Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

You know - I would never even think about parking in a handicapped parking space. I would rather walk a mile in the parking lot instead. But I don't think twice about using a handicapped bathroom stall. That just occurred to me as strange today... You have a story about Canadian baseball and the nickname stubby - so I thought for sure that the story would be about Matt Stairs. I was wrong... Pedro Martinez as a closer? I know it worked for Eckersley and Smoltz but Pedro as closer at this point in his career just doesn't fell right... Albert "Face-stomper" Haynesworth was involved in a car accident that left a man who was minding his own business disabled. Haynesworth apparently was weaving in and out of traffic in his 2008 black Ferrari when he clipped the car being driven by another driver. Reading the thread made me angry towards Haynesworth but slowly a feeling that Haynesworth will end up broke, broken, alone and disgraced overcame me. I get the feeling that Haynesworth's whole life will eventually be a car-wreck. And we won't be able to turn away...

Top 5 - Canadian Born Baseball Players

In honor of Canada Day - here are who I consider the Top 5 baseball players born in Canada.

1. Fergie Jenkins - Hall of Fame pitcher - 284 career wins and 1971 Cy Young Award winner
2. Larry Walker - 1997 NL MVP and 7 time Gold Glove winner
3. Justin Morneau - 2006 AL MVP
4. Eric Gagne - 2003 Cy Young Winner
5. Jason Bay - 134 HR and counting

Honorable mention goes to Russel Martin - the up and coming catcher for the Dodgers. Also it should be noted that blue collar Matt Stairs is second all-time on the HR by Canadians list with 249 and counting (Larry Walker is first with 383).

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Matt Stairs is hitting .364 in his last 10 games for the Blue Jays. I still say that Toronto did the right thing in jettisoning Frank Thomas who meanwhile has hit .135 in his last 10 games... Today would have been Rogers Hornsby's 112th birthday. Bill James said Horsby would have gotten his vote for the biggest horse's ass in baseball history. Hornsby has the second highest batting average in history. What is it with high batting averages and horse's asses? Ty Cobb is first and Hornsby second... David Ortiz was out of the Red Sox line-up last night because he bruised his knee driving headfirst into 1st base trying to beat out an infield hit. That's a damn stupid play and it worries me that Ortiz was that concerned about being safe. I like hustle but Ortiz was 0-6 for the night and him pressing to the point of head-first slides is not a good sign... Great pitching match-up today between Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks and Jake Peavy of the Padres. The over / under on that game is just 6.5 runs. I'm not placing a bet on that game but if I did - I'd take the over. The great pitching duels never wind up meeting the build-up this early in the season...

Frank Thomas Released

I can't say that I'm surprised by this move. Do I think that Frank Thomas' contract situation played a role? Of course. The Blue Jays don't want to be on the hook for $10 million to a guy who may be falling off a cliff talent wise. Do I think the benching of Thomas was also a move to improve the offense for the Blue Jays? Again - yes. There are many facets at play here. Such as:

- Matt Stairs probably does bring more to the plate than Frank Thomas at this point. I know it must hurt Thomas' ego that a Hall of Fame player like himself could be equaled or bettered in production by a career scrub player like Matt Stairs.

- Both Stairs and Thomas have posted OBP of about .370 the past two seasons. While Thomas has averaged a HR every 20.4 AB in his time in Toronto. Matt Stairs has averaged a HR every 18.1 AB during that same time frame.

- Frank Thomas comes off as surly and self-centered. Matt Stairs comes off as scrappy and blue-collar. Plus Stairs is Canadian.

- Some people will speculate that this will open the way for the Blue Jays to sign Barry Bonds. That's not going to happen. It is much more likely that it opens the door for top prospect Adam Lind.

- Will anyone be surprised if nobody picks up Frank Thomas? Thomas is a Hall of Fame player but his career could be over.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Today would have been Mickey Cochrane's 105th birthday. Cochrane was both one of the 5 best ballplayers to ever come out of Massachusetts and one of the 5 best catchers of all-time (Bill James has him ahead of Carlton Fisk). Not bad for a kid from Bridgewater... I thought OBP was Billy Beane's thing? Travis Buck is supposedly Oakland's leadoff hitter but Buck has yet to get a hit or a walk this season... Just when you thought the Eric Gagne trade to Boston couldn't get more aggravating. Last night Kason Gabbard went 7 scoreless innings to earn the win and outfielder David Murphy had a two hits (including a double), two runs scored and a stolen base in last night's 11-6 victory over the Angels. Gabbard and Murphy were traded for Gagne late last season... Last night Matt Stairs hit his 242nd HR. I like Matt Stairs if just for the simple fact that he doesn't look like an athlete. He looks like he should be tearing it up in a local beer league not the major leagues but there he is in his 16th season in the bigs. Stairs is also 2nd on the list of HR hit by a Canadian born player (Larry Walker tops the list)... Ian Kennedy gave up 6 earned runs in less than 3 innings yesterday and the Yankees were pounded by the Rays. I'm pretty sure that Clay Buchholtz can top Kennedy's start when Clay pitches for the Red Sox today. LaTroy Hawkins also managed to give up 6 earned runs last night but he did it in less than one inning. My guess is that Girardi may be better off only using Hawkins on the road until Hawkins gets his ERA under double digits... Matt Holliday probably has a large number of people second guessing their decision to take him with their first pick in their fantasy baseball drafts. Holliday has just one single so far this season but now's the time I remind you that the season is just a week old and to just wait. Holliday will put up the numbers (at least I hope so since I too took him with a first round pick)...

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

It looks like rookie Geovany Soto will be the Opening Day starter for the Cubs. Two thoughts on this. First you have to wonder how having a rookie catcher will impact the effectiveness of the pitching staff. People who know praise catchers like Jason Varitek for their ability to handle pitchers and call games. I'm not sure how much stock I put into that but it will be an interesting situation to monitor especially since team ace Carlos Zambrano is a bit of a head strong player who could use some "handling". The second thing to mention is the fact that Soto seems VERY good with the bat. He had 26 HR and hit .353 in 110 games for Iowa last season. He could be an excellent fantasy baseball sleeper pick.... I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Matt Stairs. In the off-season Stairs coaches hockey for John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Maine. You know that has to resonate with Toronto GM JP Riccardi who when he was with the Oakland A's used to spend his off-seasons coaching high school basketball for Holy Name in Worcester, Mass... The experts are pegging the NL Central to be a two team race between the Cubs and Brewers (the Cubs are 10 to 11 favorites to win the NL Central while the Brewers odds are pegged at 9 to 5). The Brewers should be much better defensively this year. The three areas of concern I'd have for the Brewers are Eric Gagne as closer (first he blew-up in Boston and then he gets his name in the Mitchell Report); the starting pitching depth and finally the contract status of JJ Hardy. The team and Hardy have until February 18th to work out a deal before it goes to arbitration. Hardy is asking for $3 million and the team counters with a $2.4 million offer. I'm guessing that a deal is reached within the next week but you never know. If the Brewers let this go to arbitration the lingering bad feelings could be a cloud over the start of the season.