Also in the Pittsburgh Press 100 years ago today:

Harry Billiard, southpaw pitcher, who last season was with the Terre Haute and Toledo teams, was at the point of death...following an operation for appendicitis. He is now out of danger and hopes to be able to report to Terre Haute about the middle of March.
...

Shortly after he returned home after the end of the season his younger brother committed suicide. A few weeks later, his aged grandmother died, and then followed the death of his only daughter. Later, his wife lay at the point of death, and following that came his own operation.

Worst. Offseason. Ever.

A sneaky-good birthday team:

C: Lenny Webster
1B: Jim Keenan
2B: Cotton Tierney
3B: Alex Gordon
SS: Cesar Izturis
LF: Curt Welch
CF: Lenny Dykstra
RF: Lance Berkman

SP: Herb Pennock
SP: Allie Reynolds
SP: Jim Barr
SP: Bobby J. Jones
SP: Larry McWilliams
RP: Billy O'Dell

Yo, Dawg: Randy Jackson
Maybe deserves to be in LF instead of Welch: Henry Kimbro

Maybe deserves to be in LF instead of Welch: Henry Kimbro

Well, if we're doing non-MLB players, if you need a Hall of Fame shortstop for your February 12 team...

Game one of the ABL championship series (Melbourne at Perth) is happening right now. It's on MLB Network at noon ET so I won't post the result, but here's the Gameday link.

Ex-Mariners prospect Travis Blackley gets the start for Melbourne; Perth counters with ex-Pittsburgh Pirate Virgil Vasquez. Gametime temperature was 39 degrees celsius. Perth Heat, indeed.

Twins claim OF Darin Mastroianni off waivers. DFA RHP Esmerling Vasquez.

Orioles sign Nick Johnson (minor league deal)

Nats sign RHP Mitch Atkins (minor league deal)

Rockies sign C Steve Holm! (minor league deal)

Last year's starting CFs, ranked by WAR:

1. LA Dodgers: Matt Kemp (10.0)
2. Boston: Jacoby Ellsbury (7.2)
3. Pittsburgh: Andrew McCutchen (5.5)
4. NY Yankees: Curtis Granderson (5.2)
5. Philadelphia: Shane Victorino (5.1)

6. LA Angels: Peter Bourjos (5.0)
7. Arizona: Chris Young (4.8)
8. Houston: Michael Bourn (4.4)
9. Tampa Bay: B.J. Upton (3.8)
10. Cincinnati: Drew Stubbs (2.9)
10. Kansas City: Melky Cabrera (2.9)
10. San Diego: Cameron Maybin (2.9)

13. Detroit: Austin Jackson (2.4)
14. Oakland: Coco Crisp (2.1)
14. Washington: Rick Ankiel (2.1) [Roger Bernadina- (0.8)]

16. Milwaukee: Nyjer Morgan (2.0) [Carlos Gomez- (1.7)]
17. Baltimore: Adam Jones (1.7)
17. Chicago Cubs: Marlon Byrd (1.7)
19. San Francisco: Andres Torres (1.3)
20. Colorado: Dexter Fowler (1.2)

21. St. Louis: Colby Rasmus (1.1)
22. Minnesota: Ben Revere (0.8) [Denard Span- (2.6)]
22. Texas: Endy Chavez (0.8) [Julio Borbon- (-0.3)]
24. Atlanta: Nate McLouth (0.7)
25. Cleveland: Grady Sizemore (0.5) [Michael Brantley- (2.2)]

26. NY Mets: Angel Pagan (0.2)
27. Florida: Chris Coghlan (-0.1)
28. Seattle: Franklin Gutierrez (-0.4)
29. Toronto: Rajai Davis (-0.9)
30. White Sox: Alex Rios (-1.5)

Getting thrown in a window: fenestration.
Getting thrown out a window: defenestration.
Getting thrown back in a window: refenestration.
Getting thrown back out a window: redefenestration.

Ex-Mariners prospect Travis Blackley gets the start for Melbourne; Perth counters with ex-Pittsburgh Pirate Virgil Vasquez. Gametime temperature was 39 degrees celsius. Perth Heat, indeed.

Oh god, Virgil Vasquez. He was on the team when they were inciting near-frantic levels of panic in the fan base not so much by trading the entire lineup, but by putting obvious stiffs in the rotation seemingly indefinitely. Jimmy Barthmaier, Yoslan Herrera, Jason Davis, Shane Youman, worst pitcher ever and alternate-universe HOF outfielder John Van Benschoten were others. This guy gives us no chance to win! Just sign someone who'll keep it close! Bring John Smiley out of retirement!

Davis was actually a perfectly cromulent pitcher when he was an Indian. 401 career innings with Cleveland at a 94 ERA+. Not the sort of guy who's going to win you a pennant, but a guy you could rely on to keep you in the ballgame every fifth day.

I don't know if he hurt his arm or what, but he started walking people and stopped striking guys out after he left the Tribe. He's been out of baseball for two years and he's 31 years old.

What’s the opposite of defenestration?

This.

Twins claim OF Darin Mastroianni off waivers.

Good luck to him. I don't know if he's a major league player, but I hope he gets the chance to give it a shot.

10. Kansas City: Melky Cabrera (2.9)

Raise your hand if you predicted that before the year.

Raise your hand if you predicted that before the year.

I sort-of predicted it, since I won a bet about how many ABs he was going to get. I think that's as close as anyone came.

Twins claim OF Darin Mastroianni off waivers.



Good luck to him. I don't know if he's a major league player, but I hope he gets the chance to give it a shot.

It looks to me like he's not a major league player, but he'll probably get a shot anyway. He'd only have to beat out Trevor Plouffe who has never really played the outfield...or I guess wait for Morneau to go on the DL. I'm not sure why the Twins need another backup CF, or why Mastriani would be any better in that role than Jason Repko, but they apparently the Twins think they know better.

1993 NL East Champion PHILLIES

Take a bow, Robert C. Hite, for predicting this. Also Michael Brzycki and David DeMers in another preseason 1993 thread.

Looking at the 1992 Phillies the source of optimism is obvious. 70-92, last place, yes. But they were barely outscored (686 - 717). Dave Hollins was an emerging superstar. Dykstra and Kruk had an established level of good performance. Darren Daulton's 27 homers might have been a fluke, but he might also have discovered a new level of performance through the magic of steriods. They added Jim Eisenreich and Pete Incaviglia.

As for the rotation, Tommy Greene was injured in 1992 and now he was healthy. They brought Danny Jackson back via the expansion draft. Schilling and Mulholland were already a good 1-2. And maybe Ben Rivera was good.

Even the optimistic projections still had the gruesome twosome of Juan Bell and Kim Baptiste at shortstop, though. Kevin Stocker showed up halfway through the season and was better than anyone could have hoped.

Following his playing career, Toyoda was a coach for Kintetsu before becoming an outspoken commentator for Bunka Broadcasting. When he was chosen for the Hall of Fame, he noted that his work on the air must have helped get him in since he wasn't good enough to get in on his playing ability alone.

Ah, the Phil Rizzuto of the Orient.

Ah, the Phil Rizzuto of the Orient.

Apparently, though, he was such a bad fielder that pitchers pitched so as to have batters hit it anywhere else but to him.