Thank Goodness it’s Friday Reading
Earlier this week, Sarah pointed out that Babes Love Baseball is previewing each MLB team — in haiku form. Not to be outdone, Jos Posnanski is writing limericks about each team’s chances.
Remember that ESPN Page 2 story about how ballplayers don’t care about politics? Well, Jimmy Rollins is into politics. Maybe he and C.J. Wilson could be buds?
While Rollins is reading up on the candidates, Brett Myers must be spending a lot of time at the lanes. The 700 Level reports that Myers bowled a near-perfect game the other night at a team bowling event — a 279.
Flotsam media uses a golfer’s attack on a bird as an excuse to post video of a Randy Johnson fastball exploding a dove. I will never get tired of that video.
Jim Baker at BP Unfiltered speaks for all of us when he expresses his hatred for making mistakes in his column. We’ve all been there, and we hear ya, Jim.
Here’s a fascinating story, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, via USS Mariner. The St. Louis Cardinals are inviting fans to submit scouting reports on promising college ballplayers.
When the submissions are in, the team plans to send its own scouts to evaluate a handful of the most interesting prospects and, in June, to possibly select one or more of them in baseball’s amateur draft. The winning fan — the one whose entry is judged most compelling, whether a player is drafted or not — gets a trip to St. Louis to see a pair of ball games.
Pretty cool, right?
February 4th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Coley, a fourth outfielder and a couple of midlevel prospects for a closer is not a high-risk move. Sure, there’s the chance Lidge won’t work out. But if that’s so, the Phillies would still have time to try and get a better closer at the trade deadline. I think that’s a low-risk, high-reward move.
You’re right about Brett Myers, though. He does have a formidable one-two punch.
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February 4th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Beginning the season with Brad Lidge as the closer is indeed a bit risky, because … you know … he’s Brad Lidge. It gets riskier when you consider how few options the Phillies have should Lidge falter. They’ve already stated that Myers won’t be moved to the bullpen, regardless. So that leaves them with JC Romero — who got CUT last season — and Tom Gordon, who is clearly nearing the end of the line.
As you point out, trading for Brad Lidge wasn’t risky, since the Phils didn’t give up much. But entering the season with no obvious back up plan should Lidge not survive the boobirds seems like a bold move to me.
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February 5th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Michael Bourn is better than people think.
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February 5th, 2008 at 6:33 am
As someone who has seen the ascent of Michael Bourn, he is, almost to a T, a Willy Taveras clone. The Phillies have Willy Taveras Squared in Greg Golson, but he might not be Major League ready until next season, and more likely 2010.
The biggest lost in the Lidge trade was Mike Costanzo, who was, by most accounts, the Phillies’ third baseman of the future. And we know how much third base has been a struggle following the Mike Schmidt era for the Phillies besides a few Scott Rolen seasons.
Brad Lidge gets a bad rap for having “a fragile psyche.” It’s akin to the argument that David Eckstein or Aaron Rowand are awesome because they’re “gritty.” Lidge put up a 131 ERA , struck out 88 batters in 67 innings, and put up a WHIP of 1.254 last season. Not too shabby, right?
Acquiring Lidge was the key move of the offseason for Gillick because it effectively gave the Phillies what was then the best starter acquisition by moving Brett Myers back to the bullpen. Of course, then we saw Dan Haren and Johan Santana get moved, and an Erik Bedard deal is oh so close (and the Phillies couldn’t even begin to dream about putting together a package for them).
I give the Phillies an A for their off-season moves. And before you call me out for being biased, remember, I’m the guy who campaigned for David Wright over Jimmy Rollins for MVP. :)
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February 5th, 2008 at 6:34 am
That’s a 131 ERA-plus, by the way. That\’s ERA measured against the league average and adjusted for ballpark factors.
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March 7th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
First of all, that pic of Rollins is hilarious. Second, thanks for the link!
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