Look at THIS !!!

Ryan Zimmerman strolled into the home clubhouse at Nationals Park after Monday’s news conference announcing his $45 million, five-year contract and was greeted with a smile and a yell from a teammate sitting on a couch…

  In this age of declining (or at best, "stagnant") salaries — see the free agent class of last winter — , Ryan Zimmerman drags this kind of contract out of the Nationals? WOW !!!

  Would Jim Bowden have EVER agreed to something like this?

  Is this Exhibit A of: Why Team Presidents should not be left alone with agents?

  I wonder if this is the first contract Kasten ever negotiated.

  I stand in AWE of this agent. Scott Boras, scoot over.

  Question for you guys: On a scale of 0% (no chance) to 100% (sure thing), What do you think is the chance that Ryan Zimmerman will be worth $14 mil in 2013?

  What do you think?

DonS.

P.S. Disclosure: I originally drafted Ryan Zimmerman in ILLOWA League in the Second Round. A year ago, I decide he was "Tim Wallach" rather than "Mike Schmidt" and swapped Zimmerman for Huston Street. So factor in as many "grains of salt" as you think that deserves.

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“I always wanted to be like Kirby Puckett. I’d want Reggie Jackson’s power and Carlton Fisk’s attitude and love of the game. But mostly, I’d wanted to be like Kirby Puckett.” — Mo Vaughn.

Mo Vaughn was born and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut and arrived in the Major Leagues after playing college at Seton Hall.

He played for the Red Sox for 8 years, hitting 230 home runs and batting over .300  five times. He was MVP once and voted in the Top Five two other times. Mo had 40+ homers twice with another year of 39.

A free agent after the 1998 season, Mo signed a six-year, $80 million deal with the Angels, making him the highest-paid player in the game at that time

Moving west to wear the Halo, he had designs on lifting his new club to new heights in 1999, despite playing in the Big A, a more difficult hitters’ park.

“I learned a lot from Mo. He showed me some things that were very helpful in terms of driving the ball. He was a great player and a good teammate for me.” — Garret Anderson.

In the first inning of his first game at home in an Angels uniform, Vaughn slipped on the dugout steps and tumbled down in pursuit of a pop fly by the Indians’ Omar Vizquel, spraining an ankle. Playing with pain all season and limited to 139 games in 1999, Vaughn managed to produce 33 homers and 108 RBIs.

Healthy the following season, Vaughn played 161 games, matching his career high. He clouted 36 homers and 117 RBIs. Injuries forced him to miss the entire 2001 season, after which Vaughn was dealt to the Mets in exchange for starter Kevin Appier.

In 10 full Major League seasons and parts of two others, Vaughn hit .293 with 328 homers and 1,064 RBIs for the Boston Red Sox, Anaheim Angels and New York Mets.

Statistically, the five most similar career players to Mo Vaughn (among those retired long enough to be eligible for the Hall) are Ted Kluszewski, David Justice, Kent Hrbek, Hal Trosky and Joe Adcock. None are in the Hall of Fame.

My Opinion: From 1995-1998, he put up Hall of Fame numbers. There isn’t enough supporting play before or after to merit his selection.

	Hall of Fame
	Hall of Very Good
	Why is he even on the Ballot?

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.

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Posted in: Hall of Fame by DonS
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An Angel Fan’s Viewpoint:

As a fan of the team that got the short end of the stick in this, here are my observations and conclusions:

Does anyone doubt that The Boss remains in charge of the Yankees? Maybe not the day-to-day operations of the team, but the BIG decisions. Who do they spend the money on? How much money is spent? Maybe even whether Joba starts or relieves. I think that The Boss still makes the big decisions.

I also think he was embarrassed last year to spend all that money and miss the playoffs. And he has vowed that IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. Maybe he was even pounding on the desk.

Meaningless DonS Observation: One way to make it less likely to happen again is to have a third baseman who is less interested in chasing Madonna and more interested in chasing the pennant, but that’s just MY opinion. Well, mine and Nick’s.

Two Other Interlocked DonS Observations: 1) I hate The Boss – in nice way, as “The One, The, Only Groucho” used to say. “Say the secret word and a duck will come down and give you fifty bucks. It’s a common word, one that people use every day.” 2) I wish The Boss owned a team that I root for, because he settles for no less than victory…and spares no effort to achieve that victory. I think he would be spending similar money even without the New York financial advantages that he enjoys, because he is the most competitive owner in sports.

Who says “money can’t buy me love?”

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Jerome Holtzman, one of my favorite sports writers, a long time reporter & columnist in the Chicago newspapers and upon retirement, MLB’s historian (the inventor of the “save”), died at the age of 82.

Jerome Holtzman was writing in Chicago way back when I was growing up.He and John Carmichael (“The Barber Shop”) were my favorites. My memory fades. Did Holtzman write for the old Chicago American? Or the Chicago Daily News? Those papers don’t exist anymore (and hardly do I).

Remember the jingle? “Chicago American. Always on top of the news.” I could sing it for you to this day.

I appreciate his contributions in developing my love for baseball. And for the enjoyment he contributed to my youth through reading his work.

He also wrote an interesting book, “(There’s) No Cheering in the Pressbox” about the newspaper sports writers of note.

One of the last summers I lived in Chicago: Pete Rose said, “Not only did Ken Holtzman shut us down in the afternoon game, I pick up the paper the next morning and he’s WRITING about it.” Pete obviously read only the last name.

Jerome Holtzman’s save statistic has made a lot of money for a lot of relievers.

DonS.

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Some thoughts about the first play of his Mets managerial Debut:

Former Sox manager Jerry Manuel gets another managerial job. Should be interesting to see if the Mets put on a second half charge.

I wonder if Jerry Manuel lost control of the team on the FIRST PLAY of his first game Wednesday night against the Angels. Did you guys see it?

First batter of the game. Jose Reyes beat out an infield hit, but pulled a muscle (had a cramp, something) while running to first. He limped around for a while, but wanted to stay in the game. Manuel pulled him, and he had a spectacular, equipment throwing tantrum on the way into the dugout. Manuel took it “like Ghandi.” I thought it was a direct challenge to Manuel’s authority.

So did the guys I was watching the game with. One of them asked me, “If that happened to you when you were managing, what would you do?”

I said, “It did. And Tara got her butt chewed so bad after the game that I made her cry. And she didn’t play for several games after that. She came back a chastened 16-year-old. And never did that again. Not to me, anyway.”

In 2005, Mike Scioscia threw Jose Guillen (a 100-RBI guy that year) completely off the team forever for a similar display of showing up his manager. With a week to go and the Angels one game behind the first place A’s in the standings. It would have been easy for Mike to let it go. Or deal with it later. Or fine him. Or something. If the Angels hadn’t caught the A’s and finished first that year, Mike would have had some serious explaining to do to Upper Management.

In the Mets’ case, Jose Reyes played the next night. I like Jose Reyes, but we shall see.

DonS

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It was nice of the White Sox to let my Angels win one in this series.  ;–)

Seriously, if I were to pick which of these games the Angels were most likely to win, Buehrle vs. Adenhart would NOT have been the one. That’s why baseball is the most fascinating game of all.

Did you know that Buehrle has only beaten the Angels once in 15 career starts? I would think that his skill package would give the Halos trouble. Wouldn’t you? Changing speeds and taking away the stolen base completely.

Tonight is Jered Weaver vs. John Danks. I have referred to Weaver as “a right-handed Danny Jackson.” No one understands that this is a compliment.

“First Pitch – Strike One” is a key for the Halos tonight. They won last night despite NOT doing this. 4 double plays won the game.

Orlando Cabrera had good things to say about Mike Scioscia: “With all due respect to managers around the game, I think that Scioscia is on another level,” Cabrera said. “This guy dominates the opponent, the thinking,
all the things that they do, the scouting reports. He has an advantage. I think he’s the smartest guy in the game right now, no doubt.”

I can sincerely return Cabrera’s compliment to Scioscia. Ozzie Guillen’s in-game baseball strategy, more often than not, is what I would do. I think he is real solid in that area. He can’t field for Joe Crede or get hits for Nick Swisher. The players have to come through to make the manager look good.

DonS.

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Nick Adenhart has been called up by the Angels and will start tonight’s game against Oakland.

I saw Nick pitch 6 scoreless innings (3 hits) in spring training. It was the day I went to Tempe Diablo while the rest of the group saw the historic “first-ever Dodgers in Arizona spring training game” against the White Sox at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Adenhart (age 21) is 4-0 at Salt Lake City with an ERA under 1.00. He is the Angels Number One pitching prospect.

He will start in Dustin Moseley’s spot. Moseley has been moved to the bullpen, but not before costing NickV a couple of bucks.

I’m sure the plan is to start Adenhart 3 times. Then Lackey will be back and Adenhart is slated to return to AAA.

But what if Adenhart is 3-0? Would the Halos think about keeping him, going with a rotation of Lackey, Weaver, Saunders, Santana and Adenhart?

“Dreaming is free”– Debbie Harry.

DonS.

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Friday night. Kevin, Dawn, Bob and I sat down the third base line, 4 rows from the top. Two rows behind us, directly behind Bob and Dawn, sat my “obnoxious fan of the year.” I hope. He started on the first pitch (actually, on the lineup introductions). Yelling “You suck” at every Angel when he batted or fielded a ball. Yelling “You suck, ump” on every strike to a White Sox guy or non-strike to an Angel. EVERY ONE. I don’t think he missed yelling on more than five pitches. I never turned around: My “ignore” feature was in high gear. About the fourth inning, Bob said that since the Sox were winning, he and I should switch seats to “change the Angels’ luck.” I told him that I was born on a Sunday, but not LAST Sunday. That was HIS seat and HE was stuck with it. The guy was hoarse by the 8th inning, but the effort never lessened. We thought he was drunk, but Kevin turned around in mid-game and said that the guy was about 17 years old and was drinking pop. My companions, all White Sox fans, were effuse in their apologies to me for the behavior. I think the guy bothered THEM (through White Sox fan association) more than he bothered ME. Every team has a few of those. Someday, I will tell you about the “jumbo woman” in Milwaukee who was rooting for the Angels.

Saturday night. That was NOT the problem. In fact, there was NO PROBLEM. Kevin and I went alone. Kevin got our seats in the “Scout Area.” List Price: $210 each – Parking Pass in the best lot included. Seven rows behind the screen. Included a free buffet and bar from 4:30 to 7:30 in the White Sox club room. I was the only one in THERE wearing Angel gear. Not just some hamburger deal, either. Prime rib. Baked turkey. Delicious ribs. Lots of salads and vegetables. Free beer and wine. Then free ballpark food and drinks the entire game (no 7th inning cutoff tonight) served to my game seat by White Sox employees. We were “stuffed and hammered” by the end of the 3-0 Angels victory. “Real White Sox fans” Teddy Ballgame and Rob were way up by where Nancy Faust sits (did the White Sox get rid of her? She wasn’t there, either game). “Real White Sox fans” Tom and Theresa were way down the right field line in the upper deck. And there I was, 20 feet from the Angel on-deck circle. Great time, topped off by victory.

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My Dad took me (age 9) to my first Major League game on this date. Pirates – Cubs at Wrigley. A little over 8,000 in attendance. The Upper Deck was closed during the week in those days.

Pirates won 8-2. Hank Foiles took Marcelino Solis deep for the only home run. When the ball was hit, my Dad quietly observed, “There it goes.” I don’t know whether he meant the ball or the game.

George Witt got the win and Vern Law pitched the final 3 innings for one of his few career saves.

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