Tag: Retirement

Monday catchup

It’s tough being a Cubs fan who has Albert Pujols on his APBA league team.  It’s even tougher when you find out he’s out for six weeks.  My favorite headline today… Rays to miss play against Pujols  Yeah, I’m sure they’re heartbroken. 

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Chad Cordero retired. In other news, Chad Cordero was still playing baseball.

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On a personal note, I just attended my first roller derby event Saturday.  The Twin City Derby Girls are making a go at it in Champaign-Urbana and from the attendance this weekend, it seems pretty popular. 

I can see why.  It’s quite exciting what with fast-paced action, healthy looking women going at each other, and even a campy atmosphere.  I even began to understand the rules after a while.  I’ll be back for more.  A few more photos from Saturday’s event.

Brad’s gone too

Speaking of retirements, Brad Ausmus is hanging up his tools of ignorance for the last time today.

Never a big stick (he hit .251 for his career), Ausmus will be more known for slick glove behind the plate.  He won three Gold Gloves in his career.  More amazing to me though is the fact that Ausmus caught 1,938 games in his 18 year career.  That ranks 10th among all catchers all time.  Look through his stat board and you’ll see that he often led his league in many defensive categories like catcher putouts and catcher assists.

Ausmus participated in six postseasons and one World Series (in 2005 with the Astros).   

Saturday night tidbits

Lou Piniella, lame duck

Some quick thoughts on Lou Piniella’s retirement and a few questions. 

To start, Rob Neyer examines Lou’s HOF potential and thinks he comes out pretty well.  More on that later.

Piniella came to the Cubs with the rep as hot-tempered, base-throwing skipper.  What we got was a grandfather-type who usually didn’t sweat the details.  Usually.

Many have lauded Piniella for what he’s done as a Cub manager.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked him just fine but much of his success came from a team that he inherited and he rode that wagon as long as he could.  It seemed evident when he took over that this would be his “sunset” team considering his age and stage in his career. 

My take on Piniella for the first part of his reign of the Cubs is this:  His managing ability to get the Cubs to the postseason was fine.  Once they got there, they stalled.  Does Piniella share some of the responsibility of not inspiring his team when the going got tough?  Maybe.

My questions…

Was his retirement a surprise?

Not to me.  This is Lou’s last year of his contract.  With grumblings already about his performance, I just didn’t see him re-upping.

Is Piniella really retiring?

Yeah probably.  Piniella deserves some retirement and I mean that in a nice way.  I just don’t see another team picking him in the future.  Look to see him as an analyst behind an ESPN desk soon.

What’s next for the Cubs?

Fortunately, the Cubs have time to think about this.  I’m not as pro-Sandberg as some might think.  If I had my druthers, I’d like to see them pry Joe Giardi away from the Yankees (yeah, dream on) or give Alan Trammell a shot. 

While we’re changing leadership, is Jim Hendry’s job safe?

Yes.  There are a lot of fans calling for Hendry’s head at any given time.  That said, for any bad move he’s made (and there have been some), he’s made some quiet deals that have kept the team afloat.

Piniella in the Hall of Fame?  Really?

I don’t know.  I haven’t really thought about it.  Between his above average performance as a player plus his seven postseason appearances as a manager, he has a shot.  He ranks 14th all-time in wins which isn’t too shabby.  I wouldn’t count it out.

Interesting addendum:  Gene Mauch is the only non-active manager with more wins than Piniella who is not in the Hall of Fame.  He has 1902 wins. 

Perhaps the fact that Mauch has only two playoff appearances (and no World Series ring) in 26 years has something to with it.  That and his losing record (.483).

Griffey a rarity in a cynical age

My thoughts on Ken Griffey who retired last week:

As I read through some of articles about Griffey’s retirement, I noticed many had an inset of the top ten homerun hitters of all time.  Griffey lands fifth on that list with 630… a notable accomplishment indeed.  But as I read through the list, it occurred to me how rare Griffey really was.  This top ten list is scandal-ridden.  If some of these players weren’t involved in some scandal or suspected of wrong-doing, others were out-and-out jerks.

Rank Player HR
1 Barry Bonds 762
2 Hank Aaron 755
3 Babe Ruth 714
4 Willie Mays 660
5 Ken Griffey 630
6 Sammy Sosa 609
7 Alex Rodriguez 591
8 Frank Robinson 586
9 Mark McGwire 583
10 Harmon Killebrew 573

 

There are exceptions.  Hank Aaron, of course.  As far as I know, Harmon Killebrew was just guilty of having thick arms.  And Frank Robinson did have the gun thing in 1961 but I think I’ll give him a pass.

True, some players’ “scandals” are pretty minor by today’s standards.  But in the day, MLB took Willie Mays and his casino dealings very seriously.  

And yeah, I’m putting Babe Ruth in the jerk category. 

Point being, there aren’t many players like Ken Griffey Jr let alone players of his caliber.  And when things went a little south for Junior, he didn’t resort to methods outside the game to embellish his talents. 

Indeed, the worst we can say about Griffey is that he took a nap during a game.  Embarrassing.  I submit it is embarrassing certainly not of Griffey but for the media and those who enabled that circus.  For a man who gave his life to the game the way he did, he deserved a few winks. 

I’ll close this out by posting a few quotes about Junior sent to me by dear reader DonS.  These quotes are by respected members of the baseball community who are most qualified to speak on the topic of Ken Griffey Junior. 

“To play with him is a treasure I will keep deep in my heart,  I have played 19 years in professional baseball and I can say he was one of my best teammates and my best friend.”

-Ichiro Suzuki

“It’s like winning the lottery of baseball,  You get to play with one of the greatest.”

-Chone Figgins

“Junior was one of the finest young men I’ve ever had the opportunity to manage,  When we were in Seattle together, I believe he was the best player in baseball and it was truly an honor to be his manager.”

-Lou Piniella

Grant Desme becoming a man of the cloth

desmeOakland A’s prospect Grant Desme is going from Arizona Fall League MVP  to the next Billy Sunday. He’s giving up the church of baseball for the priesthood.

Desme had a breakout year in 2009.  Playing for the Midwest League’s Kane County Cougars and California League’s Stockton Ports, he hit 31 homeruns, stole 40 bases to go along with his .288 batting average.

Last fall, the A’s had good words to say about Desme potential:

“If he keeps putting up these kinds of numbers, it’d be hard not to bring him in [to Spring Training],” Keith Lieppman, A’s director of player development, told MLB.com in October. “There’s a lot of good things happening with him right now. At this stage, he looks like the complete package.”

Now A’s GM Billy Beane has nothing to do but to accept the inevitable.  “We respect Grant’s decision and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors,” he grumbled.

According to the Huffington Post, Desme is quoted in 2007 as saying, “above all, my faith comes first and I dedicate myself to church.”  Now, we’re seeing just how dedicated he really is.  Desme will plan to enter a Catholic seminary and and says it will be a 10-year process and likens it to  “re-entering the minor leagues.”

Oakland can tell themselves that they probably get along without Grant Desme (the California League is a hitters league, right?).  Most likely, Desme would have been trade bait anyway.

Regardless, he would have been a player to watch.  It wasn’t an easy decision for Desme to make, I’m sure.

Big Unit saying goodbye after 22 years

Randy Johnson has retired and we’ve lost one of this era’s best pitchers.  Given his age, probably last era’s, too. 

You’ve heard the big numbers on the Unit… five Cy Young awards, 303 wins, etc.  Here are a few lesser known ones:

…he was tops among active pitchers (well when he WAS active) in complete games.  And you know what?  It’s not even close.  His 100 is almost double of second place Tom Glavine’s 56.

…Led the majors in Strikeouts per 9 IP an amazing eleven times.

…Was baseball’s second oldest player at the time of his retirement at 46.  Most of us know that greybeard Jamie Moyer is the oldest (he’s 47).  And some of us might even make a guess at John Smoltz as the third oldest at age 42.  But who’s the fourth oldest?  Answer later.

…Back to Randy Johnson… he was the active leader in shutouts with 37. 

…All told he led the majors in 56 various (positive) stat categories throughout his career (not counting the times he led in walks or HBPs because he did that too).  Pretty impressive.

I had a friend (you know who are) who once felt the Big Unit wasn’t Hall of Fame-worthy.  Granted, this was five or so years ago but we had a discussion about it.  I’m wondering if he’s changed his mind by now.

Five years from now, I hope we’re not quibbling about whether Randy Johnson should be inducted into the Hall.  He had the rare combination of longevity and intensity.  The kind of pitcher that played for years but yet, was the kind that you wanted to pitch in the big game. 

Like him or not, he gets in.  For my money, if you could pit him against the current class, he gets in before any of them.

Consistent Percival near retirement

"I don’t think you’re retired until the paperwork’s in. But it’s safe to say as of right now, I don’t see that I’m going to be able to throw a whole lot"

By the time you read this, Troy Percival will probably have announced his retirement.  He’s already met with the Rays’ management and rumors are flying that he has submitted his resignation.  And with the above quote, the writing seems to be on the wall.

Looking back over Percival’s career, there’s no question he had Grade A stuff.  But look closer and see how consistent he was.  It really is quite amazing. 

For starters, in nine years (1996-2004) he dropped below 30 saves just once and accumulated 313 for that period. 

He was solid over the course of the baseball season throughout the years, too.  Both his opponents batting average and ERA were pretty consistent from April to September.  Career ERA high of 3.51 in May and amazingly BA high of .204 in May as well. 

If their was one knock on Percival, it’s that his batting average with runners in scoring position (.273) was slightly high, especially with the bases loaded (.380). 

Interestingly, he had a career 0.00 ERA against the Angels who he played for his first ten years of his career

Assuming he does retire, Percival’s 358 saves puts him #8 on the all-time list behind Jeff Reardon.  He and Billy Wagner are the only two on the top ten list who have never led the league in that category (off topic:  Billy never led the league… does that surprise you??).