Just for Sport

A lot has been made over the last couple of days about the blockbuster trades that the Cubs and the Brewers made.  In case you haven’t been near a television in the last 24 hours, the Brewers acquired CC Sabathia, and the Cubs got Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin.  It seems only natural to compare the two trades since they happened so close together and since both teams are in the NL Central.  So let’s do that, starting with the Brewers.  Stats listed are career stats.

The Brewers got:

CC Sabathia
107-71(.601), 3.82 ERA, 1.266 WHIP, 7.45 K/9
Postseason: 1-2, 7.17 ERA
2007 Cy Young Award Winner
27 years old (turns 28 this month)
Free Agent in 2008 offseason

The Brewers gave up:

Matt LaPorta
AA - 82 Games, .291 BA, .404 OBP, 20 HR, 66 RBI
23 years old
Former #7 overall pick 

Robert Bryson
A - 3-2 (.600), 5 SV, 4.25 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 11.95 K/9
20 years old 

Taylor Green
A+ - 78 Games, .297 BA, .381 OBP, 10 HR, 50 RBI
21 years old 

Player to be named later (likely Zach Jackson)

The Cubs got:

Rich Harden
36-19(.655), 3.42 ERA, 1.244 WHIP, 8.69 K/9
Postseason: 0-2, 6.43 ERA
26 years old 

Chad Gaudin
24-23(.511), 2 SV, 4.33 ERA, 1.525 WHIP, 6.38 K/9
Postseason: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
25 years old 

The Cubs gave up:

Sean Gallagher
3-4(.429), 5.28 ERA, 1.514 WHIP,  6.63 K/9
22 years old 

Matt Murton
308 Games, .294 BA, .362 OBP, 28 HR, 104 RBI
26 years old (turns 27 in October) 

Eric Patterson
20 Games, .239 BA, .308 OBP, 1 HR, 7 RBI
25 years old 

Josh Donaldson
A - 61 Games, .223 BA, .282 OBP, 6 HR, 23 RBI
22 years old 

It seems as if the Brewers have mortgaged their future to make this one playoff run.  Manny LaPorta is considered one of the best prospects in the minors right now, and judging by the statistics, it looks as though Bryson (look at the K rate) and Green have tremendous upside.  Both Sabathia and Ben Sheets will be gone next year, and there will be little help coming from their farm system.  They had better make the playoffs this year if this trade is to be deemed a success.  If they do happen to make it, they will be formidable in a short series.  

On the other hand, the Cubs got a slightly better pitcher.  Sabathia has the better name recognition as a Cy Young winner (plus he’s been around longer), but Harden has the better statistics.  He is an injury risk, but if he stays healthy, this trade is a steal.  The Cubs not only got Harden to strengthen their rotation, which now includes Harden, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, and Rich Hill/Jason Marquis.  In addition, they got a solid reliever that will be able to contribute on a daily basis.  In exchange the only real prospect of value they gave up is Sean Gallagher, who has a bright future and has shown flashes of brilliance this year.  Despite lots of hand-wringing by columnists and talking heads, Murton in fact did get his chance in the majors, and largely failed to produce.  Billy Beane was surely attracted to his OBP, but his run production numbers are sub-par.  He will likely contribute to a nominal degree in Oakland, but he will not be missed in Chicago.  Jim Hendry was probably happy to get rid of Patterson, who is overrated because of his brother.  Only once have I ever seen a player tag at first and take second on a routine fly ball to left field, and that one time Patterson was the left fielder.  Josh Donaldson may make a serviceable catcher, but was unlikely to see time in the foreseeable future with Geovany Soto at the dish for the big club.

In short, the Cubs win.  They got the better of the two deals, though I will be afraid of the Brewers if they manage to nab a Wild Card spot.  As for the other two aces on the respective clubs, Zambrano was dominant today, while Sheets was average.  Chalk another win up to the Cubbies. 

Last night we were all graced with one of the great football games in recent memory.  It surely goes down as one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen.  If I had to choose the five greatest games in all sports in the last ten years without spending a bunch of time thinking about it or researching, they would go as follows:

5 - 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State over Oklahoma, 43-42 (OT).  This makes the list for me because (A) I hate Oklahoma - see sidebar, (B) Nobody thought Boise State would stick it to OU for three and half quarters, much less pull the upset, and (C) Those last couple of plays - The Hook and Lateral and The Statue of Liberty.  Instant classic.

4 - Super Bowl XLII, New York Giants over New England, 17-14.  Not many people predicted a low-scoring game, much less a close one.  The three lead changes in the 4th quarter plus Eli Manning’s escape/David Tyree’s catch (Do we have a name for that yet?) made it a great game anyway.  The storyline behind the game (destroying the perfect season, etc.) put it on the list.

3 - 2004 AL Championship Series, Games 4 & 5, Boston over New York.  Game 4: 6-4 (12 innings).  Game 5: 5-4 (14 innings).  I think it’s fair to lump these two together because it was really the series that was impressive.  Also, Game 5 started 16 hours after Game 4 ended.  These games were great not only because nobody had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit before, but because the Yankees had so thoroughly dominated the series up until that point.  The way they won those games was just fantastic.

2 - 2006 Rose Bowl, Texas over USC, 41-38.  This one was just like last night’s game, except with 4 times the scoring.  USC were the overwhelming favorites, and Texas overcame the odds in the Championship Game, with Vince Young scoring the winning touchdown on 4th down.

1 - 1998 NBA Finals, Game 6, Chicago over Utah, 87-86. Michael Jordan hits "The Shot" (Does that play have a name?  What is it?) in his last game in a Bulls uniform to cap off a 45-point performance and the Bulls 6th Championship.

There are some others that perhaps mean more to me than the greater sports world:

1999 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6, Dallas over Buffalo, 2-1 (Triple OT).  Creasegate.  Modano plays 55 minutes with a cast on his arm.

June 29, 2007, Chicago Cubs over Milwaukee, 6-5.  The Cubs rally from a 5-0 deficit to win on Aramis’ walkoff home run.  This game also turned the tide in the division race.

2007 NL Wild Card Tiebreaker Game, Colorado over San Diego, 9-8 (13 innings).  This was a great game even before the 13th inning.  Plenty of offense early, followed by dominant pitching and stellar defense.  There was a grand slam and a killer error that allowed the game to go into extras in the first place.  The Padres got 2 in the 13th, and the game was thought over.  But the Cinderella Rockies beat the odds and killed Trevor Hoffman.  The play at the plate, which is consistently the best play in sports, capped it all off. 

2006 NL Championship, Game 6, Florida over Chicago Cubs, 8-3.  I hate this game, but for the Marlins, this was a GREAT game.  Cubs fans, please don’t blame Bartman.  Blame Baker.

2007 AFC Championship Game, Indianapolis over New England, 38-34.  If this game was the Super Bowl, it might have made the list.  The Colts looked dead in the water, behind 21-3, then rallied to beat the team that had been keeping them down in dramatic fashion.

Feel free to disagree or suggest some other games. 

I’m too dumb to embed YouTube videos, so here’s a couple of links:

Great Play

Best Commercial 

Today, I walked into The Ballpark in Arlington and rooted against the Texas Rangers.  It was a strange feeling.  The reason?  My Chicago Cubs were in town, finishing up the first series played between the two teams since the Rangers moved from Washington.  My baseball bigamy is well documented, and when we first obtained tickets for this game in February, I worried about who I would cheer for.  Little did I know that by June 21st, the Rangers would have the worst record in baseball, leaving me with an easy decision to make: I would root for the Cubs, the only team in the game with a chance. 

When gametime came, I really was rooting for the Cubs to win.  In fact, when the Rangers won 6-5 on Frank Catalanotto’s walk-off single, I was pretty disappointed.  But, I did find myself rooting for the Rangers at times.  I jumped up and cheered when Hairston made an awesome running catch in left field.  Same thing when Michael Young came through with some clutch hits.  The people behind me must have thought I was crazy.  All in all, I’m just glad neither one of my teams got blown out and that there were no fights.

Here are some more observations from the game:

1 - Apparently, I’m not the only one with an affinity for both the Cubs and the Rangers.  I saw several people wearing merchandise for both teams. (I simply went with the Cubs hat I bought at Wrigley 4 years ago.)  One lady was wearing a Texas Soriano jersey with a Cubs hat.  By contrast, a man was wearing a Chicago Sosa jersey with a Rangers hat.  The funniest one I saw was a man wearing a "Don’t Mess With Texas" shirt under his unbuttoned Mark Prior jersey.  He completed the ensemble with a 1914 Cubs hat.

2 - We got to the game a little more than an hour early and took our seats just over the right field fence.  Both teams had already taken batting practice and there were no players on the field.  At about 12:10 (Gametime was 1:05) a very tall, scrawny man wearing athletic gear and an iPod started walking toward us on the field.  I was confused, because he carried himself like a player, but he didn’t really look like one.  He stopped right in front of us, saw me watching, gave a little nod, and took off jogging around the perimeter of the field.  After taking three laps, he stopped to stretch, then put his uniform and gear on.  It turns out that this very skinny man was Adam Melhuse, who was getting the start at catcher.  I guess the extra work must have jacked him up for the game, because he hit a home run and was solid behind the plate.  It was nice to see the backup catcher who is new to the team take such a serious approach to his preparation, and then watch it pay off for him.

3 - It seems that both teams had some pretty similar things going for them positionally.  Both had their new back-up catcher starting (Melhuse and Rob Bowen, though it remains to be seen what role he’ll have).  Neither gold-glove first basemen played in the field (Derrek Lee was the DH, and Teixeira is on the DL).  Both had rookie phenoms in center field (Felix Pie and Marlon Byrd).  Both had utility infielders playing for their injured third basemen (Travis Metcalf and Mark DeRosa). 

4 - Another similarity: both right fielders struggled with the glove.  Wilkerson was his same slow self, plodding along as if he has no knees.  I honestly felt as if any pop-up to right had a chance to fall in.  Pagan let one go over his head in the fifth that opened the floodgates.  I doubt it will show up in the highlights of the game, but that play looked really bad.  Finally, there was the final play.  Angel almost got to the ball with a dive, but I feel as if he could have gotten there if he had made the correct read.  Just my opinion.

5 - Apparently Vicente Padilla has been working on the Eephus pitch, and he brought it out four times, hitting below 60 on the radar each time.  Three out of the four times it happened, the Cubs hitters stood in the box looking dumbfounded.  The other time, Pagan hit a weak pop-up to center when it looked like he was trying to foul it off.  Padilla seems to mix it in well, either following it or preceding it with a fastball in the 92-95 range. 

All in all, a very good experience to have.  It was fun to see the Cubs.  I had only seen them two times previously.  The first was a four-inning unofficial game at Wrigley and the second was the fourth game of a four game sweep of the Astros at Minute Maid.  I don’t really like the feeling of rooting against the Rangers - I got some of the same looks I must have given people wearing Red Sox hats at the home opener.  Saturday I will be at Game 5 of the Lone Star Series, so it will be all Rangers, all the time.  I should have a report after that one as well.

Just thought I would pass this on to you, the loyal reader.  I found this during spring training while I was looking around preparing to write a baseball preview for this site, which you no doubt have noticed has still not appeared.  Patience, grasshopper.  The semester is almost over.

It turns out that the Cubs are not cursed by a goat after all…

 We’re sorry we blamed it on you, Mr. Sianis.

Note: Sorry to those of you who have commented in the past. I didn’t realize that all comments were going to moderation mode. Comments you make should show up now.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a baseball bigamist. I claim both the Chicago Cubs and the Texas Rangers as “my team.” I’ve explained this to more people than I can count, but I’ll do it again here. When I was growing up at home, I would always watch the Cubs on WGN during the day. I loved listening to Harry Caray, especially when he did the seventh inning stretch. There were players I liked: Ryne Sandberg, because of the hard-nosed way he always played second base; and Mark Grace, because I had his rookie card and he seemed like a good player to support. Of course, there’s Wrigley Field, the greatest sports venue in the country. A lot of my friends think I believe that because I’m a Cubs fan - really, I’m a Cubs fan because I love Wrigley Field. There’s the old-time scoreboard that’s so prominent in center field, ivy grows on the fences, and people watch the games from the rooftops. That’s probably the biggest factor - the Cubs could be one of the worst teams in baseball (and in the early 90’s this was never far from the truth) and the ballpark would be packed. People would show up for the experience of the game - when they sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” they meant it. You have to understand that in the early 90’s in North Texas, I lived among a bunch of bandwagon Cowboy fans, so a team with such a strong following appealed to me.

There was also the Rangers. I learned about baseball from watching the Rangers with my Dad. We would sit on the couch and watch the game, and he would tell me what a hit-and-run was and why the pitcher had a rosin bag. We kept score, even if we were watching from home. In my scorebook many important events were immortalized, including a grand slam by Pete Incaviglia that was probably one of the most clutch hits in Rangers history (not a lot to choose from, I know). My first Major League game was at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers played the Oakland Athletics. Bobby Witt was pitching, and we lost. I remember cheering for Nolan Ryan to come in from the bullpen, believing it could actually happen.

That’s probably a little too much sidetrack. The point is supposed to be for me to point out that in the 2006 offseason, the Cubs and Rangers are going two opposite directions, starting their respective managerial hires. The Cubs organization is somehow deluded into thinking that grabbing the biggest name on the market is going to make them a winner. Getting Dusty Baker out of there was the right move - I’ll never forgive him for pitching Prior and Wood over 200 innings each in 2003 - but Lou Piniella isn’t the direction we need to be going. Maybe this team needs a little fire, but I think it needs somebody who can manage in the National League more than that. Also, we need a lead-off hitter and a bullpen.

I have some optimism for the 2007 Rangers. If we can somehow convince Matthews to come back and land one or two more pitchers (Matsuzaka, please!), we’re going to be okay. The more I hear about Ron Washington, the better. First off, I like the idea of taking people away from the Athletics. But this article makes me do backflips. You mean guys like Barry Zito, Jermaine Dye, and Torii Hunter are talking about the Texas Rangers because of our new manager?!?! Jon Daniels is even cooler than I thought! Maybe the Rangers could become the Tigers of the 04-05 offseason: all of the good free agents collectively decide to join one team because of its potential for growth. Hey, Jason Schmidt, we’ve got Barry Zito and the best infield in baseball. You want in on this?

Anyway, this offseason is a crazy one for me. I read that both of my teams put in bids for Matsuzaka, so unlike most fans, I’ve got about a 2-in-7 chance that my team will land him, rather than a 1-in-7 chance. Things are looking up for both teams (honestly, how can it get any worse than last year for the Cubs?). It would help if they would stop making useless trades with each other. Nevin for Hairston? Stop torturing me.

Okay, before I go, some input is required. I’m thinking about pulling a TMQ and nicknaming all of the sports teams I write about based on their mascot, team logo, collective persona, or other trait. My idea for the Rangers is: Texas Chuck Norrises. Perhaps the Cubs could be Windy City/B - until they win the World Series, in which they could be Windy City/A. Thoughts?

Note: This post originally appeared on April 2, 2006.

Well, the Indians and White Sox are only in the fourth inning (on a rain delay), and in the three and half innings since the season started, every sportswriter’s second favorite “sleeper” pick has already lost their ace (Sabathia) to injury. So much for predictions. I have a few of my own, and I hope to add to them. First I’ll react to some of the things I’ve seen on espn.com and in The Mag, then make some more predictions. Ready? Let’s roll.

ESPN The Magazine released their top-to-bottom division predictions, and I believe that they’re all over the map. For starters, they predicted the Athletics to win the AL West and in the same paragraph, mentioned the idea that Billy Beane might be trying to move Barry Zito. The back half of their rotation is bad enough; they can’t afford to lose their ace. More reactions:

- Nobody at ESPN can write about the Rangers without mentioning the amount of home runs at Ameriquest. Nothing wrong with that, but they rarely ever mention that 65.6% of them were hit by the Rangers. They have power, and nobody gives them credit because there’s a stigma about the ballpark.

- Harold Reynolds, John Kruk, Peter Gammons, and Steve Phillips all picked the Cardinals to win the pennant on Baseball Tonight earlier. Tim Kurkjian picked them to win the division in The Mag. I think they just assume that they will win because they have in the past, but this offseason they lost Reggie Sanders, Larry Walker, Matt Morris, and Mark Grudzielanek and did virtually nothing to replace them. People seem to forget the 6.21 ERA that Ponson put up last year, not to mention the horrible demeanor that can wreck what is usually a professional clubhouse. I’m also not buying that Scott Rolen is back until I see it. The only thing that gives them a shot is Pujols.

- I can’t believe people think the Astros will succeed again. They added absolutely nobody to help their putrid offense, and Biggio isn’t getting any younger. At some point his aggressive play will catch up with him in the form of injury. It’s a shame, but it’s reality. The only way they break .500 is if Clemens comes back. It will be justice for the way they treated Bagwell.

- Everybody’s favorite sleeper is the Brewers. Again, this is based on a late run they made last season. But, Overbay’s not there anymore and Ben Sheets is injured. They have a bunch of rookies, no bullpen (except Turnbow, but somebody’s got to get him the ball) or bench, and only three legit starters. This is going to be a huge bust.

- Okay, call me a homer (I am), but nobody’s giving the Cubbies a chance because Wood and Prior are on the DL again. I saw an interview with Mark Prior recently, and he’s got the exact right attitude for someone who has to come back and prove himself all over again. And he’s not injury-prone - they’ve all been freak occurrences. As for Wood…I don’t know. Maybe he can be effective from the bullpen again. The bottom line is that nobody’s talking about the addition of Juan Pierre and Jacque Jones, and that Ronnie Cedeno is poised to break out. They’ve got a platoon of infielders that can be effective off the bench or traded. I see things looking up for them, not in fourth of fifth place in the Central like everybody’s saying.

- I’m tired of people picking the Braves “because I picked against them last year and got burned.” They have a total of two pitchers - bullpen included. You might be able to convince me of Chris Reitsma, but not yet. I love Francoeur and all those guys, but it’s not happening. The Mets have done too much.

Peter Gammons has his picks for individual awards out, and I can’t say I’m impressed. Here’s what he picked:

AL MVP: Bobby Crosby
This has to be an April Fool’s joke. I know that the media loves him and he plays hard, but he’s not an MVP. Steve Phillips points to the A’s record last year with and without him while he was injured, but being a good clubhouse presence doesn’t win you the MVP. Last year he played 84 games and had 9 HRs and 38 RBIs. If you were generous in your calculations, you would discover that he was on pace for 20 HRs and 80 RBIs. A look at his ‘04 stats confirm that this is not atypical (22 & 64). These aren’t even Moneyball numbers. Even Pujols had to wait until his fifth year in the league to win, (Crosby’s in his fourth) and Bobby is not even in Pujols’ league. Peter should have gone with Teixeira or A-Rod. He should also remove Grady Sizemore from his list.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols
You can’t argue with this. What you can dispute is Chipper Jones on the runner-up list with Derrek Lee conspicuously absent. Chipper hit his prime…maybe 10 years ago? Not happening.

AL Cy Young: Josh Beckett
Unfortunately for Beckett, the Red Sox won’t be scoring as many runs this year. I just don’t see anybody who goes on the DL at least once every year for a blister contending. Santana or Halladay would have been better picks. You can’t really expect Gammons to write a column without predicting something outrageous for the Red Sox, though.

NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy
Nice sleeper pick.

Okay, hopefully the rain delay will end soon. My picks for individual awards:
MVP: Mark Teixeira (AL), Albert Pujols (NL)
Cy Young: Bartolo Colon (AL), Carlos Zambrano (NL)
Reliever of the Year: BJ Ryan (AL), Chad Cordero (NL)
Rookie of the Year: Kenji Johjima (AL), Matt Murton (NL)
Rookie Pitcher of the Year: I just looked over a list of eligible players and recognized maybe three names. No prediction. Here’s hoping for Edison Volquez and Angel Guzman.
Comeback Player of the Year (Position Player): Magglio Ordonez (AL), Barry Bonds (NL)
Comeback Player of the Year (Pitcher): Zack Greinke (AL), Mark Prior (NL)

Playoff Picks Revisted:
Here are my playoff teams that I picked a couple of months ago:

Mets
Cubs
Dodgers
Cardinals (WC)

Yankees
Indians
Rangers
Athletics (WC)

I reserve the right to change my picks, because it’s my blog and I was able to catch a few spring training games on TV. I’m going to leave the NL alone, but my AL picks get an overhaul. I have become increasingly less convinced about the Indians and more convinced about the Blue Jays. I’ve got the Blue Jays in the East, the White Sox in the Central (I was skeptical about Jim Thome, but it looks like it really was Philly that was the problem), and the West stays the same.

Ten Bold Predictions for 2006:
I was 1/2 for 10 last year (still an outside shot that Bonds retires at 715. Griffey almost made the season). They’re supposed to be bold, so no backing down.

1. David Wright will finish in the top 5 in MVP balloting. Oh yeah, bold…okay, top 3.
2. Roger Clemens will wait until the end of May to make his decision, making everybody think Astros…but he ends up with the Rangers.
3. Manny Ramirez will get injured messing around in the outfield, forcing David Ortiz to play in the field, effectively ending MVP conversations about him.
4. Nomar Garciaparra will end up playing second base for the Yankees.
5. Carl Crawford will demand a trade and end up in…Kansas City. The Royals will subsequently pass the Tigers for fourth place in the AL Central.
6. Dontrelle Willis will lead the NL in ERA but struggle to stay above .500. 12 wins for D-Train.
7. Tony LaRussa will retire after this season.
8. Bobby Jenks gets roughed up sometime early in the season, loses the closer role, and slips into anonymity as his weight approaches 350 pounds.
9. League leaders in home runs: Paul Konerko and Cliff Floyd.
10. This year’s big name to get nailed for steroids: Milton Bradley.

Rain delay’s still not over, so…there’s still a chance that prediction number 8 comes true tonight. Happy baseball!