Some Baseball links to warm you up on a cold, winter’s morning.
-Rob Neyer kicks around which hats various players should wear in the Hall of Fame. Rob’s always a good read, but here’s the part that really grabbed me. Check out the 2013 list of HOF eligible players:
Piazza last played in 2007, so he’s not Hall-eligible until 2013. Also eligible in 2013: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa. Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa all will lose some votes because of the drug questions but isn’t it possible that Piazza will, too? At least one voter has thrown out some wild accusations, and there’s no telling what else might be thrown out between now and 2013.
Baseball will be forced to face the never-ending steroids question yet again, and will have a very hard time keeping all of those players out. The ones who they can’t prove conclusively like Piazza and Biggio will likely wind up getting in. But the truth will come out eventually, making all of this an even bigger mess than it already is. Chances are, there already are a few players in the HOF who used steroids during their career. Ricky Henderson, who played on those drug-fueled A’s teams of the late 80′s/early 90′s would be one possibility, though no evidence has emerged as of yet.
-Chad Jennings compares tall Righty Andrew Brackman to Randy Johnson. The disappointing thing about Brackman is that when he was drafted, his mechanics were supposed to be smooth and clean. That turned out to not be the case. But Chad cautions patience, and will get no argument from me there. Do you know how old Randy Johnson was when he finally figured out his mechanical issues and got his walks under 100? 29 years old. That’s when he went from being a wild, frustrating pitcher who was tough to hit to becoming ‘The Big Unit’.
-Some jokes never get old. The ‘Randolph Johnstone’ retrospective was a classic, as well.
-Congrats to Mark Melancon, who was married last Saturday in Omaha’s Roseblatt Baseball Stadium. Must have been a big guest list.
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2 Responses to Sunday Morning Links
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TIQ IQ
I think that this qualifies as a “bold prediction;” Andrew Brackman will finish the season as a top 3 Yankee prospect. Last year was BAD. Like, REALLY BAD. However, he remained healthy, and I feel like people either don’t realize or recognize that he was a two sport athlete in college, meaning his development was already behind. Feel/command is the last thing that comes back after a TJ surgery, so it’s not surprising that he was wild. He started out OK, so that stands to reason that as the innings piled up, his “stuff” was getting out of control. Granted the end of the year was out of the pen, but he finished strong without walks, showing he might have figured it all out.
Brackman will finish the year in Double A and post strong numbers. Next year he will start at Triple A and have all the scouts drooling again.
I’m not a s confident, but I certainly agree that people overreacted to his season. This was about staying healthy. His mechanics were never great, and then he had TJ surgery. This is a big year for him, but last year was not a failure, as the goal was to be healthy.