There have been plently of eulogies for Dave Niehaus’ passing. He was a great announcer (although clearly slipping over the last couple of years), one of the last remaining great ones and his death is truly a loss to the baseball world.
Rob Neyer chimed in on his meeting of Niehaus, and it is moving:
In the Big Baseball World, I’m a nothing and Dave Niehaus is an Institution. Frankly, every time I walked into the booth and saw him, I halfway assumed he would have completely forgotten me. How many people must Niehaus have met over the years? How many other broadcasters and writers and glad-handers and just plain baseball fans have wanted their little moments with the man who had seen nearly every game in Mariners history?
And every time I stepped into his office, Dave Niehaus seemed genuinely glad to give me a few of his precious moments, happy to invite me to sit down next to him and talk about baseball or his trip to Cooperstown or whatever was ailing his Mariners.
I wish I had just a few more of those moments. I didn’t visit the booth in 2010. I didn’t want to impose. And I didn’t imagine, for even a second, that I would never have another chance. I sort of thought Dave Niehaus would live forever.
Tonight I’m feeling sorry for myself. I’m feeling sorry for his family. And I’m feeling sorry for the many thousands of Pacific Northwest baseball fans who have spent huge and hugely important chunks of their lives with Dave Niehaus. All of us will go on next spring, because that’s what we do. It’s just not yet apparent how, exactly.
Neyer is right – we will go on, and I am sure that there will be a moving tribute to Dave Niehaus on opening day, one last chance to say goodbye to a great one.
Jon Miller and Joe Morgan’s 21-year run on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” is over.
Morgan’s contract is expiring and he will not be renewed. Miller’s contract is also expiring though he may remain at ESPN working the “Sunday Night Baseball” series and postseason baseball for ESPN Radio…
I liked Miller, and fortunately he’s landing on his feet. Joe Morgan, however, was a champion of things like “clutch” and “RBI man” and “productive outs” — basically the antithesis of the Bill James school of thinking.
Now I can watch Sunday Night Baseball without muting the TV.
——–
Late edit: Joe Posnanski has an excellent piece on the subject: The Two Joe Morgans, exerpt below:
…Joe would go to bizarre lengths to avoid saying that teams with high on-base percentages often score a lot of runs and that pitchers who command their pitches and don’t give up home runs often pitch well. With Joe, after a while, it always came down to intangibles. Which is OK, I guess. But the tangible can matter, too. Also, he hated Moneyball and never seemed to figure out that it wasn’t Billy Beane who wrote the darned thing…
Is Ortiz the in the Red Sox DH plans in the near future?
I have never been a big fan of David Ortiz – yes, he was a very good hitter for a few years, but I never really bought into the entire “Big Papi” craze. Ortiz is the kind of one dimensional player that drives me nuts – even at his best, he couldn’t run, had no arm and was a defensive butcher, but he could hit, so you give him a spot in the lineup.
Over the last few years, Ortiz has been horrific in April and May and has generally struggled against left handed pitching, leading to people questioning whether or not it is time to hang it up for the slugger. I can forgive the slow start, there are tons of players who start slowly (Mark Texieria comes to mind), but the struggling against lefties is a concern. If you are an opposing manager and it is late in the game and close, you bring in a lefty to face Ortiz without the fear that he is going to take one deep on you. Here is a quick and dirty summary of Ortiz vs. lefties over the last few years:
Vs. RHP
Vs. LHP
YR
PA
HR
OPS
PA
HR
OPS
2010
406
30
1.059
200
2
.599
2009
439
22
.828
188
6
.716
2008
370
18
.921
121
5
.741
2007
457
30
1.171
210
5
.852
2006
445
36
1.082
241
18
.988
At one time, Ortiz could hit lefties pretty well, but over the last few years, it has become painfully obvious that is no longer the case. The power numbers are dropping and the platoon splits widening and it looks like he is falling below replacement level against lefties. I am not suggesting that Ortiz is completely useless, he still does crush right handed pitching as well as anyone in the league. I am just suggesting that he is now really just a platoon player.
Why bring this up? The Red Sox have to decide in the next few days if they want to exercise the 12.5 million dollar option that they have on Ortiz for 2011. To me, that is a ton of money to be spending on a guy who will only be able to effectively hit in 75% of the games your team plays in 2011, but this is the Red Sox and they can afford 12 million for a platoon player. Ortiz is not happy about this. He wants a multi-year deal, which I don’t see the Sox giving him. Why does he want this, here is Ortiz explaining it
“I just want to cut out all the crap and go back to the guy I was before, a happy guy who doesn’t have to be answering questions that have nothing to do with anything but controversy. I just want to be able to play baseball and have fun, like I used to,” Ortiz told WEEI.com. “That’s where I came back to not wanting just one year, because I know it’s going to be just the same thing.
“As soon as you struggle for a week, it’s going to be the same thing. People saying you are old, saying you have no bat speed anymore. People talking all kind of crap. It’s hard to avoid that because it’s all over the place. You’re a regular human being just like everyone else. It’s not like you’re in a cage, locked up and you come to the field and that’s it. It’s not like we don’t watch TV, listen to the radio, read the newspaper. We are all connected to that stuff, especially here.”
My translation of this: I want a multi-year deal so that when I don’t rebound and the media is all over me, I won’t care because I know I am going to get paid even if the team releases me.
I can’t blame Ortiz – his is (supposedly) 35, has the body type of a typical Sluggardly Slugger which generally means that he won’t age well, and I think he realizes he is slowing down. Why not try to cash in on one more big payday before your career is over.
Here is how I see it playing out – the Sox exercise their option on him and make him a platoon player at DH (They should be able to find someone to platoon with him easily). The Sox then let him walk at the end of 2011 and go out and sign someone younger for roughly the same money they would to resign Ortiz.
Personally, I would love to see Adam Dunn in a Red Sox uni.
I thought this one was fun — the nuns of the School Sisters of Notre Dame are auctioning a recently inherited Honus Wagner card:
The brother of a nun who died in 1999 left all his possessions to the order when he died earlier this year. The man’s lawyer told Muller he had a Honus Wagner card in a safe-deposit box.
When they opened the box, they found the card, with a typewritten note: “Although damaged, the value of this baseball card should increase exponentially throughout the 21st century!”
The card was unknown to the sports-memorabilia marketplace because the nuns’ benefactor had owned it since 1936…
…The auction ends Nov. 4, and the highest bid was $60,000 as of Wednesday morning.
… That whole “exponential increase” didn’t work out like everyone would have liked, I don’t think.
In conclusion —
Wagner was known as “The Flying Dutchman.” His card is now owned by nuns.
Therefore:
It's Sally Field. I wouldn't have guessed it was her in a million years.
On the old blog I’d do posts with the theme – “Time Machine.” I’d pull emails out of the archives and see how they looked in the current light.
Here’s an email from shortly after the M’s signed Richie Sexson, dated January 1, 2005. For the professional (Joe Posnanski) piece, go to the bottom of this post:
…Ichiro had a “historic” league-record 262 hits in 2004. In 2004 Ichiro drew 49 walks and was hit by a pitch 4 times. Ichiro got on base 315 times, leading the American league. Barry Bonds got on base 376 times last season. The all-time record is 379 by Babe Ruth. Bonds missed that record by 3, but I never heard anyone mention it. Ichiro’s 315 was enough for a 5-way tie for 58th best all-time. Sure, it’s “good”, but is it “historic”?
Robin Ventura... second thoughts about having charged the mound.
As Ichiro approached the hits record a couple of interesting things happened:
1. In the months of September and October Ichiro had a total of 50 hits— 47 singles and 3 doubles. It doesn’t get much emptier than that. Ichiro’s OPS (On Base + Slugging) for the season ranked 22nd in the American league. It’s tough to rank 22nd in OPS when you hit .372, but he literally didn’t do anything *besides* hit singles in 2004.
2. On one or two occasions Ichiro tried to bunt with a runner on 2nd base. He made no attempt to drive the runner in, he was simply trying to pad his hit total. It was a selfish move and it is not “winning baseball”.
Of course, the thing that really bugs me is that I’m going to have to hear about the “historic season” every game for the next 5-7 years, as well as every time Ichiro comes to visit after he retires. Believe me, Neihas is *not* going to miss an opportunity to bring it up ad naseum.
The single-season leaders for Times on Base (Baseball-Reference.com.)
Next subject [Ed: same email] — Sexson/Jacobsen/Leone:
Mike Cameron pretty much got run out of Seattle due to his high strikeout rate. Mike struck out the equivalent of 151 times per full season of play. Here’s how that figure compares to some current and former M’s.
Bucky Jacobsen 181
Justin Leone 167
Richie Sexson 156
Jay Buhner 155
Mike Cameron 151
Be prepared to look at a *lot* of swinging and missing in 2005. In 2004 Jacobsen and Leone both got hurt before the league had figured out how to pitch to them. If anything those strikeout rates are likely to go up. If Jacobsen gets significant playing time in 2005 you can figure on a batting average of about .230. Leone you can forget about, he’s not really a major league player.
In a lot of ways Richie Sexson is the new Jay Buhner. He has good power, he strikes out a lot, and he’ll give the fans another muscle-bound white guy to root for. Figure Sexson for about .260 with 30 HR if he stays healthy. Sexson got hurt twice last year checking his swing– he’s a significant injury risk. The M’s signed him to a $50 million/4 year contract. The other question would be – is a 1B who hits .260 with 30 HR is worth $12.5 million per year? Sexson is now 30 years old — this is also another example of the M’s paying for past performance on an aging player…
——————-
Jacobsen never played another game in the majors. Leone played in one more game — it was two years later with the Padres. (Of course, that’s what tends to happen when your rookie year is age 28 (Jacobsen) and age 27 (Leone.)) So much for those strikeouts I’d predicted.
Sexson hit .244 over the length of that contract, compiling WARs of 4.2, 3.3, -1.4, and -0.3. Fangraphs values those contributions at $14.3m, $12.1m, -$5.6m, and -$2.6m. In other words, the M’s received $18.2 of production from Sexson on a $50m contract. Thank you Bill Bavasi. (Click here for an explanation of WAR.)
I did the digging in the old emails because Joe Posnanki had a really interesting piece today, comparing Ichiro to Nolan Ryan. Both players excell(ed) in at least one statistical category, though you could argue (and Joe does) that neither player was as productive as his reputation would lead you to believe.
As for the picture above, here’s an excerpt from Ryan’s wikipedia entry:
…Before the 1993 season, Ryan announced his retirement, effective at the end of that season. On August 4, just before the end, Ryan had yet another high profile moment – this time an on-the-mound fight. After Ryan hit Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox, Ventura charged the mound in order to fight Ryan, who was 20 years his senior. Ryan secured the 26-year-old Ventura in a headlock with his left arm, while pummelling Ventura’s head with his right fist six times before catcher Iván Rodríguez was able to pull Ventura away from Ryan. Ryan stated afterwards it was the same maneuver he used on steers he had to brand on his Texas ranch…
Interestingly – Annie S., my brother, and I were all in the Kingdome to see Nolan Ryan’s last game on September 22 of that same year, though we didn’t know each other until later. (Of course, at that time I already knew my brother, but you get the idea.)
By Blaidd Drwg
In looking at the AL East standings this morning after the Sox swept the Mariners, you will see this:
W-L
GB
Games Remaining
Home
Road
Rays
88-57
—
17
9
8
Yankees
88-58
.5
16
7
9
Red Sox
82-64
6.5
16
9
7
The Yankees just happen to be leading the wild card race, so that means the Sox are also just 6 games back from making the playoffs. The 6 game spread between the Yankees and Red Sox seems pretty insurmountable with just 16 games left in the season, right? Well, maybe not.
One thing we need to consider is schedules – the Sox are 42-30 at home this season, so having more home than road games remaining is a big advantage for them. Here are the remaining schedules for the Rays, Yankees and Sox:
Red Sox
Yankees
Rays
Opponent
G
W-L
Opponent
G
W-L
Opponent
G
W-L
Vs TOR
3
73-73
@BAL
3
58-88
Vs LAA
3
71-74
Vs BAL
3
58-88
Vs TB
4
88-57
@ NYY
4
88-58
@ NYY
3
88-58
Vs BOS
3
82-64
Vs SEA
3
55-91
@ CWS
4
79-66
@ TOR
3
73-73
Vs BAL
3
58-88
Vs NYY
3
88-58
@ BOS
3
82-64
@ KC
4
60-85
Total
16
386-343
Total
16
383-346
Total
17
332-396
Obviously the Rays have the easiest schedule the rest of the way, even with the 4 game series in NY. I think if they split that series, the Rays effectively win the division. It gets a bit more interesting between NY and Boston. They both have 16 games left and play each other 6 of those times. The next 6 games or so will tell where the Sox destiny lies – if they manage to take 5 of the next 6 and the Yankees drop 3 of the next 6 (lets say they go 2-1 in Baltimore and 1-2 vs. TB), that would move the Sox to 4 back of the Yankees. Assuming they both have the same record in their non head-to-head match-ups, the Sox would need to take 4 of 6 to force a playoff, a scenario that is tough, but not out of the question.
If you asked me last weekend if the Sox had a chance, I would have told you no way in hell – they had just lost back to back games with the A’s in Oakland and had to come to Seattle where they typically play poorly. Well, after taking the last game in Oakland and sweeping the Mariners and coupled with the 2-8 stretch the Yankees are on, right now I am not so sure we should be burying the body – I think there might be a faint sign of a pulse there.
The Mariners have hit 90 home runs as a team this season, which is currently tied for last in the AL with the A’s. That is awful. To put it in perspective, the M’s have 2 guys who have double digit home runs – Gutierrez and Branyan, and Branyan leads the team with 14 and he wasn’t even playing in Seattle before July.
The Mariners lineup in last night’s game has hit 56 HR on the season, the AL leader in HR as of last night, Jose Bautista, has hit 46 HR on the season. Normally I would use the excuse that it is a meaningless September game for the M’s and they are getting guys playing time. Unfortunately, the M’s played most of their regulars last night.
It amazes me that the Red Sox stuck around the playoff race as long as they did – their outfield last night: Josh Reddick, Daniel Nava and Ryan Kalish, all rookies. It is a far cry from the OF they started the season with – JD Drew, Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury.
The Old Willie Bloomquist
Matt Tuiasosopo is the new Willie Bloomquist. He is a guy who is probably a good 25th man because he can play 7 positions but can’t hit his way out of a paper bag and is probably a good clubhouse guy because he is just “happy to be here”. Managers love these type of guys and then fall in love with them, finding a way to put them in the lineup on a semi-regular basis. I understand that Tacoma is playing for the AAA championship and that has prevented the M’s from calling anyone up and that Michael Saunders is hurt, but can you honestly tell me that there is no better option in LF than Tuiasosopo? (Rob Neyer had a wonderfully snarky post about Bloomquist here)
Local product Jon Lester dominated the Mariners once again giving up 1 run with 12 K’s in 8 innings. Last time in Seattle, he had 13K’s and took a no-hitter into the 8th inning before imploding.
The game time was 2:23 last night – impressive considering the Red Sox average game time this season is significantly over 3 hours.
The attendance for last night’s game – 19,063. That is far and away the lowest attendance at a Red Sox-Mariners game that I have been to in the 7 years I have been here. Heck, I can’t remember the last time that I was at any Red Sox game the attendance was that low, in any stadium (it may have been sometime back in 2001).
There is a fun and occasionally difficult baseball trivia quiz on sporcle right now. It is 50 questions with a 9 minute time limit. I managed to score 35 out of 50, and there were a couple of questions that I realized I did know the answer to after the fact. There were also a couple I had absolutely no idea on and would have never guessed in a million years. So, I you have 10 minutes to kill and want to test your baseball knowledge, I recommend it.
The Greatest Willie in MLB history, in Willie's (and probably most people's) opinion.
Oh, get your mind out of the gutter, not that kind of Willie.
Last night, I had a wonderful time at the Everett Aqua Sox game with Coltrane and Annie S. of this blog fame (hey, 50% of the blog readership in one spot!). During the game (and after a couple of beers), we decided to pick a first name and name as many guys as we could who played baseball. The list we came up with quickly:
Not a bad list (well, except for Bloomquist). Surprisingly, there are 3 HOFers on that list (Mays, Keeler and Stargell); who would have thought that there would be that many guys in the Hall named Willie. Well, I decided to look it up on baseball-reference.com this morning and we missed another 3 (!!) Hall of Famers named Willie: Willie McCovey (how the heck did we miss “Stretch”), Bill Foster (a Negro Leaguer who apparently went by Willie), and Willie Wells (another Negro Leaguer who had the nickname “The Devil”). I have to admit, 6 players in the HOF who went by Willie is more than I would have ever guessed. In case you are wondering, the name with the most HOFers – Joe with 11, and, just for the heck of it – there is only one HOFer who went by the name of Mike – that would be Mike Schmidt.
Some of the other notable Willies that we missed:
Willie Randolph
Willie Horton
Willie Wilson
Willie Montanez
Willie Jones
Guillermo (Don’t Call Me Willie) Hernandez
Willie Davis
We did also come up with Willie Mays Hayes, but he doesn’t count unless you include fictional ballplayers.
Here is the complete list of Baseball Willies for your reading pleasure: The Willie List
FlatbreadGarden 