Frayed Knot

Hi Frank T., Thanks for taking the time to "talk" to us. There's been an increased interest in recent years in a more in-depth anaysis of baseball statistics. While you were playing, which of your own stats were you consistantly aware of and paying attention to, and do you know if there were any particular ones that the club was tracking in order to measure your worth?

The team started it's reconciliation with Strawberry last year. Gooden's attendance will be a bit tougher. True he's no longer a ward in the world of Master Steinbrenner who most assuredly would have deemed Doc's presence in the office to be critical on the day of any reunion. On the other hand, it's possible he'll be a ward of the state of Florida instead and they'll likely be even bigger sticklers for keeping him homebound.

"Whenever I've seen him in recent years he's been way hittable" And whenever I've seen him in recent years he's been at weigh stations, apparently exceeding most highway regulations. Bob Costas still had the best line when he referred to Alfonseca as a pitcher who's been "digitally enhanced". I'm not sure he's be a lot better than any random guy off the farm.

When it comes to players, longevity should be one of the major attributes to consider and - seeing as how the retired player-numbers (as opposed to old guy manager ones) consists of a sample size of 1 - it's tough to argue that service time should be thrown out the window on account of some sort of weak criteria that's been established. If it were up to me I probably wouldn't retire #31, although I suspect they will and it's not something I'm going to get all bent out of shape about.

"only Seaver has exceeded 7 1/2 seasons, and not by all that much." 11-1/2 actually, so if by "not all that much" you mean 'over 50% more', then you're more or less accurate.

What 'Dinosaur Jesus' meant to say, is tha Julio Franco is so old that he personally remembers both dinosaurs and Jesus.

David Wright: More valuable than Pujols, Jones, and Lee!!!! Film at eleven

We got some good bench play last year -- but it was mostly singles. Yeah, there were some HRs - and some timely ones too - but every team's going to get their share of those, even if only by accident. The problem we'd have in trying to re-create last year's irregulars is that it'll be tough to count on as many hits finding holes as last season. We were good but mainly from a BA standpoint. Any duplication could be purely coincidental because there were just too many "similar" players; too many slap-hitting, middle infielders; Offerman, Anderson, Woodward, etc., and even our OF sub - "Ice" - was a singles hitter. Every once in a while you need someone who has the ability to make the opposing manager wet his pants in late innings, or at least change pitchers as soon as the PH is seen swinging sledge-hammers in the on-deck circle. Tony Clark, for instance, would have been a menace on last year's squad. I'm not sure if Valentin's going to be that guy but he's a start. So is Old Man River plus the sitting half of Nady/Diaz. btw, If Nady starts the year riding the bench, I betting it won't take to long for the first columnist to suggest that 'no one (esp Willie) puts Nady in a corner' (OF position)

"the backwards hat would be funny, but lets be honest, there is way too much money to be made off it for them to allow that" I don't see how the HoF makes money off having a particular (or any) insignia on a hat on a plaque.

Valentin (Jose, not John) a switch-hitter, is a decent HR threat. In fact, that's all he may be at this point.

Julio is so old that; - he was in High School during the Johnson administration ... ANDREW! - he studied Lincoln in school like most kids, but instead of in History class he did so during Current Events - his favorite TV show was 'My Mother the Horse-Drawn Carriage' - he remembers when the Grand Canyon was merely good - his Social Security Number is 4

No, but random variations help explain away the ones that sample size doesn't.

Robo spurns Yanx and inks a [u:e76a9ba5f6] one-year deal[/u:e76a9ba5f6] with Pittsburgh. Didn't hear the details.

Well, we've yet to employ: Jeff FRANCOeur, plus Tito or Terry FRANCOna Nor, for that matter, have we ever had Franco Harris or Generalissimo Francisco Franco who (when I last checked) was still dead. But other than them, yeah we got'em all.

And look at it this way; at least we won't have to listen to Francis X. repeat the Julio/egg-white story 15 times a game. I mean, it was bad enough when it was 15 mentions x 19 Braves games per year. The mere thought of 15 x 162 is too much to even comtemplate. If Fran were still announcing I'd have to oppose the deal on that basis alone.

Yeah, I like this (totally made up - no hint of reality) deal from Boston's end a lot more than from Baltimore's.

Which, of course, is irrelevent as far as we're concerned since he can't DH half the time for us. The problem with the idea of resigning Piazza is that he's simply worth more to teams that have the DH option than he would be here. So this notion that we should have kept him ignores that fact that he has a say in things also. The two sides did talk after all so maybe that's a sign he thinks he can get a 2 year deal somewhere (wouldn't surprise me) or that he wanted a bit more of a committment than some vaugue notion that he'd catch about as often as he did last September. .

It also doesn't say much for his brand new catcher when - virtually the same day as they sign Ramon Hernandez to a big deal - Tejada says something along the lines of; "how come we ain't done shit?" So if you're the BoSox, suddenly finding yourself in need of a shortstop, do you swap Manny even-up for Tejada? Do you do that deal if you're Bal'mer? There's a nice challenge trade for ya.

]Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada said Thursday he's unhappy with the team's direction and wants to be traded. Dems da breaks big guy. When you sign a multi-year deal the team gets you - and PAYS you - for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. Well guess what? You get THEM for better or for worse too. You can request all you want but they don't have to oblige.

By definition a Rule 5 guy is automatically on not only the 40 but on the 25-man also. If he is removed from the 25 at any time during this season he has to be offered back to the Giants for half the price we paid for him (50K I believe). Dem's da roolz.

]Have to disagree, FK. Looks to me like Schuerholz got taken to the cleaners Oh it could backfire for sure. Marte is about a year younger than Wright and has been a half step or so behind him throughout the minors (although he now has some catching up to do). It's just that whenever the Braves need a particular piece to their puzzle they seem to come up with the right fit. If this one works it wouldn't be the first time they dealt away a good prospect for a "now" fix and had it pay off. Previously they've "given away" higly rated guys for Drew, Hudson, Hampton, and others and still manage to keep on keeping on. And - my main point - was that he always seems to make a big trade which is preceded by almost no fanfare. Not easy to do in an age of saturation media coverage.

I think we need to calm down about Overbay too. Nice player, but he's a 1st baseman who's yet to hit 20 HRs (39 lifetime)and will turn 29 before next season starts. I think Grace is a good comparison but more as a ceiling than as something he's already attained.

That might make sense since not only did Boston just deal away their SS but they dealt his heir apparent - Hanley Ramirez - away in the Beckett deal. Once again Schurholz makes a nice little deal which slides undeneath everyone's radar.

Nothing to lose except for draft picks in the case of Bernie. That's why shopping from the non-tendered list makes a lot more sense. I can't really see the role Bernie would play here anyway. I generally don't dive headfirst into conspiracy theories, but maybe this is just a ploy to get the Yanx to ramp up what they have to pay for him.

ESPN: The Braves and Red Sox have agreed on a deal that would ship shortstop Edgar Renteria to Atlanta in exchange for Braves third-base prospect Andy Marte, ESPN's Peter Gammons has learned. An official announcement is expected in an hour.