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Baseball Today: Tuesday, March 4

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HISTORY LESSON: Once upon a time, Bartolo Colon was a flashpoint in Red Sox Nation. It was the winter of 2002-03, the Red Sox were looking to upgrade their starting pitching, and Colon -- coming off a 20-8, 2.93 season with the Expos -- was available. (cbc.ca) But Colon was a year from free agency and the new Sox GM, Theo Epstein, was reluctant to take on an $8.25 million salary with no guarantee the team would be able to retain him in 2004 and beyond. In the public forums this eventually morphed into "Theo is so stupid he won't trade Casey Fossum for Bartolo Colon" (Fossum was part of the package the Sox and Expos discussed for Colon), especially when Epstein defended the move with such phrases as "cost certainties" . . . something we'd never heard out of the mouth of Pinky Higgins. At-the-time TV broadcaster Sean McDonough probably ensured his eventual departure when, in the midst of an anti-new-ownership rant on Mike and The Mad Dog, he opined that "If you've got a 5-game winner versus a 20-game winner -- you make the trade.'' (Boston Dirt Dogs) Vox populi was effectively represented by a letter-writer to the Journal in January 2003: "Not trading Casey Fossum for Colon is typical Red Sox thinking. After seeing Epstein play guitar at a Boston benefit this week, he might deserve as much media attention for that as being the Sox general manager. One song I know he won't be playing this year is 'We are the Champions.' ''

Whatever.

It's now five years and two World Series titles later. Fossum eventually was traded as part of the deal for Curt Schilling, without whom it's safe to say at least one, and maybe both, of those flags wouldn't be flying over Fenway Park. "Typical Red Sox thinking" has taken on an entirely different meaning. (bizofbaseall.com) And, irony of ironies, Bartolo Colon is here anyway, finally. Sean McAdam reports on Colon's bullpen session yesterday, which went better than the Sox anticipated and has them thinking he may be the top-three bargain Baseball Prospectus predicted he'd be this winter.

ON SCHEDULE: At the other end of the rotation spectrum, Josh Beckett is coming along nicely, thank you. (projo.com)

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH: Old friend Alex Speier, writing in the Boston Herald, notes that pitching depth is especially important on defending championship teams because the added stress of all those innings the previous October can manifest themselves in injuries the following season.

CARS AND COLA: When the Red Sox removed the Coke bottles from the left-field light towers, they said Coca-Cola had other Fenway marketing strategies they would announce soon. Yesterday, they announced them. (Boston Globe) (Click the picture for a full view.) And if you're not yet sick of all the corporate synergy, maybe this will do it: A Red Sox special edition of Volvo's C30 two-door hatchback. (Boston Globe)

THAT'S MY HERO YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT: If you were 13 years old in 1968, no one was cooler than the Hawk. (And I speak from experience here.) So I can't say I'm pleased that Ken Harrelson's Nehru jackets and Beatle haircuts were the topics of some not-so-flattering conversation on yesterday's White Sox-Royals broadcast. (Can't Stop The Bleeding blog) GETTING SMARTER: Slate's Emma Span says that the recent Johan Santana saga -- in which Red Sox and Yankee fans all but begged their teams not to sacrifice their young prospects for the ex-Twins' ace -- is a sign of growing sophistication on the part of the average baseball fan. OH, YEAH? The New York Times' Murray Chass, however, says the Yankees may regret passing on Santana. He thinks they made the right move in replace Joe Torre with Joe Girardi, though.

THE GUESSING GAME: Phil Hughes is auctioning off Yankee memorabilia on his site -- wonder if he's gotten permission from the club? -- and is offering an autographed Ian Kennedy hat to the fan (or non-fan, I suppose) who correctly guesses Kennedy's ''most common nickname around the clubhouse''. Among the guesses: IPK, Mighty Mouse and Dorothy. (Dorothy??) (philhughes.wordpress.com)

PICKING UP RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT OFF: When last we saw Mike Mussina, he was struggling through a dismal second half of the season. Yesterday he was just as bad in his first exhibition performance. (New York Post)

SWING AND A MISS: Jack Curry of the New York Times made a brief post on his blog about a conversation he had with Jason Giambi about the guessing game between batter and pitcher. Read the bit about David Cone and Miguel Tejada and you'll know why so many people have no use for undisciplined, free-swinging hackers.

I GET IT: The Angels' Chone Figgins would agree with that. (Riverside Press-Enterprise)

GET WHAT? Not so Juan Pierre. (Los Angeles Daily News) Kind of surprising, then, that the normally progressive A's are somewhat interested in Pierre. (San Francisco Chronicle)

YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY TO-MAHT-O: Michael Salfino -- the main writer on projo.com's Fantasy Sports Blog -- is bucking conventional wisdom concerning the Mets' Carlos Delgado. He thinks Delgado may have something left. (sny.tv)

I SAY POTATO, YOU SAY PO-TAHT-O: One day after the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jim Salisbury wrote that Cole Hamels had no reason to be upset with the Phillies' renewing his contract at $500,000, his Inquirer colleague, Bob Ford, blasted the Phils for being cheap with Hamels.

GODSPEED: Rhode Island's Davey Lopes, now the Phillies' first-base coach, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. (Philadelphia Inquirer) Thankfully, he's expected to make a full recovery and has told some of the Phils' players he'll be back in six weeks.

THE GREAT WHITE NORTH: And it especially feels that way to the newest Blue Jay, Scott Rolen, since Tony La Russa is now in another country. (New York Times)

ALL SMILES AGAIN: On the other hand, La Russa has kissed and made up with Ray King. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

LOST LOVE: In an essay in Slate reprinted from his book The Bill James Gold Mine 2008, James relates that the recently retired Craig Biggio was his favorite player for a long time . . . and then he wasn't.

SETTING THE BAR LOW: Baseball Musing's David Pinto isn't impressed with Padres' owner John Moores' yearly goals.

UNSOLICITED ADVICE: I've always loved Baseball Musings, and feel Pinto is one of the baseball writers on the Internet. He's holding his yearly pledge drive and if you agree with me, consider making a donation.

FASHION STATEMENTS: The blog ShysterBall takes a look at the best and worst uniforms of each National League team through the years.

LIKE SPYGATE, FOR INSTANCE: Astros owner Drayton McLane says Congress has more important things to deal with than the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. (AP via yahoo.com)

WE WERE SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU: The Cardinals deny they were lax about policing their players' PED use, even though they had more active players listed in the Mitchell Report than any other team. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

LEGAL MANEUVER, STEP ONE: Brian McNamee's lawyers are seeking a dismissal of Roger Clemens' defamation suit against their client. (New York Daily News)

ERROR, CLEMENS: SI.com's Michael McCann thinks Clemens' legal strategy has completely backfired.

WILD RIDE: The words "Steve Blass Disease" were in the Scottsdale air Monday when the Giants' Noah Lowry walked nine, threw two wild pitches, and fired three balls to the backstop in one-plus inning against the Rangers. (San Francisco Chronicle) It was so disconcerting that even the Texas players were concerned for Lowry. (Dallas Morning News)

HERE AND THERE: Brad Hawpe and the Rockies are close to agreement on a three-year deal (foxsports.com) . . . A torn nail in his right index finger is preventing the Blue Jays' A.J. Burnett from throwing a curveball (Toronto Star) . . . Snakebit A's shortstop Bobby Crosby now has back spasms (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . Darryl Strawberry is back with the Mets (mlb.com) . . . Jim Leyland says the Tigers won't force Brandon Inge to catch. (Detroit News)

OLD FRIENDS: The recovering-from-surgery Pedro Martinez says he feels like ''the Pedro of '97, '98", which is good news for the Mets. (SI.com) Only problem is, Pedro was actually better in 1999 and 2000 than he was in '97 and '98 (baseball-reference.com) . . . Nomar Garciaparra wasn't exactly the most fan-friendly Dodger at the team's recent Autograph Day (espn.com) . . . Matt Mantei's shoulder is hurting again, which could mean his career is over (Detroit Free Press) . . . Chris Reitsma, in camp with the Mariners, says he feels great. (mlb.com)

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:29 AM | Permalink

Comments

Robert | March 7, 2008 5:14 AM link