Frayed Knot

] 1) Lorne Greene 2) Lorne Michaels 3) Lorne Peterson 4) Lorn Brown That's a pretty four-lorn list

2002RANKINGSPOINTSPLAYER30Mike Piazza29Edgardo Alfonzo28Armando Benitez27Al Leiter26Steve Trachsel25Roberto Alomar24Mo Vaughn23Pedro Astacio22Mark Guthrie21Timo Perez20David Weathers19Roger Cedeno18Grant Roberts17Jeromy Burnitz16Shawn Estes15Rey Ordonez14Scott Strickland13Jay Payton12Jeff D’Amico11Steve Reed10John Valentin9Vance Wilson8Mike Bascik7Ty Wigginton6Jaime Cerda5John Thomson4Tony Tarasco3Joe McEwing2Raul Gonzalez1Saturo Komiyama

I just wish that these 3rd hand "news sources" (which, of course, aren't sources at all) would at least repeat the info they're stealing correctly if that's what they're going to do. Neither the Boston Herald nor BP said anything about Drew flunking or the contract being canceled. It's like whenever I read the words, "Rotoworld is reporting"; my first reaction is, 'no they're not'.

Stunning perhaps, but that 'Biz of Baseball' (whoever they are) report is also a bit misleading. Baseball Prospectus colleague, Will Carroll is reporting on BP Unfiltered that JD Drew has failed his physical with the Red Sox. No he isn't. Carroll's piece (he tackles all the medical issues for BP) is adding detail onto a Boston Herald report as to why the Sox are delaying officially announcing the Drew signing. Carroll has learned there are questions about his shoulder - but also adds that it's unlikely to scuttle the deal. A bit less dramatic than the headline of DREW FAILS PHYSICAL

2001RANKINGSPOINTSPLAYER30Mike Piazza29Al Leiter28Armando Benitez27Kevin Appier26Tsuyoski Shinjo25Robin Ventura24Edgardo Alfonzo23Rick Reed22Desi Relaford21Todd Zeile20Steve Trachsel19John Franco18Joe McEwing17Benny Agbayani16Matt Lawton15Glendon Rusch14Turk Wendell13Jay Payton12Rey Ordonez11Bruce Chen10Rick White9Jerrod Riggan8Dicky Gonzalez7Mark Johnson6Vance Wilson5Grant Roberts4Dennis Cook3Timo Perez2Lenny Harris1Todd Pratt

2000RANKINGSPOINTSPLAYER30Mike Piazza29Edgardo Alfonzo29Al Leiter28Mike Hampton27Armando Benitez24Rick Reed23Todd Zeile23Robin Ventura22Turk Wendell21Jay Payton20John Franco19Benny Agbayani18Glendon Rusch17Bobby J. Jones16Derek Bell14Timo Perez13Dennis Cook13Mike Bordick12Mel Mora11Lenny Harris10Todd Pratt10Rick White8Matt Franco7Joe McEwing6Rey Ordonez5Pat Mahomes4Kurt Abbott3Daryl Hamilton2Bubba Trammel1Rickey Henderson

Actually, our new leftfielder once missed the better part of an entire season following a treadmill accident ... or at least that's what he claimed. Back when he was w/Houston, Moises suffered a leg injury in what he said was a treadmill mishap. Others speculated that either his pasion for off-season basketball may have played a role, or that "treadmill" was some sort of spanish translation for "motorcycle".

Seems to me that the question is; does WARP mean above the generic player or above the generic player of that position? IOW, the Piazzas of the world should be rated as to where they are above the replacement level catcher who would generally be a worse offensive player than the usual AAAA-type available player of all positions.

<<<<<----- I don't remember punching that little gnat!! Lopez def took a swing at Rey but it was later than '95 There was one story about Butch Huskey swatting him too but that tale didn't come out until some time after the fact so maybe that's the one you were thinking about.

The January phase of the draft was (IIRC) much smaller than the main June phase meaning that those 4th & 5th round picks are nearly as prestigious as they would be in today's once-a-year select-a-thon. There may have been less than a few hundred players chosen in those sessions as opposed to the ~1,500 picked now.

Sure, but the author's premise is already pre-supposing that [u:efdba6abc7]IF[/u:efdba6abc7] Zambrano had put together a healthy & decent season [u:efdba6abc7]COULD[/u:efdba6abc7] the Mets have resisted giving him Meche/Eaton type money ... to which my answer is, 'Yes' since they wouldn't have had to out-bid everyone else in order to keep him. Now he'd get a decent amount for sure, VZ being arb-eligible and all, but it need only be for one year meaning that the question about what the Mets would have done with the dilemma about whether to hand him a long-term deal or cut him loose isn't really honest. Given the choice for next year, I'd take a healthy Zambrano coming off an 2005-type season over a two-year deal for El Duque at this point.

1999RANKINGSPOINTSPLAYER30Edgardo Alfonzo29Mike Piazza28Robin Ventura27John Olerud26Armando Benitez25Turk Wendell24Rickey Henderson23Roger Cedeno22Pat Mahomes21Dennis Cook20John Franco19Al Leiter18Rick Reed17Orel Hershiser16Matsato Yoshii15Rey Ordonez14Benny Agbayani13Shawon Dunston12Matt Franco11Octavio Dotel10Kenny Rogers9Daryl Hamilton8Todd Pratt7Brian McRae6Bobby J. Jones5Allen Watson4Bobby Bonilla3Rigo Beltran2Luis Lopez1Josias Manzanillo

1998RANKINGSPOINTSPLAYER30Al Leiter29John Olerud28Mike Piazza26Rick Reed26Dennis Cook26Turk Wendell24Brian McRae23Edgardo Alfonzo22Brian Bohanan20.5John Franco20.5Armando Reynoso18.5Butch Huskey18.5Greg McMichael17Bobby J. Jones15.5Todd Pratt15.5Matsato Yoshii14Bernanrd Gilkey13Carlos Baerga12Matt Franco11Tony Phillips10Rey Ordonez9Rich Becker7.5Lenny Harris7.5Hideo Nomo6Mel Rojas5Luis Lopez4Alberto Castillo3Todd Hundley2Jermaine Allensworth1Dave Mlicki

Wonder if the Sox will try to use Donnely as their closer since they intend to move Papelbon into the rotation and I'm not sure that their draft pick from L.I. & St. John's is up to the job yet. In other news, Toronto and Vernon Wells apparently close to a deal for right around Beltran money. Wells would have been a FA after next season.

]... park factors are not equal. While I don't have the figures here; I seem to remember someone in BP proposing that the *nature* of them varies wildly. ie: some parks are just gravy for LH power while being death to the average pull righty All correct. Not just LH vs RH but some parks can help power while supressing 1Bs, 2Bs & 3Bs thus not really helping scoring, or vice-versa. The good news is that the fly-ball pitching Zito would most likely not be hurt by Shea but I don't think he was in Oakland either so I don't think it'll make a big difference to him one way or the other. Latest Zito news (more like news in anticipation of news): - Mets "getting ready to meet with Zito" or so says Newsday's Ken Davidoff although no time or place has been set. - the only offer so far has been from Texas and no concrete numbers have been public so far although Davidoff (and other sources) have them as being "open to passing the $100mil mark" - Also mentions that the Mets have been in contact with pitcher Jeff Suppan but that he doesn't appear to be too high on their radar screen

The other thing he ignores is that the other guys were Free Agents while Zambrano just aritration eligible - meaning that he couldn't have commanded anywhere near the kind of money they were getting.

Jeff Bagwell made it offical today to no one's surprise seeing as how he hasn't been able to play for nearly 2 years now due to shoulder injuries. Real nice career; .297/.408/.540 with over 2,300 hits, just under 1,000 of them for extra-bases, 449 HRs, 1,500+ RBIs, and even 200+ SBs ... much of it in the pitcher-friendly Astrodome. He gets over-shadowed a bit by all the monster hitting 1B-men of his era but may have been the best all-around player at that position for most of the '90s as he was real good at just about all aspects of the game. He fielded better than all the big sloppy, sluggers, out-hit all the nifty fielding types, and was probably a better baserunner than all of them.

I thought I remembered reading that Jeff was drafted (5th round?) by Seattle. I assume it was out of college which would put it at around 1984 or so. There were also supplemental drafts in those days so it may not have been during the main (June) phase. From the article (which should have been titled 'The Sons Also Rise'): Messrs. Steinbrenner and Wilpon, outsized principals in both organizations since 1973 and 1980, respectively, are looking more and more like figureheads. Wilpon was a barely mentioned minority partner in 1980, not attaining equal partnership until the later '80s when Doubleday the company sold the team to Doubleday the man and Fred invoked a little-known clause which allowed him right of first refusal to buy his way into a 50% share - much to Nelson's chagrin. Comparing his mgmt presence to that of Steinbrenner - particularly from back in those early days - is pushing a not-quite fitting point into the round hole of the article's theme. In all, Wilpon has run things from behind the scenes a lot more than he's used out in front visability.

1997RANKINGSPOINTSPLAYER30John Olerud29Edgardo Alfonzo28Todd Hundley27Rick Reed26Bobby J. Jones25Bernard Gilkey24Lance Johnson23Carl Everett22Dave Mlicki21John Franco20Butch Huskey19Mark Clark18Carlos Baerga17Matt Franco16Rey Ordonez15Alex Ochoa14Cory Lidle13Luis Lopez12Manny Alexander11Brian McRae10Brian Bohanan9Armando Reynoso8Gerg McMichael7Todd Pratt6Joe Crawford5Juan Acevedo4Steve Beiser3Jason Hardtke2Takashi Kashiwada1Alberto Castillo

1996RANKINGSPOINTSPLAYER30Bernard Gilkey29Todd Hundley28Lance Johnson27John Franco26Mark Clark25Butch Huskey24Bobby J. Jones23Jeff Kent22Pete Harnisch21Alex Ochoa20Edgardo Alfonzo19Jose Vizcaino18Rey Ordonez17Dave Mlicki16Rico Brogna15Jerry DiPota14Alvaro Espinosa13Chris Jones12Carl Everett11Robert Person10Doug Henry9Jason Isringhausen8Paul Wilson7Robert Petagine6Andy Tomberlin5Brent Mayne4Tim Bogar3Carlos Baerga2Paul Byrd1Kevin Roberson

The 'Reuben'

The top-heavy/low-depth label has been the description (knock) for the Met system for years now. Reyes, Wright, Kazmir, Milledge, and, to a lesser extent, Heilman, Huber and the recent college pitchers, have been in among the top half of those 'Top-100' lists over the last half-dozen years, but most find the back half of our Top-10s to be lacking. The good news, I suppose, is that we seem to be good at replacing the top level with new ones as the old ones "graduate" Following along with what Goldstein/BP has done so far (they're going team-by-team alphabetically): they've now rated 10 NL teams and come up with 15 "Excellent" prospects while finding, in true 'Bell Curve' fashion, even more "Very Good" (21), "Good" (30), and "Average" (didn't count 'em). Meanwhile in our system (small sample I know) they find 3, 1 & 1 plus a bunch in the 'Average' pile -- thus the 'Top-Heavy' label.

Paul LoDuca - a date to the prom

Don't think the park/league changes would matter all that much to Zito Park Factors for pitchers in recent years: (100 = neutral, <100 favors pitchers, >100 favors hitters) [u:75106e81b0]Oakland[/u:75106e81b0] 2003 = 94 2004 = 101 2005 = 103 2006 = 97 [u:75106e81b0]Shea[/u:75106e81b0] 2003 = 99 2004 = 99 2005 = 99 2006 = 96 League ERAs 2006: AL = 4.56 NL = 4.49 It would really be nice if writers/radio people woud stop acting as if an AL to NL move was worth about .75 ER/G for a hurler

Thoughts on 1995:1) ...