July 2008

I love Manny Ramirez. His comical nature, his nonchalant approach to the game, even his goofy fielding errors make him more endearing to me. When this thing first started spiraling out of control I pulled the cape out of my closet and rushed to his defense. How couldn’t I? This was the same Manny Ramirez that I declared one of the five greatest right handed hitters of all time, any organization that couldn’t see the value in him was a disgrace to the game itself.

Maybe I was just being naïve, or maybe I just didn’t know the whole story, but it’s become clear to me that the prodigal son no longer deserves a spot in my heart. How can I call a guy that comes up with a lame injury every time he is slated to face a dominate pitcher one of the premier hitters of all time? Willie Mays and Hank Aaron never came up with a phantom injury when they were facing Bob Gibson. Back in that era they dodged the draft, not hurlers. [click to continue...]

Remember when the name Jay Bruce used to put the fear of god into opposing pitchers? This kid was on his way to becoming one of the true greats. There was nothing this Bruce couldn’t do, he was Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Albert Pujols all wrapped into one package; in other words, he was an unstoppable force.

Ahh, to be in Triple-A again.

No one will ever forget Bruce’s wonder week when he hit .577/.667/1.038 with three homers and seven RBI upon being called up to the show on May 27^th. Just like no one will ever forget how he came crashing down harder than Skee-Lo, after hitting .227/.270/.337 with 10 walks against 55 strikeouts in the 44 games since. [click to continue...]

I really like Mike and Mike; their radio show is probably one of the few things that everyone can agree is right about ESPN. I’m not a big basher of the World Wide leader, for the most part I don’t really see where all the hate is generated from, but that’s really neither here nor there. The Magazine is a big piece of garbage, this week’s cover had Ryan Sheckler on it for god’s sake, but I get it free with my Inside subscription, so I keep it in my bathroom and flip through it from time to time. Anyways, while I was giving it a meander the Mikes’ column caught my eye.

In case you aren’t familiar they take an issue and discuss it in a conversational manner. It’s usually pretty good, and I typically enjoy it, but this week I’m not so sure. This week’s ‘Big Question’ was: “Whom [sic] do Baseball’s Davids Hurt More, The Goliaths or the Game Itself?” The conversation centered on the Brewers and their push for a title. This, obviously, also spun off a sidebar about the acquisition of CC Sabathia, and how they possibly paralyzed the future growth of this team with their all or nothing approach. [click to continue...]

I still remember the first time I encountered Francisco Liriano’s name.  I was doing some research for my old column at Pro Fantasy Sports, it was my job to know the up coming stars, and try to locate them before everyone else.  All I thought was that I had just discovered a brilliant pitcher that was flying low on everyone’s radar, what I didn’t realize is that because of it, I would be fired from my first paying job as a sports writer.

When I found him, Liriano was a mere footnote on the now infamous A.J. Pierzynski trade.  He had made somewhat of a name for himself at the minor league level, but Baseball America still had him ranked as the third best prospect in the Twins organization behind Matt Garza and Joe Mauer heading into the 2006 season.  Even worse, the Twins were oblivious to how special Liriano really was, as he appeared to be sentenced to a year of bullpen duty until something opened up in the rotation.
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