The Mayor's term has come to an end

Earlier this week Sean Casey announced his retirement. Casey played for the Tribe, Reds, Tigers, Pirates, and Red Sox. He was in the Show, as Crash Davis would put it, from 1997-2008. He had several great seasons, he was a three-time all star, and was the only Tiger who bothered to hit in the 2006 world series. Sadly, he was also the only Tiger to be thrown out at first from left field that year as well. However, Casey won't be remembered for his stats, or his speed. He will be remembered for living up to his nickname of "The Mayor". In the past 10 years every time major leaguers were polled on who was the nicest player in the league, the votes were never close. Casey always won by a landslide. He played with a perpetual smile on his face. Every time a runner reached first base during Casey's tenure some conversation would always begin, shenanigans ensued.


5 years from now I doubt Casey will garner much support for Cooperstown, however today he will be enshrined into the NRS wall of fame.

What if....

One of my favorite debates to have is the what if... debate. What if the Hawks had taken Chris Paul instead of Marvin Williams or Brandon Roy instead of Sheldon Williams. Or, what if the Braves had actually signed Bonds. Or the Tigers had never traded Smoltz.

This morning I came across this article. It goes through the entire 1999 baseball draft with the Kansas City Royals. The article talks about who the Royals took with each pick, and then who was the best player available (knowing what we know now). If you make it to the end of the article you can't help but feel bad for anyone who is a KC fan.

My 2009 Baseball Bucket List

Every year I make a mental note of the players I want to see play in person. Sometimes I try to catch a veteran towards the end of their career. This was the case with Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens a few years ago. Sometimes I try to catch a pitcher or batter having an unreal season (last year it was Brandon Webb). With Spring Training just a few short weeks away, I thought I would make my 2009 Baseball Bucket List: Players to see during the 2009 season.

If there is anyone I have forgotten leave them in the comments.

1. Tim Lincecum - This guy is the reigning Cy Young, he's young, he has a funky delivery, and he strikes out a whole bunch of people. What's not to love.

2. David Price - Watching Price throw in the playoffs last year reminded me a lot of K-rod or Joel Zumaya. A little known rookie making a big name for himself on the national stage. It will be interesting to see if Price (and for that matter the Rays in general) are for real.

3. Hanley Ramirez - No one goes to games in Florida. The Marlins are rarely on national TV. This is tragic, because they have one of the most exciting lead off men in the game. Ramirez is better than Jose Reyes, he just doesn't play in NY. Ramirez has power and he can run, what's not to love.

4. Ichiro - Since arriving in America 8 years ago Ichiro has an MVP, a ROY, the most hits in a single season, 1805 hits, 315 SBs, and a cannon in the outfield. I have never seen him play, and I figure I have 3-4 more years when I can see him in his prime.

5. The Big Unit - Randy is chasing 300 wins late in his career. Naturally, he signed with the baseball equivalent of a retirement community - San Francisco. However, if he has anything left in the tank it will be a treat to watch potentially the last 300 game winner reach his milestone.

Finally, a Lion (Lyon) the people of Detroit can get behind

Detroit has finally nabbed their ninth inning man. After waiting out the market the Tigers have signed Brandon Lyon to a one year deal reportedly worth 5 million + incentives. The full story appears here. I love this deal for Detroit. Zumaya and Rodney are much more effective in the 7th and 8th innings. I love the one year contract for a closer - the drive will still be there. And personally, I believe all contracts should be incentive based. This guy was a proven closer for a playoff team. If he can sew up the ninth inning in Detroit it should be a bounce back year for the Tigers.

Baseball quote to get you through a cold Monday

David Wells upon being asked why he doesn't put more effort into getting into shape,
"I've never heard of anyone going on the DL for pulling their fat."

Spectacular.

The Braves 2008 off season: brought to you by Susan Lucci

The Atlanta Braves have had one of the worst off seasons that I can remember, until last weekend. The Braves, like most teams, entered the hot stove season with a number of needs. And each one was addressed with the energy and enthusiasm to get everyone in town excited and then let us all down.

- Starting rotation help -The off season started knowing Hudson was out until at least mid season. Hampton signed elsewhere. Glavine and Smoltz were big big question marks. Jair Jurrgens was the only starter who's name Bobby Cox can write in pen when the season ended.
What they did in the hot stove

The good - They traded for Javier Vasquez. It was a nice pick up to bolster the back of the rotation, but hardly anything to get excited about.

The bad - Smoltz left for Boston. I think this one hurt the pride of Atlantans more than anything else. The guy is 42 and coming off surgery, if he wasn't John Smoltz no one would really be that sad to see him go.

The ugly - the Braves outright refusal to pony up the prospects for Jake Peavy. Allow me to step on my soap box and shout at the rain for a moment. I will never understand what makes GM hang onto pitching prospects when they have the opportunity to trade for elite pitching (see Yankees vs Johann Santana). It basically boils down to this, if your pitching prospects hit their ceiling - they will be Jake Peavy. Doesn't it make more sense to trade for Peavy? This clip explains it all. If you play out all scenarios I believe the Braves trading for Peavy would have been a no lose situation. If Peavy was great and the Braves were in contention, then all is well in the world. If the Braves were out of the race in July they would be able to unload Chipper to a contender and re-stock the farm system.

The redemption - Braves sign Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami this past weekend. Suddenly their rotation lines up with Lowe, Jurrgens, Vasquez, Kawakami, and someone to fill a gap until Hudson gets back. This is a deep rotation, if not overly impressive.

- Lead off hitter - the Braves have a lot of guys who can fill in the lead off roll, but no traditional lead off hitter. Escobar and Johnson filled in last year, but neither one gets on base or is enough of a threat to run to really make an impact.

What they did in the Hot stove
Well Rafael Furcal signed a four year deal to return to Atlanta. He was going to reclaim his position in short stop and return to his spot atop the Turner Field line up. There were articles on line and in the paper. The Braves had planned a press conference. And then things became very real. Furcal just used the Braves to get the contract he wanted from the Dodgers. Wow. This is a painful experience for any team, but add in the fact that it happened from your starting short stop from 2000-2005 and that's enough to make anyone go straight for the bottle. But hold on Braves fans, its about to get a whole lot worse.

- Right handed middle of the order hitter, preferably a left fielder - The core of the Braves order is solid Chipper, McCann, Kotchman, Escobar, etc. But they are missing that one feared hitter to anchor things. Since Chipper is a switch hitter, and B-Mac is a lefty, if the new guy could be a righty all the better.

What they did in the Hot Stove

Every time a free agent right-handed power hitter was mentioned this off season the Braves were mentioned as a contending team. Somehow, they came home with nobody.

Pat Burrell - Tampa
Raul Ibanez - Philly
Milton Bradley - Cubbies

Now don't worry Braves fans there is still time to act. If you can sell yourself on a Lefty-heavy lineup Bobby Abreu or Adam Dunn could be yours. There is a chance a former Brave and current Dodger will be heading back to Atlanta - sadly, it may be Andruw Jones and not Furcal. And we all know Manny is still a free agent.

Well Braves fans the good news is Susan Lucci eventually got her Emmy. Who knows maybe your off season award is still to come.

Once again on my soapbox for Alan Trammell

Once again, we are approaching the time of year when Major League Baseball will announce that Alan Trammell has received 10-17% of the votes for election to baseball's Hall of Fame (75% is needed for election). This is also the time of year I have to ask: What does a guy have to do to get elected around here? Before I begin making my case for Trammell's HOF credentials, let me state that when I was growing up, Alan Trammell was my favorite player. I wrote my college admissions essay based on Alan Trammell, I always play number 3 in roulette for Trammell, and I believe he is one of the most underrated players of his generation. That being said - Alan Trammell should still have his bust in Cooperstown alongside other Tiger greats.

Alan Trammell played from 1977-1996 with the Detroit Tigers
During his 20 year career Trammell amassed 2365 hits, 185 HRs, 1003 RBIs, 1231 Runs, and 236 SBs.
He was the 1984 WS MVP (incidentally, no one from the 1984 championship team is in the HOF).
He should have been the 1987 AL MVP, but lost a close contest to George Bell, solely because Bell had more home runs.
He was a 6 time all-star.
He was a 4 time Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award winner.
When he retired, he was one of 7 shortstops to hit 0.300 six times or more. The other 6 were already in the HOF.
And possibly the strongest argument: Trammell was on Magnum PI with Tom Selleck. I don't know how any HOF voter can watch this video and not be swayed.

He had longevity and consistency. He and Lou Whitaker were the core of a great Tigers team in the 80s.

In all seriousness, the strongest argument for Trammell's induction to the hall goes as follows (this is not my argument, I just really like it): Ozzie Smith (who was a first ballot HOFer with 92% of the vote in 2002) played in the same era as Trammell. During both of their careers, there would not have been one year the Tigers would have ever traded Trammell for Smith straight up. Smith was flashier, but Trammell was the better player throughout their careers.

Trammell's HOF resume is probably hurt by the following:

1. He never got that MVP. Even though I would argue until the cows come home that Trammell was a More Valuable Player than George Bell in 1987, Trammell came up a bit short.
2. He was never flashy. He didn't do back flips or have funny quirks at the plate. He was just very good for a very long time.
3. He played in Detroit. It's a small market team in the midwest. If Trammell had the identical resume in Pinstripes, there is no doubt he would have been a first ballot HOFer
4. Trammell and Whitaker were referred to in the same breathe throughout their career. I think voters had trouble separating the two when it came to Cooperstown.

I would also argue that Trammell was hurt by the explosion of offensive short stops after he retired. As he came up on the ballot voters looked at A-rod, Nomar, Tejada, Jeter, Furcal ,etc - all putting up obscene offensive numbers from a traditionally defensive postion. Now it looks like all of these numbers were put up during an era that was an offensive explosion.

So will 2009 be any different for Trammell's HOF case? Probably not. His best chance will lie with the Veterans committee in the future. Until then I will be the voice of the minority (the 10-15% of voters who understand what Trammell meant to Detroit and baseball).

Will work for food.....

The free agent fenzy for 2008 is gone. Most of the big names made their homes in NYC (CC, AJ, Tex, K-rod). Now we are left with teams scrambling to fill holes with the table scraps in 2009. That is with one major exception - Man-Ram. How crazy must this guy be? Last year posted 0.322 37 121 scored over 100 runs and he is still unemployed 6 weeks before spring training! He put the Dodgers in the playoffs last year, before that he was a big part of breaking the curse of the Bambino, and before that he had Cleveland in the playoffs and 3 outs from a world championship. He has won everywhere he has been. He can hit anyone, anywhere, at any time. And for 25 million per year he can be all yours. Oh there is one thing..... Its a small thing, I don't think you are going to care but...... HE IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY INSANE. But don't worry GMs, I have the perfect way to calmly integrate Manny into your organization. Sign Manny, hold a press conference, and then at the conference announce that you have also signed Barry Bonds. Suddenly you have the Left/Right combo in your lineup. Most importantly, the Manny Ramirez circus will be tamed, because now you have the largest craziest circus in all of baseball - Barry Bonds. For probably 40-50 million per year you can have Ramirez and Bonds in your lineup and a national following of your team -doesn't this sound like the perfect idea for the Pirates, Nationals, or Royals? You can thank me later.