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More surprises Users have a good eye for overlooked eye-openersPosted: Wednesday July 30, 2003 10:28 AM
Click here to send a question to Tom Verducci's Mailbag. Well, some of you thought my list of the season's top 10 surprises to date was lacking a bit. No surprise there. Like All-Star balloting and Miss America contests, somebody deserving is always left out. See if you agree with the omissions mentioned by a couple of sharp-eyed readers. How could you have left Melvin Mora off your list of surprises?
I should have included Mora in my mention of Jose Guillen as another guy who came out of nowhere to put up a very good season. I think Guillen, though, has been a bigger surprise. I've always liked Mora. Don't you think Jose Lima has been an eye-opener? After all, the Royals did sign him out of the Northern League.
Yes, even though Lima spent most of the first half playing independent ball, his pitching has been amazing for Kansas City. I think he's regained some velocity on his heater, so now his change of speeds is more effective. The veteran right-hander is a great story. The Yankees made it known that they were in the market for some setup men. Why didn't Mike Stanton come up as an option? The Yanks would have had to give up more than they did to obtain Jesse Orosco, but in years past Stanton has been one of the premier left-handed setup men in the game. Is there some bad blood between Stanton and the Yanks because, allegedly, the team gave him 15 minutes to accept or decline their contract offer during the offseason? Obviously, Stanton would be a huge upgrade over Orosco and Chris Hammond in the pen.
I do think there are some hard feelings between Stanton and the Yankees about the split, but I also think New York is uncertain about how effective Stanton is these days, especially after his knee injury. The Yankees really wanted Scott Sauerbeck, but the Red Sox beat them to him. So, still needing a left-handed specialist, they traded for Orosco. Do the Reds have any chance to improve as long as their cheapskate owner runs the team? Why should the GM and manager get fired for having the worst pitching in baseball when it's the owner who refuses to spend money on a quality starter?
I've never liked scenarios in which the owner isn't a huge baseball fan, and I never got the sense that Carl Lindner likes hanging out at the yard. I cannot blame him totally, though, just as I can't blame former GM Jim Bowden totally. Lindner stepped up to approve the Ken Griffey Jr. contract and he personally stepped in to sign Barry Larkin for three years, $27 million and he increased the payroll by about 20 percent this year. So I don't think Linder's been that tight with the money. And I do blame the GM for not developing more pitchers and for misjudging others, such as Ryan Dempster and Brian Moehler. I hate it when players don't get proper recognition for their accomplishments, and I think Sidney Ponson is a perfect example of this. It seems as if the only time his name comes up is in trade rumors. Should Ponson be mentioned as a Cy Young candidate? Sure, Roy Halladay seems like the frontrunner right now, but do you think Ponson should be in the race?
Sure, Ponson is a Cy candidate. It's been impressive to watch him grow into a pitcher and not just a thrower. It seems he's changing speeds more and taking a little off his fastball to gain movement and location. It's early, but Ponson is clearly in the mix. How political is the Hall of Fame voting? Gary Carter's stats are similar to those of Lance Parrish, yet Carter easily made the Hall while Parrish received almost no votes. Why is there such a discrepancy in these situations?
I don't think the voting is very political at all when you consider that 500 writers are casting ballots -- and the scribes I speak with take the voting very seriously. We talk about guys a lot and agonize over the ballot. I don't know anybody who takes it lightly. Detroit players (Jack Morris, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Parrish) have received very little support over the years, but I don't know how to explain that. I do think Carter was acknowledged as the best at his position for a good run and Parrish came up just short of that. I agree with your eight future Hall of Fame choices from the July 28, 2003 issue of Sports Illustrated. But what about Rickey Henderson? Did you just forget about him, or did you form this list while he was still playing for the Newark Bears?
Good catch. Yes, the artwork was commissioned when Rickey was still touring independent ball. Thanks for noticing, because he's an easy first-ballot Hall of Famer. Now that the Cardinals have placed Matt Morris on the DL, do you think they will drop the "we don't have the money" garbage and go after a decent starter or two before the trade deadline?
I wonder if St. Louis will pull the trigger on a J.D. Drew-for-Ponson deal. My suspicion is that the Cards will try to find another hidden Woody Williams-type gem, such as Rick Helling or Steve Trachsel. That fits the m.o. of Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa, who prefer veteran pitchers. The Padres have a tough call next year if Phil Nevin stays healthy. Do you think Nevin should play first base and Ryan Klesko should be moved to the outfield? Or do you think San Diego will trade Klesko?
I think the Padres will give Nevin a shot at first and put Klesko in the outfield, barring any other trades. If they somehow decide to swallow the contract of Jason Kendall in order to get Brian Giles from the Pirates, they could deal Klesko. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.
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