National League Offers Safe Haven
Could John Smoltz help the Cardinals?
Tipsheet raised this questions with USA Today/Baseball Weekly scribe Bob Nightengale recently, since Bob covers both leagues and would have an unbiased opinion about such things. His answer: Smoltz can still pitch — but only in the National League.
The American League is much tougher these days. He cited Matt Holliday’s epic start with the Cards after a season-long struggle in Oakland as another example. Then there is Julio Lugo, another Red Sox washout who is playing very well for the Cardinals.
Also the Dodgers are turning to jettisoned Rangers pitcher Vincente Padilla to bolster their rotation, amid some media skepticism.
It does make one wonder about the gap between the leagues right now.
We sense the Red Sox will pull for Smoltz, since letting him go was somewhat painful. Those who covered Smoltz in Atlanta understand the qualities he could bring to St. Louis.
AWKWARD CONTROVERSY OF WEEK
So who is this Caster Semenya and how is she dominating the 800- and 1500-meter events in world competition?
The track and field world wants to know. She is 18 years old. She is a newcomer to the world stage. And she is . . . how do we put this . . . not very ladylike in appearance.
Track and field officials are forcing Semenya to undergo extensive gender testing to see what’s going on.
IAAF spokesman Nick Davies told reporters that the “extremely complex, difficult” test has been started but that the results were not expected for weeks.
Aside from the standard visual inspection, Semenya will undergo scrutiny from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist and an internal medicine specialist.
Meanwhile, the Star newspaper in South Africa tracked down Caster’s mom for comments.
“I am not even worried about that because I know who and what my child is,” Dorcus Semenya said. “Mokgadi Caster is a girl and no one can change that.
“If you go at my home village and ask any of my neighbors, they would tell you that Mokgadi is a girl. “They know because they helped raise her. People can say whatever they like but the truth will remain, which is that my child is a girl. I am not concerned about such things.”
WEDDING CRASHER OF THE WEEK
Was this really a good idea?
BRETT’S ACT GOES TOO FAVRE
Add former Vikings star Fran Tarkenton to the list of people of folks disgusted by Brett Favre’s diva routine.
“We have responsibilities,” he told ESPN. “We’re just not athletes that are in it all for ourselves. Football, is it not a team game? Isn’t it all about team . . . and here comes Brett Favre riding in on his white horse, doesn’t go to training camp, doesn’t come to offseason workouts and he’s gonna come on his white horse and bond with all these players.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while the Dodgers’ big lead in the National League West slowly evaporates:
- Who could have possibly guessed that John Calipari broke NCAA rules to build that Memphis juggernaut?
- Can we ever believe anyting Favre says?
- Will Roger Goodell have the guts to get the bottom of Tom Cable/Randy Hanson incident at the Raiders camp?
- Or does Goodell’s whole tough-guy sheriff act only apply to players?
QUIPS ‘R US
Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:
Jay Mariotti, FanHouse, on the Raiders mess: “The obvious conclusion is that Cable isn’t head-coaching material as much as a raging loose cannon, a misplaced line coach who can’t maximize a roster that actually has impressive, if raw, talent at the skill positions — JaMarcus Russell, Darren McFadden – and a capable defense with good linebackers and secondary personnel, including the compelling Nnamdi Asomugha, the NFL’s best lockdown cover cornerback.”
Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “I want Brett Favre to fail. I want this to end with one of the most spectacular face plants in the history of comebacks. I want it for the same reason it was fun to watch the Terrell Owens experiment blow up in Dallas and the DeAngelo Hall experiment blow up in Oakland. Athletes who put their own cranium ahead of the game and their teammates and only exist because some sucker of an owner allow them to exist don’t deserve in be in uniform.”
Steve Rosenbloom, ChicagoTribune.com: “The Cubs gave up an inside-the-park home run to a guy who’s 6 foot, 6 inches and 285 pounds. Think about that: A guy that big can run around the bases faster than the Cubs can retrieve and throw the ball, just in case you wanted a picture for this dying season after Your Heroes dumped another game to the worst team in the NL West.”
Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Poor David Ortiz, dazed and confused, like a mildly-addled grandpa. He can’t imagine what triggered that positive test. Maybe it was the extra shot in the pumpkin latte at Starbucks.”
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “A NASCAR driver, Brad Coleman of Joe Gibbs Racing, recently struck a coyote at 190 mph on a test run and carried the dead animal in his grill for miles. It was just the latest in a long line of victories for the Roadrunner. MEEP MEEP!”
MEGAPHONE
“Me? Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Remember, I’m almost in the 600 club. Relax.”
Slumping Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez, to Yahoo! Sports.
I hope Smoltz can help but age is a great equalizer. He got lit up with the Red Sox….but paying him the minimum is a good risk to take. If it doesn’t work it didn’t cost much.
But this situation points out one of the great inequities in baseball. Most teams can’t afford to invest $5M+ in a player and if it doesn’t work out simply write it off and find someone else. The Red Sox and Yankees do it annually and to the tune of a lot more than $5M. Imagine the Royals doing that.
The Royals can afford to make those mistakes (Jose Guillen 3 years $36 million) they just can’t afford to fix the mistakes.
Nice reporting Gordo on the Smoltz stuff. Good info. Great stat: In his last seven starts he had an ERA of 0.5 for the first two innings. That would seem to suggest making him a reliever instead, but we shall see. I am not convinced he is any better than Boggs, but I don’t get paid to make those decisions.
Good series win against the Dodgers. That is the type of series that let’s you know if you are on the right track or not. And the Cubs are still 6 back. Even better.
I don’t know that the AL is that much better than the NL. If NL teams could carry fielding-inept hackers on their roster because they had a DL we might be a better hitting league too. But you need Lugos and Greenes instead because of double-switches…
One other question: Didn’t some international athletic committee (can’t tell you which one by the way since there are so damn many) let some guy that had his manhood removed start competing as a women? If so, what is the big deal about this track and field person? I think it is all BS pesonally, but if you want to be PC about the whole “transgender” garbage then go all the way with it.
Fran Tarkenton? That’s Incredible! Maybe they should have brought your scramblin’ butt back for a 5th try to win the Super Bowl.
Tarkenton is just jealous. He wishes he could of garnered that much attention when he was a player. Some of his former Vike teammates have recently said that Tark himself was a selfish player when he played and they weren’t crazy about him. What a big baby.
I think others have already put up good arguments for the Smoltz deal. I like the guy a lot, and would love to see him as long relief. Anything to keep Denny Reyes from ever taking the ball again, yikes.
Here’s my question: We’ve added a substantial amount of players since late June (DeRosa, Holliday, Lugo, and now Smoltz). What does that do to the chemistry in the locker room?
I know some people say that chemistry is BS and “they’re professionals…they need to get over it.” But just about every team that has won a championship talks about that elusive, but vital, quality.
It looks pretty good now. But how do the pitchers feel? Obviously our 1-2-3 are fine. But what about Lohse? Or Piñeiro (depending on who oyu see as our 4th?) Will Smoltz fit in with the bullpen–those guys are nuts anyway.
Maybe I am looking for something to worry about, since we look pretty damn strong. Please let Carpenter stay healthy. PLEASE!!!!!
Forgot to ask. Did the Cardinals retaliate for Pujols getting plunked again? I know it was a tight game, but it’s getting kinda old.
men running women’s track, 2 years for shooting yourself but 30 days for killing someone else, dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!
manny ramirez is hilarious. he’s probably still juicing…AL better than NL is overblown. The DH is such a huge difference. It’s not only the fact that you have a position player vs. a pitcher hitting, but you get to pitch the entire bottom of the order differently becuase you know that pitcher’s spot is coming. It’s apples and oranges. Plus, those AL games are umpired a lot differently if you watch for that and other than those jokes in Philly and Houston, NL ballparks are a lot more fair to the pitcher, including Coors Field now. One realistic difference though, the owners and GMs over there embraced sabremetrics quicker and develop their farm systems better than the NL GMs, who stayed old school until the last couple years
…anybody still waiting to write off the Cubs? I’ve got a used powerball ticket to sell
Seriously, they probably have a september run left at the cards when our schedule gets tougher than this month (and watch out for a loss to the hot Nationals this week) but they just don’t have it this year. They’re like a team that lost the Super Bowl mentally and they tried to replace Derosa, Edmonds and Wood with Miles, a closer who lost his job in Florida and AAA guys…
2020, the Cubs schedule is just as tough. Maybe not in quality of opponents, but they still have another west coast trip to do and are playing their last 50 games in 52 days. Not only do they have to play a lot better but the Cards have to slow down too…pretty tall order with about 40 left to play.
Garry, I hear you about chemistry, but I’d be willing to bet you might make a couple of pitchers upset but the other 20+ guys happy by continuing to try to improve the back end of the rotation. When we got Holliday it seemed to settle Ankiel down even though it made him the 4th outfielder. As long as they are quality people (not just quality ballplayers) I don’t think it will hurt anything. Besides, the clubhouse belongs to AP and Carpenter and you better believe they will keep it the way it needs to be.
Go Cards!
Hey Tim-
I hear you. I guess the flip side is that (big name drop here) when I got a chance to talk with Brett Hull years back…and after his Stars Stanley Cup (I know…it killed me), I asked him how close were the Blues when he played for us.
He said maybe ‘91…when we had Stevens. Even then he suggested we might have been a player or two shy.
Hull went on to explain that the depth of a team makes all the difference. And the confidence that if you don’t get it done, some one else on the team will
So, I am hopeful that Holliday et al bring a like mind to the Cards dugout. In a weird way, it’s like getting Edmonds back–though I think Holliday is a better bat and Jimmy a better glove–and Ludwick takes Rolen’s role.
Could it be 2006 again? Dunno.
But this close to September and up 6 up over the Cubs….it’s getting good.