tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52856752011-06-08T02:39:14.462-04:00Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comBlogger4301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-7478038244218591492007-06-06T15:58:00.000-04:002007-06-06T16:05:06.347-04:00

The A's want Mike Piazza to rotate between catcher and DH after he returns from his sprained right shoulder. Oakland plans to keep Jack Cust, who has gone 4-for-35 with no homers since the 19th of May and to rotate Piazza in the DH. Jason Kendall, the A's regular catcher, has a .446 on-base which is the lowest in the majors.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-9425649191508027732007-05-31T14:28:00.000-04:002007-05-31T14:42:55.357-04:00

The New York Yankees end their five-game losing streak with the help of A-Rod. Rodriguez distracted Toronto's third baseman Howie Clark by shouting at him on a crucial popup in the ninth. After the play was over there were arguments all over the field on this controversial tactic A-Rod did. Alex Rodriguez claimed that all he said was "Hah!" and said that "Sometimes it works, sometimes it

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-64999698820612469422007-05-29T13:55:00.000-04:002007-05-29T14:01:23.137-04:00

Yankees drop their fourth straight game. They were defeated by the Blue Jays Monday night 7-2. The Yankees are down 13 and a half games behind the Boston Red Sox. This is their biggest deficit since August 1995. Hopefully the Yanks could pull together and win games to make it to the playoffs but it does not look to good.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-790607486994487882007-05-25T15:56:00.000-04:002007-05-25T16:09:31.036-04:00

In the rumor mill today the New York Yankees are interested in Todd Helton. Helton has played in the Majors for a little under ten years. He was drafted on August 2, 1997 for the Colorado Rockies as a first baseman. Todd won the Gold Golve awards in 2001, 2002 and 2004. The five time All-Star and Silver Slugger started the 2007 season hot by having the highest batting average with .333.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-22552879761671260422007-05-24T15:16:00.000-04:002007-05-24T15:26:03.550-04:00

The Philadelphia Phillies' assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. confirmed that they have contacted Troy's agent. Percival was drafted to the MLB in 1995 by the California Angels as a reliever. He has an ERA of 3.10, had 324 saves, and a life time record of 30-41. He retired on July 9th, 2005 from the Detroit tigers.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-74293074174892023782007-05-03T15:52:00.000-04:002007-05-03T15:54:43.481-04:00

The red sox have decided to keep Lester in the minors for the time being to regain stamina and arm strength necessary to compete at the major league level. Jon's battle with lymphoma over the off-season raised concern with Boston that he may not be able to compete at the major league caliber. Boston opted to keep Lester in the minors seems a good decision for the pitcher's long-term success.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1813916348417981822007-03-29T14:16:00.000-04:002007-03-29T14:17:22.655-04:00

Roger Clemens still has not made up his mind if he will continue his career. Rumor has it that, he will make his decision in about a month. If he does continue, Clemens said that he would still limit his choice to the Red Sox, Astros, and Yankees.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-27201766831409056102007-03-05T13:23:00.001-05:002007-03-05T13:23:48.914-05:00

The Texas Rangers beat the KC Royals 5-0 Sunday. Sosa’s home run in the second inning was his first homer since August 4, 2005 when he was with the Baltimore Orioles. Sosa did not play last season but played in the minors during the offseason. Looks like Sosa is picking up things where he left off. His presence will help the Rangers this year to have a good season.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-15005534020725308402007-02-12T14:16:00.000-05:002007-02-02T13:51:58.239-05:00

The American League star and batting champion Joe Mauer and the Twins agreed to a $33 million four year contract Sunday. The twenty-three year old catcher hit a .347 with 84 RBIs last year to help the Twins win the AL Central and played his first All-Star game last summer. He was selected first in the 2001 amateur draft out of Cretin-Derham Hall high school in St. Paul. Mauer was eligible for

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-46753311941489237132007-02-02T13:50:00.000-05:002007-02-02T13:52:00.436-05:00

The Texas Rangers agreed on a minor league contract with Sosa on Tuesday. Sosa is posed to enter the Majors by the end of spring training. He is quoted that there is only a one in a million chance that he will not make the big leagues. If he does make it to the Majors, he will get a fraction of what he was paid before he retired. For the season, he would get a $500,000 one-year deal, and can

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-78239523595627174712007-01-04T12:59:00.000-05:002007-01-04T14:48:03.480-05:00

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in talks with the New York Yankees to aquire Randy Johnson. The five-time Cy Young Award winner may agree with the Diamondbacks to a one-year, $10 million extension. Hopefully Arizona can get this superstar back in their ranks next season. The Padres are interested in Johnson also but have a slim chance of taking Johnson away from the Diamondbacks.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-35326557281269437712006-12-27T13:48:00.000-05:002006-12-27T13:55:17.306-05:00

The Detroit Tigers pitcher, Joel Zumaya missed three playoff games from a repetitive strain injury caused by playing way too much Guitar Hero(best game ever). The right-handed pitcher missed the games during the American League Championship Series in October because of forearm pain. Training staff found that his injury was more in line with a guitar playing motion than throwing. Guitar Hero’s

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-79123542023877240532006-12-19T14:01:00.000-05:002006-12-19T14:04:01.086-05:00

The New York Yankees signed Igawa to play for them next season. The left-handed pitcher has agreed to a five year, $20 million dollar contract. Kei Igawa played for the Japanese club, Hanshin Tigers. He had an ERA of 2.97, 194 strikeouts, and a 14-9 record last season with them. Igawa eight-season career with the Hanshin Tigers, the pitcher went 86-60 with an ERA of 3.15. Kei’s best season was in

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-56877617412848736772006-12-18T14:50:00.000-05:002006-12-18T15:02:16.806-05:00

Vernon Wells agreed to a seven year, $126 million extension with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, December 15. There should be a press conference early this week so announce the deal but Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi wouldn't confirm or deny that a deal had in fact been reached, saying only that "nothing has been finalized from our end." The extension is said to include a no-trade

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-61835817418203179842006-12-15T09:15:00.000-05:002006-12-15T09:16:30.040-05:00

All-Star center fielder Vernon Wells was offered a contract extension worth more than $120 million making it the sixth-largest contract in baseball history. The general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, J.P. Ricciardi, would not give a specific amount as to how much the extention would be worth but did say it will be between $126 million to $136 million and would extend seven or eight years. If

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-30784020473050140742006-12-14T15:04:00.000-05:002006-12-14T16:13:37.988-05:00

Daisuke Matsuzaka agreed to a six-year contrat with the Red SoxMatsuzaka signed a six year contract with the Boston Red Sox worth $52 million Wednesday afternoon. The pitcher has high expectations from the Red Sox; scouts from the organization seen Daisuke play dozens of times; they say, "He has plus stuff across the board" and a 96 mph fastball that tops off his arsenal. While Boston is

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-11174073037134647622006-12-13T13:15:00.000-05:002006-12-13T13:45:29.587-05:00

Matsuzaka possible to play for Red SoxMatsuzaka may be able to play for the Red Sox as early as next season. The star pitcher for Seibu Lions reportedly is flying to Boston, a good sign that both Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox have reached an agreement. An official with knowledge of the negotiations said, "You should assume a deal is close or done."A few days prior, Scott Boras would not allow

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-66824331530205400292006-12-12T16:46:00.000-05:002006-12-12T16:58:50.502-05:00

Gagne reaches an early agreement with the RangersEric Gagne the reliever for the LA Dodgers has reached an agreement Tuesday with the Texas Rangers on a one-year contract worth about six million dollars. While there is no official announcement, a person familiar with the negotiations has confirmed the agreement. The deal will give Gagne the opportunity to earn around five million more in

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1164220236609878482006-11-22T13:26:00.000-05:002006-11-22T13:30:36.610-05:00

Juan Uribe is being acquitted of all charges in his alleged involvement in a shooting in the Dominican Republic earlier this year.Read the Entire StoryIs this a case of mistaken identity or another baseball player getting away from a scandal unscathed?

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1079330639671197572004-03-15T01:03:00.000-05:002004-03-15T01:07:10.186-05:00

My final post I don't know how many people are still stopping by to check out this blog, but awhile ago I promised an announcement in March, and now it's time for said announcement. While I will no longer be writing about baseball at Universal Baseball Blog, Inc., I will still be writing about baseball on the internet. I have joined with a bunch of other guys to start a web site called The

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1077554166537762262004-02-23T11:36:00.000-05:002004-02-23T11:38:49.590-05:00

Mike Mussina I know my last post said that I would only be making one more post and it would be to announce a new project I'm working on, but I guess I lied. This post has nothing to do with my project, which I will still be announcing some time in March. The reason for this post is that Alex Belth of Bronx Banter is doing a preview week for the Yankees and he asked me to write an article for him

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1076557357126493072004-02-11T22:42:00.000-05:002004-02-11T22:45:04.826-05:00

30,000 and done I just recently reached the 30,000 mark for visitors to this blog. When I started the blog back in mid-April last year, I didn't know exactly what to expect from it. I have to say that I've throughly enjoyed writing this blog and I hope you've enjoyed reading it. As you may have noticed, however, I haven't been making very many posts since November. In fact, the main purpose of

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1074623031607609022004-01-20T13:23:00.000-05:002004-01-20T15:58:43.920-05:00

I'm back First of all, I'd like to apologize for my several long absences from posting this winter. It has been due to a combination of a decrease in baseball news and an increase in my laziness, as well as some other things I've had to spend time on in the past couple months. At any rate, if you've continued to check this blog regularly (or even semi-regularly), I very much appreciate it. Many

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1073599397734758152004-01-08T17:03:00.000-05:002004-01-08T17:05:20.140-05:00

So long, Mo First, I'd like to apologize for my absence the past couple days. I've been very busy and unable to sit down and get a post written. Today, I still don't have any real outstanding analysis or anything, but I'd like to talk about something that is not much of a surprise at all. According to WFAN, Mo Vaughn is not retiring, but he will not be able to play at all in 2004 and he probably

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1073335495493450862004-01-05T15:44:00.000-05:002004-01-05T16:04:15.513-05:00

Perfect he's not Boomer on breaking his word Last off-season, David Wells reached a verbal agreement to sign a one-year deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he would have filled the third spot in the rotation behind Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. Instead of pitching for Arizona, however, he ended up helping the Yankees reach the World Series (and then he helped them lose the World Series

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1072445465784225502003-12-26T08:31:00.000-05:002003-12-26T08:32:30.590-05:00

Fantasy football Here's the link to my final fantasy football column of the season: Fantasy football: Holmes easy pick for MVP

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1072282716752823712003-12-24T11:18:00.000-05:002003-12-24T11:19:59.280-05:00

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Everybody! Merry Christmas everybody (unless you don't celebrate Christmas, in which case you should just have a nice Thursday). I hope you all have a very happy holiday and I'll probably be back on Friday.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1072212141592360772003-12-23T15:42:00.000-05:002003-12-23T15:43:42.903-05:00

Fun with free time For some reason (probably because there's nothing going on today), I was thinking about Manny Ramirez today. I wanted to see just how good a hitter he's been, so I headed over to Baseball-Reference.com to check out his player page. While I was there, I was completely blown away by something. No, it wasn't the fact that he's had a batting average of at least .325 in five of the

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1072163140556305802003-12-23T02:05:00.000-05:002003-12-23T02:46:15.920-05:00

Closing the books on a trade Recent events have finally closed the books on a trade that was made very early in the off-season. The trade to which I'm referring is Houston's trade of Billy Wagner to Philadelphia for Brandon Duckworth, Taylor Buchholz and Ezequiel Astacio. When the trade was made, I was skeptical of how good a trade it was for both teams. For Philadelphia, there was no doubting

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071862783680778672003-12-19T14:39:00.000-05:002003-12-19T14:40:59.560-05:00

A delightful interview Rich Lederer has his latest interview posted. This time he chats with Aaron Gleeman, who is probably the best baseball blogger out there. Head on over and check it out.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071854480818410392003-12-19T12:21:00.000-05:002003-12-19T12:22:36.810-05:00

Fantasy football Here's my fantasy football column for this week: Fantasy football: For those with an eye on next year, here are 20 keepers

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071822908836760822003-12-19T03:35:00.000-05:002003-12-19T03:44:22.186-05:00

He's dead to me now I was looking forward to the clock striking 5 p.m. on Thursday. Why? Because I wanted all of the rumors surrounding the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra to be over with. At this point, I didn't even care whether or not the traded happened, I just wanted the whole ordeal to end. I was tired of spending so much time thinking

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071525966137485042003-12-15T17:06:00.000-05:002003-12-16T16:55:16.936-05:00

Wagons East! It seems that the AL East is the place to be. The Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles all have a lot of money to spend and the Blue Jays have a very smart front office to help make up for the fact that they don't have as much money. In case you haven't noticed, all of that has resulted in a lot of quality players moving into the AL East this off-season. That gravitation of talent has some

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071522137301842872003-12-15T16:02:00.000-05:002003-12-15T17:06:46.763-05:00

Post delay Well, I was right in the middle of making a post when ESPN.com went down (or at least become inaccessable to me), which makes the rest of the post very difficult to complete. So, I'm going to push the post back to tomorrow and hope that things don't change too much between now and then.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071468768604459012003-12-15T01:12:00.000-05:002003-12-15T01:14:38.373-05:00

As if I was there I suspect that almost every die-hard baseball fan in America would love to have been in New Orleans this weekend, but very, very few of us were actually able to be there. Luckily, Alex Belth has given us an opportunity to live vicariously through him. He has been in the Big Easy since Friday night, and he made a post Sunday detailing his experiences at what is momentarily the

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071264581581503032003-12-12T16:29:00.000-05:002003-12-12T17:08:20.826-05:00

It's a whole new ballclub As everybody knows, Andy Pettitte will not be returning to the New York Yankees in 2004. In all likelihood, he will be replaced by Kevin Brown. Also, Roger Clemens will not return to New York, although it sounds like he might actually return to the baseball field. Clemens has already been replaced in the rotation by Javier Vazquez. I'm not going to spend a lot of time

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071247998969638222003-12-12T11:53:00.000-05:002003-12-12T11:54:26.043-05:00

Fantasy football Here's my fantasy football column for this week. Fantasy football: Reliable running backs are key Sorry it's so late already, my schedule has gotten all screwed up in the past couple weeks. I'll definitely have a baseball-related post up this afternoon.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071164555561947602003-12-11T12:42:00.000-05:002003-12-11T12:43:40.873-05:00

Sorry Yesterday, I just couldn't think of anything to write about. Today, there is at least one very important happening that I would love to give my thoughts on, but unfortunately I can't. I'm a little behind in getting this week's fantasy football column done, so I'm going to have to take another day off from the blog. I'll definitely be back tomorrow.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1071005616620330022003-12-09T16:33:00.000-05:002003-12-09T16:41:33.560-05:00

Song dedication I don't know if this makes me a loser or not, but when I'm in my car the only thing I listen to is a station that plays only songs from the 70's and 80's. I don't know why, but whenever I'm in a bad mood those songs always lift my spirits. One particular band does the trick better than any other. The reason I mention this is that I wasn't in a good mood today. For a variety of

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070992474679974862003-12-09T12:54:00.000-05:002003-12-09T12:55:37.013-05:00

Well connected I don't know how he gets all these interviews, but Alex Belth has another great one up today. This time he chats with Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci. Go read it or you'll be sorry. Unfortunately, I'm going to take today off from actually writing anything myself because I woke up a little late and have stuff I need to do. But I'll definitely be back tomorrow.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070906522394577852003-12-08T13:02:00.000-05:002003-12-08T13:03:06.700-05:00

Deadline agreements Before I went to sleep last night/this morning, I talked about a couple of arbitration situations that interested me. Now, I'm going to talk about some of the re-signings that occurred just before the deadline to offer arbitration. First, Minnesota made arguably the biggest re-signing thus far in the off-season (along with Luis Castillo staying with the Marlins) by inking

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070873135930655042003-12-08T03:45:00.000-05:002003-12-08T03:50:11.340-05:00

Arbitration stuff As you all probably know, the deadline to offer arbitration to free agents was midnight Sunday. Not every player has been listed, but a lot have and several of them have caught my eye. I'm going to talk about a few of those in particular right now, then I'm going to go to sleep and I'll then probably talk about several more arbitration-related things throughout the day. First, I

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070753453388750312003-12-06T18:30:00.000-05:002003-12-06T18:31:52.450-05:00

It's not a rant, it's an interview Rich Lederer has his newest interview posted. This one is with Mike Carminati of Mike's Baseball Rants. I disagree with Mike frequently, but he is very knowledgable and it's an interesting interview. Head on over and check it out if you haven't already.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070660460583663562003-12-05T16:41:00.000-05:002003-12-05T18:06:53.200-05:00

It was the best of trades, it was the worst of trades Opinions on New York's trade of Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera and Randy Choate to Montreal for Javier Vazquez have ranged all the way from complete and total approval to complete and total disapproval. There are (at least) two absolute facts about this trade. First, Vazquez has been a great pitcher over the last three seasons. In that time, he has

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070634376755348782003-12-05T09:26:00.000-05:002003-12-05T09:27:14.090-05:00

Fantasy football Here's my fantasy football column for this week: Fantasy football: Go with Vick as your starting QB I'll have a baseball post up later in the day.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070521646227043932003-12-04T15:07:00.000-05:002003-12-04T15:21:29.513-05:00

The art of dumping salary Since the end of the season, there have been six trades in which Team A traded Player A to Team B in exchange for a player or players who make significantly less money than Player A. I thought it would be interesting to look at how the various teams involved in those trades fared and see what I can determine. Here's a recap of all six trades, in chronological order for

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070487791902580972003-12-03T16:43:00.000-05:002003-12-03T20:39:04.750-05:00

Baseball relieved of collusion suspicions Last off-season, the free agent market went down dramatically. There were a lot of non-tenders, and that flooding of the market caused there to not be many rich and/or lengthy contracts handed out. All of this resulted in accusations of collusion from the player's association. This year, things were supposed to get even worse. There were supposed to be

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070386547833900662003-12-02T12:35:00.000-05:002003-12-02T15:25:37.890-05:00

Catching up again Let's get to all those transactions that happened while I was on vacation. Red Sox trade for Schilling Everybody already knows about this trade, but I'm going to give my opinion on it anyway because that's what I do here. The trade, in case you've forgotten, was Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon, Jorge De La Rosa and Michael Goss for Curt Schilling. Schilling agreed to waive his

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070378943771962282003-12-02T10:29:00.000-05:002003-12-02T10:29:57.293-05:00

I'm back Well, I'm back from Massachusetts, where I had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving break. Taking an extra couple days off from work and having a real vacation made all the difference. First of all, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year because of all the family, food and football, so Thursday was great, like it is every year. Then, Friday was one of the best days I've had in a long

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1070124510032344262003-11-29T11:48:00.000-05:002003-11-29T11:49:19.326-05:00

Under examination Richard Lederer has his latest off-season interview posted. This one is with Will Carroll, who does a great many things but is probably best known for his Under The Knife column. Head over and check it out, it's a very interesting interview.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1069655750034479832003-11-24T01:35:00.000-05:002003-11-25T03:49:00.263-05:00

Season in a league of its own Tomorrow I'm going back to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving and I'm not sure if I'll be able to make any posts while I'm there (my parents have crappy internet and I'll be busy with other stuff as well). So, I'm going to leave you with a super-long (even longer than "Gleeman-length") post looking back at the 2003 season, which may have been the most exciting season

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1069520618539168592003-11-22T12:03:00.000-05:002003-11-22T12:04:18.170-05:00

A Musing Interview Richard Lederer has his third off-season interview posted now. This one is with Baseball Musings author David Pinto. It's another interesting read, so go check it out.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1069350737485794522003-11-20T12:52:00.000-05:002003-11-20T12:52:53.860-05:00

Warning: non-baseball post So, I finally got around to seeing The Matrix Revolutions and I must say that I enjoyed it. I had heard a lot of bad things about it, but I wasn't a bit disappointed with it. Some of the scenes were a bit too long, but I'm satisfied with the way they wrapped everything up and, unlike many people, I'm happy they made three movies. The Matrix trilogy may be one of my

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1069257092107432302003-11-19T10:51:00.000-05:002003-11-19T17:41:31.640-05:00

Catching up Nothing really major has happened recently, but there have been quite a few transactions over the past week or so and I haven't really said much about any of them yet. So, today I'm going to give my thoughts on some of the things that have been going on. First, I want to talk about three free agent signings that say a lot about the teams that made them. Here they are: Toronto signs

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1069173033203016262003-11-18T11:30:00.000-05:002003-11-18T11:31:07.200-05:00

NL MVP Time for my choices for the final award of the year -- the NL MVP award. Unlike all of the other awards, this one is between just two people. There are only two people who have a case for winning the award and, unless the BBWAA is even more screwed up than I thought, there are only two people who will get first-place votes. If everybody with a ballot is thinking clearly, there should even

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1069091802879473852003-11-17T12:56:00.000-05:002003-11-17T12:57:15.293-05:00

Al MVP Time for my top five choices for the AL MVP award. This is the award I am most eagerly anticipating because it's so completely up in the air. The person who should win the award isn't as much of a slam dunk as he has been in years past --when he didn't win -- and there are at least half a dozen players for whom legitimate arguments could actually be made. Of course, there are also at least

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1069001832666229252003-11-16T11:57:00.000-05:002003-11-16T12:02:13.780-05:00

Another good interview Richard Lederer has his second interview of the off-season posted right now. This one is with Alex Belth, who himself is probably best-known for his excellent interviews with baseball writers. Go see what Alex has to say when he's the one answering the questions, it's a very good read.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068842866688791782003-11-14T15:47:00.000-05:002003-11-14T15:50:06.903-05:00

Bad news for Rochester As you may or may not know, I live in Rochester, NY. Just two days after Rochester hosted a major sporting event for the first time since 1971 (a 2-2 tie between the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils), it seems the city has gotten some bad news. Apparently, the Minnesota Twins have traded catcher A.J. Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants. How is that bad news for

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068822803870636392003-11-14T10:13:00.000-05:002003-11-14T10:13:52.810-05:00

Fantasy Football Here's the link to my fantasy football column for this week: Fantasy football: Trade Lewis for value I'll try to have my AL MVP choices up at some point today.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068743768173456132003-11-13T12:16:00.000-05:002003-11-13T12:17:41.746-05:00

NL Cy Young award Here are my top five choices for the NL Cy Young award. Once again, there are three players who I would be fine with winning the award, so the BBWAA shouldn't be able to screw this up too bad. If Russ Ortiz ends up in the top five, I'll be disappointed, but I can't say it would surprise me. 5. Brandon Webb, SP, ARI If you've been reading this blog for the past week, then you

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068676549429448142003-11-12T17:35:00.000-05:002003-11-12T17:36:27.356-05:00

Management by Baseball I just noticed an interesting new blog on blogger's home page called, you guessed it, Management by Baseball. It is sort of the opposite of Moneyball in that it talks about how to use baseball to improve your management skills. Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up now is that I found site author Jim Gilliam's post from Monday interesting. In it, he takes Joe Morgan to

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068649660312975402003-11-12T10:07:00.000-05:002003-11-12T10:11:23.200-05:00

All bent out of shape By now, you've probably realized the humor in all of the hubbub surrounding the Rookie of the Year voting. People are outraged, outraged I tell ya, that Hideki Matsui was left off two ballots because those voters decided that he shouldn't qualify as a rookie. Most people don't seem to care that Angel Berroa was also left off two ballots and probably should have won anyway. I

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068574154647384172003-11-11T13:09:00.000-05:002003-11-11T15:05:35.700-05:00

AL Cy Young Award Here are my top five picks for the AL Cy Young Award. The BBWAA is lucky in that there are three players they could give the award to without making me angry. Knowing them, however, they'll find a way to piss me off anyway. Is it a bad thing that I have such negative feelings toward an organization that I eventually would like to be a part of? Anyway, on to my choices. All five

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068501470855308072003-11-10T16:57:00.000-05:002003-11-10T16:58:14.310-05:00

Change of plans As you may have noticed, the Rookie of the Year awards have been announced. The BBWAA got the AL right, but probably for the wrong reasons, and completely screwed up the NL. In case you haven't checked yet, Angel Berroa edged Hideki Matsui for the AL award in the closest vote ever. Both players were left off of two ballots (two writers from each of the 14 AL cities voted for three

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068486584993110482003-11-10T12:49:00.000-05:002003-11-10T12:50:08.340-05:00

A good read Over at Rich's Weekend Baseball BEAT, Richard Lederer has a very good interview with Lee Sinins, creater of the Sabremetric Baseball Encyclopedia and the Around The Majors reports. Head on over and give it a read if you haven't already. I'll have my choices for the AL Rookie of the Year award up some time this afternoon, so stop by later to check that out.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068241274477985782003-11-07T16:41:00.000-05:002003-11-07T16:41:52.326-05:00

NL Rookie of the Year Okay, I'm finally getting around to my choices for the Rookie of the Year awards. I'll give my top five for the NL today and I hope to give my top five for the AL by the end of the weekend. 5. Jae Weong Seo, SP, NYM Seo gets the fifth spot by being a little bit better in just about every category than Atlanta SP Horacio Ramirez. Seo had a 3.82 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 188.1

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068223546836038972003-11-07T11:45:00.000-05:002003-11-07T11:46:06.483-05:00

Some stuff As he promised yesterday, Bryan Smith gave his own opinion today on what will happen in Boston this off-season. If you missed it, yesterday was the Wait 'Til Next Year organizational meeting on the Red Sox. Bryan asked me and Jeff Kuhn of The House That Dewey Built nine questions and we both gave our answers. If you haven't already, go see what we had to say (make sure you have time

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1068134104955684562003-11-06T10:55:00.000-05:002003-11-06T10:55:36.576-05:00

Required reading I hope you'll all forgive me for not writing anything here yesterday, because I was spending most of the day writing for another blog. As I've mentioned before, Wail 'Til Next Year is holding Organizational Meetings with other bloggers this off-season. Today's meeting is on the Boston Red Sox and he asked me to give my thoughts on a number of questions. Please go give it a read

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067968344651765612003-11-04T12:52:00.000-05:002003-11-04T18:04:52.750-05:00

An important trade As you've probably heard, the Astros traded Billy Wagner to the Phillies yesterday. In exchange, the Astros got starting pitcher Brandon Duckworth and minor leaguers Taylor Buchholz and Ezequeil Astacio. So, I'm going to delay my Rookie of the Year choices and talk about what this means for Philadelphia and Houston, and what it might mean for some other teams. Obviously,

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067881551165506062003-11-03T12:45:00.000-05:002003-11-03T12:46:05.450-05:00

Managers of the Year Time for my top three choices for Manager of the Year in each league. This isn't going to be terribly in-depth because there just aren't a lot of stats I can use to evaluate the managers. Anyway, I'll start with the AL. 3. Carlos Tosca, TOR In his first full season as manager of the Blue Jays, Tosca proved that you can be successful as a major league manager even if you have

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067635907922912232003-10-31T16:31:00.000-05:002003-10-31T16:37:10.170-05:00

It's not that we don't want you, it's just... So, nobody claimed Manny Ramirez and he will remain with the Red Sox for the time being. Boston now has two options: keep him or trade him. Unlike some people, I don't think there will be any problems if the Red Sox decide to keep Ramirez. He's still a great hitter, he's just not worth that much money for that many years. Also, it sounds like he and

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067612293725273972003-10-31T09:58:00.000-05:002003-10-31T09:58:23.733-05:00

Happy Halloween I'm going to push my post about the Managers of the Year back to next week because I want to wait until later today to write about Manny Ramirez when we know more about what's happening. In the meantime, there are some excellent pieces you should read if you've got some free time. First, Alex Belth has another of his patented interviews up. This time he's picking the brain of Pat

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067546185162738622003-10-30T15:36:00.000-05:002003-10-30T15:37:18.200-05:00

Ramirez to Tampa Bay? Before I start, I would like to make sure everybody knows that I have absolutely no insider information here. However, it just occurred to me that the Devil Rays could seriously be interested in obtaining the services of Ramirez. They have already made it clear that they plan to go after Gary Sheffield, who is more attractive as a Tampa native, but the problem Tampa Bay has

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067533140003875912003-10-30T11:59:00.000-05:002003-10-30T11:58:58.123-05:00

Throw your stars in the air and waive 'em like you just don't care I know I promised that I'd have my Manager of the Year picks up today, but I didn't expect the Red Sox to place Manny Ramirez on irrevocable waivers. So, I've been reading about that occurance all morning. If you haven't read much about it and you're interested, there's information all over the place. I think the most detailed

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067459467416734282003-10-29T15:31:00.000-05:002003-10-29T15:33:32.170-05:00

Comeback Players of the Year Well, I've procrastinated long enough. It's time to give out the awards that I promised to give out so long ago. I'll start today with my top three choices for Comeback Player of the Year in each league. Let's start with the American League. One thing I'd like to note about my choices is that I give more consideration to players coming back from injuries than I do to

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067314454781918642003-10-27T23:14:00.000-05:002003-10-28T01:56:06.983-05:00

Little out in Boston As had been expected since the end of the ALCS, the Boston Red Sox have decided not to pick up the option on manager Grady Little's contract. I've already given my thoughts on this situation a couple of times, but there has been a great deal of media response to this. One column in particular has caught my eye and, while I don't often tear apart other people's work, I am

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1067004378446876742003-10-24T10:06:00.000-04:002003-10-24T17:19:46.373-04:00

Odds and ends Well, the World Series has been more exciting than I think anybody expected it to be. I'm sure, for ratings purposes, MLB and FOX would rather have a Red Sox-Cubs World Series, but considering which two teams they ended up with, they have to be pleased with how things are going. The Marlins have a 3-2 lead going back to New York and four of the five games have been very close. With

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1066749748595240552003-10-21T11:22:00.000-04:002003-10-21T11:22:28.513-04:00

Time off So, I didn't write anything yesterday and I'm not really writing anything today, but I hope all of you will understand. I have a fantasy basketball draft on Saturday that I have to prepare for and between that and work, I don't really have a lot of free time to write. Also, since I'm not really interested in this World Series, I don't really have much inlination to write. I'll try to get

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1066512614876325842003-10-18T17:30:00.000-04:002003-10-19T10:44:28.936-04:00

The World Series I didn't do a World Series preview for two reasons. The first is that I didn't really have time since I went to the Syracuse football game against Boston Colloege today. The second is that, as far as World Series go, this one doesn't excite me too much because I don't really want either team to win and because I'm pretty drained from the rest of the post-season. However, if you

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1066405272431157702003-10-17T11:41:00.000-04:002003-10-17T11:56:19.463-04:00

My first broken heart Today, I am finally, truly a member of that great and sorrowful entity called Red Sox Nation. Sure, even before today I had rooted with all my heart for the Boston Red Sox. I had hung on every pitch, lived and died a little with every win and loss. But never, before last night, had the Red Sox made me cry. Now they have, and not in the same way the New England Patriots made

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1066312389557671292003-10-16T09:53:00.000-04:002003-10-16T15:58:21.610-04:00

It has come to this It had to come to this The first-ever World Series was played 100 years ago. That was also the first time there was a team from Boston and a team from New York in the American League. I don't think there was much of a rivalry back then, though. The Red Sox won that World Series and then won four more over the next 15 years, while the Yankees did not reach the post-season at

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1066235392556370132003-10-15T12:29:00.000-04:002003-10-15T14:05:13.193-04:00

Curses! All post-season, we've been hearing about how the Red Sox and Cubs are cursed. The difference is that since Chicago's last World Series appearance in 1945, nothing truly horrific has happened to the Cubs. Sure, they blew a 2-0 lead over the Padres in the best-of-five 1984 NLDS and sure they blew some big leads to miss the playoffs, but they haven't had near the level of heartbreaking

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1066143816490260572003-10-14T12:15:00.000-04:002003-10-14T12:25:48.340-04:00

Best of three Well, the way we got here is a little surprising, but it shouldn't shock anybody that the ALCS between the Red Sox and the Yankees is now a best of three series. As has been the case in each of the games to this point, pitching set the tone last night. Tim Wakefield had a tough start, walking Alfonso Soriano and allowing a single to Derek Jeter to put runners on first and second

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1066052510206258062003-10-13T09:41:00.000-04:002003-10-13T09:41:49.806-04:00

Stupid errors Well, I was going to write a post about how all of the strange things the Boston Red Sox have done in the last two or three weeks have made me somewhat ashamed of the Red Sox. And I was going to say that the rainout of yesterday's game four and getting to watch a gutsy Patriots team improve to 4-2 washed the bad taste out of my mouth. However, halfway through my post, internet

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065971541533592852003-10-12T11:12:00.000-04:002003-10-12T11:12:21.603-04:00

Big day At 1 p.m. today, I get to watch the Patriots host the NY Giants to either improve to 4-2 this season or fall to 3-3. Later tonight, I get to watch the Red Sox host the NY Yankees in game four of the ALCS to either even the series at two games apiece or fall behind 3-1. If both teams win, I'll be walking on air tonight. If both teams lose, I'll be absolutely devastated. Should be a another

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065880945785629872003-10-11T10:02:00.000-04:002003-10-11T19:50:42.680-04:00

Tapped out I know I promised to write about my trip to Yankee Stadium for Thursday's playoff game, but I got caught up with some other things to do before today's game and now I'm just drained. Between not getting much sleep lately, very long car rides on consecutive days and back-to-back Red Sox losses, I'm about out of energy. So, I'll just say that I had a good time on the trip. Yankee Stadium

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065822443792011572003-10-10T17:47:00.000-04:002003-10-10T17:47:23.296-04:00

Fantasy football Here's the link to my fantasy football column for this week: Fantasy football: Scrambing for a receiver? Don't pass on K.C.'s Hall I'll have my post about my trip to Yankee Stadium up tomorrow. I have to work right now and then I'll need to pass out because I'm dead tired. Enjoy tonight's NLCS game three. It should be a good one.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065673303610868132003-10-09T00:21:00.000-04:002003-10-09T00:22:37.933-04:00

Ho-hum After nine straight days of tension-filled post-season baseball, Wednesday night was the least dramatic chapter of this year's playoffs. In Chicago, the Cubs even the series at a game a piece thanks to a nice performance from Mark Prior (7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) and an offensive barrage that featured home runs from Alex Gonzalez (2), Sammy Sosa and Aramis Ramirez. The Cubs now have

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065636196368893982003-10-08T14:03:00.000-04:002003-10-08T14:03:57.493-04:00

ALCS Preview Aside from fans of the Athletics and Twins and people who hate the East Coast, this is the matchup the baseball world was hoping for. They got it, and it should be great. These two teams met in a playoff series for the first time four years ago and it wasn't pretty. The Red Sox were clearly the inferior team, they made 10 errors in five games, they got some bad bounces and they got

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065561263721518382003-10-07T17:14:00.000-04:002003-10-07T17:40:40.990-04:00

NLCS Preview Everybody still breathing after that amazing first round of the playoffs? Good, now it's time for the second round. The NLCS starts tonight and the ALCS starts tomorrow night. I'm going to preview the NLCS right now, and I'll do the ALCS tomorrow. Unfortunately, I'm a little pressed for time at the moment, so I'm not going to provide links for the players today. During the regular

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065510966074670802003-10-07T03:16:00.000-04:002003-10-07T03:22:24.323-04:00

Party like it's 1999 Just before 8:30 p.m. on the West Coast Monday night, the Boston Red Sox became the first franchise to twice come back from losing the first two games in the division series to win the next three and advance to the League Championship Series. At the same time, the Oakland Athletics became the first franchise to twice fall apart after winning the first two games in the

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065430122904905712003-10-06T04:48:00.000-04:002003-10-06T04:52:11.396-04:00

NLDS recaps Wow, I know a lot of people picked the Cubs to knock the Braves out of the playoffs, but how many people really thought both underdogs would win and we'd have a Chicago vs. Florida NLCS? Technically, I was wrong with both of my predictions in the NL, but fundamentally I feel good about one of them. When I discussed the San Francisco vs. Florida series, I said the following to conclude

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065210454802849962003-10-03T15:47:00.000-04:002003-10-03T15:47:34.536-04:00

Football stuff Here's the link to my fantasy football column for this week: Fantasy Football: Play stars

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065159694199800412003-10-03T01:41:00.000-04:002003-10-03T04:35:27.373-04:00

One hangover, one new life Heading into Thursday's AL-only playoff action, the two Northeast teams involved in this year's postseason tournament found themselves in similarly unenviable situations. Both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees had lost the first game of their best-of-five series, and needed to win Thursday's game two in order to avoid giving their small-market opponents a

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065109046885434622003-10-02T11:37:00.000-04:002003-10-02T11:39:11.723-04:00

Faith restored I went to sleep as miserable as possible, one of the best baseball games I have ever had the pleasure to watch being ruined by the fact that the team that I love did not win. Actually, that's not true. The game was not ruined for me at all. In fact, last night was one of my favorite baseball experiences in a long time. First, there was the fact that I got to watch 12 straight

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065077583621225222003-10-02T02:53:00.000-04:002003-10-02T02:53:03.870-04:00

Unbelievable Squeeze bunt. A's win. I'm going to bed. The good news is that I only have to wait 13 hours for game two of the series. The bad news is that I'm so utterly devastated by this loss that I've lost hope for the moment. Hopefully, a night's sleep will restore it. If you want to ride this rollercoaster of a game from my perspective, you can go back to Wednesday's 9:50 p.m. post and follow

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065076580106670382003-10-02T02:36:00.000-04:002003-10-02T02:44:18.953-04:00

Blah Lowe walks Erubiel Durazo to lead off the 12th. Eric Chavez follows with a double play ball, but the Red Sox can't turn it. Runner on second with one out for Tejada. Update: Tejada grounds out to third with Chavez going to second. Hatteberg is up with two outs. Update: Lowe walks Hatteberg and Chavez steals third. Runners on the corners with two outs for Terrence Long. Update: Hatteberg goes

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065076250113663492003-10-02T02:30:00.000-04:002003-10-02T02:33:25.026-04:00

Holy crap After Bill Mueller is intentionally walked, Gabe Kapler hits a screaming grounder down the third base line that Eric Chavez dives to grab and then Chavez dives to tag third base before Manny gets there. We're going to the bottom of the 12th still tied. I'm so nervous I'm now having trouble typing.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065075972176541452003-10-02T02:26:00.000-04:002003-10-02T02:27:29.046-04:00

Rick Ankiel? Harden walks Manny and then, on an 0-2 pitch to Cookie Monster, uncorks one to the backstop. Harden regroups to strike out Ortiz. Runner on second with one out for Kevin Millar. Update: Harden gets Millar to pop up to Eric Chavez. It's up to the batting champ now.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5285675.post-1065075618330153692003-10-02T02:20:00.000-04:002003-10-02T02:20:53.036-04:00

Time for 12 Derek Lowe gets out of the inning with a strikeout of Ellis and we're going to the 12th inning with Rich Harden coming in for the A's. If I had known this game was going to go 12 innings, I may not have tried to keep running commentary. Now I feel like I have to see things through to the end. I'm very happy that I don't work early in the morning. Game two starts in less than 14 hours.

Mad Mikenoreply@blogger.com