It looks like the perfect trade, the deal last December between the Rangers and Reds that sent Josh Hamilton to Texas in exchange for Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera. Hamilton could cement centerfield for Texas for the next decade. Volquez could be an electric starter in the National League despite pitching in a bandbox.
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San Diego is a fascinating team to watch. Last year I had several NL coaches tell me that baseball was morphing into a game revolving around athletes and their speed. The days of ‘slow pitch softball’ slugging were over. Yet the Padres were one out from last year’s NL playoffs with a notable lack of speed. And they field a 2008 team with even less speed.
Any analysis of why the Padres have the NL’s worst record through 20 percent of the season must look at the team’s lack of athleticism. Doubt not that the Padres chief executive officer Sandy Alderson sets the team’s philosophy. Also doubt not Alderson’s track record -- his emphasis on on-base percentage, power and pitching without walks worked wonderfully in Oakland.
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Have you ever told anyone they shouldn’t have insurance? Perhaps you have questioned the amount of insurance purchased but the concept itself? Not me.
So in a recent USA Today piece on the growing number of pre-free agency players signing multi-year contracts, the stance of agent Scott Boras, while hardly surprising, was notable.
For those unfamiliar with this topic here’s the scoop: Clubs try to lock up their best young players to contracts that fix costs. Other benefits of such deals include avoiding arbitration (something many players also appreciate) and in some cases, a year of free agency.
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One month into the season here’s the scoop on how some familiar faces are faring with their new teams:
PASSING WITH FLYING COLORS
JOHAN SANTANA: Where would the Mets be without their staff leader – make that savior? He has a sterling 0.92 WHIP that augurs better long-term numbers than 3-2 and a 3.12 ERA through his first six starts.
DAN HAREN: Anyone still question Arizona’s decision to move kids for a solid 1-A starter?
TORII HUNTER: What seemed like a crowded outfield looks just fine with Hunter as the Angels’ anchor in centerfield.
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Arizona is the best team in the National League and the fact that the Diamondbacks earn that distinction rather than the Mets with their huge payroll is notable.
Where the Mets stand as the calendar turns to May is another subject, although they can be measured against upstart Arizona when the two teams meet this weekend in Phoenix.
But this is about Arizona, the team that appeared World Series-bound last fall until being derailed at the last-minute by Colorado. The D’backs are better this year in one major area – the rotation. The addition of Dan Haren gives them the best 1-2 starters in the league (Brandon Webb and Haren). The Mets could surpass that if they get someone consistently producing behind Johan Santana but for now no NL club is better at the top of the rotation than Arizona.
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Athletics general manager Billy Beane walked from the Oakland dugout across the field to join a group wearing Minnesota uniforms. Beane spent two years in the Twins organization as a player and 20 years later he still knew half of the major league staff.
As Beane approached Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, his Triple-A roommate in 1987 and Rick Stelmaszek, bullpen coach today as he was when Beane played for the Twins, Beane told the group that he had just spoken with his young assistants about his link to this group. And he exclaimed how amazing it is that the Twins have such stability.
It struck me that the Minnesota organization continues to be baseball’s most unappreciated story. When the Twins win as they did in 2006 this organization gets credit. But finish near .500 as happened last year and the Twins are overlooked.
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The White Sox started the weekend on top in the AL Central, but are they legitimate season-long contenders or are they beneficiaries of early-schedule struggles from division rivals Detroit and Cleveland?
Here are the key early questions about the White Sox:
1. Can they score more runs? Dead last in this category in the AL last year, Chicago climbed to fourth in the league almost four weeks into the season. What’s made the difference? Well, Mark Gonzales, one of the game’s most knowledgeable beat writers who covers the White Sox for the Chicago Tribune, says that Nick Swisher (acquired from Oakland in January) is the “best thing to happen to the team in a long time.”
Off the field Swisher brings a needed personality to the clubhouse. On the field he inherited the leadoff spot and his patience at the plate has been contagious as the White Sox are sixth in walks. There are enough hitters in the lineup to score far more runs than Chicago did last season.
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Questions surrounded Sabathia after Detroit pounded him 13-2 last Wednesday. That loss left last year’s AL Cy Young winner with a 0-3 record and an astronomical 13.51 ERA. To make matters worse opposing batters were hitting .390 off of him.
Questions about his health and Sabathia replied he was fine. Questions about his impending free agency (his deal with the Indians ends after this season) and in response he stated the only thing he can -- that he hasn’t thought about his contract. Questions about where his head was at and to those his manager Eric Wedge contradicted Sabathia’s claim in a small way by admitting that the pitcher was “putting some heat on himself.”
Sabathia said his struggles were about his command of both sides of the plate. Detroit’s right-handed hitters were 8-for-20 against Sabathia. Against Kansas City, Sabathia was clocked at 94 and 95 mph in the first inning, 91 in the sixth. His fastball had life and his “slurve” was terrific. No problem with righties as he struck out Jose Guillen three times.
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My friends in tennis often marvel at the structure of team sports that commands all players to adhere to a team schedule. Tennis, of course, is a collection of players who are independent contractors and who operate in a manner similar to musical artists. They make their own touring schedules. Some decide to play many tournaments while others parcel their appearances more discriminately.
It’s a different story in baseball where the schedule has changed dramatically over the last three decades and for the players the changes have not been for the better.
The most recent example of this involves the Rockies. Colorado played 22 innings in San Diego Thursday night and had a night game Friday in Houston – going from one city to the other is a distance of 1,307 air miles. So as happens all the time in today’s game baseball’s absurd scheduling worked to the detriment of some of its players. And it is impossible to blame the lack of concern over this on anything other than greed.
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What to make of the Dodgers and their 7-8 start:
They are healthier with the return of Nomar Garciaparra two days ago and the lineup looked stronger. Even though they had two good scoring games against Pittsburgh after watching Takashi Saito surrender a ninth-inning homer in Monday’s opener of the series against the Pirates, the Dodgers still need to establish an ability to score on a consistent basis.
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