Front office talk

Everybody talks about how the Cincinnati Reds have torn their team apart with trades, but nobody says the same thing about the Pittsburgh Pirates for some reason. The Pirates, in case you don't remember, have traded away Brian Giles, Kenny Lofton, Aramis Ramirez, Jeff Suppan, Scott Sauerbeck and Mike Williams. They also tried to trade Jason Kendall.

However, despite all of the players they have gotten rid of in order to rebuild their ballclub, the Pirates still have a player who certainly could have helped a number of teams in playoff battles.

Matt Stairs went 2-for-4 with his 17th home run of the season last night, and is now hitting .297/.385/.574 (.960) in 102 games (249 at-bats). Stairs has obviously not played enough to qualify for the batting title, but if he had, that .960 OPS would put him 11th in the entire major leagues.

The main reason Stairs hasn't played enough to qualify for the batting title is that he doesn't hit lefties very well and simply shouldn't be playing against them. To their credit, the Pirates have not used him against lefties very much. Stairs has just 24 at-bats against southpaws this year, in which time he has hit .208/.296/.458 (.754). That's not a very big sample, but from 2000-2002, Stairs hit .192/.279/.333 (.612) in 156 at-bats against lefties.

However, Stairs can certainly hit right-handers. In 225 at-bats this season, Stairs is hitting .307/.395/.587 (.982) against righties. That is a lot higher than what he did from 2000-2002, when he hit .246/.356/.463 (.819), but Stairs clearly still has the ability to hit well against righties.

The Pirates were not (and are not) going to do anything this season with or without Stairs and, at age 35, he is obviously not in their plans for the future. Why the didn't trade him for whatever they could get (even if it's just a marginal prospect) is beyond me.

You cannot possibly tell me that there was no team even remotely interested in a player who can bash right-handed pitching and only costs $900,000. Heck, just looking at last night's box scores, I can point out a team that definitely could use Stairs.

Maybe they didn't know it before, but after managing just four hits, two walks and no runs against Jorge Sosa, the Mariners must realize that they are at least one bat short of having a good offense.

The area in which the Mariners are especially deficient is hitting right-handed pitching. Want to guess how many Seattle players -- counting everybody, no matter how few at-bats they've had -- have an OPS against right-handed pitchers higher than Stairs' .982?

The answer is just one. Jamie Moyer is 1-for-2, which works out to hitting .500/.500/.500 (1.000), against righties this year.

Only Bret Boone, who is hitting .309/.367/.578 (.945) against righties, has an OPS above .860 among all the Mariners with at least 10 at-bats against right-handers this season.

I know Stairs isn't as good in the outfield as Randy Winn, but Winn is hitting just .267/.322/.366 (.688) against right-handers this season. I'll do the math for you and point out that Stairs' OPS against righties is 294 points higher than that.

I know Pat Gillick hates making trades (although he did get lucky with Rey Sanchez. I don't know how a player hits .207/.240/.236 in 174 at-bats with one team and then .348/.390/.384 in 112 at-bats with another team), but he should have traded for Stairs. It probably wouldn't have cost him much, and it could have really helped the Mariners. Even if Seattle didn't use him against righties every day, Stairs would have given them a potent pinch-hitter against a right-hander.

I don't know which team is to blame for Stairs not being traded -- Seattle for not offering anything or Pittsburgh for not accepting the offer -- so I'll blame both of them. It may not seem like a big deal, but it really could have helped both teams. The Pirates would have gotten a player they might be able to use down the road and the Mariners would have gotten a player who might have helped get them into the playoffs.

At any rate, I'm glad the trade didn't happen for two reasons. One, it gave me something to write about today. Two, the Mariners are now half a game behind the Red Sox in the wild card race, and they do not scare me at all.

While I'm bashing teams for moves they didn't make, I thought I'd check in on an earlier trade and bash a team for a move it did make. When the Red Sox traded Shea Hillenbrand to the Diamondbacks for Byung-Hyun Kim, there were two distinct camps.

Sabremetrically inclined baseball fans thought it was an absolute steal for the Red Sox, and other fans wondered why Boston would get rid of a cheap, young, .300-hitting third baseman.

Well, after hitting .303/.335/.443 (778) in 185 at-bats for the Red Sox, Hillenbrand has hit .261/.291/.474 (.764) with the Diamondbacks. That is pretty bad, especially that OBP, but it's not a complete and utter black hole for a third baseman.

There's a bit of a problem, though. If you look at his player page on ESPN.com closely, you'll notice that Hillenbrand is no longer listed as a third baseman. He's listed as a first baseman. After playing 29 games at third and 28 games at first with Boston, Hillenbrand has played 25 games at third and 41 games first for Arizona.

Hillenbrand's "production" this season has been simply awful for a first baseman. In Arizona's organization alone, I'm sure there are two or three players who could provide adequate defense at first base and hit better than Hillenbrand has. There is simply no good reason to ever use Hillenbrand as a first baseman.

Arizona got rid of a good, young pitcher for a bad, not-quite-as-young hitter. It was and still is an awful deal.

Now, Kim hasn't been as lights out as Red Sox fans had hoped he would be, but he does have a 3.55 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 62 strikeouts (7.86 K/9IP) and 17 walks (2.15 BB/9IP) in 71 innings. And he's 3.5 years younger than Hillenbrand.

The biggest reason trading Hillenbrand has been good for the Red Sox, however, is that they haven't been able to use him at first base like they were doing occassionally when he was on the team. It also doesn't hurt that they haven't been able to use him at third base. With Hillenbrand in Arizona, the Red Sox have three players who have been able to play pretty much every day, instead of one of them having to sit to make room for an unproductive hitter.

In case you're not aware, those three players are David Ortiz, Bill Mueller and Kevin Millar. Ortiz is hitting .293/.375/.602 (.977) with 35 doubles, 25 home runs and 84 RBI in 107 games. Mueller is hitting .319/.394/.543 (.936) with 41 doubles, 17 home runs, 73 runs and 74 RBI in 126 games. Millar is hitting .279/.355/.482 (.837) with 27 doubles, 22 home runs, 78 runs and 85 RBI in 128 games.

The Red Sox are currently scoring 6.05 runs per game (841 runs in 139 games) which puts them on pace for 980 runs. They still have a shot at scoring 1,000 runs, which they almost certainly would not have if they had kept Hillenbrand. More important, they still have a (good) shot at making the playoffs, which they also might not have had they kept Hillenbrand.

While I'm doling out congratulations to Boston's front office, I want to congratulate Kansas City's front office and ownership for not trading Carlos Beltran, who makes $6 million this year and will make a lot more next year.

After going 3-for-3 with a walk and three steals yesterday, Beltran is now hitting .306/.394/.514 (.907) with eight triples, 21 homers, 82 runs, 86 RBI and 33 steals in 36 attempts (91.7-percent success rate). In addition to being one of the best offensive centerfielders in baseball at the moment, he may also be the best base-stealer in baseball history.

In his career, Beltran has stolen 142 bases and been thrown out 19 times. Among all players with at least 200 stolen-base attempts (a group which does not yet include Beltran), I believe Tim Raines has the record with an 84.7-percent success rate (808 steals, 146 times caught stealing). Beltran's success rate for his career is currently at 88.2-percent, which is simply amazing.

The Royals may not win the AL Central (they are currently in third place, 1.5 games back) and they may not even finish with a winning record (they are currently 71-67), but they have certainly revived fan interest in their team. Last night, the Royals drew 20,385 fans to the ballpark, which isn't bad for a Thursday. So far this season, the Royals have drawn more than 20,000 fans to their home ballpark 37 times. In all of last season, the Royals had more than 20,000 fans at a home game just 21 times.

That is a tremendous improvement, and Beltran is a big part of the reason for it. The Royals may still trade Beltran in the offseason, but waiting until the offseason and allowing the team to try and make the playoffs will engender some good will with the fans.

Finally, I have some football-related stuff to talk about.

First, as I mentioned the other day, I am writing a weekly fantasy football column for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Here is the link to my first-ever column in a major daily newspaper:

Fantasy football: You're not the only owner looking for RB

I'm not technically a columnist because I don't get my headshot in the paper and the column doesn't get put in the "columnists" section on the website, but I get to use the first person and give my opinion, so that's all that really matters.

Also, Seth Stohs, who writes the blog Seth Speaks, which I have added to my list of links to the right, asked me if I would make picks for every NFL game this year, which he would post on his web site. I happily agreed, so myself and eight other people will be trying to correctly pick as many games as possible. Here's the link to see how we all picked this week.

Not only am I interested in beating everybody else Seth asked, I also want to see how I stack up against ESPN's expert football game pickers. I'll let you guys know how I do each week.

I'm a columnist now!

Well, sort of.

I'm still only employed part-time in the sports department at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, but I have just been given the opportunity to write a fantasy football column for the next 17 weeks.

Obviously, this is, if not the highlight of my writing career, well up there. I'm hoping that this encourages them to hire me full-time and also that they let me write a fantasy baseball column next year.

For now, however, I'm just concentrating on putting together a good fantasy football column, which will appear in the paper every Friday. I will post a link to the column here when it comes out each week.

For this week, the good news means that I will be taking yet another day off from blogging so that I can research what I want to write about tomorrow. I will be back with at least one post tomorrow.

I love this game!

Baseball is certainly not a game for those with weak hearts. If you do not like being disappointed many dozens of times over the course of a summer, then you should definitely not try to become a die-hard fan of any baseball team. Unlike football, where even the worst teams only have to deal with losing 15 times a year, the best baseball teams must take the emotional blow of a loss about 60 times.

I've often talked about how difficult it is to be a Red Sox fan outside of New England, because I do not get to watch nearly as many games on TV. This year, however, it may be a good thing.

Boston is a good team this year and it is a fun and exciting team. It is also a very draining team. Almost every win feels like it could have been lost 10 different ways and almost every loss feels like it should have been won 10 different ways.

The emotions are a little easier to control, however, when you are not watching or listening to every single pitch. This weekend, however, I have been watching and listening.

Living in New York, I get the YES Network as part of my cable package. So, I happily watched as the Red Sox pounded the Yankees on Friday night. Then I watched and listened to most of an agonizing loss on Saturday afternoon before finally watching every pitch of another excruciating loss on Sunday.

And today, Boston's makeup game with the Phillies was on ESPN2, so I was able to watch this thriller as well.

The bottom of the first inning had just ended when I turned on the game and saw that the Red Sox were already trailing 2-0. I would later learn that the Red Sox had not scored in the first inning despite drawing two walks, but the first part of the game I really saw was Boston going down rather meekly in the second.

Still, I've seen enough of the Boston offense to know that a two-run deficit would not be all that difficult to overcome, so all I wanted was for Jeff Suppan to settle down and hold the Phillies down a bit.

Then, Tomas Perez singled to lead off the bottom of the second. Luckily, Philadelphia starting pitcher Brett Myers was up next, and he sacrificed Perez over to second. After Todd Walker made a nice play on a Marlon Byrd line drive, I felt confident that the score would not change before the bottom of the third.

I didn't count on Suppan hanging a breaking ball to Jimmy Rollins, who deposited it over the right-field wall. Rollins is now hitting .267/.318/.386 (.705) with seven homers, 41 walks and 94 strikeouts. If you let him hit a home run off you, it simply means that you were not concentrating hard enough on making good pitches.

So, the game went into the third inning with the Red Sox trailing 4-0 rather than 2-0. Before I had a chance to become despondent, however, Boston's metronomic offense clicked on.

Johnny Damon led off with a walk and then stole second (by the way, Damon has a .399 OBP since the All-Star break). Walker followed with a nice nine-pitch at-bat that ended with him slapping a high 3-2 pitch into right field for a single that moved Damon to third.

Nomar Garciaparra, whose double play was mainly responsible for Boston not scoring in the first inning, was then robbed of at least a single on a nifty bare-handed grab and strong one-hop throw across the diamond by Perez. Damon did score on the play to put the Red Sox on the board though.

David Ortiz then knocked the second pitch of his at-bat into left for a single to move Walker to third, Kevin Millar took his third pitch into left field to score Walker and move Ortiz to second and then Trot Nixon slammed a 3-2 pitch into right field for an RBI double to make it 4-3 Philadelphia.

AL batting leader Bill Mueller followed with a groundout to tie the game at 4-4 and Suppan struck out after the Phillies intentionally walked Jason Varitek.

So, the Red Sox had a fresh start and Suppan was able to carry it through to the fourth inning by working around a walk and a single in the third.

In the top of thr fourth, Damon singled to get on base leading off an inning for the third time in four innings. After Walker and Garciaparra made outs, Ortiz and Millar walked to load the bases, bringing up Nixon with his first opportunity to break the game open for the Red Sox.

Nixon obliged, lining the ball into right field where Bobby Abreu made an awful throw back into the infield.

Damon scored easily and Ortiz was waved around by third base coach Mike Cubbage. At least initially. Ortiz is very slow and Cubbage eventually realized that the play at the plate might be close so he threw up the stop sign. But Ortiz wasn't watching Cubbage at that point, he was looking at the throw coming in and he ran right through the stop sign and on toward home plate, where Mike Lieberthal made an outstanding play by grabbing the bad toss in to him and diving to the front of home plate to tag out Ortiz and end the inning with the Red Sox leading 5-4.

ESPN's commentators for the game -- Gary Thorn, David Justice and Jeff Brantley -- criticized Ortiz for not sliding, but I don't agree. You see, Ortiz is a very large man and he doesn't slide particularly well or gracefully. Coming non-stop from second base, he had built up a lot of speed and trying to slide would certainly have slowed him down. Plus, Ortiz may very well have been safe. Lieberthal's glove and Ortiz's foot arrived at the front of home plate around the same time, but the replays seemed to show that they did not find each other there.

Either way, Boston went into the bottom of the fifth with just a one-run lead instead of what could have been a much more comfortable margin for error, and there would be a lot more error.

Suppan got the first out quickly in the fourth, but then walked Byrd on four pitches. Rollins followed with a chopper to Garciaparra, who would have had to make a perfect throw to get him. Instead, he threw a little wide of first base and Ortiz could not handle it, allowing Byrd and Rollins to move up a base each. And so, when Abreu followed quickly with a single, the Phillies had the lead back at 6-5. After Lieberthal grounded into a double play to end the inning, both offenses -- and both manager's brains -- disappeared for awhile.

Carlos Silva started the fifth inning in relief of Myers, who had been pinch-hit for in the fourth after allowing five runs on seven hits and seven walks in four innings. Silva gave up a single to Mueller and then struck out Varitek.

That brought up Suppan, and I thought that it was an easy call to pinch-hit for him. There was a runner on base and Suppan had given up six runs in four innings. It looked like he would pitch himself out of the game in the fifth inning anyway, so why not take him out to give your offense a boost?

Well, Grady Little thought differently than I did, and Suppan sacrificed Mueller over to second. With two lefties coming up and a runner on second, Larry Bowa decided to go to his lefty specialist IN THE FIFTH INNING. So, Dan Plesac came in and promptly walked Damon and Walker. That forced Bowa to go to Mike Williams to face Garciaparra, who flied out to left center to leave the bases loaded for the second time in his last four at-bats.

Suppan, however, rewarded Little's faith by facing just three hitters to retire the Phillies in the bottom of the fifth, although he did give up a single to Jim Thome.

Williams followed with an easy top of the sixth, allowing just a walk to Nixon, and Suppan then got the first 1-2-3 inning of the game to send things into the seventh inning with Philadelphia still leading 6-5.

Rheal Cormier came on in the seventh and got Philly's first 1-2-3, including Gabe Kapler who pinch-hit for Suppan, ending his night at six runs allowed (five earned) on 10 hits and three walks in six innings.

Scott Sauerbeck relieved Suppan in the bottom of the seventh and immediately tried to sabotage Boston's comeback chances by loading the bases with no outs on a single and two walks.

With the game pretty much on the line, Little turned to Mike Timlin. Timlin struck out Pat Burrell, got Chase Utley to ground to Ortiz who threw home to keep Philadelphia just a run ahed and then got Perez to ground out to end the inning without a single run scoring for the Phillies.

With that impressive performance by their pitcher, Boston's offense must have felt it was time to step up and contribute to the cause.

David McCarty (who is hitting .467/.500/.800 (1.300) in his brief time with Boston) pinch-hit for Walker and drew a lead-off walk. As those of you who follow the Red Sox know, Little is infatuated with pinch-runners, so Damian Jackson went to first base and McCarty went to the dugout. This is a fine move to make, because McCarty wasn't going to play second base (Walker's position) anyway, so he would have had to come out eventually.

Anyway, Garciaparra followed with a groundball deep into the hole at shortstop, which Rollins showed great range just to get to, but could not do anything with. With runners on first and second, Ortiz came up and pounded the second pitch he saw from the left-handed Cormier, off the 8 in the 408 sign on the center field wall.

Both Jackson and Garciaparra scored on the play and Ortiz went to third on the throw home. Ortiz was hitting .217/.261/.446 (.707) against lefties this season, but that coolness must have been outweighed by his recent hotness. In his last 11 games, Ortiz is hitting .436/.532/1.027 (1.559) with seven home runs, 13 runs and 17 RBI.

With no outs and Ortiz on third, Little decided that the situation called for another pinch-runner. So, Lou Merloni went out to third and Ortiz went to the dugout. Now, this move might have helped the Red Sox score a run, as Merloni is more able to score on a sacrifice fly than Ortiz is. However, the move also emptied Boston's bench and pretty much ensured that, if things got interesting, Jackson (.602 OPS) and Merloni (.732 OPS) would have to bat in the ninth.

Anyway, with a runner on third and nobody out, Millar hit a ground ball that Merloni couldn't score on, Nixon was hit on the wrist but able to stay in the game, Mueller struck out and Varitek grounded out.

Now, it was about 4:15 at this point. I had to work at 5 and I had yet to shower. So, with the Red Sox back in the lead, I thought it would be a good time to hop in the shower. When I got out, the game was tied and Philadelphia had just loaded the bases.

Apparently, Ricky Ledee had pinch-hit for Cormier and tied the game on a solo home run. Then, Byrd walked and moved up on a sac bunt, Abreu was intentionally walked and Lieberthal was hit by a pitch.

With Thome coming up, Little turned to lefty Alan Embree. Thome greated Embree with a two-run single, after which point catcher Doug Mirabelli replaced Embree and Byung-Hyun Kim replaced Varitek.

Kim got Burrell to ground into a double play, so Philadelphia went to the ninth inning with a two-run lead for closer Jose Mesa.

After throwing a mini temper tantrum, I sat down on the couch and watched Mirabelli draw a lead-off walk and Damon line out, bringing up Jackson.

I have been somewhat remiss so far in that I have not mentioned that Manny Ramirez, who missed the entire Yankees series, was at the ballpark but not starting. The ESPN crew showed him very frequently and guessed that he would be available for pinch-hitting duties. When Jackson strode to the plate to hit for himself, it appeared that Ramirez was not available.

No matter, as Jackson knocked a single into right field. Mesa's first pitch to Garciaparra was wild and the runners moved up to second and third. After another ball, the Phillies decided to intentionally walk Garciaparra to load the bases for Merloni.

Ramirez still stayed in the dugout and Merloni came up to hit for himself. On a 2-2 pitch, Merloni hit a chopper that third basemen Perez couldn't handle, allowing Mirabelli to score and bring Boston within a run.

This presented me with a problem.

As I mentioned, I had to work at 5. At the time of Merloni's hit, it was about 4:45. However, Bowa decided he had seen enough of Mesa and went to the bullpen. I decided that I would be way too late to work if I stayed through the pitching change and for the rest of the ninth inning.

Fortunately, my friend Rob called me on my cell phone and agreed to tell me what was going on as I drove into work. So Rob, who was a Yankees fan, unhappily told me that the Red Sox were going to win because Bowa was bringing in Turk Wendell. Wendell's 3.27 ERA coming into the game wasn't bad at all, but maybe Rob just doesn't like him. One stat that wasn't good for Wendell was 25 walks and just 22 strikeouts in 55 innings.

Sure enough, Rob gloomily recounted each of Wendell's six pitches to Millar, the last of which was a 3-2 slider that was waaaaaay outside, forcing in the tying run.

That brought up Nixon, who was 2-for-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Nixon has been destroying right-handed pitchers this season (hitting .333/.426/.627 against them) and Wendell is a righty. As Rob said, "Wow, he hit that a long way."

Of course, Rob didn't say whether Nixon hit it a long way fair or a long way foul, so I had to ask him. He grudginly admitted that it was a grand slam.

After Mueller singled, Kim lined into a double play and then pitched a scoreless ninth and the Red Sox won 13-9.

Over at Baseball Musings, David Pinto said this was some of the poorest baseball he has seen all season. He said there was poor hitting, poor fielding, poor pitching and poor managing and the only reason the fans got their money's worth was that they got a Mike Schmidt bobblehead doll.

I'm not going to argue about the poor managing part, but this was a great baseball game (and not just because the Red Sox won). Sure, it was fundamentally perfect, but it was a tension-filled, drama packed, meaningful, day-time baseball game in front of a packed house.

Sure, there was bad pitching -- the team's combined for 22 runs after all. But there was also good pitching. Williams gave Philadelphia 1.1 scoreless innings and Kim gave Boston 1.2 scoreless innings. And although Timlin's final numbers were ugly, he was impressive when he came in with the bases loaded and nobody out and shut down the Phillies.

Sure, there was bad fielding -- Boston made two errors and Philadelphia made one. But there was also good fielding. Perez had a "Web Gem" on the play that robbed Garciaparra, and Walker, Millar, Lieberthal and Utley all made nice plays in the field.

Sure, there was bad hitting -- the team's combined to leave 23 men on base and hit into five double plays. But there was also good hitting. Ledee had a double and a home run in two at-bats, Thome (two singles, two walks), Damon (single, three walks) and Ortiz (single, double, two walks) all reached base four times and Rollins went 3-for-4 with a home run. And, of course, Nixon went 3-for-4 with a walk, a HBP, a double and a grand slam for a grand total of six RBI.

So, the Red Sox played another crazy, crazy game and came out on top in this one. That means all is well in Red Sox Nation.

At least until the next game.

It's a race again

I'm not talking about any of the very exciting playoff races going on. I'm talking, rather, about the NL MVP competition between Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.

Now, according to much of the national media, this race was never over. I've seen plenty of columns arguing for either one, even as Bonds pulled further and further away as an offensive machine this season. And I know what you're thinking -- Bonds hasn't stopped pulling away.

You're right.

Bonds is currently hitting .343/.526/.766 (1.292) with 40 homers, 93 runs, 80 RBI, 120 walks and seven steals in seven attempts. He also has a .423 EqA. That, obviously, is just not natural offensive production and is certainly MVP-caliber.

Pujols, in comparison, is hitting .368/.439/.687 (1.126) with 44 doubles, 37 homers, 117 runs, 114 RBI, 58 walks and three steals in four attempts. He has an EqA of .368. He's having an incredible season, but his offensive production isn't really in the same league as Bonds'. Pujols' high runs and RBI numbers are due largely to the fact that he hits in a much better lineup than Bonds does.

So, if Pujols is obviously not having as good a season offensively as Bonds, and their defense is probably a wash, then why am I saying that the race is back on?

Because I haven't yet discussed perhaps the most important number in this argument. That number would be 24, which is how many more games Pujols has played than Bonds.

Pujols has played 131 of his team's 136 games, while Bonds has played 107 of his team's 135 games. It doesn't really matter, but St. Louis has gone 2-3 in the games Pujols has missed and San Francisco has gone 14-14 in the game's Bonds has missed.

The statistic that perhaps illustrates the point most clearly is EqR. EqA basically takes a player's entire offensive contribution and transforms it into one number. EqR takes that number and modifies it by the amount the player has played. Pujols has 126.5 EqR this season, Bonds has 125.3.

So, you can see that, when playing time is taken into account, there is a useful statistic that shows Pujols to be the better offensive contributor.

I feel terrible for Bonds' loss and I certainly hope that his current medical ailment is not at all serious, but if the season ended today, I would have to give my NL MVP vote to Pujols (if I had one). And looking forward, I'd say Bonds is likely to miss more of the rest of the season than Pujols. So, unless Bonds gets his OPS up near 1.350, I think Pujols will deserve this year's NL MVP award.

Me making this argument is kind of strange, because I always get upset at people for giving the MVP award to somebody with lesser stats instead of giving it to a deserving Barry Bonds. This year, Bonds is again very deserving (and it would seem very strange to ignore a 1.292 OPS), but Pujols is also deserving and has put in much more time.

It's kind of like the argument facing people who vote for the Cy Young award when Pedro Martinez has one of his exceptional, but shortened seasons. Can you give the Cy Young award to a pitcher who is unbelievable for 28-29 starts when there is another pitcher who has been exceptional (apparently, unbelievable is one step above exceptional on my list of adjectives) for 35-36 starts?

I don't think you can. And I don't think you can give the NL MVP award to Bonds right now. Despite the ridiculousness of his offensive value.

More time off

I thought this week would allow me to get back into the swing of blogging, but I have continued to be busy and I have had a great deal of blogger's block. So, I am going to take this week off from trying to think of anything to blog about and try to come back strong next week. For those of you anxious to read more baseball stuff, please check out the wonderful links to the right.

State of the Red Sox Sunday

It's been a long time since I've done one of these, but it's about time for a new one. After two excruciating losses, the Red Sox picked up three very big wins. Boston is now five games behind the Yankees in the AL East and tied with Oakland in the wild card race (both teams are two games behind Seattle).

Starting pitchers

Pedro Martinez has been awesome with a 2.32 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 10.15 K/9IP, 2.44 BB/9IP and 0.38 HR/9IP. However, he's still prone to missing time, as his current illness shows once again. Pedro has pitched just 143.2 innings this year and is on pace to make just 28 starts and pitch just 182 innings.

Tim Wakefield has quietly been pretty solid recently. Wakefield had a 2.85 ERA in 41 innings in July (38 strikeouts and 11 walks) and a 4.26 ERA in 25.1 innings in August (22 strikeouts and seven walks). For the season, he now has a 4.18 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 144 strikeouts (8.02 K/9IP), 61 walks (3.40 BB/9IP) and 20 homers allowed (1.11 HR/9IP) in 161.2 innings.

Derek Lowe continues to be all over the map this season and it doesn't seem to depend on whether he's pitching at home or on the road any more. For the season, he has a 4.83 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 87 strikeouts (5.0 K/9IP), 52 walks (2.99 BB/9IP) and 14 homers allowed (0.80 HR/9IP) in 156.2 innings. Lowe's strikeouts are down, his walks are up, his home runs are up and his batting average against is way up. Most people expected Lowe to be good, but not nearly as good as last year. His performance this season, however, has been completely unacceptable for a guy who's supposed to be the team's No. 2 starter.

With most Red Sox fans clamoring for him to be replaced, John Burkett has mostly gotten the job done. Since the beginning of June, Burkett has a 3.07 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 5.84 K/9IP, 2.19 BB/9IP and 0.73 HR/9IP in 86.1 innings. For the season, he has a 4.99 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 5.53 K/9IP, 2.49 BB/9IP and 0.91 HR/9IP in 148 innings. He's been a perfectly fine fifth starter for Boston.

When the Red Sox traded Freddy Sanchez for Jeff Suppan, most Red Sox fans weren't ecstatic about it, but they figured Suppan would at least be better than Ramiro Mendoza. Well, in his first three starts for the Red Sox, Suppan was absolutely awful. In 16.1 innings, he allowed 16 runs on 20 hits (including five home runs) and five walks. So, not only was his start Friday night crucial for the Red Sox, it may have been crucial for him to keep his spot in the rotation. After allowing two runs on six hits and no walks in 6.2 innings, Suppan now has some momentum to take into the stretch run. That's a good thing, because the Red Sox need him to give them a quality start just about every time out.

Bullpen

Everybody knows that the bullpen was a huge weakness at the beginning of the season, and everybody knows that Theo Epstein did a tremendous job of fixing that weakness during the season. Strangely, it's the newcomers to the bullpen who have the most unattractive numbers.

Byung-Hyun Kim was one of the most applauded acquisitions of the season for any team, but he's allowed six runs (five earned) in his last three innings (four appearances). In August, Kim has an ugly 6.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 10 strikeouts and three walks in 12 innings. That follows a July in which he was almost unhittable -- 0.96 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 22 strikeouts (10.61 K/9IP) and six walks (2.99 BB/9IP) in 18.2 innings.

After not allowing an earned run in his first 4.2 innings with Boston, Scott Sauerbeck has allowed three earned runs in his last 2.2 innings (four appearances).

Scott Williamson has an ugly 4.66 ERA with Boston. Most of that, however, is because he allowed four earned runs in a third of an inning on August 8 against Baltimore. In his other 9.1 innings, he's allowed just one run on six hits and two walks.

Todd Jones has a 6.14 ERA with Boston. In one stretch at the end of July and beginning of August, he allowed 11 runs (10 earned) in 5.1 innings. Since that stretch ended, he's allowed two runs in 7.2 innings.

Boston's two most effective relievers recently have been two of the guys who were part of the early-season mess.

Mike Timlin has allowed three earned runs in his last 11.1 innings. All three of those runs came in one inning against Seattle on August 15. In the other 10.1 innings, he's allowed just five hits and no walks with 11 strikeouts. Timlin's 3.86 ERA in August is his highest in any month since his 4.42 April ERA. For the season, he has a 3.38 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 59 strikeouts (7.38 K/9IP), just five walks (0.63 BB/9IP) and nine homers allowed (1.13 HR/9IP) in 72 innings.

Alan Embree is having a great August with a 1.08 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, seven strikeouts and two walks in 8.1 innings.

Starting lineup

Catcher - Jason Varitek is the best catcher in the American League right now. He's hitting .282/.356/.540 (.895) with 21 home runs and 76 RBI. He's already set a career high in homers and tied his career high in RBI. His SLG and OPS would also be career highs. Jorge Posada is having a better offensive season, but Varitek is generally regarded as a much better defensive catcher, and he's the backbone of the Red Sox.

First base - In addition to recently turning into the Rally Karaoke Guy, Kevin Millar has been well worth all the trouble it took to get him this season. He's hitting .287/.357/.498 (.855) with 21 homers and 79 RBI. Millar ranks third among qualified AL first basemen in OPS.

Second base - Todd Walker has been an absolute dead spot in the lineup recently. He has two hits in two of the last three games, but before that he was 8-for-55 (.145) with two doubles (.182 SLG), three walks (.186 OBP) and eight strikeouts in August. For the season, he's now hitting .272/.320/.397 (.717). He's the only Boston regular without at least 10 homers (he has nine), the only regular with a batting average below .275, the only regular with an OBP below .345, the only regular with a SLG below .420 and the only regular with an OPS below .765. I know that says as much about how good the Boston offense is as it does about how bad Walker's been, but I really hope the trade of Freddy Sanchez doesn't mean that Walker will be back next year. He's not worth it.

Third base - Bill Mueller has been a complete revelation this season. There have been stories that players who have played with him before aren't surprised to see him hitting well, but nobody could have expected him to hit this well. He's hitting .328/.403/.559 (.962) and has set career highs in doubles (38), triples (5), home runs (16) and RBI (64). The Red Sox liked him because of his .370 career OBP, but he's surprised everybody by being the best offensive third baseman in the majors.

Shortstop - Nomar Garciaparra is better than he was last year, but he's not up to the level he was at before his wrist injury. He's hitting .319/.359/.550 (.908) with 33 doubles, 12 triples, 22 home runs, 97 runs, 84 RBI and 15 steals in 20 attemtps (75-percent success rate). He's the second-best shortstop in the majors, and he could certainly win his first MVP award if he has a great September and carries the Red Sox into the playoffs.

Left field - Manny Ramirez is simply an amazing hitter. He's hitting .318/.420/.583 (1.003) with 30 doubles, 31 home runs, 98 runs and 90 RBI. If he keeps his OPS above 1.000, it will be his fifth straight season with an OPS above 1.000. There are three truly special left fielders in baseball right now, but Ramirez is the only one who plays in the AL.

Center field - Johnny Damon said he would have a big second half for the Red Sox, and he's backing that statement up so far. Damon is hitting .319/.394/.464 (.858) since the All-Star break. For the season, he's hitting .276/.347/.421 (.768) with 30 doubles, five triples, 11 homers, 82 runs scored and 23 steals in 28 attempts (82-percent success rate). He's also a pretty solid defensive center fielder, even if he does throw like a girl.

Right field - Trot Nixon is finally playing like everybody thought he would when he was drafted way back when. He's fifth in the AL in OPS and third in the AL in OPS against right-handed pitchers. He's hitting .304/.391/.577 (.968) with 22 doubles, six triples, 24 home runs, 72 runs and 77 RBI. He's one of three Boston players (Ramirez and Mueller) in the top six in the AL in OPS and one of six (Garciaparra, Varitek and Millar) in the top 25 in the AL in OPS.

Designated hitter - David Ortiz would also be in that group of Red Sox players in the top 25 in the AL in OPS if he had played enough to qualify for the batting title. He's hitting .276/.362/.553 (.915) with 34 doubles, 18 home runs and 67 RBI. He's been everything I thought Jeremy Giambi would be for the Red Sox this season.

Summary

I've seen all sorts of talking heads recently saying that of the four teams (Boston, Seattle, Oakland and the Yankees) fighting for three playoff spots in the AL, the Red Sox won't make it because they don't have enough starting pitching. As is often the case when talking heads get going, that's just ridiculous.

You want to know why the Red Sox lost four straight games to Texas and Baltimore? Because they scored just eight runs in those four games.

You want to know why the Red Sox lost nine of 13 games recently? Because they averaged just 3.69 runs per game over that stretch.

The Red Sox have scored 5.98 runs per game this season. If they score around six runs per game the rest of the way, their starting pitching will look just fine. If the offense slumps, then of course the starting pitching won't look as good.

The Red Sox are not a perfect team, but no team is this year. The Red Sox have a better chance of reaching the playoffs than Oakland (now that Mark Mulder is probably out for the year) and as good a chance as Seattle has. The Red Sox even still have a definite shot at winning the AL East.

Boston has gotten the best OPS in the AL from their left and right fielders, the second-best OPS in the AL from their designated hitters, shortstops, third basemen and catchers and the fourth-best OPS in the AL from their second basemen. If the offense avoids any more slumps this season, it can certainly carry a less-than-stellar pitching staff into the playoffs.

Amazing

I'm happy that Barry Bonds hit his second walk-off homer in three days, because those are the kinds of things that MVP voters like to see.

I'm not making this post to argue that Bonds should be the NL MVP this year, however. I'm just making a quick post to point out something ridiculous.

Yesterday, I wrote about Alex Rodriguez and the ridiculous month he is having, hitting .360/.478/.933 (1.411) in August through yesterday.

Well, since the beginning of July, Bonds is hitting .413/.581/.981 (1.562).

That is simply absurd. And, as one of you pointed out yesterday, it gets even more absurd because the month that Rodriguez is having isn't really much better than what Bonds has done the last three years.

Since the beginning of the 2001 season, Bonds is hitting .344/.540/.812 (1.352).

That's almost three full seasons, and that's simply unbelievable.

Last week, one of the columnists at the paper I work for asked me who I thought the Greatest Living Ballplayer is now. I said that I think I might have to go with Bonds. The man is simply unreal, and I think he'd go down as the second-best player of all-time even if he retired today.

I'm back, and so is ARod

First of all, I'd like to thank everybody who continued to check this site during my absence. I really do appreciate. Second, I'd like to say that it's good to be back.

I had a great time the last 2-3 weeks with my increased responsibilities at the paper. I got to write 10 stories from Buffalo Bills training camp and five stories from the PGA Championship and I got a ton of recognition from the higher-ups at the paper (hopefully, that has an immediate, positive impact). However, I have very much missed blogging every day, so it's kind of nice to be winding down a little (and getting internet access back at home helps too).

Now, back to blogging.

I was checking out ESPN.com today, as I often do, and I noticed Sean McAdam's story about the AL MVP race. As you may also have noticed if you read the story, a certain star shortstop is not mentioned at all.

Earlier this season, I wrote that Alex Rodriguez was not the clear-cut best offensive shortstop in the AL as he had been in the past couple seasons. Apparently offended, Rodriguez has hit .366/.489/.930 (1.419) in August so far.

Look at those numbers again just in case you didn't realize the first time how impressive that is. Bret Boone, who is mentioned in McAdam's story as an MVP candidate, ranks ninth in the AL with a .929 OPS. Rodriguez's SLG during August is one point higher than that, at .930. That, my friends, is just ridiculous.

I know what some of you are going to say now. Rodriguez can't be the MVP, his team's in last place. They could still be in last place without him.

Well, the Texas Rangers are in last place, but not alone. With a win yesterday and an Anaheim loss, the Rangers moved into a tie for third place at 60-67.

Want to guess how many games the Rangers have lost in August (the month during which Rodriguez has turned into an offensive force unlike anything the world has ever seen out of a shortstop)?

Four. Out of 19.

The Rangers have gone 15-4 in August so far to pull into a tie for third place with the Angels. I don't think I need to tell you exactly who is most responsible for this incredible surge.

I know I'll never convince most people that a player on a losing team might be the most valuable player in the league, but I think you can see just how important Rodriguez has been to the Rangers, especially in August.

Now, let's see how Rodriguez stacks up against the rest of the candidates for the AL MVP award.

Rodriguez is currently hitting .305/.400/.602 (1.002) with 36 homers, 99 runs, 93 RBI and 16 steals in 18 attempts (88.9-percent success rate) and he has not missed a game this year. He's first in the AL in homers, sixth in RBI, first in runs, eighth in walks (66), seventh in OBP, first in SLG and second in OPS.

He is benefiting from the park he plays half his games in, but not as much as you might think. Rodriguez is hitting .323/.410/.622 (1.032) at home and .286/.389/.581 (.970) on the road. Even if you just compared Rodriguez's road numbers to everybody else's overall numbers, he'd rank 10th in the AL in OBP, second in SLG and fourth in OPS.

The only player who has a higher OPS than Rodriguez in the AL is Carlos Delgado at 1.025. The difference, of course, is that Delgado provides below-average defense at first base and Rodriguez provides above-average defense at shortstop. Also, Rodriguez certainly adds more value on the basepaths, both with his stolen bases and because he can take an extra base on other player's hits more often.

By the way, Delgado is being helped by his home park even more than Rodriguez is. Delgado is hitting .359/.462/.705 (1.167) at home and just .249/.397/.493 (.890) on the road.

So, it's entirely possible, just by looking at generally accepted stats, that Rodriguez provides more offense than any other player in the AL. He also plays a very important position, and plays it well by most accounts, and has not missed a single game.

Let's take a look at some less-conventional stats to see where he stands there.

According to Baseball Prospectus, Rodriguez ranks sixth in the AL with a .330 EqA (Equivalent Average is a measure of total offensive value per out, with corrections for league offensive level, home park, and team pitching). Of the five players ahead of him on that list, four are 1B-LF-DH types (Jason Giambi, Delgado, Manny Ramirez and Edgar Martinez) and the one who isn't (Melvin Mora) has only played 85 games.

Rodrigez ranks second in the AL with 105.1 EqR (this is simply Equivalent Runs, which combines your EqA and the amount you have played). Giambi is slightly ahead of him at 106.9 and he is slightly ahead of Delgado (103.8) and Ramirez (102.9).

In RARP (runs above replacement position, which measures how good a hitter you are compared to other hitters at your position), Rodriguez easily leads the AL with 64.2. Giambi is second at 57.3 and nobody else is above 55.

So, there you have it. You may or may not care, but if the season ended today, Rodriguez would be the MVP of the AL. Of course, he wouldn't win the award.

In fact, I think Rodriguez's legacy as a baseball player will be three-fold: the best shortstop of all-time, the first player to have a $25-million contract and the player who missed out on the most deserved MVP Awards.

This year will likely make four (at least) and counting.

Attention golf fans

For those of you who work during the day and would like to be able to follow all the happenings at the 85th PGA Championship, here is the link to the Democrat and Chronicle's site that will be updated as things happen throughout the day (in fact, it may be yours truly who is doing the updating):

PGA Coverage

I'm sure other sites will be updating throughout the day as well, but as the local paper, we will have 15 reporters out there and should have the most in-depth live coverage on the web.

As with the Bills stories that I have been posting here, please e-mail me if you click on that link.

Speaking of Bills stories, here is my latest:

A huge talent gets better

Thanks everybody

What a week

I'd like to apologize again for the lack of baseball writing going on here recently. I didn't think it was possible, but my life is even more hectic than it was last week.

In addition to being very busy at work and still unpacking as my girlfriend and I move into our new apartment, I've also had three major inconveniences recently. First, my car battery died. After my girlfriend and I unsuccessfully tried to jump it, her dad's auto shop sent somebody out with a battery pack to jump it. That worked and I left the car running for a while before turning it off. However, when I went to start it again, it wouldn't start. Fortunately, I was able to jump it myself and it started again the next time I had to use it and seems to be fine now.

Then, our internet service at our new apartment died. I haven't really had time to call the cable company, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Hopefully, we'll get the internet back soon.

Finally, my cell phone lost service yesterday afternoon. I went into cingular today and it seems to be okay now.

As I said, things have been pretty hectic. Anyway, to show you that I have indeed been keeping busy, I thought I'd post the Bills story and notebook I wrote that ran in today's paper.

Benched, but not forgotten

Weir unwinds at Bills workout

Like last week, please e-mail me if you read either of those. Also, I'd like to thank everybody who has been e-mailing me to say they read my stories from last week. I really appreciate it.

Finally, I really want to thank everybody who has continued to stop by this blog even though I'm not currently able to write about baseball. I promise that I will get back to blogging as soon as possible.

Another Bills story

I have another story from Buffalo Bills training camp in today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. If you would like to read it (sorry there's still no new baseball stuff for you to read here), here is the link:

Crowell learning from Bills' veterans

Like yesterday, if you click on that link and read the story, PLEASE e-mail me. You can also use the link at the bottom of the story. Remember, I'm asking for e-mails so that I can show my editor how blogs can accentuate a newspaper, I'm not doing this to inflate my ego or anything.

Also, I'd like to thank everybody who e-mailed me yesterday. I think I got eight e-mails, which is pretty good considering that this is a baseball blog that gets about 100 hits a day and that was a football story. If any of you read the story yesterday and didn't e-mail me, please do so. If you want to tell me what you thought of the story, that would be great, but mostly I just want to be able to tell my editor how many people read that story because of this blog.

Thanks

Exciting day for me

In today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the centerpiece story on the cover of the sports section is by none other than yours truly. This isn't the first time I've had the centerpiece story (I think it's the second or third), but this story is about the Buffalo Bills (specifically, a Buffalo Bill -- cornerback Kevin Thomas), which means a ton of people will read it. If any of you are interested in reading it, here is the link:

Bills' Thomas finds his focus

If you do click on that link and read the story, PLEASE e-mail me and let me know (1) that you read it and (2) what you thought of it. It's very important to me to find out how many people click on that link and read the story, because I want to be able to tell my editor how blogs can accentuate a newspaper. (If my email link isn't working, my address is: benj13blue@yahoo.com)

Thank you

Roger Klemens

For somebody with six Cy Young awards, one MVP award, 300-plus career wins, 4,000-plus career strikeouts and a sure ticket to Cooperstown, Roger Clemens is managing to somehow have an underrated season at age 40 (41 as of Monday).

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, because there's one specific area in which he's not getting the recognition he may deserve. That area is strikeouts, which was also largely overlooked when he got his 300th win and 4,000th strikeout in the same game. People seem to think that the former milestone is more important than the latter, even though the 4,000 strikeout club is much more exclusive.

I'm not here to argue about that, I'm just here to point something out. That something is that Clemens currently leads the AL with 148 strikeouts.

If Clemens can finish the season with the most strikeouts in the AL, he will become just the second pitch in baseball history to do three different things -- lead his league in strikeouts at age 40 or older, lead his league in strikeouts in three different decades and lead his league in strikeouts with three different teams.

Clemens led his league in strikeouts for the first time in 1988, when he punched out 291 hitters in 264 innings at age 28 with the Boston Red Sox. Still with the Red Sox, he led the AL again three years later with 241 strikeouts in 271.1 innings. In his final season with Boston, a 33-year-old Clemens struck out 257 batters in 242.2 innings to lead the AL in 1996.

The following season, Clemens was in Toronto, where he struck out 292 batters in 264 innings. In 1998, he led the AL in strikeouts again with 271 strikeouts in 234.1 innings at age 35 for the Blue Jays.

Now, as I said, Clemens is 41 (this will count in the record books as his age 40 season). He is with the New York Yankees (his third team). The year is 2003 (his third decade).

I think you can all guess who the first player to accomplish all three feats was.

Nolan Ryan led his league in strikeouts 11 different times.

The first time was in 1972 with the California Angels at age 25. He led the league in strikeouts with the Angels six more times (73, 74, 76, 77, 78 and 79).

Ryan didn't lead his league in strikeouts again until 1987, when he was playing with the Houston Astros at age 40. He led the NL in strikeouts again the next year, before joining the Texas Rangers in 1989.

He led the league in strikeouts in 89 to become the first player lead his league in strikeouts with three different teams. He led the AL in strikeouts again the next year to become the first player to lead his league in strikeouts in three different decades.

Clemens has a chance to do three amazing (or merely interesting, depending on how you feel about it) things this season. Like all achievements involving strikeouts, however, Ryan did all three things first. Still, I think Clemens should be getting more attention for what he's doing this season.

To still be pitching effectively after age 40 is impressive. To still be the best strikeout pitcher in your league at that age is unbelievable.

Note - I'd like to apologize for the scarcity of posts recently. Covering Buffalo Bills training camp every day while trying to move into a new apartment at the same time has been more hectic than I thought it would be. And next week will probably be just as bad, as Bills camp will still be going on and the PGA Championship will be in town. Eventually, however, I promise that I will get back to posting as much as I used to.

Surprisingly offensive catcher

Quick, name the three best-hitting catchers in the National League this season.

If you said Javy Lopez, Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Lieberthal, you're right. Sort of.

Those are the top three on the OPS list among catchers who have played enough to qualify for the batting title. If you reduce the standards a bit, however, then Lieberthal gets bumped to fourth. And you'll probably never guess who is doing the bumping.

Jason LaRue came into this season hitting .239/.312/.404 (.716) in 301 games in the major leagues. Heck, he had only managed to hit .251/.308/.448 (.756) in 167 games at Class AAA.

This season, however, LaRue is hitting .247/.347/.494 (.841) with 14 homers in 76 games. LaRue generally displayed a little bit of power in the minor leagues, but he never showed any patience at the plate. That hasn't really changed this year, though. He may have an OBP 100 points higher than his batting average, but he only has 24 walks.

What's his secret then?

He's been hit by 16 pitches in 76 games. Not only is he tied for the NL lead in getting plunked (with Craig Biggio), but only one other NL player who has been hit at least 10 times has played in fewer than 100 games (Mike Kinkade has been hit 11 times in 68 games).

While he's not walking much and he's not really getting hit (or hits) enough to make him an OBP machine, he is doing better than last year. Last year, he drew 27 walks (he already has 24 this year) and got hit 13 times (which he's already surpassed this season).

The real surprising thing this year, is just how much more power he's showing.

Last year, LaRue hit 17 doubles and 12 home runs. He already has 17 doubles and 14 homers this year. Three of those 14 home runs have come in his last four games.

On Tuesday, LaRue led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run that forced extra innings, where the Reds defeated the Rockies. On Wednesday, he led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a home run to win the game for the Reds. And yesterday, LaRue tried to get Cincinnati back into the game by homering in the sixth inning to cut San Francisco's lead to 6-2.

Impressively, LaRue has gotten better every single month this season.

In his one game in March, LaRue hit .000/.250/.000 (.250) by going 0-for-3 with a walk.

In April, LaRue hit .234/.367/.422 (.789) in 64 at-bats. He got 64 at-bats again in May, but improved to .266/.356/.469 (.825). In June, he hit .247/.304/.534 (.838) in 73 at-bats. He got just 37 at-bats last month, but still hit .216/.333/.541 (.874). This month (two games), he's hitting .500/.750/.500 (1.250).

Everything I've read about him indicates that LaRue is, first and foremost, a defensive catcher. However, he is 29 years old, and some catchers just taking longer to develop their offense.

If LaRue can maintain (or even build upon) this newfound success, then he will be an important part of Cincinnati's rebuilding project -- along with a couple outfielders and some new, young pitchers. Who better to help develop those young pitchers than a catcher whose calling card is defense, especially one who can also give his pitchers some much-needed run support.

Another Day Off

I know I said yesterday that I would try to make my "State of the Red Sox" post today, but I'm too depressed by their four-game losing streak. Also, my girlfriend and I are moving into a new apartment, which is taking up a lot of time. I should be able to blog every day this week, but some days I may get started later than others. Thanks for stopping by this weekend, and sorry I didn't have anything new to say.

Rumble in the Jungle

I was going to make a "State of the Red Sox" post today before I go out for the rest of the day, but ESPN has sidelined those plans. They're currently airing "The Rumble in the Jungle" and, since I've never seen it before, I think I owe it to myself to watch. I'll try to make the Red Sox post tomorrow.

Red Sox improve pitching staff

As you all probably know, the Red Sox made a trade yesterday with the Pittsburgh Pirates that was linked to their other trade with the Pirates. Essentially, Boston traded middle infielder Freddy Sanchez for starting pitcher Jeff Suppan and relief pitcher Scott Sauerbeck.

I talked about Sauerbeck when the initial trade was made and decided that he's a decent pitcher, but not likely to make a huge difference. So, today I'll just focus on Sanchez and Suppan.

Suppan has a 3.57 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 78 strikeouts (4.98 K/9IP), 31 walks (1.98 BB/9IP) and 11 homers allowed (0.7 HR/9IP) in 141 innings (6.7 IP/GS). He doesn't strike many people out, but he doesn't walk many people or allow many home runs and he gives a team a good number of innings.

Suppan's ERA will almost certainly go up a bit with Boston. ESPN.com's Fantasy Spin notes that games at Fenway feature the fourth-most runs while games at Pittsburgh feature the 23rd-most runs. That's a little misleading because Boston's offense is very good and Pittsburgh's offense, well, isn't, but there have been 6.2-percent more runs scored in Boston home games than Boston road games and there have been 21-percent fewer runs scored in Pittsburgh home games than Pittsburgh road games. It's probably not a coincidence that Suppan has a 2.88 ERA at home and a 4.36 ERA on the road this year.

So, he won't be quite as good as he has been, but he will be a lot better than Ramiro Mendoza. Even if we just count his starts, Mendoza has a 7.03 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 14 strikeouts, seven walks and five homers allowed in 24.1 innings. He never went past the fifth inning, averaging 4.87 innings per start.

Sanchez was absolutely tearing the cover off the ball with Class AAA Pawtucket before being called up to Boston (where he hardly played) for awhile. He's cooled off some, but is still hitting .341/.430/.493 (.923) in 58 games. He has decent patience and decent power, and could very well be Pittsburgh's starting second baseman for the next five years.

In fact, the general belief was that he would be the starter at second for Boston next year, so his departure is somewhat of a surprise. It's not a bad thing that he's gone, however, because he was never going to be a star and he got Boston some valuable pitching help.

My one other thought regarding this trade is what does it mean for Casey Fossum. Fossum is currently with Pawtucket "stretching out" and I'm sure you heard it reported (incorrectly) several times that he was the pitcher the Red Sox would not part with to get Bartolo Colon (I've said it before, but I may as well say it again -- the Expos wanted more than just Fossum, and Boston wanted Javier Vazquez).

Anyway, I assumed that Fossum would take Mendoza's spot in the rotation once he was done "stretching out," but now Suppan will take that spot. I suppose Fossum could take John Burkett's spot, but Burkett hasn't been all that terrible.

Another thought occured to me today, and I was hoping someone could help me clarify the rules. How exactly do waiver trades work regarding minor-league players. I know any major league player needs to clear waivers in order to be traded after July 31, but do minor leaguers need to as well?

You can probably tell where I'm going with this. I'm thinking maybe the Red Sox sent Fossum down to Pawtucket so that they could still trade him after July 31 if a good trade presents itself. Obviously, that's not the case if minor leaguers also need to clear waivers, but it was just a thought I had. If anybody knows the answer to this, please let me know.

Also, to recap: good trade for the Pirates because they got a cheap, young player who can start for them for several years and good trade for the Red Sox because they improved on their biggest weakness (the rotation) without giving up their most exciting prospect (Kevin Youkilis, at least in my eyes).

Giants Beane Orioles

As you all probably know, the San Francisco Giants traded for starting pitcher Sidney Ponson, sending the Orioles pitchers Kurt Ainsworth, Damian Moss and Ryan Hannaman.

Did Billy Beane suddenly take over the Giants or something? No disrespect to Brian Sabean, who is a very good GM, but this is exactly the type of trade Beane always makes. You have a good team, you trade for a free-agent-to-be who can help the team (see Damon, Johnny and Durham, Ray), offer him arbitration at the end of the year and take two draft picks when another team signs him.

Is Ponson a great pitcher? No, but he's better than most of San Francisco's current rotation, and he's especially better than the rotation member who just got sent to Baltimore (Moss).

Ponson has a 3.77 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 100 strikeouts (6.08 K/9IP), 43 walks (2.61 BB/9IP) and 10 homers allowed (0.61 HR/9IP) in 148 innings (7.05 IP/GS). Moss has a 4.70 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 57 strikeouts (4.46 K/9IP), 63 walks (4.93 BB/9IP) and 12 homers allowed (0.94 HR/9IP) in 115 innings (5.67 IP/GS).

There's no way to look at those numbers and think that Ponson won't help the Giants. There's also no way (as far as I can see) to look at those numbers and think that Moss will help the Orioles. Sure, he's only 26 and he had a 3.42 ERA last year, but he also struck out 111 batters (5.58 K/9IP) and walked 89 batters (4.47 BB/9IP).

Fortunately for the Orioles, they also got two other pitchers.

Ainsworth is 24 years old and had a 3.82 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 48 strikeouts (6.55 K/9IP), 26 walks (3.55 BB/9IP) and seven homers allowed (0.95 HR/9IP) in 66 innings before suffering a freak shoulder injury. He always showed excellent strikeout rates and fine walk rates in the minors, so he is a very good prospect. However, not many pitchers have broken the shoulder blade on their throwing side, so we don't really now what to expect from him coming back from that injury.

Hannaman is 21 year old (will be 22 at the end of this month) and was San Francisco's fourth-round pick in 2000. He had a 4.71 ERA, 77 strikeouts (11 K/9IP), 32 walks (4.57 BB/9IP) and seven homers allowed (1 HR/9IP) in 63 innings at Class A San Jose. Last year, he had a 2.80 ERA, 145 strikeouts (9.91 K/9IP), 46 walks (3.14 BB/9IP) and nine homers allowed (0.62 HR/9IP) in 131.2 innings at Class A Hagerstown. He walks too many people and he's still at a low level, but he strikes out a lot of guys and doesn't give up a lot of home runs, so he's certainly a worthwhile prospect.

For the Giants, I'm going to assume that they will not resign Ponson. With that assumption, this is a great trade for them. They traded two good prospects (Ainsworth and Hannaman) and one nobody (Moss) for a three-month (people always say two-month, but October is a month and it's probably the most important month) rental of Ponson AND two high draft picks. You can't even necessarily say they're mortgaging their future, because the guys they draft could certainly end up being better than Ainsworth and Hannaman.

For the Orioles, this trade his more difficult to evaluate.

Before they traded Ponson, there were four possibilities. First, they could sign him. Second, they could let him go and receive draft picks in return. Third, they could trade him and then resign him, losing draft picks to the team they trade him to. Fourth, they could trade and then not resign him.

In the first option, there is obviously no change. They keep Ponson, they don't get anything else and they don't give anything up. They obviously wuold have to pay him a decent bit of money.

In the second option, they lose Ponson and get two draft picks. They obviously would not have to pay Ponson anything.

Those two options are now out the window.

In the third option (which is now only possible in one specific way), they essentially trade two high draft picks and two months (they won't be playing in October, so they wouldn't have gotten that month) of Ponson for Ainsworth, Hannaman and Moss. The two months doesn't matter to them, so they must have thought Ainsworth and Hannaman are worth more than two draft picks. And they're probably right. Those two players have already had their signing bonuses paid by the Giants and have already been developed at least a little bit by the Giants. In this situation, they would also obviously have to pay Ponson whatever he agrees to sign for.

In the fourth option, they simply trade Ponson for Ainsworth, Hannaman and Moss. However, they are also trading away the potentiality of receiving two draft picks as compensation when Ponson signs elsewhere had they kept him. As I said before, it's probably better to have Ainsworth and Hannaman than two have two extra high draft picks.

To recap, here are the various sets of things they could have had:

First, they could have simply had Ponson and their own draft picks.

Second, they could have had their own draft picks, plus two more high picks, but no Ponson and no prospects.

Third, they could have had Ponson and the prospects, but no extra draft picks and two less of their own draft picks.

Fourth, they could have had the prospects and their own draft picks, but no Ponson and no extra draft picks.

In summary, this is a great trade for the Giants and simple a good trade for the Orioles. Of course, we've yet to see what this trade actually is for the Orioles. If they sign Ponson this offseason, the essential dynamics of the trade will change, but I think the overall quality will be about the same.

Thank you

I'd like to thank everybody who stopped by to read this blog in July. You may or may not recall, but I wasn't sure I would get more visitors in July than I got in June because I was taking two vacations. Well, I got almost as many visitors this month as I got in the previous two months combined. I was blown away by getting 3,125 visitors this month after getting 3,230 in May and June combined. Thank you everybody and keep on coming back. I really do appreciate.

Since I didn't write anything here yesterday, I figure I should at least link to the story that I wrote for the newspaper. It's my first story about one of the four major leagues -- a story on Buffalo Bills backup running back Olandis Gary.

Rested and ready, Gary's on the go

This is especially exciting for me, because I was able to go to ESPN Insider, click on My Headlines and (since I've got the Bills chosen as one of the teams I get headlines for) see my name on ESPN.com. Definitely a first for me, and very cool.

As for today, I plan on writing about the various trades that have been made recently. I do have some errands to run, but I'll try to discuss as many of the trades as I can.

Day off

I apologize, but I'm going to take today off. I spent this morning writing a story for the paper and then I had to run an errand to try and get paperwork done for an apartment application. Now I'm tired and only have an hour and a half or so before my girlfriend and I go shopping. Enjoy all trades and I'll be back tomorrow.