Today's links were generated randomly at a secret underground location deep in the heart of Loving County, Texas …
• John Dewan reviews
Nate McLouth's defense and now thinks McLouth
was not the worst center fielder in the majors this year … but he was still pretty bad. Particularly for a Gold Glove winner.
• The Twins have
expressed their interest in free-agent third baseman
Casey Blake, which is no real surprise because the Twins need a third baseman and Blake's still a pretty good one. Until I looked him up, I'd completely forgotten that Blake's been a Twin before. He played for them from 2000 through 2002. But the Twins had
Corey Koskie at third base, and Koskie was better than Blake. So Blake mostly wasted away in the minors. Finally, Blake became a free agent in 2002 and signed with the Indians, who were smart enough to immediately install him at third base.
The Twins could do a lot worse than sign Blake. But it's a little ironic that they didn't want him when he was cheap and young, and now they want him when he's old and expensive.
• Beyond the Box Score's R.J. Anderson ruminates about .400 hitters -- or rather, the longtime absence of such beasts -- and suggests that someday we will see another one, and
there's a decent candidate playing right now (hint: he'll probably be in the news later today).
• Good stuff from Lookout Landing on
K-Rod's fastball. (File under: Agents and the lies they tell).
• The Mariners' new general manager, Jack Zduriencik, apparently is
serious about objective analysis. This is a good thing, and particularly if Zduriencik's bosses buy in, too.
• Scott McCoy comes up with a list of the
five worst MVPs, and writes, "One thing is clear: Old-school baseball writers loved scrappy middle infielders." That's true. Especially shortstops, as McCoy's top three are
Marty Marion (1944),
Roger Peckinpaugh (1925) and
Dick Groat (1960), all of whom probably were less than deserving. That said, I'm not sure McCoy loves defense quite as much as he should. McCoy's got
Nellie Fox as the fourth-worst MVP, and Fox -- thanks in part to his stellar fielding at second base -- led the American League with 30 Win Shares in 1959.
• Aaron Sharockman runs through
the list of obstacles the Rays face as they try to establish themselves as a credible franchise, financially. His conclusion is the same as mine: We don't know yet, and won't for at least another year. The Rays play in a mid-sized market with a lot of small-market problems. Maybe now that they've won, they'll sell a lot more tickets and attract a lot more TV viewers. Or maybe they won't.
• I think there's an excellent chance that
you'll like this book.
Rob Neyer
