Winter Classic

Well...that was a long day.  In case you do not know, the day after the MLB All-Star game is the only day during the year when none of the 4 major professional sports have action.  I spent my night watching Top Chef and then falling asleep to the Triple-A All Star Game which was entertaining.  Anyways, here are a few links to start off the day...

 

They Should Play The Canadians. I would love to go to this game, but will likely settle for a sports bar near Fenway because 1. I'm not a Bruins season ticket holder and 2. Imagine the freaking price of a marquee event at Fenway with the Red Sox brass behind some of the shenanigans...this game will be priced at a level that will leave most true Bruins fans deciding between a family vacation or freezing their asses off at Fenway for an afternoon. Hockey is a great sport and I think the Winter Classic is the best idea a professional sport has had for a major promotion in a long long time.  Seriously, name a better one.  The ratings have been going up every year and until the BCS Bowls start later that day, hockey commands the spotlight.  Not to mention it is an OUTDOOR HOCKEY GAME IN JANUARY which is enough to get ESPN to cover the thing like crazy. Combine that with Fenway Park and the freezing cold that is a New England winter and I think this is a recipe for a great day in Boston...except the NHL fouled it up big time.  How on earth can you have the Bruins play in the biggest game of the NHL regular season and NOT have them play the Montreal Canadians? I do not want to pay $250+ to see the Flyers, but I would consider that act of extreme fiscal irresponsibility if it was the best rivalry in hockey (Ovie v. Crosby not withstanding). Here is a note to the NHL, if you have an entire day to yourself, make it worthwhile.  Ovie v. Crosby, Bruins v. Canadians, hell, last year's Blackhawks v. Red Wings game was great!  Bruins v. Flyers? Fail.

 

A Fun Thing To Watch.  So just how good is Albert Pujols? Well, up to this point, he is Stan Musial good.  How good is Stan Musial? Well Bill James ranks him as the second best Left Fielder to Ted Williams (Probably 3rd now since Barry Bonds, statistically, most likely takes that top spot) and Musial is also a top 10 player of all time.  A great debate that always rages is how to compare players from different time periods, i.e. what kind of holy hell might Albert Pujols create if he played in the 40's and 50's. We will never be able to answer that question but something tells me he would probably be the best player in the game (maybe two to Williams). Only time will tell where Pujols ends up in terms of being an all-time great, which he will be when he retires.  Can he top Lou Gehrig for the top spot in all-time 1st base rankings?  If he keeps up at a Musial-like pace, the question will become where does he rank in the top 5 all time, right behind Ruth and in front of Wagner, or somewhere between Wagner, Williams, Bonds, Cobb, Mays, and Aaron (which is close to what my top 7 or 8 looks like, but that was just off the cuff, I have a feeling that Bonds, Musial, and Gehrig fit somewhere in my top 10). 

 

Time To Dump Zito? Tim Kawakami certainly thinks so, but it is not as cut and dry as he thinks it is.  Yes, Barry Zito has one of the worst contracts in MLB (Vernon Wells is closing in on that at a very rapid pace).  There is no doubt in my mind that Zito will not win another Cy Young and will probably never attain that level of effectiveness again.  That being said, he is an innings eater, a decent back of the rotation guy, but he is prone to getting lit up more than any other pitcher (which Neyer points out).  Here is the thing though...can any team eat $18 million a year? The Yankees could, maybe, but at this point Zito is not actually killing the Giants.  He does have some value, and, unlike Vernon Wells, actually contributes to his team (Zito has an RAR of 9.1...he has been worth around 1 win).  So he is essentially a slightly above replacement level pitcher.  Still, can the Giants find someone better, who costs around the league minimum, who will eat up 200+ innings a year?  They have one future ace in their system in Madison Bumgarner and another great prospect Tim Alderson and there is no doubt these two are being groomed to replace Johnson and Zito.  Kawakami is right, at some point this move will have to be made, but for now, this seems like a very severe move.  Plus, at least the Giants should be around to take the mind off of the Raiders out there in the Bay Area...who Kawakami has a wonderful relationship with.  I remember seeing this last year and thought it was just the most perfect proof that the Raiders are the landfill of the NFL.  This is also proof that my brain stores things that are totally worthless. 

 

Why Don't Reporters Consult Sabermetricians? Because 1. They don't understand it 2. They are suffering from a bad case of hubris and 3. So are most Sabermetricians.  Seriously, I love sabermetrics and I think it has done wonderful things for the game of baseball, and yes, this particular Forbes article was the most poorly written, poorly researched,and poorly constructed piece of crap that has floated around the baseball interwebs in a while.  I never bothered linking to it because it was factually inaccurate to the point that a 5-year would know better.  On the larger question, there are too many smart people in the baseball world that think they have an answer to everything.  They are generally annoying know-it-alls who see players as lumps of statistical meat.  How many people predicted Heath Bell to have the season he is having? Not many, mostly because they failed to see the person that Heath Bell is, an overweight closer who decided to lose 25 pounds this off season by using WiiFit!  The guy is about having fun and playing well...and my fantasy teams are glad he loves his kids Wii.

 

Unfair Comparison. Bush won things. The Royals ban bloggers.

 

 

There are games today more...more on that shocking development later.