t have to be told anything. I know I am not doing my job as good as I should be. I don’t need a message when we are one game under .500 with a $70 million payroll. We’re not doing the job we need to do.” — Bobby Valentine, Mets…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Placed C Charlie O’Brien on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 6/3 (partially torn ligament – foot); recalled OF Reggie Williams from Edmonton. [6/4] With O’Brien gone and Todd Greene’s shoulder giving him some problems, this may be present a chance for Steve Decker to stick around and do some catching.If Greene goes behind…
Gesundheit Put bluntly, former Expo Mike Lansing hasn’t been all the Rockies had hoped for since they traded several pitching prospects for him during the 1996 offseason. He’s had some major back troubles, isn’t the defensive player he once was, and really didn’t hit at all last year (.276/.325/.411 playing half his games on Planet…
Something Just Isn’t Wright Jaret Wright avoided a suspension in the aftermath of the May 22nd brawl at Jacobs Field. The right-hander, with a five-game suspension already on his record this year, drew only a fine from the league office. More curious is AL president Gene Budig’s request for an audience with Wright, to discuss…
NO FAT LADIES ‘ROUND HERE “We’ve got too much talent to be a bad ballclub, therefore the word underachieving fits right now. It hurts to admit that fits. I’m trying to be positive and optimistic that it will turn around and there’s still lots of time to turn it around. We’re still in a position…
Fixing the Ms The Seattle Mariners currently sport a team ERA of 6.23–more than a quarter of a run higher than the next worst team in the American League. Shoulder injuries to Butch Henry (torn labrum) and Mark Leiter (torn rotator cuff) thinned an already anorexic staff and have prompted the ever-reactionary Lou Piniella to…
Almost one full year ago–June of 1998, to be exact–I had become increasingly frustrated at Jim Leyland’s idea of "entertainment" in what was turning into The Lost Season in south Florida. My frustration stemmed from watching as his young and promising pitchers were made to throw close to a gross of pitches on an all-too-frequent…
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Recalled pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim from Tucson of the Pacific Coast League (AAA); optioned pitcher Bobby Chouinard to Tucson. [5/27] Kim blew threw Double-A and Triple-A, leading to talk that he, like Billy Koch, will soon be installed as the major-league closer. Kim did pitch well in the PCL, but in one of the…
The Chase for… .500? Yes, it’s early, but given the attention Larry Walker and Sean Casey are getting for having batting averages around .400, it’s probably not unreasonable to mention that John Olerud’s OBP is .505. In 1998, Mark McGwire spent a few weeks around the magic mark, and in 1994, Frank Thomas ran a…
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Optioned infielder Hanley Frias to Tucson of the Pacific Coast League (AAA); recalled pitcher Bobby Chouinard from Tucson. [5/22] Given the innings the D’backs normally get from their rotation, you wonder if they have any real use for an extra pitcher, much less one of Chouinard’s dubious qualifications. That said, they also ride…
IT’S A HIT! “They were all real slow knuckleballs that just happened to drift on me for whatever reason. They felt good coming out of my hand. It’s just part of the game and part of the frustration for anybody throwing the knuckleball.” — Steve Sparks, Angels pitcher, on hitting four batters “I was trying…
The Ballad of Super Joe I’m not a big fan of David Howard. Regular readers probably know that. Last year, in his first season with the Cardinals, Howard hit .245 in 102 at-bats, with four extra-base hits and 12 walks giving him a sad .322 OBP and a meek .333 slugging average. All three averages…
