Transaction analysis, January 24-February 9, 2003.
Team Health Report: Milwaukee Brewers February 2003
Team Health Report: Florida Marlins February 2003
As pitchers and catchers report to sunny climes this week–soon to be joined by hitters, beer vendors, and spring breakers–much will be made of the battle for the five slots in the New York Yankees’ starting rotation.
No regular season at all. Instead, a round-robin tournament.
Team Health Report: Oakland Athletics February 2003
Team Health Report: Cleveland Indians February 2003
Team Health Report: Seattle Mariners February 2003
Yes, we’ve missed a lot of stuff over the past eight years, and we’ll miss a lot of stuff in the future. That’s a large part of what makes the game so addictive and entertaining. You can make well-educated and reasoned assessments of a circumstance, and things can still end up completely surprising. It’s more fun to be wrong about forecasting a player’s collapse than it is to be right about it. Doesn’t change the fact that we may have missed that one, but it is more fun.
Minding my own business while doing research the other day, I came upon one of the weirdest, coolest pitchers ever. Looking into Tom Glavine and his 242 career wins–which puts him at No. 50 all-time–I found a guy named Jack Quinn, at No. 44 with 247. I love these kinds of random findings; you could be talking to someone you know about Gaylord Perry, and he might in passing mention the last legal spitballers, Quinn being among the best of ’em. I had no idea Quinn was so interesting. He wasn’t a star, and he pitched from 1909-1933, pre-dating my baseball consciousness by about five decades.
Team Health Report: Atlanta Braves February 2003
No, the most contentious sports battles of February are fought not in football rinks or hockey stadiums, but in hotel conference rooms in Tampa and Phoenix, where owners and agents will square off against one another all month long in a series of arbitration hearings that will be fully nasty enough to recall the high period of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling circuit, except without quite as much hair-pulling.
Re-signed INF-R Benji Gil and DH-L Brad Fullmer to one-year contracts.
Signed OF-R Eric Owens to a one-year contract, and LHP Rich Rodriguez, 2B-R Adam Riggs, and UT-R Oscar Salazar to minor league contracts.
Avoided arbitration with 2B-L Adam Kennedy, INF-B Scott Spiezio, and LHPs Jarrod Washburn and Scott Schoeneweis.
Claimed C-R Wil Nieves off of waivers (from the Padres).
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