Archives › Craig Calcaterra
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Last week Sandy Koufax checked into Mets camp, helping out Oliver Perez. This week he’s in Arizona with the Dodgers: Torre said Koufax is in Arizona to visit family, but he’s expected to soon appear at Camelback Ranch-Glendale, as he did last year, and no doubt will watch Kershaw at work, as he did two…
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Many people have chalked up Barry Zito’s post-gajillion dollar contract struggles to complacency, comfort, wealth or poor character. If you believe what he told MLB.com recently, however, his competitive fire still burn: Barry Zito used to be the main man on the Giants’ starting staff. Despite four years remaining on his seven-year, $126 million contract,…
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You can get straight-up baseball analysis anywhere, but only a handful of websites ask the things I really want to know. Questions like, “if Omar Minaya were a character from ‘The Wire,’ who would he be?” You know who I think it is, it’s Pryzbylewski. Prezbo is clearly a guy, like Omar as a GM,…
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Alex Rodriguez is being pulled into the Tony Galea-HGH mini-scandal that ensnared Jose Reyes last week. Rodriguez acknowledged a few minutes ago that the feds want to talk to him and that he intends to cooperate with their investigation. While this suggests that A-Rod went up to Canada to have his blood spun Reyes-style last…
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Joe Posnanski got off the phone with the Royals’ ticket office and banged out a hell of an essay this morning on Willie Mays, greenies and cheating that flows quite nicely with what some of us were discussing in the Hall of Fame thread this morning: Baseball in Willie Mays time, like baseball in every…
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"Opening day is a month away, and the Mets are already falling apart"
Mar 1, 2010, 1:20 PM EDT
Signs. Portents. An irresistible opportunity for me to get in my recommended daily allowance of Mets bashing: Opening day is a month away, and the Mets are already falling apart. A giant piece of the marquee Citi Field sign came crashing down on Jan. 25 — more evidence for beleaguered Met fans that the sky…
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Would you rather have Matt Cain over Tim Lincecum for the next six years?
Mar 1, 2010, 12:20 PM EDT
ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski starts out his latest column — a transcript of the ramblings of some scout he knows — by saying “Call him Scout X. Big league lifer. One of the best in the business. Has forgotten more about baseball than you and I will ever know.” Of course, Wojciechowski’s writing suggests he doesn’t…
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Having Adam Dunn practice bunting is like having a navy captain practice scuttling a ship. I mean, sure, it’s probably useful that he knows how to do it, but if you ever see him actually using the skill, you’re pretty much screwed anyway.
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Rockies’ manager Jim Tracy is sneaky: Fifth starter Jason Hammel will pitch in the team’s Cactus League opener Thursday, facing the Diamondbacks. Opening-day starter Ubaldo Jimenez will make his first start Friday against the Angels rather than pitch against the Giants that same day. “That is by design,” Tracy said, not wanting to give San…
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Almost immediately after it was announced that the Yankees had signed Chan Ho Park for $1.2 million, Phillies fans went crazy, wondering why one of the only truly effective relievers they had last year was able to get away so cheaply and easily. Park says it was all on the Phillies: “I had a wish…
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Buster Olney runs down the early season schedules for the AL East today, trying to figure out who may get out to a fast start, who may falter early and all of that. Interesting enough, but his premise doesn’t do much for me: Last year, you could look at the early-season schedules and make a…
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Joe Posnanski’s latest tweet: I have been hold on for 10 minutes minutes while trying to BUY KC Royals’ season tickets. Seriously, how pathetic is my life? I’m not sayin’ that Joe Posnanski should get special treatment just because he’s a big famous Kansas City-based sportswriter, but that’s not the kind of publicity the Royals…
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Remember that guy who left your office last year, and when they went and cleaned out his office they found all those files he’d been screwing up for the past couple of years without anyone really knowing it? Yeah, the Mets had one of those dudes: Sources say [Tony] Bernazard, who oversaw minor-league development, was…
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The Merc’s Tim Kawakami thinks he sees something: Once Jeff Bagwell and Roberto Alomar (both born in 1968) get voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame next January, there will be a strange generation gap in Cooperstown . . . For multiple reasons, the players born from 1961-1967 will be markedly unrepresented in Cooperstown for at least…
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Another rite of spring: puffing up the value of some new acquisition. Here’s Astros’ GM Ed Wade on what new third baseman Pedro Feliz brings to the table: Feliz started at third base in the past two World Series with Philadelphia, and also appeared in the 2002 Series with San Francisco. He’s played in 10…
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No pumping iron for the M’s: Just got out of the Mariners weight room down here, which, I have to say, is almost completely devoid of weights. The Mariners, as we mentioned yesterday on the blog, have signed a three-year contract with Dr. Marcus Elliott of Santa Barbara, Calif., founder of the Peak Performance Project…
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It was White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s birthday yesterday. Ozzie Guillen got all sentimental: “As soon as he dies, I’ll get the [bleep] out.” Seriously, though, Ozzie has much love for Reinsdorf: “I think I love Jerry, and he knows it, he’s like a father to everyone here. He’s not just my boss. I think…
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This is somewhat frightening: Unbelievable. Pablo Sandoval hit .330 last year even though he couldn’t see clearly. He’s wearing new glasses now. Pitchers beware. Of course now that he’s had a trip through the league the pitchers aren’t going to give him as much good to hit this year as they did last year, so…
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“I’ll tell you what. Watching him throw a (bullpen workout) is almost like watching Zack (Greinke) throw one. He’s that accurate.” Royals pitching coach Bob McClure, commenting on Kyle Farnsworth’s pitching, apparently moments after taking a giant hit off a crack pipe.
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A tweet from Tigers beat writer Jason Beck: Leyland on Dontrelle today: “Very, very impressed. Nice, smooth delivery. Good command overall. Very good. I’m very happy with what I saw.” Early spring training bullpen sessions are notoriously poor indicators of future performance, but if Willis can pitch a lick this year it would be wonderful…
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FOX’s Ken Rosenthal thinks it’s time to realign the divisions to break up the Red Sox-Yankees hegemony. You gotta go to the interactive map in the middle to see his actual idea for radical realignment, but it breaks down like this: AL Atlantic: Yankees, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Blue Jays; AL Great Lakes: Reds, Indians, Tigers,…
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Baseball executives think Pujols will make $30 million a year. I think he could get more
Feb 26, 2010, 2:55 PM EDT
I did a Pujols post and an Heyman post, so now here’s Heyman on Pujols: Baseball executives agree on a couple things regarding superstar Albert Pujols, the Cardinals and their future together. 1. Pujols and the Cardinals have a very good chance to stay together beyond 2011, when his first nine-figure contract expires, and… 2.…
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Heyman hears things: Carlos Beltran made nice when he got to Mets’ camp, saying that he got over the club’s hardball tactics in the wake of Beltran’s decision to have surgery after Mets doctor David Altcheck approved it but the Mets had yet to give written approval (Mets ownership has threatened to dock is pay…
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We’re living in the dark ages of baseball nicknames. Most players don’t even have one, and most of those who do have dumb ones that rarely amount to more than adding a “y” or “ey” on to the end of their names. In a sport that gave us “Oil Can,” “The Yankee Clipper,” and “Death…
