Sports Then and Now

The addition of Curtis Granderson will help the New York Yankees retain their title in the American League East.

February is here and I have the countdown widget on my Windows Vista desktop that counts down the days until pitchers and catchers report – it’s 15 days, by the way.  Spring training is the time of a thousand story lines – everyone’s a contender and every player who reports is a potential star.

Without further ado, here are 10 things that are could (or should) happen this year in Major League Baseball.

10.     Only one team from the AL East will make the playoffs.

The Yankees were stacked last year.  The additions of Curtis Granderson and Javier Vasquez only add to that.  They dropped the ball (no pun intended) when they opted for Randy Winn over resigning Johnny Damon.  They know it, too, as evidenced by the fact that he’s not listed on their website’s transaction list.  That point notwithstanding,  the Yanks  are going to be insanely hard to overcome, even for the Red Sox.  If the Yankees take the division, they should be the only AL East entrant.

9.     The Tigers will not sign Johnny Damon, mostly because Scott Boras is a liar.

On my list of “People I’d Like to See Slapped,” Scott Boras is pretty high up.  But in this instance he is just absolutely full of bologna.  Sporting News reports that Boras is trying to convince the Tigers that they need Damon.  He’s quoted as saying,  “[Damon] batted .363 at Comerica Park, he has a .412 on-base percentage at Comerica.”  Really?  When was that?  Last year (according to baseball-reference.com) Johnny Damon batted .231 with and on-base percentage of .286 and he only slugged .308 in 14 at-bats.  The numbers Boras is quoting as Damon’s career numbers at Comerica and no one (well, except for Boras) thinks that the Johnny Damon that is currently seeking work is the same one that the Yankees thought they bought in 2006. Read the rest of this entry →

Would a salary cap in baseball give more teams like the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks a chance to compete for the World Series title?

Talking about a salary cap with a baseball player or his agent is as usually received as well as asking Tiger Woods how married life is treating him.  The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) has a pretty simple stance on the concept of placing a ceiling on what teams can spend on wages, and that stance is “Nope!”

While purists still know that baseball is the American pastime, football is king these days in all real senses.  It is outwardly more popular, has better television ratings (mostly since there’s so much less of it), and makes lots and lots of money.  Oh, yes, it also has a salary cap.  What’s more, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants you to know that it is one of the main reasons the NFL is as great as it is, for it’s the salary cap and revenue sharing that create the NFL’s wonderful parity.

There is a continuum in professional sports where the concept of parity is concerned. In a nutshell, it tells us that the higher a team ranks in terms of league payroll, the less they care about parity. This is irrelevant for the NFL, because they have a salary cap. Read the rest of this entry →

Cleveland Indian’s pitcher Jason Grilli has a career record of 18-18 with a 4.74 ERA. Good enough by all standards to make him one of the top middle relievers in the game, but the Hall of Fame is not yet calling. According to the record book that really counts, however, Grilli is a winner of the Cy Young Award, MVP and slated for induction into Life’s Hall of Fame.

After chatting with Grilli, it is clear that he is one of the good guys. Soft spoken, humble, and committed to helping those less fortunate than himself are attributes that don’t show up on the scoreboard. He is a man who thinks about family, friends and those less fortunate than himself long before he is concerned about his wins, losses or earned run average.

For those who are keeping score at home, Grilli is throwing a perfect game. Read the rest of this entry →

The definition of a true hero is not a guy who leaps tall buildings in a single bound but, more realistically, a person who heaps the world’s problems upon his or her broad shoulders without regard for their own personal health or well-being. A person who sees a situation and devises a solution, rather than to turn their backs and complain.

By definition that would qualify Frank Guzman as, more than just a baseball coach, but as a mentor, a leader and yes, a bona fide hero in the eyes of everyone who knows him. When assisting those in a state of crisis from his security position with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Guzman has turned his passion for baseball into a rescue for many of Rochester, New York’s Latin population. Read the rest of this entry →

In 2010 28 of the 30 MLB teams will be playing on natural grass.

There’s a famous quote from one of my all time favorite baseball players, Tug McGraw, that goes something like this:

REPORTER:  Tug, Which do you prefer: Grass or AstroTurf?

TUG:  I’ve never smoked AstroTurf…

You have to love the Tugger!

Since its hay day back in the 70’s, artificial turf has been prevalent in professional sports, particularly in baseball.  It’s first appearance in the Houston Astrodome in 1965, and plastic grass has been the bane of baseball purists everywhere from just about day one.

The Astrodome was the world’s first domed sports stadium and, as luck would have it, grass doesn’t grow in the shade.   While the name “AstroTurf” is a trademarked product, the phrase gets used to cover just about all of the nasty dangerous stuff that players have been ravaging their bodies on for decades. There’s the painful “Turf Toe,” which is essentially a type of tendonitis common for athletes playing on artificial surfaces.  Earlier versions used rubber based under-matting that could leach chemicals in to the water table.  The stuff also had the pleasant distinction of needed to be disinfected at regular intervals to prevent mold and smell. Read the rest of this entry →

There is no shortage of money being spent on baseball salaries, but which teams are getting the most bang for their bucks?

Given that they spent half a billion dollars more than any other team over the last decade, it should come as no surprise that the New York Yankees top the list of Major League Baseball teams when it comes to cost per victory. However, in an interesting article posted on SportsIllustrated.com, Tom Verducci contends that the Yankees got much more bang for their buck than some teams that spent less money during the decade.

Just looking at the raw numbers, the Yankees top the sport by spending $174,600 for each of their league-best 965 victories. The New York Mets ($133,300), Boston Red Sox ($127,000), Los Angeles Dodgers ($116,200) and Chicago Cubs ($112,400) round out the list of the top five teams in spending per victory.

Not surprisingly, the Yankees and Red Sox are the only two teams to claim multiple World Series titles in the decades. However, using a formula that weighs playoff success and then compares it with total payroll to illustrate efficiency and inefficiency, Verducci suggests that the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals got the most for their money over the past decade.

But, Verducci also points out the flaw in his system when considering the comprehensive success of those teams during the decade.

The Cardinals spent $843 million (eighth highest in baseball) while winning 913 games (third in MLB). They also reached the playoffs eight times, appeared in two World Series and claimed the World Series title in 2006.

While the Marlins equaled the Cardinals with one World Series title (2003 over the Yankees), their rise to the top of the efficiency scale is tied primarily to annual place at the bottom of the league when it comes to team payroll. The Marlins spent only $349 million during the decade, which is $50 million less than the other team in Florida, the Tampa Bay Rays. The 2003 championship was the only playoff appearance for the Marlins and they finished within five games of making the playoffs only one other time in the decade. Read the rest of this entry →