Kuzul

The Philadelphia Phillies and the Florida Marlins wrapped up a three game set on Thursday at Citizen’s Bank Park on a cool and breezy evening.

The game matched one of the most veteran and experienced teams in the league against a Florida Marlins team full of promising, developing young talent.

Unfortunately for the Marlins, much of this promising, developing young talent may end up being the stars of tomorrow for some other team.

The Marlins have spent most of their existence developing young talent and, just as it begins to ripen, selling it off to big market teams for the fresh fruit of tomorrow. Whether this is because of a small market, an outdated stadium, or an overly-thrifty owner, is anyone’s guess.

What we do know is that the Marlins have cut ties to so many future stars that they make up an entire All Star team, a Florida Marlins Alumni Association of sorts.

All is not lost, though. The Florida Marlins open up a new stadium in 2012, and will then be able to actually afford to resign some of their young developing talent.

Let’s hope, for their sake, that they have any left by the time 2012 rolls around.

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Hey there, Phillies fans, I am not sure if you heard but the Washington Nationals had a young pitcher (I’ve got his name here somewhere) make his major league debut on Tuesday and he pitched pretty well.

The youngster (again, his name in a second) struck out 14 batters in 7.0 innings, throwing a dominant curveball, a fastball that regularly hit 99 miles per hour, and a changeup and slider that were simply baffling.

Now Phillies fans, I’ve sure you’ve heard all about this guy, but what you may not have realized is that he isn’t the only youngster coming up in the NL East division.

Indeed, the NL East has become a veritable hot-bed of young future superstars; unfortunately, they are all playing on teams other than the Philadelphia Phillies.

Let’s have a look at the top ten young superstars-in-the-making in the NL East, including ol’ what’s-his-name.

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Derek Jeter has never hit for significant power, has never been a huge RBI guy, and has finished a season with a slugging percentage over .500 only once. But he has always been able to hit—and hit and hit and hit.

Jeter is currently 178 hits away from 3,000, which means barring something horrible he is going to be the next player to join this exclusive club. This also means that he will have clinched entry into the Hall of Fame, as if that weren’t clinched already.

The question, obviously, is not whether Jeter will get to 3,000 hits, but rather, what other players will get there.

Here are ten.

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Most of the greatest players of all time spent the final year or few years on teams for whom they did not spend their entire careers, and it just didn’t seem right.

Whether it was Willie Mays with the Mets, Hank Aaron with the Brewers, Babe Ruth with the Braves, or Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Eddie Collins with the Athletics, seeing iconic players in some strange team’s uniform is always unsettling, like when your grandfather needs help going to the bathroom.

Guess what? Major League Baseball currently sports a gaggle of such players. Let’s have a look.

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The Ken Griffey, Jr. Era officially ended on Wednesday, June 2, 2010 when the player known as “The Kid” retired from baseball after 22 seasons, 630 home runs, 1836 RBIs, and 1662 runs scored.  Griffey retires with one of the greatest resumes in the history of Major League Baseball.

Read any of the coverage of Junior’s retirement and you’ll begin to piece together the narrative of his career.  Griffey was drafted No. 1 overall in 1988 by the Seattle Mariners out of high school, and made an immediate impact in the major leagues.

He played in the same lineup with his dad Ken Sr. in 1990, the first time that had ever happened. He was one of the greatest players of all time by the age of 30, and despite being ravaged by injuries for most of his career, he was one of the two or three greatest power-hitting centerfielders of all-time.

And he did it all without the help of steroids in an era in a league overrun with steroid abusers.

Except . . . 

Are we willing to say that Ken Griffey, Jr. never used steroids?

Why?

It is incredibly difficult to believe, in this day and age, that any baseball fan would be willing to assume that a major league baseball player did not use steroids simply because his name never appeared on a positive test.

After ten-plus years of “shocking” steroids/PEDs revelations, the baseball-viewing public cannot possibly believe that a mere absence of evidence is evidence of cleanness.

Remember how shocked and surprised we all were when it turned out Jose Canseco, major league baseball’s biggest star in 1988, had been using steroids?  

How about when it turned out that Ken Caminiti had won a Most Valuable Player award in 1996 with the help of steroids?

Remember how shocked, hurt, and confused we all were when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, then Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, then Rafael Palmeiro and Miguel Tejada, then Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, and then, most recently, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, were all busted for using performance enhancing drugs?

It seems to me that, by now, we should have all learned that the fact that a player has yet to test positive, in all likelihood, simply means he hasn’t been caught yet.

Does Griffey Not Fit the Profile of a Steroid User?

Remember, 103 players tested positive in 2003, and so far the only names we know are A-Rod, Manny, Sosa, and David Ortiz. Assuming Bonds, Giambi, Palmeiro, Tejada, and Clemens would all have been on that list as well, that leaves us about 95 players short.

How can we say conclusively that Griffey was not one of those players?

It’s not like Griffey doesn’t fit the profile of a steroid user, because he pretty much does. Griffey’s career has so many things in common with the careers of guys we either know or assume were using steroids that it is almost embarrassing when people pretend not to notice.

We naturally assume that guys like Juan Gonzalez, Brady Anderson, and Nomar Garciaparra, guys who put up conspicuous power numbers before succumbing to a rash of injuries while still in their primes, were on steroids.  

Yet we blindly and willingly assume that Griffey, who couldn’t stay on the field for a full season from the age of 30 to the age of 37, was clean.

We also look at guys like Steve Finley, Luis Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro, Ken Caminiti, and Sammy Sosa, guys who went from relatively light hitters to major power hitters, and assume that they were using steroids (or, in the case of the last three, we know they were).  

Nevertheless, we look at Griffey going from 27 home runs in 142 games in 1992 to 40 home runs in only 111 games in 1994 and we see only greatness.

Then there are guys like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. Both McGwire (in 1993 and 1994) and Bonds (1999) suffered injuries that cost them large portions of seasons, but somehow emerged from them the next season stronger than ever.  We naturally assume, or rather actually know, that McGwire and Bonds mixed steroids into their rehabilitation programs and came back stronger and healthier than before they left.

In 1995, Ken Griffey, Jr., missed almost half the season after breaking his wrist early in the season.  The following season, Griffey hit 49 home runs in only 140 games, then he hit 56 home runs in each of the season subsequent to that.

Again, we see only greatness.

Can we ever assume greatness was untainted?

As for the long list of guys who did things no else had ever done before and then later turned out to have done those things while using performance enhancing drugs, Griffey is pretty much the only one on the list that hasn’t been busted.

Whether it is Jose Canseco’s 40-40 season, Alex Rodriguez repeatedly hitting 50 home runs as a shortstop, or McGwire and Sosa hitting 60 home runs with the regularity that some players hit 30 home runs, never-before-seen exploits seem to have almost universally debunked by the steroids scandal.

So why do we assume that when Ken Griffey, Jr. became the only center fielder, and one of the only players ever, to hit 50 or more home runs in consecutive years, he did it on talent alone?

The only indication we really have that Griffey did not use steroids would be the fact that he never blew up like a balloon, a la Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro, Sosa, Giambi, and just about every other 1990’s Era slugger.

Is that, alone, a basis for assuming that a player spent his entire career without using steroids or some other performance enhancing drug?  Remember, Alex Sanchez tested positive for steroids, and he wasn’t huge. Miguel Tejada also got busted without getting huge.

So, what’s the point of all this?

At this point, it might be good to take a moment to say the following:

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, saying that I have evidence that Ken Griffey, Jr. used any sort of performance enhancing drug, nor am I saying that I even necessarily suspect that he did.

What I am saying is this: Jose Canseco fooled us. Ken Caminiti fooled us. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa fooled us, and made us look bad doing it. Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi fooled us when we already should have had our guard up, and Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez fooled us at a point when we definitely should have known better.

So why, on earth, are we so willing to be fooled again?  Why are we willing to say that Ken Griffey, Jr. spent his career as a clean ballplayer?  By now we should all know that the fact that a player has never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, in all likelihood, just means that he hasn’t been caught yet.

For that matter, it is not necessary to say that Griffey was clean in order to pay proper respect to his career, nor are we required to raise the possibility that he used steroids in order to paint a full picture of his career.

As we remember the career of one of the greatest players of all time, perhaps we should say nothing at all about the subject of performance enhancing drugs. This is a player who retired from baseball after 22 seasons with 630 home runs, 1836 RBIs, and 1662 runs scored.  He was drafted number one overall in 1988 by the Seattle Mariners out of high school; played in the same lineup with his dad Ken Sr. in 1990; one of the greatest players through the age of 30, and one of the greatest power-hitting center fielders of all-time.

He did things that very few other players, either using performance enhancing drugs or not, have never done.  

Isn’t that enough?

We don’t need to make broad, general, and unsubstantiated statements about whether or not he used performance enhancing drugs in order to be able to remember him as a legend.  

For one thing, it just sets us up to be fooled again.  

And for another, his resume speaks for itself.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies face off this weekend in a match-up featuring a bewildering assortment of player related in some way to other players, including Will Venable, Tony Gwynn Jr., Jayson Werth, Scott and Jerry Hairston, and Padres coach Glenn Hoffman.

Nevertheless, with Ken Griffey Jr., announcing his retirement on Wednesday, the era of Major League sons truly comes to a close.

In the last 25 years we’ve enjoyed the careers of several sons of major leaguers, including some of the best players of the generation.

So where does Griffey rank on the list of the Top 20 Sons of Former Major Leaguers of All Time?

Let’s have a look.

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In 18 seasons spent in the major leagues, perhaps Matt Stairs’ most well-known moment came in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform.

Stairs, the former Phillie and current San Diego Padre, is back in Philadelphia this weekend for the first time since leaving the Phillies this off-season.  

Before Friday night’s game the Phillies held a brief ceremony in Stairs’ honor so that he could officially receive his 2009 National League Champion ring and receive an ovation from an adoring Phillies’ crowd.

While Friday night was about honoring Stairs’ role in the Phillies’ 2009 NL Championship, it was Stairs’ performance in the 2008 playoffs for which Phillies fans will remember him forever.

In Game Four of the 2008 NLCS, Stairs came to the plate as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth inning with the Phillies and Dodgers tied 5-5.  The Dodgers brought in superstud closer Jonathan Broxton to face Stairs, and Stairs took him deep for a two-run homerun which ultimately won Game Four and gave the Phillies a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

Stairs remembers the moment fondly.  He suspects that Broxton remembers that moment as well.

“We faced him a couple of weeks ago, and he blew me away.  He’d been throwing 91, 92 to the guys before me, then suddenly he’s hitting 95 against me.”

And so it goes for the most well-traveled hitter in major league history.  There is always someone, somewhere, who remembers something you did to them.

When Stairs came to Philadelphia before the 2008 season, the Phillies were his 11th team, which tied a major league record held by turn-of-the-century catcher Deacon McGuire. When Stairs joined the Padres this season, he took over sole possession of first place.

Ironically Stairs, who spent his entire career being known as rather a heavyset, perhaps even slovenly player, is now in the best shape of his life, having lost over 30 pounds to get his weight down from about 230 (which is his “yeah right” weight) to about 195.

To look at him in a Padres uniform, you might think you’re talking to Brian Giles.

Asked about his weight, Stairs was candid.

“I’m in better shape now than I’ve ever been.  Now, sometimes I’ll just go shag flies in the outfield during batting practice.  I’m seeing things—like my feet—that I’ve never seen before.”

Stairs is also candid about why it was that he joined San Diego this off-season.  The beautiful weather?  The young, talented club?  A chance to play regularly?

“They were the only team that wanted me,” he says with a smile.

Of course, the move has been a good one for Stairs thus far in 2010.  

Though Stairs hasn’t put up the prettiest numbers, the Padres are leading the NL West and currently have the best record in the National League.

Not bad for a team most people didn’t expect to make it out of the NL West cellar.

So why are the San Diego Padres the surprise team in baseball in 2010?  Stairs is quick with his answer.

“Because we don’t have any superstars.”

Stairs points out that the Padres have an incredibly talented pitching staff made up of unassuming guys who are in the early stages of their careers and only just now making names for themselves.  They work hard, eager to prove they belong, and don’t get caught up in some of the things that can bog down teams with more experienced—and better paid —players.

That, and it really helps that the Padres have an absolutely dominant bullpen.  

“We’re playing six inning games out there, because our relievers are dominant during the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.”

As for plans for life after baseball, Stairs eagerly awaits the opportunity to become a hitting coach and, perhaps some day, a major league manager.  

In fact, Stairs said that before he decided to return to the majors this off-season, the Phillies offered him two different minor league manager positions in the organization.  

But he wasn’t quite ready to retire.

And now?

“Well, who knows?” he said. “If I hit .390 for the rest of the season, I’ll probably want to come back.  If not, I’ll be ready to start down the coaching track.”

Whether he retires after the 2010 season and becomes a minor league manager, or decides to extend his record to 13 teams in 2011, Matt Stairs will always have a special place in the hearts of Phillies fans, and will always be welcome in Philadelphia.

Just make sure Jonathan Broxton isn’t in town.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With his latest loss on Thursday, the Kansas City Royals’ Zack Greinke has fallen to 1-7 on the season with a 3.60 ERA.

Greinke, of course, is the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, having gone 16-8 with a sparkling 2.16 ERA and 242 strikeouts a year ago.

So, is Greinke having the worst follow-up to a Cy Young Award season in baseball history?

Maybe, but at this point, he isn’t close.

One of the major sub-plots of Greinke’s season has been the loss of his catcher from his amazing 2009 season. As we take a look at these Top 20 Worst Cy Young Follow Up Seasons, we’ll also take a look at the catchers involved to determine whether a catcher change was a factor each time.

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In an effort to bolster their lineup and make a run at the Phillies in 2010, the Atlanta Braves added third baseman Troy Glaus.  

It is okay to admit it—you saw that the Atlanta Braves added Troy Glaus to the roster this off-season, and you discounted it.  You considered him washed-up, old, and overrated to begin with.  I know I did.

In my 2010 Atlanta Braves Spring Preview I labeled Chipper Jones, Troy Glaus, and Eric Hinske the “Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear of over-the-hill third basemen,” and commented that using the trio as a platoon at both third base and first base could either be very effective or “a hilarious failure.”

Troy Glaus is probably okay with having been discounted by baseball fans this off-season—because it isn’t the first time it has happened to him.  

The American League homerun king at the age of 23 with 47 bombs in 2000, Glaus already looked washed up by the age of 27, missing more than 170 games over two years in what should have been his prime from 2003 to 2004.

It was after playing in only 58 games with the Anaheim Angels in ’04 that Glaus first came to the National League and had an immediate impact—37 homeruns, 97 RBI, and an .885 OPS for second place (albeit 77-85) Arizona Diamondbacks team.

Apparently unconvinced that Glaus could be a full-timer again, Arizona quickly cut bait, shipping Glaus to Toronto in exchange for Orlando Hudson and Miguel Batista.  In Toronto, Glaus essentially matched what he had done in Arizona—38 homeruns, 104 RBI, and 105 runs with an .868 OPS.

Injuries sidelined Glaus again in 2007, and in January 2008 the Blue Jays and Cardinals exchanged washed up third basemen, with Toronto sending Glaus to St. Louis in exchange for Scott Rolen.  In St. Louis, Glaus once again proved that, when healthy, he could still hit—he had 27 homeruns, 99 RBI, and an .856 OPS.

Unfortunately, Glaus missed all but 14 games in 2009, which led to his joining the Atlanta Braves this season in an effort to prove at age 33 what he had to prove at age 26—that he could be healthy all season and be a positive contributor on offense.

Thus far, he has done just that.  After Tuesday night’s victory over the Phillies—which gives Atlanta a game-and-a-half lead in the NL East—Glaus is now second on the Braves in homeruns with nine and first on the Braves in RBI with 40; over a full season, this translates out to approximately 27 homeruns and 120 RBI.

Not bad for a guy who has been “washed up” for much of the last five years.

The question going forward for Troy Glaus is this: is Troy Glaus still a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate?  As discussed in a previous article, I have broken the Future Hall of Famer question into three sub-questions.

1) Would Troy Glaus be a Hall of Famer if his career ended today?

The answer to this question is clearly “no.”  His numbers are inadequate all the way around.

2) Would Troy Glaus be a Hall of Famer if he continued on his expected trajectory?

This is a closer question.  Glaus currently ranks 12th amongst third basemen in homeruns (though he is really playing first base for the Braves this season) with 312.  Ahead of him on this list, however, is an assortment of non-Hall of Famers: Ron Cey, Vinny Castilla, Gary Gaetti, Matt Williams, Graig Nettles, and Darrell Evans.  

Suffice it to say that if Glaus were to play four more seasons and finish with somewhere between 380 and 400 homeruns, he would remain a tough case for the Hall.  Indeed, he would probably be this generation’s Graig Nettles.

3) If Troy Glaus held on long enough to reach some career milestones that don’t currently seem attainable, would he be a Hall of Famer?

Glaus is currently 33 years old.  What if he defied the odds and played until he was 40 years old?  That is seven more years.  What if he were to average 20 homeruns per year for seven more years?  That would bring his career total to about 450 homeruns.

Now tell me—does a career third baseman/first baseman with 450 career homeruns get into the Hall of Fame?

That’s a very good question.

It’s okay to say “no”—Glaus has been doubted before, and he’s come through time and time again.

He’s used to it by now.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Over at BaseballEvolution.com, we have an award we give out each season called “The Dave Kingman Award.” In essence, the Dave Kingman Award rewards the player who does the least with the most.

The award is named in honor of perhaps the most unique power hitter of all time, Dave Kingman.

What made Dave Kingman so unique was his complete inability to do anything other than hit home runs. Power hitters regularly develop an ability to get on base via the walk, whether it is intentional or pitchers simply decide to keep the ball away from those hitters who punish the ball the most. Yet somehow, Dave Kingman managed to avoid getting on base as if he were being paid by gamblers.

Kingman had a life time batting average of .236 and his lifetime OBP was .302. His career high for on base percentage was .343, and his season OBP was below .300 six times. His career BB/K ratio is .333. These are truly atrocious numbers. And in that fateful 1986 season, when he hit 35 HR and finished third in the Majors, his OBP was an abysmal .255. Furthermore, his OPS for that year was .686.

To put that number in perspective, in 2003 Mark Grudzielanek had a .782 OPS and hit only 3 home runs.

What we’ve noticed over the years is that, while no has ever been quite as good at being so bad as Kingman, there have been several “Kingman Clones,” or guys who have come close. Here is a look at the top 10 of them.

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