Boy of Summer

That book is erroneous. Providence didn't even...

2011-03-15T14:24:18.328-04:00

That book is erroneous. Providence didn't even make it to Omaha in 1999. Don't give me this "oh, if they had beat FSU in the Tallahassee Regional, they could have played in the Super Regional and then if they had won that game, could have played in Omaha for a National Championship." Doesn't work that way.

Wow, i couldn't read that whole thing with all...

2010-12-19T22:39:27.181-05:00

Wow, i couldn't read that whole thing with all the sabermetric stuff but I definitely think Werth has a little J.D. Drew in him. The guy balled hard for the Phillies but who is to say his better years aren't behind. The best part of the blog though is that rookie pic you found of Werth!!! He looks straight up like Screech!!!

Great blog hombre! Would like to follow but don...

2010-12-19T22:20:48.850-05:00

Great blog hombre! Would like to follow but don't know how . . .

i think you're giving Morgan a bit too much cr...

2010-09-03T06:37:57.546-04:00

i think you're giving Morgan a bit too much credit. This guy is an arrogant punk and every team in the NL that's faced him knows it

I'll say the same thing, roughly, that I said ...

2010-08-20T13:30:17.762-04:00

I'll say the same thing, roughly, that I said two years ago: He's going to be a Hall of Famer, you and Keith Law can cry on each other's shoulders for a week or so, and then no one will care. By the way, the "if we put in X we HAVE to put in Y" argument clearly isn't true. They put it Jim Rice and Dawson, so where are Murphy, Parker, Evans and Belle? Oh yeah, still not in the Hall. And probably never will be.

You're right, and it's been corrected. Sp...

2010-08-06T08:36:14.292-04:00

You're right, and it's been corrected. Spellcheck didn't catch it because there is a proper name spelled that way, but that's still my bad.

The country is spelled Liechtenstein. Still a hil...

2010-08-06T02:03:28.387-04:00

The country is spelled Liechtenstein. Still a hilarious joke however.

you are looking at this backwards, maybe. any GOOD...

2010-06-26T23:12:16.461-04:00

you are looking at this backwards, maybe. any GOOD stats he has are the anomaly. burnett is barely a .500 career pitcher. no way is he worth 16 mil per year, nor is he worthy of being called a workhorse, or a #2 starter. he is a number 4 or 5 guy, at best. he went from pulling3 million a year to 16 million. he cannot handle it. he sucks. expect him to perform, AT BEST, as historically as well as he did before the huge contract: just over .500. he is garbage, and is totally overpaid for what he is, which is a completely AVERAGE pitcher, whom i DESPISE. i want him GONE from the Yankees ASAP, I don't care if we have to pay his full salary while he sits in redneckland, not pitching an inning. get that POS out of NY.

Nicely done... Barney is back!

2010-06-15T15:18:41.442-04:00

Nicely done... Barney is back!

It's got nothing to do with the Yankees, and y...

2010-06-03T20:27:34.937-04:00

It's got nothing to do with the Yankees, and you obviously haven't read anything else I've written or you'd know that. I'm doubtful of the future success of any kid who strikes out nearly once every three at bats in the minor leagues. He's improved that number significantly this year, but then he did that last year too, before struggling upon promotion to AA. Perhaps he'll struggle again at AAA, but then master the level next year. He'll still only be 22 by the end of next season, and that would impress me.

His numbers this year are impressive too, but 49 games isn't that big a sample size. Raul Ibanez hit .333 with 17 homers in his first 49 games last year, but only .234 with 17 homers in the last 85 games. I don't think Stanton is that kind of fluke, but I'd still like to seem him dominate a higher level for a full year, or at least not falter upon a promotion.

This guy is a yankee fan. Of course he is doubtful...

2010-06-03T17:03:04.019-04:00

This guy is a yankee fan. Of course he is doubtful of any player a team brings up through their system. I mean, how good could they be if the yankees didn't buy them, right?

haha. The kid is 20 and he already has 20 HR and 50 RBI's going into June. Beast.

"a useful player" with 11 Gold Gloves? ...

2010-05-25T05:16:50.856-04:00

"a useful player" with 11 Gold Gloves? Sounds like you are just a hater.

Best defensive shortstop of his generation. Hit well enough. Had a long productive career.

As for All-Star selections, he had the misfortune of playing in a league with guys named A-Rod, Nomar, and Jeter. I doubt even Ozzie would have cracked too many All-Star squads against guys with those offensive numbers.

The arguments about his hitting relative to the time he played in seem a bit naive (not to mention pointless) given what we know about the steroid situation.

What's wrong with having arguably the second best defensive shortstop ever in the Hall? How could this do anything but upgrade the position?

And yes, I would vote for Thome too. He didn'...

2010-02-13T00:30:53.125-05:00

And yes, I would vote for Thome too. He didn't have the dominance that Thomas did, being able to mash as he did for as long as he did is Hall-worthy, in my mind.

You're right, of course. I stayed away from t...

2010-02-13T00:27:20.645-05:00

You're right, of course. I stayed away from the PED issue because people generaly have not accused homas of that particular vice, but at the rate we're learning stuff, it's certainly conceivable that something could surface in the next four years. Still, I wanted to just deal with what he and others hve done, not how they've done it, which is something the Hall voterswill have to grapple with later. Wheter he deserves it or ot is for them to decide. I just wanted to say that he belongs.

I'm on board. BigHurt is on lists with some p...

2010-02-12T22:10:25.912-05:00

I'm on board. BigHurt is on lists with some pretty good company. We're too attached to statistics anyway and it strays away from the original HOF criteria the original Board put forth. But because it's 2010 and not 1936, Big Hurt got the cheddar. People who think otherwise aren't thinking.
As far as the all-time top 12 HR hitters, we know there is a list with-in the list. Thomas I hope is one of the good guys.

That leaves Jim Thome, of the top 12, that still needs to be looked into. Worthy?
http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

While not on par with those guys...Dick Allen was ...

2010-02-07T18:18:40.625-05:00

While not on par with those guys...Dick Allen was an animal with a bat.

Albenis, thanks for clearing that up. I would hav...

2010-02-06T22:45:23.891-05:00

Albenis, thanks for clearing that up. I would have responded earlier but I never know if an anonymous commenter ever comes back to read my responses.

Anyway, I can't argue with your so-called unmeasurable attributes. Thos things, by definition cannot be proven, and therefore cannot be disproven either. But the measureable stuff is a different story. Vizquel, when you adjust for eras and ballparks and such, has not been as good a hitter as Ozzie was, over their careers. Smith's career OPS+ was 88, while Omar's is just 82. Neither is great, but sompared to his leagues, Smith was better. And he was a measurably better defender as wll. Omar lives in a time of ESPN and highlight reels and stuff, so the flashy plays he used to make garnered him a lot of attention, but SMith actually made a lot of plays, which is really what you need a defender to do. He got to evething. Omar's not that good. Omar has mde only three all star teams, and got an MVP vote only once. Aparicio, by contrast, made 13 All-Star teams, got MVP votes in 10 different seasons, and led the league in steals a bunch of times. Luke Appling got votes in 11 seasons, and won a couple of batting titles. Maranville got MVP votes eight differnet times, finishing in the top 10 in five different seasons. Ozzie even got MVP votes six times, finishing as high as second once. Vizquel has almost never been considered by the baseball writers as one of the 20 or so best players in the league, despite having played on several playoff teams.

The fact that he has stuck around for 20 years is a credit to him, and he has amassed a lot of counting stats because of that, like the 2700+ hits you mention, but he's also made more outs than all but 13 players in history and is 19th in career times caught stealing.

Though he is nominally a switch hitter, he's been pretty terrible hitting efty over the course of his career, with just a .652 OPS, so it's not like it helps much. I suppose he may be a good bunter, which would explain why he;d led his league in sacrifices four times and currently tops the active list in that stat, but that really just means that he was not a good enough hitter to let him swing in situations where they have a man on base, right? Anyway, bunting is hardly something on which to build a Hall of Fame case.

He's been pretty good, a useful player over the course of his career, but 20 years of "useful" don't make a Hall of Famer, in my opinion.

My name is Albenis, and my last post was not for R...

2010-02-06T10:44:49.541-05:00

My name is Albenis, and my last post was not for Ron, was for Travis

Regards

Ron, you might not know what it takes to be in tha...

2010-01-29T12:04:43.486-05:00

Ron, you might not know what it takes to be in that level for 20+years. Vizquel has the same or better numbers that your "best shortstop" Ozzie Smith, and I am not talking about defense, because everybody knows that he has been the best, and his numbers for a shortstop with more than 1000 games will show it to you.

More than 2700 hits, more double plays, 1st in games played in shortstop (he still playing at 42), 2nd in number of hits as shortstop. Last year he was challenged to play 3rd and 2nd and in both played better than everyday players. Should I mention that he can bat lefty and righty and he is an exceptional bunter?. Tell me about other shortstop that can play with the same grace, style, quick hands and footwork, and by the way with the least amount of errors.

He did not hit the ball as A-Rod, Tejada, or Garciaparra. But where are they now? Playing any other position, not mentioning the *.roids stuff

Even Mr. Ripken says that Vizquel is Hall of famer, and Ripken has a batting average similar to Vizquel’s, so how can you say that he should not be there?

It is not just about the numbers, is what the guy brings to the table in every team that he plays, there are the heads up plays, the good running on the bases, the good at bats, the confidence that gives to the pitchers knowing that they have somebody that can actually can turn everyday plays. That you cannot measure!

What else does he have to do to show that he is one of the best shortstop that have ever played in MLB?

Regards
Albenis

This is an old post, of course, but history has sh...

2010-01-05T11:33:32.237-05:00

This is an old post, of course, but history has shown that I was not so full of crap after all. After Lee won his 20th game on September 1st, he went just 2-1 with a 4.03 ERA in his next four starts.

And then won the AL Cy Young Award.

But, it's Jim Rice. Just hearing the name spe...

2009-12-31T00:16:52.993-05:00

But, it's Jim Rice. Just hearing the name speaks of greatness. That says it all as to any question whether he should or should not be in the HOF.

Mike Stanton was recruited by USC as a wide out, s...

2009-12-15T15:25:00.053-05:00

Mike Stanton was recruited by USC as a wide out, so I think 'a tick above average' is an understatement. So is Mike. Mike doesn't blow his own horn, he studies the pitcher diligently from the dugout between at-bats and always hustles.
The strikeouts are a concern, but in Greensboro they were a result of a constant diet of off-speed stuff- the kind of slop an 18-year-old meat-eater isn't primed for. When he did connect, there wasn't a safe place to stand in the city. MAMMOTH shots. We started calling them Stantonian blasts.
He knows he has a lot to learn. As he does learn, he'll develop and I think he'll be the real deal. Just an opinion from the bleachers.

That's a good point, Mike. I hadn't looke...

2009-11-15T11:28:33.327-05:00

That's a good point, Mike. I hadn't looked into that, but you're right that he was a good enough player to make All-Star teams when he already had teammates on the squad.

My rebuttal to that though is twofold:

1) The perceived value of having made an all-star team is diminished overall, given the rule. Hall of Fame voters won't necessarily goback as you did and check who else from his team made the squads.

B) Omar was never elected to start, and one of those (1998) years Vizquel made the team because his own manager picked him. He hit .302 with zero home runs in the first half, in a year in which all kind of home run records fell. He did make it as the 5th SS on the team in 2002, but then Joe Torre has made some bizarre managing decisions over the years.

I'm very late to this thread, but I just thoug...

2009-11-14T19:48:49.501-05:00

I'm very late to this thread, but I just thought I'd point out one flaw in your argument, though I do agree that he should not be in the Hall. You mention that it wasn't impressive for him to make the All-Star teams that he did because every MLB team needs representation these days. That would only be a valid argument if he was the only Indian selected to those All-Star teams. However, on 2 of the All-Star teams he made, there were several other Indians selected.

In 1998, he was 1 of 6 Indians. In 1999, he was also 1 of 6. This would have made it more difficult for him to make the team, given that the weaker AL teams needed to be represented. And in 2002, although he was the only Indian selected, his first half numbers were admittedly impressive.

While I admit he is not a Hall-of-Famer, it would be wrong to take these achievements away from him.

youre an ignorant.. i hope you know that.. when st...

2009-11-11T00:59:26.347-05:00

youre an ignorant.. i hope you know that.. when stanton whoops that ass.. you'll be deleting this... jokes