Sports Then and Now

When Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes will be available is a early question for the Mets.

Here it is, one day before “The Ides of March” and the so called pendents as well as the vast majority of the New York Mets faithful are in full panic mode and have come to bury Caesar long before the body is cold.

Come on everybody 2009 was officially over on Oct 3rd or if you believe in the Julius Caesar calendar how about 11:59PM and 59 seconds on December 31st.

Just because two out the top five players will not be in the starting lineup on opening day and the so called starting rotation has looked a trifle bit shaky three weeks into spring training, it doesn’t mean we should holding our Hari Kari swords about 18 inches from the point of entry.

It’s true that I have been a Mets fan since opening day 1962 and believe me there were years that the season was over before the first pitcher threw a their first fastball in February.

It wasn’t until the spring of 1968 did any Met fan on the planet see this team with the possibility of showing some real competition between the lines. Seaver and Koosman were young arms with a world of potential and the manager was a patient man who was going to observe his team very carefully for the entire season and make the adjustments to turn them into a perennial winner and contender for years to come. Read the rest of this entry →

Legend has it that future Hall of Fame center Jim Ringo (51) was traded by the Packers after bringing an agent to contract negotiations.

If he were still alive, I wonder what NFL Hall of Fame center Jim Ringo would think about the concept of an “un-capped” NFL salary structure or of the multi-million dollars in guaranteed money being given to players with only average NFL  pedigrees.

As legend has it, Ringo, an All-Pro center and anchor of the Packer’s vaunted offensive line, brought an agent with him to contract negotiations with Green Bay Packer head coach Vince Lombardi prior to the 1964 season. Lombardi then excused himself and when he returned five minutes later told Ringo and his agent that they would have to go to Philadelphia to discuss his new contract because he had just been traded to the Eagles.

Some historians claim that the actual incident between Ringo and Lombardi is just a myth, but what isn’t a myth is the sacrifice that many athletes from the past made to ensure that the players of today are able to freely negotiate and sign lavish contracts.

For more than a half-century, the contract of every player in Major League Baseball included what was known as the “reserve clause”, which bound a player, one year at a time, in perpetuity to the club owning his contract. Basically, it meant that the player was tied to the team until the team chose to trade or release the player and he had no opportunity to pursue employment with another organization on his own terms. As professional sports leagues started in football, basketball and hockey, owners in those leagues essentially emulated baseball’s “reserve clause.” Read the rest of this entry →

Nomar Garciapara was star from the get-go in Boston.

Yesterday marked the end of the line to Nomar Garciaparra.  He announced his retirement from baseball at the age of 36, after playing 14 14 Major League seasons.  In a twist that will forever endear him to Red Sox Nation, Nomar signed a one day minor league contract so that he officially retire with the team where he began it all back in 1994 as a first round draft pick.

But besides the praise he’ll get from Boston faithful after a teary press conference and after throwing out the first pitch of a Grapefruit League match-up, the question now will be asked whether “Nomah” will be a possibility for Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Pros

Garciaparra has some seriously good statistics in his favor.  He batted .313 for his career.  His 229 home runs seems sort of low, but remember that Garciaparra was predominantly a shortstop.  The AL record for homers by a short stop is Cal Ripken, Jr.’s 345.  In the NL, the record is held by Ernie Banks at 277. Read the rest of this entry →

Last season the closest race in the Major Leagues was the American League Central.  Aside from in April when Kansas City (no, that is not a mistake) led the division, the Tigers held the reins up until the very end. They blew a three game lead in the last four days of the season and ended up in a one game playoff with the Twins.  Detroit lost that game in Minnesota in extra innings on a walk-off single by Alexi Casilla.

They just don’t get any closer than that.

1.  Chicago White Sox

The Chi-Sox have put together (almost under the radar) a very interesting pitching rotation.

Mark Buehrle, who threw a perfect game in '09, will lead a very interesting White Sox rotation in 2010.

1. Mark Buehrle (LHP)
2. Jake Peavy (RHP)
3. John Danks (LHP)
4. Gavin Floyd (RHP)
5. Freddy Garcia (RHP)

While most fantasy players are still thinking harder about the Yankees and Red Sox rotations, this one-through-five is nothing to scoff at.  White Sox GM Ken Williams agrees, has this to say to MLB.com:

“[The White Sox] are as good as you can possibly be, one through five.  Actually, one through six.”

While that may be a bit of an exaggeration, a season of health for the five men listed above could mean great things for the South Siders.

At least on defense.

On the run-scoring side of the coin, things are not as obviously sparkling.  There’s Carlos Quentin, the injury prone left fielder who has yet to play a full season in Chi-town.  Last year, plantar fasciitis limited him to jut 99 games.  The good news might be that in those games he managed 21 home runs (34 prorated to a full season).  Not out of this world, but not bad.  His batting average needs to come up (.236 in ‘09) to make the fans happy.

Of bigger concern is Alex Rios, acquired from Toronto mid-season ‘09.  Traded from the Blue Jay’s  because of a large salary (remainder of a seven year, $68 million dollars) and lackluster performance (.264 average, 14 home runs, .427 slugging). When he landed in Chicago things got worse.  In 41 games he batted .199, hit only 3 home runs, struck out 29 times to only 6 walks over 154 plate appearances.  There is reasonable probability that he’ll experience some resurgence on 2010 (he just turned 29).  The White Sox, on the hook for at least 59.7 million through 2015, certainly hope so.

Chicago picked up Juan Pierre who was a huge asset to the Dodgers last season when Manny Ramirez was suspended.  It’s entirely possible that Pierre will start in left and Quentin will begin the season as the regular DH.  There question mark there deals with the idea that Ozzie Guillen wants to use the DH as a rotating spot for keeping people fresh, a change in philosophy after years with standard DH’s like Jim Thome and Frank Thomas.

The White Sox are certainly not styled to be a juggernaut, but if the Twins DL contains the name we’ve been hearing that it may, the Chi-Sox are in like Flynn. Read the rest of this entry →

To begin the 2010 Major League Baseball previews on Sports Then and Now let’s look at the American League East. The most dominant league in baseball over the last decade, the AL east has put a team in last three World Series and seven out of the last ten. It doesn’t get anymore impressive than that.

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1. New York Yankees

Will Andy Pettitte give the Yankees his usual dependable starts in 2010?

While most talking heads no longer rank the Yankees pitching staff as the best of the division, they are still pretty darn impressive, at least at the top of the rotation. CC Sabathia promises to have an even better year than last now that he’s had a full year to get used to his new surroundings. Being that last year was not too shabby (19-8 records, 3.37 ERA, 4th in AL Cy Young votes), Sabathia looks to be a real terror on the mound for New York.  Even though A.J. Burnett was a bit shakier than Sabathia, he still managed to win 13 games. He, too, will see improvement this season.

With the top two in excellent shape, a big question mark hangs over Andy Pettitte. While this is a guy who has been the meter stick of consistency (Pettitte has won between 14 and 18 games in 9 of his fifteen seasons, which leaves out a 19 win and two 21 win seasons) he will turn 38 during this upcoming season. The Yankees gave him a one year deal because they have come concerns about his durability (read: no more “healing” aides).

The real mysteries are the four and five spots in the Yankee rotation. Javier Vasquez is a big deal gain for New York as he offers a very, very solid middle of the rotation guy. The club seems intent on leaving Chamberlain as a starter despite overwhelming evidence that he should be a reliever, but now that Vasquez is in town, perhaps logic will prevail and put Phil Hughes in that fifth spot. If that’s done, the Yankees will win 100 games again this year. Read the rest of this entry →

With Opening Day only four weeks away, it doesn’t get any better than hearing Jason Grilli talk about the ticket that got him here. Grilli sits down with Cleveland Indians beat writer, Nick Camino, on WTAM 1100 AM Cleveland Indians Radio, aka The Big One in this up close and personal talk about Spring Training 2010.

Listening to Grill Cheese talk about topics including, his chances of making the 2010 version of the Cleveland Indians, his off-season preparation and pitching for Team Italia in the World Baseball Classic makes it nearly impossible to think of anything, but Opening Day.

Grilli and fellow Italian, Camino, share some good ol’ Pisan humor during this candid and entertaining interview at the Indians Spring Training facility in Goodyear, AZ.  Grill and Camino even break away from baseball for a bit and discuss Grilli’s business, Perfect Pitch Marketing and the new CU3000 Globalinx Video Phone. Read the rest of this entry →