America's favorite August sporting addiction is raging once again this
month. And by that, we do not mean Steelers-Colts preseason action, live from
Mexico City.
No, we're referring, of course, to waiver-claim fever.
If you haven't been claimed on waivers by somebody this month, it means
you're either A) making $13.6 million a year and just had Tommy John surgery,
or B) so anonymous, even the Major League Scouting Bureau never heard of you.
But that obviously isn't many of you -- because a variety of baseball
sources indicate that well over half the players placed on waivers this month
have been claimed by somebody. And that is not leading to the kind of
fascinating August stretch-drive deals we used to know and love, waiver
period or no waiver period.
Well, a number of GMs aren't real happy about this. And two of them have
come up with innovative solutions lately. We could sum up those solutions
this way:
1. Congratulations. You're the proud new owner of Jose Canseco and his entire
contract.
And 2. put your wallet where your waiver claim is.
We'll start with Canseco. When the Devil Rays awarded him to the Yankees
last week, they did more than merely save themselves potentially $2 million
in salary, incentives and a $500,000 buyout. They were sending a message.
The message was to remind teams like the Yankees, who claimed close to 50
players in the first week of August, to be careful what you wish for when
you're claiming. You might get it.
"We'd decided when we put Jose on waivers," said Tampa Bay GM Chuck
Lamar, "that if someone claimed him, there was a tremendous chance we were
going to let him go -- one, for baseball reasons, and two, for financial
reasons."
The fact that it turned out to be the Yankees that claimed Canseco --
creating all sorts of roster havoc and internal strife in the Bronx --
ultimately proved to be a rewarding source of entertainment in the Tampa Bay
metropolitan area. But Lamar says the Rays never set out to penalize the
Yankees in particular for their addiction to waiver-claim fever. It just
worked out that way.
Nevertheless, if more teams got stuck with players like Canseco -- whom
they claimed but really didn't want -- it might at least slow down the
claiming frenzy every August. But in reality, one disgruntled baseball man
says, "the only thing that would slow that down is they were awarded four
Jose Cansecos."
"I think I speak for a lot of general managers," Lamar said. "I do not
like the ability of teams to claim as many players as are being claimed
during the month of August. I feel like it's a tremendous advantage for the
large-market clubs, because if they do, quote-unquote, 'get stuck' with a
particular player, they can afford that player. The teams that have to be
more careful with their budgets are still the teams that have to be more
careful about their waiver claims."
So that brings us to the second proposal here. It comes from Phillies GM
Ed Wade. His idea: Attach a $50,000 price tag to every claim.
Those Jose Canseco-Randy Myers claim fiascos "just don't happen enough to
be a significant deterrent," Wade said. "What would be significant, to me, is
if I'm a general manager and I want to claim 10 players to keep them from
going to, say, the Braves, then I've got to pay a significant amount of money
to do that. Then I need to be able to make a convincing case to ownership
that it's worth a half-million dollars to block these deals."
At this point, the August claims alone are rumored to have passed the 300
mark. If those claims were really costing $50,000 each, that would be $15
million for the revenue-sharing fund. We could solve all kinds of problems
with that kind of cash.
"If somebody claims it makes good business sense to create that kind of
havoc," Wade said, "then write the check."
Wade has made this proposal at the GM meetings for several years, by the
way. But "write the check" has never been this group's most popular rallying
cry.
While Sammy Sosa's talk last weekend of signing a new deal with the Cubs
was premature, indications do point toward that development occurring this
winter. Both Sosa and the Cubs got a glimpse last month of what life might be
like if he ever did leave. And neither liked the view much. So there appears
to be a much greater feel on both sides for what this special player-team
relationship is really all about.
"I've seldom seen, in my 30 years in the business, a player have such a love
affair with his fans and his town," said Tom Reich, who represents Sosa along
with Adam Katz. "And Sammy never wanted to see that relationship broken up.
He doesn't. And he hasn't. That has never changed. There are other places and
other teams he could play for. But for Sammy Sosa, there can never be another
Chicago Cubs situation. So I'm cautiously optimistic something good will work
out."
But Reich also says neither side has interest in talking about that new
deal until after the season. And when those talks begin, "it will be a
private matter."
Since Sosa announced he wouldn't approve any deals that sent him out of
Chicago, incidentally, the Cubs were 20-10, through Friday. It was that
development, incidentally, that turned both Sosa and the Cubs around -- not
the All-Star Home Run Derby.
A baseball source with close ties to the Dodgers says the team had a major
team meeting this week in which Gary Sheffield apparently had some pointed
remarks about the failure of some of his teammates to care enough about
winning. The Dodgers remain a talented, but often dysfunctional, team.
Of those 300-plus players claimed on waivers this month, only about a dozen
have actually changed teams: Canseco, Dave Martinez, Rob Ducey, Brian Hunter,
Mickey Morandini, Chris Widger, Bruce Aven, David Newhan, Rico Brogna, Peter
Munro, Desi Relaford and Wilson Delgado. The last real trade made during the
waiver period: Denny Neagle from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, in 1996.
Tim Raines headed back to the Atlantic League this weekend to play another
series of games in preparation for the Olympics. If the Olympic committee
likes what it sees, Raines will be the only retired big-name player who winds
up actually making the team.
The Tigers are believed to have pulled back Juan Gonzalez after he was
claimed this month, meaning there now is no chance they'll be trading him
before the end of the year. Part of that keep-Juan strategy was designed to
convince Gonzalez to stay in Detroit. But Gonzalez again raised doubts about
whether he wants to commit to Comerica Park by complaining this week that
Comerica "is not for right-handed hitters. It's for left-handed hitters."
There are indications there is more to those reports that Buck Showalter is
in trouble in Arizona than merely one local columnist (the Arizona Republic's
highly respected Pedro Gomez) calling for Showalter's firing. Owner Jerry
Colangelo appeared to give Showalter a vote of confidence this week -- but
never did say Showalter was safe. What he did say: "Right now I'd rather just
concentrate on playing good baseball, getting healthy and winning games."
Debates about "integrity of the schedule" have led baseball to stop short
of implementing a rotating interleague schedule for next season. But there
will be one special rotation: the Rangers and Astros finally will meet each
other. To accomplish that, the Diamondbacks -- who had been the Rangers'
designated "rival" -- will be matched up with two AL Central teams.
You have to be impressed with the resiliency of the Mariners. Their 19-3
blowout in Chicago marked the fifth time this year they've lost a game by
nine runs or more. They're 5-0 in the next game they play.
Hard to say what this means, but Randy Johnson's record since the Curt
Schilling trade looks like this: three starts, 0-2, 26 hits in 17 2/3 innings,
9.17 ERA.
This week's schedule abominations: The Red Sox played in Oakland and
Seattle, went home for the weekend, then went right back to Anaheim. And the
Tigers finished one trip in Anaheim, headed home for six games, then zipped
right back to Oakland and Seattle. What a mess.
How ominous is this? The Cardinals are 1-8 this year against the Mets (0-6)
and Braves (1-2).
Useless information dept.
It's bizarre enough that David Cone went 15 straight starts without a win.
What really makes that startling is that it stands in such marked contrast to
Cone's long-time dependability. He once went three full seasons -- from 1994
through '96 -- without going more than two straight starts without a win. And
he went five seasons -- from 1994 through '98 -- without ever going more than
four in a row without winning.
Ever seen a ground-ball double play in which both outs were at first base?
The Braves turned one last Friday in St. Louis. First and third. No out.
Fernando Tatis grounded to Andres Galarraga, who dropped the ball, then raced
and tagged the first-base bag. But the runner on third, Jim Edmonds, headed
home. So Galarraga threw to the plate -- late. Catcher Javy Lopez then gunned
the ball to second. But the runner on first, Eric Davis, had stopped, then
decided to try to get back to first. So Rafael Furcal threw back to Galarraga
for a wild 3-2-6-3 double play (with a run scoring in the middle). Try that
one on your Nintendo 64 sometime.
In the Giants' 1-0 game against the Brewers on Monday, pitcher Russ Ortiz
drove in the only run -- marking the second time this year a pitcher had
knocked in the only run in a 1-0 game. (Ismael Valdes also did it on June 17
-- but managed to avoid getting the win.) Before this year, there had been
just four 1-0 games in which the only RBI was by a pitcher in the last 15
seasons. And the last time there were two games like that in one season,
according to the Elias Sports Bureau's Rob Tracy, was 1984, when the RBI men
were Fernando Valenzuela and Dan Schatzeder. Valenzuela actually performed
that feat three times in is career.
Jose Lima may not break Bert Blyleven's gopherball record. But he's already
tied one of Blyleven's historic gopherball feats. Lima has given up at least
three homers in a game seven times this year. Most ever in one season,
according to the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent: seven, by
Blyleven in 1986 and Jack Morris in 1987. Stay tuned.
The Orioles have given up at least four runs in 57 different innings this
year. ESPN research maven Jim T. Jenks reports that in 1968, when the Orioles
had a league-leading 2.66 team ERA, they gave up four or more runs in 53
games all season.
There's nothing more crushing than losing a game you lead in the ninth
inning (or later). Here are the teams that have done that the most this year:
Houston (eight times), Philadelphia (seven), Anaheim (seven), Texas (six) and
Oakland (six). If those teams had won all those games, the Rangers would be
five games over .500, the Angels 18 over, the A's 20 over, the Phillies two
under and the Astros 12 under.
When the White Sox got swept in a doubleheader Tuesday by Seattle, it
marked the first time in 10 years that a team in sole possession of first
place was swept at home in a doubleheader in August or later. Rob Tracy
reports that the only other teams to do that in the last 15 years were the
1990 Reds (swept by Pittsburgh on Aug. 17), the '86 Red Sox (swept by the
Yankees on Oct. 4) and the '85 Mets (swept by San Diego on Aug. 23).
It's the year of the game-ending back-to-backers. We had Bernie Williams
and David Justice on Monday, Troy Glaus and Scott Spiezio for Anaheim on May
14, and Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez for Cleveland on April 16. The only other
seasons in history with three back-to-back walkoffs, according to David
Vincent: 1996 (Eric Anthony and Eric Davis for Cincinnati, Ramirez and Eddie
Murray for Cleveland, Jeff Conine and Devon White for Florida) and 1964 (Sam
Bowens and John Orsino for Baltimore, Pete Ward and Bill Skowron for the
White Sox, Ed Charles and Billy Bryan for the A's).
More from Vincent: The all-time list of pitchers who have had multihomer
games against the Cubs: Frank Foreman on July 4, 1895, Walt Terrell on Aug.
6, 1983, Jim Tobin's famed three-homer game on May 13, 1942 and now Darren
Dreifort on Tuesday.
Curt Schilling hasn't given up a run at any point after the sixth inning in
any start since May 29. That's 24 1/3 straight shutout innings when pitching
in the seventh or later.
If Rafael Furcal really is 19, he broke Ty Cobb's record for steals by a
19-year-old this week (with his 24th). If he's really 22, never mind. But
whatever age he is, Furcal actually bunted for a double this week.
· The Cardinals have been shut out three times this year. The three pitchers
who started those games: Darren Dreifort, Armando Reynoso, Jesus Sanchez.
Who's the hottest starting pitcher in the AL since the All-Star break --
non-Pedro division? Would you believe Albie Lopez? His ERA since the break:
2.31. Pedro is at 1.50. Of course, they're also 1-2 for the season. No Devil
Rays pitcher has ever been this high among the league ERA leaders after the
first week in the season.
What happens to players when they arrive in St. Louis? Will Clark
immediately homered in his first three games -- his third streak this year of
three or more home runs. Only three other players have that many streaks this
year, according to ESPN research whiz Jeff Bennett, and they all have a lot
more home runs than Clark (who has hit 12): Mark McGwire, Gary Sheffield,
Barry Bonds.
When Roger Clemens (256 career wins) opposed Barry Zito (one career win)
this week, it was only the fifth time since 1993 that a starting pitcher had
faced another pitcher with at least 250 fewer wins. Zito left with the lead,
only to have Jason Isringhausen blow it in the ninth. But if he'd won, Clemens
would have been the first pitcher to lose to a starter with at least 250
fewer wins than him since Nolan Ryan (329) lost to Dave Fleming (28) in 1993.
The Valley Tribune's Ed Price reports that there are 28 active pitchers
with 25 or more complete games, and Arizona has five of them: Randy Johnson
(74), Curt Schilling (62), Mike Morgan (46), Greg Swindell (40) and Todd
Stottlemyre (25).
Minor-league pitcher of the week: Norwich right-hander Christian Parker, who
finally had his scoreless-inning streak stopped at 40 this week. Howe
Sportsdata reports that's the longest scoreless streak in professional
baseball since 1994, when Scott Gentile rolled 43 zeroes in a row for West
Palm Beach.
Minor-league hitter of the week: Even the best prospects in baseball
sometimes forget how to get a hit. White Sox hit machine Brent Brede just
went 2 for 43 at Nashville over a span of 18 games.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings will appear each Saturday. | |
ALSO SEE
Jayson Stark archive
Stark: Week in Review
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