I want to like Buster Olney. He seems like a nice guy, he grew up a Dodger fan, and he has a dream job. And to be fair, he doesn’t say stupid things nearly as often as Joe Morgan does. But if he was banned from ever mentioning Alex Rodriguez again, his STP (Stupid Thing… Read More »
In the past, I have enjoyed pointing out when baseball commentators have made stuff up. (I have, in the past, nailed Joe Morgan, Tim Kurkjian, and Richard Justice.) But let me tell you this: when it’s Peter Gammons, I don’t enjoy it at all. But I’m going to give him as much benefit of the… Read More »
Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training today! After all these months of pretending to care about football and basketball and hockey, I can be a real sports fan again, because there’s finally a real sport to care about!
Read this article about the trade talks between the Rockies and Red Sox regarding Todd Helton. You want to know why owners hire general managers to handle trades and contracts and stuff? Because owners aren’t smart enough to shut up and refrain from making stupid statements that can serve no good purpose. Exhibit A, the… Read More »
I remember back when people complained about sports writers’ “east coast bias” because they felt that the writers were biased towards teams on the east coast. Apparently, the term now refers to a writer writing something the reader disagreed with. Witness these letters to Buster Olney in response to an article he wrote about some… Read More »
So Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken got elected to the Hall of Fame, Mark McGwire didn’t, and everything else was exactly what we expected, too. Well, maybe not everything. Take a look at these vote totals from the bottom of the list: Paul O’Neill, 12 votes Bret Saberhagen, 7 votes Jose Canseco, 6 votes Tony… Read More »
The Yankees traded Randy Johnson back to the Diamondbacks. In order for that to happen, the D-Backs gave the Yankees a couple prospects and a Major League reliever, AND they signed Johnson to an extension through the 2008 season. So they will pay Johnson $26 million to play for them in 2007-08. I don’t want… Read More »
True or false: Lou Piniella would look the same without a nose as he does with one.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this. Unlike most people, I don’t feel as strongly about the American League MVP voting as I do about the NL voting, partly because I like Albert Pujols more than I like Derek Jeter, and partly because the AL doesn’t play real baseball. But anyway, here’s… Read More »
I had a feeling when I made my “On Notice” list last week that the people who vote for baseball’s postseason awards (the Baseball Writers Association of America, or BBWAA) would soon be joining. These are people who get paid to watch and write about baseball, yet they are often so fundamentally flawed that they… Read More »