Pitch Count: Good Or Bad?
by Glenn Dickey
Jul 05, 2006

FEW THINGS seem to rile long-time baseball fans more than the pitch count fetish in baseball. Many of us recall episodes from the past, such as Juan Marichal throwing in excess of 200 pitches in the epic 16-inning, 1-0 win over Warren Spahn. So, what’s happened since then? I see a couple of things:

1) Expectations have changed. In Marichal’s day, good pitchers were expected to throw complete games. Marichal actually had one more complete game than victories in his career, throwing as many as 30 in a season. That was because he knew how to pitch, conserving his energy as he went through the lineup, going for ground ball outs rather than strikeouts, saving his best fastball for the times when he needed it most.

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Here in Seattle, Edgar Martinez used to be the most popular Mariner, that was until Ichiro Susuki arrived
six seasons ago and today there is no better guy
in the lead off position and nobody more popular.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
[Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (July 2) –

1. “BILLY BEANE CAN SPOT A BARGAIN”

Like giving up Jeremy Bonderman for Ted Lilly? Actually, there was nothing wrong with Lilly. It looked like a good deal. Ted was easily the A’s best pitcher in the 2003 stretch drive and in that memorable ALDS against Boston. But Beane inexplicably let him walk away and sign for a bargain $5M for two years with the Blue Jays, where he is currently a very effective third starter behind Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett. Beane filled his spot with the utterly forgettable Mark Redman for the same $2M that Lilly got from the Jays in 2004. Moneyball net to the Athletics: nothing, with Bonderman and Lilly helping to lead the Tigers and Jays forward to possible post-seasons, while the A’s continue to flounder and dissapoint with Beane gems like Esteban Loaiza. Each day we watch Andre Ethier get two more hits with that sweet stroke, we wonder about Beane’s scouting competence and if we will ever see Milton Bradley fulfill the “potential” that has characterized his entire injury-dominated career. We were all excited when Milton first put on the Green and Gold and showed off his exceptional hustle and energy (See my effusive early-season columns). But someone in a well-managed organization also had to pay attention to his evident brittleness. Maybe way back when Beane mentor Sandy Alderson sent Jose Rijo packing to the Reds in exchange for Dave Parker, where Jose would thrive and totally dominate the A’s in the 1990 Series sweep, after Alderson said Rijo lacked a “work ethic,” we should have had some sense of Beane’s ability to evaluate players and “bargains.”

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Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (June 22) – “A.J. Pierzynski is such a jerk.” “Ozzie Guillen is one of the ‘class acts’ in baseball.” “Barry Bonds is a low-life.” “Tori Hunter is really cool.”

Sounds right.

How do you know?

Why is one player a “good guy” and another a “bad guy?”

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I was never in favor of replacing the pitcher for
a designated hitter. I want to say this ‘right off
the bat’ excuse me Marty. But the fact is that
the whole world that plays baseball uses the
designated hitter today. Except…

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (June 19) – It seems to be the current fashion to say that the DH (designated hitter) gives the American League an advantage in interleague play.

Does it? Well, the AL doesn’t need any more advantages than it already has. Take the Designated Hitter away. We’ll all be better off without it.

While you’re at it, give the NL aluminum bats and greenies. And four outs.

Ten of the fourteen interleague series completed yesterday were played in National League parks.

Tell me what you think of Rick’s analysis, agree or disagree?…Marty [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (June 16) – Going to a big league game used to be a lot like watching a magic show.

We saw wondrous tricks – web gems, big flys, 97 MPH heaters, two-out hits – for nine innings and often felt entertained, and even awed, win or lose.

But we didn’t know what happened behind the scenes.

We didn’t know who used the juice. Or who was going on the DL. Or who was leaving us to become a free agent, or when the team was moving.

Comment below and let Rick know what you think…
Marty [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (June 12) – My apologies, Esteban.

I wrote in this column, over and over again, that the A’s made a mistake in acquiring Esteban Loaiza for $22M for three years.

At first, he did indeed look like a lemon. He couldn’t get anyone out with an 82 MPH fastball that wasn’t moving, and went on the DL after four starts.

Loaiza said that he was injured, but that he would be back to pitch effectively for the Oakland Athletics.

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Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter. World Series champions. Yankee gods.

And former A’s.

Few in New York even remember that Maris was an K.C. Athletic first. Or that the “invincible” Yankees of 1927-28 were utterly destroyed by the mighty Philadelphia A’s of 1929.

Our Reggie wears a Yankee cap in Cooperstown. That hurts. At least Catfish stuck with us.

And there was the Berkeley Brawler, Billy Martin. Wanting to be a Yankee for life, he was demoted to the A’s (the Kansas City version). For a New York loyalist, it was the equivalent of a degrading banishment to baseball Siberia.

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Many years ago, in fact it was the 1987 Major League Baseball All Star Game in Oakland,California, Orestes (Minnie) Miñoso told me that “20 years from today, Hispanics will just about domintate in baseball”.
As a kid growing up in Cuba, Miñoso was my favorite player. He played for the Marianao Tigers of the old Cuban Professional Winter League.
What he told me almost 20 years ago in Oakland
is true, it is happening. Miñoso is in his 80s today and lives in Chicago, the city he loves and for the
team he played with the White Sox for most of his career.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]