New DH David Ortiz has a history of nagging ailments and a need for a platoon partner. Johnny Damon’s knee doesn’t bother me after a full off-season of healing time. The Sox lack depth and minor league insurance for their star players, but they have enough pieces to get through everything but a catastrophic loss.
Do the Sox have enough to beat the Yankees? On paper, no, but injuries – or the lack thereof – could be a deciding factor. As the mainstream press watches Lucchino vs. Steinbrenner and Pedro vs. Clemens, I’ll be watching whether Jim Rowe or Gene Monahan can keep his team healthier.
Even healthy, the best thing this team can do is collapse completely and cause new managing partner Robert Basham (no relation to the Reds prospect) to send Chuck LaMar and Cam Bonifay packing and start over. The best prospects coming up haven’t been properly nurtured, and there aren’t even enough of those flawed few to offer hope.
NICE GUYS FINISH LAST
“The main factor for Craig was that he was being asked to move to a new position in the last year of his contract. We had empathy for that and we wanted to show what he has meant to the Astros over the years.”
–Gerry Hunsicker, Astros general manager, on signing 37-year-old Craig Biggio
QUOTABLE CATCHERS: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
“I’m going to spring training to win a job…It would be pretty stupid for me to say, ‘They’ve given me this job,’ when I’ve been in the big leagues for all of six minutes.”
–Josh Bard, Indians catcher
“I’m not an underwear model…I’m a baseball player. I like food. I’m building my body up to break it down during the season. If I’m going to catch 130 games this season, I’ve got to be strong.”
–Bard, on gaining 15 pounds in the off-season
“Blocking the plate is a pride thing…I had a play against Paul Konerko last year. I went 0-for-5 that day, but I tagged him out at the plate and we beat Chicago by a run. I considered that a good day.”
–Bard
The Reds, more than any other team in the last five years, have been defined by injuries. The most notable has been to Griffey, but by losing other players while Don Gullett rebuilds guys like Jimmy Haynes and Pete Harnisch, they’ve been able to stay under the insanely low budget constraints forced on them by ownership, while remaining competitive. More than any other team, a run of good health could make this team quite good and potentially a serious NL contender.
Team Health Report: Colorado Rockies January 2003
I’m going to look at the 2000 draft, which is far enough back that we can make some conclusions about how the acquisitions turned out, and how the teams dealt with draft compensation.
Team Health Report: Chicago White Sox January 2003
Although the specifics haven’t been laid out for public consumption, it is widely assumed that four teams would be added to the post-season mix, raising the number of participants from eight to 12.
Major League Baseball’s recent decision to base home-field advantage in the World Series on the outcome of the All-Star Game runs contrary to the way Commissioner Bud Selig normally operates. Spurred by last year’s All-Star debacle in Milwaukee, the entire process – from concept to approval – took only six months, and failed to employ even one sub-committee of analysts to explore the issue. More typical of Selig’s decision-making process is his announcement of the newly-formed special task force for “The Commissioner’s Initiative: Major League Baseball in the 21st Century.”
Team Health Report: Texas Rangers January 2003
Team Health Report: San Francisco Giants January 2003
Howdy gang, nothing like spending five hours typing up the index for this year’s edition of Baseball Prospectus to make me desperately hungry to dive right into playing catch-up on real-time baseball news. Yes, Transaction Analysis is long overdue, and for that I apologize, having spent the intervening time working with our writing team and the incomparably enthusiastic Jonah Keri to get this year’s book out the door. If you can forgive me that, you’ll also have to forgive me this temporary break from format, as I run down the most-notable moves made over the last couple of months, going by divisional pairs (Easts, Centrals, and Wests) to get caught up and resume your regularly scheduled TA mayhem by next week.
The Anaheim Angels finished the 2001 season 41 games out of first place, so you would be forgiven if their World Series victory last fall surprised you. It surprised all of us. All of us except Phil Rogers, that is. He saw it coming.