When is it alright to pay a 248/.296/.396 hitter at least 58 million dollars for seven years?
When he’s Andrelton Simmons, who’s bat is secondary but who’s defense is beyond the realm of mortal man. Yes, the Honkballing shortstop for the Braves may only have played 206 games, but already, he may rank amongst the greatest defensive SS in history. No. Seriously.
Or, if you don’t have time for advanced statistics, just watch these 25 minutes of awesome:
The Caribbean Series is included in the Continuum Baseball Rankings because it’s between the champions of leagues, and usually are primarily made up of players from those countries anyway (the Asian Series isn’t included because the Australian League is full of North Americans on most teams).
So, Mexico won this year’s Caribbean Series, while Cuba’s champion surprisingly came up the rear. So, how did this affect the Continuum Rankings? Well, nothing major, but there were some small moves, such as the Dominican and Cuba switching around.
Go below the jump for it:
Today is my birthday. So, in honor of that, here is the all “Share-My-Birthday” team:
Starting Pitcher: Earl Whitehill, Burt Hooton, Juan Pizarro (can also relieve), Scott Feldman
Relief Pitcher: Dan Quisenberry, Dave Borkowski, Brad Hennessey, Seth McClung, Cy Moore
C: Eliezer Alfonzo, Humberto Cota
1B: Uhhh… Charlie Reipschlager?
2B: Tom Daly, Damaso Garcia
SS: One of the other infielders doing utility-work
3B: Carney Lansford
Outfielders: Al Smith (can also play 3B), Benny Ayala, Charlie Jamieson, Endy Chavez
Manager: Pat Moran
It’s… not the most impressive. It’s hurt by the fact that Babe Ruth found out that he was born on February 6 (he had grown up believing it was February 7 until he finally saw his birth certificate).
Ralph Kiner, who passed away today, was a great player who played for some really bad teams. In his ten seasons, only twice was his team above .500. He never played in the postseason, and only once did he come close- when the 1955 Indians finished three games back of the Yankees in what was Kiner’s final year. He didn’t make the Hall of Fame until his final year of eligibility, and during his time with the Pirates, Branch Rickey held a grudge against him, scapegoating him for the team’s failures in an effort to make it possible to trade him for prospects*.
For those reasons, perhaps it isn’t surprising that when his death was announced, his obituary in the New York Times spent just as much time on his stint as the voice of the Mets as it did on his playing days, which were, admittedly, short.
And this is a shame, as in his ten seasons, nobody else hit more HRs than Kiner, and, what’s more, no World Series-era player with no postseason experience, not even Ernie Banks, had a better OPS for their career than Kiner.
So as you hear people on TV, in print and online talk about his radio days, just remember that he was truly one of the great players of his time.
*Interestingly, when he was finally traded, the Pirates didn’t get any good players back.
Due to their early season opener in Australia, the Arizona Diamondbacks start Spring Training a little early, with pitchers and catchers reporting today!
As I work along on the next Bizarre Baseball Culture, I’ve been distracted by some great baseball articles along the way. Check them out:
Over at Slate: William Edward White was the son of a slave, but he was of mixed race and lived his life as a white man… so does his one appearance in 1879 “count” for being the first African-American major leaguer?
Michael Clair looked at the time Michael Bolton made a softball video. It may well be even weirder than Sammy Sosa Softball Slam.
And, finally, Jonah Keri tries to figure out what is going on with the Orioles.
The next installment of “Bizarre Baseball Culture” remains under construction. I know I said it’d be out today- Tuesday- but I guess I underestimated the time it would take me. Either that, or it was not I who posted that message from the future yesterday, but rather an alternate-universe doppleganger. One of the two.
Until then, here’s a picture from the next installment:
Hello! This is your blogger speaking to you from THE FUTURE to tell you that tomorrow there will be a new BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE involving TIME TRAVEL!
Be excited.
This is at least the third time I’ve posted this, but it’s still funny.
As amazing as it seems, I have never had Russell Wilson of the Seahawks as a “Famous For Something Else” entry. Oh, I had a post in which I put up his minor league numbers, but it wasn’t a “Famous for Something Else”. So, without further ado, Russell Wilson’s minor league statistics:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 21 | Tri-City | NORW | A- | COL | 32 | 143 | 122 | 18 | 28 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 36 | .230 | .336 | .377 | .713 | 46 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2011 | 22 | Asheville | SALL | A | COL | 61 | 236 | 193 | 40 | 44 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 35 | 82 | .228 | .366 | .342 | .708 | 66 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 Seasons | 93 | 379 | 315 | 58 | 72 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 26 | 19 | 8 | 51 | 118 | .229 | .354 | .356 | .710 | 112 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
It should be noted that Wilson has not officially retired from baseball. Oh, sure, he probably won’t ever play again (although he has said he might be interested in hanging out with the Rangers next Spring Training to take BP, after they had picked him up in the Rule 5 draft as a publicity stunt), but he still appears on a Major League organization’s depth chart, if only as a “just-in-case” possibility.
Of course, even if he did want to be a two-sport athlete, it’s highly unlikely that he’d be able to pull it off, and not just because of his career .229 BA. The fact is, it’s more-or-less impossible to imagine an NFL quarterback also playing another sport, given both his importance to his team and how involved the QB is to football’s strategies and tactics. Bo Jackson was a running back- important, but not the type of person who needs to know every play in the book. Same goes for Deion Sanders (who, admittedly, always had the NFL as his higher priority except for when his MLB team was in the playoffs), who while an important part of every defense he was in, was hardly as indispensable as a quarterback is to a NFL team.
The only way I could maybe see it happen would be if the QB was a starting pitcher who only worked early in the week. But even that is a bit of a stretch.
The Baseball Continuum 