A Sign of the Apocalypse

No it's not frogs raining from the sky or the 4 horsemen come to kill everyone, its Vernon Wells finally earning some of the $15,687,500 that he is being paid this season.  As of the writing of this article Wells' numbers look like this: 

27 Home Runs 77 RBI  71 Runs .272/.326/.523/.849  (that's AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS)

Those are pretty decent numbers and the Jays still have roughly 30 games to play so they can only improve.  I didn't believe them at first so I had to do a little digging and you know what I discovered?  Not only is Vernon Wells having a decent year, he is having one of the best years of any center fielder in baseball.

Here are his rankings among CFs in both the AL and NL:

Runs (14th but only 9 runs back of 5th place)

Hits (Tied for 8th)

Doubles (2nd)

Home Runs (2nd)

RBI (4th)

Batting Average (10th)

OBP (13th)

Slugging (2nd)

OPS (4th)

Not bad for a guy that many people consider to be one of the most overpaid players in all of baseball.  Yes he still gets paid way too much money but at least he is starting to earn it this year unlike last year when he was just 'Big Fat Vernon' filling up a roster spot and going through the motions.  So what changed in Vernon to make him bring back his 2004 form?

I personally believe that Vernon has taken more of a leadership role on this young team and he realizes that he has to lead by example.  In the past it always seemed like the Jays leadership came from its pitching staff as guys like Roy Halladay put the team on their back and tried to carry them to victory.  Now it's Wells turn and along with Jose Bautista he is doing a decent job.  He seems more involved in the games and in the dugout he is much more active than in the past.

Wells return in power could also be contributed to him being healthy.  Last season Wells suffered from various injuries including wrist, hip and shoulder injuries that really hindered him at the plate.  Now he is healthy and using the Dwayne Murphy philosophy of swinging for the fences and it's hard to argue with the results.

Back to Wells' salary vs his production.  He is the 22nd highest paid player in baseball but considering the other names on that list and the production, or lack there of they provide, his salary looks less and less ridiculous.  Here are some of the guys that make more than Wells and produce less (Keep in mind Wells makes $15 million):

Derek Jeter -  $22.6 million - inferior to Wells in every major category except stolen bases

Carlos Beltran - $19.4 million - last 2 years thrown away due to injuries 

Carlos Lee - $19 million - Only beats Wells in RBI and total Baconators consumed

Alfonso Soriano - $19 million - Power numbers on track with Wells but worse average & god awful defense

Carlos Zambrano - $18.75 million - 7-6 rcord with an ERA of 4.23, point for Wells

John Lackey - $18.7 million - 12-9 with an ERA of 4.48, 12 wins aren't bad but I give it to Wells

Manny Ramirez - $18 million - if he would stay healthy he would be better, toddlers play better defense

Barry Zito - $18 million - 8-11 with a 4.18 ERA, possibly the worst contract in MLB

Todd Helton - $17.75 million - .249 6 HR 28 RBI, plus he runs the bases like a complete jackass

Aramis Ramirez - $17 million - power numbers right there with Wells but his average is 29 points lower

AJ Burnett - $16.5 million - 10-13 with an ERA of 5.15, pitching for the Yankees I could put up 10 wins

When you look at that list and see all the guys with stupid contracts that don't produce it makes the $15 million cap hit from Wells a little easier to take.  Plus unlike most of the guys up there Wells can play defense and has won Gold Gloves in the past and may be in the discussion again this year.

I know it's hard to believe but Vernon Wells may not be overrated anymore.  With Jose Bautista getting all the attention Wells has quietly put together a nice season and hopefully all the Jays fans out there he can continue to do so.

Random YouTube Video (Apparently there is an actor named Vernon Wells, who knew?)

Gods Do Not Answer Letters

I just finished reading John Updike's classic essay Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu which is an account of Ted Williams' last professional baseball game.  It is only 30 pages or so but it is amazing and really makes you think about how athletes are viewed today compared to how they were viewed in the past.

Updike writes about Williams as if he was a benevolent being that graced everyone with his presence.  The reverence in which he refers to Williams can only be reserved for a true fan and the essay itself was actually written before Updike became a very successful journalist.  At the time he was just another fan who was at the game and felt that it needed to be recounted as so few people actually attended it.  

Now imagine this happening to any baseball player currently playing.  Of all the guys still playing who would get this kind of reaction?  Derek Jeter is the only person I can think of and outside of New York no one really has a lot of love for him and unlike Williams who was an effective player until the day he retired Jeter is slipping statistically and will no doubt continue to do so eventually becoming a utility player.  Times have changed and there are no more heroes or immortal figures left in baseball.

The title to this post is from the essay and is one of the most famous lines in sports journalism history, it refers to Williams refusal to come out and tip his cap after he hit his final home run of his career in his last at bat ever.  After he hit the home run he did was he always did, ran the bases quickly with his head down as if he was running through a storm and was trying to get out of the rain and went to the dugout and sat down.  Williams never tipped his cap after his 520 previous home runs and he wouldn't do it on the 521st time despite lengthy pleas from the crowd, the umpires and the players.

Gods do not answer letters.

As a Red Sox fan I always knew Ted Williams was one of the best baseball players ever but after reading this essay and doing a little research I finally understood just how great he actually was.  Here are a few stats that show just how great Williams was (keep in mind he gave up 5 years of his prime to serve as a pilot in the Korean War):

19x All-Star Selection

521 home runs (18th)

2,654 hits (69th)

1,839 RBI (13th)

2x MVP

.344 career batting average (8th)

2x Triple Crown Winner (lead the league in batting average, home runs and RBI)

6x Batting Champion

Last person to hit over .400 when he hit .406 in 1941

12x Led the league in On Base Percentage

.482 Career OBP Highest in MLB History

One interesting note about Williams career is that although he was a dominant hitter, one might argue the best pure hitter in baseball history, he doesn't own very many records.  He is in the top 10 in a number of categories but other than OBP and being the last man to hit above .400 he doesn't have much to stake his name to.  He did have the distinction of being the oldest man to win the batting title but he lost that in 2004 when Barry Bonds won it at age 40 a fact that is about to launch a mini rant:

I have been reading more books about the history of baseball lately and trying to learn more about the great names from the past.  Guys like Mantle, DiMaggio, Musial, Williams, Cobb and Foxx and they are all interesting guys who seem likable and worthy of the constant high praise they receive.  Yet they are all continuously falling down the leaderboards in various categories because they are being passed by guys from the "Steroid Era."  

Now if you read this blog regularly you know that for the most part I don't have a problem with steroids as everyone was cheating so who cares.  When A-rod was caught I shrugged it off as just another guy using drugs, there is a list of 103 he is just one of them.  But after reading these books its kind of starting to piss me off that all these cheaters are passing legends whose accomplishments were achieved based solely on skill and heart.

Ted Williams is tied for 18th on the home run list but was passed by guys such as Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez (Jim Thome is also ahead of him but I think he is clean).  All these guys were caught cheating and all achieved their records through the use of performance enhancing drugs.  They all tarnish the names of Williams, Mantle and Foxx by moving them further down the list and off the radar screens of newer fans who live on stats.   

This never used to bother me but after learning more about the past generations of players I now see the error of my ways.  In my mind Hank Aaron is still the home run king and Barry Bonds never broke any of Williams records.  To me Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are just punchlines in a joke about baseball and steroids.  They are both lairs, frauds and cheats and Chael Sonnen  should bury them where they stand.

But Ted Williams was about more than just stats.  He was a humanitarian, through his ongoing work with the Jimmy Fund, and an honest man who felt people should be paid based on merit.  In 1959 Williams had his first sub .300 season and went to management and demanded a pay cut.  He was also a tolerant man as unlike many other players at the time he was open to black players in baseball and lobbied to get excluded blacks into the Hall of Fame.
 

He wasn't without his faults though as he had a rough relationship with the Boston fans and absolutely despised the media.  He also had some bad habits on the field as he would routinely spit everywhere and would throw a tantrum if things didn't go his way but I would attribute those actions more to his competitiveness and desire to be the best.


In 1941 going into the last 2 games of the season ( a double header) Williams was batting .3955 and would have had his average rounded up to .400 if he had sat out.  Williams would have none of this and went out and had 6 hits in 8 at bats over the two games finishing with a .406 average.

He loved to win and hated to lose, in sports that's called passion.  Of his desire for greatness Williams summed it up best when he said, "I want people to say, 'There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived."

When you watch people talk about Ted Williams a smile always appears on their face and they always have this look of wonder like he needed to be seen to believed. I only wish I had been able to see him play live and be able to fully appreciate his greatness the way others do.   

Random YouTube Video

Derek Anderson > Matt Leinart?

I remember a couple of years ago I was watching the NHL Trade Deadline special on TSN and one of the analysts said that someone was a, "poor mans Jeff Halpern."  At the time I thought this was the biggest slap in the face any athlete could receive.  Then I came home from a weekend up north and found out that the Arizona Cardinals had released Matt Leinart.

The fact that he got released isn't the slap in the face.  The slap in the face is that the Arizona Cardinals would rather have Derek Anderson as their starting quarterback than Matt Leinart.  I couldn't imagine a bigger hit to someones ego than hearing that.

I know people always rip on guys like Jake Delhomme and JaMarcus Russell for being awful quarterbacks, and believe me they are, but Derek Anderson is in a league all his own.  He had one good season where he managed to make the Pro Bowl and since then he has been absolutely pathetic.  His career quarterback rating is 69.7 and he has 46 touchdowns to 45 interceptions and he has completed just over 50% of his passes.

So why would the Cardinals want Anderson instead of Leinart?  

Well it's no secret that Cardinals coach Ken Wisenhunt wasn't a fan of Leinart and thought that he lacked the work ethic and leadership skills to be a starting quarterback in the NFL but is he still not the lesser of two evils in this situation?  

At least Leinart believed he was better than Anderson as he recently told AZcentral.com, "the philosophy is you want the best 11 guys to play. I feel like I've proved that with my performance. I don't really know what else I could possibly do, so it probably goes beyond football. For me, I just really want an explanation, and I haven't been given one."

I have to agree with him on that point.  Leinart gives the Cardinals a better chance to win then Derek Anderson so why release him? I know Cardinals fans call him Captain Checkdown, and with good cause, but he looked great in the preseason and had a few years to learn from Kurt Warner so you would think he would be the choice going into the season.

But did he really learn anything from Warner while he was holding his clip board or did he just go through the motions until Warner retired and he could step up and take control of the team?  

Critics of Leinart have always said that since the day he was drafted 10th overall by the Cardinals 4 years ago that he came into the league thinking he was larger than life. Having won a Heisman Trophy at USC Leinart obviously got a big ego and he brought that with him to Arizona when he held out of training camp after being signed a move that did not endear him to his teammates.

Many people often said that Leinart was more concerned with being a celebrity than being a good quarterback, a viewpoint that gains more credence when you search his name in Google Images.  There are 6 pictures of him partying and getting wasted before a picture of him in an Arizona Cardinals uniform.  Clearly the guy liked to party and wasn't 100% devoted to football.

Leinart isn't a rare breed in that regard however as a number of quarterbacks from high profile schools often fall into the party lifestyle because on campus they are gods.  John David Booty went to USC and had the same problems as did recent draftee Jimmy Clausen who's partying lifestyle caused him to fall from a projected top 10 pick all the way to the 48th overall pick.

Even with the off-field problems I still feel like the Cardinals would have been better served sticking with Leinart over Anderson.  By releasing Leinart and making Anderson the starter the Cardinals have basically thrown this year down the toilet and said to their fans 'maybe next year.'

What I find odd is the timing of the move.  The Cardinals must have known they didn't want Leinart around and that they would need a new quarterback to replace him so why where they not involved in the Donovan McNabb talks and why would they not have made a move for Marc Bulger?  Why wait until one week before the season starts to cut your starting quarterback?  Then again these are the Arizona Cardinals who until 2 years ago were the most irrelevant team in the league.

Back to Leinart.  If he ever wants to overcome this ultimate ego attack by the Cardinals he is going to have to choose his next team carefully.  What he doesn't wanna do is go to Jacksonville or Buffalo and be a one-year stop gap.  He needs to pick a team where he can learn the system, dedicate himself, and prove to people around the league that he isn;t just another Heisman Trophy winning bust like Eric Crouch, Chris Weinke, Danny Wuerffel, Charlie Ward, Gino Toretta and Ty Detmer. 

I think Leinart is going to use this as motivation and go on to become a decent quarterback in the NFL.  Even if he goes on to become a bum that never makes it and has one of the worst quarterback ratings in the league and throws a bunch of interceptions in big moments he will still be better than Derek Anderson.  And when Ken Wisenhunt looks up at the scoreboard at halftime in Week 1 and see his team is losing 49-0 he will look up to the sky and say, "I made Derek Anderson my starting quarterback. Lord what have I done?"

Random YouTube Video

Tidbits to Hold You Over

Tomorrow I am headed to Carnarvan to enjoy some R & R with a few beers and some sunlight so I won't be writing anything.  Instead of writing one big article to hold over the rabid fans of this blog I have decided to write a bunch of small ones that should peak your interest and hold you over until I get back on Saturday.

Dolphins Go On Treasure Hunt

Today the Miami Dolphins had to stop their practice for almost an hour to look for an earring.  The 2.5 karat diamond earring worth roughly $50,000 belonging to defensive end Kendall Langford was lost during practice and needed to be found.

After spending an hour searching for the diamond, which was not found, practice ended and now Langford is out 50k.  Ihave a few questions out th ole incident:

1)  Why on earth would you wear a $50,000 earring to a football practice?  

2)  Why would Langford not just offer the rounds crew a few hundred bucks to check for him afer practice was over, or before practice stared the next morning?

3)  How does a 3rd round pick have enough money to be buying a 50k earring?

4)  Why did Tony Sparano stop his practice for this nonsense?

5)  Did they check the filter in the dolphin tank?

Chatroulette Scandal

There is a big scandal surrounding Brandon Spikes, a rookie linebacker for the New England Patriots, and the website Chatroulette.  Apparently someone was on Chatroulette and happened upon Spikes and some woman wearing just a bra and watched as the girl performed oral sex on him.  That's not even the best part. The best part is that Spikes never identifies himself in the video and it was only thought to be him because the guy in the video is also a black man covered in tattoos.

Even thought that's a racist way to go about identifying Spikes it turned out to be effective as since the story broke an NFL investigation has begun and Si agent has come out and said in an interview with the Boston Herald, "the embarrassing situation certainly doesn't reflect the kind of person that he is."

I think it says a lot about him.  It says that he likes women, is very self-confident and that he wants to have a great relationship with the fans.

Bolting to Man U

In his autobiography Usain Bolt wrote, "Ideally, if I was to play football, I'd sign for my favorite team -- Manchester United. People say it's not realistic but nobody has seen me play so you never know. If Alex Ferguson saw me in one of those charity matches he might think I could replace Ryan Giggs."  

Bolt isn't the first athlete to talk about switching sports as LeBron James has talked abut laying in the NFL and Terrell Owens expressed and interest in the NBA.  I mean James Toney is the best two sport athlete on the planet but Bolt could give him a run for his money.  At the very least it would be a good publicity move for a team to let Bolt tryout plus he might turn out to be real good so whats the harm.

Bolt has trained with an number of top clubs including Man U, Barcelona and Bayern Munich and there was a feature in the French newspaper L'equip on his skills so maybe he does have a shot playing professional soccer somewhere.

Maybe he could be a winger and just sprint down the flanks and thrown in crosses all game.  He would have 0 problem getting by anyone in the Premiership, with the possible exception of Theo Walcott or Aaron Lennon.  I think its worth a shot and with the way Man U spends money (the team recently spent & million pounds on a player that manager Sir Alex Ferguson had never seen play)  why not?

Little MJ in Big Trouble

Marcus Jordan, the son of his Royal Airness Michael Jordan, is getting a lot of heat in the media right now for some comments he posted on his Twitter feed over the weekend.  Here is the twee: ""Last night was stupid... 35K at Haze.  Totals 50K something the whole day."

OK so whats the big deal the guy spent 50k in Vegas, 35k of which was dropped at a strip club, like father like son.  Problem is Marcus Jordan is only 19 and is a sophomore at the University of Central Florida.  So how was he drinking and gambling in Vegas when the drinking age is 21?  Also how does a 19 year old have $35,000 to spend at a strip club?  Were the lapdances $2500 a song?

The whole reason Marcus was in Vegas was to attend his dads basketball camp.  Now people are critisizing not only Marcus but his father as well and knowing MJ he is royally pissed, not about what Marcus did, but about being second guessed as a parent.  MJ doesn't like people giving him a hard time on the basketball court imagine how he will react to this.

Since the story broke the tweet has been removed and Marcus has made a public statement saying, ""I didn't mean it the way it came across.  My family and friends know the type of person I am."

Now the MGM Grand is under investigation for allowing minors to drink and gamble and if you've seen Casino you know that if you mess with those guys money you wind up in a shallow grave in a cornfield getting bludgeoned to death by metal baseball bats. 

Mets Pitchers Looks to Supplement Income

Mets knuckelballer RA Dickey is looking to supplement his income by following in the steps of Cosmo Kramer and becoming a "ball man" at the US Open.  In an interview after a recent win Dickey told reporters about his ambitions, "I think it would be really cool.  I’m really serious. Do you think I can do it?” 

According to the New York Times, he can.  Just not this year because he already missed the sign up period and the tournament has already begun but maybe next year.  Plus the Mets are on the road right now and although they have a 0% chance of making the playoffs they still need Dickey to pitch.

The NY Times spoke to Tina Tapps who is the USTA's director for ball boys and girls (what an easy job that must be) and she seemed really excited about Dckey being a ball boy, "That would be really exciting.  It’s obviously too late for this year, but if he’s really willing to go through the process, we would love to have him. I think he would be great at it.” 

My favorite part of this story was Dickey's reaction to a reporter who told Dickey he would have to pass certain tests like a running test, catching test and a throwing test.  Dickey's response was, "I think I can handle that. I’m a professional athlete.” 

Dickey is up for arbitration after this year so if the Mets aren't willing to cough up the cash he might have to move on to greener pastures and start raking in all of that F you ball boy money.

Roy Halladay Pisses Class

Roy Halladay is a great guy.  That is a fact.  Everyone knows this.  Here is some proof of how great a guy he is.  He recently gave every member of the Philadelphia Phillies (including ball boys, trainers and medical staff) a Swiss Baume and Mcier watch.  Halladay handed them out himself. Each watched was engraved with the date of the game and each players name and number. 

I understand that the Jays are a team that is rebuilding and Halladay wanted a lot of money but I would give this guy whatever he wants to pitch for my baseball team.  He is a massive beauty both on and off the field and one of the coolest athletes in sports.

...and because I am gone for 2 days here are 2 YouTube videos.  One is an amazing song by an amazing Canadian band and the other is hilarious:

Random YouTube Videos