southern california's power surge

editor's note : the number following a player's name indicates the ranking of said prospect within the organization according to baseball america.

new york yankees receive : of xavier nady and p damaso marte
pittsburgh pirates receive : of jose tabata [#3], p jeff karstens, p ross ohlendorf [#9] and p dan mccutchen

analysis : by trading for xavier nady and damaso marte, the yankees actually make a sensible move, instead of their usual one based on name power. nady will help an aging and injured outfield, while marte will solidify their bullpen as their main set-up man. by trading away nady and marte, the pirates, at first glance, look like they got fleeced yet again. but by getting two of the yankees better prospects and a fourth or fifth starter in karstens [in addition to another prospect in mccutcheon] did well in helping a rebuilding process stay on course for their goal to be over .500 by 2018.

the grades : new york [a-] | pittsburgh [b]

milwaukee brewers receive : 2b ray durham
san francisco giants receive : p steve hammond and of darren ford

analysis : i'm not sure how much of a difference maker ray durham will be for the milwaukee brewers for rest of the season, except that it will push rickie weeks to play better. with that being said, the brewers didn't trade away much to get him. the giants received two players who are not ready to make an impact at the major league level yet, but like most teams out of contention, they don't need an aging player in a contract year.

the grades : milwaukee [c] | san francisco [c]

los angeles dodgers receive : 3b casey blake
cleveland indians receive : p jon meloan [#8] and c carlos santana

analysis : the dodgers have found a veteran third baseman to take over a position that has been a hole all season long, although casey blake isn't anything close to a long term solution [or even a short term solution]. but he will bring stability and experience to a position that has lacked both this season. with their playoff hopes all but gone, the indians decided to expedite the rebuilding process for the future. by trading blake, they received a notable prospect and a young catcher who will need time to develop.

the grades : los angeles [b] | cleveland [b]

anaheim angels receive : 1b mark teixeira
atlanta braves receive : 1b casey kotchman and p steven marek [#6]

analysis : the anaheim angels addressed what many considered the one thing that they needed, which was one more good hitter. by getting/renting mark teixeira, not only have they addressed that need, they exceeded it. teixeira will give vladimir guerrero the protection that he has been lacking [or vice versa], thus strengthening an angels lineup that seems to rely too much on small ball [although their record would suggest otherwise]. on the other side of the trade, the braves were able to get an everyday player in casey kotchman, who peter gammons ridiculously says is just as good as teixeira, and a decent pitching prospect for a player who was probably going to leave as a free agent [most likely to baltimore].

the grades : anaheim [a+] | atlanta [b-]

new york yankees receive : c ivan rodriguez
detroit tigers receive : p kyle farnsworth

analysis : i have no idea what the tigers were thinking. yes, they needed relief pitching to bolster a bullpen that has either been ineffective or oft-injured, or both. but is kyle farnsworth that much of an improvement? history says no. on the other hand, the yankees were able to get a considerable upgrade at the catcher position. although ivan rodriguez is in the twilight of his career and no longer the player he once was, he can still make a considerable difference during the yankees' playoff push. furthermore, the loss of farnsworth is barely a factor since the acquisition of damaso marte made him expendable.

the grades : new york [b+] | tigers [c-]

chicago white sox receive : of ken griffey jr
cincinnati reds receive : inf danny richar and p nick masset

analysis: i'm not sure as to why the white sox would want to add ken griffey jr to a crowded outfield, except that gm ken williams is still trying to figure a way to win the 1997 world series. instead, they should have traded for either starting or relief pitching. true, the white sox didn't give up much, but it could've been towards one of those needs. as for the reds, they clear ken griffey's contract and aging body from the team as well as add more pieces to the rebuilding process.

the grades : chicago [c+] | cincinnati [b-]

florida marlins receive : p arthur rhodes
seattle mariners receive : p gaby hernandez [#5]

analysis : left handed relievers are always a valuable commodity, as this trade proves. the marlins traded a promising pitching prospect for a journeyman reliever. are the marlins getting equal value based on talent and/or potential? probably not, yet it was a move they felt that they had to make. meanwhile, the mariners received a player who could be far more valuable than arthur rhodes was to the team.

the grades : florida [b] | mariners [b+]

los angeles dodgers receive : of manny ramirez
boston red sox receive : of jason bay
pittsburgh pirates receive : 3b andy laroche [#2], p bryan morris, of brandon moss and p craig hansen

analysis : in getting manny ramirez, the dodgers may have had the steal of the trading deadline, with many thanks to peter gammons' fury. all they gave up to receive one of this generation's greatest hitters in manny ramirez was two prospects in andy laroche, who so far has disappointed in his chances at third base, and bryan morris, a low-a ball pitcher. not only that, the dodgers don't have to pay any of manny's remaining salary. they have finally found a legitimate bat in a lineup that is bottom third of the major leagues in almost all offensive categories. does this mean the dodgers will win the nl west? not necessarily, but it does improve their chances significantly. in exchange for manny AND two prospects, the red sox received jason bay, and as mentioned above, will be paying the rest of manny's salary this season. clearly switching manny ramirez for jason bay straight-up is a downgrade from a strictly numbers perspective, yet the red sox were the ones who gave more to get the deal done. despite manny's recent behavior, it's still a curious decision. though on the bright side the red sox will be able to keep bay until 2009 at a third of the cost and bay will be able to replace most of manny's numbers. they were also able to keep jason bay away from the tampa bay devil¹ rays. [the rays didn't get bay because they supposedly weren't willing to pay the high price and thought that rocco baldelli² would essentially be their mid-season pick-up.] and finally, the pirates were able to turn jason bay into four prospects, which is a fairly good haul. though andy laroche couldn't win the starting third base job in los angeles, he is still young and has potential in future years. also, the pairing of the laroche brothers in pittsburgh will bring a good amount of entertainment. i can already imagine the laroche brothers cruising the pittsburgh nightlife hitting on teenagers with a bottle of pabst in one hand and a pierogi in the other. [with the laroche brothers reunion and manny ramirez hitting hollywood clubs with rafael furcal and andruw jones, this trade, no matter how it turns out, will go down in baseball history as greatest ever in terms of unintentional comedy.] along with andy laroche, the pirates received a serviceable outfielder in brandon moss and a potential closer in craig hansen. it seems as though the pirates are finally getting the idea of how to rebuild a franchise by harvesting prospects. now all they have to do is trade jack wilson once and for all.

the grades : los angeles [a+] | boston [b] | pittsburgh [b+]

¹ satanic worship no longer available
² speaking of rocco baldelli, with his latest injury simply being fatigue, is he aging faster than he should be? i seriously wonder if he has the same disease that afflicted robin williams in the movie jack.

taking one for the team

i know that this is from a few years ago [circa 2005], but it never gets old. i'm not sure if i'll ever see a funnier hit by the pitch. i'm still amazed by how far the ball bounces after hitting crotch. it must've went 15 feet in the air. and if you're wondering who the batter is, it's craig monroe of the detroit tigers. sad face time for him.

baseball in the barroid era

let's get one thing straight: barry bonds took performance enhancing drugs. in a leaked grand jury testimony, barry bonds said that he did take steroids, but he did so unknowingly. he testified that when he took the designer steroids ‘the cream’ and ‘the clear,’ he was told that they were flaxseed oil, a supplement that aids in healing pain that is associated with arthritis. i'm no legal expert [yet], but i’m not sure how that type of argument holds up in a court of law. for example, let's say an someone is charged with smoking marijuana. when a court of law investigates the accusation, if the defendant’s only argument is that he thought he was told it was a regular cigarette and nothing else, he would still be found guilty of the crime whether or not the defendant genuinely believed that it was a cigarette. and guess what, the accused can't deny that they smoked marijuana, regardless of what they thought it was. the same thing can be said in barry bonds' case, that he took steroids even if he was unaware of it. obviously, the two situations aren’t entirely the same [with barry’s case being much more complex], but the situations are similar enough to juxtapose. so i’m sorry barry, but that’s a pretty weak defense.

i do believe barry bonds when he says that he was never told that what was taking he was taking were actually steroids, but i’m certain that he suspected that they were. for barry, it was a better situation for him to be out of the loop and leave others to be the fall guy [eg his personal trainer greg anderson] in the event that a scandal would arise. that way, he would be able to plead ignorance. for barry, the less he knew, the better.

so why did a mortal lock of being a first-ballot hall of famer place himself in a position where his legacy could be tainted? he had already won 3 mvp awards by 2001, which at the time was tied for the most mvp awards of any person [bonds currently has 7 mvp awards, no one else has more than 3]. without argument, he had already established himself as one of the all-time greatest players before the issue of steroids came under suspicion. in the book, game of shadows, mark fainaru-wada and lance williams propose that bonds was jealous of the admiration from fans and media that mcgwire and sosa were receiving for their accolades. he was not envious because of their accomplishments and the attention per say, but rather that their feats were helped by the use of steroids [or so he thought] and that no one suspected as much. so i assume barry took the 'if you can't beat them, join them' approach and the rest is baseball history.

although barry bonds has become the poster-boy for the steroid era, there are many other players who have admitted to taking steroids and/or have actually tested positive. for instance, jason giambi and rafael palmeiro have either admitted to steroid use or have tested positive for using steroids. jason giambi [who admitted to steroid use] won an mvp award, and rafael palmeiro [who tested positive] is one of four players in baseball history with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. yet neither of these two players are hated to the extent that barry bonds is. gary sheffield has also said that he unknowingly took steroids, yet it seems as though that he gets a pass from fans and media alike. likewise, sammy sosa seems to have avoided the scrutiny that bonds has faced, even as he reached a noteworthy milestone by hitting his 600th home run earlier this year. so why does the majority of the baseball community hate barry bonds more than players in a similar situation?

for the greater part of the public, the answer to this question lies in what barry bonds has accomplished because of his steroid use, and not necessarily the steroid use itself. people are angry that he broke mcgwire's single season home run record [even though another alleged steroid user in mcgwire did the same thing himself when he broke the record set by roger maris, a person who didn't take steroids], and people are angry that he has now passed both babe ruth and hank aaron in setting the all-time home run record. [for some reason, the other records and historic marks aren't as important.] but if is this the issue at hand [and i believe it is], does that mean that it is more valid to hate a steroid user who breaks the single season and all-time home run records than the other players who acculmulate lesser statistics? because i thought the main concern is cheating in general in addition to the health of players who use them and the youth who might make the same mistake. but maybe i'm just naive.

with that in mind, what frustrates me the more than anything else about barry bonds taking steroids is not that he has broken hallowed records by using them, but the fact that he was already a transcendent player before he even touched any of it. he was gifted and talented far beyond almost all of his peers as well as those who played before him. he didn't need steroids to enhance his game to higher level; he was already playing at a level most players could only dream. i don't understand why he thought he needed to take steroids to convince people that he was better than mcgwire or sosa, because in the minds of those who truly follow baseball, among his contemporaries, there were none better.

in the end, i believe that barry bonds has been unfairly vilified. but don't misinterpret that as a statement that i condone what he has done. barry bonds deserves to be hated and booed, but not to this degree [or, all steroid users should be hated and booed to his degree]. there have been other high profile players who used steroids to help accomplish noteworthy achievements on the field but they are not treated as poorly. true, those players are treated badly for a while, but it fades away. and for baseball's sake, i hope the steroid use by players does as well.

top 10 greatest switch hitters of all time

ever since one of my friends [a diehard braves fan as well as the lead writer for the rogue league] said that chipper jones was THE greatest switch hitter of all time, it has been my lifelong goal to refute this claim. i will admit that i do have a dislike for the chipper [i have my reasons], but i know for a fact that he is not the best switch hitter who ever lived. even as my friend made that statement, three players came to mind who are head and shoulders better than the man they call chipper, to which he agreed [more on who they are later]. at any rate, this is a list of the top 10 greatest switch hitters in baseball history. mind you, it is of the greatest hitters, and not necessarily the greatest players. otherwise players such as ozzie smith, maury wills and willie wilson would [possibly] have made the list. also, current players who are still relatively young in their careers but who are not quite as established [eg mark teixeira, lance berkman] have been excluded.

10. ken singleton : i know what you're thinking: who? um, i'm not so sure myself, but his name is ken singleton and he played 15 seasons for the mets, expos and orioles. he is a three time all-star who had a career on-base percentage of .388 and played in two world series, with his team winning one in 1983. he had a career high 35 home runs and 111 rbi's in 1979, which helped him finish 2nd in mvp voting that year. [trust me, he's the 10th best switch hitter ever. if you know of anyone not on this list who is better, please, do tell.]

9. reggie smith : do you hear that sound? no? well, it's the sound of me scraping the bottom of the barrel. after no. 8, it was fairly difficult to choose the last 2 players to round out the rest of this list. not because there were so many choices to choose from, but because there really aren't that many quality switch hitters. anyway, reggie smith deserves the no. 9 spot over ken singleton merely because i like his name better. that, and he was a 7 time all-star who slugged 314 home runs [not in a season, that would be a record or something] and batted over .300 seven times in 17 seasons. he also played in 4 world series, hitting 3 hrs in one game during the '77 fall classic. other than that, he sounds like a guy who would have your back in a street brawl.

8. tim raines : i like to call him 'the rain man,' only because i thought he was somewhat autistic when i was younger [jokes jokes]. tim appeared in 7 straight all-star games and has a career batting average of .294 over the course of 23 seasons. while he did not have the power numbers as some of the other players on this list, he did maintain a high on-base percentage throughout his career and scored runs like it was going out of style. ultimately, his biggest flaw though was providing the y chromosome for tim raines jr, thus subjecting baseball fans everywhere to atrocious baseball.

7. roberto alomar : the second thing i think of when i hear roberto alomar's name is his postseason play in the '92 and '93 seasons, which helped his team, the toronto blue jays, win two consecutive world series. if i remember correctly, during those two postseasons, he delivered clutch hit after clutch hit to help his team's cause. when most people [and by 'people,' i mean the 2% of the population who actually watch baseball] think of the '93 world series, they think of joe carter hitting the series-ending home run, which resulted in his teammates trying to crawl up his butt [fyi, around the 0:52 mark, you can actually see a ballboy try to crawl in a player's butt]. anyway, other than the joe carter being violated, when i think of the '93 world series, i think about how the phillies could never seem to get alomar out. he was just a tough batter. at any rate, alomar batted over .300 in six straight seasons and in 9 out of 10 seasons. after his stay with the blue jays, he went to play with many other teams, including the orioles, which brings me to the first thing i think of when i hear his name: don't stand close to the man when he thinks a called strike is a ball.

6. bernie williams : no, i'm not putting bernie williams at no. 6 because he is an amazing jazz musician, but because he has truly put up some great numbers. at first, i was reluctant to include bernie in this list [mostly because i think yankee players tend to be over-hyped], but after reviewing his numbers and career accomplishments, i had to give the man some props. he is a 5 time all-star, but i think it's partially due to the fact that joe torre was always picking the all-star team [and his nose. um, his own nose, not bernie's. still, i wouldn't put it past torre.] anyway, bernie hit over .300 in eight straight seasons and was a mainstay in the powerful yankees lineup. he also holds postseason records with 22 home runs and 80 rbi's [although i think that these numbers were helped immensely by the new playoff format that was introduced in 1995, which led to more playoff games per season and therefore more chances to culminate statistics].

5. chipper jones : going along with my dislike of chipper, one of my favorite memories of chipper jones is the time towards the end of his rookie season when a ground ball or something hit him in the face, causing him to have a split lip for the playoffs and everyone seeing him like that on national tv. good times... seriously though, i tried hard to get chipper out of the top 5 of the greatest switch hitters of all time, but the boy just puts up good numbers. and as much as i don't like chipper jones, i respect that he is a good ballplayer who was a central part of a successful team. not only that, he has hit over 20 home runs in each of his 12 full seasons [not counting the current 2007 season, in which he has 18 as of today, so he will most likely get to 20 this year if he can avoid one of his trademark nagging injuries]. during this stretch, chipper had at least 100 rbi's in 8 straight seasons and sports a career .306 batting average to go with a career on-base percentage over .400. he's also had some other great accomplishments [including finishing 2nd in rookie of the year voting to dodger sensation hideo nomo], but enough is enough. let's just move on.

4. frankie frisch : i had to dig deep to find someone to supplant chipper jones from no. 4, and i think i found that someone in frankie frisch [if you have heard of this guy before today, congratulations on turning 125 years old within the next year]. frankie played in 8 world series, with his team winning 4 of them. not only is he a career .316 hitter and the 1931 national league mvp, he was inducted into the hall of fame in 1947. oftentimes he is compared to rogers hornsby, a player who he was once traded for. in terms of being a better overall player, some have argued that frisch was better than hornsby [i know that's not what this list is about, but i'm just sayin']. so take that larry.

3. eddie murray : when i think of eddie murray, i think of the detroit lions kicker from tecmo super bowl. man, that guy was accurate. i also think of one of the best hitters of our generation who is only one of three men [plus one confirmed steroid user] to have at least 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. he was a consistently great hitter throughout most of his career and performed well in the clutch. he also played in three world series, with his team winning one in 1983. out of the 21 seasons that he played, he had 16 seasons of 20 home runs or more, including 13 out of the first 14 seasons of his career. his ability to hit is only surpassed by his character on and off the field. and his facial hair.

2. mickey mantle : mickey mantle's feats were so amazing that people oftentimes forget that his actual first name is 'mickey.' seriously, anyone with that name this day and age would get jumped after school everyday after class. anyway, the 'mick' hit some of longest home runs in baseball history, with several of his home runs claiming to be over 600 ft [that's over 2 football fields peoples]. he hit over .300 in 10 of his 18 seasons, and almost averaged 30 home runs per year for his career. he also played in 12 world series, with his team winning 7 of them. he holds world series career records of home runs [18], runs [42] and rbi's [40]. he has also won 3 mvp awards and is the last person to win the major league triple crown when he did it in 1956 with a .353 average, 52 home runs and 130 rbi's. and i'm pretty sure he slayed a dragon with his bare hands.

1. pete rose : thanks to the espn movie hustle, whenever i picture pete rose in my mind, i think of tom sizemore and the ridiculous haircut he had in that movie. then i remember, pete rose looks like this. and this. so, i guess it's justified. off-field issues aside, pete rose is one of the greatest hitters who ever lived, switch hitter or not. he had 10 seasons where he had 200 or more hits and 3 other seasons where he had 192 hits or more. his team won 3 world series out of the 6 that he played in [even bringing a title to the city of philadelphia, which is notable because that city is cursed]. even though pete only had 160 home runs [but if steroids were more popular back then, that number could be double], he finished his career with over 4,000[!] hits. eventually, as we all know, pete rose's reputation would slowly deteriorate with gambling problems and being banned from baseball and whatnot, but without that, it probably would not have led to this glorious moment in time.