Phillies should get Brad Lidge

In 2004, Brad Lidge allowed a .542 opponents’ OPS and struck out 14.93 batters per nine innings. Those marks are fantastic, and Lidge may never reach those levels again. In 2006, when Lidge’s ERA rose to 5.28, he still managed a 12.48 K/9 rate, which was the second best in baseball (behind Joe Nathan) among pitchers with 60 or more innings.

Every team could use a player who can strike batters out. Especially the Philadelphia Phillies, whose K/9 in relief is a middling 15th in the majors. Tom Gordon may be a good option as the closer, but it would be great to put Lidge in front of him for when a strikeout is needed. Having lost his job twice to Dan Wheeler, Lidge can be had for a song. Come on, Pat Gillick – pull the trigger.

Is Joe Carter a Hall of Famer?

By request, here’s some analysis about Joe Carter’s Hall of Fame chances. We all know that Joe Carter is Soundgarden, but is he a Hall of Famer?

Joe Carter on Baseball-Reference

Joe Carter has Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Orlando Cepeda among his comparables, and he did have 10 seasons of 100 or more RBIs. Those are about the only ways in which Joe Carter can be considered a Hall of Famer. He also has Ruben Sierra, Jim Rice, and Dale Murphy among his comparables, three of the most overrated players out there. A five-time All Star with four seasons in the Top 10 of MVP voting, Carter relied heavily on the batters ahead of him to pad his RBI totals. Fortunately, Roberto Alomar and Brett Butler, both with fantastic on-base percentages, batted ahead of Carter for a long time.

Given how much of his resume is related to the ability to get on base, you would think that Carter learned something, and managed to get on base at a respectable clip. Not so much: Carter was below the league-average park adjusted on-base percentage in 15 of his 16 seasons. Most seasons, it wasn’t even close, and Carter’s career .306 on-base percentage is putrid.

Carter played exactly 2 of his 2189 career games at positions other than first base, left field, right field, and designated hitter. Though he added almost nothing in the field, Carter did steal 231 bases at a barely acceptable 78 percent rate. That’s his strong point because for a power hitter, his .464 slugging percentage is not terribly impressive.

Joe Carter won two World Series, and hit a season-ending home run. He played 16 years in the Majors and earned in the range of $50 million, all told. But he’s far from a Hall of Famer. There are probably a thousand players, statistically, who deserve to make it before Carter.

Frank Thomas pillow fight commercial

I don’t advocate baseball players beating up children, but there’s a great Blue Jays commercial featuring Frank Thomas winning a pillow fight. The Big Hurt will take a walk, but he’ll never back down from a good pillow fight.

Yahoo MLB Player Ranker

I just noticed Yahoo’s MLB Player Ranker linked off my fantasy clubhouse. Basically, it shows you two players, chosen and random, and you choose the better fantasy player. Then they aggregate the totals and you can view them. Excellent use of “user-created” content. Incidentally, I drew Oliver Perez and Chris Carpenter just now. Guess who I picked?

Opening Day is here!

Baseball is in full swing, and all of my fantasy teams are already in trouble. It was nice to see Adam Dunn swat two dingers for Cincinnati; is this the year he puts it all together? My best team is one that autodrafted: I had nice performances from Hanley Ramirez, Brad Hawpe, and of course, Felix Hernandez (9 IP, 0 ER, 12 K; wow!). Bob Wickman also did something good: earned a win against my Phillies. I guess if they’re going to lose in extra innings, one of my fantasy guys should get the win.

Interesting note: in the Pirates/Astros game, Brad Lidge blew a save and Salomon Torres earned one. Wonder who went first in your draft?

2007 MLB team prop bets

Here are some team over/unders I like for 2007:

DBacks over 79
Brewers over 82
White Sox under 87
Indians over 85
Tigers under 88
Angels under 90
Yankees under 97

Disclaimer: This is just one man’s opinion. Don’t hold me responsible if you gamble and lose.

ESPN’s Fantasy Rock Opera

Here’s a great commercial for ESPN’s Free Fantasy Baseball, a product which I heartily endorse. Though I didn’t draft Carlos Lee on any teams this year, I can certainly relate. And here is a link to the extended version.

The Troy Glaus situation

Troy Glaus, third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, is quite an athlete. In fact, Glaus is such a good athlete that the Jays stick him at shortstop once in a while. They did that eight times in 2006. According to Yahoo Fantasy Baseball’s quite-lenient rules, Glaus is eligible to play in the shortstop slot in 2007. Since a power-hitting shortstop is rare, that increases his value significantly.

I ask you: in what way is Troy Glaus 41 picks worse than Miguel Tejada? That’s how it played out in the RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge. Glaus went with the 2nd pick in the 5th round (16 teams), 11 picks after I took his teammate, Vernon Wells. That’s one I wish I could take back. Wells is on the verge of free agency, so I expect big things this season. But I expect things just as big from Glaus, at a position where Yuniesky Betancourt is a regular, rather than in the outfield, where I can always pick up David Dellucci or Matt Kemp.

Fortunately, the guy who took Glaus also took Brian Roberts four picks earlier, so he’s got other issues.

Is John Olerud a Hall of Famer?

John Olerud on Baseball-Reference

Obviously, John Olerud will fall far short of the Hall of Fame, but he is perhaps one of the most underrated players in baseball history. Just look at his top two comparables: Will Clark and Edgar Martinez, two players who are very underrated themselves and will probably get a small pocket of Hall support.

Olerud was a star from the beginning, skipping the minors and going 3 for 8 with Toronto in his professional debut in 1989. Olerud’s teams made the playoffs eight times. Though he hit in the middle of the lineup, Olerud was terrible underrated because of his perfomance was higher in off-the-beaten-path statistical measures. Though he hit only 255 home runs, Olerud hit 500 doubles, lifting his slugging percentage to a more respectable .465. And though he hit only .295, Olerud placed in the top ten in walks nine times, leading to a superb on-base percentage. Olerud did hit .350 or better twice.

The most underrated aspect of Olerud’s game might be his defense. Though he won only three gold gloves, Olerud was the first baseman for three of the best defensive teams of all-time, the 1993 Blue Jays, the 1999 Mets, and the 2001 Mariners. Quite simply, Olerud made his infield-mates better, to the point where Bret Boone was considered a Gold Glover, and Roberto Alomar went from being a great fielder to a sensational one. As first basemen go, there aren’t many who can match Olerud’s resume.

Olerud will never be considered for the Hall of Famer and probably doesn’t deserve it. But he did play 17 years with great defense and a higher on-base percentage than Tony Gwynn. It’s a great career, even it doesn’t get as much recognition as it should.

Rob Neyer breaks ESPN.com chat record

Yesterday, Rob Neyer chatted on ESPN.com. Boy, did he. When it was all said and done, Neyer broke the ESPN.com chat record, with a time of six hours, 37 minutes. He broke Jeremy Green’s record by over an hour.

Welcome to The Show! On Tuesday, ESPN.com MLB Insider Rob Neyer turned an ordinary day into an historic one, as his usual Tuesday became a record-breaker.

Neyer began his chat with little notion of breaking ESPN.com’s all-time chat record. However, as the chat went along he felt good, and the hours just kept moving along. As Jeremy Green’s five-hour, eight-minute record approached, it was clear that something special was brewing. In the end, Rob easily reached the record and then smashed right through it, finally finishing with 6:37 in the books.

Keith Law, another ESPN.com baseball columnist, regularly chats for extended times, and could eventually threaten Neyer’s record. But for now, Neyer is the champ.