Saturday, January 29, 2005

Gammons comes out of hibernation

Could spring actually be coming someday? Better than a groundhog's shadow, here's some new Peter Gammons:

...Remember this: In 1972, the year before George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees, the Mets led the majors in attendance (2.13 million), and the Yankees drew 966,328.

...While on the Boston model, there were those who wondered why they went so hard after Edgar Renteria. But the Red Sox feel that Hanley Ramirez's skills are so exceptional that three years from now Renteria at short and Ramirez in center will be a far more productive middle of the field than Ramirez at short and whomever they can find in center because those middle field, multi-dimensional outfielders are so rare...

About pitchers changing leagues:

...The one exception after four progressively good seasons in Florida is Carl Pavano, who's not a swing-and-miss pitcher. Ron Shandler's "Baseball Forecaster" has a stat he uses to rate "dominance," a pure stuff indicator. Here are some of the pitchers switching leagues: Johnson (11.1), Clement (9.5), Martinez (9.4), Danny Haren (8.5), Wright (7.8), Wade Miller (7.6), Pavano (5.8), Mulder (5.6) and Hudson (5.0).

Translation: If Pedro is healthy, and there is no reason he won't be, he will vie for the Cy Young. Ditto Randy Johnson. But the most interesting is Clement. OK, he worked with one of the great pitching coaches in Larry Rothschild while with the Cubs, but he is, at the age of 30, capable of being an 18-game winner, in either league....

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