Month: December 2009

2009 MiLBY awards announced

Roll out the red carpet.  It’s time for the 2009 MiLBY Awards which awarded to the best performances in the minor leagues this year. 

You can find the complete coverage of the MiLBYs on mlb.com

A couple awards of note:

Dan Hudson who pitched for the White Sox organization (and actually made it to the bigs for a quick cup of coffee late in the year) won the award for best overall pitcher.  He did so thanks to a 2.32 ERA and a 14-5.  Want a more impressive stat?  He struck out 166 and walked only 34 for a 4.88 K/BB ratio. 

David Cales is someone who I’m looking forward to seeing in a Cub uniform.  For Single-A Daytona, he had a 0.78 ERA in 37 games which got him the Best Reliever in Class A Advanced.  It may not be too long before we see him… he’s already made it to AA Tennessee. 

Speaking of Daytona, Catcher Robinson Chirinos who also plays for them, won the MiLBY award for Best Single Game Performance at the Class A Advanced level.  On May 31, the Venezuelan native hit two grand slams to help the Daytona Cubs to a 11-3 victory over Sarasota.  That’s the second time that’s happened in the Florida State League history.

The Best Team award went to Padre Class A affiliate Fort Wayne Tin Caps.  They won over 100 games (a 101-48 record to be precise) which in the minors, is pretty dang rare.  By the way, their manager?  Former Cubs speedster Doug Dascenzo.

The Best Hitter award will be announced sometime today.

Cubs-Contreras rumors

ESPN’s Bruce Levine reports that the Chicago Cubs are interested in former White Sox starter Jose Contreras.

(Emphasis mine),

Listed at age 39, his real age is could be anywhere from 40-45, nonetheless the Cubs are looking at him as protection for Lilly, and also to push the No. 4 and No. 5 spots in the iffy bottom of the rotation

Jose DID pitch well after coming to Colorado in late August (Levine reminds us that he had a 1.59 ERA in Sept/Oct) but his overall second half ERA was still 5.40 coupled with a 2-6 record.

Andre Dawson: In or out?

The Chicago Tribune has announced who their seven major sports writers support for the 2010 baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Aggregately, the seven of them would vote in Roberto Alomar and Andre Dawson.

Dawson has always been on the bubble when it came to the Hall.  It didn’t help that he had 438 homeruns short of the (what used to be) the magical number to get in, (whether or not you like that litmus test. I don’t)  It also doesn’t help that he played for a team that doesn’t exist anymore and another that for the most part was mediocre (Dawson did his part winning the MVP for the last place 1987 Cubs). 

Hopefully, this is his year.  If you really want to see him in the Hall, you can help push for his election by joining Cubcast’s Twitter blitz aptly named #Dawson4theHall.  More info on their website.

Dawson may have an uphill battle, though.  Seems to me that the BBWAA is becoming more selective in recent years, with the possible exception of Bruce Sutter (sorry Sutter fans, I liked him too). 

But mostly in the ‘00s, they’ve only voted in the creme de la creme, something the Veterans Committee should perhaps look into.  In 2009, it was Rice (long time comin’) and Henderson (shoo-in).  In 2008, Gossage.  In 2007, two obvious choices in Ripken and Gwynn.  Others in this decade:  Boggs, Sandberg, Eckersley, G. Carter, Eddie Murray, Ozzie Smith. Kirby Puckett. 

Ok, there WAS Mazeroski. *snicker*

As far as his legacy is concerned, Dawson can be thankful he was picked up by the Chicago Cubs in 1987 after playing eleven years with the now defunct Montreal Expos .  He was 32 years old and played only six years for Chicago but recently the Cub faithful have really taken up his cause for the Hall with a vengeance.  See the above Twitter effort as an example.

Point is, as much as I like Dawson (and I do, being a Cub fan.  Besides being a good player, he had a pretty cool WGN theme song based around him), it might be a tough row to hoe. 

PS I couldn’t think of it at the time but the song was “Andre’s Army”.

Albert Pujols: Give him the ‘00s NL Triple Crown

Not only did Albert Pujols win three MVP awards this decade, he also can lay claim to the ‘00s Triple Crown according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark.  He lead all National Leaguers in batting average, homeruns and rbis for the decade. 

The last person to do that was Ted Williams in the 40s.

C-U Kiwanis accepting registrants for Sports Trivia Championship

For those in Champaign-Urbana, if you’ve given thought to taking part in the C-U Kiwanis Sports Trivia Championship on January 31 but haven’t signed up yet, I encourage you do so. 

I posted info about it a few weeks ago or you can go directly to the Sports Trivia Championship web site. 

They are looking for more participants so if you’re interested, sign up!

Roast Some Chestnuts on the Hot Stove

The Yankees made another move, now I believe, it’s the Red Sox turn.  Righthanded starting pitcher Javier Vazquez & lefty reliever Boone Logan (both with the White Sox a couple of years ago) were dealt to Atlanta in exchange for centerfielder Melky Cabrera, a 19 year old out of the Dominican Republic by the name of Arodys Vizcaino, and lefthanded relief pitcher Michael Dunn.  Vazquez crashed & burned in the Bronx, he did well with the Braves (but that’s the National League), it’ll be interesting to see how he makes out in the Big Apple (with big pressure), one of my happiest days as a White Sox fan  was when Javier Vazquez & Boone Logan were put on a train out of town.  Melky Cabrera, a fan favorite, will move into the lineup as the Braves everyday centerfielder, Dunn has a shot as a lefty in Atlanta’s pen, and the young righthander, Vizcaino, has a huge upside, only time will tell.

Atlanta also added their firstbaseman in the person of Troy Glaus.  Troy was injured last season with the Cardinals.  The hot corner has always been this big power hitter’s position, but he shouldn’t have any problems shifting across the diamond, his real position is BAT.

Darren Oliver went back to where he started, returning to Texas.  This will be Darren’s third go around with the Rangers.  Oliver spent the last three years in the Angels bullpen, the Halos are pursuing Fernando Rodney.

In a move that was kind of under the radar, Jason Marquis was signed by the Washington Nationals.  Marquis showed guts in winning 15 games last season with the Rockies.  This veteran righthander will provide the Nats with just what the doctor ordered, 200 innings & 30+ starts.  Next up Washington needs to secure Mike Capps as their team’s closer.

Linebrink in BG’s Big Picture Gallery

Chicago White Sox reliever Scott Linebrink was a subject of a photo in the Boston Globe’s annual gallery of The Big Picture photos.  If you have seen any of the Boston Globe’s galleries in past years, you know that these photographs are the year’s best of the best in news, science and society.  I really encourage everyone to take a look at them.  You won’t regret it. 

Here is the direct link to the photo with Linebrink.  As was the photographer’s intent, Linebrink himself is a bit fuzzy (a bit like his performance with the Sox this year) in the background but the ball which seems to be hurling towards the camera is crystal clear. 

Nicely done by AP photographer Issac Brekken.

Animated short about Dock Ellis’ drug enhanced no-no

 

 

This animated short about Dock Ellis’ no-hitter while he was on LSD definitely has its elements of humor.  But creator James Blagden from No Mas, a NY-based repository of sport and cultural art, did his homework, too. Doc Ellis and The LSD No-No was fueled by research done by Blagden. 

He scoured interviews done with Dock Ellis a year before he passed away last year.  In those interviews, Ellis pretty much a moment-by-moment account of his infamous no-hitter.  Apparently, Blagden used much of this info in this animated short. 

Oh, Dave Cash is quite the funny in the video, in my opinion.