Ooh the last line got me - it's that classic "Fascination" song. I have no clue on the artist. Great old song though.

http://economics.about.com
Hehehe.. the last line isn't even in the song.. it's a bastradization I made so it at least sort of flowed with the rest of the roundup. :)

Cheers,

Mike

http://me.woot.net
Reading Griffin's article on Mondesi today made me realize just how good a move Ricciardi made in dumping Mondesi. Raul comes across as very egotistical, self-centred and totally unconcerned with the fact that he's perceived as a bad influence everwhere he goes. In order to play anywhere this season, the man had to take a $US 11.25 million pay cut. That should tell him something.

(And what the hell were the Pirates doing making his second year $US 8 million? Even with a $US 600k buyout, that's insane.)

The guys who were calling yesterdays game mentioned that the Pirates had picked up Mondesi to show the fans that they were still trying to compete. snicker.

I can't believe how many people in newsgroups and message boards were against the July 1st, 2002 deal that send Mondesi to the Yankees.

I always loved the Mondesi silliness that went on on various Jays message boards. Other than Joe Carter, I can't think of anyone who was more overrated by Toronto fans than Mondesi. Somehow Mondesi wound up with the "team leader" label while he was in Toronto, and even after Buck Martinez and Carlos Delgado shot that idea down late in 2001, I still heard comments from fans saying "Mondesi is ten times the leader Delgado is" and other such nonsense.

It's amazing how dramatically the perception of Mondesi changed after he left the Dodgers and joined the Blue Jays, even though it doesn't appear he changed at all.

I will never forget Mondesi's first day at SkyDome as a Blue Jay, partly because, I was a small part of it.

During the first weekend of March 2000, the Jays played a weekend, Spring Training series against Cleveland. My wife and I were staying at the Dome, as were the Jays, who came in the night before.

When we went to the Diamonds Restaurant for breakfast, all the Jays were on the field, working out. Since we had a field-view room, we knew that many of the Jays were on the field for almost a half-hour. All except for Mondesi, who was in the lobby! He pointed at me and said "Where Clubhouse?"

Like a dork, I told him that the concierge would know and pointed him that way. However, King Mondesi did not move. Promptly, like a good little doggie, I went to the concierge, who came over and escorted Raul to the Clubhouse.

So, there was my moment as Raul's "Clubhouse Assistant". Guess he didn't want to waste his strength by walking to the desk. Needless to say, I did not get a tip!

I actually think Mondesi's current deal is pretty reasonable. It's not like Mondesi's a bad player. It's just that he was never the superstar everyone thought he was. $1.75 mil for some good defence and pretty good offence seems like a good deal.

Of course, it is Pittsburgh, and Raul will probably lose interest and demand to be traded some time in mid-April.

http://economics.about.com
Here's a few choice quotes from alt.sports.baseball.tor-bluejays:

---
Ricciardi set out to strengthen the Yankees for the second half, sending them Raul Mondesi, hoping that they bury the Red Sox in the standings, thus encouraging new ownership to replace the interim GM — with himself.
---
this is one god awful trade and it is bad for baseball. the commish should step in and void this trade
---
And if the Yankee fan in another thread is correct and the Jays are
paying $ 6M of next year's Mondesi salary, the privilege of going from
Green to Wiggins only cost $ 6M more (for about nuthin')

Now this is what I mean about perceiving on how good the job of J.P.
is. For those who like that the Jays just got rid of Mondesi, they
will praise J.P. for his vast GM wheeling and dealing.

For the rest of us, can anyone say they could not make a deal for a
player another playoff team wants as their starting RF, if all we want
is an overage AA player, and we are willing to bend over and pay $6M
for the privilege?

I mean: couldn't a 12 yr old kid make that deal while wolfing back
some pork rinds skateboarding down Lakeshore Blvd?
---
Jays are on downward spiral of their own making. And, the bottom is
approaching faster than many would admit.
---

And finally.. a montage of quotes collected by a guy who was 100% against the Mondesi trade. There's about 30 here, but I snipped out most of them, because this message was super long.


What's wrong with this gm, he's destroying team chemistry and getti...- Bobby C.

Can we say CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Why has he been making the Jays into - Brad

J.P. has an 'out clause ' then get him OUT. He single handedly has putt... - Don

lets let some moron in to take over the jays, tear the team apart, get r... - dan

Well, it's obvious that the hiring of Ricciardi was all a master plan... - Steve

I say MLB should contract the current BlueJays team and relocate the E... - Dusty

What will Ricciardi do now that he has completely wrecked th... - Remi

jp should leave now!!!!we dont want him!!we never did!!!oh at that mon... - jesse

If this clause is true, get rid of this guy now. He is a joke to this... - Wayne

Can't be too sooon for this jerk to go! He has already creamed t... - Terry Green

let me get this staight mondesi for a guy that won't play in the... - oram laskey

Toronto will always be a 500 or below baseball team with or without Mo... - frank

worst trade ever... - Andrew Roberts

Here's hoping JP takes that out! That Modesi trade was BEYOND ridiculous... - JPM

Brutal...how can you do that...now he can do whatever he wants to this... - Mark

---
Funny stuff.

Cheers,

Mike

even after Buck Martinez and Carlos Delgado shot that idea down late in 2001, I still heard comments from fans saying "Mondesi is ten times the leader Delgado is" and other such nonsense.

Oh, he was a leader all right. He led that 2002 team right down the toilet. Felipe Lopez is still dealing with the aftereffects of Raul's leadership.

Contrary to what silly books on management might lead you to believe, not all leadership is positive. Better to have no leadership, and even organizational chaos, than strong leadership by idiots.

http://economics.about.com
Better to have no leadership, and even organizational chaos, than strong leadership by idiots.

Okay, Burley, I've had it up to HERE with you taking shots at the Conservatives!

Cheers,

Mike

Let's give credit where it's due on getting rid of Mondesi; we have Enrique Wilson to thank. George Steinbrenner's fury at seeing the backup infielder mess up a play in right field led directly to the deal, and J.P., wondering how he would ever get out from under that contract -- not to mention the clubhouse distractions -- was only too happy to oblige.

This Gil Patterson quote (from Ganter's article) made my day:

"If you asked me do I think this team will pitch better than last year, my answer to that is going to be yes," he said. "That's not taking anything away from the people who were here, but the people we have now are better at doing the things that we've been talking about. Such as throwing strikes, getting ahead and being mentally disciplined, where they know they don't have to try and do more than they are capable of doing."

Thanks to Spencer Fordin for pointing out the "fun fact" that "Adam Peterson's spring ERA dropped 108 runs on Wednesday, (from 135.00 to 27.00)."

It's a positive development -- Peterson learned the hard way that you don't want "extra" adrenalin or "too much" intensity out there against big-leaguers. I'm very glad he got another opportunity, listened to Gil, trusted his stuff, and that it turned out well for him.

(And what the hell were the Pirates doing making his second year $US 8 million? Even with a $US 600k buyout, that's insane.)

I suspect that the Pirates and Mondesi agreed on $1.7MM or so as a salary, but the Pirates wanted to push some of that into next season so they needed to create an option with a buyout.

I suspect it was Mondesi (and/or agent) that insisted on such a high amount. Since it's such a high amount there's no way the Pirates will pick up the option, effectively making the buyout guaranteed money and still allowing Mondesi to be a FA. If Mondesi had a great year and a $2.5 million option there's a chance the Pirates might pick that up. And if the Pirates would be willing to pay that, another team would probably be willing to pay more.

Better to have no leadership, and even organizational chaos, than strong leadership by idiots.

---

Okay, Burley, I've had it up to HERE with you taking shots at the Conservatives!

To be perfectly fair, none of the three current Conservative candidates would provide strong leadership.

http://economics.about.com
To be perfectly fair, none of the three current Conservative candidates would provide strong leadership.

Touché.

Cheers,

Mike

Peter Gammons at ESPN says Chris Carpenter is looking good, comments on Jason Arnold and McGowan, and says this about O Dog:

"Toronto is encouraged by the progress second baseman Orlando Hudson is making with his right-handed stroke after a winter of hard work."

Something to keep an eye on.

Don't just slam the Conservatives for lack of leadership, the other parties are also looking a little "Mondesi".

In the Jays newsgroup on October 10th, 1999 -- a full month before the Green-for-Mondesi trade and before any possible trades were rumoured -- I said this:

If the Blue Jays want to contend next year it might be worth the risk of signing Green and hoping for the best, but I still have nightmares about being stuck with a left-handed version of Raul Mondesi.

I had no idea the Blue Jays would wind up with the real thing just a few weeks later. As you can all probably figure out, I didn't care much for the trade when it happened. Gord Ash lost my confidence when it went down.

the other parties are also looking a little "Mondesi".

Man, when direction at the top starts getting bad in any situation, I am going to talk about how Mondesi things are going. That's hillarious.

I just got an e-mail from someone with some extra opening day tickets he's looking to get rid of, face value or best offer. Two pairs, one pair on the Jays side and one on the Tigers side, face value $40 each. E-mail me (COMN) and I'll put you in touch with him, if you're interested.

Ex-Jays update : Robert Person is out for the year and has been released by the White Sox. He tore his achilles tendon.

So now that's : one ankle, one hip, one shoulder, one arrest, and one elbow in the last 12 months. Ouch.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2004/3/10pierce.html
Woe unto you all, members of the American League West!

COMN.

Adam Loewen couldn't find the plate yesterday, walking all four men he faced with 4 strikes and 16 balls in 20 pitches.

Glad to see the positive comments about Hudson by Peter Gammons.

It is easy to forget that last year was the O'Dog's first full year in the majors. His hitting from the right side will improve this year and his defence will be of high doggy quality!

Arf Arf!

my best Mondesi memory - stealing home for the go ahead run during one of my infrequent trips to the Skydome.

I see that Mike is still linking to Griffin and Baker - I guess that 7/9 ain't too bad. I'll be glad when he ignores those jerks.

The Human League, yes?

Cincy-Jays game about to start. I caught the tail end of the Jays lineup. Gross, Hill, Sequea, Gomez and Halladay pitching.

Today's one of those days I wish I subscribed to the MLB.com audio package. Robert, I hope you can share the highlights with us for a few innings. Rumour has it that Tom Cheek, whose Iron Man streak doesn't include spring training games, is taking the day off, so if Mike Wilner gets to do some play-by-play, I'd like to know how he sounds.

Good for Wilner. He will do well in his opportunity...

Little known fact: When Roy Hartsfield was fired, he was offered another job in the Jays organization--as a third man in the Cheek-Wynn radio booth. Hartsy and Early together would have made for some interesting innings!!!

Cheek is on the job.

Reed, Cat, Myers, Delgado, Phelps are the other Jays starters. Reed dropped a routine fly with two out none on in the 2nd. Smitherman and Taylor followed with a double and single to plate two. Sequea made a brilliant play up the middle to end the 3rd. Acevado is looking good - one hit allowed with one out in the bottom of the third.

Lots of ground balls for the Jays. JOSE Acevedo has faced the minimum through three, a Cat single erased on a Myers GIDP the only hit.

Terry Adams comes in to start the 4th for his first appearance this spring; Chiaffredo comes in to catch. Good day for Halladay, but only one strikeout I believe, and the two unearned runs are nothing to worry about.

The top of the 4th was what I hope to be a typical Adams inning this year. Three grounders: The second sneaking through for a hit, but the third a comebacker to Adams who starts the DP.

Nothing doing in the 4th for th Jays, but I suspect that a new hurler will be coming in for the Reds. A very impressive performance from Acevado. I'd think that it has to make him a strong candidate for the Reds' rotation given a dirth of strong candidates.

Jason Arnold enters the fray in the 4th. They're playing "Wang Chung" between innings. Mike Wilner is now doing p-b-p.

Thanks, Robert. Sounds like both starters were pretty good; I'm adjusting Acevedo on my draft list.

Taylor reaches 2nd on an error by Delgado. Gross hesitated and then overthrew the shortstop Hill (Gomez is playing third).

I think Wilner has a future as a p-b-p man should he get a chance and want the job. Already, it's apparent that Wilner understands the importance of providing observational detail for a radio audience.

Hill makes a good play on a grounder to get Taylor leaning too far off 2nd. Former Jay farmhand Ryan Freel is up.

Ooooh. Ryan Wagner pitching for the Reds. Wagner has a wicked slider - called by some one of the best in baseball. His fastball last year was in the 91-92 range, but it's tough to tell the fastball from the slider, and Wagner uses the slider as his strikeout pitch.

Delagado hits one at the 2B, who was positioned in short right field. But the 2B (Gregorio I think) booted it.

Phelpsie grounds to third - GIDP.

Robert:

Any comments on Arnold's pitching? First time out he looked good with a 94 mph fastball. Second time he was hit around a bit and was clocked at 89 mph.

What is todays word?

The pitchers are ahead of the hitters today.

Werth in for Cat. No mention of Arnold's velocity yet. Felipe Lopez enters the game as a pinch-runner (for Larkin).

Griffey loses one. 4 zip Cincy.

Wilner described it as a "moonshot". Kearns hits a linedrive but it's snared by Hill. Flyball to left, shy of the warning track by Casey - two out. Larue pops out to shallow left. End of inning.

ZZ Top interlude (Sharp Dressed Man) ....

Wagner comes out for the bottom of the 6th. McKay Christiansen (CF), D.T. Cromer (1B), FLop (SS) are in defensively, as noted by Wilner.

1-2-3 6th and the Reds pitchers have still faced the minimum.

R.E.M. interlude! Odd choice of song, though (I'll let the readers guess).

Jerry's back. That concludes Mike Wilner's p-b-p at least for the moment. No stumbles, no dead air, seamless transitions from background information to play description. No dramatic pauses (I like those) but this is only an exhibition game.

Seems to me that Mike has to be considered for Baseball America's Top 10 play-by-play prospects ;-)

Jayson Durocher pitching. The booth is talking about Durocher's famous family member - Leo. Alex Rios now playing centre.

Hummel doubles in a leadoff single to make it 5-0. I've got Hummel in one of my DMB leagues, so I hope he makes the team. FLop up.

Everybody Hurts?

TMOTTB followed by Okay Blue Jays ...

Reith pitching. Alex Rios up for his first PA. Rios rolls one into centre for the Jays' second hit.

Gotta go guys, hope you gleaned some info from my commentary. Werth hits one into the corner for a double. Comeback time.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-tejada0311,0,247185.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines
Everybody Hurts?

Speaking of which... supposedly Dodgers broadcaster Ross Porter has reported that Dodger prospect Greg Miller will undergo shoulder surgery. He's already been shut down a couple times due to "shoulder tendonitis". No link for that situation as of yet.

Also Miguel Tejada has left the field in the Orioles game with an unspecified injury. COMN

Memo to Sportsnet:
FIRE FAULDS.
HIRE WILNER.
NOW.

Maybe it's just me, but the hot topics are gone from the sidebar

I'm getting the same thing Pistol... not sure what the problem is but it has happened to me a couple times before and it came back within minutes.

Dodger prospect Greg Miller will undergo shoulder surgery. He's already been shut down a couple times due to "shoulder tendonitis". No link for that situation as of yet.

Another "can't miss" HS pitching prospect.

Seriously, I hope Miller recovers...

Hot Topics went missing briefly this morning, too. We're not sure why. The script was changed from 10 to 15 then, and seemed to be working OK until recently. It's beyond my technical abilities to fix, but I'll alert Gwyn and Joe.

Wilner doing pbp with Dudek doing the translation to text. Perfect for the quiet office. Thanks, Robert.

The hot topics are back.

Re- Greg Miller shoulder surgery - Injuries can happen to any pitcher, Christopher Leonard has thrown a total of 0 pitches for the Jays since being drafted out of college in 2002.

The R.E.M. song was "It's the End of the World As We Know IT". Relax, it's just an exhibition game ;-)

Some BBFL questions here:

First, can we get payment sorted out for the Barfield division and upgrade the league to Premium so we can take advantage of Yahoo's content please? Not to harrass Mike, but it'd be helpful for those of us who have other fantasy leagues.

Second, who is missing from the Barfield division? We're still at 19.

Third, a message was posted in the Leftovers league about this: the set up in the Leftovers league has two differences with the BBFL rules. K's are a 7th category for pitchers, and 25 IP is the minimum that a team's pitchers must reach in a week or else forfeit all the pitching categories. Is this intentional?

Thanks Mike, or whoever else might know the answers to these questions.

Injuries can happen to any pitcher

Exactly.

But the chances of an injury is higher for a player the longer he's in an organization. So if you can reduce that time you might as well shift some of the injury risk to someone else if you can.

http://economics.about.com
First, can we get payment sorted out for the Barfield division and upgrade the league to Premium so we can take advantage of Yahoo's content please? Not to harrass Mike, but it'd be helpful for those of us who have other fantasy leagues.

Ooops.. I completely forgot to do that.. I'll do that later today.

Third, a message was posted in the Leftovers league about this: the set up in the Leftovers league has two differences with the BBFL rules. K's are a 7th category for pitchers, and 25 IP is the minimum that a team's pitchers must reach in a week or else forfeit all the pitching categories. Is this intentional?

The 25IP is a part of all 3 of the leagues.. at least, it's supposed to be if I didn't mess something up.

The K's must be a mistake.. I'll have to fix that as well.

Thanks for your keen eye. :)

Cheers,

Mike

http://economics.about.com
But the chances of an injury is higher for a player the longer he's in an organization. So if you can reduce that time you might as well shift some of the injury risk to someone else if you can.

Also, most arm related injuries, both rotator cuff and elbow, tend to manifest themselves earlier than later. By drafting older players, you can see who makes it out of their age 20 and 21 seasons. My arm was done by the time I was 20 (if I ever had one!), for what it's worth.

Cheers,

Mike

"shoulder tendonitis"

Translation: We don't know what's wrong with his shoulder but we hope it goes away.

Alternative translation for shoulder tendonitis in a pitcher: Ugh.

Haines pitched a solid inning today, allowing a hit among three strike outs.

If Lilly isn't available to make his first couple of starts, will he be placed on the DL? If so, it is likely an extra bat *and* a seventh bullpen pitcher will find their way north?

Todays boxscore is posted. Rios and Werth provided the late offense, each going 2-2. Start the Rios .650 talk again.

Hill and Gross were 0-3.

Durocher and Matos each conceded a run on a couple of hits. Talley Haines gave up one hit but struck out the side.

JAson Arnold gave up the Griffey HR and another hit in two innings. Arnold has allowed 4 hits in 5 innings so far this spring, that is good. But he has only two K's in 5 innings, that is not good. Arnold needs to have a strikeout pitch.

Another good day from Rios. I assume that's on 2 PAs? Gad I hope he doesn't stall in Syracuse. No wait - I want him to stall a little so I can see him in August against the Lynx. Seriously though - July callup?

After the last couple games, a big positive to take from this one is that the pitchers didn't allow a single walk. (Unfortunately the hitters didn't draw any either).

(Unfortunately the hitters didn't draw any either)

Is that true, or is it that the boxscores just aren't listing hitters walk totals? They weren't yesteday on MLB.com/Yahoo/ESPN.

Hmm... all the walk totals from yesterdays games are listed in the boxscores at mlb.com (they're listed in the pitchers columns, not the hitters).

Right, but usually below the hitters stats, they'll attribute the walks to whom ever had 'em. USAToday's box scores might have the actual breakdown's, I believe this was sometimes the case last year.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/boxes.htm
Ya, USAtoday has them. They actually incorporate the BB's right into the hitters stat line. Click above for today's tally.

Delgado, Hudson and Wise walked today for Toro...Wise? D. Wise in RF? Hmmm, must have signed as filler with the temp OF injuries and minorleagues a rolling.

Nope, that's all wrong, I don't know where the ____ that page came from? Today's actual page doesn't list 'em. I think I give up.

The mlb.com box scores don't show who drew the walks but under the opposing pitchers line there were no walks given up by any pitcher so I think it's pretty safe to assume that no Jays drew any walks.

Wise is in Atlanta's minor league camp... must be from last year.