Baseball Notebook: Thank You For Caring
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by Niteowl049
Before I start writing about baseball I want to thank those readers at Baseball Etcetera for their support and kind words at a bad time in our life. I also want to thank Tyrone Briggs of ArmchairGM.com for trying to help us and for giving up most of his Thanksgiving Day to get the ball rolling to let others know of our situation. The outpouring of support from the readers of these posts touched my heart and reinforced my thoughts that there are a lot of wonderful people out there who care about those less fortunate. I wanted to go see the Tennessee Smokies just 28 miles from here this last season but because of our situation never went to see a game to save money to pay the bills. I want to thank everyone that posted comments either at Baseball Etcetera or ArmchairGM and any other sites I don't know about. Above all thank you for caring.
Hot Stove League Roundup
The major story yesterday was the sudden death of Joe Kennedy, who died at the age of 28. He died at the home of his wife's family and was to be the best man in a wedding yesterday afternoon according to his agent Damon Lapa. Lapa also said that Kennedy got out of bed in the middle of the night and collapsed. Todd Helton who played golf with Kennedy two weeks ago said the Kennedys had bought a new house recently in Boulder, Colorado.
Since there was no post yesterday, I am late on reporting the signing of Torii Hunter by the Los Angeles Angels for a reported $90 million for five years. The Angels needed help in their lineup since Vladimir Guerrero was the only player on team to have more than 20 home runs and had 39 more RBI's than any other Angel. If Brandon Wood can hit with power in 2008 like he did in the minors he will make the lineup even stronger.
Francisco Cordero has been signed by the Cincinnati Reds to a four year contract for $46 million. Cordero was 0-4 last season with 44 saves which was third most in the majors in 2007. He had 7 blown saves which was one more blown save than David Weathers, who he is replacing. Cordero struck out 86 in 63 innings last season while Weathers struck out 48 in 77 innings so Cordero is more likely to get a strikeout to end a rally by opposing teams. To show how much the Milwaukee Brewers will miss Cordero, the other relievers who had save opportunities were only successful five times in 25 opportunities. Scott Linebrink and Derrick Turnbow combined to have two saves in 12 opportunities and it makes you question why the Brewers would give up three young pitching prospects including third ranked prospect Will Inman for Linebrink who already had 7 of his 8 blown saves at the time of the trade and was going to be a free agent after the 2007 season.
Joba Chamberlain led all major league pitchers in ERA who pitched more than 6 innings with a 0.38 ERA and had a strikeout-walks ratio of 34-6 in 24 innings pitched while giving up only 12 hits. Another impressive stat is that he gave up only one home run in those 24 innings. He didn't give up a run in Yankee Stadium in ten innings and gave up only one earned run in the time he was in the majors. If he pitches this well all next season it will make it even tougher to beat the Yankees. Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera will make one of the most formidable setup and closer combinations in baseball next season.
