The Sports Bank’s AL Cy Young Watch is back for installment number two, and perhaps some things could be learned from each of the original five contenders that were listed in the July edition:
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When the Baltimore Orioles take the field Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox, they will do so with a 16-11 record in the month of August. Considering the team is 48-83 with a winning percentage of .366 on the year, that fact truly says something. Since new manager Buck Showalter took over the team on August 3rd, the O’s have been 16-10. The “Buck Bump” brought them up from the worst record in Major League Baseball to just simply the worst record in the American League.
The Orioles haven’t had a winning season since 1998, but they still can avoid a 100 loss season in 2010 should they manage a 15-16 record or better down the stretch.
Given their phantasmagoric futility the last decade and change, you might have forgotten what the Orioles were from 1966-1997.
By Paul M. Banks
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Sports Bank #2 officer David K. and I go way back. Like myself, he’s from Palos Township and the idea of this site was tossed around in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago many years before it’s founding in 2008. Dave, myself, and our closest bunch of friends refer to our hometown not as Palos Park, Palos Heights, or “the burbs,” but “the SICA” instead.
Named after the now defunct high school sports conference SICA (South Inter Conference Association), we felt our home needed a nickname. This area stretches from Summit to Kankakee, Bolingbrook to Chicago Heights. Obviously, SICA country is more than a geographic area, it’s a state of mind like “Margaritaville.”
Now that high school football season has started, we constructed the short list of SICA-bred jocks. Our home region is so rich in talent, we probably left off a few big names but we both agree on the all-time #1.
By Paul M. Banks and David K.
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Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and the owners must look at divisional realignment in order to provide more fairness in the league. The NFL should be the model for all professional team sports. It has had unparalleled success over the last decade despite the tumultuous domestic economy. A good deal of that is because parity is most prevalent in Roger Goodell’s league. This should be the primary goal for league management and owners.
The new logical format would place all of the American League teams together (eradicating divisional segmentation) and doing the same with the National League. At the end of regular season play, the top four teams from each league would qualify for postseason play. Then tweak the current playoff format to make all rounds best-of-seven. This eliminates the overemphasis on the front end of a given team’s starting pitching rotation.
By Patrick Herbert
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Stephen Strasburg won’t be picking up a baseball for the next 12 to 18 months, and when you peel back the curtain of high strikeout numbers, a 90 MPH changeup, and his calm intensity on the mound, we should’ve seen this coming. He has more in common with Mark Prior than just early career expectations and filthy stuff.
By Jake McCormick
For an “exclusive interview” with Strasburg’s damaged ulnar collateral ligament, go here
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Bud Selig didn’t leave Milwaukee. Not before reinforcing ties to his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin–Madison. First, he made an announcement of several endowments that will benefit students. Then he discussed the prospect of returning to school, and teaching history there!
By: Melissa S. Wollering
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In the past 24 hours there has been a lot of talk about MLB phenom Stephen Strasburg‘s MRI results, the poor Washington Nationals fans and of course the tear in Strasburg’s right ulnar collateral ligament. Everybody has their jokes and their opinions on the young phenom’s pending Tommy John surgery and subsequent 18 month rehabilitation. No one, however, has gone directly to the source to get a sound bite.
No, not Strasburg, It’s his torn UCL I’m talking about here. I had a chance to conduct a phone interview with the ligament on Friday afternoon (in the “I’m Jack’s medulla oblongata”/”Fight Club” style), here is the raw, unedited transcript of that conversation:
For more on why Strasburg’s mechanics need to change go here
By Peter Christian
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These days you’re hearing a lot about the Chicago Cubs farm system and how great it is. And it’s true, there’s a ton of talent in the Cubs‘ minor league system, but sometimes that talent doesn’t actually reach it’s full potential in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. Sometimes it takes a change of scenery for a player to hit his stride.
If there’s one team that’s Chicago Cubs East, it’s the Baltimore Orioles as they have two of the Cubs highest rated prospects: Corey Patterson and Felix Pie in their outfield. They join fellow Cubs castoffs Jake Fox (utility infielder) and Orioles president of baseball Andy MacPhail; president/CEO of the Cubs from September 9, 1994 until Oct. 1, 2006. MacPhail had previously won two World Series championships as general manager of the Minnesota Twins.
Patterson, the third overall pick in the 1998 MLB Draft, was billed a “five tool player” when he was coming up through the Cubs’ organization. Pie (pronounced “pee-ay”), a fellow “five-tooler,” likewise had Andre the Giant sized hype as his co-pilot to the Majors. Neither lived up to the expectations in The Chi, but both are reinventing themselves now in Camden Yards.
By Paul M. Banks
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When the Baltimore Orioles came to Chicago to start a three game set with the White Sox, they brought along a pitcher in Jeremy Guthrie whose been on fire since the All-Star Break. Guthrie, who leads the Orioles with 16 Quality Starts on the season, came in with a 2.19 ERA and a 27:8 strikeout to walk ratio over his last seven starts.
He came to U.S. Cellular Field with a 2.70 ERA in three career starts at the Southside Chicago ballpark, his lowest ERA at any active road American League ballpark. Unfortunately for him and his Oriole teammates, the streak stopped Tuesday night when he surrendered six runs, all earned and ten hits in taking the loss.
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If you follow baseball at all, and you’ve been paying attention today, then you’ve heard the rumors that the Chicago White Sox are interested in signing MLB superstar Manny Ramirez from the Los Angeles Dodgers. No news on this deal is even close to official yet, but here’s what the respective leaders (General Manager, Field Manager, and Team Captain) of the White Sox had to say about it.
One factor you should consider if you believe the rumors are true: Sox leadoff hitter Juan Pierre, Manny has followed Pierre to a couple of ballclubs lately.
By Paul M. Banks
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Johnny Damon was recently claimed off waivers by the Boston Red Sox. He cannot abandon Miguel Cabrera this way during his quest for the triple crown. Damon has been one the top run scorers during this decade; so it would behoove him to have Damon and other Detroit Tigers on base because it would provide more opportunities for Cabrera to drive in runs.
We live in a world where what happened last stays in the mind of the viewer, but it is not impossible for the Tigers to win the American League’s central division. Seriously, I’m, not joking when you consider that they have not yet been on the hot streak the Minnesota Twins have experienced. But you must at least consider this: it’s harder for the Red Sox to make the post season at five and a half games out in the East, while the Tigers are ten behind the Twins. Simply because the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees will be harder to surpass than the White Sox and Twins. Now that statement doesn’t seem as crazy as it originally sounded, does it?
By: Patrick Herbert
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As we creep ever closer to the September 1st waiver trade deadline, the Chicago White Sox have some tough decisions to make. They sit 4.5 games in back of the Twins, with arguably a tougher schedule remaining: ten games alone against the Yankees and Red Sox and another west coast road trip that historically has poor results. With the offense sputtering, is it time for GM Kenny Williams to take a chance on an offensive spark? If so, is there any spark bigger than Manny Ramirez?
By: Soxman
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Justin Morneau has not been in the line-up for the Minnesota Twins in about a month and a half. This concerns Manager Ron Gardenhire, General Manager Bill Smith, and the rest of the organization’s hierarchy. Dealing with concussions is a continually evolving practice for physicians and specialists. According to Web MD - the symptoms can be devastating to not only one’s job performance, but also daily routines.
They include, but are not limited to: blurry vision, a loss of balance, nausea, headaches, slurred speech, and memory loss.
Obviously, these aforementioned sufferings can adversely affect Morneau’s production at the plate and in the field. Ron Gardenhire has consistently stated that there is no timetable for his return, but Morneau has recently started taking batting practice before games.
By: Patrick Herbert
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The Minnesota Twins play an exciting brand of baseball that emphasizes hustle and fundamentals. There are, however, some changes to the game that could make fans even more excited to see a Joe Mauer plate appearance or Orlando Hudson turning a double play with an efficiency that is rarely matched.
By Patrick Herbert
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A solid argument can be made that the Independent graduate having the best major league season is lefty Joe Thatcher, a key part of the superb San Diego bullpen that could help carry the Padres into the postseason.
Thatcher, who played his first season and a half for River City (O’Fallon, MO), was signed by Milwaukee right after the Frontier League All-Star Game in 2005, and was in the National League part-time two years later. He is a major leaguer full-time now, where his key function is to sidearm left-handed hitters to sleep.
Thatcher, 28, pitches frequently (42 games) to get a key hitter out or for an inning, and he has given up only 11 hits and four walks in 26.0 innings while striking out 35. That adds up to a fancy 1.38 earned run average and a victory in his only decision.
Max Scherzer, who debuted in an Indy league (Fort Worth, TX, American Association), also is having a strong season, especially since a short stint in the minors. Although injuries probably have derailed Detroit’s postseason hopes, the 26-year-old seems likely to top last season’s nine-win season at Arizona. He is second on the staff in wins (8-9) with a decreasing 3.86 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 137.2 innings.
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Yesterday was the MLB Draft class signing deadline, so everyone was of course fixated on Bryce Harper, the cocky catcher taken by the Washington Nationals. For most of the day and night it looked like Harper was not going to sign, prompting sports literary legend, and insane curmudgeon Buzz Bissinger to tweet this:
Harper is just being the dumb-assed prick he always was, is and will be. He will never change. Nats fans are in for it.
If you’re not following this crazy old man who Tweets without filter like there’s no tomorrow, please start doing so immediately. You will not be disappointed.
But Harper did eventually come around; just in time for the deadline.
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Jay Gibbons has struck another harmonious chord for Independent Baseball with his splashy re-entrance into the major leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A longtime Baltimore Orioles outfielder (2001-2007), the left-handed Gibbons emerged from a brush with being named in the infamous Mitchell Report to start cleansing his reputation with the Long Island (NY) Ducks in the Atlantic League in ’08, and did all of his playing in ’09 with the Newark (NJ) Bears.
Then, after auditioning his still-potent batting skills in winter ball and at Triple-A Albuquerque (.347-19-83), he made an impressive National League debut with a run-scoring pinch single on Sunday, the day he joined the Dodgers. After a day off and a cross-country flight, the 33-year-old broke out with a three-RBI game (homer and two singles in four at-bats plus an outstanding catch) as LA swamped Philadelphia, 15-9. He only played the first 5 ½ innings.
“Right now, it’s all about winning games,” Dodgers Manager Joe Torre told MLB.com when he kept Gibbons in the lineup the next night over regular Matt Kemp. “To have the game he (Gibbons) had last night, we’ll ride that as far as we can.” Gibbons went 0-for-4, but the entire team was blanked by Roy Oswalt and the Phils’ bullpen. He is 4-for-9 for his first three games.
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Despite White Sox GM Kenny Williams “Manny” attempts to land a slugger in their quest to win another World Series, no deal filling this need was made by the July 31st non-waiver deadline. However, fans thinking the southsiders still need hitting help should not worry; plenty of hitters who were otherwise not available may become available as teams fall out of contention and look to dump payroll.
Here’s a look at possible candidates, depending of course on what certain teams ahead of the Sox in the waiver order do.
By: Soxman
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Despite a frenzy of activity and a ton of “possibilities” the 2010 MLB non-waiver trade deadline passed with the Chicago White Sox making only one trade.
While I’m an optimist that Edwin Jackson’s career will be revived under the guidance of Don Cooper, was his acquisition enough to help the White Sox win the AL Central?
World Series Contenders?
If GM Kenny Williams’ trade attempts are any indication of needs, he still thinks they need more hitting. Let’s examine the top trades that didn’t happen.
By: Soxman
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Before Sunday’s series finale with the Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen addressed the media just like he does before every game. But this time, he had a lot to say about some serious issues that transcend baseball. His take on Major League double standards relating to Asian and Latino players touches on topics that resonate all over the globe.
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