I was watching the highlights of Scott Olsen’s stellar pitching performance against the Braves last night (April 15th) and caught the highlight of Jeff Francoeur getting knocked down when he grounded out to end the sixth inning. Francoeur popped up and yelled something at presumably first baseman Mike Jacobs, but it also could’ve been Olsen, who stepped over Francoeur clapping his way back to the dugout. I’m amazed Olsen didn’t kick Francoeur in the gut while he was down. Olsen’s kind of a bad person, and here’s why I say it. (more…)
April 16, 2008
Scott Olsen Gets Drunk and Nails the Bat Rack
April 15, 2008
Amateur Middle Infielders
I run a fantasy league that’s verrrry deep. It’s a keeper league in which 14 owners keep 26 players from year to year. In previous drafts we’ve seen college players go, no problem. In our inaugural season of 2001, one team picked up South Carolina pitcher Kip Bouknight, who the previous year had gone 17-1 with a 2.81 ERA as a junior Gamecock and won the Golden Spikes award. Gaudy statistics indeed. However, Bouknight didn’t have great “stuff,” slipped a little in his senior year at college (despite tying Jeff Brantley for the most wins of any SEC pitcher ever), and slid to the Rockies in the 13th round of the 2001 amateur draft, three months after our GM took him in the 35th round. Bouknight has yet to pitch in the majors.
One round later, however, another GM snatched up Georgia Tech third baseman Mark Teixiera. That worked out significantly better. (more…)
Start the clock on Longoria
Hurrah for me as a fantasy player, Evan Longoria got called up.
Boorah for me as a baseball fan, I have no idea how to describe the arbitration clock to my grandchildren. Until now.
There are a couple of things in baseball that are an important part of business and game strategy decisions (and possibly groundbreaking) but aren’t well understood by the average fan. The antitrust exemption, the positive important rise and negative destructive greed of the union, the notion of a pitcher’s hold (seriously, when somebody can give allow two runs, record just one out, and leave in the middle of the inning, and get a bunch of statistical high fives, there’s something wrong), and salary arbitration. (more…)
