The "Boy Wonder"

This (past) Thanksgiving (2011) there is plenty to be thankful for. Here at Baseball Reflections we talk about baseball and usually the world baseball fans live in is a bit different from what else is going on in the world or in our lives. Yet for some of us, baseball is our lives… it’s our pastime. And when it comes to being a fan of the San Diego Padres there are some holes… gaps that need to be answered. I guess fans will have to wait and see what the off-season moves will bring and how thankful we’ll actually be. It reminds me of so many years in the past. In the history of the Padres I can think of a handful of times when Padres fans were pretty excited about the coming year.

In 1968 San Diegans were excited to have landed a Major League Baseball team for the 1969 season. In 1983 the franchise built a team that made its first trip to the World Series the following year and in 1997 they did the same for their second trip to the Fall Classic. Then in 2003 it was preparing for a move into a new ballpark. Yes, there have been some surprises along the way, the most recent being the off-season of 2008. Not many people picked the Padres to have the success they had in 2009. What made that season exciting was the fact there was a young General Manager in Jed Hoyer, who got productivity from a group of young talent. The 2011 season saw the Padres finish with a 71-91 record and the departure of Hoyer, whom I referred to in 2008 as the “Boy Wonder”.

The “Boy Wonder”, has wandered off to Chicago. I am the type of fan who gets over things very quickly when it comes to sports, yet seeing Hoyer leave had a lasting taste of bitterness. I wanted to see him succeed here, more than just what he did in 2009. Now I’ll never know. I understand why he left, bigger opportunities with bigger results. Hoyer has a chance to be part of something very unique. To be part of what the Boston Red Sox did in 2004 and what is possible in Chicago.

Fans are also left with the fact that the team declined to pick up the option of Aaron Harang (14-7/3.64) and as of right now there are questions whether or not fan favorite and All-Star Heath Bell will be back as the team’s closer. They decided not to trade him. Since they did not trade him, now he’s going to walk and the team doesn’t get what they potentially could have gotten for him during the trading deadline last season! Heath Bell wants to stay in San Diego, he loves the community, and he loves the Padres.

I don’t want to take anything away from the team’s new General Manager Josh Byrnes, he has a window of opportunity here and I eagerly anticipate what will happen. So for now, this is what I am grateful for this Thanksgiving when it comes to the Padres.

New uniforms! Yes the team will fashion new duds in 2012. Really? Team President/Chief Operating Officer Tom Garfinkel said, “We spent a lot of time listening to our fans about the uniforms over the past two years,” said Garfinkel. “What we learned is that, while the current design isn’t loved, there is also a strong feeling that this club has had so many radical changes over the years that we didn’t need another one. With that in mind, our staff worked diligently, reviewing every detail to create a more traditional baseball design that San Diegans can be proud of. The new uniforms and logos focus on the unique elements of Padres history.” My thought is, why change the team’s look if the team is winning… oh yeah. If the team is winning consistently is it necessary to have a new look? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about what we are paying for on the field? What is nice to see (and I am thankful for) is the team’s support of the community, they announced that they would supply 10,000 youth baseball players from four local Little League districts, Padres jerseys for the upcoming season as part of the club’s ongoing effort to support youth baseball. As part of this program, the teams representing Little League districts throughout San Diego County will have their choice of selecting one style of uniform worn from throughout Padres history to wear during the 2012 youth baseball season.

There is more to be thankful for, such as former Major Leaguer and Padre Phil Plantier being named as the team’s new hitting coach and the signing of veteran outfielder Mark Kotsay. Plantier had success as the team’s California League manager this past season. He took over the team midway through the season and helped lead them to a championship; he takes over for Randy Ready who was fired following the Padres season. I’m excited to see how Plantier handles the challenge he has for the coming season. Kotsay will add veteran leadership off the bench and help some of the younger talent on the team. And lastly, I am thankful for the team announcing their spring training schedule; I can always get excited about a new season of baseball.

Once upon a time, there was a baseball team.

This baseball team wasn’t the richest team, though it wasn’t poor by any means.  It wasn’t the strongest team and it wasn’t by any means the fastest team.  It wasn’t even considered the best team within its region, much less in all the land.

This team had many players that made up its merry band.  It had the Warrior, who could battle teams with amazing firepower and also could undermine them with guts and guile, depending on the situation.  It had the Young Gun, a man who started building his legend early and then continued to develop it.

There was the Legend, one known far and wide as the most intimidating, the most amazing, the most everything of players.  Aiding the Legend was the Hired Hand, imported indirectly from the mountain tribes to help the Legend in his times of trial.  To go along with these two was the Rival, a man that had started out as a fierce member of an opposing tribe, only to become a trusted member of this team.

There were others, of course.  The Local, the Phenom, the Lefty, the Poet, the Gunslinger, the Finisher.  All sorts of names and characters made up this unique team.

Every year, the Lords of Baseball held a contest in the fall of the year, when the leaves were changing and the north winds began to blow.  This contest was to see just which team would be able to hold the title of Best Team and feast on the adoration of those that followed these brave and intrepid men.  Teams came from far and wide, down long and winding roads, to get to the tournament, well knowing that only eight of them would be allowed inside the gates once they arrived at their destination.

After a winter of rest, the members of this team gathered together in the warmth of the south to practice their talents and prepare themselves for the long road ahead.  They had barely begun to do this when tragedy struck the group.  The Young Gun, the one expected to lead the charge over the walls to get them into this vaunted tournament, would not be making the trip.  Prior battles had wounded him, and he would not be able to go on.  The team mourned their loss and regretted that their road had gotten that much rougher.

Still, this club, these men, they knew they had to press on.  There are no easy roads to the Lair of the Lords and while the team knew that the bumps and twists and turns would be tougher this year without their key member, they also knew that if they did not attempt the journey, they had no chance of reaping the reward.  And so they set off.

In this land, teams in a region tended to walk the road together.  Our heroes walked with beermakers and buccaneers, with spacemen and socialists and even a band of bear-like warriors.  These teams had walked together many a time before and knew each other well.  That did not mean they liked each other, as tempers would flare before this journey would be completed.

The team faced many battles and were not always successful.  They would often seem to be leading a fight, only to have the Poet or the Finisher be unable to seal the deal.  They would set a team up for a killing blow, only to see the Legend or the Hired Hand take out a couple of their own men, missing the opportunity to sway a battle to their advantage.

Even with these issues, though, the team was able to stride the road at a rapid pace.  Soon they left behind the spacemen and the bear-men.  While it was only one full turn of the calendar ago when they had had such battles with the socialists that the woods had reverberated with song, this season our friends pulled ahead of them as well.

As the teams were about halfway down the road, the buccaneers, the beermakers, and our favorites were walking three abreast.  It seemed like the last half of the road was going to be interesting, as it narrowed down through the mountains to push one team ahead of the others.

Watching the team, the Overseer was uncertain that this group would be the one that would make it through the gap.  Using a runner, he contacted another group, a band of bird men that were walking a different road and were well behind on their path, and suggested a meeting.  The Overseer met with his opposite number and, after discussions, an exchange was worked out.

The Phenom was sent up the mighty river to the bird men, hoping that he could learn their ways and become a legend in his own right for them, helping them overtake the northmen and the bean eaters in another journey.  The bird men, for their part, sent over the Traveler, the Gamer, and the Old Man to see if they couldn’t shore up the team’s defenses and help them gain time on the road.

Those that were following the teams on the side of the road, those that waved their banners and played the trumpets for the squads when they did battle, were not amused.  This rearguard of watchers complained about how much they liked the Phenom, how much they thought he could help this team in years to come.  Could this Traveler, who flitted from tribe to tribe, help as much?  Wasn’t the Old Man someone that had already fought his best battles? Could this Gamer really be what the team was looking for?

The Overseer heard all of these complaints.  He heard them louder when, as the buccaneers stumbled, the beermakers pulled ahead, outdistancing our team as they could only catch a glimpse of their backs in the setting sun.  The road was getting shorter, much shorter, and it looked inevitable that our heroes were not going to be getting through the gap first.

There were six different roads to the fall tournament and every one of them had such a mountain gap.  The Lords had decreed that whichever team made it through the gap first were eligible for the tourney, but they had left one lifeline for those that might have been trailing behind.

The paths ran in two groups of three.  The first team outside of the winners to come out of each group was also allowed into the tournament.  All others, though, were left outside for the cold winter, forced to trudge back to their homes as the snows began.

So, with just one sixth of the road left and the beermakers out of sight, the Warrior asked that the tribe circle around him.

“Men,” he said, “it’s very possible that our quest has failed.  It could be that we will have to brave the snows to return to our loved ones, having no chance to drink from the Lords’ cup.  I tell you this, though.  As long as there is an open slot in this tournament, I intend to battle like never before.  I will treat each battle that comes our way as if it is the last battle we have to fight to get into the Lair of the Lords.  I will wake each day with the determination that, this day, we will see those walls and know that we are entering them.  What say you, my friends?  Shall we fight?”

The roar reverberated through the mountains, down all the roads, including one where another tribe, those of men native to that land, walked.  These men were also trailing in their path, well behind those who took their fill, but they felt confident that they would beat anyone else through the gaps.  When they heard that roar, though, they realized that things were not over.

And so the race began.  The natives stumbled.  Our heroes did not.  Every day the gap between the two closed.  Our men could see them now, see the natives on their road across the way, continuing to lose their battles and being forced farther from the mountain gap.  Every day our heroes continued to press on to their goal with determination and sure-footed speed.

Finally, the last steps of the road were in sight.  The weather was changing–cool breezes blew through the trees and the first leaves were falling to the ground.  The Warrior stepped in front of the tribe and said, “Today, we get into that tournament.  I will lead you.”

The Local stood up and said, “No, today we will lead you.  Save your strength.”

The Warrior responded, “I do not know how to do that.  We will fight together.”

And so the battle was joined.  The Warrior was brilliant, allowing no slings and arrows to get past.  The Local, the Legend, and more from the tribe poured on the boiling oil, dominating the last battle.  Would it be enough?  Could they finish off this last step of the amazing journey?

They looked from afar and watched.  The natives fought well against those of the fill.  They fought long and hard.  But in the end, they fell, and our heroes slid into the last slot of the Lords’ Tournament.

Inside the walls of the Lair of the Lords, the tribe looked around.  They noticed that there were some strong tribes here.  The filled ones, the snakes and the beermakers would be their first priority.  They would worry about the tribes from the distant lands soon enough.

They squared off against the filled ones first.  They took a strong blow when the Slugger of the filled ones blasted the arrow of the Crow Eater, giving them their battle.  Then, the Warrior tried to go again, but he went too soon and the tribe was on their back, with the filled ones looking to place a mortal blow.

The tribe remembered the Warrior’s speech, though, and they refused to take that blow.  They battled back, turning the tide and taking a battle that was thought to be unwinnable.  The teams exchanged victories in the next battles, setting up one climactic duel between the Warrior and the Ace.

Our heroes quickly got ahead in the battle.  Not much, just a small edge.  That was all they needed, though.  The Warrior turned back onslaughts, fought off battlers, and even though the Ace did the same, that one chink in the armor proved to be fatal.  The filled ones were filled with defeat, and our heroes moved on.

The next battle, as expected, took place against the beermakers.  These two teams knew each other well, having fought many times over the years.  The beermakers got to the Lefty early, but our team bludgeoned them in the second match and eked out a win for the Warrior in the third.  While the beermakers tried to rally and were able to take another engagement, this tribe was too much for them this time.  The beermakers were shown the door, with the Jester fully cowed.

The tribe looked around.  There was only one group left.  The lawmen were tough, focused and more than a match for our men.  The teams went back and forth, with one team winning a battle, then another.

Finally, after five such matches, it looked like the lawmen had finally done it.  They were ahead in the decisive battle.  There was nothing this team could do.  It was over.

Until the Local stood up and said, “No.  No it is not.”

He grabbed that last incoming arrow, turned it around, and plunged it into the lawmen.  The lawmen screamed, but then threw another mortal bolt into the tribe.  Surely, surely, this was the end of the line.

Until the Rival stood up and said, “No.  No it is not.”

He turned the last incoming shot around, putting the teams back on equal footing.  This was the epitome of the Warrior’s call.  If there was to be a battle lost, it would not be lost with any breath, any ounce of strength left in this band of brothers.

And then the Local said, “There will be no losing today.”

His bolt knocked the lawmen into the soft grass.  The battle had been one and that meant there was just one more battle to be fought.

The lawmen did give it their best.  They jumped on our heroes early and looked poised to finally do what no one else could do.  Again, though, they did not anticipate the Local, who quickly put things back even.  After that, it was a matter of time.  The team wore down the lawmen, made them to make mistakes and, at the end of the match, at the end of these epic battles, these battles they had been fighting for months on end and the battles that had pushed them to the edge of defeat time and time again, at the end of all of that, this team was still standing.

The Lords of Baseball awarded their cup.  The tribe drank in the adoration.

And they lived happily, so very happily, ever after.

The World Series that very few folks outside of Missouri and Texas wanted to see turned out to be incredibly entertaining. Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers on an outstanding Series and season.

The most memorable moment for me was seeing both, the exhilaration and anticipation on the face of MVP David Freese as he approached home plate after his 11th inning walk off homer to win game six.

If you wondered if Albert Pujols‘ comments all year about not paying attention to his pending free agency were sincere, or that all he cared about was his team’s success were legit, the look on his face for most of the Series left no doubt. He resembled a starving lion in the jungle who was not going to be denied the kill he most wanted. He got it and no one deserves it more than he. He is a tremendous player and person.

However, Pujols may have remained hungry had it not been for the demise of the Rangers’ bullpen. The seven relievers had a combined WHIP of a whopping 2.33 after the same pitchers posted a 1.15 WHIP during the regular season. This does not include starters Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson who each had one relief appearance in the Series.

These same seven walked 41 while striking out 47 in the Series, for a K to BB ratio of 0.60 to 1. During the season their K to BB ratio was an outstanding 2.79 to 1.

These two stats clearly tell the story as to the deciding factor in the Series.

It was evident the Rangers’ relievers were not versed on the 7 reasons why any athlete lacks consistency. If they were, you would have seen stats put up in the World Series similar to the regular season.

Buddy Biancalana
Co-author, The 7 Secrets of World Class Athletes
www.zonetraining.net

“These guys have discovered something in all sports that is going to have a huge impact wherever it is taught.”  George Brett, Baseball Hall of Fame

Image taken from Google Images

Let me make this clear. I love baseball. As a kid growing up the other sports seasons started when baseball ended. If there was no game seven of the World Series, whatever the date the last game of the series was to be played was the end of the baseball season. Yes, I watched the Super Bowls, the Rose Bowls, the NBA Finals, boxing but it was only filler until baseball started all over again. Then I landed the ultimate sports fans job… working at an all sports radio station. That’s when I saw sports evolve into a year round business… and if I wanted to keep my job I needed to know what was going on 24/7 in the sports world. My main beat was covering the San Diego Padres, the team I grew up following.

Image via Wikipedia

I covered the Padres for nearly twenty years until things changed for me professionally a couple of years ago. Not that I wasn’t that true baseball fan or Padres fan during those years covering the MLB, somewhere along the way I started to see the game differently. Traditions of the game started to change and at times I felt I had to help sell the direction of the game whether I wanted to see it change or not. There were players I enjoyed seeing play day in and day out and experienced some of the funniest things and not so funniest things. It was a great job! Knowing my last day covering the MLB was inevitable, I wondered how life was going to be, well post MLB job? I think those closest to me wondered the same thing. The following season I sat in the stands on opening day and watched the game as a fan (in the stands) for the first time in nearly twenty years. I had a beer, hot dog, popcorn (not necessarily in that order) sat next to my wife and being a fan came without a hitch. A bit different from what I was use to, but very relaxing and enjoyable. Three years removed from my days covering the team, things are quite normal, now we have a daughter to pass the game on to.

With the curtains almost drawn on another season, I’m prepared for whatever the sports world wants to throw my way; ultimately I am waiting for next year. Which leads me to what was going through my mind as I saw the Milwaukee Brewers play-off run end on Sunday.

I was watching the game with family and friends and as the camera panned its lens around the ballpark you could see the different emotions on the faces of the Brewers fans. I said aloud to those near me, “At least those fans saw there season go as long as it did… for Padres fans our season ended sometime in late May”. Yet, that didn’t stop me from going to the ballpark… I was there until the third to last game of the 2011 campaign… assessing the team and what is to come in 2012.

Image by SD Dirk via Flickr

As the season came to a close, I couldn’t help but look at the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a glimmer of hope. I can see it. A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to chat with a friend of mine, Randy Johnson. Johnson, formally a special assistant to Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, is now the Padres field coordinator. Not only does he run spring training he also has the task of making sure the team’s organization is following through with its game plan. I complimented him on the success the team’s minor league system had and he shed more light in my direction. Johnson reminded me how unprecedented it could have been. Four of the seven minor league teams were in the play-offs. Two of them won championships. They could have had five or six league MVP’s if guys had stayed put, but with the big league club bringing up their young they eventually produced the Midwest League MVP Rymer Liriano (.319/62/12). Two names that fans became familiar with that shined below and had a taste of the big leagues were Anthony Rizzo and James Darnell. Jedd Gyorko, Cory Spangenberg, Alberth Martinez and Yoan Alacantra were names that shed bioluminescence bouncing from one team or another through the system this past season.

Yes, these young players have a lot to prove at the sports highest level, but for now I have no reason to dim the light at the end of the tunnel. Wait til next season!

Image taken from Google Images

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

While both National League Divisional Series will be going to a decisive Game 5 tonight, the Tigers and Rangers have each earned a berth to their league’s Championship Series. We’ll take a look at how these two teams match up to try to determine which club will represent the AL in the World Series.

Offense

Each of these clubs featured one of the more prolific offenses in the AL. The Rangers scored the third most runs of any AL team over the course of the season, while the Tigers scored the fourth most. However, the gap between them is larger than that statistic might indicate. The Rangers were the only team that was able to keep up with the big-money clubs in New York and Boston, as their 855 runs were only 20 behind the league-leading Sox. After the Rangers, there’s a large gap, as the Tigers scored 787 runs to finish fourth in the league. Advanced statistics suggest the gap between the teams’ offenses is a little smaller, as the Rangers’ wRC+ of 113 outpaced the Tigers by only 4%.

The Rangers’ offense got big production from some surprising places this year, while several of the players who carried the team to last season’s World Series have taken a step back. The team’s leader in offensive value was catcher Mike Napoli. Napoli spent 2010 splitting time behind the plate in Anaheim with Jeff Mathis. This offseason, Napoli momentarily went to the Blue Jays in exchange for Vernon Wells, although the deal was more about losing Wells’ massive contract and less about actually acquiring Napoli from the Jays’ perspective. Napoli was sent packing once again almost immediately, this time in exchange for closer Frank Francisco. Napoli has taken advantage of his new opportunity in Texas, putting up a 5.6 WAR in only 113 games through an impressive 178 wRC+. Napoli hit 30 home runs in 432 plate appearances during the regular season. The next lowest PA total for a 30-homer hitter was 525, nearly 100 chances more than Napoli. So, if you picked Napoli to lead the AL in slugging this year, well… I don’t believe you.

I discussed Ian Kinsler in my AL MVP post, but he deserves another mention, as he’s been incredibly valuable on both sides of the ball and had the most prolific offensive year of his career by a long shot. His 7.7 WAR was the best mark on the club. Adrian Beltre’s 5.7 WAR led the team’s position players other than Kinsler, and his 134 wRC+ was second only to Napoli. In his first season in Texas, Beltre earned the first installment of his big multiyear deal signed last offseason and then some, putting up big offensive numbers and playing the premium defense at the hot corner we’ve come to expect from him. It’s rare that 4.2 WAR is considered a letdown, but Josh Hamilton produced less than half as much this season as his MVP campaign in 2010. While his numbers may not make him an MVP candidate again this year, he’s certainly a dangerous hitter. After a season of unrest between Michael Young and his front office that ended with him requesting a trade, Young gave the Rangers some serious reasons to retain him. Young gave the team positional flexibility and another big bat in their deep, potent lineup. The Rangers were the only team in baseball with five players who produced 20 or more runs above average on offense, and that’s not even counting Nelson Cruz, who had a big down year after a breakout 2010.

While the Rangers do have a better lineup, the Tigers aren’t exactly slouches. Led by Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers have a number of big bats in the middle of their lineup. Alex Avila’s breakout season was interrupted by a deep slump down the stretch and during the divisional series. The Tigers will have to hope he can bounce back during this series and continue to cement himself as one of the best catchers in baseball. Victor Martinez, acquired last offseason to protect Cabrera, has been effective in that role, as his 130 wRC+ this season tied a career high. Delmon Young, acquired on a waiver trade, has been a force in Detroit’s lineup over the final stretch of the team’s regular season, and then set a franchise record with three ALDS home runs. However, he left Game 5 with an oblique strain after his first inning home run. If the injury is significant, Young could be done for the postseason. The Tigers will be hoping it’s only a minor strain. Then there’s Jhonny Peralta who led all AL shortstops with 120 wRC+. Peralta put up a career-high 5.2 WAR in an outstanding season.

Pitching

C.J. Wilson is the clear ace of the Rangers staff. Wilson will hit free agency this season, and it’s been speculated that they’re likely to lose him to another team. Wilson’s 3.29 SIERA was 10th in the AL. He’ll be followed by Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, and Matt Harrison. Holland had something of a breakout this year, putting up 3.6 WAR. He was behind only Neftali Feliz among the Rangers’ top pitching prospects in 2009 before joining the big club, and may be beginning to realize some of that potential. Harrison also had a pretty big breakout campaign, putting up 4.2 WAR in 30 starts after never topping 0.7 in his previous three seasons in the majors. Harrison is one of two Rangers who successfully moved from the bullpen to the rotation this season, as Alexi Ogando’s success as a starter has been a big storyline for this team. Ogando has been moved back to the bullpen for the playoff. He performed admirably throughout the Rangers’ series against the Rays, culminating in a spotless eighth inning of game 4 setting up Neftali Feliz for the series ending save. Ogando and Harrison’s success may pave the way for Feliz to move to the rotation next season, but the Rangers won’t begin to discuss that decision in earnest until the end of their playoff run.

Across the diamond, Justin Verlander put together one of the best seasons from any pitcher in recent memory. His last start of the season gave him a shot at being the first 25 game winner since Bob Welch in 1990. Not much else needs to be said about the Triple Crown winner, other than the fact that the Tigers will pitch him as many times as they possibly can in this series and every time they do he will almost certainly give them a chance to win. Verlander will be followed in the rotation by Rick Porcello, as the Tigers used both Doug Fister and Max Scherzer in their game 5 victory. Porcello and Scherzer are both young guys with big stuff, but who haven’t seen the results to match their potential yet. Both put up 2.7 WAR this season, Fister may end up being the most important acquisition by any team at this year’s trade deadline, although Hunter Pence will certainly give him a run for his money. Fister has produced 5,6 WAR this season, including 2.4 and a 2.63 SIERA in 70.1 innings with Detroit. These starters will hand the ball to the Tigers’ impressive bullpen, led by Jose “Papa Grande” Valverde. Valverde certainly has a tendency to make the ninth inning a bit of an adventure, but he’s 51-for-51 in save opportunities this season after closing out the ALDS in New York.

Home field advantage, which the Rangers clinched over the Tigers on the final day of the season, could be a huge deciding factor in this series. In the bandbox in Arlington, the Rangers’ potent office could take over games and simply out-mash the Tigers. However, in the expansive Comerica Park, the Tigers’ pitching will have a decided advantage. I think the Tigers will win at least two of their three home games, and I will be very surprised if Justin Verlander doesn’t give his team a fairly good chance to win at least one of the games in Arlington. If the Rangers can take the other three games in Arlington, that would likely set up a Verlander vs. Wilson in game 7 in Texas for all the marbles. In a deciding game, with the team on his back, it’s hard to bet against the best pitcher in the American League, so I’m going to take the Tigers to advance in what should be a thoroughly entertaining series.

Chart taken from http://trendsupdates.com/

When baseball implemented a revenue sharing plan as part of their collective bargaining agreement in 1997, the premise behind the plan was that it would create a more competitive atmosphere between all teams in baseball. So rather than the elite, large market teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox who can continue to pay top dollar for free agents, revenue sharing allows smaller market teams to spend on player salaries as well.

According to the revenue sharing plan implemented in the collective bargaining agreement of 2002, every team pays in 31 percent of their local revenues and that pot is split evenly among all 30 teams. In addition, a chunk of MLB’s Central Fund — made up of revenues from sources like national broadcast contracts — is disproportionately allocated to teams based on their relative revenues, so lower-revenue teams get a bigger piece of the pie.

Also, teams who exceed the set payroll limits pay into the pot a luxury tax, which is then distributed to the lower revenue teams. For instance, in 2008 the New York Yankees, according to the Wall Street Journal, paid out $21.6 million in luxury tax money. That money was distributed to the teams with the lowest payrolls in the league.

Can teams use revenue sharing to improve the quality of the product on the field? There are at least two instances where teams clearly used the extra money to improve.

In 2003, the Detroit Tigers were the worst team in the league, and one of the worst all-time, with a record of 43-119. The club was 13^th out of 14 teams in attendance, and easily qualified for extra revenues at the time. The Tigers used the money to sign catcher Ivan Rodriguez and right fielder Magglio Ordonez, who were key components to the team that won the American League pennant just three years later.

In 2007, after a sixth straight losing season, the Colorado Rockies used all of the $16 million they received in the revenue sharing plan and put it all toward payroll. The following season, the Rockies won 13 of their last 14 games to force a one-game playoff with the San Diego Padres to determine the Wild Card in the National League. The Rockies won that playoff game, and then swept their way into the World Series before eventually losing to the Boston Red Sox.

So there are certainly instances where revenue sharing has been implemented in the way that it was intended.

However, there have been far too many circumstances where revenue sharing clearly hasn’t worked, and smaller market teams have essentially used the extra money to pad their profits.

The Florida Marlins were on top of the world in 2003, having beaten the New York Yankees in the World Series in six games. Their payroll that particular season was $54 million. However, just three years later, after allowing homegrown talent to walk away without offering contracts and trading World Series heroes Josh Beckett and Ivan Rodriguez for much cheaper players, the Marlins’ payroll dropped to $14.9 million, which at the time was just 20 percent of the league average payroll of $78 million. Yet, the Marlins had received almost $31 million in revenue sharing money that year, more than double their actual payroll.

The Tampa Bay Rays were also guilty of receiving over $30 million in payroll dollars for five straight years between 2002-2006, yet their average payroll during that time was just $27 million, and the team reported a profit of an average of $20 million during that same time.

The biggest problem with the current revenue sharing plan is the definition of how the money is to be used is quite vague. All the agreement states is that the money is to be used to “improve the product on the field,” and MLB has done little to enforce that policy over the years.

The simplest solution is to change the language. Rather than stating that revenue sharing allotments should be used to “improve the product on the field,” the agreement should state that “all revenue sharing allotments must be used on player payroll.” It’s simple, cut and dry, and can be easily enforced by MLB.

There is no question that revenue sharing rules should indeed change, but to start, simple language needs to be fixed. What do you think?

This is my first article for Baseball Reflections and I’m very happy to be here.

What a great name for the site.

It got me thinking about my personal baseball reflections.

I’ve always thought memories are a lot like reflections, especially when it comes to baseball memories. Sometimes, but not often enough, the memory is like a reflection in a modern-high tech bathroom mirror. Crisp and clear enough to count your nose hairs.

Other memories are way out of whack. Like those distorted surreal images you see reflected in those old-school amusement park funhouse mirrors.

A lot of my baseball memories from my childhood fall into a third category. These are more like the cloudy, out-of-focus reflections you see when you look into one of those greasy metal mirrors you might find in a gas station men’s room mirror in a bad neighborhood.

It gets even trickier when the reflection is coming off a rearview mirror.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

There was the time I saw the great Enos Slaughter when he played for Yankees hit a ball so hard it splintered a seat in Comiskey Park’s left field bleachers.  Slaughter’s ninth inning home run broke a 1-1 tie and the White Sox lost a heartbreaker 2-1.  I’ve probably told variations of this story hundreds of times. Like any time I sit in the leftfield bleachers at any park.  Or any time a player hits a shot that gets out of the yard on the line and in a hurry, you can count on me to say something like, “Yeah, but me and my dad and uncle once saw Enos Slaughter hit a ball so hard…” I’ve even done that at Little League games; once when my own son drilled one out on the line and down the line that went over the fence 180 feet away and busted up some sunflowers.  My brother-in-law said something like, “Wow, he really hit the snot out of that one and I started the Enos Slaughter story. But did the Slaughter shot really splinter a seat or is this one of those gas station or funhouse mirror memories?

There’s also the story I tell every time I see a guy pitch a great game. This one is about the time me and my dad saw Billy Pierce of the White Sox shut out the Red Sox 4-0 and strike out Ted Williams four times. Again, I’ve told this story at games I’ve attended at all levels with the exception of tee-ball games where there wasn’t any pitching to get me started.  But did little Billy really strike out the great Williams four times on the same night? It seems hard to believe when I really think about it. But that’s the reflection I have burnt onto my brain.

Other memories and stories go beyond single moments and single games. Like the story I tell based on my belief that I personally started or at least was there at the beginning of the Chicago Cubs‘ epic 1969 collapse.  I tell the story of how I went to my first-ever Cub game not as a Cub fan but more to see for myself what the hell was going on. The Cubs had a commanding lead and the Mets were in town so I go to the game and Bill Hands pitches a nice game for the Cubs but nothing much else happens and the Cubs lose 1-0. The Mets go on to sweep the series then go on a tear, catch the Cubs and eventually finish eight games ahead of them and win the World Series.

As often as I’ve told these tales, no one has ever questioned their veracity. Maybe this is because I’ve polished them over the years but more likely because I think the best baseball stories can take on mythological proportions.  That is, if they could have happened and ring a bit true who cares if they aren’t 100 percent verifiable or accurate? I mean, does it really matter whether or not Babe Ruth actually called his shot in the 1932 Series at Wrigley Field?

But I’m a curious guy so I decided to put my reflections to the test.

I started by checking out my Cubs collapse story.  I found the season schedule and box score of the game I was looking for online courtesy of Baseball Almanac.  It was played July 14, 1969 and the score was as I remembered it, 1-0.  I was also right about nothing much happening; only one extra base hit. And Bill Hands did pitch a nice game: 8 2/3 innings allowing only 6 hits.

But I had a couple of things wrong. It was the Cubs that won, not the Mets. And even though the Cubs did drop the next two games, the schedule reveals that that series really wasn’t the beginning of the Cubs’ catastrophic collapse.

Actually, the Cubs extended their lead after July 14.  By August 16, they were 75-44, up by a season-high nine games over the Mets. By September 2, they were 84-52 but their lead over the Mets had fallen to five games. It was from there that the Mets went on a tear, going 23-7 to finish the season while the Cubs lost 17 of their last 25 games.

So how did this reflection get so distorted? I think it was guilt.

See if you were born Catholic in the South Side neighborhood when and where I was, you were baptized a White Sox fan. You were taught to hate the Yankees. But you were allowed to talk about the Yankees as in “Damn Yankees,” or “I hate the$*&^#% Yankees.”  But you were not allowed to discuss the Cubs. Better to talk about cannibalism at the dinner table or get caught telling fart jokes in church than get caught talking about the Cubs. I think the reasoning was that talking about the Cubs would be like acknowledging the Cubs were a Major League team when in fact the only Major League team in Chicago was the White Sox.

So that morning when my mom asked me what I had planned for the day and I told her I was going to check out the Cubs, she was beyond horrified.  It didn’t matter to her that I was a week away from my 21^st birthday, a few months away from an Army discharge, and had been to Vietnam and Hong Kong and all over the southern states.  To her knowledge, her little boy had never been to the “other side” of town.  (Not exactly true. I had made several clandestine trips to the Riverview – the notorious north side amusement park before it closed in 1967.) She wasn’t afraid for my life or anything but afraid of what the neighbors would think should any of them ever find out.  I also think me being 20 made my plan even more heartbreaking for her. I mean here I was after a lifetime of doing things that neighbors didn’t always approve of, now finally on the verge of respectability but about to disgrace the family yet again. But despite her whining and crying, I went to the game and I swear she looked sadder than the day I left for the Army.

I lived with the dark secret of my trip to the “friendly confines” for over a year. But I confessed to my friends the next time I visited Wrigley.  It was the following fall and we went to see the Bears play the Lions.  One of the guys I was with became suspicious because I seemed to know my way around the joint more than I should have.  Sometime during the 3^rd quarter, he smacked me in the back of the head and said, “You been here before, you piece of @#&%.” So I confessed; confessed that I had gone that Monday to put an end to the Cubs’ season.  I’d gone to lay a South Side curse on the Cubs and I’d succeeded. Then, over the years I apparently started to believe my own BS and once inter-league play began and it was okay to go to Wrigley to see the Sox beat the Cubs, I repeated and sharpened it.

But enough Cub talk. Still brings on a guilt trip.

What about the Enos Slaughter shot?  I found the box score of the game I’m talking about online. August 21, 1957. The Yankees did beat the Sox. Slaughter’s home run was the winning run. But he hit it in the 11^th inning, not the ninth.  Now I also remember that was my first extra-inning game. The box score also reminds me that “Tricky Dick” Donovan pitched all 11 innings for the Sox.  But the box score won’t tell me if Slaughter’s shot splintered a seat in the left field bleachers. So I investigate further and pull up some Enos Slaughter bio sites.  I mean if Slaughter really did splinter that seat, it must be mentioned somewhere.  I should also point out that all this research would not be necessary if I had access to the extensive records I kept of everything White Sox when I was a kid. However, my boxes and piles of score cards, news clippings, scrapbooks, and several vintage men’s adventure magazines were allegedly destroyed by a basement flood of biblical proportions that occurred sometime in 1968 while I was overseas. I say allegedly because when the flood waters receded apparently my folks were forced to tile the floor, put up that cheap fake wood paneling and install a suspended ceiling made of those asbestos panels  hung at  a toxically low level and put in a wet bar in the corner where I kept my Sox stuff. I also question the flood story because I was never told about it until I got home. When I asked my parents why they didn’t write me with the bad news, they said they felt I had enough to worry about over there and didn’t want to further traumatize me. This despite weekly letters often full of bad news like my dog developing diabetes, relatives with tumors, strokes, heart attacks, my dog going blind and even a murder and suicide involving a former coach.  But all that is another story.

Researching Slaughter, I find no mention of a seat-busting bash and, worse yet, discovered he was a left-handed hitter and his power seemed to be diminished in 1957. He would only hit five homers that year.  Not very likely he shattered a seat going to the opposite field and, besides, now I’m clearly remembering a right-handed hitter slamming that shot.  I go back to the box score. Hank Baur also homered in that game but in the 3^rd inning.  It had to be Baur.  So I go check some Baur bios looking for a line about seat busting and wondering how I could have gotten it so wrong.

I come across a photo of Baur and I know.  It was because I was a kid and the guy scared the crap out of me.  Baur was a bad ass, an ex-Marine hero. He had a permanently damaged nose. Tommy Lasorda described Baur like this, “This guy’s tough. He had a face that looked like it’d hold two days of rain.”

Tommy was being kind. Now I can remember that face staring at me as he rounded third base that night. I remember the nightmares.  My fuzzy reflection isn’t the product of declining mental capacity. I’ve merely been suppressing severe childhood trauma.

I move on to happier times. All this looking back is making my memories clearer.  Like I’ve just done a Windex job on my rearview mirror. I remember it was the next year, I saw Billy Pierce strike out Ted Williams four times.  I easily find the box score I’m looking for, June 17^th, 1958. White Sox 4, Boston 0. Just like I remember and there it is, Williams was 0-4.  The only thing that maybe bothers me a bit is Billy only struck out four that night. Is it possible all four Ks were Williams? I figure I could go rummage through the Chicago Tribune archives or something and find out for sure. I could also maybe find out if Baur really blew up that seat. But I won’t. Both things could have happened and that’s enough for me.

I think baseball historian Jim Beady put his finger on the way I feel about it when he was asked whether or not the Babe really called his shot in the 1932 Series.  Beady said:

“I’ll go to my grave not knowing for sure, but frankly not giving a damn. I am glad the legend exists, of that I am sure.”

I’m thankful for my legends, too, regardless of the quality of the reflection.

There has been a lot of talk about the future of Jose Reyes, with the shortstop in the final year of his contract.

The Mets should trade him before the deadline, many people are saying.

“Reyes will be too expensive too keep, they say. “He does not get on base enough. “He is too injury-prone.”

However, the Mets would be making a huge mistake if they got rid of Reyes. They have to sign him to a long-term contract and hold onto him.

Clearly, the Mets are having financial problems right now. But if the owners feel they can’t afford to keep Reyes based solely on financial concerns, they’re doing the fans a disservice.

Sure, you don’t want to spend money recklessly, whether you are the Wilpons or any other ownership group. The Mets likely won’t sign Carlos Beltran to a new contract, and that’s the right move – Beltran is older and has a recent history of knee injuries.

But Reyes, who is still only 27 years old, is a unique talent that should not be thrown away. The Mets should make a reasonable attempt to hold on to him.

Reyes is healthy now, and it shows on the field. He’s hitting .340 through 10 games, and it’s not his fault the Mets are off to a 4-6 start (at the time of this writing).

As for his on-base percentage, so what? Reyes had a .354 OBP leading off for the Mets in 2006, when they won 97 games and nearly went to the World Series. If he gets on base 35 or 36 percent of the time, the Mets will be happy. And Reyes is still young at 27 – he should get better.

GM Sandy Alderson has the reputation for liking high-OBP players. He should make an exception for Reyes.

As far as injuries go, the Mets just need to roll the dice. Signing any player to a long-term contract is risky (see Johan Santana), and Reyes does have an injury history. But Reyes is in great physical shape now and the Mets just need to hope he stays that way.

Also, while it’s risky to keep Reyes, it could a colossal blunder not to keep him. How would Mets fans feel if Reyes signed a free-agent contract with the Phillies or the Yankees? Both teams have aging shortstops, and while Derek Jeter has a new deal with the Yankees, his time in the infield may be short. The Mets would be hard-pressed to find anyone with Reyes’ rare talents – and to watch him thrive with another team would just be more torture to Mets fans and we have suffered enough.