On this date 20 years ago, a 26-year-old Barry Bonds took home his first National League MVP Award thanks to a .301/.406/.565 season with the Pirates. He went on to win the award again in 1992, his final season in Pittsburgh, and then five more times with the Giants. The latter part of Bonds' career was clouded by PED allegations, but he did hit .301/.424/.566 in his final three seasons with the Pirates and .305/.438/.600 with far more unintentional walks (825) than strikeouts (685) from 1990-1998, age 26-34. Barry could have retired at that point and waltzed into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
Here's a look at the best the baseball blogosphere had to offer this week…
- We Should Be GMs celebrates Omar Vizquel, the last remaining active player from the 1980's.
- Capitol Avenue Club wonders what's next for the Braves following the Dan Uggla trade.
- Pittsburgh Lumber Co. contemplates Jorge de la Rosa.
- Meanwhile, Pine Tar And Pocket Protectors pieces together Pittsburgh's 2011 rotation.
- Baseball Analysts looks at Japanese pitchers and the hot stove.
- Crashburn Alley says that right now is a prime opportunity for the Phillies to sign Jimmy Rollins to a contract extension.
- Fenway Faithful Reports thinks that Victor Martinez is destined to sign with the Tigers.
- Splashing Pumpkins breaks down some shortstop options for the Giants.
- Baseball Time In Arlington explains the regression that the Rangers could experience.
- FanSpeak believes the Nationals should go all-in to acquire Justin Upton.
- Boston Sports Pulse provides a blueprint for the Red Sox offseason.
- Phoul Ballz looks at Matt Rizzotti, a Phillies' farmhand that will be eligible for this year's Rule 5 Draft.
- The Sports Banter finds some interesting minor league free agents.
- Cubs Billy Goat Blog lists some minor moves that could have a big impact on the Cubs.
- SPANdemonium muses about why teams have to wait a year before trading drafted players.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
Frank Wren has already stated that Uggla was the “big RHB they have been looking for”, so the Braves will probably remain quiet for the rest of this off-season. However, Frank Wren does a good job of quietly making deals, should be an interesting off-season for sure…
Goodness the website is buggy today – can barely be used at all – might need to cut back on those video ads for the sake of actual functionality
Yep some script from contextweb is killing the site, at least with FireFox
Google Chrome will change your life.
-wtk
Or AdBlock Plus with Firefox. Chrome is painfully slow for me every time I try to use it. AdBlock Plus is a better way to go. Personal opinion.
it works fine for me today but yesterday was terrible
2012 Nationals Outfield?
Upton / Upton / Harper?
Zimmerman at 3B…still need a few more pieces…but who knows…
I’m actually writing another piece about the less likely chance of acquiring B.J. Upton. Rays might not want to move him but I think it is possible
Yeah, this site has become literally unusable today.
Also “Splashing Pumpkins” how unoriginal, at least try and use one of the Smashing Pumpkins songs as the title of your blog.
ya its really true, everytime i open a page my entire computer freezes for like 2 minutes , some stupid script
Ugh, dumb move IMO to leave Rizzotti unprotected. He’s got his limitations, but the bat has value. He’d be a good 2nd tier trade-piece.
Yeah I don’t think the Phils will leave him unprotected, he would easily be one of the top 3 players to go. I know some of the industry guys don’t love him, but I think he would have value for a team looking for a cheap 1B option (or a backup plan). Maybe the Phillies make a small trade, that way they don’t have to use up a 40 man spot on a guy who won’t ever see playing time. I think you nailed it with saying a 2nd tier trade piece. The Pirates come to mind as a possible option, maybe the O’s as well.
I can almost guarantee the Pirates will select him with the 1st pick in the rule 5 draft if he is there. With our first base options now, it wont hurt to try. I dont see them trading for him though.
I could see a small trade, some bullpen arm or some young kid with potential (not a star , but someone with some upside). Still might be worth it for the Bucs. Cheap way to fix 1B, which will allow them to focus their money on FA pitching.
They added him to the 40 man, only way he will move now is through a trade
well it makes sense, he might not ever be a frontline 1B but he can help a few teams. I do wonder what exact price the Phils have on him.
I agree, he has good enough trade value right now to package in a deal come the trading deadline, or even next offseason.
According to Todd Zolecki, the Phillies have added Matt Rizzotti (along with Justin De Fratus, Freddy Galvis, Cesar Hernandez and Harold Garcia) to the 40-man roster. All are protected.
I can understand extending Rollins while his value is lower to get a nice deal however, if I were the Phils I would rather be certain he is healthy first.
Did you read the article?
SPAN really needs to check his work. The opening paragraph:
“I think it’s pretty fair to say that most of the teams in Baseball who had good drafts in ’10, had pretty lousy minor league systems before the Amateur draft in early june. That also tells us, all of these good prospects that good added to many systems in ’10, are obviously inelgible to be traded which has hurt the chances of most teams wishes to acquire some of Baseball’s most compelling trade candidates. For example,”
— No comma needed between ’10 and had
— june not capitalized
— “good” was used instead of “got” (or at least that’s what I’m assuming is supposed to be there)
— “That also tells us, all of these good prospects that good added to many systems in ’10, are obviously inelgible to be traded which has hurt the chances of most teams wishes to acquire some of Baseball’s most compelling trade candidates.” is one huge run-on sentence with a couple other mistakes.
— “For example,” should be “For Example:”
I’m not normally a grammar nazi – I’ve made more than my fair share of typos while responding to comments. However, if you are going to write a blog (as opposed to commenting on someone else’s blog) and have it linked to from a site like MLBTradeRumors, you need to have basic grammar down. Just some friendly advice. People are not going to bother to read the rest of your analysis (regardless of how good it might be) if the first paragraph is poorly written. A reasonable assumption is that the author is either lazy, too young to contribute meaningfully in the dialog, or that they simply don’t know what they are talking about. I don’t think that is the case with SPAN. While young, he can contribute meaningful information. He just needs to work on the presentation.
Thanks for the advice and I’ll look to take my time and use better grammar/puncuation next time. Just trying to my hardest.
best thing to do, is write it and then walk away from it… come back to it and edit it. When its fresh in your mind your brain doesn’t recognize mistakes because you hear your own voice going along.. If you take a break from it, even just one day, you’ll be able to be a much better proof reader for yourself..go get em span
Gotcha. Always thanks to you Wally/Jamario Moonraker
I did think your post was very interesting SPAN, and I really hope that soon this waiting period on trading draft picks will be done away with. While they are at it, I hope they institute the trading of picks before and during the draft as well. That way if a smaller market team doesn’t want to pay a big bonus (i.e. Pirates and Sanchez) they can trade back, get extra picks and still get the player they want.
Oh how I would LOVE v-mart! Also, I’m having zero problems with the site today. Using Firefox with ABP on all the ad’s
Rizz was added to the Phillies 40-man, damnit!
Seriously, why provide links to things spandemonium writes? Doesn’t he comment on this blog enough? Nobody needs to hear any more.
he loves baseball, he loves writing, he loves commenting. so, to answer your questions
1) because he has great stories
2) enough is never enough
3) you can never get enough span man
Thank you and your welcome!
it’s “you’re welcome” because your is possessive. you’re is used when you want to say you are. span, i appreciate your comments. keep it up.
Gosh I’m a horrible writer haha! Thanks dude!
I think it would be awesome if the Giants traded for Jed Lowrie, although the chances seem very slim. Uribe might actually be a little expensive. And knowing the Giants’ past trades and signings, I’m afraid the Giants will overpay for Uribe if he is to return. He probably won’t post the same numbers next season… PLEASE PUSH FOR LOWRIE!!!
my fav barry bonds stat- 2004 232bb/ 41k