Daily Archives: March 27, 2003

BAYLOR HAS CANCER

Mets bench coach, Don Baylor has been diagnosed with cancer in his bone marrow and with begin taking chemotherapy next week.

“I know what I have to do and I plan to do it,” Baylor said Thursday. “It’s a good time to get it done and get it behind me. It’s treatable, so why not treat it now?”

Baylor, 53, will undergo four days of oral and intravenous chemotherapy beginning Monday — when the Mets open the season against Baylor’s former team, the Chicago Cubs — to treat the multiple myeloma. The treatment will be repeated once every 28-to-36 days as initial therapy.

“There’s a fairly high upfront success rate, somewhere in the vicinity of 60-70 percent,” Dr. John Olichney said about the possibility of complete remission. “The problem is that there are recurrences.”

This is the same kind of cancer that Mel Stottlemyre battled three years ago.

“My family will give me comfort but I have to do this alone,” Baylor said.

…The cancer was detected as a result of spring training physical last month and an examination determined Baylor had an abnormal monoclonal protein. He underwent bone marrow tests in New York on March 12, and the tests determined he had an overgrowth of abnormal white blood cells in the marrow.

Baylor told the team Thursday. Olichney agreed that the chemotherapy wouldn’t hinder the former Cubs and Colorado manager at the start of treatment but said it might cause him to miss some road games as the therapy progresses.

STRAIGHT FROM THE GURU’S MOUTH

Bill James, noted sabermetrican, and current advisor to the Boston Red Sox chatted on-line with fans yesterday. These kind of forums are usually glib and unsatisfying, but this one is still worth checking out. James is gruff and dismissive as usual, but that’s part of what makes him fun.

Here are some bits that caught my attention:

Odenton MD: How do your models project that Matsui might do in his first season in the majors?

Bill James: My best guess is that he will hit over .300 with 40-45 homers. Everybody tells me I’m wrong. Let’s hope.

…Greensboro, NC: Can you explain the reasoning or statistical superiority of Boston’s closer -by-committee, and who is the best reliever this spring for the Sox?

Bill James: Having two good relievers is better than having one. Having three good relievers is better than having two. I’m not advocating a “closer by committee”; I don’t know where that term comes from, and I don’t think anybody in our office has ever advocated such a thing. But here’s a simple way to think about the issue: suppose that you were managing a strat-o-matic team, or an APBA team, or a Diamond Legends team, over the course of a 162-game season. Would YOU use your bullpen the way that most major league managers use theirs? I don’t know anybody who would. When the egos and the “psychology” and the BS are taken out of it and the issue is reduced to simply doing what is in the best interests of the ballclub, it becomes obvious that this isn’t it. The way that most teams use their bullpen simply does not make sense.

…Newport Beach, CA: Mr. James given the better nutrition, sports medicine, and fitness regimens what is considered “prime” years for a major leaguer? It seems that many players are still producing well into the mid thirties when those years were considered the tail end of a players career.

Bill James: Untrue. Aging patterns have not changed significantly. Barry Bonds, born 1964, is still performing well (how’s that for understatement?), and so people focus on Bonds and use him to represent the modern 39-year-old player. But if you focus on ALL the players born in 1964, you’ll find that 90% of them are long gone, and that even the stars (with one or two exceptions) have faded to dim shadows of what they once were. Put another way, if Barry Bonds shows that players are aging more slowly, why doesn’t Ken Griffey prove that players are aging more rapidly?

…Phoenix, AZ: Bill, I would like to get a prediction from you in regards to the most important stat of all. How many games do you think the Sox can win this year?

Bill James: One more than the Yankees, two more than Toronto. I really don’t have any idea. We have a good team.

JOE COULDN’T CATCH A COLD

According to Lee Sinns’ ATM report yesterday:

The Yankees say John Flaherty has won the backup C job and are looking to trade Chris Widger.

Flaherty is an outmaking star. His OBA vs. the league average ranks among the top 10 worst figures for catchers with 3000+ PA, since 1900–

OBA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE
1 Bill Bergen -.131 .194 .325
2 Billy Sullivan -.068 .253 .320
3 Otto Miller -.057 .275 .332
4 John Bateman -.053 .271 .324
5 Jim Hegan -.053 .295 .348
6 Red Dooin -.053 .272 .325
7 Bill Killefer -.052 .273 .325
8 Oscar Stanage -.051 .284 .334
9 Zack Taylor -.049 .304 .353
10 John Flaherty -.049 .293 .342

Yankees MGR Joe Torre says Jeff Weaver has defeated Jose Contreras for the 5th starter’s job. Contreras will go to the bullpen.

No surprise there. After 4.32 ERA/10 RSAA and 4.08 ERA/9 RSAA seasons, Weaver had a 3.52 ERA/16 RSAA in 32 games (25 starts) with the Tigers and Yankees in 2002. Weaver set career bests in both RSAA and ERA and has a 4.31 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.67, and 23 RSAA in 126 games.

I wrote to Lee and asked him why he thought Torre chose Flaherty. He replied:

I think Joe Torre goes out of his way to find the worst backup catcher he could possibly get and have him make the team. Last year, it was Alberto Castillo. This year, it’s John Flaherty. Maybe next year, it will be Mike DiFelice or Tom Prince.

What about Snagglepuss Tony Eusebio? The Expos just sent him down to the minors.

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN

The Yankees will be cautious with Mariano Rivera, who will start the season on the disabled list with a strained groin. The Times reports:

“I’m not even going to think about him until the latter part of April,” Manager Joe Torre said tonight. “We certainly want to be sure and don’t want to take a chance, especially with his history of shoulder problems.”

Rivera’s aura of invincibility continues to erode. He closed out three consecutive championships from 1998 to 2000, but he faltered in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series and has had health problems since.

“Let’s admit it – the run we had with him was pretty superhuman anyway,” Torre said. “It was awfully tough for anyone to live up to that, including himself.”

Buster Olney, the erstwhile Yankee beat reporter for the Times, has a good article on David Wells today. I was a big fan of Olney’s Yankee coverage and was sad to see him leave the beat (he covers the NY football Giants these days). He usually was able to pull a telling detail from a story. His piece on Wells illustrates how most of Boomer’s teammates view the fat man as a benign clown.
Wells has dominated the papers in New York for the past month. Derek Jeter, who has enjoyed a quiet spring after the broo-ha-ha with the Boss earlier in the year, must be thankful.

GO SOUTH OLD MAN

According to the New York Times, David Cone will start the season in the minors:

Today the Mets indirectly unveiled some of their decision making, and their starting rotation, when General Manager Steve Phillips announced that he had optioned the right-hander Jason Middlebrook to the minor leagues. David Cone’s status was still unresolved, but indications were that the Mets would ask him to continue his comeback in Florida and then the minor leagues, leaving the final two spots in the rotation filled at the start of the season by Mike Bacsik and Jae Weong Seo.

SOX SET

Pedro Martinez had his final tune-up of the spring, and appears ready to roll. The major looming issue for Martinez is his desire to sign a contract extension:

Martinez was even presented with the scenario that after 2004 the Yankees could sign him as a free agent. He played along with it saying, ”Imagine that. Pedro Martinez being in New York. The whole Dominican population. How many Dominican flags every day? Now it’s not just Pedro Martinez fans but Yankees and Dominicans. I don’t even want to think about that. It’s a business to [Yankees owner George Steinbrenner]. Great for George, not good for the Red Sox.”

Dream on, Yankee fans.

Meanwhile, the Sox cut junk-baller Frank Castillo, proving that management is as bright as advertised. Dag. Speaking of which, Gordon Edes excerpts a portion of a Q & A with GM Theo Epstein that will appear on Boston television later tonight.