Home Run Derby

Home Run Derby will be represented tonight at 9PM Eastern by Richie Rich (that’s me) in the Sports Blogger Debate Tournament over at Sports2Debate.  We’re about to get spanked in the East Bracket by the guys over at The On Deck Circle.

Head over to Sports2Debate and see what happens.

It’s good to be the King.

And by King, I mean Editor of the world’s most powerful independent sports blog, the mighty mighty Deadspin.

Why? Well, besides being the face and name behind the most influential sports blog, there’s the oodles of fame, cash, groupies, future book deals, and lots of Buzz Bissinger expectorate.

Not good enough for you? How about the fact that you become a freakin’ World Series Good Luck Charm for your favorite team?

Here’s what I mean …

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I enjoy the human element to baseball. 

The decisions the manager has to make.  The mental showdown between a pitcher and a slugger.  Sending a runner from third against a left fielder with a cannon arm.  Unique ballpark dimensions and quirks. The double switch.  A strike zone that varies by umpire. 

It’s what makes baseball different from a lot of sports.

But there’s one element of baseball which should be cut and dried.  Whether a ball clears the fence or not.  And after three umpire screw-ups this week … it’s time for replay for Home Run calls. 

On Sunday … this Carlos Delgado bomb hit the foul pole at Yankee Stadium – that’s a Home Run.  But the umpires called it foul.

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Home Run Derby is undertaking a collaborative effort with our friend and colleague, SkyKing162. 

We will examine all thirty major league teams in 30 days, beginning Saturday, March 1st.  Given that most sites will do the typical predictions of the season, Sky and the Greek are going to try to be a little different. 

I would even think that our friend and Patron Saint, JoBu, would be proud of the work we embark on.

Sky will certainly utilize his passion for baseball and his stat geek affinity, while the Greek will continue to pull his ideas out of his ass while occasionally glancing at baseball-reference.com.  We may even hear from Richie Rich from time to time (although I officially ban him from trying to hijack the Cubs post, that puppy is mine). 

Like I mentioned, we are going to try to be a little different. 

Yes, we will give a win total prediction for each team.  But look for more interesting aspects of the preview: the bold prediction, the best case for a team, and a focus on the stat we hold near in dear to our hearts here at HRD.  That’s right, the swing that is the most cherished in baseball; the one that has resulted in countless catch phrases such as

• “Ding Dong the Pitch is Dead”
• “Dial ‘8′ for Long Distance”
• “Back, Back, Back …”
• “It’s a Goner” 
• “Hey Hey”
• “Holy Cow”
• “You Can Put It On the Board, YES!”
• “Here’s the Pitch, Oh Shit!” (my personal favorite)

Yep, the Home Run will be featured prominently in our 30 Teams in 30 Days previews.

It all begins March 1st, so stay tuned.  We will be addressing teams in reverse order of team Home Runs hit in 2007.

First up … the Kansas City Royals – Quick some one tell ESPN’s Rob Neyer (subscription required)!

Let me start by saying I have no love of David Wright. Too many times he has put me in Home Run Derby Hell, especially with 1 Home Run in his first 100 at bats this season and 3 in his first 150. Yes, I know that he had a great year when it was all said and done (.325 BA, .546 SLG, 30 HR, 107 RBI).

Good for him.

But as I said back on May 10th, he is dead to me, and in Greektown those designations are permanent.

Why do I bring this up? Well yesterday, Richie had a post on why Matt Holliday was going to win the MVP, which of course (in true Richie fashion) he got wrong. In the comment thread, a commenter named “Sky” said the following:

“You know who got screwed? David Wright. And Albert Pujols. Chipper Jones, and Chase Utley, too. Those four were clearly the four most productive players in the NL. All were huge on offense and added a lot of value defensively. If you want to include some sort of voodoo for playing on a playoff team, fine. But that doesn’t mean Holliday or Rollins were better players.”

Sky was kind enough to include a link to his blog, Skyking162, which has a great tag line, “baseball with a hint of lime.” His latest post, and the basis for his comment, uses the statistical measure, total runs above replacement value (TVAR) to determine who was most deserving of the MVP award (David Wright in this case) in the National League.

For those readers unfamiliar with the concept of replacement value in baseball, it tries to measure the production of a certain player, both offensively and defensively, when compared against the strawman “replacement player”, or average player. It comes from the sabermetric world, where the likes of Bill James, Rob Neyer, the Baseball Prospectus and many others who have made a significant contribution the game live.

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David Chalk of Bugs and Cranks and I are engaging in a well intentioned, respectful debate on Barry Bonds, Home Run ball #756 (and its asterisk) and a call to boycott the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

David got the ball rolling with his call for the boycott, which led to my post saying we should boycott Barry Bonds.   After David read my post, he authored another post clarifying his position, stating the real issue here is about injustice.

Well, I thought I could address David’s writing with a simple comment attached to his post, but alas, I have more to say.  

Here is the comment I posted earlier today at Bugs and Cranks …

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First and foremost, Home Run Derby thinks Bugs & Cranks is one outstanding blog, written by excellent writers and passionate fans. 

So it is with the utmost respect that I say I must summarily disagree with their call to boycott the Baseball Hall of Fame and anything related to Marc Ecko (the fashion mogul who bought Barry Bonds’ record 756th Home Run ball that he will brand with an asterisk and send to the Hall of Fame).  

David Chalk begins the uprising with a call to boycott the Hall of Fame.  I am not sure I really understand this one.  The Hall of Fame isn’t complicit in the branding of the ball.  They are merely the recipient of a piece of history - baseball history.  And like it or not, the controversy over Bonds and his steroid use (please note the word “alleged” is purposely missing) is a part – no make that a huge part - of the history of the game, this era, and the career Home Run record that Bonds holds (please note that I am not one of the Bonds haters that refuses to acknowledge his record). 

The Hall of Fame, or more appropriately called the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, is in the business of recording the history of the game of Baseball.  Not just the statistics – but the history.  Barry Bonds will forever be known as the man who broke baseball’s most hallowed record with the help of steroids.  That is his history.

And here is the part that of David’s case that I really disagree with:

“This is The United States Of America.  Baseball is the National Pastime of The United States Of America.  If a man declares his innocence, he is considered innocent until he is proven guilty.  We cannot give that precious right away because someone paid money at an auction, or because other people voted on the Internet.”

People in this country have to stop associating the right of presumed innocence afforded to our citizens in a court of law with the nonexistent “right” that extends to arena of public opinion.  Just because Barry Bonds professes his innocence and he has not been convicted of anything doesn’t mean that I have to suspend common sense and buy into his legitimacy. 

The circumstantial evidence is pretty damning. 

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Gary Sheffield opened his yapper the other day and told us that the reason there’s fewer African-Americans in Baseball is because of the influx of Latin American players who teams keep signing … and then Torii Hunter waxed on the subject and agreed with Sheff that African-Americans would be out of baseball in ten years.

HRD chimed in a couple days ago that it’s simple economics … Let’s find out what other bloggers are saying about it …

The esteemed Hardball Times agrees with Home Run Derby that it’s about the money …

The money trail leads to the answer to Sheffield’s concerns about the increasing ratio of Latin American to African-American in MLB in 2007.

One of my favorite blogs, Our Book of Scrap pined that the Devil Rays and other teams just wasted a bunch of draft picks if Sheffield/Hunter are right …

Boy, I bet the Devil Rays wish they had that kind of information when they drafted David Price with the #1 overall pick yesterday. Figure three years in the minors and this guy is only going to have a six-year Major League career

But my favorite thought on the matter comes from the Drunk Jays Fans …

Considering that, give or take a few million, there is roughly the same amount of African Americans in the U.S.A. as there are Canadians in North America; we have uncovered an even more sinister plot.

MLB hates Canadians more than it hates African Americans.

Both the Hardball Times and Drunk Jays Fans also delve into the diminishing role of Baseball in African-American culture.

Go check them out.

Cubs Manager Lou Piniella is sitting out a four-game suspension. Let’s go around the blogs and find out what people think about it …

Dave Stewart (former A’s pitcher) at Throwing Heat …

Lou Piniella’s four game suspension is ridiculous. Major League Baseball is obviously sending a message to all managers that they can’t come out and protect their team

… a lot of umpires today are arrogant, short-fused, red asses that think they’re part of the show.

Josh Q. Public

Knock it off Lou. It was cute when Earl Weaver did it. It was funny when Billy Martin did it. Now it’s just stupid.

AOL Fanhouse

Is Piniella already out of ideas for what to do with this Cubs team? Lots of people speculated that 64-year old Piniella would be in over his head taking a job like the Cubs job at his age coming off of a relatively stress-free job in Tampa Bay. It’s looking more and more like those people were right.

We’re pretty sure Piniella had this one planned and was just waiting for an excuse to go out there to deflect the scrutiny directed at his lackluster squad of underacheiving millionaires.

Heck, that ump threw him out so quick … it was like he had been told by Piniella before the game that it was going to happen.