New Sully Baseball Video - "The All 'Nope...Not THAT One' Team"

In the latest Sully Baseball video, I ran down a roster of players who share the names of other famous people.

It's the "All Nope... Not THAT One Team."

As always, all the videos can be seen on The Sully Baseball Short Form TV channel.

THE SULLY BASEBALL ALL STAR BALLOT FOR 2011

Well it is time for me to reveal my All Star ballot for the three of you who care. And as always, I have two ballots:

The roster that I think should be the actual All Star Team based on their 2011 performances.
And the roster that I think would be the worst possible All Star Team using players who for whatever reason are on the ballot.

Let's vote.

Actual All Star Team

American League

First Base
ADRIAN GONZALEZ, Red Sox

Second Base
ROBINSON CANO, Yankees

Shortstop
ELVIS ANDRUS, Rangers

Third Base
ALEX RODRIGUEZ, Yankees

Catcher
ALEX AVILA, Tigers

Designated Hitter
DAVID ORTIZ, Red Sox

Outfield
CURTIS GRANDERSON, Yankees
JOSE BAUTISTA, Blue Jays
ADAM JONES, Orioles


National League

First Base
PRINCE FIELDER, Brewers

Second Base
RICKIE WEEKS, Brewers

Shortstop
JOSE REYES, Mets

Third Base
PLACIDO POLANCO, Phillies

Catcher
BRIAN McCANN, Braves

Outfield
MATT KEMP, Dodgers
RYAN BRAUN, Brewers
JAY BRUCE, Reds

You can't accuse me of being Red Sox partisan. I have three Yankees starting! And roll up the barrels! I have three starting Brewers!

OK, let's take a look at the Anti All Star team!

The Worst Possible All Star Team

American League

First Base
DAN JOHNSON, Rays

Second Base
WILL RHYMES, Tigers

Shortstop
REID BRIGNAC, Rays

Third Base
CHONE FIGGINS, Mariners

Catcher
JEFF MATHIS, Angels

Designated Hitter
JACK CUST, Mariners

Outfield
MILTON BRADLEY, Mariners
TRAVIS SNIDER, Blue Jays
FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ, Mariners

National League

First Base
BRANDON BELT, Giants

Second Base
BRAD EMAUS, Mets

Shortstop
RAFAEL FURCAL, Dodgers

Third Base
IAN STEWART, Rockies

Catcher
J. R. TOWLES, Astros

Outfield
RICK ANKIEL, Nationals
CHRIS COGHLAN, Marlins
JASON BAY, Mets

The fact that there are so many Mariners on the Worst Possible American League All Star Team and yet are only a few games out of first place is the best possible argument for Eric Wedges' Manager of the Year campaign!

So there you have it. My ballot.
Take it for what it is worth.

Milton Bradley and mistakes

So the Mariners are going to keep Milton Bradley. Despite a lousy year where he had to leave to take care of personal matters, and an off season arrest that shows those matters aren’t really resolved, he’s coming back.

“People make mistakes,” new Mariners manager Eric Wedge said.

Yeah they do Eric. Like giving Milton Bradley chance after chance.
At what point does this become enabling?
At what point do you say “Hmmm, I see a pattern here.”

When a guy this talented plays for 8 teams in 11 seasons (including 5 in the last 4 years) and each time he goes there is much rejoicing, isn’t that the point where you say “Yeah, let’s move on.”

Wedge managed Bradley with the Indians and it was a confrontation between the two that forced his first of many trades.

In the 7 seasons since, he hasn’t really improved, has he?

And when you look at his career, is it even worth it on the field?
He had a great half season in 2007 with the Padres (until he injured himself arguing and ended his season… a season where the Padres missed the playoffs by a single game.)

He had a terrific season in Texas in 2008, his walk year.
Now he has had two straight miserable seasons, is in his mid 30s and frankly has had only had 2 and a half seasons of note.

The Mariners need to rebuild. How exactly is Bradley a piece to any rebuilding project?
If he is no longer a usable player (which he isn’t) and he’s no longer a person you want in the clubhouse (even he doesn’t want to be there) then why bring him back?

People make mistakes.
Eric Wedge and the Mariners are making one now.

Sully Baseball Presents The “No Not THAT One” All Time Roster

There's a great scene in Office Space where David Herman's character, whose name is Michael Bolton, explains why he won't go by "Mike" instead of "Michael."

"Why should I change? He's the one who sucks."

Alas that character was stuck with a name that everyone today associates with someone else.
And some baseball players are stuck with that same fate.

Some played before their namesake became famous... but not everyone.
(Hey parents of of Howard Johnson and Milton Bradley. REALLY? You didn't know that name was taken?)

So here is another Sully Baseball 25 Man Roster... this one filled completely with players who are namesakes of another famous person.

As always there are 8 starting position players, 10 pitchers, a top pinch hitter, a reserve catcher, 2 reserve infielders and 2 reserve outfielders and a 25th man who could play any position.

So let's get going (says the guy whose name is the same as a Chicago Tribune Chicago White Sox writer.)

The “No Not THAT One” All Time Roster

STARTING CATCHER
JOHN EDWARDS

All Star Catcher for the Reds, Cardinals and Astros – 1961-1974

NOT the disgraced former Vice Presidential nominee.

STARTING FIRST BASEMAN
GEORGE SCOTT
Boomer, the slugging Boston first baseman with the different colored gloves
NOT the Oscar winning star of Patton.


STARTING SECOND BASEMAN
MIKE TYSON

Starting second baseman for the Cardinals and Cubs – 1972-1981
NOT the ear biting, Hangover appearing ex Heavyweight Champ

STARTING SHORTSTOP
BILL RUSSELL
The All Star and champion shortstop for the Didgers from 1969-1986
NOT the legendary Celtic center who is, say it with me…
THE GREATEST CHAMPION IN AMERICAN SPORTS HISTORY! (Nobody is close.)


STARTING THIRD BASEMAN
HOWARD JOHNSONThe All Star switch hitting third baseman for the Mets
NOT the guy from Massachusetts who founded the Hotel and Restaurant Chain


STARTING LEFT FIELDER
GEORGE BURNS

Star slugger for the 1921 World Champion Giants.
NOT the Oscar winning comic genius.

STARTING CENTER FIELDER
BRETT BUTLER
The dynamic leadoff hitter for the Giants and Dodgers who beat cancer
NOT the star of Grace Under Fire

STARTING RIGHT FIELDER
MILTON BRADLEY

The sometimes great but always troubled outfielder.
NOT the board game manufacturer.

ROTATION

KENNY ROGERS
The former All Star whose career had amazing peaks and staggering valleys
NOT the country music star known as “The Gambler.”


MIKE MOORE
The A’s #2 starter for the 1989 World Champions
NOT the outspoken director of Roger and Me and Fahrenheit 9-11


PHIL COLLINS
Fidgety Phil, a former 16 game winner for the Philadelphia Phillies
NOT the creative genius behind Sussudio.


BILL GRAHAM

The right handed pitcher for the 1966 Tigers and 1967 Mets
NOT the Rock Concert promoter nor the evangelical preacher

TED KENNEDY

The starting pitcher from the 1880s
NOT the late Lion of the Senate.



BULLPEN

BRIAN WILSON
The out of his mind nuts closer for the World Champion Giants
NOT the out of his mind nuts genius behind the Beach Boys

MICHAEL JACKSON
The effective reliever for the Giants and Indians
NOT the Late King of Pop


MIKE MYERS
The lefty specialist for the 2004 World Champion Red Sox
NOT the star of Wayne’s World, Austin Powers and Shrek


FLASH GORDON
The ace closer for the Red Sox who inspired a Stephen King book.
NOT the savior of the Universe.

JOHNNY RUTHERFORD
The Lefthander for the 1952 NL Champion Brooklyn Dodgers
NOT the Three Time Indy 500 Champion known as Lone Star JR



BENCH

TOP PINCH HITTER
JIM MORRISON
The hard hitting utility player for the Pirates and Tigers in the 1980s.
NOT the Lizard King.


RESERVE INFIELDER
JIMMY STEWART
The utility infielder for several teams including the 1970 NL Champion Reds
NOT the beloved Oscar winning legend


RESERVE INFIELDER
DON JOHNSONThe former All Star second baseman for the 1945 NL Champion Cubs
NOT Crockett from Miami Vice.


RESERVE OUTFIELDER
TERRY BRADSHAW

The reserve outfielder for the 1995 and 1996 Cardinals
NOT the great Steelers Quarterback and Fox Sports lunatic
(who is great in The Cannonball Run)

RESERVE OUTFIELDER
EDDIE MURPHY
“Honest Eddie” who did NOT take money from gamblers as a member of the 1919 White Sox
NOT Axel Foley

RESERVE CATCHER
CARLOS SANTANA

The Indians superstar catcher of the future.
NOT the rock legend and singer of songs like “Oye Como Va.”

25th MAN
EVAN LONGORIA

The superstar Tampa Bay third baseman who evidently can’t afford to buy a new cap.
NOT the unbelievably sexy star of Desperate Housewives.

His name is close enough to Eva’s to be included here. And let’s face it, having Eva’s picture on this post will get a few more hits on a Google search.

Now I am NOT going to sink to the point where I would write Sexy Nude Pics of Eva Longoria on this page just to increase traffic.

Nor for Evan Longoria.

Felix Hernandez's win total is reason FOR his Cy Young Candidacy

I've been making the case for Felix Hernandez to win the Cy Young Award for about a month now and I have been alone.

Yes he leads the league in a lot of statistics that I don't completely understand...

Win Probability Added... Situational Wins... Base Out Wins Saved... Adjusted Pitching Wins... I am still learning how to quantify them. But King Felix leads all of those categories, which is impressive.

But this isn't just twisting some obscure numbers to make a point (a la the greatness of Colby Rasmus.)

He also leads the league in all sorts of categories that traditional voters drool over.

ERA? He's the best.
Strikeouts? He's the best.
Games started? He's the best.
Innings pitched? He's the best.

Not to mention being third in complete games and having the third lowest Walks and Hits per nine inning ratio.

Sounds like a Cy Young front runner to me!

But then people bring up his win total.
"Can we REALLY have a Cy Young winner who only has 12 wins?"

And my response to that is simple.
12 wins? Are you kidding me? He should win the Cy Young BECAUSE he got 12 wins with this God Awful Mariners team!

Now I don't consider wins to be a worthless stat (that IS the objective of the pitcher... to win the game) but it can also be an amazingly misleading stat.

Mitch Williams blew the lead in two beautiful pitched games by Curt Schilling in the 1993 NLCS... and Williams got the win for both games. A casual glance would see Williams having a 2-0 record in the series and Schilling's record being 0-0 and Williams would look like the dominating pitcher.

Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings in a game in 1959, let up a run in the 13th and got the loss. I am going to go out on a limb and say he pitched well enough to get the win in that game.

So Sabathia and the other front runners (David Price, Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester) all play for teams that will win 90 some odd games.

Hernandez's team has ALREADY lost 91 games.
They have only 56 wins all season.

12 by Hernandez.
Yup, that means there have been only 44 wins by the Mariners that WEREN'T Felix Hernandez.

And guess what? He plays for a team that said "We have a solution for the #4 hole! MILTON BRADLEY!"

While Sabathia's team and Price's team flip flop for the title "Best Team in Baseball" Hernandez has to go out each night and say "I hope Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Saunders can drive in a few runs and David Aardsma can hold the lead."

12 wins?
That's only 7 fewer than Sabathia, who has a team that can bring Lance Berkman and Curtis Granderson off the bench in some games. And has Rivera closing games.

That's only 6 fewer than Price who has the likes of Crawford, Longoria and Pena driving in runs and Soriano closing games.

12 wins is a REMARKABLE total when you look at the hand he was dealt!

Here's something to think about...
Hernandez's 12 wins represents roughly 21% of the Mariners wins for the year.

What would be 21% of the Yankees' 89 wins so far?

19 wins... the same total that Sabathia has.

So Hernandez IS winning at the same clip as CC Sabathia... he just has a worse supporting cast.

Cy Young inspite of 12 wins?
Try BECAUSE of 12 wins.

The Bradley for Silva trade seems to be working for the Cubs

The Mariners and Cubs swapped expensive headaches in the off season when Milton Bradley and Carlos Silva traded uniforms.

Milton Bradley is seeking psychiatric help and Carlos Silva won again tonight pitching into the 7th inning.

It's a pretty easy trade to evaluate now.
Silva is 4-0 with a respectable 3.40 ERA and is averaging more than 6 innings a start.
Bradley is waiting for Robin Williams to tell him it is not his fault.

Which way should the Mariners turn?

When everyone was picking the Mariners for the AL West division title during spring training, I almost followed suit.

I figured the Angels looked a lot worse than they had in recent years and who was going to beat the 1-2 punch of Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez?

Plus they have Ichiro AND Chone Figgins setting up the table? This was going to be a wonderful year in Seattle… maybe even a pennant to help say good bye to Ken Griffey Jr.

Sure picking up Milton Bradley was a risk… but he MUST have learned his lessons, right?

But my gut told me, no… I got burned picking the A’s last year.

I decided to play it safe and go with the Angels. Well, the Halos haven't been rewarding my powers of prediction, but HO-LEE CR*P! The Mariners are a disaster.

And I literally have no idea which way they should turn.

One the one hand they are one of the worst teams in the American League. Only the Royals, Indians and lowly Orioles have worse records, and that is INCLUDING their win against the Angels on Sunday.

Milton Bradley has been a disaster. You know something didn't work out when the only positive thing about a guy's year is that he decided to seek help instead of have a career ending meltdown.

Huzzah! You can't play but at least you didn't behave like a sociopath!

The offense, including from new comer Chone Figgins, has been offensive. Hitting coach Alan Cockrell has joined all of us from The Bonnie Hunt Show in the unemployment line.

Franklin Guitierrez and Casey Kotchman lead the team with a whopping 3 homers. THREE. Not for the week, but for the whole season. Three supposed regulars are all batting under .200. I know batting average isn't always the best route to use in terms of judging a hitters worth, but YIKES!

The pitching has been OK, but even King Felix has looked awful in his last two starts.

And the clubhouse has more tension than The Hurt Locker.

Even Ken Griffey Jr, once the feel good part of this Mariners team, is a source of controversy as teammates are coming out anonymously against him and people are calling for one of the great players you and I will EVER see have their career ended by being placed on waivers.

And with Cliff Lee certainly headed off to an expensive free agency, GM Jack Zduriencik might be better off dealing Lee to see if he can get back a few players that would partially make up for Phillippe Aumont, Juan Ramirez and Tyson Gillies, the players sent to Philly for Lee.

It's a lost season.

OR IS IT?

Despite such a disastrous start, the Mariners are only 5 back of the Rangers in the loss column.

THE RANGERS! You know, the team that always starts off well but fades the minute the weather gets into the "Oh My God, is this HELL?" range!

The A's are ahead of them... and I think they are poised to steal the division... but they could just be having a nice first two months. They were projected to be a 90 loss team and they could very well be.

The Angels are a sub .500 mess as well. And even if they find a way to fix their hitting woes and their starting pitching mess... Brian Fuentes will find a way to blow the lead.

What I am saying is this is the very definition of a winnable division.
Plus they have recalled top prospect Michael Saunders who homered on mothers day.

Two more homers and he'll be tied for the team lead.

Sometimes it takes a young spark like Saunders to ignite the team and give them some new life.

It also helps that they are about to face the Orioles... and Milton Bradley is no longer on the team.

And Cliff Lee is off the DL... maybe the Mariners can get on a roll.

Or maybe they'll continue their current pace to finish the season at 62-100 with their veterans either eying free agency, seeking psychiatric or taking a snooze.

Cliff Lee's trade value will never be higher... then again the division may never be this winnable.

What should they do?
I don't envy you Jack Zduriencik.
First of all you have to constantly spell your last name out for people.
But secondly the wrong decision in 2010 could screw the team up for years!

If you go for it and the team falls apart, then you would get little to nothing back for the Chone Figgins/Cliff Lee/Milton Bradley gamble.

If you wave the white flag, you would lose fan interest for this year and it would take more than Ichiro and a bunch of people you've never heard of to get them back.

Choose wisely, Jack.

Good For Milton Bradley

I've crapped a lot on Milton Bradley over the years on this blog.

I've crapped on him as a member of the Padres...
I've crapped on him as a member of the Cubs...
I've crapped on him as a member of the Mariners...

I've crapped on his lack of trade value...
I've crapped on his crazy temper...
I've crapped on his getting thrown out of spring training games...

He is a super talented guy who wears out his welcome wherever he goes before he unpacks.
He is nuts and possibly unstable.

And I was just sitting back, waiting for the inevitable implosion that was going to happen in Seattle.

SEATTLE! The most remote team in baseball whose media crush is almost nonexistent.
And it was getting to be too stressful for him. Maybe it wasn't the Cubs fault after all.

But after being benched from a game the other day and leaving the ballpark... Milton did in Seattle what he DIDN'T do in Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Texas and Chicago:

He sought help.

It clearly isn't an issue about the media because he has played in some of the most anonymous markets in all of baseball.

It clearly isn't about the money. He is a millionaire many times over.

It isn't about not getting another chance. He has gotten more chances in his career after flopping than Colin Farrell.

There's clearly something wrong... with HIM.
And he's asking for help.
And he's getting it.

And who knows? Maybe he'll figure out what the heck is wrong with him.

Now that doesn't excuse him from quitting on his team... and it certainly doesn't absolve him from his dreadful play (and it might behoove the Mariners to eventually designate him for assignment.)

But what if he figures out what is ailing him... and then harnesses his talent without the anger?

He's clearly needed help all along.

So I won't crap on him when he finally asks for it.

The Ulti-MET insult to Milton Bradley

So Oliver Perez got ROCKED again... by the Washington Nationals no less. And one of the worst contract signings in history rages on in Queens.

And a terrific Met fan, the brilliant Emmy nominated comedy writer Andres Du Bouchet posted as his Facebook status update "Ok Mets. Please release Ollie and eat his salary. I'm begging you. You can replace him with a T-ball tee."

So I remembered my insane Blockbuster Trade post from last winter. Essentially it was my 9 team, 11 player swap as viturally every jaw droppingly bad contract was swapped for each other.

I had the Cubs getting Carlos Silva for Milton Bradley... which of course happened.
But in my trade, Bradley was sent off to the Mets for Oliver Perez. (The Mets actually DID pick up Gary Matthews Jr, who was also in my proposed blockbuster.)

But remembering the Perez for Bradley part of the deal, I wrote to Andres.

"Would you trade Perez for Milton Bradley?"

He responded right away "No."

OUCH!
Remember, Andres had just established the fair market value of Perez to be a batting tee!

So by THAT logic, Bradley's trade value is LESS than a batting tee. If the Mariners called a team and said "We'll send you Milton Bradley and we want a batting tee in exchange" the second team would say "You need to sweeten the pot!"

I can think of no bigger insult.

Now please enjoy Andres in a sketch from The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. He is in the Arab outfit.

Be careful around Milton Bradley

Here's how Milton Bradley reacted when the Dodgers tried to trade him for a bag of balls.

It didn't end well.

Not for the Dodgers... not for Milton... not for the balls.

The countdown to the Milton Bradley meltdown is winding down

In spring training, Milton Bradley was ejected from multiple games... games that DIDN'T COUNT!

Before the calendar got to April 10th, he was already flipping off the fans in Oakland... a fan base that he's already alienated.


If I were Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik I would already be working out a press release for when he is placed on waivers, explaining what a good guy he is but after [INSERT DISRUPTIVE INCIDENT HERE] it was clear to both parties that it was time to move on.

Trust me, it isn't if, but WHEN.