Baseballhead:
Robbed Again

Michael Cox

Welcome again to Baseballhead, where we aren't bummed out by the NBA lockout. In fact, I can recreate the NBA ambience right here in my living room by playing a drum loop ("BOM...BOM...BOM-BOM-BOM") at deafening volume while looking at photos of Spike Lee and Jack Nicholson and drinking flat Busch.

The Cy Young and MVP awards were given out last week, and I can't say they weren't predictable, with one exception. That's not to say they all were necessarily intelligent choices.

Clemens in the AL was a gimme, not just because he deserved it (especially after that second half) but because he won the "pitchers' triple crown": ERA, Wins and strikeouts. Baseball writers (imagine my face scrunched up slightly when I say those words) look at those things.

Glavine, on the other hand, was the happy recipient of loads of luck. Teammate Greg Maddux' loss of, uh, Maddux-ness in the second half (including a loss to Randy Johnson in a nationally-hyped "showdown") left an opening for someone other than Maddux to win.

Then there were the unfortunate(?) circumstances that put both Kevin Brown and Trevor Hoffman on the same team, causing them to split the "best pitcher on a dark-horse playoff team" vote. Voila -- an opening for a random good pitcher to win. At least Glavine seemed to recognize his break.

Lots of folks think it was a travesty that Mark McGwire didn't win NL MVP over Sammy Sosa, and they have a good case -- even I expected it to be much closer. Either man would have made a fine MVP, but remember that for all his record-breaking glory, Mac hit only four more HR than Sosa, some of those homers came under, er, questionable pitching circumstances, and when he wasn't hitting a homer, he was usually making an out (he had more homers than singles).

Then we have the sad case of Juan Gonzalez, who never seems to get the respect due a two-time MVP. Well, don't come looking to me for it, either. Gonzo coasted on his first half, during which his RBI record assault threatened to overtake the home run race for hype. Yes, it's harder to do -- that's because you have to be more lucky than good to do it.

In 1996, Gonzalez narrowly beat rightful MVP owner Alex Rodriguez largely because an Oakland writer confused A-Rod's and Ivan Rodriguez' names on the ballot (of course the guy'll never admit it, and even tried to justify picking Pudge over Alex). This year, in some respects A-Rod had an even better year than his '96, basically becoming worthy of mention in the same breath as Honus Wagner, but didn't even get a second glance by the BBWAA.

Nor did Ken Griffey Jr., but that was expected: The M's sucked in '98, and Junior made the mistake of angering the writers by not immediately assenting to the Home Run Derby invite. Albert Belle once again turned in a monster season, but once again made negative headlines and also added more evidence that he does his best work when the games don't matter.

Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra, even Derek Jeter could make a case for MVP. Gonzo doesn't even make the top ten in some measures of offensive effectiveness. Of course, I've never subscribed to the school of thought that says the best offensive player should be MVP (mainly because that school is wrong). However, Gonzalez won for only one reason: He had a lot of RBI.

"It just seems like he doesn't get the notoriety he should," said McGwire of Gonzo. Trust me, Gonzo is plenty notorious.

Item: MLB appoints former Cards pitching great Bob Gibson as a "special assistant" to loco AL president Gene Budig, with the special duty of reviewing and helping assess appropriate punishment for player infractions. This has to be a Paul Beeston move, because Bud Selig is too dumb to have made this brilliant appointment.

Gibson, for those who don't know their baseball history, played for the Cards in the '60s, was known for his toughness (he pitched three complete games in the 1967 WS) and once knocked down all-around nice guy Ernie Banks for talking too much. In short, don't expect a ban on brushbacks.

Item: Sosa meets Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Dominican Republic to help urge the US to send more hurricane relief. In doing so, Sosa one-upped the Yankees: they'll get to meet Bill in the White House, but Sammy got to hang out with the smarter Clinton.

Item: George Steinbrenner will apparently be selling the Yankees to Cablevision. This likely all came about when the company weighed a potential $750M+ rights fee for future Yankee broadcasts versus a cheaper option of just buying the doggone team.

The problem is that The Boss insists on having the actual control of the team's future despite owning only a small percentage of the team. Heck, perhaps he figures that after 25 years, he's finally gotten the hang of it. Still, it appears to be the sole sticking point of the deal -- the latest news is that Cablevision wanted the right to overrule The Boss if they so desired.

That would be a problem, as Steinbrenner tends to get into hot water with MLB once every couple of years or so. Losing the ability to stare the other teams down without fear of being overruled, he would be pretty much emasculated. Heck, he might even have to agree to profit-shar--nahhhh.

Item: Robbie Alomar signs with the Tribe; Brian Jordan with the Braves. Alomar is no longer hyped as "possibly the greatest 2B of all time," much to the relief of many who still vividly remember the John Hirschbeck incident and will never, ever forgive him. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that a number of fans roughly the size of a Jacobs Field sellout crowd have forgiven him effective today. The move also makes Enrique Wilson expendable, and the Tribe a little more like the Orioles.

Jordan, or "the man who 'protected' McGwire," is a definite upgrade for the Braves outfield. However, with these signings neither the Braves or Indians actually addressed their weaknesses: Bullpen and rotation respectively. The Mariners can tell you a thing or two about that strategy's success (or lack thereof)...

 

about the author

Michael Cox' Thanksgiving plans include a big mess o' turkey and mooning Dan Dierdorf. Offer to do the same to Frank Gifford at mc@strikethree.com.