seMissourian.com: Blog - Brian Rhodes

That Ol’ Ball Game, it Ain’t What it Used to Be
Posted Monday, May 12, 2008 @ 12:06 am

Noticing any new trends in baseball these days? I am, and I like it. All of a sudden, all at once, baseball is getting younger, and you can see it in a number of different facets of the game. And believe it or not, it looks like it's panning out for a lot of teams.
Take a look at this quick rundown of teams currently excelling—the Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins, and the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays. Yes, those Tampa Bay Rays. Aside from the D'Backs, none of these teams were supposed to be any good this year. Some were projected to start digging their way out of mediocrity (like the Rays), and some were prematurely declared new bottom-feeders of the league (like the Cardinals, according to some). But few were really supposed to be contenders, and yet all are currently exceeding expectations.
So what do these teams have in common? Youth and good pitching. Besides the Cardinals, who skew older thanks to grandpas like Jason Isringhausen (35), Ron Villone (38), and Russ Springer (39), all of these teams are among the 10 youngest in the league, and four of the six are in the top 10 in ERA. Thus far this season, this youth and pitching formula seems key to winning ballgames. Minnesota is currently the weakest at 19-17, but the other five teams are a combined 36 games over .500 at this point in the young season.
I know, I know, I could be committing the eighth deadly sin—overanalysis. But I really think there's something going on here with this trend.
Looking beyond statistics, these same teams have also adopted a strategy of signing one or two big superstars as the centerpieces of the team, then building around them with young, home-grown talent or dudes from other minor league organizations acquired in trades. Many times it ends up being those no-name Double-A or Triple-A guys your team gets when they trade one of their superstars for what seems like nothing. You remember when the Cardinals traded Dan Haren for Mark Mulder? How's that looking now? I know he had made it to the majors, but Oakland fans probably still didn't have any idea who Dan Haren was when they got him, but he showed them who's who and improved his stock enough to eventually draw the eye of the Diamondbacks, who acquired him in another trade to further fortify their young, dominant pitching staff. And then you have Mulder, who's trying very hard to return to the disabled list before the end of his current rehab assignment. Now who's laughing?
Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers used another traditional team-building strategy of signing or trading for as many older, established superstars as they possibly could. The Tigers are performing way below expectations, and many other teams who use similar approaches to building a team (like the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers) are all hovering around .500 (for now). The Tigers are new to this sort of thing, but these aren't the results high-dollar teams like the Yankees and Mets anticipated. Other regular proponents of this strategy such as the Red Sox and Cubs are doing all right, but an irregularly large number of high-payroll franchises are suffering from what I like to call Washington Redskins Syndrome—spend spend spend, and fail miserably.
To put it simply, at this very moment, the old guys are underachieving, and the young guns are blowing everybody away. This got me thinking that maybe there's something to assembling a team of youngsters who essentially "grew up together" in the minor leagues and have that familiarity and camaraderie, as opposed to bringing in a bunch of names from all around the league who might have an edge in talent and experience, but may or may not have clashing egos and other idiosyncrasies that end up hurting the team in the end. And for all I know, I might be talking out of the wrong end, and this trend may end up righting itself by August or September. But for now, it's something to consider.
Or maybe the veterans are just underachieving because they're all off the juice now. Not the most in-depth analysis, but also not completely out of the question.
On top of that, the few remaining ballplayers who were in the league when I started paying attention to baseball—these huge, shining stars of the game—are finally starting to dim and blink out. Future hall-of-fame pitchers Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Randy Johnson will all probably retire within the next one or two years. Also, guys like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Kenny Lofton, Mike Piazza, and even our beloved Jimmy "Ballgame" Edmonds—all big names from the last 10 or 15 years—are all out of the league right now. Is it really time for these legends of my youth to step down? Are we in the midst of a changing of the guard? Maybe it just seems that way to me because these were all names to be respected (and feared) when I was a fascinated youth growing up and learning the game by watching such remarkable icons. Now I'm just waiting for their last descent into the dugout (and for some, their speeches at Cooperstown).
Of course, some of them won't go easily. Instead, reports of possible collusion by the league against guys like Bonds and Lofton have surfaced and are under investigation. Is it so hard to believe that maybe nobody wants these guys? Is it too much for their bloated egos to handle such a thought? Why bother conspiring against these players when they're not worth having in the first place? I know Bonds is great and all, but he's also old, cranky, a clubhouse nightmare, and he'll want $20 million a year.
Really? Is it worth it? I'd rather use that money to sign an army of Brian Bartons than one Barry Bonds, thanks. Not only will they play inspired baseball, they'll also design and build my team a fleet of awesome rocket ships. I'm sold!
(Stats thanks to ESPN.com and FoxSports.com.)
Happy birthday, Mom!

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Sports Spew: Cards-Cubs and BCS Blunders
Posted Monday, May 5, 2008 @ 12:49 am

You must understand my pessimism going into the weekend series against the ever-irritating Chicago "It's gonna happen" Cubs.

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