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One thing I love about blogging is that I get a forum to sputter out my rants about baseball and other things. The main thing I hate is writing out something great and having it disappear in the realm of cyberspace because I hit a button I wasn’t supposed to. Really, it frustrates the hell out of me because, as anyone who has written anything knows, if you lose something, it’s going to be much better then what you write in its stead. C’est la vie.

All that aside, there were six things that happened in the last 48 hours, which is the most that happened in baseball since Josh Beckett toed the rubber for Game Six. I’m not counting the waking up at 4 am in a cold sweat yelling “Timlin in the eighth, Williamson in the ninth”. That happens every night.

ARod named AL MVP
1996…2000…2001…2002

Those following years were seasons that someone could have voted for Alex Rodriguez as the AL MVP with a clear conscience. Alas, it wasn’t to be for the boyish shortstop, as Juan Gonzalez mystified writers with RBI, Jason Giambi had just as solid a year as Rodriguez, Ichiro was a phenom, and Miguel Tejada got hot just when his team went on a 20 game tear. By the way, in case anyone noticed, despite the “East-coast bias” in the media, the last time an MVP wasn’t from Oakland, Seattle, or Texas, was 1995’s Mo Vaughn, who deserved the award just about as much as Gonzalez did in 1996. I thought that Carlos Delgado or Manny Ramirez would have been better choices then ARod, but he’s been screwed out of the award by players having worse years three times, and maybe four, so I can swallow the Rodriguez award.

Jayson Stark has a pretty misinformed column on value on ESPN entitled “Why A-Rod turned out so ‘valuable’. Rob Neyer has a rebuttal called Greatest of the Generation. The ARod stuff is in the middle.

Finally, I love David Ortiz. I like Shannon Stewart. I love Super Troupers. I like Van Wilder. The former are viable MVP candidates as much as the latter are Oscar candidates. Ortiz got some support because he “had some big hits” and “carried the team at times”. He was the fourth best hitter on the team after Manny Ramirez, Trot Nixon, and Bill Mueller, and contributed nothing with the glove. An offense that scores 961 doesn’t need much carrying, and despite having some “big hits” Ortiz under performed in clutch situations this season, putting up a -9.525 Clutch Number (quick explanation: Clutch number is the total comparing expected hits with runners in scoring position, and expected home runs with men on base with the actual totals. If a player meets his expectation, the Clutch Number will be 0. Ortiz was expected hit better then he did in those situations.)

Stewart came over just as the Twins started winning, so it was decided that Stewart was the reason. Never mind that Johan Santana was inserted into the starting rotation at that time, replacing the horror that was Joe Mays, and Brad Radke stopped doing his Joe Mays impression. Stewart was the fifth best hitter on the Twins by the end of the year, behind Doug Mientkiewicz, Cory Koskie, Matt LeCroy, and AJ Pierzynski. Actually, Stewart’s numbers in Minnesota were worse then the man he replaced, Bobby Kielty. As statistically insignificant as it is, Kielty posted a 5.790 runs created/27 outs, Stewart was at 5.632. Those aren’t the MVP candidates on their own teams, never mind in the American League.

Barry Bonds wins his sixth National League MVP
Yawn. Third straight, sixth overall. Bonds probably deserved a few more too. So people who either don’t know any better, or just hate the perceived attitude of Barry Bonds cry for a Pujols award, that Barry somehow didn’t deserve it. If you are this person, or know this person, I’m sorry, but Barry Bonds had the best year of any player in baseball, and this stretch of dominance that he is having, at his age, is unchartered, save for Honus Wagner. People don’t talk about the Dutchman much anymore though….

Some people say that Pujols deserved better. Bonds was the MVP, but Albert Pujols should have gotten more votes. Why? You are the MVP or you aren’t. Margin of victory can be surprising (see NL Cy Young, 2003), but its just foolish to agree with an award selection, but say that the margin of victory wasn’t to your liking. It’s like bitching that you got everything you wanted for Non-Denominational Gift-giving Holiday, but in the wrong color.

Pat Hentgen goes home
Hentgen, who will be 36 for next season, signed a one-year, $2.2 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, which is where he made his bones in the 90s. I saw Hentgen pitch on the winning end of the goofiest pitching duel in 2003, as he bested the Red Sox and John Burkett, 2-1. Hentgen saved his Baltimore Orioles 25.947 runs in 22 starts and 6 relief appearances. That total would have pushed Hentgen to the Blue Jays #3 starter last year, behind Cy Halladay, and Free Agent Kelvim Escobar. This signing precluded a busy day for Riccardi, who also added Ted Lilly to his team. Speaking off…

Ted Lilly traded to the Blue Jays for Bobby Kielty and a Player to be named later
Lilly and Kielty take a ride on the Sabermetric Talent Pipeline between the Bay and the Great White North. Lilly goes from Oakland, where he was the #4-5 starter to become the #2 man for the Jays Bleu. Lilly saved just as many runs as Hentgen last year, but where as Hentgen is 36, Lilly is 28. One can only assume that Riccardi really needs Lilly to duplicate some success he had in Oakland, lest this turns into another Cory Lidle situation. If this was a fantasy league, methinks the other owners would be bitching about the Toronto-Oakland shuttle.

Fast Lilly fact: Toronto will be his fifth organization, after being drafted by Los Angeles, traded to Montreal, traded to the Yankees, and then traded to Oakland.

Bobby Kielty gives Beane an outfielder who is solid with the glove, and can take a walk. Kielty is a switch hitter, who inexplicably can not hit righties. His LHB line of .216/.328/.328 is pretty scary since the world is made of northpaws. ‘Tis no matter, because Kielty can be the meat in a Dye/Long sandwich provided the following doesn’t happen…

Fast Kielty fact: If Kielty wears #22 (his usual #24 is taken by Dye, and I hope that Eric Byrnes would give it up) I will be purchasing his jersey. Kielty is one of my favorite non-Sox, and I was a wearer of the double deuce when I played sports.

Peter Gammons puts down his mushroom tea, and reports that Mark Kotsay is heading from San Diego to Oakland for Ramon Hernandez, and the Terrence Long Experience
Gammons reports that this deal will be announced tomorrow, but the link is dead on ESPN.com. If the trade goes though, Kevin Towers got a good catcher and a black hole of both offense and defense, and Billy Beane got a shiny centerfielder who can take a walk.

Hernandez is one of those “Player’s All-Stars” who becomes an All Star based on things that managers and players can notice that the normal everyday fan can’t, or don’t. That’s right folks, my head isn’t always in the stat books, because I truly believe some players are better then their numbers. Actually, what I like most about it is that the media grabs that ball and runs with it, hyping a player to the point where a team is idiotic for trading the player for anything less then Barry Bonds and the exhumed corpse of Babe Ruth.

Ramon Hernandez is a nifty little catcher because he’s 27, he can hit, and he can field. Kevin Towers, Padres GM, has said he wants a smart young catcher, to help transform his young, wacky pitching staff into So. Cal’s version of the Big Three. However, the cost of doing business with Beane, unless your initials are J.P., is taking his problems off his hands. The Terrence Long Experience is that cost. Long took himself out of favor by not being able to hit at all, and bitching about playing time, and calling Ken Macha everything he could think of. I’m going to go out on a limb right now and say that if this trade goes through, the A’s made themselves one of those deals that will be panned, but will end up working for them. Kotsay plays a very good center, and can hit a little bit. His acquisition would make the 11.15 outfield of Dye/Byrnes/Long into Dye/Kotsay/Kielty, which isn’t bad. Toss in a Byrnes as a 4th and a McMillion to hit and pray balls aren’t hit to him, and Beane did himself well today. To put on my Gammons hat: Yes, Adam Melheuse can hit and catch. He is a wonderful human being.

Go to Baseball News Blog
Seriously, go there. Not only will you get yourself all the news you can, in handy, eatable blog form, but they link me way more often then l’il ole me should be linked. The site, Baseball News Blog, is really worth a check out. Go there, and stay up in the world of baseball. In case my point is too subtle, go there, and the gods will smile upon you. It’s a good thing.