Jon Heyman is a joke.

These all-over-the-map picks are ridiculous on so many levels, I don't really think he believes it. I think it's an April Fool's Joke or an attempt to drum up controversy.


As an example, Heyman decides to give NL awards to half-year players.

I think this scenario essentially disqualifies the player, but that's just my personal opinion. I know Ramirez had a huge impact with the Dodgers, but he only played two months in the NL.

But how do you vote Ramirez #1 despite his lack of NL playing time ... while Chipper Jones doesn't even crack the top ten?

Look at Chipper Jones's numbers for a second and be amazed.


I'd like to focus on the worst MVP pick I've ever seen: Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels. Who just about led the league in blown saves, is easily replaceable by other AL closers, and did nothing to distinguish himself other than getting a lot of save opportunities.

Also, he's a relief pitcher.

Also, his team won the division by about 30 games, so they could have made the playoffs if Hideki Irabu was their closer.


Now, at the very least, can we all agree that a pitcher who's the Move Valuable Player is also the Most Valuable Pitcher?

Not according to Jon Heyman.

According the Jon Heyman, Rodriguez is first in the MVP and third in the Cy Young.

Two stupids don't make a smart.


Oh, yeah, and check out his description of K-Rod's season:

"3. Francisco Rodriguez. Now holds the alltime saves record."

Really?

Francisco Rodriguez now holds the alltime saves record?

So he has the most saves of all time?

Actually, he's 36th all time.

Look out, Jose Valverde!

It tells you the Rockies were much worse.

"This past week is proof he knows what he's doing. He took a team that finished 14 games back and he made the playoffs. What does that tell you?"

Just use your brain.

The Dodgers won 84 games this year.

The Dodgers won 82 games last year ... without Manny Ramirez.

Who was a better manager? Grady Little in 2007 or Joe Torre in 2008?

It also confirms, once again, that it's better to be lucky than to be good.

Players who know how to win.

"Three moves.

That's what the Yankees New York Yankees have to make this winter and they will be back in the postseason and probably the World Series again next season"

Oh, boy.


"* Do whatever it takes to sign free agent CC Sabathia. It will be expensive, but it will be worth it to grab the most powerful of the available power pitchers."

Can't argue with that.


"* Ditto A.J. Burnett. Four initials will make the difference. Add CC and A.J. and the tides change in the AL East."

Burnett is not very good in the first place and has a history of injuries. Sounds like the second coming of Carl Pavano.

But, whatever.

He's better than Ponson, right?


Now, I don't see the necessity of distilling this down the three moves. There's simply no reason to stop with three moves, and that would be the case whether the Yankees won 120 games or 90 games.

But C, CF, and 1B still have not been addressed.

So, Kevin Kernan, what else have you got?:

"* Package a couple good young players - and the Yankees have them, especially on their South Atlantic League team, and trade for the Braves' Casey Kotchman."

Ummm ... what?


"He's a solid hitter and more importantly, he is a tremendous first baseman, something the Yankees have lacked since the Glory Days with Tino Martinez. Current defensive statistics are misleading - the Yankees (only 81 errors) don't get to enough balls. A defensive-minded first baseman, who can handle the bat, is invaluable."

With the statuesque Giambi and arthritic Abreu combined with the sleepy Cano, the right side of the Yankee defense probably adds 200 pts. to an opponent's batting average.

But the key to the Yankee Glory Days was not Tino's defense at first base.

The Yankees need to improve defensively overall. They will need a new first baseman.

But why Casey Kotchman?

Why not Mark Teixeira?

Or a dozen other first baseman who can field and also "handle the bat"?

The Yankees are good and so are the Mets.

You know, the only reason the Yankees are perceived as a disastrous team is because the Tampa Rays just happen to be good this year. I think five of six teams have a better record than the Yankees:

"Only the Mets, it appears, can spare Hank Steinbrenner an October emotional meltdown by failing to save themselves from another September nervous breakdown.

Misery would love the Mets’ company in the shuttering of the New York baseball season Sunday, weather permitting."

The Yankees drew 4 million again this year.

In the final weekend of a playoff race, Shea is about half-empty.

Now, other than bragging rights, I don't think Steinbrenner is fixated on the Mets.

Well, Steinbrenner might be fixated on the Mets, but that's because he's mentally unstable (as the rest of the article will attest).

Any "misery" that crybaby Yankee fans are experiencing will not be soothed much if the Mets miss the playoffs.

Favorite Things.

"Giambi said before the Yankees' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays last night at Rogers Centre. 'He said, "Do you think you want to go to the West Coast." I told him I enjoyed winning and playing on good baseball teams.' "

Things Jason Giambi Likes:

1) Winning.

2) Playing on good baseball teams.

3) Steroids. Lots of sweet, sweet steroids.

Thirteen, you dummy.

"It was a great ceremony on Sunday night, with a reverence and respect reminiscent of the closing of the Montreal Forum, beginning with the pre-game treatment of great Yankee stars of the past (Torre and Roger Clemens excluded) to the post-game on-field celebration featuring the current group, led by Jeter.

Most striking were the differences in demeanour between the deeply spontaneous, joyful reactions of the born-and-bred career Yankees, especially Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano, compared to the ho-hum, sheepish looks on the faces of the come-lately mercenary types – especially Alex Rodriguez, with a forced smile, and a very uncomfortable looking Mike Mussina."

???


"Jeter took charge of the post-game show nicely, but his speech lacked raw emotion.

Of course, that would have been the job of the ever-emotional Torre."


??????


"But he was otherwise occupied in leading his Dodgers to the NL West title, extending his personal post-season streak to 14."

Poor Buck Showalter. It's like he never existed.

The ice will probably melt.

Sorry.

With Wang injured, I need to turn to hockey for funny player headlines.

He batted .300 once the pressure was off. Right?

Quite an insightful article here by Mike Lupica. He noticed that Derek Jeter is a fan favorite.


I think I can make this entire thing easier on everyone.

Instead of saying "Jeter is the best Yankee ever" or "Jeter is the best player in baseball" or "Jeter is better than ARod," change it slightly to "Jeter is my favorite player" or "I like Jeter more than I like ARod."

There.

Doesn't that make it easier on everyone?

Stop me if you've heard this one before ...

Keys to the game.

Just listened to Suzyn Waldman's "Keys to the game."

1. The Yankee batters need to be patient.

2. Carl Pavano needs to get ahead in the count and keep the ball down.

Sometimes, Waldman has a variation where she says the Yankee pitchers need to keep the opposing batters off base.

But, for all intents and purposes, it's the exact same keys to every game.

Very appropriate.

"Pettitte will officially close the park by pitching in the final game on Sunday, Sept. 21, the Yankees confirmed Friday, in a rather appropriate nod to the recent past."

A mediocre, overpaid pitcher is appropriate for this team.

Rutgers beats North Carolina, 24 - 21 ... on PlayStation.

I know it's not a baseball post, but that's very exciting college football news from a newspaper.

Pinstriped Coffins!

"Aura and Mystique have been replaced by Blind Faith."

Are Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Steve Winwood reuniting for a Yankee Stadium gig?


"And, no Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Steve Winwood aren't reuniting for a Yankee Stadium gig."

Oh, well.

Because when you said "Blind Faith," I naturally instantly associated it with a fairly obscure rock band that released one album thirty-nine years ago.

I thought Delgado was the fourth-most valuable Met ...

Behind Reyes, Wright, and Santana.

Then, I read Bill Madden's article, and it reminded me that Carlos Beltran is more valuable than Delgado.

So, Delgado is the fifth-most valuable Met:

"Wednesday night was no exception, as Delgado's sac fly in the seventh inning broke a tie in what turned out to be an unseemly 13-10 win over the Nationals that, combined with the Phillies' loss to Florida, increased the Mets' NL East lead to 3-1/2 games."

Wednesday night, Delgado was 0-for-3 with a walk and a sac fly.

Delgado's sac fly was set up by singles by Wright and Beltran. Wright was 4-for-4 with a homerun, 3 rbis, and 4 runs scored. Beltran was 3-for-5 with 2 rbis and 2 runs scored.

Upon closer examination, Beltran has outperformed Delgado offensively for the entire season. Beltran has 100+ runs and 100+ rbis. Beltran, of course, also adds more value defensively and on the basepaths.

Also, Beltran is hitting .419 in September.

In the heat of a playoff race, fighting off the ghosts of the 2007 collapse, and all that jazz ...

Clutch is the last refuge of morons.

In 2006, Carlos Delgado was 12th in MVP voting. In 2008, his stats almost exactly mirror his 2008 stats. Twelfth in MVP voting sounds about right to me:

"That's why Carlos Delgado will not be the National League MVP, even though he should be.

The numbers don't work for him. With a .261 average, he doesn't crack the league's top 50, and it's way shy of even his Mets teammates Jose Reyes (.300) and David Wright (.291).

His 103 RBIs is impressive, sixth in the league. But it's three fewer than Wright.

Thirty-five home runs is good enough for fourth in the NL. But, heck, Alex Rodriquez has 33 and nobody is touting him for most valuable anything.

Too bad baseball doesn't keep one stat I'd love: clutch hits."

This is very easy to do yourself, if you really want to. Go through the box scores and put a tick mark next to the clutch hits. I'm quite certain Delgado has less clutch hits than this guy thinks. With an overall .261 batting average, I'm guessing Delgado has also made a ton of clutch outs.

As for the idea that ARod isn't valuable at all, Delgado is batting .276 with runners in scoring position and ARod is batting .274 with runners in scoring position.

The resurgent Mets are a good storyline. Delgado is a fresh face among MVP candidates. Utley's 25 first-half homeruns are so first half.

Baseball is played in April, May, and June.

"You know who the legitimate NL MVP candidates are after Albert Pujols? No one."

It's astonishing to witness the sudden, mindless support for Carlos Delgado.

Every stat that mentions what Delgado has done in the past 60-something games just highlights how little he accomplished in the first 80-something games.

The only roundabout argument I can make for Delgado's MVP candidacy is that Delgado's first-half debacle led to the firing of Willie Randolph and the firing of Willie Randolph propelled the Mets into first place.

How ya gonna trade him?

"When this season started, Robinson Cano stood as one of the best young players in the American League. Five months later, he is one of the most disappointing. In reading the comments on the blog, many people want him traded.

This, I think, would be a mistake on several fronts.

You should never trade a player when his value is decreased. Cano, at the moment, is a second baseman hitting .268 with a .304 OBP and a tendency to take plays off in the field. What do you think you’re getting for him? It’s not Casey Kotchman."

Cashman deserves serious heat for Cano, Melky, Hughes, and Kennedy. Pavano and Igawa, too, obviously.

It doesn't matter if other GMs wanted Pavano. It doesn't matter if bloggers (and John Sterling) thought Cano was going to be the next Rod Carew. It's not their job to properly evaluate talent for the Yankees.


"If the Yankees don’t have somebody willing to put the hammer down, get somebody who will. In any sport, the manager or coach has one primary duty: Get the players to play hard. The rest pretty much takes care of itself."

Well, I'll be damned. I agree completely.

But it should be pointed out that Torre would not have put the hammer down, despite the charming anecdotes about Larry Bowa.


"He’s 25, he’s a work in progress. His career is at a point where it could go one way or the other. I think the Yankees should stick with him because there is greatness to be had."

I don't know about that. I just think the pitchers have learned that he swings at everything and he refuses to adjust to the new strategy. Yes, that speaks largely to his overall laziness, and, yes, he should get his butt kicked.

But what are you going to trade Cano for at this point?

A Steiner Sports certified Steve Sax autographed baseball?

Ladies and Gentlemen, the clutchest player in the major leagues ...

Jose Lopez.

That is just perfect.

Yes, Jose Lopez's inspiring clutch play will probably propel the Mariners into the Wild Card race in the last month of the season.


Albert Pujols, The Best Hitter In Baseball, is middle-of-the-pack. -0.17.

Albert Pujols is not clutch in 2008

Uh huh. That makes a whole lot of sense right there.

You know who's more clutch than Albert Pujols?

Fred Lewis. Batting .283 with 9 HRs and I've never heard of the guy.

You know who else is more clutch than Albert Pujols.

Yunel Escobar. Batting .282 with 8 HRs. Not the worst player in the Universe, but not exactly .363 with 30 HRs.


Now, I will list the bottom twelve, from lowest to highest:

ARod
Dye
Utley
Ludwick
Atkins
Beltre
Howard
McCann
Thome
Loney
Millar
Huff

I'd say about seven of them will receive MVP votes.


If you care to take a gander at the full list, you'll see a statistic that reveals little. Basically, a random dispersal of the players.

Milton Bradley and J.D. Drew are -1.00 while David DeJesus is +.98.

If you'd prefer DeJesus with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, be my guest.

If that's what you decide, you simply don't understand How Things Work.

Statistics are fun.

There's really no way for me to discuss this without sounding like an arrogant jerk. But this is simply an unacceptable statistical analysis:

"When analyzing how 'clutch' a player truly is, sabermetricians turn to a statistic called WPA, or Win Probability Added, that calculates how many wins a player added to his team by giving more credit to important situations. Fangraphs.com comes up with a 'clutch' score by comparing WPA with WPA/LI – Win Probability Added with the Leverage Index removed, i.e. making all at-bats equal, regardless of the situation."

The fundamental flaw here is that you're comparing a player to himself.

To wit, ARod in 2008:


Overall in 2008, ARod's "clutch"-weighted measurement is 0.27, which ranks 93rd.

Overall in 2008, ARod's measurement is 2.91, which ranks 18th.


Neither of these rankings are particularly stellar, but the "clutch" measurement actually subtracts the second measurement from the first.

So, ARod is punished for being good.

If ARod hit .175 with the bases empty and .250 with RISP, then he'd be "clutch," according to this flawed measurement.


I'd love to see the full list.

I'll bet quite a few MVP candidates are in the lower half of the list -- Pujols, Wright, Hamilton, etc. -- they hit too good in the first inning or when their team is winning by ten runs. In other words, they hit too good when it the situation isn't "clutch," whatever "clutch" means.

(I'll tell you, when I just saw a game where the Yankees almost blew a 9-2 lead, I think every run is an important run.)

The guy who leads the list -- the "clutchest" player in baseball -- is probably some stiff like, I dunno, Gerald Laird.

I can guarantee it.

Tadahito Iguchi is the clutchest player in baseball because he has a few well-timed hits in the ninth inning and bats .210 in innings one through eight.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS does not like baseball.

I thought the game was very intriguing from beginning to end:

"Both underachieving teams began the final month with double-digit deficits in their divisions.

Perhaps the only intriguing moment happened in the second inning when Ivan Rodriguez came to the plate for the first time against the Tigers since they traded him, and the catcher was greeted with a standing ovation. He acknowledged the fans by taking off his helmet and waving to the sold-out crowd."

ARod with three at-bats with the bases loaded. Two hits, three rbis.

STORYLINE: ARod batting with runners on base? Yawn. This has received more ink that Hurricane Gustav.


Cano making two good plays in the field ... including the first diving stop I've ever seen him make which led to an out ... followed in the very next inning by another tank job on a sure double play.

STORYLINE: What's the deal with this guy? Is it just talent that can never be harnessed? Is it really possible that he's trying hard, but it just doesn't seem that way?


Yankees winning by six in the second inning and Magglio Ordonez is batting with bases loaded and two outs.

STORYLINE: How much did Ordonez drop off after last season's MVP-caliber campaign?


Phil Coke throws a shutout inning and strikes out two in his first major league inning.

STORYLINE: Can Coke step up and fill the Yankees' need for a lefty pitcher?


Crowd's reaction to Ivan Rodriguez's first at-bat?

Personally, I did not care too much about that.