ATM report--Throwing the season

[nyy26wc]

1) Yesterday's games--

AL
Orioles 10, Whitesox 4
Twins 5, Tigers 1
BlueJays 11, Devil Rays 8
Royals 8, Indians 5
Redsox 4, Yankees 2
A's 10, Rangers 0
Angels 15, Mariners 3

NL
Cubs 5, Astros 0
Marlins 4, Expos 2
Pirates 12, Cardinals 9
Mets 4, Reds 2
Rockies 9, Brewers 5
Braves 4, Phillies 1
Padres 6, Diamondbacks 1
Giants 3, Dodgers 2 (12)

2) Standings--

AL EAST         WON  LOST  PCT  GB      HOME   ROAD   EAST  CENT  WEST STREAK
Yankees          60   36  .625   -     31-17  29-19  27-21 16-02 06-06 LOST 1
Redsox           57   37  .606   2     24-21  33-16  33-11 11-09 08-04 WON  4
Orioles          46   48  .489  13     23-23  23-25  14-20 10-08 13-11 WON  1
BlueJays         41   54  .432  18 1/2 24-26  17-28  19-24 04-06 09-15 WON  3
Devil Rays       29   65  .309  30     18-30  11-35  11-28 06-07 05-19 LOST 6

AL CENTRAL      WON  LOST  PCT  GB      HOME   ROAD   EAST  CENT  WEST STREAK
Twins            57   41  .582   -     32-18  25-23  08-09 24-14 15-10 WON  3
Whitesox         45   53  .459  12     26-21  19-32  05-06 22-22 10-15 LOST 3
Indians          42   53  .442  13 1/2 24-23  18-30  11-07 20-27 05-07 LOST 4
Royals           41   54  .432  14 1/2 27-21  14-33  02-11 22-17 12-13 WON  8
Tigers           35   60  .368  20 1/2 21-25  14-35  06-14 19-27 04-07 LOST 4

AL WEST         WON  LOST  PCT  GB      HOME   ROAD   EAST  CENT  WEST STREAK
Mariners         60   37  .619   -     27-20  33-17  20-16 07-06 22-08 LOST 1
Angels           56   39  .589   3     29-18  27-21  09-03 23-12 13-17 WON  1
A's              57   40  .588   3     31-20  26-20  17-19 08-05 16-14 WON  2
Rangers          40   56  .417  19 1/2 23-26  17-30  09-03 14-23 09-21 LOST 7

NL EAST         WON  LOST  PCT  GB      HOME   ROAD   EAST  CENT  WEST STREAK
Braves           62   35  .639   -     33-17  29-18  26-16 13-08 08-08 WON  4
Expos            49   47  .510  12 1/2 30-17  19-30  20-21 13-08 04-12 LOST 1
Mets             49   47  .510  12 1/2 25-20  24-27  21-25 10-06 08-08 WON  1
Marlins          46   50  .479  15 1/2 27-21  19-29  19-22 09-12 08-08 WON  1
Phillies         44   51  .463  17     25-24  19-27  21-23 05-09 08-11 LOST 2

NL CENTRAL      WON  LOST  PCT  GB      HOME   ROAD   EAST  CENT  WEST STREAK
Cardinals        52   41  .559   -     31-18  21-23  05-07 27-22 12-08 LOST 1
Reds             50   46  .521   3 1/2 22-24  28-22  10-09 31-22 07-05 LOST 1
Astros           46   49  .484   7     25-21  21-28  09-09 27-27 05-07 LOST 2
Pirates          45   51  .469   8 1/2 22-28  23-23  08-04 29-25 05-13 WON  1
Cubs             41   53  .436  11 1/2 21-24  20-29  09-11 21-29 05-07 WON  2
Brewers          34   63  .351  20     19-31  15-32  02-10 22-32 08-11 LOST 5

NL WEST         WON  LOST  PCT  GB      HOME   ROAD   EAST  CENT  WEST STREAK
Diamondbacks     56   40  .583   -     28-18  28-22  12-07 11-07 22-19 LOST 1
Giants           55   41  .573   1     28-18  27-23  10-06 10-07 27-18 LOST 1
Dodgers          55   42  .567   1 1/2 28-23  27-19  07-06 14-10 22-20 LOST 4
Rockies          46   51  .474  10 1/2 30-20  16-31  11-08 08-05 20-27 WON  1
Padres           40   56  .417  16     25-24  15-32  07-09 08-13 17-24 WON  3

3) Today's schedule--

AL
Redsox (Rolando Arrojo) at Yankees (Orlando Hernandez), 1:15
Devil Rays (Luis de los Santos) at BlueJays (Steve Parris), 4:05
Indians (Jaret Wright and Charles Nagy) at Royals (Runelvys Hernandez and Shawn Sedlacek), DH, 5:05
Whitesox (Gary Glover) at Orioles (Sidney Ponson), 7:05
Twins (Joe Mays) at Tigers (Adam Bernero), 7:05
Rangers (Rob Bell) at A's (Ted Lilly), 9:05
Mariners (Ryan Franklin) at Angels (John Lackey), 10:05

NL
Astros (Kirk Saarloos) at Cubs (Carlos Zambrano), 1:15
Braves (Jason Marquis) at Phillies (Terry Adams), 1"15
Giants (Ryan Jensen) at Dodgers (Omar Daal), 4:10
Marlins (Masato Yoshii) at Expos (Brad Penny), 7:05
Cardinals (Travis Smith) at Pirates (Kris Benson), 7:05
Mets (Mike Bacsik) at Reds (Chris Reitsma), 7:10
Brewers (Jose Cabrera) at Rockies (Dennis Stark), 8:05
Diamondbacks (John Patterson) at Padres (Oliver Perez), 10:05

4) Yesterday's HRs--

Andruw Jones--#21
Mike Piazza--#20
Miguel Tejada--#20
Ellis Burks--#19
Magglio Ordonez--#19
Jose Hernandez--#18
Tim Salmon--#15
Raul Ibanez--#13
Scott Hatteberg--#12
Russ Branyan--#12 (#4 in NL)
Rob Mackowiak--#11
Benito Santiago--#11
Todd Hollandsworth--#10
Corey Koskie--#9
Eli Marrero--#9
Moises Alou--#9
David Ortiz--#8
Aubrey Huff--#8
Kenny Lofton--#8
Ray Durham--#8
Edgardo Alfonzo--#8
Roberto Alomar--#8
Matt Stairs--#7
Tom Wilson--#6
Milton Bradley--#6
John Mabry--#5
Gary Matthews Jr.--#5
David Dellucci--#5
Alex Ochoa--#5
Doug Mientkiewicz--#4
Chris Magruder--#4
Juan Uribe--#4
Ben Broussard--#3
Adam Hyzdu--#2
Luis Ugueto--#1

5) HR leaders--

AL
1) Alex Rodriguez--31
2) Jim Thome--28
3) Alfonso Soriano--25
T4) Jason Giambi--24
T4) Rafael Palmeiro--24
6) Torii Hunter--23
7) Paul Konerko--22
T8) Eric Chavez--20
T8) Tony Batista--20
T8) Miguel Tejada--20*

NL
T1) Sammy Sosa--29
T1) Lance Berkman--29
3) Barry Bonds--28
4) Shawn Green--27
T5) Brian Giles--26
T5) Vladimir Guerrero--26
7) Pat Burrell--25
8) Albert Pujols--22
9) Andruw Jones--21*
T10) Mike Piazza--20*
T10) Larry Walker--20

*--hit 1 yesterday

6) The Mets tied the Expos for 2nd place in the NL East.

7) The Giants passed the Dodgers into 2nd place in the NL West.

8) Ellis Burks passed Hank Greenberg and tied Gary Sheffield and Bobby Bonds for 73rd place on the all time HR list, with 332.

9) Kenny Lofton hit his 100th career HR.

10) The Indians traded P Chuck Finley to the Cardinals for minor league 1B-OF Luis Garcia and a player to be named later.

Tirade time. For those interested only in the players involved, scroll to the end of the report--When players accepted money and made no efforts to win the games, it was correctly termed fixing the games. Owners of many teams are doing the same thing and we look the other way.

This is nothing new. Owners have chosen to put their money into their pockets and not invest in the team and not try to win games ever since the inception of leagues. The only significant differences are (1) the numbers in their bank accounts are higher today and (2) things are better today than in the past. It's much harder to find teams these days that throw entire decades like what was done in the past.

I'm getting sick of hearing people whine about how something has to be done to help those teams. It's un-American.

When businesses choose to put their profits into their pockets and not invest in the business, we call it capitalism and it's an accepted part of American life. We have the choice of whether we want to support such a business, but nobody claims the owner doesn't have the right to do what he's doing.

When businesses choose to put their profits into their pockets, not invest in the business and then cry that their competitors should have to give them some of their money, so they can add that to their bank accounts, what do we do?

We don't do anything. That's not how business runs in America. Yet, people think it's acceptable to do it in the business of sports. Yeah, right.

After 5 consecutive years between 11-29 RCAA, Finley dropped to a career worst -13 in 2001. He's rebounded in 2002, with a 4.44 ERA/7 RSAA start in his first 18 starts and has a 3.85 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.44, and 208 RSAA in 510 games. He had been scheduled to start yesterday, but was scratched and is currently scheduled to make his Cardinals debut tomorrow.

Garcia, 23, came into the year with a .878 OPS (.355 OBA, .523 SLG) in 4 minor league seasons, including a .846 OPS (.348 OBA, .498 SLG) in Hi-A and .974 OPS (.384 OBA, .590 SLG) in AA in 2001. He's off to a .777 OPS (.335 OBA, .442 SLG) start in AA this year. Garcia was given a B- grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook and had been acquired from the Redsox in the Dustin Hermanson trade last December.

Correction from yesterday--The Devil Rays, not the Royals, called up P Luis de los Santos.

[nyy26wc]

1) Barry Bonds left yesterday's game, due to a strained hamstring, and is day to day.

2) The Twins activated P Joe Mays from the DL and sent P Juan Rincon to the minors.

After leading the AL with 35 RSAA in 2001, Mays is off to a small sample size 11.57 ERA/-8 RSAA start in his first 3 starts. He has a 4.35 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.72, and 39 RSAA in 117 games. He'll return to the rotation today.

Rincon's a 23 year old rookie who's off to a 5.12 ERA/0 RSAA start in his first 4 games (3 starts) and also made 4 appearances with the Twins last year.

3) Yankees P Orlando Hernandez was suspended for 5 games for twice throwing at BlueJays 1B Carlos Delgado, missing the first time, but succeeding the second.

He's appealing. Then, the Yankees have a couple of off days next week, so he can drop the appeal, pretend he's been punished and never miss a start. Same old crap.

After 4.51 ERA/13 RSAA and 4.85 ERA/-4 RSAA seasons the past 2 years, Hernandez is off to a 3.41 ERA/11 RSAA start in his first 10 starts (plus 1 relief appearance). He has a 4.06 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.75, and 48 RSAA in 111 games.

4) The Diamondbacks activated 2B Jay Bell from the DL, called up P John Patterson and placed 1B Greg Colbrunn and P Rick Helling on the 15 day DL.

Bell's coming off -2 RCAA/.786 OPS and -9 RCAA/.749 OPS seasons the past 2 years and has a .765 career OPS, compared to his league average of .752, and 4 RCAA in 1959 games. He hasn't made his 2002 debut yet.

Before having Tommy John surgery in 2000, Patterson, 24, was considered a prospect. He was limited to just 23 games over the past 2 years and came into the season with a 4.37 ERA in 5 minor league seasons, including a 5.85 ERA in 12 starts in AAA in 2001. He had a 4.71 ERA in AAA this year, was given a C grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook and will make his major league debut by starting today.

Colbrunn has a strained right calf and went on the DL retroactive to July 18. After 17 RCAA/.928 OPS and 2 RCAA/.868 OPS seasons the past 2 years, Colbrunn's off to a .505 SLG, .368 OBA, .872 OPS, 3 RCAA start in his first 45 games. He has a .793 career OPS, compared to his league average of .765, and 6 RCAA in 923 games.

Helling has a sprained right ankle and went on the DL retroactive to July 16. After 14, 5 and 16 RSAA seasons from 1998-2000, he dropped to a career worst 5.17 ERA/-17 RSAA in 2001. Helling's off to a 4.98 ERA/0 RSAA start in his first 19 starts and has a 4.77 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.63, and 7 RSAA in 220 games.

5) The Padres are expected to place C Wiki Gonzalez on the 15 day DL today, due to a strained quad, and will call up C Wil Nieves.

After -12 RCAA/.656 OPS and 3 RCAA/.798 OPS seasons the past 2 years, Gonzalez is off to a .351 SLG, .372 OBA, .724 OPS, 0 RCAA start in his first 39 games. He has a .708 career OPS, compared to his league average of .786, and -15 RCAA in 228 games.

Nieves, 24, came into the year with a .739 OPS (.355 OBA, .384 SLG) in 6 minor league seasons, including a .736 OPS (.336 OBA, .400 SLG) in AA in 2001. He's off to a .848 OPS (.327 OBA, .521 SLG) start in AAA this year.

6) Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins missed yesterday's game, due to an injured left thumb, which he suffered last Saturday. The switch hitter is unable to bat righthanded without feeling pain.

After a .743 OPS/0 RCAA season as a 22 year old rookie in 2001, Rollins is off to a .396 SLG, .308 OBA, .704 OPS, -7 RCAA start in his first 91 games. After leading the NL in outmaking, with 503, in 2001, he's again leading with 316.

The last NL player to successfully defend his outmaking title was Juan Samuel, in 1984-85, while teammate Doug Glanville claimed the title twice in 3 years (1998, 2000).

7) Yankees RF Raul Mondesi missed yesterday's game, after spending Thursday night in the hospital, due to shortness of breath.

After starting the year with a .736 OPS/-6 RCAA in 75 games for the BlueJays, Mondesi has escalated his unproductivity, with a .695 OPS/-2 RCAA in 12 games with the Yankees.

Mondesi's trade to the Yankees shows a problem with baseball news. Everyone was so eager to just cry about the Yankees adding to the payroll while the ATM reports and a few isolated posters on STATL-G were the only ones to understand that Mondesi's addition to the payroll was subtraction by addition.

8) Indians CF Milton Bradley had to leave yesterday's game in the 7th, due to a strained right hamstring, and is day to day.

After starting his career with -11 RCAA/.613 OPS and -21 RCAA/.620 OPS seasons, the 24 year old former prospect is off to a .419 SLG, .312 OBA, .731 OPS, -7 RCAA start in his first 59 games.

9) The Astros called up P Kirk Saarloos and sent P Jim Mann to the minors.

Saarloos, a highly touted rookie, had a small sample size 17.65 ERA/-13 RSAA in 3 starts earlier in the year and will start today.

Mann is off to a 3.95 ERA/1 RSAA in 11 games as a 27 year old rookie and also had 6 games with the Mets and Astros in the past 2 years.

10) Twins CF Torii Hunter was suspended for 3 games for throwing a ball at Indians P Danys Baez after he was hit by a pitch. He decided to start serving the suspension today.

After -22, -19 and -5 RCAA in his first 3 years as a starter, Hunter is having by far his best year, with a .573 SLG, .356 OBA, .929 OPS, 22 RCAA in his first 96 games.

11) The Rockies signed utilityman Adam Melhuse to a minor league contract.

12) The Mets called up INF Marcos Scutaro and placed utilityman Joe McEwing on the 15 day DL, retroactive to July 14.

McEwing has a strained left rib cage. He's off to a .308 SLG, .226 OBA, .533 OPS, -10 RCAA start in his first 66 games and this would be his 3rd year with a double digit negative RCAA in his 4 year career. McEwing has a .705 career OPS, compared to his league average of .786, and -34 RCAA in 431 games.

Scutaro, 26, came into the year with a .784 OPS (.365 OBA, .419 SLG) in 6 minor league seasons, including a .814 OPS (.382 SLG, .432 SLG) in AAA with the Brewers in 2001. He's off to a .891 OPS (.386 OBA, .505 SLG) start in AAA this year.

13) The Rangers sent Ps Colby Lewis and Anthony Telford to the minors and called up Ps Reynaldo Garcia and Aaron Myette.

Lewis was a supplemental first round pick in 1999 draft and the 22 year old's off to a 7.82 ERA/-4 RSAA start in his first 11 major league games.

Telford's off to a 5.46 ERA/-3 RSAA start in his first 20 games and has a 4.17 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.35, and 10 RSAA in 333 games.

Garcia, 25, had a 3.56 ERA in Hi-A ball in 2001 and has a combined 3.65 ERA in AA and AAA this year.

Myette was called up to make a spot start yesterday.

14) The Reds called up OF Brady Clark.

After a .799 OPS/0 RCAA in 89 games as a 28 year old rookie in 2001 (he also had 11 G/11 PA in 2000), Clark's off to a .237 SLG, .262 OBA, .499 OPS, -5 RCAA start in his first 35 games (43 PA) this year.

15) The Tigers called up P Jamie Walker and sent P Jose Paniagua to the minors.

Walker had a 5.44 ERA/-3 RSAA in 50 games as a 25 year old rookie with the 1997 Royals, which he followed with a 9.87 ERA/-10 RSAA performance in 6 games in 1998. He was out of the majors until this year, when he had a 3.52 ERA/2 RSAA in 27 games earlier in the year.

After 6, 8 and 9 RSAA seasons from 1998-2000, Paniagua slipped to -1 in 2001 and is off to a 6.19 ERA/-7 RSAA start in his first 35 games. He has a 4.41 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.62, and 5 RSAA in 263 games.

This is just wild speculation on my part, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Paniagua end up with the Yankees. He has the right to refuse the assignment to the minors and become a free agent. The Yankees had been rumored to be interested in him for a while and may be interested in taking a shot at adding him to the bullpen if he tests the open waters.

16) The Angels sent P Matt Wise to the minors and activated P Al Levine from the DL.

After appearing in 19 games with the 2000-01 Angels, Wise is off to a 3.24 ERA/1 RSAA start in his first 7 games.

Levine's 46 RSAA from 1999-2001 made him the 4th most productive reliever in the AL, behind Keith Foulke (73), Derek Lowe (63) and Mariano Rivera (58). He's off to a 4.11 ERA/1 RSAA start in his first 33 games.

17) The Padres signed P Jonathan Johnson to a minor league contract.

18) According to New York Newsday, the Mets and Tigers are discussing a Bobby Higginson trade, possibly for Jeromy Burnitz.

[Max Power]

Interesting take on the game fixing............sorta like the casinos...........

..........player comes in, counts cards, and they throw him out. Meanwhile, it's OK for the casino to play games (get guys boozed up, etc.) as long as it helps them.

OK, maybe that's not an exact match. But, the point is, the "house" (in this case MLB) always gets to do what it wants - - - betcha if people stopped going to casinos, they would take notice and make some changes.

Still think basebal fans need to make a statement too - - - but, it seems that most don't agree with me - - at least according to some posts in the forum and some of the hate mail I get.......

[nyy26wc]

According to Forbes's figures, the only teams in baseball that are taking in less than $75 million a year in revenue are the Twins and Expos. And those 2 teams are taking in a "mere" $74.64 and $63.26 million, respectively.

The money is there for every team in baseball to try to compete, if they choose to do so.

If a team doesn't choose to try to win, people have no right to tell them they have to. But, they have no right demanding more money from other teams.

[mkempton]

Call me stupid, but I don't see what the comments that came right after the Findley trade have to do with the Indians. It was a good baseball trade in my eyes. Findley's a free agent at the end of the year, and obviously not part of the future in Cleveland, so why not get something for him? Money does not seem to be an issue here. Mark Shapiro is finally building for the future the right way. What am I missing?

[SmedIndy]

The Finley trade should have been done earlier. It's a trade that has existed throughout baseball history.

What sickens me is the KC Royals of the world not even trying. I think Lee's points are valid, but not towards the Finley trade.

[mkempton]

When would you have traded Finley? During the offseason, or just earlier this year?

[sweaver]

mk, I think Lee's tirade is directed more at the attitude of "giving up" that is reflected in the Finley trade, as well as others, than at the trade itself. Garcia is a marginal prospect, who if everything goes right might be a poor man's Richie Sexson. Finley is a good pitcher right now. Simply on the players' merits, who would make such a deal? The Indians are pitching-short as it is.

[mkempton]

I didn't realize Garcia was such a long shot. For some reason I thought BP was very high on him. I remember looking him up when there was speculation about a Boston trade and being disappointed that their only good position prospect went to St. Louis for Hermanson. I my eyes, I was looking at it as a good move, since we don't need Finley right now and it saves some money for when we do need to pick up a top notch FA (or to sign Thome). Plus we get a potential slugger to fill the need for young position talent.

Knowing that he's considered worse than Sexson doesn't sound too good. I was never very high on him, seeing his only "hyped" stat - the RBI in '99 - as a product of his environment.

Okay, so maybe this was a money trade. But I'm still not opposed to saving some money for later and giving Finley one last shot somewhere else. We're still getting some potential in return.

[nyy26wc]

There were a combination of factors--

1) the cumulative effect of all of the we don't want to win teams' actions
2) how the Indians have decided they're going to join that group
3) the fact that the labor situation could affect the trade market, so I didn't know how many more opportunities I was going to get to say that
4) the biggest factor--I had that on my mind at the moment and didn't want to have to write it out and then file it away for a later date.
5) the questions regarding how good a prospect Garcia really is. I don't like players who drop 200 points in OPS when they are spending their 2nd year in AA (although, to be more fair to him, his first year there was actually a half year).

[mkempton]

Lee:

Fair enough on the Garcia evaluation. With regards to the teams' attitudes, I look at Cleveland's more as, "we AREN'T going to win with the team we have". I think they've identified this about nine months too late, but nonetheless have done so and are going in the right direction (though Shapiro needs a more proven track record before I trust him).

With regards to Larry Dolan, I don't see him as an owner just pocketing the money. Going by the numbers released last year (and the media deals are pretty well known around here, so there's not much room to fib in that part of the books), the Tribe made a slim profit before Bud's Plan To Make His Brewers Richer. He bought the team at its absolute peak, and you knew he was going to see a decrease in attendence and related spending (to which overall revenues are pretty closely tied), so a decline in some income was expected. Nothing wrong with cutting payroll, especially with some of the contracts John Hart left them. But weeks after buying the team, Larry Dolan had shown a willingness to spend even more money than he knew he could bring in when he authorized a $160 million offer to Manny Ramirez.

Dolan says he has the money to spend when the time is right, and I have seen no reason yet to doubt him. If he's speaking the truth, and actually gets the whole baseball rebuilding process/cycle, he's a pretty smart owner.

This still doesn't make up for the stupid comments about the Yankees last week, though.

[Allard]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
The Finley trade should have been done earlier. It's a trade that has existed throughout baseball history.

What sickens me is the KC Royals of the world not even trying. I think Lee's points are valid, but not towards the Finley trade.

smed,

I'm not sure I would say they're not trying. Remember, David Glass upped the payroll past 50 million this year, a significant increase. The problem is grossly poor talent evaluation. I think that KC management honestly felt like they had a decent team on the field the last two years, when they only had a handful of players that should be on a major league roster. I agree with lee that the money is there to compete, but I think that scouting and development must be a higher priority than spending money. If Oakland keeps up their current organizational model, they will be competitive for years to come on an average to below average payroll. Spend the money on college pitchers and Dominican players, who are all going to be cheaper than Neifi Perez.

That said, KC management has just been waiting for a new CBA for a few years now before they make concrete decisions about the future of the franchise. So no, they are not trying as hard as they should. I'd still rather be a Royals fan than a Rangers fan. They tried pretty hard this offseason, as I recall.