Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Gil Meche retired yesterday and some people are praising him for putting his family happiness ahead of the $12 million remaining on his contract. I think my family would have been happier if I took the $12 million... The Red Sox signed Jonathan Papelbon and Jacoby Ellsbury to one-year deals yesterday to avoid arbitration. Papelbon got $12 million and the consensus is that this will be his last season with the Red Sox. I would agree but not for the same reasons many think. The Sox have positioned Daniel Bard to be the closer in waiting with Bobby Jenks as insurance. Next year the Red Sox won't want to pay Papelbon what he'll think he's worth so they will let him walk. They will also covet the draft picks that will come for him as a Type A free agent. They will rid themselves of him and not the other way around... When you look at the stats - Gil Meche was basically same pitcher as Matt Clement except Meche was 30 pounds heavier and $10 million richer. Gil Meche was also basically the same as Kris Benson - 84-83 with a 4.49 ERA for Meche vs Kris Benson's 70-75 with a 4.42 ERA. Benson was the same player who just got less fanfare when he announced his retirement last week... To illustrate why those draft picks (a 1st and a sandwich) would be so important to the Red Sox if they were to let Papelbon walk next season consider Jacoby Ellsbury who signed a $2.4 million deal with the Red Sox yesterday was drafted in 2005 with a pick that was compensation for losing Orlando Cabrera to the Angels. Jed Lowrie, who could be the starting shortstop this year, was also compensation in 2005 for Anaheim signing Orlando Cabrera. Lowrie was the sandwich pick... LAPD confirms Milton Bradley was arrested for violating California penal code section 422 - making a "criminal threat". The Royals may have saved $12 million in 2011 with Meche retiring and now the Mariners may have just saved $12 million too with Milton Bradley being Milton Bradley... I can't believe this is true but I read yesterday that the Twins offered Francisco Liriano $5 million and he countered with $3.6 million. I wonder if this guy was Liriano's agent.

The Troubled Milton Bradley as Larry Andersen

Rob Neyer reminds us that stud hitter Andre Ethier was traded for the troubled Milton Bradley. I'm guessing that most Red Sox fans cannot read that article without thinking about the Jeff Bagwell for Larry Andersen abomination of a deal.

The story also reminds me of how Marvin Hagler had his name legally changed to Marvelous Marvin Hagler. I think if I was a big league GM and was forced to deal with Milton Bradley - I would insert a clause into his contract that would force him to legally change his name to "The Troubled Milton Bradley" if he ever got himslef into another jam like he's in now.

AL All-Star Team

Here's my picks for who is most deserving to be named to the AL All-Star Team:

C - Joe Mauer Twins - .331 BA
1st - Kevin Youkilis Red Sox - .919 OPS and Gold Glove defense
2nd - Ian Kinsler Rangers - leads AL 2nd basemen in most offensive categories
SS - Michael Young Rangers - best of thin pickings in AL
3rd - Alex Rodriguez Yankees - any question?
OF - Josh Hamilton Rangers - 76 RBI
OF - Milton Bradley Rangers - leads the AL in OPS
OF - JD Drew Red Sox - .318 BA and 1.017 OPS
DH - Manny Ramirez Red Sox
SP - Cliff Lee Indians - 10-1 with a 2.45 ERA

Reserves - Justin Morneau Twins, Dioner Navarro Rays, Brian Roberts Orioles, Orlando Cabrerra White Sox, Joe Crede White Sox, Carlos Quentin White Sox, Jacoby Ellsbury Red Sox, BJ Upton Rays, Roy Halladay Blue Jays, Justin Duchscherer A's, Joe Saunders Angels, Mariano Rivera Yankees, Jonathan Papelbon Red Sox, Joakim Soria Royals

Toughest Omissions: Grady Sizemore Indians - deep outfield costs Sizemore a spot mostly because he's up against better known names or spots need to be used for sole representatives for some teams; Johnny Damon Yankees - ditto for Damon; Scott Kazmir Rays - very deserving but time on DL hurt him.

Miscellaneous thoughts.

Manny and Big Papi will probably get the nod at OF and DH in the voting and you know MLB wants Ortiz in there for the "call the shot" promotion they have spent so much money on. I just hope that their inclusion doesn't keep Drew from being on the team. He's more worthy than either Manny or Big Papi this season... Derek Jeter will probably get the start at short which may cost Orlando Cabrera a spot on the team... I don't think Ichiro has earned a berth this season but he's probably going to be voted as starter or picked as the only Mariner representative. That spells doom for Jacoby Ellsbury's chances... Dustin Pedroia will probably get the start at 2nd and with Brian Roberts potentially the sole Orioles representative - that means that Ian Kinsler could get left off the team even though he's the most deserving to start. Of course Nick Markakis could be the Orioles rep and that would put Kinsler on.. Kinsler being left off the team would be bad but my guess is that the biggest screw job will be the omission of either Milton Bradley or JD Drew... If you notice - I have representatives from every team except the Tigers. Who really is deserving from Detroit? Anyone? If you pick Magglio Ordonez then you are dealing with bumping another deserving player from an already crowded outfield. A pitcher? Todd Jones may be the only choice there and who do you bump for him? Jonathan Papelbon? Could this be a year without a Tiger?

Free Agent Signings

OK - its far enough into the baseball season to figure out in most cases whether money was well spent on a free agent player or whether the money would have been better spent on ivory back scratchers. I'm only looking at players who changed teams - so don't be looking for A-Rod on either list. Also don't look for every player or any middle-relievers for that matter.

Money Well Spent:
- Aaron Boone - $1 mil / 1 YR Washington (5 HR and .529 SLG% in limited role)
- Milton Bradley - $5 mil / 1 YR Texas (.327 BA / 8 HR / 31 RBI / 0 tantrums)
- Sean Casey - $800,000 / 1 YR Boston (the mayor has been a good fit)
- Bartolo Colon - Minor League Deal Boston (no matter what else happens - his performance in his first 2 starts makes his signing perhaps the biggest bargain of the offseason)
- Mark Hendrickson - $1.5 mil / 1 YR Florida (off to a 7-2 start)
- Livan Hernandez - $5 mil / 1 YR (off to 6-2 start)
- Eric Hinske - Minor League Deal Tampa Bay (10 HR already - another huge bargain)
- Troy Percival - $8 mil / 2 YR Tampa Bay (great story - I hope his recent injury isn't anything serious)
- Aaron Rowand - $60 mil / 5 YR San Francisco (he's been great so far)

Wasted Bucks:
- Eric Gagne - $10 mil / 1 YR (suckity, suck, sucks)
- Jose Guillen - $36 mil / 3 YR (way overpaid - bad move and clubhouse distraction)
- LaTroy Hawkins - $3.75 mil / 1 YR Yankees (as a Red Sox fan all I can say is Ha Ha)
- Jason Jennings - $5 mil / 1 YR Houston (I could go 0-5 with an ERA of 8.56)
- Andruw Jones - $36 mil / 2 YR Dodgers (completely fallen off a cliff)
- Carlos Silva - $48 mil / 4 YR Seattle (for $12 mil a year your ERA should be under 5.00)
- Brad Wilkerson - $3 mil / 1 YR Seattle (already been cut from the team)

Jury Still Out:
- Mike Cameron - $7 mil / 1 YR Milwaukee
- Luis Castillo - $25 mil / 4 YR Mets (I didn't like the signing at the time and I don't like it now but I'm willing to give it a benefit of a doubt)
- Francisco Cordero - $46 mil / 4 YR Cincinatti
- David Eckstein - $4.5 mil / 1 YR Toronto
- Keith Foulke - $7 mil / 1 YR Oakland
- Pedro Feliz - $8.5 mil / 2 YR Philadelphia
- Torii Hunter - $90 mil / 5 YR Angels
- Kaz Matsui - $16.5 mil / 3 YR Houston

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

John Donovan of SI does a position by position comparison for the NLCS and gives pretty much the edge to everything except starting pitching to the Rockies. I'll quibble on a couple of things such as saying Todd Helton is "just OK defensively" and that the Diamondbacks have the "intangibles" going for them (I'd disagree on both of these points). Donovan picks the Rockies in 6 games but with home field advantage and better starting pitching - I still find it tough to pick against the Diamondbacks... There is a pretty good chance that game 1 of the ALCS in Boston could be rained out. This would make it much more difficult to have the game 1 starters also start games 4 and 7 (if necessary) because it would eliminate an off-day between starts. This means the teams probably would be forced to go with 4 starters each which I think gives an edge to Boston since they have a deeper pitching staff. The Red Sox can use Tim Wakefield as their 4th starter with Jon Lester as long relief.... ESPN's Tim Kurkjian picks the Red Sox in 7... I think an aspect that is not discussed enough is how the Indians chose to support manager Eric Wedge in 2004 when they basically picked him over supposedly budding star Milton Bradley (who has never lived up to his supposed talent levels). That decision to trade away the disgruntled Bradley has allowed Cleveland to get to the point they are today - as a cohesive, gruntled unit. It is a lesson that GM's should not forget... David Pinto has an ALCS preview at The Sporting news which focuses in on strikeouts. Largely because Boston pitchers strikeout more batters and Cleveland hitters tend to strikeout more often - Pinto picks the Red Sox in 7 games.... Speaking of strikeouts - I've been meaning to mention the incredible fact that this year Dustin Pedroia has walked 47 times yet struck out just 42 times in 520 at bats. His number of strikeouts is mind numbingly low for a rookie who has a seemingly swing for it all approach at the plate. Which is why I'm bothered by the fact that Pedroia struck out twice against the Angels in the ALDS. If Pedroia can work the counts and not strikeout against the Indians - that's a big advantage in helping to get at Cleveland's bullpen...

Milton Bradley DFA

Milton Bradley has been designated for assignment by the Oakland A's who now have just 10 days to trade him or give him his release.

As is increasingly the case - the best place to get understanding of the move is not from a MSM outlet but from a blog. In this case from Athletics Nation.

My take is that Billy Beane weighed the cost of keeping Bradley against the possible benefits and determined that Bradley wouldn't be healthy enough for a long enough time to be worth the trouble in the clubhouse or the roster spot. Bradley has to wake up to the fact that he's only played more than 100 games in a season twice in his career. This guy makes JD Drew look like Cal Ripken.