A Marlins pitcher being overworked? Say it isn't so! Tim Spooneybarger is complaining of being overused in relief. His arm is tired and he was "concerned" when he was asked to get warm on Sunday after throwing two innings Friday and one Saturday. He's on pace to make 84 appearances and throw 103 innings this year, but if he continues at the pace since Jack McKeon took over from Bobo Torborg, that pace would be 111 innings. Spooneybarger is 23, he's never really been worked hard before, so there might be a period of adjustment before he takes to the increased workload... or blows out his arm.
Jack McKeon, though, knows a lot about relievers. He's had some terrific bullpens... Mark Davis won a Cy Young Award under McKeon. Danny Graves, Jeff Shaw, and Scotts Williamson and Sullivan all had some terrific years under McKeon in Cincinnati. Even his late-70s Athletics teams had some terrific bullpen performances.
Curt Schilling got his fine today, about $15,000 according to reports. The fine, of course, was for destroying a QuesTec camera. The system seems to be preventing Schilling from getting his customary strike six inches off the plate, and he's mad about it. Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux are suffering too. Schilling has complained that umpires have told him they are changing their strike zones to accomodate the QuesTec results. This, of course, is the purpose of a system designed to encourage standardization... to encourage umpires to change their strike zones. Sandy Alderson (who really isn't as bad a Commissioner candidate as my initial reaction to that rumor would have it) had the best line. Alderson said that he though Schilling wanted balls called strikes and said "If that's what he wants, he should go to the rules committee. Otherwise, he should stop whining and go about his business." Can we have more of this from MLB too, please?
As for the MLBPA, they fell down on the Schilling incident too. Usually, I like the way the MLBPA works, but seeing Gene Orza condone Schilling's action with the words "they'd be better off investigating the QuesTec system instead of Curt Schilling" it tells the world that the MLBPA don't care that cameras get smashed, they just want to play Law & Order. You're not Schilling's defense counsel, Gene... tone down the rhetoric.
Alfonso Soriano, naturally, is the leading vote-getter in the AL for the All-Star game with 378,000 votes. Jason Giambi leads Carlos Delgado at first, which tells you all you need to know about the All-Star voting. I myself like the fact that the fans vote, and like the fact that they just vote for their favorite players (who wants to see the guys who had a hot half-season? Is having a hot half-season really relevant?), but they really could stand to think about who they like. What is there to like about Jason Giambi? A scowling, vacant-looking, slow-moving lummox who is possibly the worst deodorant pitchman since... well, since Brett Favre I guess. Delgado is a vibrant, smiling charmer of a man, whose media profile is 10% of Giambi's since he plays in Canada and not New York.
Hideki Matsui is sixth among outfielders, and I find that funny... I also have no doubt that he will wind up starting, an entirely embarrassing situation for baseball all round, mostly just because there are no clear no-brainers among AL outfielders. If voting ended today, the AL outfield would be Bernie Williams, Ichiro Suzuki, and Manny Ramirez,all of whom are having somewhat disappointing seasons. The other current starters for the AL are Posada at catcher, A-Rod at short, Edgar Martinez at DH, and Troy Glaus at third.
MLB is managing to kill off the Expos in a way that their direct intervention (slashing the team's payroll to the bone) could not. Their current 25-day road trip (including six neutral-site "home" games against Anaheim and Texas starting today in Puerto Rico) is looking to be a potential disaster, with the team currently 1-6 on the trip and about to begin a twelve-game tussle with the AL West (the toughest division in baseball). That trip includes a delightful San Juan-to-Seattle flight on the 9th of June. The only silver lining is that the Expos did manage to go 6-4 on their last trip to Puerto Rico.
The Blue Jays are on pace to score 997 runs, the most since 1999 when Cleveland score 1009, and the second-most since the incredible 1950 Boston Red Sox (thanks to Aaron Gleeman, star of stage, screen, and Aaron's Baseball Blog for the information on teams scoring 1,000 runs.)
San Diego just signed Rod Beck (Aaron again: "isn't he living in a van down by the river?"). Beck was cut by the Iowa Cubs for some reason, despite chalking up a nifty 0.59 ERA in 30.2 innings, with a 26-7 K/W ratio. Nice numbers.
Enjoy the draft, everybody!
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030603021003999