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George Steinbrenner's birthday, celebrated in some areas as the Fourth of July, marks the de facto midpoint of the 2005 season, one in which the wonderful story of the Washington Nationals and Frank Robinson -- one of the 10 most important men who ever played -- has overshadowed all else, including the enhancement mess of spring training. To return baseball to the nation's capitol -- even at the expense of paying Peter Angelos a shiek's ransom -- and have the Nationals battle their way to first place, has been the biggest story of the half-season. Jose Guillen is a serious MVP candidate, Livan Hernandez is in the Cy Young running and Chad Cordero is in the running for the Rolaids Relief Man award. And a collection of very good players who have escaped Yoopi's shadow, from Brian Schneider to Brad Wilkerson, Nick Johnson to John Patterson, has helped Washington outdraw Baltimore as of Saturday. The next best story is that of the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, et al. Brian Roberts' emergence as a star for the Orioles is a huge story, in contrast to the rehab of Barry Bonds. What Bobby Cox has done in taking the injury-ravaged Braves, keeping them in contention while developing a new team that could contend for another five years, is beyond description, but what's happened to the NL West -- whose combined June winning percentage was .382, with the 12-15 Rockies having the best record -- makes one long for the Northern League. What Roger Clemens has done as he prepares to turn 43 on Aug. 4 is remarkable, but the decline of the Bronx Empire is a stark contrast. The Cubs' Derrek Lee is the National League's midseason MVP over Guillen, Albert Pujols, Andruw Jones (for what he's done in the absence of Chipper) and Bobby Abreu. It's hard to pick between Roberts and Miguel Tejada, but most Orioles would defer to Tejada because of the way he pulls that team along with him with his passion and compassion toward his teammates. Not that Vladimir Guerrero, Johnny Damon, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez aren't in position to win the award with big finishes. The Cy Young Awards are very difficult at this point, but what Clemens has done with so little support earns him the first-half title, barely, over Dontrelle Willis, Pedro Martinez, Livan Hernandez and Roy Oswalt. How one picks between Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Roy Halladay is virtually impossible, but in the mind's eye Buehrle's astounding stretch of 45 starts into the seventh inning makes him the winner. There is no question that Guillen and Cox are the managers of the year, but there really are no rookies of the half-years because of Clint Barmes' injury. The Rockies' shortstop would have won it, but right now it likely would be Houston's Willy Taveras for what he's done for the Astros outfield, ditto Jeremy Reed in Seattle, while we watch the development of Pittsburgh catcher Ryan Doumit and Blue Jays infielder Aaron Hill. Polling Stations Nearly 50 general managers, executives, scouts and managers were polled on the following questions, with the vote leaders: Which player in his first full season has impressed you the most?
The two pitchers whose names have been out there this week are Jason Schmidt and A.J. Burnett. These are the deals: • Two teams, the White Sox and Orioles, sent scouts to Arizona on Tuesday specifically to see Schmidt; all the other scouts were on regular coverage. The Giants say they have to be "overwhelmed" to trade him, especially with the fact that they've crept back into the race and might get Bonds back in a month. "He was just OK," says one scout who was there. "He isn't close to what he once was. He touched 93, but it wasn't explosive. His changeup is good, but he doesn't throw his breaking ball any more. He's good, but he's not dominant." • Start with this understanding of the Marlins: On July 2, they still consider themselves as in it, and they should since Juan Pierre has yet to get untracked. They will listen on Burnett because he is a free agent at the end of the season, but they have to get a really good young replacement (hence the Daniel Cabrera rumors) to pitch for them down the stretch. As of right now, there doesn't appear to be anything out there. They do want bullpen help and want to move Juan Encarnacion (one GM says Washington or the Yankees, but forget that rumor about Encarnacion going to Oakland -- he is not the A's type). Larry Beinfest almost always does something creative. This And That • The New York Times Saturday reported that the Yankees now are prepared to move on Mark Kotsay, but still balk at the price (3B Eric Duncan and others, including RHP Philip Hughes), while Billy Beane is still working on a two-year extension with his center fielder. Well, well, well -- Oakland's starting pitching is better than last year, and Huston Street may be their best closer since Dennis Eckersley. "The biggest thing for the A's was getting Bobby Crosby back and in the middle of the lineup," says one scout. "He's right there with Tejada and [Michael] Young atop the league's shortstops. Now that he's learned to take the ball the other way, he's a legitimate threat." The Mark Mulder trade obviously worked, but now that Dan Meyer is over his shoulder problems and throwing in the low 90s (as opposed to 84-85 in spring training) and Juan Cruz is lighting it up as a starter in Triple-A, the Tim Hudson trade may not be lost, after all. • What's sad about Cleveland's emergence as a wild-card threat is that the Indians are 28th in the majors in attendance despite a terrific young team. The boom of the '90s was, in many ways, the Perfect Storm -- no football team, bad Cavs, an exciting home run team with stars and a good economy. Now the Browns are back, LeBron James is in town and the economy is in the tank, as the state lost more than 280,000 jobs in the first four years of the Bush Administration. • The Red Sox keep hoping that Keith Foulke will rediscover his mechanics; actually, 10 days ago he was back to 88-90 mph, which gave him separation for his changeup and allowed him to throw his cutter, but then this week fell off to 84-85 again. Foulke needs both separation and the cutter, because as of July 2, right-handed batters had a 1.089 OPS against him with five homers and six strikeouts in 59 at-bats. The continued warp of Matt Mantei (whose address now is the DL), Alan Embree and John Halama is a huge problem for Terry Francona; he can put Bronson Arroyo in the pen when (and if) Curt Schilling and David Wells are healthy, but the Red Sox, like 20 other teams, are looking for relievers. They have toyed with the notion of trying to get an exiled starter and putting him in the middle, like a Brett Tomko. What would happen to this staff if it had a run of extra-inning games might be a disaster, but, fortunately for it, it hasn't gone into the 10th inning once. Boston has signed 15 of its first 16 picks. The one who isn't signed? St. John's reliever Craig Hansen, who could be in the big leagues in September. That layoff sure helped Jared Weaver who, after three starts, has a 9.54 ERA. Great career move. And if Hansen holds out for months, it will slow his career, but it might get him a couple of extra dollars. • How unpredictable are relievers? Take the Baseball Prospectus Reliever Expected Runs chart which rates the performances, and the top 20 relievers in baseball, in order, are Cliff Politte, Chris Hammond, Jesse Crain, Chad Cordero, Huston Street, Roberto Hernandez, Al Reyes, Pete Walker, Todd Jones, B.J. Ryan, Danys Baez, John Grabow, Matt Miller, Scott Eyre, Hector Carrasco, Mike Timlin, Rudy Seanez, Rafael Betancourt, Jay Witasick and Lance Cormier. • So Kenny Rogers wants a new contract? He and Scott Boras made a big mistake trying to go around John Hart to Tom Hicks; that Chan Ho Park trick only works once. If you're a teammate, and you've battled without starting pitching to stay in the race, and out of selfishness and utter stupidity a pitcher gets a justified 20-game suspension tells you in Rogers' mind, it's only about me, not us. • Carl Everett does not get credit for what he means to the White Sox, not only as their only legitimate left-handed threat against right-handed relievers, but for the edge and energy he brings to that team. |
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