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NOMINEE |
THE SKINNY |
| Overrated |
Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine |
Yes, they are future Hall of Famers and among the very best of their generation. But you won't find any mention of October on their plaques in Cooperstown. All three have had a big enough sample of October experience to prove themselves as clutch players and, on balance, have failed. Bonds is a career .196 hitter in 97 postseason at-bats and Maddux (10-11) and Glavine (10-12) continue to get outpitched too many times in October. The truly great ones come up big when it counts (see Jeter, Derek and Martinez, Pedro). |
| Underrated |
Richard Hidalgo, Houston Astros |
Quick, which NL outfielder outslugged Sammy Sosa, outhomered Ken Griffey, had more total bases than 2000 NL MVP Jeff Kent, had more extra-base hits than Barry Bonds and didn't so much as sniff the All-Star Game? If you knew the answer, you must be from Houston. Hidalgo is the same age as Alex Rodriguez (25) but last year hit more homers (44) than A-Rod ever has in a single season. |
| Annoying |
Velcro |
Memo to Sandy Alderson: please do something about the body armor batters are wearing on arms, elbows and legs. Next up: the flak jacket. These protective devices allow hitters to hang over the plate and dive into pitches without fear. Every change in the game over the past quarter century has worked against the pitcher. This is another such development. |
| Breakthrough |
Tim Hudson, Oakland Athletics |
The 25-year-old right-hander won 20 games for the first time. It won't be the last. Honorable mention to Angels third baseman Troy Glaus, the AL home run champion who is looking more and more like Mike Schmidt. |
| Uplifting |
Andres Galarraga, Atlanta Braves |
The Big Cat came back from cancer with that same beautiful smile on his face and power in his bat. Not a prettier sight could be found in baseball, especially because he took some of the edge off the nonsense surrounding his teammate, John Rocker. |
| MVP |
Jason Giambi, Oakland Athletics |
Okay, the stats are solid. He led the majors in walks (137) and on-base percentage (.474), hit 43 bombs, drove in 137 runs, hit .356 with runners in scoring position. But Giambi was the man for two reasons: the leadership he provided to a young team -- not even pitching coach Bud Black made as many trips to the mound as the A's first baseman -- and the huge month he had at the plate in September (.400 batting average, a major-league high 13 home runs, 32 RBIs and a whopping .529 on-base percentage). |
| Storyline to follow in 2001 |
The rumble of the labor clouds |
The collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2001 season. No progress is being made toward a new one. The payroll disparity gap has widened since the 1994-95 lockout, which accomplished nothing besides setting up an underwhelming revenue-sharing system. Get ready for the last season in Mark McGwire's career. The slugger has said he won't return if baseball shuts down again. He'll have plenty of company from fed-up fans. |
