Who was that? Chipper?
Yeah, Chipper. Hideo Nomo won that year. Was just as controversial.
Next year I just he has more HRs then strained obliques though.
Chipper is, for me, that athlete that it just hurts to see such talent sapped by injuries. Even more than Junior, for whatever reason. Man, he’s good…when he plays.
The Diamondbacks seem set on trading OF Justin Upton and the Mariners are one of the teams apparently interested. While Upton didn’t have a great season in 2010, he’s only 23 and his contract is pretty friendly given his potential. However, getting him would require a high price being paid. Talk around here is that Seattle would have to give up as many as two of its top three prospects, a group that consists of P Michael Pineda, 1B Justin Smoak, and 2B Dustin Ackley, all of whom are assumed to be potential starters next season. Given that, a deal would seem to not make a lot of sense for the Mariners, but GM Jack Zdurencik has indicated a preference for young players with actual MLB experience over guys with little (Smoak) or no (Pineda, Ackley) time at the MLB level. And if Seattle hopes to compete before King Felix or Ichiro reach free agency, the argument goes, a guy like Upton could be the jumpstart they need.
Meanwhile, it looks like the Astros are going to be sold. McClane has taken a lot of flack over the years, but it can be argued that Houston had its greatest franchise success under his ownership, with six playoff appearances in 18 years - including the WS year. And one article I read said the Astros had the fourth best record in the NL over the years McClane owned the team.
I’ve read some of the interesting pieces on Upton, and how he may be at his ceiling. They looked at a log of young players who had big debuts, and outside of freaks like Pujols and A-Rod, they rarely get significantly better because they start at such a high level. Most of them slip.
(Pujols arguably hasn’t gotten that much better. He started with ludicrous numbers and has been remarkably consistent, with little year-to-year variation.)
Upton may seem like he has a high ceiling, but for a team like the Mariners, it may not be high enough to give up 2-3 prospects at positions that are offensive black holes for the team. Someone like Boston can afford it a lot more—like, they have a 1B prospect blocked by Youkilis now, and possibly the inevitable Adrian Gonzalez (who I’d argue is worth way more than Upton)—because they have more contributors at more positions at the big league level.
Chipper is still a first-ballot hall of famer, no question. One of the best 3B of all time.
The Mets have hired Terry Collins, who’d formerly managed the Astros and Angels in the '90s and spent most of the past decade doing minor league stuff. They’ll formerly announce him Tuesday.
Votto wins NL MVP.
— Alan
And Josh Hamilton is AL MVP. Congrats to the Rangers fans.
There are also reports of the first big free agent signing, with Victor Martinez leaving Fenway for Detroit.
Might be about time to start the '11 thread.
Might be time for that new thread.
Giants re-signed Aubrey Huff for 2 for $22M (club option on 3rd year). Maybe overpaying him a bit, especially considering the only plus plus position player in their system is a first baseman, but its not the worst outcome.
The news is a few days old but I just heard about it tonight, I’ve been travelling for work and baseball news is slow to filter to Australia.
I don’t figure there are enough Cubs fans here to warrant a new thread, but I wanted to mention it anyway. Rod Santo passed away Thursday at 70. For those of you who don’t know he had been the Cubs color commentator for years. Ron was arguably the best third baseman in Cubs history and probably one of the top four or five in the history of the game. He never was inducted into the hall of fame, in my opinion a grave injustice. I had a chance to meet him in 1996 along with Harry Carey and still have his autograph on my ticket stub.
Santo’s style in the booth was not for everyone, he wore his heart on his sleeve and couldn’t disguise his passion for the team. In many ways he was the Cubs’ biggest fan. A few years back his son made an excellent documentary about him called “This Old Cub”
I highly recommend it.
This is a sad day for me and millions of Cubs fans around the world. Rest in peach Ron. I’m sorry they couldn’t win it for you.
It sounds like the Adrian Gonzalez to Boston deal has fallen apart, at least for now, because Boston couldn’t work out a long-term contract with Gonzalez.
And Jayson Werth has apparently signed . . . with the Nationals. 7 years, $126m.