Magglio Ordonez and Moises Alou

Magglio Ordonez officially retired on Sunday and the Detroit Tigers threw a little party for him before the game. The celebration was later credited by Jim Leyland as part of Justin Verlander's problems against the Yankees in the game that was played after the ceremonies were over. Those two facts were probably fitting as they tied the career of Ordonez in a bow. Magglio Ordonez could flat out rake when he was healthy, which wasn't often during his last few years. And he became far known for being a bit of a contract albatross than for the terrific player he was in his career.

Let's be clear up front. Magglio Ordonez was not a Hall of Fame caliber player. He was a less than stellar outfielder who had magic in his bat. That bat had one last great moment against the Yankees in the 2011 ALDS. That series, Ordonez's last gasp as a player, showed that he played four games and came to the plate twelve times. He delivered five hits and a walk for a .455 series average. It was a fitting cap for Ordonez's career.

But that was just the fitting cap on a career that had some terrific memories. If not for the amazing season A-Rod had for the Yankees in 2007, Ordonez would have been the MVP. He had 216 hits that season and won the batting title with a .363 batting average. He hit 28 homers that season and an incredible 54 doubles. He drove in 139 runs. It was by far his best seasons. But he had other great ones too.

Ordonez batted over .300 in ten of his fifteen seasons. He drove in over 100 runs, seven times. He was an All Star six times and won three Silver Slugger Awards as the best hitter at his position (right field). Magglio Ordonez had a terrific career. 

Whenever a player of his caliber retires, the kid inside this baseball writer wants to pour over the numbers like the backs of baseball cards. And one of the cool features at Baseball-reference.com is at the bottom of each player's page that lists other players that have played the game that are comparable to the player that you are looking at. This helps give a frame of reference to what kind of player we are looking at.

When it came to looking at Magglio Ordonez for this piece, looking at the "comps" was particularly intriguing because Ordonez's closest comp was Moises Alou. After staring at those two player pages over and over, the comparisons are amazing. This was basically the same player. One played his career as a National League player and the other in the American League. One was a left-fielder and the other a right-fielder. Both were similarly drubbed for their defense. B-R gives Alou a -10.8 dWAR for his career and Ordonez a -11.8. But they were the same offensive players.

Here is a comparison of their final statistics.

Career slash line:  Ordonez: .309/.369/.502.  Alou: .303/.369/.516

OPS+:  Ordonez: 125.  Alou: 128

Homers:  Ordonez: 294.  Alou: 332

Doubles:  Ordonez: 426.  Alou: 421

Total Bases:  Ordonez: 3506.  Alou: 3629

Hits: Ordonez: 2156.  Alou 2124

Baseball-Reference.com does another thing that is interesting. For each player, the site breaks down their average season, based on 162 games played. The numbers get really close when looking at those breakdowns:

Ordonez: 679 plate appearances, 612 at bats, 94 runs, 189 hits, 37 doubles, 26 homers, 108 RBI, 8 stolen bases 57 walks, 76 strikeouts.

Alou:  680 plate appearances, 587 at bats, 93 runs, 178 hits, 35 doubles, 28 homers, 107 RBI, 9 stolen bases, 61 walks, 75 strikeouts.

They were virtually the same player. Both great, both lost time due to injuries. Both were not great enough for a long enough period of time to accumulate the counting stats needed for the Hall of Fame. 

Magglio Ordonez was a terrific player for the White Sox and the Tigers over the years. He should be celebrated by both organizations and their fans. He was a terrific batsman and it was a pleasure to watch him during his career.

Choosing Sides in the Jared Weaver Meltdown

Yesterday featured the dream match up of Jared Weaver of the Angels versus Justin Verlander of the Tigers. Both pitchers are pitching for division contending teams and both have large personal stakes in a very tight Cy Young Award race between themselves and C.C. Sabathia of the Yankees. The game will go down as one of the most talked about for weeks. This writer's wife saw the replays so often yesterday that she was tired of them by the evening. The Baseball Tonight folks on ESPN gave their opinions of what happened. But were they right?

Perhaps you didn't see what happened, so perhaps this post should start with a recap of the events. The two great pitchers matched zeroes for the first two innings. In the bottom of the third, Magglio Ordonez of the Tigers hit a mammoth shot to left. There was no doubt about the distance of the shot, but there was doubt about whether it would stay fair or not. Ordonez stood and watched for a few seconds to see if it would stay fair. Weaver, who is an emotional competitor, thought that Ordonez was showing him up by "admiring" his homer and wasn't happy about it. He could be seen boiling mad in the dugout after the inning.

Meanwhile, Verlander was cruising and on track for yet another no-hitter. While all this was simmering, no Angels could touch Verlander's stuff yesterday. Verlander kept his no-hitter intact through the top of the seventh. The inning before, Weaver had gotten Ordonez to fly harmlessly to center. Ordonez was running back to his home dugout and passed in front of the pitchers' mound since the Tigers' dugout is on the third base side. Weaver had words for him and Ordonez responded in kind. The bottom of the seventh was when things got interesting.

Weaver got the first two outs rather easily with a strikeout of Victor Martinez and a fly out by Jhonny Peralta. Carlos Guillen came up and he hit a bomb to right and flicked his bat away and strolled and hopped toward first while facing Weaver. It was an "in your face" move by Guillen. The two faced each other briefly and then Guillen circled the bases. As you can see in the video, the Angels' catcher had something to say to Guillen after Guillen touched home plate. Guillen could be seen pointing in the dugout, probably at Ordonez.

Even while Guillen was circling the bases, the home plate umpire could tell that a problem was developing and took the unusual move of going toward the pitching mound to talk to Weaver. First, the umpire could never tell if Guillen touched home plate since he wasn't there. Secondly, the umpire's action seemed to draw more anger out of Weaver than do anything to settle him down. Once the umpire saw and heard what Weaver had to say, the umpire warned both benches about retaliation and that he wasn't going to allow anything to happen. But it did anyway.

The next batter was poor Alex Avila, the Tigers' catcher. Weaver's first pitch to Avila sailed high and in the general vicinity of Avila's head. Weaver was immediately ejected and then started screaming at the umpire and at the Tigers' dugout, something he didn't stop doing until his coaches pushed him into the tunnel. Since the highlights fuzzied out his mouth, the language must have been something, which was great for all those kids in the stands behind the Angels' dugout.

The Angels retaliated in a different way than another beanball the very next half inning. With Verlander still nursing a no-hitter, Erick Aybar tried to bunt for a base hit. Verlander threw it away for an error and Aybar was on second. Verlander got the next guy out via a ground out, but then Peter Bourjos hit a grounder to third and Aybar was hung up between third and home and a rundown ensued. The rundown was totally botched by the Tigers and ended with Verlander dropping the throw at home and Aybar scored. Bourjos ended up at second. Verlander struck out the next batter but then Maicer Izturis singled to left to score Bourjos and the game stood at 3-2. Izturis' hit was the only one Verlander would allow and it shouldn't have even happened because there should have been three outs by then. Verlander would strike out Torii Hunder on a 101 MPH fastball and the game would end at 3-2.

So now you have the facts and it's a matter of determining the moral maze of the events. First, was Magglio Ordonez trying to show up Jared Weaver? No. Ordonez was simply trying to determine if the ball would stay fair. It happens many times a week when a player knows he killed the ball and the only thing to find out is the status of fair or foul. Weaver blew a gasket for nothing. Weaver's subsequent words for Ordonez in the sixth inning shouldn't have happened because Ordonez hadn't done anything demonstrative in hitting his homer.

Carlos Guillen's actions after he hit his homer are understandable to a degree. A team is like a family and that family is strengthened further by the fact that the Tigers have several Venezuelan players (Guillen, Ordonez, Martinez and Cabrera). In a family, if someone threatens one member of a family, then that person threatens the entire family. All of that aside, Guillen's actions weren't professional. Any member of the Yankees or the Red Sox would have known that the homer itself was retribution enough and would have just put the head down and circled the bases. Guillen certainly stirred the pot and put Avila's life in danger with his actions.

Weaver must accept blame here. First, he overreacted to the homer Ordonez hit and should have kept his mouth shut in the sixth inning. Secondly, if you want to strike back at Avila, you don't aim for the head, you aim for the backside. Throwing that pitch toward Avila's head is akin to assault with a deadly weapon and something serious could have happened to Avila had Weaver been on target. There is no way that Weaver should avoid a suspension for his actions. Plus, he's got to remember the family aspect of the fans in the stands. All players should and should clean up their language. There is no excuse for that kind of display and cussing.

As for the bunt in the eighth, Verlander was right. It was a bush-league play. Say all you want about the score being 3-0 and needing to get base runners. John Kruk and Barry Larkin were fine with the play, but this writer is not. Turn the shoe around and see how Weaver would react if he had a no-hitter going and a team did that against him and the Angels. The Angels would have been just as piqued. If Kruk and Larkin were still playing and someone did that to their pitcher, they would be angry, plain and simple. This writer doesn't believe that bunt would have occurred if the Carlos Guillen homer had gone differently. Guillen's antics most certainly led to the bunt attempt.

So that's this writer's take on the events that happened Sunday in Detroit. What's your take? Is this writer wrong? The comments are always open.

Comebacks to Root For

Every baseball season is a clean slate full of unwritten stories waiting to unfold. We've all been fascinated by the off season market as teams jostle for position to compete in the unwritten season. Some teams have made moves that already have pundits placing them in the 2011 World Series. But even with all kinds of new talent in place, a lot has to go right for these few blessed teams. One small story among all the other off season stories caught the Fan's interest. The story stated that the Yankees signed Mark Prior to a minor league contract. As soon as the eyes read the name, an emotion was palpable: "Golly, I hope he can make it back to the majors." That sentiment led to thought on others that are out there we could root for to make it all the way back to the majors. Here are a few the Fan could come up with:

Mark Prior - The name alone speaks of unfinished work. He was like Stephen Crane, who died at the age of 26 and a genius was lost. Mark Prior was a pitching genius. Through his one big season and the sputtering of other partial seasons, Prior still ended up with a lifetime mark of over ten strikeouts per nine innings as a starter. By the time he last pitched in the majors (2006), he went 1-6 and still finished with a lifetime mark of 42-29. Prior pitched an inning in Triple A in 2010, the first inning of any kind in organized professional baseball in four years. It was a scoreless inning and he struck out two batters. Is the talent still there? Can he ever make it all the way back? The Yankees must think so because they signed him to a minor league deal. He's only 30 years old. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Brandon Webb - In the four years between 2005 and 2008, Brandon Webb won 70 games and lost only 37. During that span, he won a Cy Young Award and came in second twice. 2008 ended a five year run of never missing a start. He led the league in starts in two of those years, innings pitched once, batters faced once. He had a two year run where he was over 150 in ERA+ and in 2008, it was 141. And just as suddenly as could be, it was over. He pitched six innings in 2009 and none in 2010. Now he's ready to return and news outlets are reporting that he is near to picking a team to play for. Several are interested. Let's hope he can find the right home and resume was was turning out to be a beautiful career.

Jake Peavy - Last the Fan heard, Peavy will not pitch until at least June. Let's hope that is optimistic. Peavy won 19 games in 2007 and won the Cy Young Award. He was again very good in 2008 but his record did not reflect his excellence. He was traded to the White Sox in 2009 for the stretch run and went 3-0 before again coming up injured. He pitched 17 games in 2010, but we hardly noticed. He showed an excellent K/BB ratio despite mixed results and then he was shut down for the season. He makes a lot of money, so he's all set there. But we'd love to see him come all the way back to the front line pitcher he once was.

Dontrelle Willis - This, besides Mark Prior, is probably the most pie-in-the-sky wish of them all. The trevails of Dontrelle Willis are well known and don't need to be repeated here. He has signed with the Cincinnati Reds and maybe the National League and some miracle can happen and we can all see Willis smile that wonderful smile again.

Pedro Martinez - Talk about your long shots. Pedro pitched for the Phillies down the stretch in 2009 and was destroyed by the Yankees in the World Series. He hasn't pitched since except for the WBC last year. We'd love to see him come back and twirl those whiffle ball sliders just a few more times.

Magglio Ordonez - Had to get a non-pitcher in here. Mags was having a great season last season when he was lost for the remainder of the season with a major injury. The Tigers have signed him to a $10 million deal, so you would think they expect to play him regularly for that kind of money. It would be nice to see him pick up where he left off. He is 36 and if he can have another productive three years, he becomes a marginal Hall of Fame candidate. Great career numbers we'd love to see added upon.

Chris Capuano - He was really a great comeback story last year. But he's a free agent now and it would be great to see him continue his comeback and get a full year in with someone. Excellent peripherals in his 60+ innings last year.

Manny Ramirez - Can the Fan write a piece like this without including Manny? A large percentage of baseball fandom would be happy if Manny went away like Barry Bonds, but this Fan would love to see one more big season from the goon.

***UPDATE***  Just thought of another one: Chien-Ming Wang

Some Free Agent Sleeper Picks

We have all heard the big names of this 2010 free agent class. Everybody knows about Cliff Lee, Adrian Beltre, Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford and Victor Martinez. Jorge de la Rosa's name has been bandied about. Carl Pavano is a free agent. Those two might get some buzz. But who are the sleepers? Who are the free agents that will surprise us with good seasons to help someone in a pennant run? Who will be 2011's Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora, Adrian Beltre and Colby Lews that out of nowhere gets picked up and helps a team drive toward the playoffs? You know they're out there. Huff and Mora are free agents again. Here are a few who could have an impact:

Lance Berkman: Berkman has been slowed a lot by injuries the past few seasons. His body seems to be brittle at times which has made him age faster than some. But this writer still believes he can really help someone. Berkman would prefer not to be a full time DH, which limits him to the National League. But there are plenty of teams he can help. If Adam Dunn goes elsewhere, Washington is a possibility. The Bay Rays need a first baseman and a DH. This Fan thinks Berkman is going to have a very good season.

Lyle Overbay: The Fan has picked on Overbay in the past. He was over paid with the Blue Jays, but he has some nice qualifications. He gets his fair share of walks, still has pop in his bat and plays a pretty decent first base. He is an excellent option for the Bay Rays to replace Pena. He would easily be an upgrade over what Pena has done the past couple of years. Overbay can help somebody at the right price.

Magglio Ordonez: This Fan isn't sure most people know how good this guy's career line is. His career slash line: .312/.371/.511. A lot will depend on the health of his ankle and how much he is willing to take a pay cut from his far out contract of recent years. But he could help the Padres, the Pirates and the Athletics. He might have one more good year left in him if he is in the right situation.

Manny Ramirez: Yes, the Fan knows. He really does. But what if his down season last year really was due to injury? What if he could land in the right place and hit somewhere near three quarters of his lifetime averages? Couldn't that help somebody? Who knows if anyone wants the potential headaches, but Manny just might not be done.

Brandon Webb: Webb has missed a lot of time due to various injuries. But if he can come back near to his form, he could really help someone. The Twins, with their spacious ball park (somewhat like San Diego) would be an ideal place for him. The Cardinals could probably figure out how to make him effective again. It just seems like Webb will end up someplace and do well.

Kevin Millwood: Yeah, he's scary, eh? But put him in the right situation like maybe St. Louis or Minnesota and Millwood could have a very good season. He'll never be lights out, but he can get you some innings and keep you in the game.

Chirs Capuano: Capuano finally looked healthy last year after several years on the shelf. He was rusty after such a prolonged absence, but looked better as the season went along. In the right situation, Capuano could have a very nice season for somebody.

Vesting Magglio Ordonez

With nearly 40% of the season in the books and a long 60% to go, there has been little ink about Magglio Ordonez this season after much hoopla about the Tigers letting him vest for his unbelievably high salary. In fact, there has been little ink at all about Ordonez. Maybe it might be difficult for some to perhaps admit that he's going to be worth his salary this season.

We all remember his out of mind season in 2007. That season Ordonez has 214 hits including 54 doubles and 28 homers. He drove in 139 runs and scored 116. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was his only year in recent years where his fielding stats were in the positive numbers. Ordonez wasn't as good in 2008 but then again, who could be? He still hit .317 and put up a 126 OPS+. And his fielding fell again into the negative numbers that had been prevalent for a while for him.

2009 was not a good year for Ordonez. He still hit .310, but his power numbers all but vanished and he ended the season with an OPS+ of 109. Sure, that's better than league average, but wasn't close to being worth $17 million. His fielding was also less effective. So the Tigers got a lot of flack for allowing him enough games played to vest his contract for 2010 at $18 million. "Ouch!" said everyone. "What are they thinking?" said the rest. But from the Tigers' perspective, they were fighting for a playoff spot, a fight they lost on the last day of the season. It's hard to fault the team for putting what they thought were their best players on the field. It sure did cost them a bundle though for what ended up being a futile goal.

But this year, Ordonez is having his best season since 2007. He went 3 for 4 on Tuesday night to raise his average to .320. After hitting only nine homers last year good for 50 RBIs, he's already hit eight homers this year and has already driven in 41. His OPS+ is a healthy 135 and according to FanGraphs.com, his current WAR sits at 2.2 and his value produced to this point is $9 million. Remember that we've only played 40% of the season. So at his current pace, he will easily make his contract pay for itself.

And whether it's his health or for some other reason, Ordonez is back doing well in the field. All his numbers are in the positive and he is among the leaders for right fielders in efficiency. Plus, he's already thrown out six base runners.

Time will tell if Ordonez will keep this current pace. But he's protected well by the monster of Miguel Cabrera and Boesch is doing great as well. It doesn't seem beyond any stretch of imagination that Ordonez can finish as well as he sits right now. His health needs to stay good, which is always a concern when a player is 36 years old. But as of right now, he's playing terrific baseball.

Just One of Those Days

Ever have one of those days where the entire day seemed uphill? Where everything you picked up or tried to pick up ended on the floor and every job you attempted had to be done twice or three times to get correct? Yeah. It's been one of those days. Not sure what this post will do to correct things. Surely moods aren't the best moods to write posts from. Heck, that was a lousy sentence with poor construction. See?


As long as things seem more of the dark cloud variety today rather than the silver lining, this post might as well focus on some negative things. Some of them this space predicted long ago and some were just so surprising that it would have been impossible to predict. Either way, there is no joy in reporting on them. They just are what they are.

Let's start with the Cubs. Harden pitched another game on Wednesday and bears no resemblance to the pitcher he has always been before. He lasted all of three innings, walked three and gave up five hits. Granted, the Cubs played shoddy defense behind him and maybe that is the most telling thing about the Harden this year and last. But that can't completely explain how last year he was a combined 10-2 in 25 starts with a WHIP around 1 and 96 hits in 148 innings. This year, he has the same 25 starts and his WHIP is around 1.3 and he's given up 117 hits in 138 innings. That's still pretty impressive except that he only gave up eleven homers last year and has given up 23 this year. Plus, he's only averaged about five and a half innings a start.

For a while, it seemed that by the time Milton Bradley finished the season, his stats would be fairly respectable. But he has gone into another tailspin and is now likely to finish the season below .400 in slugging percentage and below .800 in OPS. Hardly what the Cubs were hoping for. He did manage to play his 123rd game Wednesday night, so that, at least, exceeded expectations.

What about Geovany Soto? He was one of the best catchers in the game last year. This year, he's just a shell of that and his stats in almost every category (except errors) are down this year.

When it is all said and done, it just seems like Lou Piniella is not the right guy for that team. Sure, he has a right to be upset and disgusted with the likes of Bradley and Zambrano. But that's the nature of today's players. Pineilla is a throw back to another era, and people aren't the same as they were then.

There are three teams that fielded starting line ups Wednesday night that did not include a .300 hitter. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Is there something wrong with the water in that middle section of the country?

The Fan was feeling a little sorry for Mike Hampton today after it was learned that he had surgery to repair a completely torn rotator cuff and will miss all of next year. After all, the guy has tried really hard to compete and just can't stay healthy enough to do so. Then the Fan remembered all the money Hampton has made in the game of baseball and the sympathy went out the window. Hey, that's just the way the mood is today.

Speaking of health, Josh Hamilton will probably miss the rest of the year now. If you could have put Hamilton's numbers of a year ago on this year's Rangers team, how many more wins would the Rangers have? Would they still be in the race? As it is, the Rangers have died and Hamilton's season was stillborn from the start. It's hard to root against Hamilton who overcame so much to have a career again in baseball. His fragile health and his embarrassing bar fiasco have put an end to what was a pretty baseball story. Maybe next year.

Jimmy Rollins had an OBP of .287 the first half and .292 the second half. His second half has been more productive as his slugging percentage went from .355 the first half to .490 the second half. But even so, he has only walked ten times in the second half. Ten times. Can the Phillies really get away with a lead off batter in the playoffs who gets on base that seldom?

Earlier in the season, the Fan said that Jason Varitek was done. Comments were to the contrary as he started the year hitting some homers and stuff. But come on. His average is down to .213 and has particularly tanked since Victor Martinez came over from the Indians. He has had a brutal year with base runners stealing all over the place. Varitek's OPS and OPS+ are up slightly from a year ago, but slightly better than awful is still pretty bad.

And yeah, David Ortiz has hit 24 homers and his OPS the second half is .841 but he is still only batting .251 the second half. He is going to finish the season 30 points below last year in average, 40 points below last year's OBP, 50 points below last year's slugging percentage, 100 points behind last year's OPS and at least 25 points below last year's OPS+. And last year was a down year. Just to put things in perspective, Nick Swisher has a better OPS this season than Ortiz.

Incentive clauses are in the news these days. Magglio Ordonez reached enough at bats to automatically pick up his $18 million in salary next year. That's a lot of tamales for what is now a singles hitter. Kevin Millwood's next start will guarantee him $12 million next year. There is a lot of call for the Rangers to shut him down for the rest of the year. They can't. If they did, they would lose to the union and it will cost them that much anyway. And yeah, $12 million is a lot of money for a league average pitcher this year (his best in quite a while too).