MLB Notes

The use of instant replay in MLB will do even more damage to a game that already has serious problems. This is an attempt to create another avenue of interest for more fans be attracted to the entertainment of baseball. MLB posted record profits this past year, and the commissioner is deciding to bolster interest for this year that would be, with the exception of local interest from generally plugged-in fans, another storyline for casuals to follow. 2007 was the year of Barry and the Mitchell Report. 2008 was scheduled to be quiet, especially with the skeletons out of the closet. My beloved White Sox are still in first place. So are the Cubs...which is OK, I guess. It generates a lot of interests and arguments for the third biggest sports market that has been exceptionally bad save for 2005. Sorry, but for one moment, my bias does have to come out.

My opinion of Selig is already low, stemming from the home run record mark disaster last year. After weeks of going back and forth on whether or he would attend the game where the most hallowed and significant record in all of pro sports, he declined to go. If I were Hank Aaron, I would not have attended either, because what Barry Bonds did to get where he was, and we all know he did it, to achieve his success really didn't damage the game. It only made him look like a bigger piece of crap than he already was. The two main issues that come into play though, are the image of the game, and control executed by the team owners and league executives against the players.

In defense of Selig, the right thing to do was not to go, which is why his number two went and Aaron recorded the message delivered after the history-making hit. They were doing what they had to do to protect the image of the game without making a motion to legitimize what Bonds was.

My issue is mostly with Selig; players are going to do what they are going to do in order to gain the advantage in any competition. Stretching the rules and bending the rules are fundamental in any sport, especially baseball. If you doubt it, do a search on Cy Young and find out for yourself. Breaking balls were illegal, throwing overhand was illegal, and the mound was at 40 feet. Throwing your own test tube monsters under the bus for having a marketing angle, screw you. If I were in the same position, or a business man, I would do the same thing. As a generality, why were the 1919 White Sox banned on speculation, and a ban for Pete Rose issued? Different commissioners? No. Different time period? No. Getting killed by screwing up baseball when the icons were fading? Yes. Too much talent spread out too wide. But that makes the offeason much more fun to watch. If a team has a home run hitter, or a Cy Young candidate, or something for fans to hang their hopes on, a team has a product. Take a look at the Reds. They are the very ideal of the cause and effect. Johnny Bench and Pete Rose? Icons. The Big Red Machine and the Nasty Boys (gotta toss my boy Dibble some love)? Stories of lore. Griffey senior and junior? What baseball was all about. Now? Just like every other team, including the Yankees (ha ha). They don't have icons any more.

Selig is backpedaling to cover his own office. Nepotism for cheaters has to go. Too little room at the top and way too many more marketable feel-good stories for guys making it to the bigs to let that junk waste away what was a good thing. Market the players right, like the 85 Bears, and you have your marketing machine.

Instant replay is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, just a little glimpse at a big problem. To try an reestablish control over baseball is going to have to come from, sigh, the owners, which is a near impossibility without salary caps. Granted I like baseball a heck of a lot more than the NFL; football is solely ran for gambling purposes. I loved The Last Boy Scout, but that is a side note. Arguing the effectiveness of rulings in a baseball game is semantics. There are 10 times more games and hundreds more plays in baseball than football. Arguing fair or foul, whether a tag was made, or even balls and strikes causes a world of problems. It takes the inches out of the game of inches. It does not establish ball control, a mark, or even an overruling of an official's call. That stuff only adds to the entertainment factor of a football game, otherwise people would have nothing to talk about on Monday morning. Sixteen games, one played once a week is not enough to maintain the audience.

If umpires' ruling had to have come under this much scrutiny after two months of the season with so many close races, why didn't something like this get addressed last off season? Why is such a gigantic rule being forced in during a season? It could not wait until the end of the year? The Mitchell Report could have.

Unfortunately for baseball, the spectacle, the “magic,” is rarer to find because it scheduling is so spread out and so many dates are played. The rules will begin as only for fair or foul, home run or ball in play. If reviews cross over to openly evaluate umpires for balls and strikes, watch out. The idea behind baseball is the illusion of each pitched ball. Pitchers base their effectiveness and ultimately their legacy on their optical illusion of their pitches and the managers'/catchers' ability to generate the pitch sequence. Batter drill on this daily and have meetings and video sessions to gain the edge. Statisticians get paid to analyze this information and organizations make teams based on tendencies. Players play odds, and pitcher/batter/situational probabilities are analyzed by everyone, both in game situations and who they are going to put on the field. Umpires are already electronically evaluated for the accuracy behind the plate. Great idea, but the Umpire's Association and MLB must keep the results and training private. Managers get paid to put pitchers on the mound to figure out what the balls and strikes are.

How else would MLB capture a casual fan? Add superheroes and controversy. It's like a comic book.

My solution, as yawn-inducing as it may be, is to compare the stats of all games from the time the mound was lowered from 14 inches to 11 until the inception of the DH. Anything after that and we are talking about juiced players again. Compare the outcomes of all the games and separate the two into two categories: games that are easily decided, and games that came down to a questionable home run call or a controversial out. Compare that ratio to the average of games won by a division winner and a second place finisher, and you do get purer results with Selig's wild card, see if there is a probability of a difference in games won between the first and second place teams switching order in the standings. Think magic numbers and calculate the odds from there. If there is a relationship, calculate the probabilities of a controversial call deciding a game. If the relationship is more likely to change the outcome of a game, then you finally understand why a manager says “the breaks just didn't go our way; that's how the game goes. It's a game of inches.”

Honestly who really cares? It doesn't do anything to the game but take away the spectacle. Let the hitting do the hitting and the pitching do the pitching and over time, if you understand the makeup of the season, those odds average themselves out of the talent on the field. There is a specific reason why the Royals and Pirates have not been to the postseason in 15 years. What type of interest does a fan really want to have? Do they want their team to have players on the field that can do the job (cough, sorry Barry)? Or do they want to have everything broken down into stats that only matter to GMs and scouts?

The hot story of the year should be the sale of the Cubs. It is time for the owners to put their collective foot down and begin making moves to protect the interests of MLB, not just let owners put whatever garbage out on the field for stats. Guess what though? For the owners, it works the same way. The only way we as fans can have a say is to not buy tickets if our teams are running crap organizations. My belief is that this is the biggest issue on why Brian Roberts is still an Oriole and not trotting out to Van Halen at the Friendly Confines. They sure as heck can use a leadoff hitter now. For the most part, I give Hendry the credit. I just don't like ignorant fans. And my guess is you don't either. On both stops on the Red Line.

But I hate breaking down magic into science. Isn't that why we watch baseball in the first place? It sucked when I found out Santa was really just Dad putting toys under the tree and eating my cookies.

Bears Notes

The release of Cedric Benson is the beginning of putting the plaster on the cracks of the Bears offense. This unit is brutal, plain and simple.

The idea of drafting Benson was at the time the right thing to do-if Jerry Angelo was going to make a move for a premier wide receiver or younger offensive linemen at the time. That was the only obvious problem as Angelo proved that he can build a defense even after the release of Rosey Colvin and the aging Ted Washington (who both went on to win titles with the Patriots). I admit, I thought Benson was going to be a standout back, but the problems, and the clock, began when Benson held out for a signing bonus. I don’t know why Angelo got forced into signing him for that much, but it set the organization back a long way on player negotiations. The Bears are going to have to start paying players until guys on this unit get released or retire. Urlacher will most definitely get a restructured deal to include another signing bonus, Tommie Harris the same, and Hester will get an extension. Locking up Nathan Vasher, Charles Tillman, and Lance Briggs helps to alleviate this situation. Good to see there are a couple of guys smart enough to figure out the business on the field handles the contracts.

It’s kind of funny that the Patriots and Colts keep dominating the AFC by using virtually the same strategy. True, they do have Tom Brady and Peyton Manning who proved themselves early at the pro level, but they maintain the same strategy. In the words of my good buddy Mark D; “the best defense is a damn good offense.” Signing Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd are slight improvements. I would use the term lateral move, but it is going to get overused. A lot. Muhsin Muhammad can pack his stuff up and get overpaid by Carolina again, and I though Bernard Berrian’s deal with the Vikings was downright hilarious. Can we say Marcus Robinson all over again? At least Robinson had an excuse; he got injured. Muhammad, contrary to all expectations, was a total flop. Angelo did the right thing when Muhammad took stabs at the front office through the media. Get out of Dodge buddy, but that makes the Urlacher and Harris situation all the more complicated. But it’s not like they are free agents; they both are under contract with Urlacher still having five years and Harris having two. I like Harris even though he was a Sooner. The money should have come out for Randy Moss. Oh that would put too much pressure on Angelo to make drastic moves to get Moss here? Isn’t that what we all want rather than trotting out that offense

Hopefully Matt Forte will get the right mix of reps and time so he can develop into a more complete back, but I maintain the same standard. This is the professional level, and a player has to be able to play. It is tough to jump from college to the pros in football, unlike the minors and MLB, but free agent signings are running wild in the NFL. Signing guys off the street rarely if ever works out, and that would have been the precise position Benson would have been in if he did not get signed after his initial draft. Of course he could have declared for the 2006 draft as well, but a year off would have reduced his status. How is it that the Patriots can Colts can scout talent and the Bears cannot? Ryan Grant and Kevin Faulk are excellent players and provide the extra threat than an offense needs.

The new face of the Players’ Association and the bargaining agreements are the culprit for the problems in the most visible sport in the US. The NFL kills baseball in merchandising and advertising and the players are looking to overstep their boundaries and really make a push at removing the salary cap. My opinion? The executives have to hold their ground, and they can get guys into the game that will help them both win and push for straightening out the game on and off of the field. Angelo inadvertently backed himself into a corner with Benson and I am frankly shocked to see that Lance Briggs signed for the money he did. Kudos to Briggs-only the Raiders, the Cowboys, and the Broncos would deal with that. But here we go…the very argument that the Players’ Association is making is the agreement that is going to be made: raise the cap or lift it altogether. I’m not against players getting paid. Advertising money pays their salaries. I’m saying reward players who go out and handle their business without the mouth. Peyton Manning is a great NFL example and Jim Thome is a great MLB example. MLB does not apply here. Their lack of a salary cap is foundational to the game going all the way back to the days of Ruth. It’s still funny to watch the Yankees shell out over a quarter-billion a year and still not get past the divisional round. Maybe Hank figured I out after all…

This whole thing stems from way too much power in the hands of Lovie Smith.

Jerry, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. It is still your job to lose.

Daunte Culpepper-still a bad idea see Kordell Stewart

Bulls Notes

Hiring Vinny Del Negro is a bleh move by GM John Paxson. I do like the idea of grabbing a coach that comes from a offensive-based team and focuses on guard play (which means look for Derrick Rose to be the #1 overall pick), but Steve Nash is a 3-time MVP and generally draws a double team opening up low-post options for Amare Stoudamire. Paxson has a lot of explaining to do and problems to fix. It’s time to wait and see…bringing in a guy from a winning program in the west generally is a good idea. My pick would have been Avery Johnson just because of what he accomplished without Steve Nash, and Flip Saunders would have been ok too. Not great, just OK. Mike D’Antoni would have been acceptable, but coaches know not to come here because of Paxson, and these are all really lateral moves because they only may jump the team up in playoff seatings, not get them to the level where they will dominate the East. Again, that is the responsibility of the GM.

Losing on a Kobe Bryant deal and holding on to Luol Deng looks really stupid, and it is, the firing of Skiles by recommendation of his players, and the legal and disciplinary troubles with rookie Joakim Noah have him on the hot seat big time. Jerry Reinsdorf usually likes to place a lot of trust in his GMs, and for what he can say about Jerry Krause, Krause put a winner on the floor. But it was probably a good idea to draft Michael Jordan when the Bulls had the chance. Krause put players out there to fill roles, not just be “tweeners” that might or might not mesh on a game-by-game basis. Undersized and over assigned, this current team is a house of cards waiting for a number one pick to let it all fall apart. Hey, there’s that role filling thing again. The Suns added a veteran, former dominant big man in Shaq for a title run this year, and look how that turned out. Strike two for Paxson…Ben Wallace was the biggest bust in Bulls history.

My opinion, skewed as it may be, is to hire a coach that can pull performances out of his players that exceed even his expectations. Have them play up, not play at. Form a unit. Pull the players up to a higher level, not push them up. Give them a level of expectation rather than be relaxed in their own skill sets. This is hard to do at the professional level, and the fundamental question is how to get a coach who will inspire and police a team. It is easy to do with high schoolers, but players getting paid to play is another story. Motivation is much different, and teams expect their players to play with that attitude, as they should. Isn’t that what Skiles was trying to do when for all intensive purposes, Ben Wallace got him fired? What I do not mean though, is have a guy that is 6’6” play center and have your best scorer be a role player who dumps when he starts.

Side note…the Bulls had a pic of Joakim Noah standing next to Wallace on their website and Noah towered over him. Unfortunately, although I am a UF fan, Noah is going to be a wasted pick unless he gets traded to New York for garbage like usual.

Paxson has a lot of self-imposed troubles; a bad roster, fires to put out with the ownership, and no coach. Which is why this draft and hire is the most important of his managerial career. That part is obvious, but what he will decide to do to satisfy ownership, to which the result will fix the rest of the organization, will be up to him. That is why Doug Collins got into the mix in the first place. If this does not get turned around this year, look for Paxson to be packing up his title rings, banners, and 3-peat shirts and being out of a job.

The one upside to all of this is that Reinsdorf, who I do respect the heck out of, will not allow his ownership groups to be embarrassed any further than this. His placement of Kenny Williams in the White Sox is still a great move because they choose not to deal with questionable players and have the organization run very well, save for the manager. But hey, I’m a Sox fan and love Guillen as compared with other managers in MLB. Who else is better? Bobby Cox is a good manger (and before you jump down my throat to say he is a great manager, ask yourself how many divisions did he win and how many World Series did the Braves win with those rotations and lineups?). They could have fired Ozzie and gotten the much-pursued Joe Girardi or Lou Piniella when they had the chance so they would not have to deal with Guillen’s mouth. The laundry list of juiced players precedes itself; Al Belle, Jose Canseco, James Baldwin, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee, and Jose Valentin are gone. Now this is only speculation. I did not contribute to the Mitchell Report nor do I have insider information, but look what happened every time a player messed around with Ron Schueler and Williams. They all got a one-way ticket out of town. That is also probably why Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Miguel Cabrera, and many others did not come to Chicago. In my humble opinion, the players play, the coaches coach, and the executives execute. Period. Executives like players who take their job seriously and come to work every day. To the common person, someone who holds out on a lucrative contract may not understand the player is trying to position himself for a deal.

Look for Noah to be gone very soon. My best guess is a package deal with Heinrich to a team like the Hawks, who may be looking for some first round talent and a veteran to get them to the next level. What they get from them? Who cares…no one else will really even trade with the Bulls unless it is garbage for garbage.