Congrats to NYY26WC!

[NetShrine]

Congrats to Lee (nyy26wc in this forum) for getting a mentioned in Rob Neyer's ESPN.com column today. For those who don't know it, Lee gets quoted all the time in places like Baseball America, ESPN, Baseball Weekly, etc. Why to go Lee!

Thursday, September 27
Dipping into the mailbag
By Rob Neyer
ESPN.com

Catching up on some mail while wondering if the Bobby Witt who's now 4-1 for the first-place Diamondbacks could possibly be the same Bobby Witt who arrived in the majors when I was still a teenager ...

Rob:

While sitting at Network Associates Coliseum on Sunday, a terrifying thought occurred to me. With a solitary tear in my eye as I watched the A's take a knee and pray, I could only think to myself, "I hope they're praying for their bullpen." The thought of Mecir, Tam and Isringhausen taking the mound in late innings against the Yankees, or possibly the Indians, should scare the living daylights out of anyone who bleeds green and gold.

So I pose to you the following questions ... With a much different style of baseball played in the postseason (much closer games, the need to manufacture runs, better competition, etc) how much of a detriment is the A's bullpen going to be for them? Second, do you go with a four-man rotation, or a three-man rotation with Cory Lidle used to strengthen the bullpen? Also, what do you do with Eric Hiljus and Gil Heredia if you're Art Howe? Seeing as how they both fit into the long-reliever-emergency-starter role, do you keep them both on your playoff roster or do you drop one of them in favor of a situational reliever? And last, are their any good middle relievers or closers who Billy Beane could get for two idiotic owners and a player to be named later? I know they wouldn't be able to help us this year, but there's always 2002. ...

Eric

Wow, that's a big bunch of questions, Eric. But with nothing much changing in the pennant races last night, what else am I going to write about?

First of all, I'm not sure why anyone would worry greatly about Oakland's bullpen. Let's look at their three busiest relief pitchers, the aforementioned Mecir, Tam, and Isringhausen.

IP Hits BB K HR ERA
Tam 73 67 29 43 3 3.10
Izzy 67 50 22 68 5 2.67
Mecir 58 53 24 57 4 3.72
Totals 198 170 75 168 12 3.14

No, these numbers certainly don't match up with those posted by Seattle's bullpen, nor Cleveland's. But the A's relievers aren't exactly a national disgrace, either. And no, I don't think going with a three-man rotation and putting Lidle in the bullpen would work. Pitchers rarely start postseason games on three days' rest any more, and when they do they're generally not effective. If the A's reach the World Series, Cory Lidle will start three postseason games, as he should.

As for Hiljus and Heredia, I don't really know what the club's options are. But if there's any way to get Heredia off the postseason roster, they should do it, because it's hard to imagine a situation in which he might prove useful.

Summing up, I do think that Oakland's bullpen is a weakness, perhaps their only real weakness. But it's not a glaring weakness, and I still think the A's are just a tick behind the Mariners.

Jay Cohen writes, "Rob, Brady Anderson is still below the Mendoza Line. Why has nobody noticed? That's quite a feat in this era ... isn't it?"

Well yes, I believe that it is quite a feat in this era. As near as I can tell, it's been 10 years since a major leaguer compiled at least 502 plate appearances -- thus qualifying for the batting title, heh heh -- and failed to reach even a .200 batting average.

His name was Rob Deer, and he batted .179 in 134 games for the Detroit Tigers. That same season, by the way, a big fella named Mark McGwire batted .201 in 154 games, and if memory serves his manager held him out of the season's last game, to avoid the indignity of finishing below .200.

As for why nobody's noticed that Brady Anderson is suffering through one of the very worst seasons in memory, I suppose it's because we tend to avoid focusing on the negative. Unless some poor sod likes to give baseball writers a hard time, in which case he's fair game. But Brady is a popular guy, and so you don't often hear that the worst everyday player in the major leagues is making $6.5 million this season, and will do more of the same next season.

By the way, I found something very odd when I was checking to see if Brady Anderson really is the worst everyday player in the major leagues. Seventy-seven American League players have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Brady Anderson ranks No. 77 with a .319 offensive winning percentage. Cal Ripken ranks No. 76. Jerry Hairston ranks No. 75. And yes, all three of them are Orioles.

Hairston will likely return next year, but at least he's young and might get better. Ripken is, from what I've heard, on the verge of retirement. So that leaves Anderson, who for some reason is still under contract for next year. The Oriole front office, such as it is, faces a number of tests this winter, and one of the biggest is what the hell to do with Brady Anderson.

Lee Sinins points out that the 1999-2001 Astros are the first team in major-league history to go from 90-plus wins to 90-plus losses to 90-plus wins. But big turnarounds have become relatively common in recent years.

Between 1900 and 1960, only one team (the 1911-1912 Senators) went from 90 losses to 90 wins; it's happened eight times in the last 10 years.

Between 1900 and 1975, only two teams went from 90 wins to 90 losses; it's happened eight times in the last 10 years.

It's fashionable to talk about the lack of hope that some fans have these days, but such talk lacks historical perspective. From 1916 through 1948, not once did the Philadelphia Phillies manage to finish better than fourth place. Now teams go up and down like yo-yos, and there's enough hope to go around for everybody.

One last note ... I'd like to offer my congratulations to Jared Fernandez, the Cincinnati knuckleballer who finally, at the age of 29 and after six seasons in Triple-A, made his first major-league start last night. He didn't escape the fifth inning and he took the loss, but his presence makes the baseball world a more interesting place.

[Duque]

Speaking of which, Gammons cited him on the Dan Patrick Show a couple weeks back.

Next up, television?

[NetShrine]

If it hasn't happened already............Lee, has it?

[BuzzBuzzard]

TV is not good enough. I want to see Lee as special assistant to some GM.

[nyy26wc]

TV hasn't happened yet.

I'll take the assistant GM job.

[nyy26wc]

Originally posted by NetShrine
Congrats to Lee (nyy26wc in this forum) for getting a mentioned in Rob Neyer's ESPN.com column today. For those who don't know it, Lee gets quoted all the time in places like Baseball America, ESPN, Baseball Weekly, etc. Why to go Lee!

It all started the day after David Cone pitched his perfect game. I got an email from Jayson Stark saying Lyle Spatz, the Chairman of SABR's Records Committee, referred him to me, since I might be able to provide some good information on no hitters and perfect games. I was able to come up with a whole bunch of stuff. One of my favorite items was Righetti/Wells/Cone were the first trio of pitchers to have the same first name (counting Dave and David as one name) pitch no hitters for the same team.

Since then, I've sent a bunch of stuff to Stark, have been cited many times by him and keep on getting cited by more and more people.

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
I'll take the assistant GM job.

If you need a Director of Player Personnel, please hire me. It's my dream job.

[nyy26wc]

Actually, I want a GM job and not just the assistant's position.

Meanwhile, I want to be in charge of player decisions, but I'll hire you as a right hand man.

[NetShrine]

Thanks - actually, it's not a far leap from part of what I do now - - we have about 170 people in our Div and I track their teams, roles, skills, etc. I use an access database - but, can do most of it in my head without thinking. I've always had a gift for names and remembering things about people.