Whitewash

It doesn’t do much for my Minnesota chops to say that I saw my first snow of the year on Monday, and it might be even worse that I’m happy to see it. While all of you suffer through negative temperatures and icy streets, I get to throw snowballs at my friends in the 40 degree bliss that comes with living in the Potomac drainage basin. But the baseball news is piling up, and I am inexcusably behind. Ok, I’m not paid and I write for fun, so it is probably excusable. Nonetheless, there is a lot to talk about today so I’ve got one extended lightning round of comments.

-In the proud tradition of FireRonZook.com and KeepManny.com, some (presumably) Twins fans have fired up http://www.BertBelongs.com/ to spread the Hall of Fame credentials of Bert Blyleven. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that the webmaster put in a link to this site, but they do an excellent job. I’m biased by growing up on Blyleven’s commentary, but it’s a pretty egregious mistake to keep him out of the Hall. Bill James has pointed out that players who are good for a long time are less likely to make it into the Hall than players with similar career stats and a high peak. Blyleven fits that description perfectly. Baseball Reference keeps track of Black Ink and Grey Ink in reference to how many league leads and league top-10s a player puts up in his career (the name comes from the stats on the back of a baseball card), and Blyleven is well above average in Grey Ink and well below average in Black Ink for a Hall of Famer. Even though it may be too late, I’m glad there is a concerted effort to do something constructive on the part of Twins fans.

-The big news of the day is the Jays’ signing of A.J. Burnett, further indication that J.P. Riccardi is trying to corner the market on his initialed brethren, including B.J. Ryan. Funny side story; Ryan’s initials are not B.J., but his family called him “Bo Junior” after his dad, which he described as the “pure redneck” roots of his nickname. By any name, Toronto has now committed $102 million for 10 years of two players who haven’t combined for five decent seasons. I’m not that low on Burnett; as I wrote in my free agent preview, I think he is the only marquee name available this year who has a good chance of having his best season in the future. Even though he has had sub-par road stats thus far, he has decent strikeout numbers, induces plenty of groundballs and does not give up that many HRs. The downside comes from the years in the deal. Does anyone actually believe Burnett will make 150 starts over the life of the deal? So far he has lived up to that pace for all of one season, which is one less than the number of substantial elbow surgeries he has had since reaching the majors. I would not be surprised in the least if he fails to make 100 starts and becomes a huge burden by the last year of the deal. The Jays’ off-season strategy deserves a more extensive treatment, and I’m looking forward to dedicating a whole column to it.

-The third base sweepstakes has taken a turn for the Twins with Bill Mueller reportedly getting priced out of Terry Ryan’s budget by competing offers from San Francisco, Los Angeles (NL edition) and the defending champs. I liked the idea of bringing in Mueller as an under-the-radar guy, but once several teams starting bidding on him, it is hard to say that the Twins can manipulate a market that has undervalued his skill set. In other words, I’m glad to see them back out on this one. So where do we go from here? Hank Blalock’s name has been kicked around for a few weeks, but I seriously doubt that Ryan will panic and give up Liriano or Baker for someone hits like Neifi Perez outside of Arlington. Another possibility is Joe Crede, a good fielder who is young but has plenty of limitations as a hitter. Additionally, acquiring Crede involves the obstacle of getting him out of Chicago, as he remains under contract. The Sox are reportedly dissatisfied with him, and thusly pursuing Mueller. If they get Mueller (big if), it could mean they trade Crede or non-tender him later in the off-season, although I assume Kenny Williams would try to get him out of the division. Mike Lowell is another possibility mentioned by the Strib, and he would likely cost Romero and Ford. Lowell, ugh, I’m not going into it. Ryan has been astute enough with trades recently that I expect him to have something working behind the scenes, so look for more names to surface in the next few days.

-The Pirates traded Dave Williams to the Reds for Sean Casey, a trade which I thoroughly do not understand on Pittsburgh’s part unless there is a cash payment on the way. Casey is an injury-plagued and aging first baseman without enough power to make him worth his bloated $8.5 million a year contract. Sure, the Pirates have more than enough lefty starters (Perez, Snell, Duke, Burnett, Maholm, Redman), but they should be viewed as resources rather than burdens. Williams is not a star, but Cincy can use a starter who will probably go about 150 innings around league average. My summation is that Pittsburgh thinks they are a lot closer to the playoffs than anyone else does, needing only a little push to get in the race. The worst part may be that his at bats will probably trade off with Craig Wilson’s (Wilson’s has a better career Equivalent Average, .288 to .284). Jim Tracy will have plenty of corner guys, such as Casey, Wilson, Rob Mackowiak and Daryl Ward, and Casey does little more than handcuff their versatility at a massive cost.

-In non-baseball news, I saw a few minutes of the Billboard Music Awards when I was on the treadmill at the gym, and it involved the highest of high comedy: Ashlee Simpson singing live. I didn’t understand why she caught so much hell of lip syncing on SNL, because I had heard her sing live a couple of times before, and she needs the tape. Tonight, she wore some ridiculous and unbecoming black tights thing (I don’t know fashion) and did a duet with an anonymous music-industry generated hip hop quartet. She sort of danced, stuck to two or three notes that don’t make her voice crack and pretended that her conservative Texas Christian upbringing fit in with these heavily commodified black teenagers. She sang a song that had the chorus “I’m talkin’ ‘bout love!” followed by a guitar fill, as if she had never heard “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” by Van Halen, which she was clearly pirating. It’s almost as if she thinks she’s a rock singer but hasn’t ever listened to Van Halen. Actually, that is definitely the case. She’s a terrible singer, not nearly attractive enough to get by on her looks and famous only because of her family and MTV. Maybe I’m exacerbating the problem by writing about it on a baseball website, but it makes me feel better. Here’s to real talent and non-Clear Channel radio.

-On a happier music note, Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs recorded a French hip hop album during the off-season, and Tim Duncan commented in Sports Illustrated that Parker didn’t let him guest star because Parker was afraid that Duncan would show him up with his rap skills. Tim Duncan rapping is one of the funniest music-sports crossovers, right up there with Bernie Williams: jazz guitarist. Some other humorous crossover possibilities? Barry Manilow in the NBA, Sergei Federov appearing on a Wu Tang album or Fat Joe actually playing in the Rucker. If you have any more ideas, put them in the comments for a good time; the possibilities are multiplicitous (not endless, there is a finite number of athletes, musicians, sports and music styles). Personally, I’m waiting on Ashlee Simpson to try her hand at heavyweight boxing (Kidding- I don't want to see anyone get hurt. Public humiliation will do nicely).