Mountain o' Mail

Jason Michael Barker

Before I get to some long-overdue reader mail, I'd like to revisit Wednesday's column in which I blasted those who voted for Frank Thomas, as opposed to Carlos Delgado, in an online American League MVP poll. The same four-lettered sports site ran a similar poll about the National League Cy Young award today, and the results were equally appalling:

Tom Glavine -- 30.6%
Randy Johnson -- 27.7%
Greg Maddux -- 20.6%
Darryl Kile -- 12.3%
Al Leiter -- 8.6%

The results of this poll are disturbing on so many levels that it's hard to decide where to begin. For starters (no pun intended) Glavine leads Johnson despite having an ERA over a full run worse than the Big Unit. Glavine hasn't even been the best pitcher on his own team this season (Maddux has), let alone best in the NL.

Conspicuously absent from the list are Kevin Brown and his 2.63 ERA, good for second in the National League. Sure his 12-6 record isn't impressive, but he's only allowed 217 runners to reach by hit or walk in 216 innings, and is it his fault the Dodgers haven't scored him any runs? Twice in September he worked seven shutout innings without picking up a "W," and only once all season has he allowed more than four earned runs in a start.

Back to Glavine and Johnson -- it's trendy these days to say Glavine deserves the award because Johnson has "struggled" since the All-Star break. He's been so bad, in fact, that his 3.10 ERA over the second half of the season is better than Glavine's 3.61 mark over the course of the entire season.

And now... the mail. Terry in Kansas City writes:

I enjoy your pieces on the rookie watch, under whatever name. And tell your editor that Griffey does too still play in the Circuit -- just in those funny inter-league games.

In the AL, if you're talking about Mulder and Zito, you should also mention in passing Kansas City's 23 year-old Dan Reichert, with 134 innings pitched and a 3.96 ERA. Until Ankiel pitched a couple great outings across the state for the Cards, while Reichert lost sight of the plate, the two had virtually equal ratings under most sabremetric analyses.

Thanks for the heads up from KC, Terry. Reichert's ERA currently sits at 4.26, as he's been roughed up a bit since Terry first wrote in. As to why he hasn't appeared in my rookie watch to this point, he had a couple of things working against him, the first being that he started the year in the bullpen which meant I wasn't paying very close attention to his exploits. The second is that I think I might have seen the M's shell Reichert last season, which probably unfairly biased me against him.

I'll keep my eye on him from here on out. But first, Chris chimes in on the hometown nine:

I definitely agree that Piniella has his shortcomings as a manager, at least when it comes to the Mariners. I think we need someone who can break in rookies without sacrificing short-term goals (i.e. winning now). If the Mariners had had that, we might still have Jose Cruz, Jeff Nelson, Jim Mecir, Derek Lowe, Jason Varitek, etc., etc., etc. Think the Mariners would be doing a little better with those players?

Well Chris, if the Red Sox had never traded Babe Ruth they might have won a few World Series titles...

All kidding aside, I'm sure the M's would like to have those guys back. Given the state of their bullpen in 1997 I felt trading Cruz was justified, but the return (Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric) certainly wasn't. Mecir was a throw-in when he was traded to the Yankees and wasn't thought of as a loss at the time. Trading Nelson looked bad then and in retrospect, but he's made some disparaging remarks this season about Piniella's handling of pitchers, which lead me to believe he wouldn't have been around forever.

As for Lowe and Varitek, it's hard to blame Lou because all indications are that Woody Woodward panicked near the deadline (how else can you explain Heathcliff Slocumb?). Of course, if Piniella had a better handle on his bullpen, Woodward might not have panicked in the first place. Chris continues:

Who do you see as a good fit for the Mariners? I used to think Alou would be good, but now I'm not sure. His offensive philosophy seems somewhat offensive. Do you think Dierker would come here if the Astros fire him?

Alou's offense offensive? Good one. The two names that come to mind are Davey Johnson and Jimy Williams, as GM Pat Gillick has worked with both in the past (Johnson in Baltimore, Williams in Toronto), and both seem to bring a nice balanced approach to playing youngsters and veterans. I think Williams will be out of Boston after the year, but Johnson's Dodgers have been playing well of late, perhaps well enough to save his job.

Finally, an interesting note from Dawson:

Subject: My dad is Bobby Valentine?
How dare you criticize my dad?

Well Dawson, if that is your real name, I think maybe you mistook my position on your dad, er, the Mets' manager. I did say that he seems to get the most out of his players, and I also commended the Mets (and thus Valentine) for understanding the value of walks. And although I didn't mention this before, I think he's done a good job managing his bullpen, particularly last season when he transitioned closers from John Franco to Armando Benitez, keeping both (seemingly) happy and certainly effective.

Will another trip to the post-season be enough for Valentine to keep his job? Personally I think he's the best skipper the Mets have had in some time, and it's hard to argue with what he's accomplished over the past couple seasons. They do say winning cures all ills, but when you're dealing with Major League egos and a fiery personality like Valentine you just have to wait and see.

Jason Michael Barker waits patiently by his email inbox for his faithful readers to send him such tidbits as they see fit. Why not throw him another bone at jmb@strikethree.com?