With the trading deadline only days away, let's take a trip through the trade-rumor smorgasbord ...
Much as Pudge Rodriguez and Jeff Moorad might love to orchestrate a trade that would get Rodriguez to a big-market paradise that could pay him as a franchise guy, it's almost impossible to pull off a deal of that magnitude in midseason.
"The few teams that could afford to do a long-term contract with him can't make a trade like that in the middle of a season," said an official of one large-market club. "The Yankees (who would have to start any deal with Jorge Posada) couldn't. The Dodgers couldn't (because they can't give up their young pitchers or add that kind of payroll). The Mets have the most prolific offensive catcher in history (Mike Piazza). And if he ever did agree to switch positions, it definitely wouldn't be in the middle of a season. So that's the kind of trade you can only do in the winter."
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| 2001 SEASON STATISTICS |
| GM |
HR |
RBI |
R |
SB |
AVG |
| 96 |
13 |
47 |
50 |
7 |
.275 |
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One big name rumored to be drawing a lot of action is Jermaine Dye. The Mariners, Yankees and Mets have all been rumored to be making serious pitches for Dye. And Colorado apparently has interest in including Dye in some sort of three-team extravaganza.
Next to Dye, maybe the most talented player with a realistic chance to get traded is Shannon Stewart in Toronto. The Blue Jays have made him the centerpiece of their offer to Colorado for Pedro Astacio, because they believe Vernon Wells is ready to play. But they may not have enough complementary pieces to put in the package to get an Astacio. So the Jose Cruz Jr.-to-Seattle scenario also remains alive.
Consensus is that when the Mariners have made their deal for a hitter and the Rockies have made their deal for Astacio, other trades will begin falling into place. Those are the two moves that have thrown the rest of the sport into virtual paralysis so far.
On the other hand, a lot of the other marquee names who seem to be on the market have next to no chance of being dealt.
The report from clubs that have spoken to the Mets and Angels, for example, is that Al Leiter or Troy Percival will be moved only if overwhelmed with an offer.
"How hard would it be to replace somebody like Leiter?" said one NL executive. "It would cost you $14 million on the free-agent market to go get somebody like him."
Meanwhile, the White Sox haven't firmly decided whether to dangle Magglio Ordonez at all. And the market for names such as Neifi Perez and Pokey Reese hasn't been what the Rockies and Reds expected.
"I think by the time the deadline rolls around, there will be some disappointed sellers," predicts one AL GM. "There aren't enough buyers around who are willing to take on the big-money guys who usually get traded this time of year."
Clubs that have spoken with the Phillies say they've all but abandoned efforts to trade for a starting pitcher. Instead, they're actually shopping a starter (most prominently Robert Person and Bruce Chen) for bullpen help.
They've made runs at Ugueth Urbina, Kelvim Escobar, Paul Quantrill, Mike Williams, Scott Sullivan and Danny Graves. And they're in there on just about every reliever on the market.
If the Phillies deal away a current starter, they seem ready to recall hot prospect Brandon Duckworth (12-2 at Triple-A) and position him as their key addition to the rotation. Duckworth leads the International League in wins and strikeouts. He struck out five in two innings as the starting pitcher in the Triple-A all-star game. And he's allowed three earned runs or fewer in 12 straight starts.
But the Phillies have balked at dealing any of their four best prospects -- Duckworth, Double-A right-hander Brett Myers and outfielders Eric Valent and Marlon Byrd. And that's kept them from pulling off anything more glamorous than Gary Bennett for Todd Pratt so far.
The Cubs and Devil Rays continue to talk, indicating that the Fred McGriff deal is far from defunct. It's beginning to dawn on McGriff that he has no chance to finish his career in Tampa Bay. And if McGriff is concerned about getting locked into another year in Chicago if his club option vests, the Cubs have offered to convert the option to a player option, giving McGriff the right to opt out for free agency after the season.
But the Cubs are also leaving their other options open. They're in on John Vander Wal (Pirates) and Tony Clark (Tigers). And should Jason Giambi ever reach the market, they would jump into that line in a hurry. The Cubs also have made it clear they're one of the few teams willing to take on substantial payroll dollars, and that they would rather do that than give up their best prospects.
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Triviality
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Last week, we asked you to name all the players who have hit 30 home runs in every season since the strike. This week we have a real challenge. In honor of Ray Lankford, who just reached 100 whiffs for the 11th straight season, can you name the four other hitters who came into this season with 100 strikeouts in every season since the strike (i.e., since 1995)?
(Answer at bottom.)
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After Sterling Hitchcock's excellent outing Friday -- on 15 days' rest -- he needs to come back this week and prove he can pitch every fifth day. If he can establish that, the Dodgers and Red Sox are said to be interested. The Dodgers also had two scouts at Albie Lopez's last start.
The Twins have stepped up their interest in Jason Schmidt is the Twins. Rumored deal: Schmidt for Kyle Lohse.
The Braves are spending the week trying to determine if Ken Caminiti and Mark DeRosa are their answers at first base and short. But even if they're not, the Braves are one of those teams that have to move payroll to take on payroll. They're completely out of the running on any first baseman with a big paycheck (i.e., Giambi, McGriff or even Andres Galarraga). They may not even be able to afford a Jeff Conine without some financial maneuvering.
Then there are the Giants, who looked like buyers a few days ago and now are in wait-and-see mode. They play a big series in Arizona this weekend. And they may wait until that one is over to decide whether to make a run at another starter, bullpen help or possibly one more bat.
The Tigers are looking to get hot pitching prospect Nate Cornejo into the big leagues, so there's suddenly action on Chris Holt, if only because he's a healthy innings-eater.
The Reds have been scouting the Dodgers aggressively in anticipation of a Pokey Reese deal. But the Dodgers can't trade Luke Prokopec or Eric Gagne -- unless, quips one Dodgers official, "Pokey can take the ball every fifth day." So there's virtually no shot of that trade going down.
In other news ...
Because teams had to come out of the All-Star break and head right into interleague play, in which all series are three games long, the schedule last week was a nightmare for some clubs.
The Blue Jays were in New York, went home for two days, then headed right back to New York. The Marlins were in Florida, went to New York for two, then went back to Florida. The Phillies went Philadelphia-Montreal-Philadelphia. The Tigers went from Ohio (Cincinnati) to Detroit to Ohio (Cleveland).
But the road-warrior championship went to the Dodgers, who traveled 7,000 miles in five days (Oakland-Pittsburgh-L.A.-Denver). Absurd.
The good news is that those two-game series should get zapped out of the schedule completely next season. The plan is for all interleague play to be over before the All-Star break, so teams can come out of the break and open with a four-game series (Thursday-Sunday) against a club from their own league. About time.
When the official scorer in Baltimore decided to give Shigetoshi Hasegawa credit for the Angels' extra-inning win over the Orioles on Saturday, rather than award to it to Troy Percival after a blown save, no one could recall another recent example of a vultured win being overturned.
But loyal reader Jerry Beech, who covers the Mets for e-sportsnation.com, recalls that on June 30, 2000, in the famous game last year in which the Mets scored 10 runs in the eighth inning to beat the Braves, it was closer Armando Benitez who was given the win despite entering the game after his team took the lead.
Benitez should have gotten a save, with set-up man Eric Cammack getting the victory. But Cammack had allowed three runs in the top of the eighth, so his win was "overturned."
As parallel as that situation may seem to that of Percival, who also blew a three-run lead, this rule is still almost never invoked. If it were, closers would get the win every game in which their set-up men stink up the park.
Rick Ankiel's last 26 innings at Johnson City: 58 strikeouts, 5 walks.
Joe Mauer may have signed with the Twins, but don't look for the remaining cream of the June draft -- Mark Teixeira (Texas), Mark Prior (Cubs), Dewon Brazelton (Tampa Bay) or Gavin Floyd (Philadelphia) -- in pro ball any time soon.
"The whole problem," says one scouting director, "is that Teixeira can't play this summer, because of the ankle. So he and (Scott) Boras have no incentive to move forward. And that's brought everything to a dead standstill. Prior's afraid to do anything until Teixeira signs. Brazelton's afraid to do something that turns out to be way under the market. And Floyd is asking for Josh Beckett money ($7 million). But the Mauer deal was only 5.5 -- and he had the football factor going for him."
After last year's quick signings in which management essentially named its price, many agents are determined to drive a much harder bargain this year.
One top-10 pick who did sign, Pittsburgh's John VanBenschoten, got a $2.4-million bonus in the No. 8 slot. But more interesting than the money he got is that the Pirates plan to use him as both a pitcher and a hitter.
He was clocked at 95 mph in closing some games at Kent State, but he also led Division I in home runs, with 30. So he'll primarily pitch, but may also DH and play some first base.
"I think he has the potential to be an outstanding pitcher or an outstanding hitter," scouting director Mickey White told the Beaver County Times' John Perrotto. "Who knows? Maybe he could do both. It would be like in that Bugs Bunny cartoon -- Bugs Bunny pitching and Bugs Bunny playing first base."
Useless information dept.
The Dodgers just became the 14th team in the last half-century to score 20 runs in a game and give up 20 in a game in the same season.
But six of those teams now have done that just since 1994. Which means that if you throw out the famous 23-22 game in 1979 in which the Phillies and Cubs did it against each other on the same day, this now has happened as many times in the last seven years as it happened in the previous 43 seasons combined.
The other teams that have scored 20 and given up 20 in the same year since '94: the '94 Red Sox, '96 Brewers, '99 Indians, '99 Phillies and '99 Braves.
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The Sultan's Corner
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In a pinch
Ever heard of a team that had one player with five pinch home runs and another with four? Well, that's because there had never been one until this year's Diamondbacks, according to the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent. Erubiel Durazo has five for those Diamondbacks. David Dellucci hit his fourth over the weekend. Here are the nine teams that even had more than one player with three or more:
1952 A's: Allie Clark, 3; Kite Thomas, 3.
1955 Giants: Bobby Hofman, 3; Bill Taylor, 4.
1957 Reds: Jerry Lynch, 3; Bob Thurman, 4.
1958 Phillies: Bob Bowman, 3; Wally Post, 3; Rip Repulski, 4.
1961 Yankees: Johnny Blanchard, 4; Bob Cerv, 3.
1977 Giants: Jack Clark, 3; Randy Elliott, 3.
1978 Mets: Steve Henderson, 3; Ed Kranepool, 3.
1983 Mets: Danny Heep, 4; Rusty Staub, 3.
1999 Cubs: Jeff Blauser, 3; Glenallen Hill, 4.
Better than one
Sammy Sosa's two-homer game Saturday was the 50th multihomer game of his career. He's now No. 8 on the multihomer list. Here's the top 10, courtesy of the Sultan:
1. Babe Ruth 72
2. Mark McGwire 65
3. Willie Mays 63
4. Hank Aaron 62
5. Jimmie Foxx 55
6. Frank Robinson 54
7. Barry Bonds 51
8. Sammy Sosa 50
9. Eddie Mathews 49
10. Mel Ott 49
Next-most among active hitters: Ken Griffey Jr. (46)
New York, New York
Mike Piazza has 23 homers for the Mets. Jorge Posada has 17 for the Yankees. If they each hit 30, it would mark not just the first time the Yankees and Mets had a catcher with 30, it would mark the first time any multi-team city has had two catchers with 30. Years in which more than one catcher hit 30 homers:
1977: Gary Carter (31), Expos; Johnny Bench (30), Reds.
1996: Todd Hundley (41), Mets; Piazza (36), Dodgers; Terry Steinbach (34), A's.
1997: Piazza (40), Dodgers; Hundley (30), Mets.
1998: Javy Lopez (34), Braves; Piazza (30), Dodgers-Marlins-Mets.
1999: Piazza (40), Mets; Ivan Rodriguez (35), Rangers; Mike Lieberthal (31), Phillies.
2000: Piazza (35), Mets; Charles Johnson (31), Orioles-White Sox.
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But what separates the Dodgers' 20-20 act from the pack is that, until this year, they hadn't allowed 20 in a game since May 20, 1967 and hadn't scored 20 since July 10, 1943.
Going half a century without scoring 20 is no easy feat, either. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Dodgers were the only one of the 16 original franchises still working on a streak that long before Saturday. They went 6,986 games between 20-spots, according to Elias. The longest current streaks now belong to these three teams:
Astros, 6,290 games (never scored 20)
Pirates, 4,031 games (last scored 20 in 1975)
Royals, 3,961 games (last scored 20 in 1976)
You might think somebody scores 20 in a game at Coors Field once a month. But in fact, this was the fourth time in seven seasons that the Rockies have allowed 20 at Coors. They've never scored 20 themselves -- there or anywhere. Who'd have thunk it?
One more note on that game: Thought that 22-7 score sounded like these guys wore helmets and pads, huh? Jerry Beech reports that back on Sept. 25, 1983, the L.A. Raiders did in fact beat the Denver Broncos, 22-7, in Denver.
If Denny Neagle (nine runs allowed) thought he had a rough day Saturday, John Elway's was rougher in that previous 22-7 game. The Raiders knocked him out of the game with a concussion.
Speaking of the Rockies, their modern record for most games required to throw a shutout in a new ballpark was broken by the Astros, who finally put up nine zeroes at Enron for the first time Sunday, in game 132 in Enron history.
That's 29 more games than it took the Rockies to throw their first shutout at hospitable Coors Field. Here's our compilation of how many games it took for the home team to twirl a shutout in the 12 newest parks:
Braves at Turner Field -- 3.
Pirates at PNC Park -- 4.
Indians at Jacobs Field -- 5.
Tigers at Comerica Park -- 5.
Devil Rays at Tropicana Field -- 6.
Mariners at Safeco Field -- 12.
Rangers at Ballpark at Arlington -- 12.
Giants at Pac Bell Park -- 13.
Brewers at Miller Field -- 15.
Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark -- 50.
Rockies at Coors Field -- 103.
Astros at Enron Field -- 132.
Appreciate one more time the spectacular season of the relentlessly astonishing Mariners. They've become just the third team in the last 50 years to win at least 70 of their first 100 games. The others: the '98 Yankees and the 1970 Reds.
Oh. And the Mariners have thrown five shutouts just this month. That's more than 17 of the other 29 teams have thrown all season.
It's true Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling got to form the first 300-strikeout tag team in history last week in San Diego. But of course, one reason no 300-strikeout man had ever relieved another before is that they haven't had many opportunities.
The only previous times when 300-strikeout men played on the same team: Vida Blue and Steve Carlton (briefly) for the 1986 Giants, Nolan Ryan and J.R. Richard (for half a season) for the 1980 Astros, and Ryan and Mike Scott in Houston (1986-88).
It isn't often you see a team get big strikeout games from two different pitchers in a span of four games. But the Diamondbacks just became the first team since the '98 Astros to have a 16-strikeout game (by Randy Johnson) and a 12-strikeout game (by Curt Schilling) that close together, according to Elias' Kevin Hines.
And who twirled those games for the '98 Astros? Mike Hampton (12 whiffs, on Aug. 25) and the same Big Unit (16, on Aug. 28).
One thing you can say about that Braves rotation: It could also be a heck of a bullpen.
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| Smoltz |
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| Maddux |
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| Millwood |
Tom Glavine has never pitched in relief. But with John Smoltz's regular-season relief debut Sunday, Greg Maddux, Kevin Millwood and Smoltz now have marched out of the bullpen a combined nine times since 1998, counting the postseason.
In only one of those games -- that crazed finale of the '99 NLCS against the Mets, when a weary Smoltz allowed four runs -- were any of them scored upon. If we toss out the line of Smoltz, whose elbow was ready to pop, that day, here is how those three have done as relievers:
Smoltz: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 save.
Maddux: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 save.
Millwood: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 save.
Total: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 10 K, 3 saves.
By the way, the Big Unit's career numbers in relief don't exactly resemble Steve Wojciechowski's, either. The East Valley Tribune's Ed Price reports that counting Johnson's lonnnnnggg-relief masterpiece in San Diego last week, he now has pitched in relief 11 times, counting the '95 playoffs. He's 3-0, 2.03, with 2 saves, with this line: 31 innings, 20 hits, 8 walks, 57 whiffs.
We don't know if Smoltz is about to pull a Dennis Eckersley and perform a permanent mid-career job switch. But as Jerry Beech observes, it sure is coincidental that Smoltz's first regular-season relief appearance came after 361 career starts -- and Eck's first came after 359 career starts.
Even though there were extenuating circumstances (three days' rest, major-league debuts, etc.), it was still staggering to see the Yankees give up 10 runs or more three games in a row last week (12 and 11 runs to the Tigers, 10 to Toronto). Except for the last week of last season, after they'd essentially pulled the plug, the last time they'd given up double figures three straight games, according to Elias, was Aug. 13-15, 1945. And two of those were also to Detroit (15-4 and 11-9). The third was a 10-4 loss to the St. Louis Browns.
So maybe that hex the Tigers have over the Yankees isn't related to Comerica Park. But their 3-9 all-time record at Comerica is their worst at any park in which they've ever played five games or more. Next-worst, according to Elias' Ken Hirdt, is their 3-6 record at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and Los Angeles' old Wrigley Field, former home of the L.A. Angels and the late, great "Home Run Derby" show.
Texas' Darren Oliver threw a 79-pitch, eight-inning complete game against the Devil Rays on Saturday. It might say something about the respective patience levels of the Devil Rays and A's that five starts ago, he threw 93 pitches in 3 2/3 innings against Oakland.
The Cubs have given up a home run to the Astros in their last 21 straight games.
Think it's easy making your big-league debut in Yankee Stadium? Yankees rookie Brent Jodie faced 467 hitters in the minor leagues this year -- and gave up a home run to nine of them. In his Yankees debut Friday, he served up a homer to three of the first 12 hitters he faced in the big leagues. Last Yankee to give up three homers in his first start as a Yankee, according to Elias: Charles Hudson, on April 13, 1987.
The heck with that Randy Johnson 16-strikeout game. The strikeout machine of the week was Indians minor leaguer J.D. Martin. In his start Thursday for Burlington in the Appalachian League, Martin faced 16 hitters -- and punched out 14 of them. Of course, he cheated. He whiffed four in the third inning.
On the other hand, Orioles catching prospect Tom McGee wins the rough-week award. What's worse than going 0-for-46? How about going 0-for-46, then breaking your thumb? If he's out for the year, he'll come into next season 0 since June 17.
Finally, more proof of the power of the Bobblehead: Cliff Floyd hit two home runs Saturday on Cliff Floyd Bobblehead Day, making him the fourth player this year to homer on his bobblehead day. The others, according to bobble-crazed reader David Hallstrom: Jason Giambi, Sammy Sosa and Jim Thome.
So bobbleheaders are now hitting .305 on their special day of bobbing, with a .423 on-base percentage and a .627 slugging percentage. And look out. This week's bobblehead guys are Ichiro and Luis Gonzalez.
Trivia answer
The answers, courtesy of loyal reader Lee Sinins, of baseballimmortals.net: Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Mo Vaughn.
Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings appears each week.
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