I missed you all last week. Big thanks to Chip Buck for capably filling in on his old beat. I was on a business trip in Indianapolis. It is nice, clean city, in a good location, with a beautiful convention center, and good eat in the city. But, man are they sensitive about their Colts. Then again, I could have gone without Facebooking a picture of their football field (named after dirty oil money) suggesting that the Patriots held the deed to the place.
Live and learn.
Anyway, on to Cafardo’s weekly Sunday baseball notes, which provide increasing absurdity. To some degree, I appreciate his “work” here better than in the mailbag, because he chooses the topics and they are still insane conclusions. Check out what I am talking about:
1. Ryan Sweeney has hit four homers for the Cubs.
Just in case you were wondering, you know, how many home runs Ryan Sweeney has hit for the Cubs. At least this is the end of Cafardo’s obessesion with players who were bad to mediocre during the franchise’s worst season of my lifetime.
2. Mauro Gomez leads the minors with 24 homers for Triple A Buffalo. Why can’t the Red Sox get a player like this?
Oh.
I’m not sure what to say here. Did he taunt Pete Abraham with this? Pete! Your obsession with Jackie Bradley, Jr. cost the Pawtucket Red Sox a chance to have 24 home runs out of their first baseman!
Does Cafardo also know that Gomez hit better last year (.310, .371, .589) than this year (.252, .327, .580)? Does he think that a player with a paltry ,327 OBP in AAA could help the team with the best record in the American League? Does he understand the concept of the Quadruple A player?
If he does not understand any of those arguments, how about this one…if Gomez is so useful for a MLB team this year, why haven’t his parent club, the underachieving Blue Jays, called him up this year?
He is just trolling. There is NO story here.
3. So what do you think, is Jeff Kent a Hall of Famer? Starting to make my case that he is.
Many people have made this argument. Google “Jeff Kent Hall of Fame” and you get over 294,000 votes. I’m glad Nick sees a case. Jeff Kent was one of the best hitting 2b in history, even if was a bad ‘Survivor.’
4. Jim Rice and I agree, Wil Myers reminds us of a young Dale Murphy.
Wil Myers is likely going to be a very good player. I still wish he was going to be a very good player in the AL Central, and not the AL East.
I never watched a young Dale Murphy play, so I don’t have any smart comments to make in that regard, except for how unhelpful I think these comparisons are. Let the play of Myers speak for himself, and please do not minimize a great pro like Murphy by
comparing him to a guy who has 2 weeks of big league ball under his belt. Such comparisons do justice to neither.
5. Are the Pirates for real after 20 straight losing seasons? Always hate to stick my neck out like this, but yes, they are. They entered Saturday with the best record in baseball. I know June isn’t over, and the Pirates have broken hearts before, but there’s something there now. Good young veterans, Gerrit Cole, and a good back end to the bullpen.
Nick Cafardo is so bored with your “Ask Nick” questions, that he is now both posing questions to himself, and dignifying them with answers. How much fun would it be to watch Nick Cafardo crawl into his basement cubicle, a la the fired Milton, and ask himself questions and then answer them.
And how epic is the verbless, final, incomplete sentence?
6. Michael Cuddyer would be a good fit for the Yankees, but the Rockies, who looked terrible against the Red Sox and Blue Jays, probably feel they can contend and won’t deal him.
At this point, most everyone would be a good fit for the Yankees. They are terrible. A better question is this: what would be the Yankees motivation to get Cuddyer? Chances are, they would be better served to see out their plan to get under $189m, remove salary, acquire young pieces, and rebuild much the way the Red Sox did.
Even though the Yankees have much pressure via the media and their big market fans, the surely know that they stand little chance, even if they squeak into playoffs. They would be better served to keep their young prospects and begin looking toward 2014 or 2015.
But, yeah, if the Yankees front office decided to go all 1980’s and trade all of their young players for good players at the expense of their future, I am all for that. Their low minors scare me a bit. Let’s break that up…
7. I am curious to see the moves made by Brian Cashman, Ben Cherington, Theo Epstein, and Ruben Amaro Jr. at the trading deadline.
Well, that really makes you stand apart. I am only curious to see what Ned Colletti, Kevin Towers, and Brian Sabean do. That is sure to be high comedy.
I am also interested in Billy Beane, but I also have a bizarre, likely unhealthy man-crush.
8. Does anyone else envision a Red Sox infield of Xander Bogaerts (3B), Jose Iglesias (SS), Dustin Pedroia (2B), and Will Middlebrooks (1B) next season?
Lot’s of people envision that, based on your mailbag. They are wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Middlebrooks has almost zero value as a 1b. Bogaerts is far more likely to develop into a 1b bat, and even that seems like a waste. Middlebrooks will only have value if he can become more than a league average hitter AND remain at 3b. If Bogaerts is the 3b on this team, we need to get WMB right and trade him for valuable parts.
1b remains a significant concern moving forward.
9. Bartolo Colon has 11 wins. He has discovered the fountain of youth.
Or steroids. Blame every rejuvenation or improvement on steroids.
10. Seattle closer Tom Wilhelmsen and Tampa Bay’s Fernando Rodney lead the majors with five blown saves. Twelve are tied with 4, including Andrew Bailey and Jonathan Papelbon.
Man that is a lot of #provencloser in that list.
But seriously, what are we supposed to judge based on this. What is he trying to say. I wish he would not just let something hang out there in the universe like this, and tell us what it is he wants us, the reader, to gain from this. What is the point?
11. The Tigers have good starting pitching and offense, but their defense and bullpen will kill them. They can’t catch much, and that taxes their pitching staff. We’ll see if rookie reliever Bruce Rondon can do the job.
Stream of conscious much? If your argument about the defense taxing pitchers is correct, in itself, then no Bruce Rendon cannot do the job.
12. The Giants are getting destroyed on the road. They were 14-26 heading into Saturday, and have lost seven of 11 road series. They’ve also been swept five times on the road, and since starting 5-2 on the road, they’re 9-24.co
This one comes under the same please finish the thought. It is interesting information, indeed. Strange, in fact. But is there a theory as to why this is? Is there a theory as to how to fix it? Is the fact that they are only 3 games under .500, in spite of this split, encouraging for the second half?
13. The Dodgers are paying Carl Crawford $20 million and the guy just can’t stay healthy.
Injuries! Whining! Big contract! Robert Andino! Hahahahahahaha. We hate Carl Crawford at the Globe. Want to make sure you are paying attention, and that you never forget!
Listen, my take is this: he was awful for us. Brutal. He made me mad at times. But he was legitimately hurt. He came back hurt, last year and played hard. He never was right in Boston, may have even been a poor fit, but I do not think it was an issue of his effort. For that, I can look past all the garbage, and seriously wish we could let the Crawford/Gonzalez era go. I like the team this year. I am impressed by the farm system. Let’s focus on that.