Ryno charges into Cooperstown....

Much to the dismay of ESPN announcer Joe Morgan who for years has stumped from his post at ESPN Sunday night baseball of how Sandberg was overrated. If Morgan is looking for someone who is overrated in the overall scheme of secondbasemen he should look in the mirror first. Not only did Sandberg put up better offensive numbers (minus stolen bases and OBP) in about 500 less played games than Morgan, but Sandberg was vastly superior in the field as well. For someone who people claim had no range Sandberg managed to have the most single season assists since 1930 (571), as well as 5 other seasons of more than 500 assists and 4 more of more than 400. Morgan only managed to get over 400 six times with a high of 492. Sandberg also owns the modern record (post 1900) of fielding percentage for 2B at .989. Were they both the premier 2B of their respective playing periods, yes - Morgan in the 70's and Sandberg from 1982-1992, but Sandberg was definently the better player overall.

(*added 1/05) I believe much of Morgans outright hatred for Sandberg probably came from Ryno coming back out of retirement and breaking Morgans HR record for secondbasemen. Even when asked in his hall-of-fame press conference today about how Morgan slams him and his thoughts on it he acted like he has his entire career, very nice and non-confrontive about the situation, not acting like the petty asshole that Joe Morgan is. This was probably one of the main reasons why it took three years for Sandberg to get in to the HOF when he should have been a sure thing first-balloter.


Here's your Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim....

The Angels have changed their name to this atrocity written above and apparently people aren't too happy about it. Changed under the guise that they are trying to broaden their marketability to people in California. While this may be true, its not too smart, and the people of Anaheim are fighting back. I talked to a friend of mine who lives near Anaheim and in Orange County and he says that people there are really P'O'd at this move, and that all the goodwill new Angels owner Artie Moreno did by signing bid name free agents and slashing beer and ticket prices, appears to have been wiped out. The people of Anaheim and Orange County did a lot to keep the team there and ponied up the money to rebuild Edison Park, and now they feel this is a slap in the face. It appears a long fight is ahead.


Cubs have a shot....

The shot at attaining Carlos Beltran is getting better. Two teams have unofficially taken themselves out of the race for Beltrans services, the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees. Although I would think this is just a ploy by the Yankees, it is possible that they have decided to go a different way. The rumors right now have the Astros giving Beltran an offer of $75 million guaranteed over five years plus an option year, but that number will probably go up sometime before Saturdays deadline for them to resign him. The Mets appear to have rang in at 6 years with an option and around $107 million guaranteed, but Beltran has gone on record in the past saying that he would prefer not playing in New York, which means it will probably take a much higher deal to get him to head there as opposed to Houston or Chicago (and it probably means he will sign there also). The Cubs have offered a 5 or 6 year deal to him but no money has been reported yet as GM Jim Hendry has been very secretive about the whole situation with Beltran this entire offseason. Here's to hoping the Cubbies can nab this one and the options in free agency or trades now is pretty thin.


Dollar Dollar Bills y'all....

After recently going through some of the new contracts signed it appears that the first year of Adrian Beltre's new contract with the Mariners is going to pay him $19 million. Thats right, its the elusive front-loaded contract. With a move like this I have a sneaking suspicion that the Mariners are setting up some 'free' money to bid on the next phenom from Japan, Diasuke Matsuzaka. The 25 year-old righty has been the best pitcher in Japan for the last 3 or 4 years and after this next season he will be eligible for the Japanese posting system, which a player has to use if he wishes to go to MLB (or any other league for that matter) before he is eligible for free agency. This is the way that Ichiro and Kaz Ishii have come over. When a player 'posts' any team in MLB can bid for the exclusive rights to negotiate with that player. Even then this doesn't guarantee the MLB team that the player will play for them, as he can go back to play in Japan if he wishes.

As for Matsuzaka, he shut down the MLB all-stars in their tour in November, throwing a complete game for the first time in 20 years for a player from the Japanese team. With all of the past Japanese players Seattle has had and this odd stroke of paying early in Beltran's deal as well as their need for a quality pitcher, the Mariners might be the odds on favorite to nab Matsuzaka this offseason.

In another note from the great northwest, Seattle signed Pokey Reese to play SS for next season at a rate of $1.2 million with a $2.25 million option year. The Mariners didn't feel that Josie Lopez was MLB-ready yet after his showing at the end of last season and signed Reese as a one or two year stopgap. Seattle now has a very solid infield defensively with all 4 starters having either won a Gold Glove or capable of winning one.


Other notes...

- The Dodgers are about to resign Odalis Perez to a 3yr/$24 million deal. They also avoided arbitration with OF Milton Bradley by signing him to a 1yr/$2.5 million deal. The team will still like to add another pitcher and could still be the leader for Carlos Delgado, sending the payroll closer to that $100 million mark.

- Free agent 3B Tony Bautista has spurned offers from Houston, Detroit, and Tampa Bay to sign a 2yr/$15 million deal with the Fukuoka Hawks of the Japanese professional baseball league. In case you recognize the name that is that the same team the Takahito Iguchi, the 2B the White Sox are courting, plays for.

- Per request of a reader i will be doing a Cubs v. Sox article soon, as i will probably wait will after the arbitration deadline so i can better concise their offseasons as well as what i believe, at this point in the year, what they will be like for next season. And I'll probably be going through their minor leagues sometime soon as well, plus early March will bring the NL Central Preview and MLB predictions for the 2005 season.


Q' o' the P

Ryne Sandberg, at his HOF announcement press conference, on his hearing that he was elected

"I was speechless. Then again, that's not much of a surprise, is it?"