Friday December 5th, 2003

11:10am

All-Big XII

I just finished absorbing as much information as my little brain would hold for the two exams I have today, and I need a break from all that stuff (one test is on Pneumatics and the other is on Sales Management), so I came here (the on-campus computer lab) for a bit of refuge.

I read in this morning's Battalion that A&M had some All-Big XII players.

Terrence Murphy: 2nd-Team Kick-Return

I know that I shouldn't complain too much, but I don't think that T-Murph was behind anyone in the Big XII. I think that there may be some confusion somewhere, because tt's Wes Welker was awarded the 1st-Team nomination for kick-return....it should be noted that according to t.t.'s stat sheet, that Wes did not return one single kick all season, so I don't know how he could possibly be the best. He did return punts (and quite well, 31 for 368 yards, 2 TDs and an 11.8 yards/return), but the 1st-Team Punt Return honor was given to Antonio Perkins of Oklahoma.

T-Murph is currently sitting at #13 in the NCAA in Yards/Return with 27.22 (626 yards on 23 returns) and the next highest Big XII player is Josh Davis from Nebraska (596 yards on 23 returns; 25.91 ypr).

Courtney Lewis: 3rd-Team RB

C-Lew had an outstanding Freshman showing. He ran for 1,024 yards on (5.5 yards/carry) and scored a team-leading 12 TDs. He has definately given me some hope for the future, and I know that our RB posistion will be solid until 2006 (when we peak in the CYCLE)....

Geoff Hangartner: 3rd-Team OL

I stand corrected....

"A final note about our offense....I think that our offensive line did improve tremendously over the course of the season. I'm not saying that anyone deserves 2nd or 3rd team All-Conference consideration, but they did get better. They're very young, with only 8 letters split between the 15 OL-men on the depth chart (and 6 of those letters came from 2 players). In two or three years, these guys will have a ton of experience between them and they will help both the passing game and the rushing game."

That was a quote straight out of my mouth last week in my A&M v. t.u. Recap. Who knew....

Jaxon Appel: Honorable Mention DB

This to me, is a joke. Jaxon currently stands tied for #20 in the entire nation in tackles per game with 11.25....AS A DB....(135 tackles in 12 games...the 135 tackles did infact break the school record for tackles by a DB). There are only 2 Big XII players ranked ahead of Jaxon in that catagory (LBers Barret Rudd of Nebraska and Josh Buhl of K-State). There were only two DBs ranked ahead of him in the ENTIRE NATION, let alone the Big XII.

Jaxson had 4 INTs (#T6 in Big XII) for 109 yards and returned 2 for TDs (#T1 in Big XII). He also broke up 5 passes, forced 2 fumbles and recovered 3 more.

I'm just not sure how far those numbers put him behind the 4 guys on 1st-Team, the 4 guys on 2nd-Team, and the 4 guys on 3rd-Team....

3:00am

Yankee Haters

Why do I hate the Yankees? It's because they just don't care about anything in baseball other than themselves. Yesterday, they traded 1st baseman Nick Johnson, OF Juan Rivera, and LHP Randy Choate to the cash strapped Montreal Expos for low profile/big pitching stud Javy Vazquez. If anyone didn't agree with my posts over the last two days, why don't you look at how unfair the current state of the sport is?
(For more details on the trade, check out Aaron's Baseball Blog)

Catcher

• Jorge Posada (6 seasons*): All-Star (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)

1st Base

• Jason Giambi (8 seasons): All-Star (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003); 2000 AL MVP

2nd Base

• Alfonso Soriano (3 seasons): All-Star (2002, 2003)

3rd Base

• Aaron Boone (4 seasons): All-Star (2003)

Short Stop

• Derek Jeter (8 seasons): All-Star (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002); 1996 AL ROY; 2000 A.S. MVP; 2000 W.S. MVP

Outfield

• Hideki Matsui (1 season): All-Star (2003); 3 time MVP in Japan
• Bernie Williams (11 seasons): All-Star (1997, 1999, 2000, 2001); 1996 ALCS MVP; Gold Glove (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000)
• Gary Sheffield (11 seasons): All-Star (1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003)

Starting Pitching

• Mike Mussina (12 seasons): All-Star (1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999); AL Gold Glove (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001)
• Javy Vazquez (6 seasons): No All-Stars or other awards...Won 50 games with Expos from 2000-2003 that deserves some sort of award....come on he played in Montreal, how do you expect him to get anything up there....check out his stats over the last 3 years though...
• Jose Contreras (1 season): Best import from Cuba since the cigar
• Jeff Weaver (5 seasons): Best import from Detroit since....uhm...
• John Lieber (8 seasons): All-Star (2001); 20 game winner for the Cubs in his last full season

Relievers

Mariano Rivera (8 seasons): All-Star (1997., 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002); 1999 AL Rolaids Relief Man, 1999 W.S. MVP, 2001 AL Rolaids Relief Man

Paul Quantrill (12 seasons)

Steve Karsay (5 seasons)

Chris Hammond (8 seasons): His ERA was 0.95 in 2002, so the Yankees had to have him

Flash Gordon: All-Star (1998); 1998 AL Rolaids Relief Man; 107 saves since 1997

*Full seasons only....include years when they played in 100 or more games (position players), pitched 100+ innings (starting pitchers), or appeared in 20 games (relief pitchers)

Let's look at it this way....$$$$$$$

   Player Po.  2003   2004    2005   2006    2007  2008  2009  2010
   Posada  C    $5M    $6M     $8M    $9M    $12M*    -     -     -
   Giambi 1B    $9M   $10M    $11M   $18M    $21M  $21M  $22M**   -
  Soriano 2B  $800K 
    Jeter SS   $14M   $17M    $18M   $19M    $20M  $20M  $20M  $21M 
    Boone 3B  $3.7M  $5.8M       -      -       -     -     -     -
   Matsui LF    $6M    $7M     $8M      -       -     -     -     -
 Williams CF $12.4M   $12M    $12M   $15M***    -     -     -     -
Sheffield RF      -    $9M**** $9M    $9M       -     -     -     -
  Mussina SP   $10M   $14M    $17M   $17M    $17M^    -     -     -
  Vazquez SP    $6M   $10M^^     -      -       -     -     -     -
Contreras  P  $5.5M    $9M     $8M    $9M       -     -     -     -
   Weaver  P  $4.1M $6.25M   $9.3M      -       -     -     -     -
   Lieber  P  $300K $2.45M     $8M^^^   -       -     -     -     -
   Rivera RP $10.4M $10.8M       -      -       -     -     -     -
   Karsay RP    $4M    $6M     $5M $6.25M%      -     -     -     -
   Gordon RP  $3.6M  $3.6M       -      -       -     -     -     -
  Hammond RP  $2.2M $2.4M      $3M%%    -       -     -     -     -
   

*team option or $4mil buyout
**team option or $5M buyout
***team option or $3.5M buyout
****Sheffield's salary breakdown is estimated (the 3-yr $36M deal isn't official yet)
^team option or $1.5M buyout
^estimated; arbitration eligible
^^^team option or $.25M buyout
% team option or $1.25 buyout
%% team option or $.2M buyout

I couldn't find Soriano's salary for anything except last season, but I imagine he'll come up for arbitration in a year or two and be pulling in 8 figures easy.

I don't understand why teams stagger the contracts to where they're paying less money up front and a ton at the end of the contracts (like Giambi's $9M in '03 but $21M in '08). I think that there would be less griping by teams and fans because usually on long term deals like that the player isn't really deserving of that much money at the end of his contract and everyone just seems shocked that he's making that much. If he's earned the big, huge long term deal (which I don't think anyone should ever get) then you should pay him big upfront and let it dwindle down to avoid the sense of way overpaying at the end of the contract.

This is what happened with Jeff Bagwell here in Houston, he signed his deal before the 2002 season and it broke down like this....2002-$8M, 2003-$10M, 2004-$13M, 2005-$15M, 2006-$17M, 2007-team option of $18M or $7M buyout. Now I love Bags just as much as the next Astros fan, but is anyone other than Jeff going to be happy he's making $17M in 2006 (that's 3 more seasons away)? That's just under what Manny Ramirez made last year ($18M) and I'd say that Manny is about 2 levels higher on my chart of great hitters than Bagwell after looking at their numbers form last year....and he was still overpaid....and Bagwell will have declined another 3 years by then....ugh, the long term deals....

Aggie Football Hope

I had a great Aggie football post all lined up in my head for today, but this Vazquez story broke and I wanted to cover my fury towards the Yankees while I could. Check back tomorrow or Sunday for the football post....it'll be interesting, I think....

Wednesday December 3rd, 2003

1:35am

First and Most Importantly....

....it's my birthday, so WHOOP! for me. I've now hit the big 22, which kind of stinks because I no longer get any benefits from the government (at 15-drivers permit; 16-driver's license; 17-rated R movies; 18-legal adult & voting; 21-alcohol)....hopefully this year will be better than my 20th when I spent 6 hours (from 6pm-midnight) getting tutored for a stupid accounting project....I suppose it will have to be because I'm not taking accounting....please make all checks payable to "Ryan C. Levy"....

Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball Part II

Yesterday I started to give a "brief" recap of Bob Costas's book, Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball. I talked about his ideas for revenue sharing and for a salary cap and bottom. Now I'm going to finish up with pennant races, and the Wild Card....I was going to recap his case against radical realignment, but since that hasn't happened (yet) I'll somewhat incorporate that into the pennant race section....
*(today I'm flipping the Quotes (standard type) and my thoughts)

Pennant Races

Here's how Bob would set up his schedule (3 divisions in each league and 5 teams per division):

• Within the division:
  4 opponents x 18 games = 72 games (6 home-and-away 3-game series with each opponent)
• Within the league, outside the division:
  10 opponents x 6 games = 60 games (2 home-and-away 3-game series with each opponent)
• Interleague:
  5 opponents x 6 games = 30 games (2 home-and-away 3-game series with each opponent)

Now one stipulation has to be placed on this formula. The interleague play, for the sake of (1) the integrity of the division races, and (2) allowing each city to eventually see stars from the other leagues, must cycle around among the 3 divisions (rather than remain fixed on a West v. West, Central v. Central, & East v. East format it has been since 1997)....Not only would this guarantee that every team would come to every park once every 3 years, but it would have the advantage of being, over any three-year period, an equitable and fair apportionment of opponents.
True, the Mets and Yankees and Cubs and White Sox would play only once every three years. But those series would then be truly special again.

The Wild Card

Here are some of the hard truths you can't get past: Pennant races are the lifeblood of baseball's history. Wild cards are the product of modern times. And in baseball, you have to choose one or the other. You can't have both.....A pennant race is not the same as the mere act of qualifying for the playoffs. A pennant race has specific competitive and dramatic characteristics. A pennant race possesses a certain remorseless justice-a kind of unforgiving insistence on excellence-that is unique and central to its appeal....The point here is that true baseball theater is driven by unique dynamics. What you can get away with in other sports doesn't necessarily work in baseball. No one remembers or much cares who finished first in the regular season in basketball or hockey-their regular seasons have always been viewed as little more than a prelude to the playoffs. But baseball's regular season titles have always been viewed as distinct and important to themselves....baseball doesn't offer slam-bam, moment-to-moment action. It isn't easily enhanced by hype. It draws its drama from context. Its long season tells the tale. If the World Series participants are not legitimate products of that long season's test, but instead the result of gimmickry, the Series feels diminished....If the Braves had proved themselves better than the Marlins over 162 games, why did they have to prove it again? The first question to ask is not whether a team can beat another team in the playoffs...the first question is whether a team has earned the right to face another team in the playoffs....Baseball plays 162 games to separate the good from the great, the pretenders from the contenders. So why let the pretenders get another shot?....Part of what always made pennant races interesting was that while they obviously carried their greatest excitement at the end, it was possible to follow them for an entire season....it [my note: the wild card] offers you little or nothing until the season's last week or so....David Cone complained that the '93 Giants, who won 103 games and lost the NL West by a game to Atlanta, "deserved" a chance at the postseason....The Giants had a chance at the postseason. One hundred and sixty-two chances. It was known as a pennant race. Just as it was in 1964 when the Cardinals, Phillies, Reds, and Giants came to the final weekend still alive. Or in the Red Sox' Impossible Dream season of 1967, when Boston, Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit all had a shot at it right until the end. I don't recall anyone saying then, "Gee, wouldn't this be better, more exciting, if two or three of them could make it?" I don't recall a single baseball fan saying in 1978 that it would have been better if both the Yankees and the Red Sox had made the postseason and had dispensed with their silly little division race and one-game playoff at Fenway Park since, after all, they were both good teams and each "deserved" to be in the playoffs....So here's Russ Hodges's call of Bobby Thompson's home run if it happened today: "The Giants win the pennant!! The Giants win the pennant!! The Dodgers get the wild card!! The Dodgers get the wild card!!"
But surely there must have been some other benefits: The added round made for good TV, right? Check the ratings of the first-round division playoff games and you will find they have been dismal by network standards, even when they involve big-market teams....But what about attendance? Surely the prospect of the wild-card has boosted turnout in a number of cities that otherwise would be out of the race....First, as we've detailed [my note: he detailed in the book, not me here], the wild card eliminates at least as many races as it produces, often canceling out the divisional races, which would otherwise be more compelling. Logically, that should cost attendance. Second, if you check the numbers, many of the teams in the wild-card chase would be in first most of the season without the wild-card....In terms of attendance, the wild card is at best a trade-off, and at worst an excitement killer.
Now, the most recent argument in favor of the wild-card goes something like this: The wild-card is the only chance that medium market teams have to compete, and so it's necessary in today's environment.
Two problems with that argument:

1. If it's true, then why not fix the main problem, that being today's environment, and the revenue inequity that leaves the middle-market teams unable to compete?
2. It's not true in the first place. History teaches the opposite. The wild card has mainly given big-market clubs an additional chance to join the playoffs. If it gives anything to smaller market teams, it's the illusion of a chance....Here's a list of wild-card teams over the years, including the two clubs that would have qualified for the wild card in 1994 if the season had not ended at the point the strike occurred:

   Year	AL	NL
   1994	Cleveland	Atlanta
   1995	NYY	Colorado
   1996	Baltimore	LA
   1997	NYY	Florida
   1998	Boston	ChiCubs
   1999	Boston	NYM
   2000	Seattle	NYM
   2001	Oakland	St.Louis
   2002	Anaheim	SF
   2003	Boston	Florida

   *[my note: I included 2000-03 on my own, but it still holds true]

   Where, pray tell, are the small- and middle-market teams? Every team in there fits one or more of four big-market groupings. And most teams that qualified had multiple advantages from this list: (1) a club in a large market, (2) a team with a big cable contract, (3) a team with a new stadium, or (4) the Florida Marlins, a team owned by a billionaire who spent like a "have" until he decided to sell the tame and made it a "have-not." [my note: 2000-03; Seattle is owned by NINTENDO & has a new stadium, Oakland is legit, Anaheim is legit, SF has a new stadium, and Florida is legit....all the rest are big market, so basically since the wild card came to be, it has helped only 3 teams that weren't big-market and it helped 15 teams that fell under one of the 4 categories listed above]

What to Do About the Wild Card

What if we just threw out the wild card? You would still have three division races in each league, and three division champions advancing to the playoffs. And then, comes the playoffs, you'd deal with an odd number of playoff teams in each league by simply and appropriately giving the team with the best record in each league a bye into the League Championship Series [my note: the second best team would get home-field advantage in the Division series]....if baseball wants another tier of playoffs, and if it were conducted right, TV might want this as well. With the 3 division champions, no wild card, and a bye, you don't lose that extra round of playoffs. And you gain the appeal of the first round bye, a fruit of victory for the team that has performed the best in the long run of the regular season.

title

Tuesday December 2nd, 2003

12:43am

Keeps Poppin' Up

Well, I was checking out the pictures of the Kansas game on AggieAthletics.com and I found yet another picture of my boy, Evan. He's the 5th head from the left (one spot to the right of #1). Thought I'd share it with everyone because he deserves to get some pub....he practices every day with the team, but he gets no recognition....E, I recognize!

Everett Smith is the guy in the sweatshirt on the far left....He's one of the nicest guys I've met from the team....He's normally one of our starting DBs, but he was hurt for a few games and that's why he didn't dress....

Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball Part I

Over the holiday weekend I finally sat down and read Bob Costas's book, Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball. I know that I'm about 3 years late reading it (it was published in 2000), but I am glad that I did read it.

I really only bought the book because I saw it at Barnes and Noble on sale for $4.99, and I thought to myself, "$4.99 for a hardback book, You can't beat that." I really didn't think that Bob would have anything too thrilling to say, but he had some great points and ideas on how to lift the condition of the sport right now (actually in 2000) back to "National Pastime" levels. So good in fact that I'm going to share them with you, my viewing audience, right now.
Quotes from the book are italicized and my summary of the book is regular font.

Revenue Sharing

• Every time a big-money ball club like the Orioles or the Dodgers stink up the joint, someone says that it "proves" that money isn't that important. But the question isn't whether big-money teams fail. They can and do-and with only two spots in the World Series, it's inevitable that some big-money teams will fall short of the championship, while other mismanaged high-payroll teams will fail spectacularly (as they have since the dawn of free agency). But this doesn't prove anything except that money thrown at a problem doesn't necessarily solve the problem.
• How to balance the field....
  The solution can't just be a Robin Hood scheme that takes from the rich and gives to the poor. It needs to embody a new paradigm of cooperation that can guide the league through the next century.
  
  • Broadcast Revenues
    *keep in mind that these are 1999 numbers, difference between top and bottom today has changed
    Basically, ever team gets the same chunk of money from national broadcasts because that was worked through Major League Baseball. The problem is that >50% of baseball's broadcast revenues come from local broadcasts. Since small market teams don't have the local broadcasting that major markets do they miss out.
    Broadcasting Rev (in $ mill) 1999

    Rank	Team	Local Rev	N'tl Rev	Total
    1	Yankees	58	15	73
    2	Cubs	56	15	71
    3	Atlanta	51	15	66
    15	SF	17	15	32
    28	KC	6	15	21
    29	Minn.	5	15	20
    30	Mont.	3	15	18

    Bob's solution....allow each team to keep half of it's own revenue while placing the other half in a national pool, which would be divided equally among the 30 clubs....teams would share equally in all national revenue [my note: the $15 mil] and share equally half of all local revenue.

    It's pretty drastic but it would be fair to all and would definitely help the small clubs stay afloat.

    Broadcasting Rev (in $ mill) 1999

    Rank	Team	Before	After
    1	Yankees	73.0	54.3
    2	Cubs	71.0	53.3
    3	Atl.	66.0	50.8
    15	SF	32.0	33.8
    27	KC	21.0	28.3
    29	Minn	20.0	27.8
    30	Mont	18.0	26.8

  • Gate Sharing
    *keep in mind that these are 1999 numbers, difference between top and bottom today has changed
    There used to be an 80/20 gate sharing split in the AL with the home team getting the 80% of ticket revenues and the visiting team getting 20%. This allowed for small teams going to places like Jacobs Field or Camden Yards, which were always sold out in the early/mid-90s, to get a little money from that. At the same time, when the Yankees went to somewhere like KC and KC drew a larger crowd than normal, the Yankees would be "thanked" for the attendance boost. It was wiped out after the '94 strike. Now visiting teams get no money.
    Bob proposes Home teams would keep 70% of their ticket revenues. The remaining 30% of each team's ticket sales (including tickets for luxury boxes) would then be divided equally among the 30 teams.
    Ticket Sales Revenue (in $ mil) 1999

    Rank	Team	Old	New
    1	Baltimore	72.8	61.1
    2	NYY	60.5	52.5
    3	Clev.	60.1	52.3
    15	NYM	36.9	36.0
    28	Oakland	13.0	19.3
    29	Minn	9.6	16.9
    30	Mont	9.1	16.6

  • If you look at the change in revenue in Montreal and Minnesota and look at how far a large market team like the Yankees are before and after those two changes, you can see that the Yankees will still have a tremendous amount more revenue, but the Expos and Twins now have a large % more than they started with.
    Change in Broadcasting Rev+Ticket Rev for 1999

    Team	Before	After	% (+ or -)
    Mont	27.1	43.4	+60.1%
    Minn	29.6	44.7	+51.0%
    Yankees	133.5	106.8	-20%

    In today's game, that extra $16 mil/year would keep Vladimir Guerrero in Montreal rather than them have to forfeit him to the highest bidder.

  Salaries

  Baseball's problem isn't that there is not enough total revenue, it's that the salary scale is way out of control....

  To keep these ridiculous salaries from continually escalating (like agents want them to), there needs to be a salary cap and a salary floor.

  • A major league team-payroll minimum equal to the per-team average of media revenues (both local and national), and a maximum equal to twice that figure.
    This ensures that big market teams can only spend so much and at the same time lower market teams must put money back into their product and not try to pocket money.
  • A "superstar" salary cap, limiting any one player's annual salary to 1/4 of the minimum team payroll or, if you prefer, 1/8 of the maximum team payroll.
    This is obviously going to be a sacrifice for the current superstars, but it will increase the average player's salary and it will allow each team to be able to field a team with a great player on it.
  • Since the strike, the average salary has increased while the median salary has decreased.
  • A 50% increase in the minimum salary level, which would increase from $200,000 to $300,000.
  • Arbitration would still exist for players in their first 4 years in the majors, but only within a graduated scale of minimums and maximums for a player's first 4 years of service
    First year players would all make $300,000. Second year players would earn a minimum of $350,000, a maximum of $1 million. A third-year player would earn a minimum of $400,000 and a max of $2 mil. Upon entering his fourth season, a player would earn a min. of $500,000 and a max of $3 mil. The salary min for all veterans with at least 3 years of service would then be $500,000.
  • In exchange for the graduated caps, free agency would arrive 2 years earlier, with the players eligible after 4 years rather than 6 years of major league service. In the 5th & 6th years, however, it would be a restricted free agency in which the player's present team could retain him by matching any offer made for the next 2 years of his service. Beyond 6 years, a player would become a unrestricted free agent.
    This rule, unlike the superstar salary cap, would serve to increase the possibility that superstar players would choose to stay with their original teams....
    For the players, who presently get unrestricted free agency after 6 years, there would be two possible benefits. Superstars and potential superstars would be able to realize their top value two years earlier (if a player is offered the superstar max, his present team has to either match it for the next two years or let him go; either way, the player is making the max). For role players-a fourth outfielder, a reliable utilityman-those who are more valuable elsewhere would have a chance to find their ideal fit two years earlier, with clubs willing to pay them (or play them) more than their original team.....
    (To close a potential loophole, it seems reasonable to limit free-agent contracts to 5 years, with the provision that a player could sign a longer deal with his present club. In any case, all guaranteed contracts must count in full against the cap.)
  • ....since the payroll minimums are tied to league TV revenues, payroll minimums would rise as revenue increased
  • Another solution to a possible problem:
    What if you're in the first or second year of a 5 year plan, building a team around a nucleus of young players? You don't want to overpay them just to reach the minimum, but you expect this to be the heart of your team for the next decade. No problem: There would be a provision allowing any team to put money into a "payroll escrow" account, with the stipulation that if you come in $5 million under the cap in year 20X1, you will use that $5 million to go beyond the minimum sometime within the next five years. You'd be forced to average at least the minimum over any 5-year period, and if didn't do so, the money would be turned over to the Players Association.
  • In absolute terms, the superstars of the game would be asked to live with less than they could make in an open market. But one would hope that the players would be able to realize, as their counterpart superstars in the NBA eventually did, that this sacrifice was serving the greater good of all the players, as well as the game itself.....Such a system would work. But to make it work, you have to implement both sides of the plan-greater revenue sharing and the floor-to-ceiling cap....More teams with a perceived shot at being competitive when the season starts means greater overall ticket sales, greater broadcasting revenue, and a clearer appreciation for which club really has the best organization.
    This last element is important. Normalizing the finances would ensure that the key to success would no longer be purely money. A team with an excellent farm system (like the Expos [my note: in the mid-90s]) would be rewarded for it. A team with a mediocre farm system (like, say, the Orioles) would be punished, unable to throw unlimited money after high-priced talent to extricate themselves from their rut (or, if even this is done poorly, dig themselves in deeper).

  Other Random Comments I Thought Were Good

  • It means drawing distinctions between real progress and mere change.
    -When talking about making the changes for the game to make it better
  • People say, "Baseball has always been a business," as thought that statements, alone, says something meaningful. But to tell the full story, the point needs to be made that until recently, baseball has never been only a business
    -On the topic of baseball being a business

Tomorrow

Check back for Part II of my recap of Bob's book....we'll cover the stupidity of radical realignment, pennant races, the Wild Card, and a couple "Loose Ends" as Bob refers to them.....

If the italicized font is too difficult to read, let me know and I'll figure something else out....

Monday December 1st, 2003

2:33am

Somewhat Refreshing

It was nice to see something good happen this past weekend having to do with Aggie Football....Bethel Johnson (1999-2002) broke the Pats/Colts game open with a 92-yard return for at TD as time expired in the second half. I had JUST sat down and flipped the TV on and next thing I knew BJ was just flat out runnin'.

Even though I don't like Bethel too much (my roomate, Pat, knew him from working at the Athletic Department and reports that BJ wasn't a very nice person) it's still nice to see another Aggie make an impact in the NFL....

Cubs Get Gold Glover

I know that I'm about 5 days late breaking this story, but A&M vs. t.u. comes first and everything else must be put on the backburner.

It doesn't seem that too many people felt that this was an important trade, and it got a tiny headline on ESPN.com, but this was awesome for the Cubs. Yes, they did have to trade away a very good prospect in Hee Seop Choi, but it's not like they got peanuts in return.

Derek Lee has turned into one of baseball's most under-rated first basemen, a spot once held by Raffy Palmeiro. He won the NL Gold Glove last year at 1st base after making only 5 errors in 1,381 chances (which should greatly improve current Cub's 3B-man/error machine Aramis Ramirez). He has more SBs by a 1st baseman over the last 2 years (40) than any other in the major leagues and has hit 20+ HRs in his last 4 seasons. He's just entering the prime of his career, which will be boosted by getting out of the football stadium/pitcher's mecha in Florida that he's been playing in and getting into a more hitter friendly Wrigley Field.

Here are the stats of the players involved for the last 3 years (plus their career totals):

Derek Lee-1B; Age: 28

Year	G	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	SB/Att.	BB/SO	BA	OBP	SLG	*GPA
2001	158	561	83	158	75	21	4/6	50/126	.282	.346	.474	.274
2002	162	581	95	157	86	27	19/28	98/164	.270	.378	.494	.294
2003	155	539	91	146	92	31	21/29	88/131	.271	.379	.508	.298
Car(7yr)	866	2884	431	760	421	130	51/76	372/758	.264	.353	.467	.276

Hee Seop Choi-1B; Age: 24

Year	G	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	SB/Att.	BB/SO	BA	OBP	SLG	*GPA
2002	24	50	6	9	4	2	0/0	7/15	.180	.281	.320	.206
2003	80	202	31	44	28	8	1/1	37/71	.218	.350	.421	.263
Car(2yr)	104	252	37	53	32	10	1/1	44/86	.210	.337	.401	.252

*GPA is a new stat that was derived by Aaron Gleeman, it is basically the same as OPS except it weighs more heavily on OBP and is divided by 4 to make the number more similar to a BA...click the link to read his explanation

I know that it is very unfair to compare Choi's numbers to Lee's because Choi still doesn't even have enough career games to equal a full major league season. Choi is a big kid (6'5", 240 lb.) who has the "Blue Chip" label on him. The problem is that Dusty Baker, the Cubs manager, traditionally doesn't like to play young guys and that hurt Choi's playing time considerably in favor of Eric "Lurch" Karros. Here are his minor league career numbers so you can get an idea of what he is capable of:

	G	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	SB/Att.	BB/SO	BA	OBP	SLG	GPA
5-yrs	441	1567	300	447	323	88	17/20	250/389	.285	.337	.532	.285

As much praise as the Cubs have been getting and deserve for their minor league system, after looking at their position players I still think that they are an aging baseball club. Most of their big prospects are either pitching prospects (which isn't a bad thing) or they're very young position players (i.e. outfielder Felix Pie who was 18 last year in his second professional season). This is certainly not a win now situation, but it is a win in the next 2 or 3 year situation. That is why Lee is a good pickup in exchange for a player who will be approaching his prime in 2 or 3 years.

Here's a look at the Cubs most likely lineup for next year by position and the age of the players:

Position	Player	Age
C	D.Miller/P.Bako	34/31
1B	D.Lee	28
2B*	-	-
SS	A.Gonzalez	30
3B	A.Ramirez	25
LF	M.Alou	37
CF	C.Patterson	24
RF	S.Sosa	35

*the Cubs are shopping for a starting 2Bman

Hee Seop Choi will be a very good first baseman in a few years, but the Cubs will be a much much better team with Derek Lee at first base next year....and hopefully will be able to pull in another NL Central Title....

Elsewhere...

As I mentioned in my post on Gary Sheffield on the 21st Gary has accepted a contract from the "Evil Empire" (the NY Yankees) for 3 years worth to be about $36 mil (according to ESPN.com)....Why Gary? Why?

In a better world, the trade between the Arizona D-Backs and the Boston Red Sox did go down and Curt Schilling is now a Beantowne Boy...

Finally, the A's and the Padres finally completed the Mark Kotsay for Ramon Hernandez/Terrence Long trade....

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