Sports Then and Now

Mike Cuellar

We recognize as the Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month for August one of the key pitchers for the Baltimore Orioles during their championship run of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Sometimes timing is everything. After toiling away in the minors and on primarily losing teams for a decade, a seemingly insignificant trade following the 1968 season proved to be all that Mike Cuellar needed to become one of the top pitchers in baseball. Read the rest of this entry →

Ubaldo Jiminez has struggled at times in 2011, but is still capable of being a staff ace.

Ubaldo Jimenez is a very good pitcher. I am of the opinion that the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox should not trade for him, but I will never deny that he is a good pitcher. That’s what gets me worried.

The Colorado Rockies are a pretty decent team with a good core. Troy Tulowitszki and Ubaldo Jimenez are the core of that team. So, uh… why do they want to trade Ubaldo? I understand if they were just listening to offers but why did they just throw him into the market?

He has a career ERA of 3.62, yes. But since his terrific start last season he is 12-15 and his ERA jumped dramatically, including a 6.04 in July. So far this season it is 4.20, and that is against offenses like the Diamondbacks, Giants and Padres. Coming to the AL East, could he handle the offensive forces of New York, Boston, or even Toronto?

But it all leads to the same thing… If the price is so high, why is he even available? His numbers are not great the past year and a half and based on that he is not worth a Will Middlebrooks or Jesus Montero. Plus, they want even more for the young stud. His velocity has gone down too, according to scouts.

I just have a funny feeling with him. Why is the price so high for an NL West pitcher with decent stats over a year in a half? And if they think so highly of him, why is Colorado willing to trade a corner stone piece away?

It was payday....

What’s in a rivalry? Hatred? Two very good teams in the playoff hunt?

The Philadelphia Phillies are a very good team, worthy of contending year in and year out. They’re also very good at paying attention, you got something going for you Philly. They watched the Yankees buy pennants for years, and decided to follow the pattern. They are number two behind the Yankees with a payroll of just under $173 million. Their average player is paid over $5.7 million. That’s what I call buying wins. Maybe that is why you are one of nine MLB teams in debt.

Now for my favorite part, the Braves payroll comes in at just over $87 million. Now lets do some math, for you Philly fans out there, I will help you out.

Phillies payroll $172,976,381
Braves payroll $87,003,192
Difference- $85,973,189

Read the rest of this entry →

B.J. Upton has yet to live up to being the second pick in the 2002 MLB draft.

Trivia Question- Who was the #2 overall pick by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2002? I was looking at the marvelous draft that was ’02, and was surprised to see it was B.J. Upton who was the pick in the second slot. This was a draft with Cole Hamels, Jon Lester and Zack Greinke.

Upton was a member of the 2001 USA Junior National Team, and in 2002 he won the Baseball America First Team All American. He hit over .600 with 11 home runs in his senior year, and in return for his terrific season he was drafted number #2 overall in the MLB Draft.

Upton has been viewed as a disappointment over the years, Hitting .273/.383/.401, .241/.313/.373 and .237/.322/.424 in his last three seasons. His numbers have declined in every year, and so have his power stats. After a 24 home run season in 2007 he hit only nine and then eleven bombs.

Bossman Junior was viewed as a five tool player when he was drafted. He could run, hit for power and average, field and throw. His problem is not his skill, but it may be his head. Upton has been pulled by his manager, Joe Maddon, several times in his four full years in the majors. Is his attitude holding him back from his full potential?

In 2003, Upton made 56 errors to lead the minor leagues, and a lack of focus has been cited as a possible problem. But his biggest problem actually came in 2008, the Rays AL Championship season. He was benched twice for lack of hustle in that season. He has also been known to admire his home runs, particularly an incident in 2008 that prevented him from reaching second base on a double because he thought it was gone.

Then in 2010, he found himself in the midst of more controversy. He and Evan Longoria got into it in a game vs the Diamondbacks after Upton did not hustle for a ball hit into the outfield. After this, there have been no more incidents with BJ, so it was thought he may have figured it out. However, he is still hitting just .229 with a .310 OBP and .318 wOBA.

I don’t think we will ever see the super star that we all hoped for all those years ago. Maybe he can build an MLB career for himself. But he will never be the five tool player we thought he was.

Should the Baltimore Orioles be shopping Jeremy Guthrie to a contender?

The Baltimore Orioles are in the midst of what looks like another losing season, their 14th straight. Ever since they fell to the Yankees in the playoffs in the late 90’s, they have been hapless. They have developed some nice players in Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters, but they lack one big thing.

Pitching.

The Orioles thought they were on the cusp of something when Jake Arrieta and Brian Matusz were top prospects. Well, Arrieta has struggled while Matusz has had his own injury woes. Projects like Koji Uehara (in the rotation) and Kevin Millwood were fails. But while there have been struggles, they have found one constant.

Jeremy Guthrie has been a solid pitcher in Baltimore for years. In 2007 and 2008, Guthrie held his ERA in the 3’s and he gave the Orioles some much needed innings in their mess they called pitching. He had an awful 5.03 in 2009, coming off the World Baseball Classic and that may have been the cause of his setback. He rebounded last season for an ERA of 3.83, but a fear is beginning to settle in amongst Baltimore fans.

Are these young players getting too used to the losing atmosphere? Guthrie has an ERA of 4.35, nothing bad but not what he has been in his Orioles past. He certainly has not been as bad as his 4-13 record indicates. Is this a great chance to get a steal for a middle of the rotation starter?

Some teams like the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers need pitching. Both are in tight division races but lack pitching down the stretch or a usable rotation in a playoff series. Is Guthrie a pitcher they can get cheap? New York kicked the tires with Ubaldo Jimenez, but the price is much too high for an NL West pitcher who’s numbers have gone down dramatically this season.

Guthrie’s numbers are not terrific, but he has been able to hold his own in the very tough American League East. With his numbers down a bit, the Orioles would not be demanding much in return for him. This could be the Yankees chance to get a starter without giving up their prospects.

Guthrie is not going to win a Cy Young award. He is not going to throw many one or two hitters. But he can eat innings and be a very valuable #3 or #4 pitcher in a good rotation. And it is time he exits the losing culture that is the Orioles.

No major leaguer has come close to matching Joe DiMaggio's record hitting streak of 56 straight games.

The Major League Baseball players of today are capable of accomplishing amazing feats, but I am going to go out on a limb and predict that no major leaguer of today will ever hit in 56 consecutive regular season games.

It was 70 years ago today that one of the most amazing individual streaks in sports history ended following an unbelievable two month performance by future Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio.

After knocking out a hit in every game from May 15th through July 16th, the luck finally ran out for DiMaggio in a game against the Cleveland Indians. As he had done throughout most of the streak, DiMaggio hit the ball hard, but unlike in previous days, there was always someone there to make the play.

His best chance to extend the streak came in his first at bat when DiMaggio laced the ball down the third base line. Unfortunately, third baseman Ken Keltner was playing deep and was able to grab the ball and throw DiMaggio out at first.

After walking in the fourth inning, DiMaggio hit another drive toward third in the seventh inning, but Keltner made another play to throw out the Yankee Clipper.

With the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning, DiMaggio managed not to hit the ball to Keltner, but instead grounded to shortstop Lou Boudreau who turned it into an inning ending double play.

During the streak, DiMaggio hit .408 with 15 home runs and 55 runs batted in. He had multiple hits 22 times, including four games with four hits. Read the rest of this entry →