The Sports Idiot

When we first told you to ignore Mitchell Boggs, it was based on his performance in the minor leagues. Now there are a lot of people with him on their radar, and you may be one of them. If you are thinking about adding Boggs, make sure you do all of your homework. Sure, he has three wins in only four starts. He also has a 4.37 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. In 22.2 innings of work, he’s allowed 22 batters to reach base, with 11 of them crossing home. You can take a flier of Boggs, but I don’t recommend it. He only has 10 strikeouts, so the only category he has helped anyone in so far is wins.

Personally, I don’t want to sacrifice quality innings for wins. If Boggs were missing more bats and notching more Ks, it would be one thing. He isn’t, however, and despite his six K performance on the 28th, there is no indication that he is going to start piling them up. Keep in mind, that while he struck out those six batters, he also walked four and gave up four hits. So in his six innings of work, in which he earned a win, he still posted a 1.33 WHIP. My advice on Boggs will remain consistent. Not. So. Much.

When the Philadelphia Phillies decided to move Brett Myers back into the rotation and bring in Brad Lidge, I was skeptical of the move. Myers liked closing, and had found his niche in the bullpen. No one asked me, however, and they pulled the trigger on the Lidge deal, and cemented Myers’ return to being a starter. While I can understand why they did it, it hasn’t worked out with Myers and it’s time for it to end. Take a look at Myers’ last ten games, in which he has earned only a single victory and seven losses. Over that span, he has allowed opposing batters to cross the plate 46 times, 43 of them earned.

Brett Myers has completely lost his ability to be a starting pitcher in the major leagues. The Phillies need to move him back to the bullpen, and then trade him as soon as possible. He’ll never be the closer again, unless something happens to Lidge, and the bullpen is already one of the best in baseball. Sometimes you have to pull the plug on an experiment, admitting that it was a complete disaster, and move on. The Phillies reached that point with Myers at least four starts ago, but I guess he teased them with his one hit performance against the Reds. Or maybe it was the Reds?

Just after the Cards activated Mark Mulder off of the Prior List to fill Randy Flores’ spot on the roster, it looks like Jason Isringhausen could be headed to the DL himself. It’s been an injury plagued year for the Cards, who only activated Albert Pujols from the said Prior List on Thursday.

This news only helps to cement Ryan Franklin’s spot as the closer, even though he just blew his second save in seven tries this month. Overall, Franklin has been decent, only blowing four of his fourteen save opportunities. He doesn’t strike out a lot of batters, as he sports a 24:17 K:BB ratio which has helped push his WHIP all the way up to 1.47. His ERA is still below a three, however, and he does have two wins to go with those 10 saves. It’s his job to lose, so Franklin is a keeper if you are in need of saves.

Remember when Oakland had the Big Three? Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and the often forgotten Mark Mulder? Well, for now, you should completely forget about Mark Mulder. The Cardinals have activated him from the 15-day Prior List, and are inserting him into a role he has never had before. They are moving him to the pen. There is no indication that he will be in the mix for saves, and with a 6.55 ERA in the minors, he isn’t likely to be effective in the bigs. If you were thinking about taking a flier on Mulder, don’t.

This isn’t to say that Mulder can’t turn it around at some point, but he isn’t going to do it overnight. Hopefully he can figure it out, and return to form. Mulder is a good guy and here at The Sports Idiot we are pulling for him. He has the right attitude, and it willing to do what he can to help his team. Injuries derailed his career back in 2006, and he only started three games in 2007, all three of which he took the L in.

Back on Wednesday night, Tommy Hanson of the Mississippi Braves found magic in a bottle as he struck out 14 batters on his way to the team’s first no-hitter in team history.  Hanson is a decent prospect, with a 2.80 ERA in 16 starts in the minors this year.  In AA, however, his ERA is sitting at 4.32.  His 98:30 K:BB ratio is above average, and is spread out evenly between A Myrtle Beach and AA Mississippi.  At 6′6″ tall, he has excellent size, and it appears that he may have the stuff to be a decent three in the Majors.  Time will tell, and it will likely be at least another year before Hanson gets his shot at the bigs.

Detroit Tigers catcher/three bagger Brandon Inge has landed on the Prior List. What’s wrong with him, you ask? Well, apparently he aggravated an already strained oblique muscle. He’s been banged up for over three weeks with this nagging injury, and now it’s worse because he *ahem* hurt it while “pushing a pillow down behind his three year old son’s head.” The more disturbing thing is that dude has a three year old son sleeping in the bed with him and the Mrs. I’m not a father yet, and I’m sure that is more common than I would think it is, but isn’t three a little bit old to be in the bed on a regular basis? I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

There should be zero fantasy impact as Inge should not be on anyone’s squad anyway.

And no, I couldn’t connect Inge to Alyssa Milano. At Pat’s request, new picture up after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Brandon Inge pillow fights his way to the Prior List’

If you are a NC State fan, and you don’t frequent Section Six on a regular basis, you are doing yourself a disservice.  Steven has a nice piece up on JJ Hickson right now, and the disinformation that has been spread about Hickson’s work ethic.  Apparently, this all stems from Jay Bilas, but I have so far been unable to find an actual quote from Bilas in this regards.  Everything that I have heard about Hickson’s work ethic is that it’s second to none.  Dude hits the gym early everyday, and works his ass off.  He may have had a few lapses on the court last year, but let’s keep in mind he is 19 years old.

Cleveland fans need to settle down, there are no work ethic issues to be found in this kid.  If the Cavs keep him, I fully expect them to have a gem in the rough in a year or so.  Yes, I’m biased, but it’s still what I believe.

The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised a lot of people when they selected J.J. Hickson at number 19. Just like Sidney Lowe said he would, Hickson was off the board before the 2oth selection was to be called. JJ is also the first ACC player taken in the 2008 draft.

I’m not sure why this wasn’t put directly into the comments section of this entry, but the following email was sent to me and I found it worthy of passing along:

While you’re waiting for Perry’s live draft blogging, I thought you would be interested in seeing another side of future NBA star, Jerryd Bayless – expected to be picked by the LA Clippers.  He isn’t exactly the cliché of an NBA superstar.  Sure, he can dribble, shoot lights out, dunk and pass – but he’s also 19 and close with his parents and big brother Justin.  Jerryd keeps in touch with Justin – who is working as a Wall Street investment banker in New York – by sharing live video on his cell phone.

Check out Jerryd debating Beasley v. Rose and talking about how having Justin and his friends knocking him around on the court helped take him to the NBA. Jerryd and Justin share some pre-NBA Draft moments through Video Sharing, you can see Justin showing Jerryd MSG and Jerryd sinking a few baskets as Justin watches on his phone.  The video is on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LarsYfaee3k

Obviously, I would have embedded the video if I had a little bit more time (read that as I haven’t embedded a video in a while and I’m going to have to relearn it).  The draft is tonight, and it can’t come soon enough.  Is it just me, or is the pre-draft hype bigger than ever before?  Is this the impact of the “one and done” guys?

It seems everyone does a mock draft these days, and I thoroughly enjoy them. Perry over at Off The Record has one up, and he’ll be live blogging the draft tomorrow night as well. I’m sure he’ll be more entertaining than the stiffs on TV, so if you at your computer you should check him out.