Ere the other side you see
---- Tim The Enchanter
Word out of New York City is that long-time Yankee (and briefly, Astro) lefty Andy Pettitte will announce his retirement on Friday. No, really this time!
Pettitte, third all-time among Yankee pitchers in victories for the franchise (though including his Astro years, he tops Whitey Ford in career wins, 240-236), has endured some reputation-damaging PR over the past few years; he will get some Hall of Fame support, certainly -- pitching in New York and being MLB's all-time leader in post-season wins, even in the modern three-tiered playoff system -- will do that for a guy.
But does he belong in the Hall of Fame? There's a poll to that notion on ESPN SportsNation right now -- for the record, I am a huge Pettitte fan, but voted "no" -- and I am genuinely shocked that no less than 61% (sixty-one percent!) of the first 1800 or so votes cast came down on the side of Pettitte to Cooperstown.
Andy Pettitte, Hall of Famer? Really? A sturdy lefty with 240 wins, a 3.88 career ERA, 2251 K, a caeer ERA+ of 117, top five "Most Similars" are a NYC-heavy Boomer Wells, Kevin Brown, Bob Welch, Mike Mussina and Doc Gooden -- sounds to me like a really solid "Hall of Really Good" case, but not so much for a Cooperstown bust. Over to you, valued Bauxites ...
Thanks to valued baseball scribe Tom Tango's excellent The Book website for this head's up ... Rob Neyer, the finest feature writer/columnist ESPN.com has ever had, will be leaving his long-time home tomorrow for a new venture TBA. It's not precisely "Pujols to leave Cardinals" level news, but for baseball web-writers everywhere, it's durn close!
Neyer's note to fans and readers follows. Tango's note is here.
A Quick Programming Note ...
By Rob Neyer
It's been awhile since we built an all-birthday team here on Da Box, but if we were ever going to get back into it, today would be tthe day. You see, perhaps the most influential shared birthday in MLB history is today, Jan. 31.
How so? Well ...
With two weeks to go to pitchers and catchers reporting we need some baseball to satisfy our needs until the 2011 season gets underway. So in that light I have some video, some pictures and some notes to divert your attention until things really get going.
First the notes. I touched base with a few of my Blue Jay front office connections this week and here are a few of the things I heard:
So many questions
Still left unanswered
So much I've never broken through......
I don't know much
But I know I love you
That may be
All there is to know
Over the weekend, with the freezing weather in Ontario, I took the opportunity to clean out some old files while finding time to look at my newly arrived Baseball Forecaster. Some of the stories and clippings I looked at reminded me of how little we know about baseball performance, one of the reasons the game appeals to us.
At this time last year there were people calling for Jose Bautista to be traded, and expecting that Randy Ruiz would be on the bright spots for the 2010 Jays. Aaron Hill and Adam Lind were going to carry the Blue Jay offense and Brett Wallace was waiting in the wings.