The Sommer Frieze

Remember the post I had up the other day which asked if you would photoshop Pettitte out of the picture should he leave the Yankees now? Apparently Joel Sherman has the same sentiment that I did.

Apparently it’s a hefty pay cut the Yanks were going to give Pettitte. The NY Post today reports that the Yanks offered Andy $10M for 2009, a $6M cut.

Javy Vazquez has supposedly been dealt to the Braves, pending a physical. Going from the White Sox to Atlanta are Vazquez, 12-16, 4.67 last year (ERA+ 98) and reliever Boone Logan (2-3, 5.95, ERA+ 77). Yankee fans will always remember Vazquez for the grand slam he gave up to Johnny Damon in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. Vazquez’s gopher ball, in relief of Kevin Brown, basically sealed the Yanks’ doom that year. Javy is 127-129, 4.32, ERA+ 105 for his career. Ironically, 2004 was Vazquez’ only All-Star selection. Who selected him? His own manager, Joe Torre. At the break that year, Javy was 10-5, 3.56. He faded badly in the 2nd half of 2004. How badly? He went 4-5 to finish 14-10, and the ERA jumped to 4.91 (ERA+ 92). He was bad in the postseason, going 5 IP, 5 R in a start vs. the Twins in the ALDS. In the ALCS he got a win, but in his two games he had an ERA of 9.95.

Going to the Windy City are supposed to be Jo-Jo Reyes (23, 3-11, 5.81, ERA+ 73), Brent Lillibridge (24, 21 for 80, 1 HR, 8 RBI) and another prospect.

Interesting to see that Plaxico Burress was suspended for four games by the Giants. Gee. How many games do the Giants have left in their season before the playoffs? Four. Excite me, Giants. Say he is done as a Giant. Say he is suspended for the rest of the season. Say he won’t be in a Giant uniform again. Don’t tell me four games, for if he suits up for the playoffs it makes your suspension meaningless to me.

Update: I now see that the Giants put Burress on the reserve non-football injury list, which means he can’t come back for the playoffs. Good. When I saw four game suspension, I thought “don’t tell me that they’ll bring him back for the playoffs.” So way to go, Giants. I see that whoever the hospital employee was that tried to cover this up got suspended. Equally good.

Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers (for whom the Rogers Centre is named) died today at 75.

January 12 of next year will bring good news to some, as well as a couple of anniversaries. It will be the 40th anniversary of this (right, Tim?):

the 40th anniversary of the release of Led Zeppelin’s debut LP ,

and the HOF vote (the regular ballot as opposed to the Vets Committee).

Topping the ballot, and probably getting in on the first try will be Rickey Henderson. He’d get my vote. The greatest leadoff hitter ever. 2nd in walks, 1st in SB, 1st in runs scored, over 3000 hits. A 127 OPS+. Besides his 1990 MVP, he finished 2nd in 1981 and 3rd in 1985. He was a bit much to take sometimes (I hated that snatch catch of his) and sometimes seemed too lackadaisical, but that number of 1406 SB (130 in one season) just boggles the mind.

There are just 23 people on the ballot. So who may get in besides Rickey? An x notates who I would vote for.

Harold Baines
Jay Bell
Bert Blyleven x
David Cone
Andre Dawson x
Ron Gant
Mark Grace
Rickey Henderson x
Tommy John x
Don Mattingly
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Jesse Orosco
Dave Parker
Dan Plesac
Tim Raines x
Jim Rice x
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell x
Greg Vaughn
Mo Vaughn
Matt Williams

Ok, we can argue forever. A lot of the guys up there are guys I advocated last year. Rice and John are down to their last try. Rice went down at 33 but from 1975-1986 was one of the most feared hitters in the league. 1 mvp, but for me, it is the six top-5 mvp finishes in 12 years that cinches it. Blyleven (287, 3.31 ERA, ERA+ 118, 3701 K) and John (288, 3.34, 110) are so close to 300 wins.

There are a lot of just misses. It’s hard to put someone in who was primarily a DH, so Baines doesn’t get my vote. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of support Edgar Martinez gets in a few years. Mattingly was my favorite, but needed more than six years of dominance and six years of good. He needed more dominance. Cone just misses. Very good, but not HOF. Ironically, Cone’s ERA+ is higher than Blyleven’s or John’s. Maybe if he could have gotten 200 wins, but at 194, Coney comes up short. McGwire has too many skeletons in the closet.

Dale Murphy is A-1 when it comes to character, and was one of seven sports figures honored as “People who Care” Sportspersons of the Year by SI some time ago (I believe Kip Keino and Rory Sparrow were among those seven). The 398 HR and 121 OPS+ are nice, but the .265 average hurts. Back-to-back MVPs might mean something to some voters though. I’ve never been a big Jack Morris supporter. Great postseason performer, and who could forget Game 7 of the 1991 WS? 254 wins, but the 3.90 ERA and an ERA+ of just 105 don’t do it for me.

Raines will get overshadowed by Rickey, and that’s unfortunate. For if Rickey was the best leadoff hitter of all time, Raines is up there. .294, 2600+ hits, 800+ steals, OPS+ 123.

Dave Parker doesn’t quite do it for me. He’s in the Dale Murphy vein. You could make arguments for either, but Mike Francesa has said that if you have to think about whether a guy is a Hall-of-Famer, then he isn’t. I may be too lenient with my picks, as I have chosen seven. As for Lee Smith, saves are sometimes overrated (K-Rod’s 62 this year for example). There are HOF closers, and maybe choosing closers is too subjective, but Lee Smith doesn’t do it for me. He has his supporters, but I’m not one of them. 71-92 is 21 games below .500. I know closers will be around .500, but Smith had one year with an ERA+ of 200 or better (and was 4-10 that year). Mo has had seven of those years.

Which brings me to Trammell. I have always thought that middle infielders have to be graded differently. Against other middle infielders. It wouldn’t be fair to grade Trammell vs. a power-hitting OF or 1B, would it? As far as a SS goes, Trammell had a solid .285, OPS+ 110 (remember, SS, not a 1B or OF…so scale down that 125, 130), 2365 hits. Solid range, solid fielder. Putting him up against other SS, I think he measures up well—esp. when he had Yount and Ripken as his contemporaries.

Feel free to comment and/or give your choices.