Charlie Beattie

Buyers or Sellers Buyers. Following an indifferent start and, Yasiel Puig notwithstanding, an uninspiring May and early June, the Dodgers found themselves, on June 22, 9.5 games out of first and at a season-low 12 games below .500. Since then they have ripped off a 17-4 run, cutting the Diamondbacks' lead to 2.5 games and re-establishing themselves in the soft NL West race. While still below .500, the Dodgers were built in the offseason to win and win now. On the back of their recent surge, they will be looking to add, with the only subtraction coming, possibly, from their list of qualified outfielders in Puig, Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier (hint: it won’t be Puig and Kemp is on the DL with shoulder irritation).[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] http://twinsdaily.co...ntid=4811&stc=1 What they Need With an Opening Day payroll of $216 million (roughly 8.9x the Astros), the Dodgers appear to need little, but then again the Dodgers have received little for their money. The Dodgers currently have $59 million (roughly 2.5x Houston Astros) worth of former All-Stars on the DL in Kemp, Ted Lilly, Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett. Other highly paid pieces like Ethier and Adrian Gonzalez have underperformed. The holes left by Billingsley and Beckett may have been filled, in part, by the recent addition of former Marlin Ricky Nolasco. However, they could use some complementary pieces in their young bullpen and help at second base, where the Nick Punto/Mark Ellis combination scares roughly no one. What Might Work Glen Perkins. The Dodgers could do with a proven closer for the stretch drive and Perkins is the most valuable chip the Twins can put in play. The Dodgers have bounced between closers this year, featuring both the disastrous Brandon League and the better Kenley Jansen. Most recently, Don Mattingly ousted League from the role on June 11. Bringing in a closer like Perkins would allow the Dodgers to move Jansen back to a set-up role and scrap League altogether, since his ERA has risen each month this season. While Perkins is not a certain trade chip from a financial standpoint (he’s cheap and under team control through 2016), he would start a bidding war if put on the market. The Dodgers have what the Twins lack: young starting pitching that could reach the majors as early as next season. Sleeper Targets Matt Magill - 23 - RHP - AAA Magill made six starts for the Dodgers this season. While his control was disastrous (28 walks in 27 ⅔ innings), his strikeout numbers and near major-league readiness make him an intriguing option. He won’t see much of the big-league mound in LA with all the veteran names in front of him, so perhaps the Dodgers would be willing to deal him? Jesmuel Valentin - SS - Low A A gamble on Valentin is a gamble that he will learn how to hit, which may never happen. He’s not posted an average higher than .212 in four low minor-league stops. However, the Twins have been looking for middle infielders since seemingly the dawn of time and Valentin (the son of former longtime big leaguer Jose Valentin) will likely stick at shortstop as he rises through the system. He’ll never be an offensive juggernaut, but neither is Pedro Florimon. Onelki Garcia - LHP - 22 - AA Garcia, like Puig, is a Cuban defector. Unlike Puig, and most other Cuban ballplayers, Garcia was actually drafted (3rd round, 2012). He pitched two innings at class A Rancho Cucamonga last year, and struck out four of the six hitters he faced. He’s continued to miss bats in Chattanooga this season, striking out 40 in 38 innings while posting a 2.84 ERA in 16 appearances (six starts). A beast at 6’3” 220 from the left side, the fast rising Garcia could be worth a look. Dream Target Yasiel Pu...- Just kidding. Honestly, there isn’t a ton to love in this farm system, but if the Dodgers do come sniffing around Glen Perkins, the Twins might want to start their negotiating with young shortstop/third baseman Corey Seager. The younger brother of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager is only 19, and put up impressive debut numbers at rookie level Ogden in 2012 and is following that up with a .302/.388 /.491 season with 8 HR and 43 RBI at low-A Great Lakes this season. At 6’4” 215 (so far) his future may lie at third base (a location where Miguel Sano has a lease with an option to buy), but he’s the best the slim Dodger prospect list has to offer, and you can always find a home for good players. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Mike Redmond MGR.jpg Originally posted at theunplayable.com With a new stadium, a new star in Jose Reyes and new life in South Florida last off-season (not to mention a new “location” as the “Miami” Marlins) the Marlins wanted to make a big splash in selecting a new manager. The splash they made in hiring Ozzie Guillen was akin to Refrigerator Perry doing a cannoball from a ten meter platform. I’ll give you a moment to process that image.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Guillen seemed to be the perfect man for the job, a successful Latin American male in a community that wants and needs Latin American role models, a bombastic presence on a team that was looking to make a bombastic return to relevance in the National League, and a ratings producing mouthpiece on the Showtime documentary that was set to follow the team’s progress last season. One year later, Guillen looks like the worst managerial decision ever made in baseball. He offended Miami’s Cuban community by openly touting respect for Fidel Castro. He battled openly with Miami’s hierarchy, who aren’t the most stable group to begin with, and showed a general disdain for his players, specifically Heath Bell. In truth, Guillen never changed his style from his White Sox days, and the Marlins should have known what they were getting into. In Chicago, Guillen openly ripped his players, but the team was steadily improving while he did so, so the World Series-starved fans and organization on the South Side was willing to put up with it. When his approach brought them a title in 2006, the win meant that even though many people hated him in Chicago, you couldn’t question his results. In Florida, Guillen’s brusque could only ruin the feel-good factor that was the Marlins coming into their new ballpark. Instead of a city focused on a young, talented team ready to compete in the National League, everyone turned their attention to the travelling 38-ring circus that was Ozzie. On a team filled with outsized personalities (Logan Morrison, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Reyes, Heath Bell until his trade), the Marlins brought in a man whose idea of handling such players is to be more colorful than they are. Just by being himself, Ozzie torpedoed what should have been a special season in Miami, win or lose. So when Larry Beinfest and Jeffrey Loria went looking for a new manager, they went and found a man who has the potential to be Guillen’s polar opposite. Mike Redmond’s name may have come out of the blue, but anyone who remembers Redmond as a player can probably see the logic in his hire. Of course one of the main reasons that the inexperienced Redmond was hired is strictly financial. Guillen will be paid $7.5 million over the next three years to stay far away from the Marlins, and since Redmond has not managed above the Florida St. League, he comes cheap. A closer look at the man, however, sees that he has a chance to succeed. Redmond was a major league survivor. Never drafted, never thought of, but he played fairly regularly and well for a thirteen years in the major leagues based on two traits: steady defense and personality. As a catcher, Redmond was the ideal backup. In 687 career regular season games, he committed just 18 errors and 23 passed balls. Furthermore, he seemed to understand, even embrace, the idea that he was not an everyday player. He spent the balance of his career backing up three excellent catchers in Charles Johnson, Ivan Rodriguez and Joe Mauer, and took his opportunities when he could. On what will undoubtedly be a young Marlins team in 2013, a manager who understands the mentality of all players can be crucial. Handling players was never Guillen’s strong suit, and he could be downright brutal to those who lacked experience. After the torment of the 2012 baseball season, there is little doubt that the Miami Marlins would like to make baseball fun again. Redmond may just be the man. A talker with a wry sense of humor who was known for taking batting practice naked to get out of slumps, Redmond has experience keeping it loose. His press conferences will certainly be unpredictable, but in a different fashion than the unhinged Guillen. Furthermore, he knows the Marlins, having played for the team for seven seasons, one of which was their 2003 World Series triumph. Who knows what will happen to Redmond in Miami. Loria and Beinfest don’t have the best track record when it comes to managers and it remains to be seen how patient they will be with their new man. For now, however, it appears the Marlins have what they need: the anti-Ozzie Guillen. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: image.jpg Originally posted at theunplayable.com For a while last night, it looked like the same old story: (insert Non-Yankee baseball team name here) has a lead in the Bronx in a playoff game, and it’s late in the game. You think you have them, and then it all goes horribly, horribly wrong. The Tigers had them last night, leading 4-0 in the bottom of the ninth. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Of course Ichiro homers, and three batters later, Raul Ibanez does the same, the latter now meeting the minimum (patron level?) status for induction into the fraternity of “Yankee Legends.” It looked like another one of those nights where the Yankees are down and out, and something comes and saves them. Call it their destiny, or the “ghosts” of Yankee stadium, or whatever undefinable force that makes the Yankees seemingly always succeed (2001 and 2004 notwithstanding) in these situations. Multiple teams’ fans know this feeling. The Yankees have tied you up, and they are going to finish you off in the most soul-crushing, “f__ this I’m burning my jersey and cancelling my season tickets because baseball is soooooo rigged” kind of fashion possible. Since the mid-nineties, at least in the American League, the playoff theme in baseball has centered around the Yankees, their superiority, which at times has been more perception than reality, and their opponents’ inability to overcome the unrelenting leviathan has been the modern Yankee dynasty. In the sixteen years since the Yankees reclaimed their perch as the pace car of baseball, they’ve gone through multiple eras of players. It began with grubby, workaday battlers like Jim Leyritz and Joe Girardi, who founded the modern incarnation of “America’s most hated team” and evolved into the preening, mercenary superstars that populated their roster for much of the 2000′s. There were two constants to the roster, one was Mariano Rivera, who would haul the carcass of a defeated opponent away after Jeter and the rest of the assassins had done their job. Rivera was the Yankee’s undertaker, and Jeter was the captain of the hit squad. Before you stop reading because you think that this is another love letter about the greatness of Derek Jeter, I would ask you to bear with me. Jeter is certainly not the greatest Yankee ever. He was probably never the most talented player on any of the Yankee teams he played on. Jeter’s gift, however, was his ever-present ability to be, well, present. Most of Jeter’s career accomplishments, even his 3,000 hits, seem more like inevitibilities of time rather than amazing skill. Jeter is the face of the Yankees because he personifies, more than anything else, everything about the Yankees that was stated in the first two paragraphs. Yankee fans love Derek Jeter because his team almost always wins. Opposing fans hate him for the exact same reason. Jeter has been there for every one of those moments of Yankee glory over the past decade-and-a-half, but rarely as the central player. Rather, Jeter was the man on the top step of the dugout, looking suave and unconcerned as Scott Brosius or Tino Martinez (or Raul Ibanez or Russell Martin) breaks your spirit in the bottom of the 12th inning. Perhaps no story personifies this more than Jeter’s admission that he was in the bathroom during Russell Martin’s go-ahead home run against the Orioles in game 1 of the ALDS. So certain was he that the Yankees would get the job done, he didn’t need to be engaged. No player likes to invoke the existence of Yankee “ghosts” more than Jeter, but even he is missing the point. The “ghosts” aren’t the disembodied spirits of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, etc. come back to twist the fortunes of a game in New York’s favor, but rather Jeter himself. His mere presence on the field, with his steely glare and proud stance. Everything about the man exuded an air of “my team is better than yours, and eventually we will beat you.” But even to Jeter, sports can be a cruel and unfeeling world. Which is why I will print the end of this era of Yankee mystique in as cold and unfeeling terms as possible: This is what the end looks like: [TABLE] D Phelps relieved D Robertson.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] M Cabrera walked.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] P Fielder grounded out to first, M Cabrera to second.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] D Young doubled to deep right, M Cabrera scored.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] D Kelly ran for D Young.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] J Peralta reached on infield single to shortstop, D Kelly to third.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] J Nix at shortstop. [/TABLE] In a way, this had been building. The Yankees couldn’t hit at all in the Division Series. Alex Rodriguez is no longer Alex Rodriguez, and he was never really Alex Rodriguez come playoff time anyway. Their rotation is propped up by a man who looks to be one cheeseburger away from a total cholesterol meltdown, and their roster contains so many 35+ players that it is starting to look like a rest home for untradeable contracts. But as long as they had Jeter, the Yankees had a shot. The game transcript above tells us the rest. Without even mentioning his name, it tells us that Jeter is removed from the game for Jayson Nix, which is a bit like removing Daniel Day-Lewis from “Gangs of New York” and replacing him with Jim Varney. Nevermind that the Yankees had already been sunk by Delmon Young (of all people!) by that point. The game wasn’t over until Jeter went down and didn’t get up. Now, not only is the game over, but the series is likely done as well. The Yankees are fully de-stabilized at this point, and they likely won’t recover this post-season. And after that, what is there? Jeter will heal, and he will likely play on, but he’ll be 39 next year, and time has been catching up with him for several years now. Alex Rodriguez seems finished as a Yankee, one way or another, and the rest of the lineup, bar Robinson Cano, just doesn’t seem frightening. And even Cano will be 30 in eight days. Don’t even get me started on the pitching staff. I want to keep this thing under 3,000 words. Of course these are the Yankees, and they will reload. They will likely be back in the playoffs next season. The question is, what will they look like then? There comes a sudden point near the end of every great athlete’s career when it seems like their relevance disappears. For Johnny Unitas it was the day he trotted out in a powder-blue San Diego Charger uniform. For Wayne Gretzky, it was being traded to St. Louis. For Jeter, it just might be the night his ankle snapped, and as he left the field, he took all of the Yankee hopes for glory with him. They were replaced by Jayson Nix. Click here to view the article

Trade Deadline Overview: Los Angeles Dodgers Buyers or Sellers Buyers. Following an indifferent start and (Yasiel Puig notwithstanding) an uninspiring May and early June, the Dodgers found themselves 9.5 games out of first on June 22, a season low 12 games below .500. Since then they have ripped off a 17-4 run, cutting the Diamondbacks lead to 2.5 games and reestablishing themselves in the soft NL West race. While still below .500, the Dodgers were built in the offseason to win and win now, so on the back of their recent surge, they will be looking to add, with the only subtraction possibly coming due to their glut of qualified outfielders in Puig, Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier (hint: it won’t be Puig). What they Need With an opening day payroll of $216 million (roughly 8.9 Houston Astros), the Dodgers appear to need little, but then again the Dodgers have received little for their money. The Dodgers currently have $59 million (roughly 2.5 Houston Astros) worth of former All-Star on the DL in Kemp, Ted Lilly, Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett, and other high paid pieces like Ethier and Adrian Gonzalez have underperformed. The hole left by Billingsley and Beckett may have been filled by the recent addition of former Marlin Ricky Nolasco, however they could use some complimentary pieces in their young bullpen and at second base, where the Nick Punto/Mark Ellis combination scares roughly no one. What Might Work Glen Perkins. The Dodgers could do with a proven closer for the stretch drive and Perkins is the most valuable chip the Twins could put in play. The Dodgers have bounced between closers this year, featuring both the disastrous Brandon League and the better Kenley Jansen. Most recently Don Mattingly ousted League from the role on June 11th, and bringing in a closer like Perkins would allow the Dodgers to move Jansen back to a set-up role and scrap League altogether, since his ERA has risen each month this season. While Perkins is not a guaranteed trade chip from a financial standpoint (he’s cheap and under team control through 2016), he would start a bidding war if put on the market. The Dodgers have what the Twins lack, namely young starting pitching that could reach the majors as early as next season. Sleeper Targets Matt Magill - 23 - RHP - AAA Magill made 6 starts for the Dodgers this season. While his control was disastrous (28 walks in 27 ⅔ innings) but his strikeout numbers and near major league readiness make him an intriguing option. Won’t see much of the big league mound in LA with all the veteran names in front of him, so perhaps the Dodgers would be willing to deal him? Jesmuel Valentin - SS - Low A A gamble on Valentin is a gamble that someday he will learn how to hit, which may never happen. He’s never posted an average higher than .212 in four low minor league stops. However the Twins have been looking for middle infielders since seemingly the dawn of time and Valentin (the son of former longtime big leaguer Jose Valentin) will likely stick at shortstop as he rises through the system. He’ll never be an offensive juggernaut, but neither is Pedro Florimon. Onelki Garcia - LHP - 22 - AA Garcia, like Puig, is a Cuban defector. Unlike Puig, and most other Cuban ball players, Garcia was actually drafted (3rd round, 2012). He pitched two innings at class A Rancho Cucamonga last year, and struck out four of the six hitters he faced. He’s continued to miss bats in Chattanooga this season, striking out 40 in 38 innings while posting a 2.84 ERA in 16 appearances (six starts). A beast at 6’3” 220 from the left side, the fast rising Garcia could be worth a look. Dream Target Yasiel Pu- Just kidding. Honestly, there isn’t a ton to love in the Dodgers farm system, but if the Dodgers do come sniffing around Glen Perkins, the Twins might want to start the negotiating with young shortstop/third baseman Corey Seager. The younger brother of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager is only 19, and put up impressive debut numbers at Rookie Level Ogden in 2012 and is following it up with a .302/.388 /.491 season with 8 HR and 43 RBI at low-A Great Lakes this season. At 6’4” 215 (so far) his future may lie at third base (a location where Miguel Sano has a lease with an option to buy), but he’s the best that the slim Dodger prospect list has to offer, and you can always find a home for good players.

Trade Deadline Overview: Los Angeles Dodgers Buyers or Sellers Buyers. Following an indifferent start and (Yasiel Puig notwithstanding) an uninspiring May and early June, the Dodgers found themselves 9.5 games out of first on June 22, a season low 12 games below .500. Since then they have ripped off a 17-4 run, cutting the Diamondbacks lead to 2.5 games and reestablishing themselves in the soft NL West race. While still below .500, the Dodgers were built in the offseason to win and win now, so on the back of their recent surge, they will be looking to add, with the only subtraction possibly coming due to their glut of qualified outfielders in Puig, Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier (hint: it won’t be Puig). What they Need With an opening day payroll of $216 million (roughly 8.9 Houston Astros), the Dodgers appear to need little, but then again the Dodgers have received little for their money. The Dodgers currently have $59 million (roughly 2.5 Houston Astros) worth of former All-Star on the DL in Kemp, Ted Lilly, Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett, and other high paid pieces like Ethier and Adrian Gonzalez have underperformed. The hole left by Billingsley and Beckett may have been filled by the recent addition of former Marlin Ricky Nolasco, however they could use some complimentary pieces in their young bullpen and at second base, where the Nick Punto/Mark Ellis combination scares roughly no one. What Might Work Glen Perkins. The Dodgers could do with a proven closer for the stretch drive and Perkins is the most valuable chip the Twins could put in play. The Dodgers have bounced between closers this year, featuring both the disastrous Brandon League and the better Kenley Jansen. Most recently Don Mattingly ousted League from the role on June 11th, and bringing in a closer like Perkins would allow the Dodgers to move Jansen back to a set-up role and scrap League altogether, since his ERA has risen each month this season. While Perkins is not a guaranteed trade chip from a financial standpoint (he’s cheap and under team control through 2016), he would start a bidding war if put on the market. The Dodgers have what the Twins lack, namely young starting pitching that could reach the majors as early as next season. Sleeper Targets Matt Magill - 23 - RHP - AAA Magill made 6 starts for the Dodgers this season. While his control was disastrous (28 walks in 27 ⅔ innings) but his strikeout numbers and near major league readiness make him an intriguing option. Won’t see much of the big league mound in LA with all the veteran names in front of him, so perhaps the Dodgers would be willing to deal him? Jesmuel Valentin - SS - Low A A gamble on Valentin is a gamble that someday he will learn how to hit, which may never happen. He’s never posted an average higher than .212 in four low minor league stops. However the Twins have been looking for middle infielders since seemingly the dawn of time and Valentin (the son of former longtime big leaguer Jose Valentin) will likely stick at shortstop as he rises through the system. He’ll never be an offensive juggernaut, but neither is Pedro Florimon. Onelki Garcia - LHP - 22 - AA Garcia, like Puig, is a Cuban defector. Unlike Puig, and most other Cuban ball players, Garcia was actually drafted (3rd round, 2012). He pitched two innings at class A Rancho Cucamonga last year, and struck out four of the six hitters he faced. He’s continued to miss bats in Chattanooga this season, striking out 40 in 38 innings while posting a 2.84 ERA in 16 appearances (six starts). A beast at 6’3” 220 from the left side, the fast rising Garcia could be worth a look. Dream Target Yasiel Pu- Just kidding. Honestly, there isn’t a ton to love in the Dodgers farm system, but if the Dodgers do come sniffing around Glen Perkins, the Twins might want to start the negotiating with young shortstop/third baseman Corey Seager. The younger brother of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager is only 19, and put up impressive debut numbers at Rookie Level Ogden in 2012 and is following it up with a .302/.388 /.491 season with 8 HR and 43 RBI at low-A Great Lakes this season. At 6’4” 215 (so far) his future may lie at third base (a location where Miguel Sano has a lease with an option to buy), but he’s the best that the slim Dodger prospect list has to offer, and you can always find a home for good players.

Originally Posted at www.theunplayable.com With a new stadium, a new star in Jose Reyes and new life in South Florida last off-season (not to mention a new “location” as the “Miami” Marlins) the Marlins wanted to make a big splash in selecting a new manager. The splash they made in hiring Ozzie Guillen was akin to Refrigerator Perry doing a cannoball from a ten meter platform. I’ll give you a moment to process that image. Guillen seemed to be the perfect man for the job, a successful Latin American male in a community that wants and needs Latin American role models, a bombastic presence on a team that was looking to make a bombastic return to relevance in the National League, and a ratings producing mouthpiece on the Showtime documentary that was set to follow the team’s progress last season. One year later, Guillen looks like the worst managerial decision ever made in baseball. He offended Miami’s Cuban community by openly touting respect for, Fidel Castro. He battled openly with Miami’s hierarchy, who aren’t the most stable group to begin with, and showed a general disdain for his players, specifically Heath Bell. In truth, Guillen never changed his style from his White Sox days, and the Marlins should have known what they were getting into. In Chicago, Guillen openly ripped his players, but the team was steadily improving while he did so, so the World Series-starved fans and organization on the South Side was willing to put up with it. When his approach brought them a title in 2006, the win meant that even though many people hated him in Chicago, you couldn’t question his results. In Florida, Guillen’s brusque could only ever ruin the feel-good factor that was the Marlins coming into their new ballpark. Instead of a city focused on a young, talented team ready to compete in the National League, everyone turned their attention to the travelling 38-ring circus that was Ozzie. On a team filled with outsized personalities (Logan Morrison, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Reyes, Heath Bell until his trade), the Marlins brought in a man whose idea of handling such players is to be more colorful than they are. Just by being himself, Ozzie torpedoed what should have been a special season in Miami, win or lose. So when Larry Beinfest and Jeffrey Loria went looking for a new manager, they went and found a man who has the potential to be Guillen’s polar opposite. Mike Redmond’s name may have come out of the blue, but anyone who remembers Redmond as a player can probably see the logic in his hire. Of course one of the main reasons that the inexperienced Redmond was hired is strictly financial. Guillen will be paid $7.5 million over the next three years to stay far away from the Marlins, and since Redmond has not managed above the Florida St. League, he comes cheap. A closer look at the man, however, sees that he has a chance to succeed. Redmond was a major league survivor. Never drafted, never thought of, but he played fairly regularly and well for a thirteen years in the major leagues based on two traits: steady defense and personality. As a catcher, Redmond was the ideal backup. In 687 career regular season games, he committed just 18 errors and 23 passed balls. Furthermore, he seemed to understand, even embrace, the idea that he was not an everyday player. He spent the balance of his career backing up three excellent catchers in Charles Johnson, Ivan Rodriguez and Joe Mauer, and took his opportunities when he could. On what will undoubtedly be a young Marlins team in 2013, a manager who understands the mentality of all players can be crucial. Handling players was never Guillen’s strong suit, and he could be downright brutal to those who lacked experience. After the torment of the 2012 baseball season, there is little doubt that the Miami Marlins would like to make baseball fun again. Redmond may just be the man. A talker with a wry sense of humor who was known for taking batting practice naked to get out of slumps, Redmond has experience keeping it loose. his press conferences will certainly unpredictable, but in a different fashion than the unhinged Guillen. Furthermore, he knows the Marlins, having played for the team for seven seasons, one of which was their 2003 World Series triumph. Who knows what will happen to Redmond in Miami. Loria and Beinfest don’t have the best track record when it comes to managers and it remains to be seen how patient they will be with their new man. For now, however, it appears the Marlins have what they need: the anti-Ozzie Guillen.

Originally Posted at www.theunplayable.com With a new stadium, a new star in Jose Reyes and new life in South Florida last off-season (not to mention a new “location” as the “Miami” Marlins) the Marlins wanted to make a big splash in selecting a new manager. The splash they made in hiring Ozzie Guillen was akin to Refrigerator Perry doing a cannoball from a ten meter platform. I’ll give you a moment to process that image. Guillen seemed to be the perfect man for the job, a successful Latin American male in a community that wants and needs Latin American role models, a bombastic presence on a team that was looking to make a bombastic return to relevance in the National League, and a ratings producing mouthpiece on the Showtime documentary that was set to follow the team’s progress last season. One year later, Guillen looks like the worst managerial decision ever made in baseball. He offended Miami’s Cuban community by openly touting respect for, Fidel Castro. He battled openly with Miami’s hierarchy, who aren’t the most stable group to begin with, and showed a general disdain for his players, specifically Heath Bell. In truth, Guillen never changed his style from his White Sox days, and the Marlins should have known what they were getting into. In Chicago, Guillen openly ripped his players, but the team was steadily improving while he did so, so the World Series-starved fans and organization on the South Side was willing to put up with it. When his approach brought them a title in 2006, the win meant that even though many people hated him in Chicago, you couldn’t question his results. In Florida, Guillen’s brusque could only ever ruin the feel-good factor that was the Marlins coming into their new ballpark. Instead of a city focused on a young, talented team ready to compete in the National League, everyone turned their attention to the travelling 38-ring circus that was Ozzie. On a team filled with outsized personalities (Logan Morrison, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Reyes, Heath Bell until his trade), the Marlins brought in a man whose idea of handling such players is to be more colorful than they are. Just by being himself, Ozzie torpedoed what should have been a special season in Miami, win or lose. So when Larry Beinfest and Jeffrey Loria went looking for a new manager, they went and found a man who has the potential to be Guillen’s polar opposite. Mike Redmond’s name may have come out of the blue, but anyone who remembers Redmond as a player can probably see the logic in his hire. Of course one of the main reasons that the inexperienced Redmond was hired is strictly financial. Guillen will be paid $7.5 million over the next three years to stay far away from the Marlins, and since Redmond has not managed above the Florida St. League, he comes cheap. A closer look at the man, however, sees that he has a chance to succeed. Redmond was a major league survivor. Never drafted, never thought of, but he played fairly regularly and well for a thirteen years in the major leagues based on two traits: steady defense and personality. As a catcher, Redmond was the ideal backup. In 687 career regular season games, he committed just 18 errors and 23 passed balls. Furthermore, he seemed to understand, even embrace, the idea that he was not an everyday player. He spent the balance of his career backing up three excellent catchers in Charles Johnson, Ivan Rodriguez and Joe Mauer, and took his opportunities when he could. On what will undoubtedly be a young Marlins team in 2013, a manager who understands the mentality of all players can be crucial. Handling players was never Guillen’s strong suit, and he could be downright brutal to those who lacked experience. After the torment of the 2012 baseball season, there is little doubt that the Miami Marlins would like to make baseball fun again. Redmond may just be the man. A talker with a wry sense of humor who was known for taking batting practice naked to get out of slumps, Redmond has experience keeping it loose. his press conferences will certainly unpredictable, but in a different fashion than the unhinged Guillen. Furthermore, he knows the Marlins, having played for the team for seven seasons, one of which was their 2003 World Series triumph. Who knows what will happen to Redmond in Miami. Loria and Beinfest don’t have the best track record when it comes to managers and it remains to be seen how patient they will be with their new man. For now, however, it appears the Marlins have what they need: the anti-Ozzie Guillen.

Originally posted at http://www.theunplayable.com/ on 10/14/12 For a while last night, it looked like the same old story: (Insert Non-Yankee baseball team name here) has a lead in the Bronx in a playoff game, and it’s late in the game. You think you have them, and then it all goes horribly, horribly wrong. The Tigers had them last night, leading 4-0 in the bottom of the ninth. Of course Ichiro homers, and three batters later, Raul Ibanez does the same, the latter now meeting the minimum (patron level?) status for induction into the fraternity of “Yankee Legends.” It looked like anothoer one of those nights where the Yankees are down and out, and something comes and saves them. Call it their destiny, or the “ghosts” of Yankee stadium, or whatever undefinable force that makes the Yankees seemingly always succeed (2001 and 2004 notwithstanding) in these situations. Multiple teams’ fans know this feeling. The Yankees have tied you up, and they are going to finish you off in the most soul-crushing, “f__ this I’m burning my jersey and cancelling my season tickets because baseball is soooooo rigged” kind of fashion possible. Since the mid-nineties, at least in the American League, the playoff theme in baseball has centered around the Yankees, their superiority, which at times has been more perception than reality, and their opponents’ inability to overcome the unrelenting leviathan has been the modern Yankee dynasty. It has been sixteen years since the Yankees reclaimed their perch as the pace car of baseball. In that time, they’ve gone through multiple eras of players. It began with grubby, workaday battlers like Jim Leyritz and Joe Girardi, who founded the modern incarnation of “America’s most hated team” and evolved into the preening, mercinary superstars that populated their roster for much of the 2000′s. There were two constants to the roster, one was Mariano Rivera, who would haul the carcass of a defeated opponant away after the Jeter and the res of the assassins had done their job. Rivera was the Yankee’s undertaker, and Jeter was the captain of the hit squad. Before you stop reading because you think that this is another love letter about the greatness of Derek Jeter, I would ask you to bear with me. I will say Jeter is certainly not the greatest Yankee ever. He was probably never the most talented player on any of the Yankee teams he played on. Jeter’s gift, however, was his ever-present ability to be, well, present. Most of Jeter’s career accomplishments, even his 3,000 hits, seem more like inevitibilities of time rather than amazing skill. Jeter is the face of the Yankees because he personifies, more than anything else, everything about the Yankees that was stated in the first two paragraphs. Yankee fans love Derek Jeter because his team almost always wins. Opposing fans hate him for the exact same reason. Jeter has been there for every one of those moments of Yankee glory over the past decade-and-a-half, but rarely as the central player. Rather, Jeter was the man on the top step of the dugout, looking suave and unconcerned as Scott Brosius or Tino Martinez (or Raul Ibanez or Russell Martin) breaks your spirit in the bottom of the 12th inning. Perhaps no story personifies this more than Jeter’s admission that he was in the bathroom during Russell Martin’s go-ahead home run against the Orioles in game 1 of the ALDS. So certain was he that the Yankees would get the job done, he didn’t need to be engaged. No player likes to invoke the existence of Yankee “ghosts” more than Jeter, but even he is missing the point. The “ghosts” aren’t the disembodied spirits of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, etc. come back to twist the fortunes of a game in New York’s favor, but rather Jeter himself. His mere presence on the field, with his steely glare and proud stance. Everything about the man exuded an air of “my team is better than yours, and eventually we will beat you.” But even to Jeter, sports can be a cruel and unfeeling world. Which is why I will print the end of this era of Yankee mystique in as cold and unfeeling terms as possible: This is what the end looks like: [TABLE] D Phelps relieved D Robertson.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] M Cabrera walked.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] P Fielder grounded out to first, M Cabrera to second.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] D Young doubled to deep right, M Cabrera scored.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] D Kelly ran for D Young.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] J Peralta reached on infield single to shortstop, D Kelly to third.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] J Nix at shortstop. [/TABLE] In a way, this had been building. The Yankees couldn’t hit at all in the Division Series. Alex Rodriguez is no longer Alex Rodriguez, and he was never really Alex Rodriguez come playoff time anyway. Their rotation is propped up by a man who looks to be one cheeseburger away from a total cholesteral meltdown, and their roster contains so many 35+ players that it is starting to look like a rest home for untradeable contracts. But as long as they had Jeter, the Yankees had a shot. The game transcript above tells us the rest. Without even mentioning his name, it tells us that Jeter is removed from the game for Jayson Nix, which is a bit like removing Daniel Day-Lewis from “Gangs of New York” and replacing him with Jim Varney. Nevermind that the Yankees had already been sunk by Delmon Young (of all people!) by that point. The game wasn’t over until Jeter went down and didn’t get up. Now, not only is the game over, but the series is likely done as well. The Yankees are fully de-stabilized at this point, and they likely won’t recover this post-season. http://www.theunplayable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/image-300x251.jpgWhen Derek Jeter was helped off the field, He took the Yankees' hopes with him. And after that, what is there? Jeter will heal, and he will likely play on, but he’ll be 39 next year, and time has been catching up with him for several years now. Alex Rodriguez seems finished as a Yankee, one way or another, and the rest of the lineup, bar Robinson Cano, just doesn’t seem frightening. And even Cano will be 30 in eight days. Don’t even get me started on the pitching staff. I want to keep this thing under 3,000 words. Of course these are the Yankees, and they will reload. They will likely be back in the playoffs next season. The question is, what will they look like then? There comes a sudden point near the end of every great athlete’s career when it seems like their relevance disappears. For Johnny Unitas it was the day he trotted out in a powder-blue San Diego Charger uniform. For Wayne Gretzky, it was being traded to St. Louis. For Jeter, it just might be the night his ankle snapped, and as he left the field, he took all of the Yankee hopes for glory with him. They were replaced by Jayson Nix.

Originally posted at http://www.theunplayable.com/ on 10/14/12 For a while last night, it looked like the same old story: (Insert Non-Yankee baseball team name here) has a lead in the Bronx in a playoff game, and it’s late in the game. You think you have them, and then it all goes horribly, horribly wrong. The Tigers had them last night, leading 4-0 in the bottom of the ninth. Of course Ichiro homers, and three batters later, Raul Ibanez does the same, the latter now meeting the minimum (patron level?) status for induction into the fraternity of “Yankee Legends.” It looked like anothoer one of those nights where the Yankees are down and out, and something comes and saves them. Call it their destiny, or the “ghosts” of Yankee stadium, or whatever undefinable force that makes the Yankees seemingly always succeed (2001 and 2004 notwithstanding) in these situations. Multiple teams’ fans know this feeling. The Yankees have tied you up, and they are going to finish you off in the most soul-crushing, “f__ this I’m burning my jersey and cancelling my season tickets because baseball is soooooo rigged” kind of fashion possible. Since the mid-nineties, at least in the American League, the playoff theme in baseball has centered around the Yankees, their superiority, which at times has been more perception than reality, and their opponents’ inability to overcome the unrelenting leviathan has been the modern Yankee dynasty. It has been sixteen years since the Yankees reclaimed their perch as the pace car of baseball. In that time, they’ve gone through multiple eras of players. It began with grubby, workaday battlers like Jim Leyritz and Joe Girardi, who founded the modern incarnation of “America’s most hated team” and evolved into the preening, mercinary superstars that populated their roster for much of the 2000′s. There were two constants to the roster, one was Mariano Rivera, who would haul the carcass of a defeated opponant away after the Jeter and the res of the assassins had done their job. Rivera was the Yankee’s undertaker, and Jeter was the captain of the hit squad. Before you stop reading because you think that this is another love letter about the greatness of Derek Jeter, I would ask you to bear with me. I will say Jeter is certainly not the greatest Yankee ever. He was probably never the most talented player on any of the Yankee teams he played on. Jeter’s gift, however, was his ever-present ability to be, well, present. Most of Jeter’s career accomplishments, even his 3,000 hits, seem more like inevitibilities of time rather than amazing skill. Jeter is the face of the Yankees because he personifies, more than anything else, everything about the Yankees that was stated in the first two paragraphs. Yankee fans love Derek Jeter because his team almost always wins. Opposing fans hate him for the exact same reason. Jeter has been there for every one of those moments of Yankee glory over the past decade-and-a-half, but rarely as the central player. Rather, Jeter was the man on the top step of the dugout, looking suave and unconcerned as Scott Brosius or Tino Martinez (or Raul Ibanez or Russell Martin) breaks your spirit in the bottom of the 12th inning. Perhaps no story personifies this more than Jeter’s admission that he was in the bathroom during Russell Martin’s go-ahead home run against the Orioles in game 1 of the ALDS. So certain was he that the Yankees would get the job done, he didn’t need to be engaged. No player likes to invoke the existence of Yankee “ghosts” more than Jeter, but even he is missing the point. The “ghosts” aren’t the disembodied spirits of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, etc. come back to twist the fortunes of a game in New York’s favor, but rather Jeter himself. His mere presence on the field, with his steely glare and proud stance. Everything about the man exuded an air of “my team is better than yours, and eventually we will beat you.” But even to Jeter, sports can be a cruel and unfeeling world. Which is why I will print the end of this era of Yankee mystique in as cold and unfeeling terms as possible: This is what the end looks like: [TABLE] D Phelps relieved D Robertson.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] M Cabrera walked.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] P Fielder grounded out to first, M Cabrera to second.[TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] D Young doubled to deep right, M Cabrera scored.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] D Kelly ran for D Young.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] J Peralta reached on infield single to shortstop, D Kelly to third.[TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] J Nix at shortstop. [/TABLE] In a way, this had been building. The Yankees couldn’t hit at all in the Division Series. Alex Rodriguez is no longer Alex Rodriguez, and he was never really Alex Rodriguez come playoff time anyway. Their rotation is propped up by a man who looks to be one cheeseburger away from a total cholesteral meltdown, and their roster contains so many 35+ players that it is starting to look like a rest home for untradeable contracts. But as long as they had Jeter, the Yankees had a shot. The game transcript above tells us the rest. Without even mentioning his name, it tells us that Jeter is removed from the game for Jayson Nix, which is a bit like removing Daniel Day-Lewis from “Gangs of New York” and replacing him with Jim Varney. Nevermind that the Yankees had already been sunk by Delmon Young (of all people!) by that point. The game wasn’t over until Jeter went down and didn’t get up. Now, not only is the game over, but the series is likely done as well. The Yankees are fully de-stabilized at this point, and they likely won’t recover this post-season. http://www.theunplayable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/image-300x251.jpgWhen Derek Jeter was helped off the field, He took the Yankees' hopes with him. And after that, what is there? Jeter will heal, and he will likely play on, but he’ll be 39 next year, and time has been catching up with him for several years now. Alex Rodriguez seems finished as a Yankee, one way or another, and the rest of the lineup, bar Robinson Cano, just doesn’t seem frightening. And even Cano will be 30 in eight days. Don’t even get me started on the pitching staff. I want to keep this thing under 3,000 words. Of course these are the Yankees, and they will reload. They will likely be back in the playoffs next season. The question is, what will they look like then? There comes a sudden point near the end of every great athlete’s career when it seems like their relevance disappears. For Johnny Unitas it was the day he trotted out in a powder-blue San Diego Charger uniform. For Wayne Gretzky, it was being traded to St. Louis. For Jeter, it just might be the night his ankle snapped, and as he left the field, he took all of the Yankee hopes for glory with him. They were replaced by Jayson Nix.

Originally posted at theunplayable.com So it comes to this for the Washington Nationals. You won 98 games during the regular season, more than any other team, you electrified a fan base that had nothing to cheer for except for the (always bet on Lincoln, by the way). You took over a town that was is, and will always be about football, and who just drafted Robert Griffin III. Now you are one loss from an empty winter, and you are trusting your season to…Ross Detweiler. That’s what you get for being gutless. Nothing against Detweiler, who has perfectly good numbers for a fourth starter, but he probably shouldn’t be pitching tomorrow. However, the Nationals cast their lot when they made the single most ridiculous choice in baseball history by shutting down Stephen Strasburg on September 7th. It stunk then and it stinks even worse now. It should get Mike Rizzo fired, or at least severely embarrassed in public by Davey Johnson after Kyle Lohse sends the Nationals packing on Thursday. Of course, Strasburg wouldn’t likely be starting tomorrow’s game. He would have started game 2, when Jordan Zimmerman was pummeled in a three-inning nightmare stint. Zimmerman should have been starting game 3, and with Strasburg on the hill after Gio Gonzalez, he likely would have been pitching with a 2-0 series lead. But the Nationals brass decided that Strasburg’s long-term ability to put on a Washington uniform was more important than the team’s best shot at a title since 1994, when the then Expos had the league’s best record on August 12 and, well, you know the rest. http://www.theunplayable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Mike-Rizzo.jpg By choosing commodity over player, Mike Rizzo has sunk his team's chances. No one wants to see Stephen Strasburg injured, and maybe he is just one pitch away from snapping his right arm off like a Thanksgiving wishbone, but maybe he was poised to put up a legendary October, and lead a city to the World Series for the first time in 89 years? The Nationals are loaded with young talent, but maybe this is their only shot at the ultimate prize? If we don’t know what the future holds for Strasburg should he pitch right now, how do we know what the future holds for the Nationals as a group? Strasburg could get injured, yes, but so could Gio Gonzalez, or Ryan Zimmerman, or (gasp) Bryce Harper. Rizzo’s decision to treat Strasburg like a long-term commodity was insulting. It was insulting to the fans, who have waded through nearly a decade of awful teams anchored by horrible pitching staffs (come on down, Odalis Perez). The Nationals seemed to be doing everything right. They built a swanky new ballpark to replace the awful RFK. They drafted the right players. They built a winner. Two million-plus fans came out for the first time since Nationals Park opened in 2008, and they came because they were watching the best all-around team in baseball, and they thought that they had a shot at a title. Benching Strasbourg sends the direct message that filling the seats for years to come is more important than giving the fans a moment they can be proud of. What incentive do you have to follow a team that will think like that? Rizzo’s decision is insulting to the players. Every player’s goal is to play in the World Series, and chances to compete for baseball’s ultimate prize are few and far between. Over the course of 162 games, many things have to break right for a team to come out on top. So what would your reaction be if you got the breaks, only to have your GM, the man charged with improving your team, take away one of your most dangerous weapons when you need him most? Doesn’t that send the message that Strasburg is bigger than the team? Also, isn’t a “shut-down” Strasbourg just the same as an injured Strasburg? Ultimately, Rizzo’s decision is insulting to Strasbourg. Sure, at 24, Strasburg has many theoretical years of pitching ahead of him, but how many of those would he trade for a World Series ring right now? When Strasburg is remembered twenty years from now, will he be remembered solely as the pitcher whose GM made him quit when he had his best shot? Time will tell. In the big money world of professional sports, there will forever be a thin line between gutsy athlete and marketable commodity. By shutting down Strasburg, we will forever know on which side of the line the Nationals stand. They chose commerce over championships, and their players, especially Strasburg, as well as their fans will pay the ultimate price.

Originally posted at theunplayable.com So it comes to this for the Washington Nationals. You won 98 games during the regular season, more than any other team, you electrified a fan base that had nothing to cheer for except for the (always bet on Lincoln, by the way). You took over a town that was is, and will always be about football, and who just drafted Robert Griffin III. Now you are one loss from an empty winter, and you are trusting your season to…Ross Detweiler. That’s what you get for being gutless. Nothing against Detweiler, who has perfectly good numbers for a fourth starter, but he probably shouldn’t be pitching tomorrow. However, the Nationals cast their lot when they made the single most ridiculous choice in baseball history by shutting down Stephen Strasburg on September 7th. It stunk then and it stinks even worse now. It should get Mike Rizzo fired, or at least severely embarrassed in public by Davey Johnson after Kyle Lohse sends the Nationals packing on Thursday. Of course, Strasburg wouldn’t likely be starting tomorrow’s game. He would have started game 2, when Jordan Zimmerman was pummeled in a three-inning nightmare stint. Zimmerman should have been starting game 3, and with Strasburg on the hill after Gio Gonzalez, he likely would have been pitching with a 2-0 series lead. But the Nationals brass decided that Strasburg’s long-term ability to put on a Washington uniform was more important than the team’s best shot at a title since 1994, when the then Expos had the league’s best record on August 12 and, well, you know the rest. http://www.theunplayable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Mike-Rizzo.jpg By choosing commodity over player, Mike Rizzo has sunk his team's chances. No one wants to see Stephen Strasburg injured, and maybe he is just one pitch away from snapping his right arm off like a Thanksgiving wishbone, but maybe he was poised to put up a legendary October, and lead a city to the World Series for the first time in 89 years? The Nationals are loaded with young talent, but maybe this is their only shot at the ultimate prize? If we don’t know what the future holds for Strasburg should he pitch right now, how do we know what the future holds for the Nationals as a group? Strasburg could get injured, yes, but so could Gio Gonzalez, or Ryan Zimmerman, or (gasp) Bryce Harper. Rizzo’s decision to treat Strasburg like a long-term commodity was insulting. It was insulting to the fans, who have waded through nearly a decade of awful teams anchored by horrible pitching staffs (come on down, Odalis Perez). The Nationals seemed to be doing everything right. They built a swanky new ballpark to replace the awful RFK. They drafted the right players. They built a winner. Two million-plus fans came out for the first time since Nationals Park opened in 2008, and they came because they were watching the best all-around team in baseball, and they thought that they had a shot at a title. Benching Strasbourg sends the direct message that filling the seats for years to come is more important than giving the fans a moment they can be proud of. What incentive do you have to follow a team that will think like that? Rizzo’s decision is insulting to the players. Every player’s goal is to play in the World Series, and chances to compete for baseball’s ultimate prize are few and far between. Over the course of 162 games, many things have to break right for a team to come out on top. So what would your reaction be if you got the breaks, only to have your GM, the man charged with improving your team, take away one of your most dangerous weapons when you need him most? Doesn’t that send the message that Strasburg is bigger than the team? Also, isn’t a “shut-down” Strasbourg just the same as an injured Strasburg? Ultimately, Rizzo’s decision is insulting to Strasbourg. Sure, at 24, Strasburg has many theoretical years of pitching ahead of him, but how many of those would he trade for a World Series ring right now? When Strasburg is remembered twenty years from now, will he be remembered solely as the pitcher whose GM made him quit when he had his best shot? Time will tell. In the big money world of professional sports, there will forever be a thin line between gutsy athlete and marketable commodity. By shutting down Strasburg, we will forever know on which side of the line the Nationals stand. They chose commerce over championships, and their players, especially Strasburg, as well as their fans will pay the ultimate price.