Those of you who drafted in AL leagues in the last ten days may have seen the immediate impact of the surfeit of spring training information, gossip, and innuendo in John Wetteland‘s price. There was a brief period when it appeared that Wetteland might start the season on the DL, and miss a fair amount…
KERRY WOOD “I haven’t even had the surgery yet. It’s too early to think about when I’m going to be back.” — Kerry Wood, Cubs pitcher “We were very, very conservative with Kerry. Whether this was bound to happen, I can’t answer.” — Ed Lynch, Cubs GM “Thankfully, we live in a day and age…
ATLANTA BRAVES (1998: 581 runs allowed, 1st in the NL) Rotation Greg Maddux, R Tom Glavine, L John Smoltz, R Kevin Millwood, R Odalis Perez, L Bullpen Mark Wohlers, R John Rocker, L Mike Remlinger, L Kevin McGlinchy, R Rudy Seanez, R Alternatives Kerry Ligtenberg, R (hurt) Mike Cather, R Bruce Chen, L Russ Springer,…
ANAHEIM ANGELS (1998: 783 runs allowed, 6th in AL) Rotation Chuck Finley, L Tim Belcher, R Steve Sparks, R Ken Hill, R Omar Olivares, R Bullpen Troy Percival, R Rich DeLucia, R Shigetoshi Hasegawa, R Mark Petkovsek, R Mike Magnante, L Mike Holtz, L Alternatives Scott Schoeneweis, L Jarrod Washburn, L The Angels have a…
CHICAGO CUBS (1998: 792 runs allowed, 5th NL Central) Rotation Steve Trachsel, R Kevin Tapani, R Jon Lieber, R Terry Mulholland, L Scott Sanders, R or Kurt Miller, R Bullpen Rod Beck, R Terry Adams, R Matt Karchner, R Felix Heredia, L Alternatives Andrew Lorraine, L Marc Pisciotta, R Life after Kerry may not be…
The use of a four-man starting rotation was firmly established in the major leagues by 1925. In the 1970s, teams started tinkering with five-man rotations, and by about 1980 all clubs had switched over to it. Last year, Mets’ manager Bobby Valentine implemented a six-man rotation in late-July, which he used up until the last…
CHICAGO WHITE SOX (1998: 861 runs, .269 Equivalent Average) Starters (with projected Equivalent Average) C Mark Johnson .262 or Josh Paul .222 1B Paul Konerko .287 2B Ray Durham .272 3B Greg Norton .251 or Carlos Lee .255 SS Mike Caruso .244 LF Jeff Abbott .269 CF Brian Simmons .245 or McKay Christensen .252 or…
Recently, a reader sent the following to me: Keith — I enjoy your articles, and thought that I would ask you a question that I have never seen answered in all of the mags, books and websites: How does valuation change if you have 11 or 10 (or less) teams instead of the standard 12?…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Optioned INF Nelson Castro to Erie (AA); assigned Ps Mark Harriger and Ramon Ortiz and C Bret Hemphill to extended spring training; assigned Ps Mike Bovee, Mike Butcher, Brian Cooper, Seth Etherton, Lou Pote and Keith Troutman, and C Fausto Tejero to their minor-league camp. [3/10] Optioned CF Norm Hutchins and P Geoff…
The Jim Leyland managing today managed very differently from the pre-1997 models. Working for the Pirates, Leyland was comparable to Felipe Alou in his careful handling of starting pitchers, but in 1997 things changed. The first victim was Alex Fernandez, who went down with a torn rotator cuff after being repeatedly overworked late in the…
Recently, Rany Jazayerli had the opportunity to conduct a brief interview with Kansas City Royals General Manager Herk Robinson. Here is the complete transcript: RJ: Let’s start with the obvious: the trade situation with Kevin Appier. HR: There’s nothing specific with Appier yet; we haven’t discussed any particular players with any of the teams that…
BALTIMORE ORIOLES (1998: 817 runs, .276 Equivalent Average) Starters (with projected Equivalent Average) C Charles Johnson .256 1B Will Clark .281 2B Delino DeShields .266 3B Cal Ripken Jr. .234 SS Mike Bordick .226 LF B.J. Surhoff .265 CF Brady Anderson .276 RF Albert Belle .308 DH Harold Baines .267 Bench/Alternatives: DH Chris Hoiles .278,…
