11/19/2007 2:05:28 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

DUSTIN PEDROIA WINS 2007 AMERICAN LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD

FROM BASEBALL WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

BOSTON, MA—Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been selected as the 2007 American League Rookie of the Year, it was announced today by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Pedroia received 24 of the 28 first place votes in balloting conducted by two writers from each of the 14 American League cities. He also received four second place votes and 132 total points and was the only player named on all 28 ballots. Outfielder Delmon Young of Tampa Bay was second with 56 points (3 1sts, 12 2nds, 5 3rds) with Kansas City pitcher Brian Bannister third with 36 points (1 1^st, 8 2nds, 7 3rds). Boston righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka finished fourth with two seconds and six thirds for 12 points while lefthander Hideki Okajima received three third place votes

And all that with a broken hand.

What a @#$% badass.

Big congrats to Pedroia, Dice-K, and Okajeemer.

How about another one next year?

11/12/2007 2:23:57 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

First of all, big ups to Yooooooook for being the only Red Sox first baseman to snag a Gold Glove since Boomer and “Black Beauty” won three of ‘em between 1967 and 1971.

A season with zero errors at the position deserves such an accolade.

But it’s this writer’s opinion that probably-soon-to-be-departed Coco Crisp got the proverbial shaft. A .998 fielding percentage with one measly error? C’mon, guys! What’s a dude gotta do? He outclassed every winner but Ichiro (who he tied) in both those categories.

He's made a lot of Web Gem-worth catches for this team. But this one will always be my favorite.

Over on SoSH, statistical savant Eric Van indulges in a bit of subjective recall...

I think video analysis would reveal that every highlight catch Grady Sizemore made this year would be made by Coco with ease and that Sizemore doesn't catch any of Coco's highlight catches.

But then again, Coco doesn’t hit like Sizemore.

Of course, hitting should not even enter the equation. But them’s the breaks.

At least Jeter didn’t win.

Meanwhile, there’s the interesting clause in Schilling’s contract that he earns a cool mill for a single Cy Young vote. Something tells me he won’t be getting one from CHB.

But one Gotham blogger raises an interesting potential ethical dilemma.

As an officer in the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, this is very troublesome to me....

Your one vote gets him $1 million. What is keeping some writer from saying, “Hey, Curt, I’ll vote for you. I want $500,000... What’s keeping Schilling from agreeing to the deal?

Um, lots of things. First of all, for all his faults, he just doesn’t seem like the type: simply by signing this contract, he’s already shown that money is not paramount to him. And anyone who’s read his posts on Sons of Sam Horn knows the weight he professes to place on setting the right example for his children.

But let’s look at it from the perspective of the reporter. Can you think of a worse athlete to pull that shit with than Curt Schilling? The guys’ got a mouth bigger than the Grand Canyon.

As one SoSHer puts it: “the real disincentive against a writer trying to wrangle a kickback from Schilling in exchange for a Cy vote is Schilling telling him to *&^% right off and then posting such info on his blog. The writer would be risking his career."

One peril of such a deal, however, pointed out by another member of the board, is that the Sox could find themselves paying out a million bucks even if Schilling submits something less than a Cy Young season.

“It wouldn't surprise me if some NY idiot with an axe to grind against the Sox thought it would be funny to give him a vote after he spent 2/3 of the season on the DL. I mean if you had a vote and Carl Pavano had such a clause...well it would be pretty tempting, wouldn't it?”

Ha!

Finally, about this six-man rotation idea...

Not a fan. Use Wakefield and/or Tavarez to spell anyone who needs it, whenever it’s needed. And no doubt, Gehrig 38, Dice-K, Lester, and Buchholz will probably all need a rest at some point during that long six-month grind.

But to formalize it like that depends on too much going right, and leaves you with little insurance policy if things should go wrong.

Plus, it takes innings away from Beckett. And we don’t want that, do we?

11/7/2007 2:06:33 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

11/6/2007 2:59:21 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

This is looking good.

EDIT: It's official.

Welcome back, big guy. $8 million, with five more in performance bonuses and “weight clauses.” I think that's fair. And Schilling has gone on record saying he intends to "show up in the best shape of my life, work my ass off in [spring training] to make sure no kid gloves are needed ... shock the shit out of people, win a 4th ring, beat Josh in the CY voting by 1 ... and Lord willing walk away healthy."

Sounds like a plan.

We’re gonna need six starters next season, and it would’ve be really silly to let the guy walk away over a few million. He can still pitch. It's a good price. And he loves to talk, which, on balance, is a good thing, especially when it comes to tutoring the Lesters and Buchholzes of the team. And should we make it to the post-season again — and I damn well expect to — there’s no one besides Beckett I’d rather have on the mound.

And now let’s get Tito the raise he so richly deserves.

One potential stumbling block, however: might there be language in his contract voiding the deal if he loses a bet to his boss?

I seem to remember him making a little wager with Lucchino at the beginning of the season that he could quit chewing tobacco.

Well, the fact that his used wad of bubblegum and chaw is showing up on eBay would suggest he didn’t keep up his end of the bargain.

Two questions: a) how does anyone get ahold of such a thing? b) how in the hell is bidding already up to $100? Yikes.

In other news....

I got an e-mail the other day from a guy who’d uploaded a cell phone video to YouTube of Papelbon throwing the last pitch of the World Series. It was taped off of his TV screen. And it was about 15 seconds long — eight of which, he wrote, “were of my roommate and I celebrating.”

So it’s safe to say he was a bit nonplussed when he got an e-mail from YouTube notifying him that “we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by MLB Advanced Media claiming that this material is infringing.”

As the fan wrote, with great understatement, “this seems a little extreme.”

So, with the caveat that these clips probably won’t be up for very long, here are Manny on Leno and Big Papi on Conan in case you missed them  Friday night. Both are great. Manny, in particular, is amazing. He really does himself a disservice by not doing more interviews. Everyone knows that Ortiz is loveable guy. Too few people realize how funny and charming our cleanup hitter is.

 

11/6/2007 12:38:05 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [4] |  

11/2/2007 1:31:38 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |