On this date 12 years ago, the Indians signed amateur free agent Jhonny Peralta. The Indians rest today, but Peralta will suit up for their division rivals, the Tigers. Here are today's links…
- Carlos Zambrano, who homered again yesterday, may be more dangerous at the plate than he is on the mound, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. Zambrano has a 6.11 ERA through three starts this year, after pitching well in 2010.
- Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports that the Blue Jays are working to make the most of their minor league talent by adopting a "Major-League centric" approach throughout their system.
- ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick lists the Phillies, Yankees, Orioles and White Sox as some of the teams with the best collection of up-the-middle players (catchers, shortstops, second basemen, center fielders).
- MLBTR's Tim Dierkes told Between the Ravine that if he could cover baseball during any period it would be after the 2000 season, when Alex Rodriguez signed his first free agent deal. Click through to check out Tim's thoughts on the Dodgers.
does anybody else think it would be hilarious (and awesome) if Zambrano went down to the minors to become a position player and came back up as an outfielder? He would be the first pitcher to get a 100mil contract and transition to being a position player.
Zambrano’s career batting splits: .238/.246/.393
Zambrano’s career splits against: .232/.323/.351
Well written and inspiring article by Shi on the Jays. I was getting all excited reading it while thinking about the great future of the jays and the “sure dynasty” AA will bring our fans…. Then I thought, wait, shouldn’t all organizations have a development strategy similar to this? I mean, all teams spend 10s of millions of dollars every year trying to build the best organization they can. Was JPR that bad at running an organization, that our players were confused when learning the game at a higher level?
I think this article shows more about how bad JPR erra was, as oppose to how good the new era is.
Good point
the reds up the middle players are better collectively than half that list how are they not ranked in that top 9?
I also liked how they said the Dodgers couldn’t be counted because Furcal is on the DL… apparently they forgot about their #1 ranked team’s second baseman who is also on the DL by the name of Chase Utley…
For Tigers fans, that decade was the best of times (2006) and the worst of times (2003.)
Zambrano is horrible. Cubs should have let the Yankee’s overpay him.
For that list, they should of used current players PLAYING. Last time I checked Utley was catching batting practice ground balls while sitting in a chair.
The Cubs should just stick him at first base. Who needs Pujols when you can have Big Z?
I was wondering if I was the only one who remembered the first half of the year.
It’s also somewhat inflated by a five-run 6th inning yesterday when his team was already leading by six runs.
Now, obviously that’s not ideal at all. But at the same time, with a six run lead you expect your starting pitchers to stop nibbling and assault the strike zone, and that usually means they give up a few runs. For Zambrano, he turned it off and couldn’t turn it back on. It’s bad, but not as bad as just looking at the box score would lead one to believe.
Not that I’m defending Zambrano or his overall performance so far this year; it’s embarassingly far away from what his salary would demand. I’m simply saying it’s stupid to look at a 6.11 ERA after three starts (all wins) and say maybe a pitcher should become a hitter, even for sportswriters who have to invent things to write about sometimes.
i said half the list not the whole list
Probably you and everyone who had Big-Z on his or her fantasy baseball team.
-wtk