Baseball Notebook: Hot Stove League Roundup
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook: Hot Stove League Roundup
Mets Trade Milledge to Nationals for Church, Schneider
Omar Minaya, the GM for the New York Mets, must know something the rest of us don't know in trading Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. Milledge has seen his name mentioned in trade talks for the last year, so it was no surprise he was traded, but most Mets fans obviously thought they would get a star player in return, not two average players.
Now the Nationals should benefit from Milledge and a full season with him in 2008. I don't understand the acquisition of Schneider after already acquiring Johnny Estrada though. Both players were the regular catcher on their teams last season, so whoever doesn't get regular playing time is not likely to be a happy camper. Church may play well or he may not depending on how he handles playing in the biggest city in the United States. Even though the Mets got two players, I give the edge to Nationals on this trade since they have Jesus Flores ready to step in at catcher after being the backup for Schneider last year. Plus, he may be a better offensive player than Schneider. Only time will tell who got the best of this trade but as of today I think the Mets may regret this trade in the future.
Kenny Rogers Signs With Tigers
Kenny Rogers signed a one year contract with the Detroit Tigers for $8 million on Friday. Rogers, who had fired his agent, Scott Boras, represented himself in negotiations with the Tigers. Rogers may have received more money by moving to another city, but apparently all he was interested in was returning to Detroit.
It is good to know that there are players like Rogers who took less money to play where they wanted to play. Tom Glavine also could have made more money by staying with the Mets but instead signed with the Atlanta Braves recently so that he could pitch in the same city that he lives in.
Rogers also has some incentives in his contract that would pay him more money depending on his health after having a 3-4 season in 2007. I don't understand why more teams don't include this kind of stipulation into contracts so they won't find themselves in the position of paying full salaries to pitchers like Mike Hampton and Carl Pavano.
Rays Sign Percival To Two Year Contract
Troy Percival strengthened the Tampa Bay Rays' bullpen by signing a two year contract for $8 million and could make as much as $12 million if he meets the incentive clauses of the contract. Percival was 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals last season. He had been out of baseball since the 2005 season with the Tigers before playing for Cardinals last season.
His signing signals that he is all the way back after pitching only 25 innings for Tigers in 2005. The Rays front office deserves credit for making some moves that will strengthen their pitching having acquired Matt Garza as a starter for 2008 earlier this week.
David Price, their No. 1 pick, could join the team in the next year or two, but I would be surprised if he makes the team in 2008 since he hasn't made his first minor league pitch yet. The Rays have the top pick in the 2008 amateur draft which could make them even an even stronger team by 2010.
Cardinals Sign Izturis
The St. Louis Cardinals signed Cesar Izturis to a one year contract, apparently ending any hopes that David Eckstein will be returning. Izturis is a better defensive shortsop than Eckstein having won a Gold Glove with Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004. Offensively, Eckstein was the better hitter with a .309 average while Izturis hit .258. Both players have good plate discipline with Eckstein having 2 more walks than strikeouts and Izturis having the same number of strikeouts as walks.
Eckstein is one of my favorite players and one of my grandson's favorite players, who is an ardent Cardinals fan. He will be sad to know that Eckstein is leaving the team for more money than the $4.5 million the Cardinals paid him last season. Eckstein has health issues having missed 90 games over the last two seasons. Despite playing 6 fewer games in 2007 than in 2006, he made 14 more errors. In 2005, he made 15 errors in 156 games so his fielding numbers are on a downward trend that the Cardinals didn't want to see continue any longer.
Izturis had 193 hits in 2004 but it took 670 trips to the plate for him to achieve that number of hits and hit .288 that season. It was the only season that he has hit higher than .269 in his seven year major league career. He has only 11 home runs in 2751 at bats so is no power hitter. The signing of Izturis seems to be more of a case of strengthening the defense while sacrificing some offense.
HBO Announces Plans for Barry Bonds Movie
Just when Barry "Balco" Bonds thinks things can't get any worse, he learns that HBO has plans to make a movie about the Game of Shadows book. Bonds has been reported by friends to be upset with this latest development. Bonds has went from the exhilaration of passing Hank Aaron to the depressing news that he has been indicted by a grand jury and now the news of this movie is another thing for him to worry about.
I am surprised they would plan the movie before the trial was over. I guess in Hollywood though, timing is everything and HBO wanted to be first to get this movie on the screen. First the asterisk ball and the indictment, and now a HBO movie; Bonds is seeing the world crumble in front of his own eyes and has to realize all the lying in front of the grand jury was not worth what he is enduring now but he knew the consequences of being caught in a lie and now he is paying the piper.
Worst of all, he has lied to the media and the American public for four years and he has let down even his staunchest defenders who stuck by him despite the overwhelming circumstantial evidence that he has used steroids. Sometime next year, it may be proved in a courtroom that he has betrayed the trust of his fans by being convicted of perjury.
We welcome any suggestions on who should play Bonds in the movie. My first choice would be Steve Urkel.
Best Baseball Book Ever: We Played the Game
I have read a lot of baseball books since the 50's when I first became interested in baseball, but the one book that stands far above the other books is We Played the Game edited by Danny Peary. This book more than any other baseball book I have read tells in the words of the players what it was like to play major league baseball from 1947-1964.
Some of the details given by the players may not mean much to some fans but to me I enjoyed every player's recollections of what it was like before multi-million contracts became the norm. This book tells of players holding out for two or three thousand more than their previous contract and doubt if any of them had agents in those days.
Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox was the roommate of Billy Pierce for many years and was a cigar smoker and most fans remember the wad of tobacco Fox had in his mouth when he played. However on days when Pierce was pitching Fox would not smoke. This book is full of stories like this not to mention the recalling of seasons past and how they came to be signed to major league contracts.
The book tells of Vic Power who was so naive as to drive around Kansas City in a convertible with white girls which was not done even as far north as Kansas City in those days. The book tells how Power was so good at covering first base that he would tell fielders to throw the ball to the base whether he was there or not and he would catch it. Larry King has said it is one of the best baseball books he has ever read.
I could go on and on about the parts I remembered from the book but you can read more about the book at Amazon.com where there are reviews by readers of the book. The 672 page book can be found at Amazon for as little as $6.44 brand new if you go to the used book section of the site which is only 17 cents more than the cheapest used version of the book. It can be found as of this morning at ebay.com for $4.99. Not pushing the sale of this book...just giving the information needed to find it if anyone is interested in purchasing the book.
This book is perfect for those cold winter nights coming up and it will take a long time to read but it is very fast reading for a book that size.
