McAdam: Red Sox boot one with Nomar

The staged event Thursday morning was something you might expect from a team attempting to invent some sort of artificial legacy, an act which screams: “Hey, we’re relevant—really, we are!”

Huge Brawl in Cuba

Well, that is something you don’t see everyday.

Baseball Picture of the Day: Strasburg in the Fall League

Today’s image:

Tomorrow: What happened!?!?!

Martone: Band of brothers: Garciaparra and Conigliaro

Sans the Hamilton-Blur duel, of course.

We rarely mention them in the same breath, and why would we? One was home-grown Massachusetts, the other a transplanted Californian. One was an outfielder in the 1960s and ‘70s, the other a shortstop in the 1990s and 2000s. One sprinted toward the bright lights, the other sprinted away. Most of us see almost no connection between Nomar Garciaparra and Tony Conigliaro, other than their shared Red Sox legacy and their lost opportunity at immortality.

We should look closer.

The careers of Garciaparra and Conigliaro run on almost parallel tracks with a similarity that’s eerie. Ignore the differences in their hitting styles—Nomar was a line-drive machine in his prime, Tony C. a launcher of fly balls. Ignore the raw statistics, most of which are contextual; put Garciaparra in the dead-ball ‘60s or Conigliaro in the hitter-happy ‘90s and their stats would even out.

Instead, follow the broad strokes. You’re talking about two guys who almost seem separated at birth, albeit decades apart:

Joe Posnanski Blog: Jose Reyes, Mets

Of course, different people have different ideas about what makes an exciting baseball player. But, in general, the blueprint would look an awful lot like Jose Reyes.

In fact, not that long ago, Bill James and I plotted out formula (admittedly the formula is a lot more me than Bill — he just offered suggestions) to try and determine the most exciting players in baseball.

... Sure, the late season fadeouts hurt. They hurt a lot. But — and it’s easy to forget this — the Mets still looked to be in awfully good shape. Reyes was exciting. Santana was dazzling. Third baseman David Wright was one of the best players in baseball. Center fielder Carlos Beltran was one of the best players in baseball. Carlos Delgado had hit 38 home runs — the 11th time in 12 years he hit 30-plus homers. Francisco Rodriguez came to New York after he had set the single-season save record in Anaheim — finally, the Mets had their answer for the Great Rivera.

My Grate Friend, Peason Posted: March 11, 2010 at 10:15 AM | 1 comment(s)
  Related News: NY Mets

AZ Snakepit: McLennan: Ken Levine: Worst Commentator Ever?

Yoouch! And I thought Michael the Kay saying that “Angels phenom Casey Kotchman will be manning the hot corner for years”...as he was throwing the ball lefty, was da pits.

If anyone knows anything about the Arizona Diamondbacks’ minor leaguers – HELP! To quote Butch Cassidy: “Who are these guys?”
—Ken Levine, on his blog

More to the point - who the hell is Ken Levine? And with the publicly-announced lack of advance preparation shown above, how exactly did he get a job providing play-by-play for the Diamondbacks-Dodgers game on Tuesday? I don’t know about you, but if I was a part-time announcer, I would make far more effort to research the opposition players - not, as Levine apparent does, simply throw up hands in bemusement at his own ignorance. How does it go? “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

...This ‘deer in headlights’ incompetence was ironic, given another comment on Levine’s blog: “This was so much easier last spring when the Dodgers played the National Team from Korea. No joke – every player on the Korean team was named “Lee”. So you could have the wrong guy in the wrong position batting in the wrong spot and no one would ever know.” Oh, hold my aching sides, I fear they may split. The reality is that 20 of the 28 names on the Korean roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic were not named Lee. But why let facts get in the way of blinkered xenophobia for weak comedic purposes?

...By now, the line-up changes were happening thick and fast, but it was too much to expect Levine to tell us about them - even though he knew, and had already mentioned, that the game was being broadcast nationwide. We got more information from snippets of the PA announcer at Camelback, heard over Levine’s droning, than from the commentator. It led to this entry for the Broadcasting Hall of Shame. “And so, a leadoff double for an unidentified Diamondback.” I’m not kidding. I wish I was. And the obscure, non-roster invitee who baffled Levine? Actually, it was Ryan Roberts,. Y’know, who only played 110 games for Arizona last season.

Umpire Tim McLelland discusses blown calls, why 3 umps were fired

Pandora peaks and valleys…

He’s not that worried about losing his job. He said umpires make mistakes and they’re “part of the game.”

“I would hope that people realize that umpires are going to make mistakes,” McLelland said on the Dan Patrick Show.  “I know they had a quote in the paper that said the supervisors lost their jobs, but the umpires retained thiers. But if you fired umpires or officials for a missed call, you’re not going to have any officials. We make mistakes. We don’t want to. We’re out their trying to do our best. We don’t want to make mistakes. We feel bad when we do. But we are going to make them. Fortunatley it happens and it’s part of the game.”

McLelland doesn’t know if instant replay could have saved those jobs

“I don’’t know. I don’t know why they were fired. It’s rumor, its’s innuendo. I can’t believe that somebody was fired because of missed calls in a playoff. Like I said, those are going to happen. Unfortanatley they did. I dont know what the reason was or why the were fired. I dont know whether instant replay would have helped. I doubt it would have. I’m at a loss. I have been since I found out about it.”

McLelland calls instant replay a “Pandora’s Box” because each call is dependent on another call. He does however point out that umpires are changing their attitude and are more open to replay.

Joe Posnanski Blog: HireGardy.com

Someone opened up a bloget door and out stepped Joey Poz,
Playing keyboard like a-ringin’ a bell and lookin’ like da Mozz.
Now, if you gotta plug Gardenhire, I wish you a lotta luck…

I’m not entirely sure why there isn’t much Gardy appreciation out there. Yes, I understand that Gardenhire will make his share of bizarre decisions — for instance he is the guy who keeps giving Nick Punto a staggering number of at-bats. Yes, I feel confident that if I watched him every day, point by point, I would be annoyed by many of his managerial habits. Yes, I feel sure that people who follow Gardy on a daily basis can send me a long, long list of Gardy transgressions — I feel sure about this because my email is filled with such lists.

But, I don’t know, it seems to me that the guy has managed the Twins to five division titles in his eight years, or, to put it another way, THE GUY HAS MANAGED THE TWINS TO FIVE DIVISION TITLES IN HIS EIGHT YEARS. I mean, sure, you would expect a good manager to manage the Twins to at least six division titles in eight years, but, doesn’t he get SOME credit for this? He’s done this even though the Twins have never in those years had a payroll in baseball’s top half. And only once in all those years, in 2003, did the Twins have even the highest payroll in the low-paying division. Last year, the Twins had the lowest payroll.They won. Gardy won a division title in 2002 and a division title in 2009, and he did not have any of the same starting players. It seems pretty good to me.

Sure, you could say that the Twins success comes from their scouting, from their player development, from their star players, from anyone BUT Gardy, and I would not be able to prove you wrong. Maybe the Twins win year after year despite Gardy. Maybe he’s the guy who keeps making the $40-$60 million payroll Twins underachieve year after year. I don’t know. I don’t see it that way.

Granger: Did the 2009 Yankees Produce the Greatest Infield (Plus Catcher) in MLB History?

And as Mandel puts it..."a meticulous piece of research” by Jamal Granger.

The Year of the Ox – The Year of the Brown Earth Cow: The 2009 New York Yankees – Kate Hudson > All

The 2009 World Series Champions, New York Yankees (for someone who will be following the team for just his 8th year in 2010, you have no idea how good it feels to read that over), rank fourth on this list with their 24.1 total WAR. Unfortunately, the 2009 Bombers contain the majority of the players that amassed the three fewest plate appearances over the course of a listed campaign: Alex Rodriguez, 535; Dan Driessen (’74), 523; Jorge Posada, 438. Still, their combined 506.3 EqR and .309 EqA ranked second and first, respectively, on this list, and they also boasted both a top-five Cy Young candidate in Carsten Charles Sabathia and a top-three MVP candidate in Derek Jeter.

Speaking of the kid from Kalamazoo, the team captain led the Yankees with 6.5 WAR, and has the unpleasant distinction of essentially being the worst team leader in this category of all five teams. Still, do not let that fool you into thinking that Jeter did not set the American League on fire with his MVP-caliber season. Leading the league at the position in EqA (.310), EqR (115.6), HR (18), batting average (.334), OBP (.406) and wOBA (.390), he arguably had his best season since his back-to-back 1998 and 1999 seasons. Shifting to the defensive side of the game, his +5 TZ is the best he has recorded in his future HoF career. In 2009 at short stop in Major League Baseball, there was Hanley Ramirez, Derek Jeter and everyone else.

Flanagan to return to Orioles as color analyst for MASN

Back on the beatagan!

More than a year after his stint as an Orioles executive ended, Mike Flanagan will return to the organization as a color analyst for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

Flanagan, who spent more than 30 years with the Orioles as a player, coach, front office executive and broadcaster, will work about half the 2010 schedule, sharing color duties with Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer. Gary Thorne and Jim Hunter will handle the play-by-play responsibilities.

“I’m excited to be back, certainly, with MASN, and to be able to give perspective and a richer experience to the broadcast,” said Flanagan, who replaces Buck Martinez, now a play-by-play man for the Toronto Blue Jays’ broadcast team. “I’m looking forward to being back with Palmer and [Rick Dempsey], guys that have been around for a long time and have a lot of value.”

..."I think when you have someone around like Jim Palmer with Cy Youngs and my history, and a guy like Dempsey who played in four decades, I fully expect to be utilized,” he said. “This is obviously a role that I’m extremely comfortable with and have enjoyed in the past. Working with Jim and Dempsey and Gary Thorne, I think we can make a terrific broadcast even better.”

Souhan: Is it time for Twins to ponder the unthinkable?

Build a Bucky Guth statue outside Target Field? Have Assrash perform on Opening Day?? Trade Joe Mauer??? WTF!

A deal between the All-Star catcher and the Twins is still more likely than not, and at any moment Mauer’s agent, Ron Shapiro, could call the team and make it happen, prompting a combination press conference/Minnesota Mardi Gras.

But a combination of modern baseball logic and Twins history suggests that if the Twins’ decision-makers can’t sign Mauer, they will be obligated to trade him.

The Twins and Shapiro have kept the details of their negotiations remarkably quiet, but my sense, after talking with a variety of people, is that the team has offered more than $20 million a year. If Shapiro is intent on pushing Mauer to $25 million or more a year, Mauer might find himself on the Johan Santana Shuttle out of town.

A trade could yield a closer to replace Joe Nathan and would protect the franchise in the future from having one player on their roster consuming 20 to 25 percent of their payroll, a formula that rarely works in baseball.

Griffin: Selig and Co. should have their heads realigned

If Vladimir Guerrero couldn’t save baseball in Canada...what makes them think Vladimir Demikhov can? (readjusts dunce cap)

ajor League Baseball, according to a Tom Verducci column at SI.com, seems to be considering a move that would allow the Blue Jays to escape the unbelievably tough AL East. It sounds good, but thankfully is a long way from reality.

This is the dumbest thing commissioner Bud Selig has ever considered. With apologies to the Jays and any hopes they might have for realignment, there must be another motive behind this initiative.

Despite the apparently nonsensical nature of the recent proposal, Bud is not a dumb man, which leads one to believe he must be angling for something else before he retires in a couple of years. Like, for instance, a few additional wild-card teams.

Moving teams among divisions on a whim – Selig’s idea is for “floating” realignment, in which teams could change divisions from year to year based on geography, payroll and whether or not they plan to contend – is a stupid concept. Message to Jays president Paul Beeston, a member of Selig’s committee: Suck it up, toots. Just win more games against good teams.

...Instead of blaming the AL East, why not just expand the playoffs and add a couple of wild cards in both leagues. The two division winners with the best records could have a first-round bye while the worst division winner hosts the lowest-ranking wild card and the top wild card hosts No. 2. Why, it might even allow a team like the Jays to feel like a contender right through the end of September.

But giving teams the right to change divisions as long as the shift is not more than two time zones away is the dumbest idea baseball and Bud Selig have ever had.

Fangraphs: Top 50 American League Prospects

1. Desmond Jennings, OF, Tampa Bay Rays
2. Neftali Feliz, RHP, Texas Rangers
3. Carlos Santana, C, Cleveland Indians
4. Jesus Montero, C/1B, New York Yankees
5. Dustin Ackley, 2B/OF, Seattle Mariners
6. Brian Matusz, LHP, Baltimore Orioles
7. Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
8. Justin Smoak, 1B, Texas Rangers
9. Chris Carter, 1B, Oakland Athletics
10. Martin Perez, LHP, Texas Rangers
...
31. Zach McAllister, RHP, New York Yankees
32. Zach Stewart, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
33. Daniel Hudson, RHP, Chicago White Sox
34. Tanner Scheppers, RHP, Texas Rangers
35. Jacob Turner, RHP, Detroit Tigers
36. Brandon Erbe, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
37. Jordan Walden, RHP, Los Angeles Angels
38. Junichi Tazawa, RHP, Boston Red Sox
39. Jake Arrieta, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
40. Alex White, RHP, Cleveland Indians

This list is a bit different than the others floating around. I quoted the 30-40 section because I haven’t seen anyone else suggest Zach McAllister is anything close to this level of prospect. I’m guessing this list is based more on straight numbers than the BA or BPro lists. Also, its always a good time for another prospect list.

Battle of the Icons: Jose Canseco vs. Herschel Walker

Who doesn’t have childhood memories of sports icons?  When I was growing up, I was always Jose Canseco hitting the long ball in our backyard wiffle ball games… And football season would find me muddy and grass stained with a Dallas Cowboys 34 on my back. Now, after retiring from the sports in which they were all time greats, these two elite athletes have both moved to another field of battle, the Cage of Mixed Martial Arts.

This website was designed by me, Terry Burton (AKA The Fridge) to begin a grassroots movement for someone to promote a fight between these two fighters.  On this site, I have provided links and tools where we can get this fight done.

Give the people what they want?

Lenny Dykstra, Head Case

Because when it comes to Lenny Dykstra, there’s really no such thing as piling on.

Charles Pierce: Hello, goodbye

I say Nomar, you say Ramon.
You say why and I say I don’t know...what all this happy #### is about!

I am not opposed to Nice Happy Time Moments, per se. But that whole Nomar Garciaparra comedy show this morning stretches my inner Fred Rogers to the breaking point. Here’s a guy, coming back for a one-day dumbshow so that he “can retire as a Red Sock,” because that, apparently, has been a dream of his since shortly after he realized he couldn’t get around on a major-league fastball any more. This is a guy whose presence in the Red Sox clubhouse lingered like a case of cholera for two years before they finally shipped him out of town, who openly loathed the team, but who, apparently having been visited last night by his Guardian Angel Clarence, now has decided that, glorioski, this was the bestest place he ever played.

I sincerely hope that, one day, Manny Ramirez, with whom the Red Sox won two more World Series championships than they did with Garciaparra, is struck by a similar revelation. If it happens, I’m sure the Red Sox will indulge him the same way. Yes, and I am the Tsar of all the Russias.

Wojciechowski: Ozzie Guillen is crazy … crazy good

So I stopped by Ozzie Guillen’s office the other day, and we talked about the usual spring training stuff: bullfighting, tweeting, death, Charles Barkley, jail, free meals and F-bombs.
My gawd, the man can talk. In the 45 minutes or so I was there, Guillen did an interview with two female Japanese journalists who fluttered about his office with video cameras and laptops. Guillen didn’t care. When they asked him to come to Japan and appear on their TV show, Guillen asked, “Can I curse?”

...But have you noticed that only two American League managers—Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels and Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins—have more continuous time with the same club than Guillen, who is beginning his seventh season with the Chicago White Sox? And how about this little stunner: Guillen says he wants to manage long enough to have a chance at the Hall of Fame.

“That’s the only way I’m going to be there,” Guillen, 46, says. “I want to. Am I going to? It’s up to my players.”

Torii Hunter upset about way he’s portrayed in USA Today article

Hunter! Terra! Imposters!

Torii Hunter was fuming about the way he came off in a USA Today article examining efforts to develop black talent in baseball, a story that quoted the Angels center fielder as saying that dark-skinned Dominican players are “imposters.”

On NBCSports.com, writer Craig Calcaterra called the “imposters” statement “beyond repugnant.” But Hunter, who directs much of his charitable efforts to the development of inner-city baseball, claimed his comments “were distorted and taken out of context.”

“I’m not apologizing because I didn’t say anything like that,” Hunter said before Wednesday’s exhibition game against Cincinnati. “I’m [ticked] right now. I’m upset. And people wonder why athletes don’t talk to the media that much. It’s stupid.

“That wasn’t even the main topic of the discussion. That was like a piece of the conversation, .5% of 100%. The main topic was that there are no scholarships for baseball. ... It wasn’t a negative story. It was a positive story. I try to get a lot of inner-city kids to play the game. I’ve done the research. That’s why I have all the programs.”

WEEI: Thorton: The geeks will inherit the earth

Thorton...Theophilus south? Wilder than anything you’ve evah read!

But not everyone has evolved the same way. There is a growing subculture of stats-crunching troglodytes among us, and I for one am frightened that these mouth-breathing, greased stained Gollums might actually be influencing something vital to our national interest. Namely, the 2010 Red Sox. They’re like the nerdy fanboys from “Galaxy Quest” being asked to use their ridiculously detailed knowledge of the show to save the world for real. I mean, consider Bill James, who is like a god to these Sabremetric trolls. He’s made an industry out of making up silly, useless formulae to prove things like Alex Gonzalez should be bussing tables in the Fort Myers Waffle House, and yet Theo has given him a position of power and influence in his inner circle. It’s the equivalent of my old Missle Command skills getting me a job with NORAD or my Bill Belichick building a gameplan around my Coleco electric football offense.

So as a public service to all like-minded fans, concerned Red Sox citizens worried about the direction the Nation is headed, I’d like to put my ex-Stat Geek skills to us and offer my own formula for judging all statisticians. Let’s call it the NSGR/MMUSRI (Nerdy Stat Geek Ridiculous/Meaningless Made Up Statistic Rating Index). You take any new, obscure baseball evaluation stat and you start with the weight of the guy who invented it, times how many days he’s been wearing the same “Han Solo Shot First” T-shirt, divided by how many times he’s had sex in his life, multiplied by how often his mom cooks his meals add how many days a month he sees the sun times the percentage by which he throws like a girl.

Then you throw them all out and go with what your eyes tell you. And stop wasting our time with this Sabremetrics foolishness.

Razzball: 20 Risky Pitchers for 2010

YEEK! Looks like half of my pitching staff will double-sucking through a Siebe Gorman Savox!

For the purposes of this post, consider ‘risky’ to be a “greater chance than average that they have a significant drop in their skills and/or miss over a 1/3 of the season.” So I’m not going to cherry pick ‘lucky’ 2009 starters like J.A. Happ whose ERA was significantly lower thanks to unsustainable luck in terms of batted balls finding fielder gloves and fly balls not finding the mitts of spectators.

#4– Joba Chamberlain

MLB Pitches 2009-2010:  1,711 -> 2,733 (+1,022)
2009 was first year > 2,500+ Pitches:  Yes
Slider %:  22%

I know….Joba has more warning signs than a cigarette pack – 1.55 WHIP last year, declining fastball speed, starter vs. reliever status, his mom, his surname-inherited guilt for appeasing Hitler’s pre-WWII Central Europe land grabs.

As a nominal Yankee fan, I’d send him to the bullpen anyway.  But the fact that his fastball was crushed last year (-21 wFB) while his slider was solid (+7.5) is just one more reason to do it.

Pass on him as a starter.  Pick him up on waivers if he shows promise again as a set-up guy.

#20 – Josh Johnson

MLB Pitches 2009-2010:  1,412 -> 3,284 (+1,872)
2009 was first year > 2,500+ Pitches:  No
Slider %:  25%

Like Tommy Hanson, Josh Johnson is a pitcher I really like, would draft, and sounds like an actor on the CW (b/w him and fellow Marlin John Vander Wal, their pitching staff reads like a Dawson’s Creek reunion).  He’s got a great fastball (95.1 MPH).  He’s got a decent changeup but just doesn’t use it that much.

But with that slider rate, I’m a little more hesitant to draft him than I otherwise would be.  I know he’s built like a truck but so was Kerry Wood.  Discount him a little bit and don’t cry to me in June if your Tommy Hanson and Josh Johnson-led staff has some injury troubles.

Steve Fehr named MLBPA Special Counsel

Fehr and Loathing in Lost Wages

Fehr, 58, brother of former MLBPA Executive Director, Donald Fehr, first began working as an outside counsel to the Association in 1980. He represented the MLBPA during the collusion cases of the late 1980’s and has been a significant member of the MLBPA’s legal team ever since. He played a prominent role in negotiating the 2002 and 2006 Basic Agreements, as well as multiple negotiations over the Joint Drug Agreement.

Rangers GM learns from early setbacks

Almost immediately after Daniels moved into a bigger office at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, he was presented with an intriguing offer. Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria approached Hicks at the owners meetings and told him starter Josh Beckett wanted to go back to Texas.

“He gave me the players they wanted,” Hicks said. “He was leaving the country and wanted the deal done before then. There wasn’t a lot of time.”

The Marlins wanted third baseman Hank Blalock and either Thomas Diamond or John Danks for Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell. Florida ended up asking for Danks over Diamond in the package....

Daniels admits that he was slow to pull the trigger. He also didn’t understand Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest’s style, which is to put his best offer on the table right away. The Marlins ended up dealing with the Red Sox and got Hanley Ramirez as part of the trade.

“I think Jon learned from that,” Hicks said. “We all learn from our mistakes, and we all would like some mulligans.”

Consider for a moment, the Rangers could have had AGon and Beckett in addition to their already talented team.

Big League Stew: Remember Matt Wieters? He’s on the newest Sports Illustrated

All of that is to say that I’m glad to see Wieters on the front of Sports Illustrated — the first Oriole coverboy since Roberto Alomar in 1996 — and an extended profile on the young O by Tom Verducci within its pages. The article is entitled “Rare Bird” while the cover is emblazoned with “Matt Wieters: The Orioles’ Tower of Power, The Game’s Next Joe Mauer(notes).”

Perhaps both are reminiscent of the cyber palm fronds that greeted Wieters arrival in Charm City last summer. But in an age where we lose focus once something doesn’t immediately match our outsized expectations, it’s nice to receive a reminder that Wieters is still only 23 years old and that he’s still on a path to be one heck of a baseball player.

Wieters vs. the Cover Jinx. At stake: The Soul of the Human Race.

Orioles worry that Roberts might not be ready for Opening Day

For the first time this spring, Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail acknowledged that the club is concerned that second baseman Brian Roberts might not be ready for the start of the season.

Roberts, who has a herniated disk in his back and then got sick as a result of the medication he was taking to ease the inflammation, hasn’t played in a game all spring, and now he has been shut down until at least Thursday.

In which the Orioles have the best second baseman in club history felled by bad medication.

Or: “Why you should never call the Mets for medical advice.”

Milton Bradley goes after Lou, fans—again

You are Number 21
I am not a number, I am a free man.

Former Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley who repeatedly has insisted that he wants to get on with his career and move forward, revisited his controversial stay in Chicago for the second time in less than a week.

This time Bradley told his lengthy story to ESPN’s Colleen Dominguez. During the interview Bradley said of Chicago, “I felt like a prisoner in my own home.”

When Bradley did go out, he says he and Alfonso Soriano encountered racist comments from a waiter at a restaurant—a story (minus the Soriano part) he told reporters last season.

Bradley also talked about his run-in with manager Lou Piniella. After Pinella called him “a piece of (expletive)” in front of his teammates, Bradley asked Piniella to apologize in front of the whole team. According to Bradley, Piniella refused. Bradley says that because of his Christian background, he still forgave Piniella.

Baseball Image of the Day: Disneyball

What is it, B-Ref? 26 days until the season starts? 26 days!?!?! Darn it, Sean Forman, make time move faster!!!

Today’s image:

The Ballpark at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Tomorrow: His Name is Strasburg.

Selig, committee considering radical realignment plan

One example of floating realignment, according to one insider, would work this way: Cleveland, which is rebuilding with a reduced payroll, could opt to leave the AL Central to play in the AL East. The Indians would benefit from an unbalanced schedule that would give them a total of 18 lucrative home dates against the Yankees and Red Sox instead of their current eight. A small or mid-market contender, such as Tampa Bay or Baltimore, could move to the AL Central to get a better crack at postseason play instead of continually fighting against the mega-payrolls of New York and Boston.

Divisions still would loosely follow geographic lines; no team would join a division more than two time zones outside its own, largely to protect local television rights (i.e., start times of games) and travel costs.

Floating realignment also could mean changing the number of teams in a division, teams changing leagues and interleague games throughout the season, according to several sources familiar with the committee’s discussions. It is important to remember that the committee’s talks are very preliminary and non-binding.

Like fine wine, Bud’s ideas just keep getting better as the years go by.

Edes: Nomar to announce retirement

Walked into the pressbox Wednesday morning at City of Palms Park and it’s all set up for a press conference. But it’s not a Josh Beckett or Victor Martinez signing.

Nomar Garciaparra is announcing that he’s retiring from baseball, according to multiple sources. Is there a future tie-in with Red Sox, or is he launching a media career? Don’t know yet.

Thanks to Victor Rojas.

Martone has more…

Nomar Garciaparra will sign a one-day contract with the Red Sox today and then announce his retirement from baseball. He will become a baseball analyst for ESPN.

The Red Sox and Garciaparra have called a press conference for 10:30 a.m. at City of Palm Park. CSNNE.com has confirmed the signing and retirement.

Garciaparra is signing the contract so he can retire as a member of the Red Sox.

The Daily Something: The HOF Isn’t What It Used to Be (and Didn’t Used to Be, Either)

Or as Francesspool said yesterday...“McGwire, Sosa, and Rafael Palmeiro were all mediocre players until they started juicing!”

First, I agree generally that there are too many generally uninspiring players in the Hall, but my complaint is with the quality of players selected, not the quantity (though we could do with just a couple fewer Chick Hafeys and Freddy Lindstroms). Substitute Tim Raines for Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven for Bruce Sutter, Lou Whitaker for Tony Perez, etc., and I’m happy.

But my main point is this: getting elected to the HOF is exactly what it once, and always, was. People tend to have this vision of the Hall as a place that was intended for legends, the very best of the very best, a place that’s downright sullied by the inclusion of guys like Dawson or (God willing) Santo.

...So now we’re back to the 2000s. Maz, Rice, Sutter, Dawson, whatever. Hard to see how it’s any worse than what came before, and it’s a whole lot better than what they did between the sixties and eighties.

My point isn’t that it’s okay that Rice and Sutter are in the Hall (if you’ve read anything else I’ve ever written here, you probably know that’s not it). My point is that this isn’t anything new. The Hall of Fame has never been exclusively for the legends—at least not since 1938 or so. It would’ve been fine without Andre Dawson, but Dawson doesn’t do anything to cheapen it, either.

And Ron Santo certainly wouldn’t do anything to cheapen it. In fact, I’d say Santo would raise the bar just a tiny bit. Regardless, there’s no sensible argument that Ron Santo doesn’t belong in this Hall of Fame. You can argue that he doesn’t belong in your Hall of Fame—but just know that that’s what it is. If your Hall of Fame doesn’t have room for Ron Santo in it, then you’re dealing with an entirely different sort of institution than the one located in Cooperstown, NY.

USA Today: Panel Part III: Efforts to develop black talent in USA insufficient

Fans look down from their seats onto the baseball field, see dark-colored skin and might assume they are African-American players.

But increasingly, the players instead hail from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Venezuela.

“People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they’re African American,” Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says. “They’re not us. They’re impostors.

“Even people I know come up and say, ‘Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?’ I say, ‘Come on, he’s Dominican. He’s not black.’ “

Baseball’s African-American population is 8%, compared with 28% for foreign players on last year’s opening-day rosters.

“As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us,” Hunter says. “It’s like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It’s like, ‘Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?’

“I’m telling you, it’s sad.”

..."The colleges have corrupted baseball,” says Boras, whose son plays at Southern California, “because they have taken away the scholarships. They’ve taken away America’s pastime from the grass-root level of homes.”

Says Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker, “Killed it.”

Thanks to Winn.