Open Letter to Terry Francona, baseball minds alike

I can’t help it. Every time I see Tim Wakefield, I think of 2003. I think of Aaron Boone. I think of a floating knuckle ball that never hits the catcher’s mitt. I think of lost dreams and heartbreak. And I know I can’t be the only one. Boston fans have had much to cheer about since 2004, but you can’t tell me that all is well in your in mind when you see Terry Francona send Wakefield to the hill every fifth day. You can’t tell me that disaster is not the first thing on your mind.

Four Bagger: The best moves never made

The mantra around baseball is that sometimes the best move made during a season is the move that was never made at all. Or something like that.

As we head into the playoffs, I find myself wondering what would have been had I made two specific moves earlier this season.

Four Bagger: Oh, it hurts …

When I set out to publish this piece Tuesday morning, I had lots on my mind. The re-anointed fantasy savior Juan Pierre had hit the disabled list, Grady Sizemore was tied for the American League lead in homers, and I attempted to discuss my reasoning for NOT playing Todd Wellemeyer this week. Well, much has changed since then, so lets not waste anymore time.

Four Bagger: Ramble On

Listen, Newspaperman can’t hang with the hip hop knowledge that TheJon, PoiDog and TheOz bring to TheBaseballStars. While they were listening to the supposed good stuff, I was eating up what MTV was serving: 3rdBass’ Pop Goes The Weasel, Metallica ‘s Enter Sandman, and Warren G and Nate Dogg in Regulate.

But I digress. I’ve come to understand the finer things in life, and I’m not talking about Tchaikovsky or anything like that. I’m talking Zeppelin, baby! Anyhow, as the header video states, it’s time to Ramble On and talk fantasy baseball.

Major League Baseball’s draft needs help

I’m really not one for college sports, so when the NBA and NFL drafts roll around, you’re likely to find me out on a lake somewhere fishing while others are gawking over some 20-something who is fulfilling his dream and becoming a multi-millionaire. But if there’s ones thing that I admire about those drafts it’s the national hype and circus that surrounds them. I mean I could care less who gets drafted first overall, but I always make an effort to find out, for peace of mind, you know? So when ESPN started touting this year’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft my ears perked up. I figured maybe this is one draft I could rally around.

Pedro looks decent in return

He wasn’t Pedro Martinez circa 2000, but he was Pedro nonetheless. Martinez, the 36-year-old three-time CY Young winner, returned to the mound Tuesday in San Francisco after spending more than a month on the shelf with a hamstring injury. Pedro wasn’t blowing guys away, he had only three strikeouts, but tossed 100-plus pitches and was still touching 90 on the stadium’s radar gun in the sixth inning. We even got to see some vintage Pedro with a wicked slider, which can best be described as looking like a Frisbee at times, that absolutely stopped Fred Lewis in his tracks. He lasted six innings (here’s a short clip of a pitch from his final inning of work), punched out two hitters in the last frame, and the hamstring looked to hold up fine. Heck, he even helped his own cause with a pair of hits, which twice put him on the base paths on a cold and windy night in the City by the Bay. Hopefully you fantasy owners stashed Pedro on your DL while he was away as it now appears safe to use him at your discretion.

Four Bagger: Live by the Utley, die by the Utley

When is nine hits, nine runs, five homers and 14 RBIs a disappointment? When you own the player who produced them and his output was still not enough to help you win in one league, yet just enough to help your oppoent in another. Chase Utley had a spectacular week, but when it came down to it, he was not enough to keep me afloat in one league, and was the sole reason why I lost in another. What, were you expecting another Jay Bruce headline? Read more in this week’s FOUR BAGGER.

Fantasy Elation: Derrek Lee

I went into this year’s fantasy draft with one thing on my mind: offense.

With four starting pitchers as keepers, I knew my team would depend on the offensive players I was able to acquire early.

My first three off the board were Nick Markakis, Carlos Guillen and Brian Roberts — all of which I was happy with. But it was the fourth player that I was unsure about at the time. Today, though, I’m elated with him.

He’s a name fantasy owners might be familiar with: Derrek Lee.

The Oz vs. The Jon — it’s going to be a long week

I looked at a pitching matchup between two starters as what would set the tone of my matchup this weekend with The Jon. It was his top starter Johan Santana vs. Ian Snell, one of my lower guys (3-4-5 are all about the same for me at this point). I figured if Snell and the Pirates could pull out a win against Johan, that would set a nice pace for me.

As the more astute among you know, that showdown was scheduled for Monday — but got postponed because all of New York stops when A-Rod hurts his leg. Or something like that. I’m not really sure. So a day late, we got Johan vs. Ian, and the subtext of The Oz vs. The Jon.

More on that in a second, but first, a musical break with another Santana:

Four Bagger: NPM defeats The Jon … again

Justin Verlander may have cost me my first victory in the TBS League, but nothing can ruin this moment. Newspaperman has defeated TheJon … in the minor league setting that is the SLO League … in a regular season match up, no less … but I have has done it for the third straight time. Now if only I can take down TheJon in the TBS league. I have not beat him there since Aug. 6, 2006. Read about this week’s victory and other happenings in the Four Bagger.