civ ollilavad wrote:If Lowe is a fellow Wolverine, I'm happy to have him. Maybe Zach Putnam will join the bullpen, too.

Whoa....a fellow Wolverine?



Just to be precise, Derek Lowe did not attend college though he certainly is from Fichigan.

He was signed as a freshly minted 18 year directly out of Edsel Ford High School, in Dearborn.

Which reminds me of a 4th of July weekend when I had a few mixed groups of assorted families out and around my modest but spacious lake cottage in central South Carolina I used to own.

In the late afternoon we all boarded my pontoon boat to cruise slowly a few miles down the lake for a vantage point to see the fireworks over the lake.

One indigenous Southern family group was strongly religious, and another more "blue color" extended family group with roots in small town western New York was "not so much."

Somehow the conversation turned to cars, and the New York grandmother or great grandmother as she may have been offered her two cents after imbibing very socially all day. She was probably pushing 80 and took the opportunity to vociferously express her regret and furor after purchasing a '58 Edsel. I think the "F word" and less than correct use of "bastard" flowed about 10 times each as she told us all how she drove it back belching fricking smoke and left it on the "fricking dealer lot.

The father of the deeply religious family turned to me quietly after her story and quietly said more than asked,

"She's a real spitfire, isn't she?"


That was a great day.

I think that story is the only mind associative experience I have with The Ford Edsel, other than perhaps one episode of Mister Ed.

Of course.


Back to baseball......

(I was tempted to move on to comments around the Skynyrd number, The Ballad of Curtis Loew. However I checked my swing, and the 1st base ump confirmed I didn't go around)

I'm normally not much of a fan of anything that is Michigan, though I hope and expect Derek Lowe will help us to the post season in 2012.

Really.


My best Michigan experience to date involves a visit to Long Lake, not far from Alpena, when I was firmly in my Wonder Years years.

Could be why one of my fave Wonder Years episodes was and is The Lake

joez wrote:When the Tigers released Carlos Pena back in 2006, I was hoping someone in the organization would have jumped on the Pena bandwagon. He was an awesome defender at first and any production would have been a plus as I had posted waaaaay back in time. As was the case in 2007, Pena continued to play stellar defense, his batting average was average at best, but his power numbers skyrocketed. I think back to 2007 and wonder how the playoffs would have turned out if Pena had been our firstbaseman. (On the year, 29 doubles, 46 homers, and 121 rbi's. and a .993 fielding percentage (8) errors.) All those numbers registered in the tough American League East. And they called me crazy, but what's new?

There was a time I thought Carlos Pena might have been a good catch.

I thought the same about Ricky Ledee, who we did catch.

For the record, I remember Joez pimping Carlos Pena in years before Carlos Pena ever entered my personal radar screen.

I enter the offseason thinking that the new GM will continue to make gutsy moves. I suppose getting a veteran starter who can eat innings and had an ERA worse than Carmona's counts as one. I expect him to sign someone of consequence for the OF or 1B. It would be nice if they go for both but that sounds like a lot of money.

Ramirez seeks new challenge, perspective

Jim Allen

New challenges, Alex Ramirez said Friday, are what motivated him to walk away from the Yomiuri Giants after four seasons, two Central League MVP awards and a Japan Series championship.

"I have dreams, goals, that I want to accomplish," Ramirez told The Daily Yomiuri in a telephone interview four days after saying he would not negotiate a new contract with the club for 2012.

With 1,850 hits in Japan, Ramirez is on target to be the only foreign-born player to reach Japan's elite milestone of 2,000 in his career. The 37-year-old has had 159 or more hits in nine of his 11 seasons here.

"Two thousand hits is my No. 1 goal [for 2012]," said Ramirez, who also spoke of moving on as being a part of his long-term goal of managing here.

"I want to learn to see the game from different angles, because my main goal is to be a manager in Japan."

Having won the Japan Series with two teams, he also wants to see if he can go for a hat trick with a third.

Ramirez, who came to Japan in 2001 after three seasons in the major leagues with the Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates, won a CL pennant and Series title in his debut season with the Yakult Swallows.

Instead of re-signing with Yakult after the 2007 season--when former teammate Atsuya Furuta left as skipper--Ramirez signed a big deal with the Giants. With Yomiuri, Ramirez was MVP in his first two seasons, both of which saw the team win the league and play in the Series.

The Giants won the 2009 Series, but have finished third in the league the past two seasons and failed to advance past the playoffs both times.

"The Giants treated me more than professionally--and not just me, but my family as well," he said. "It was a great honor to wear the Giants uniform.

"I am very thankful to the Giants for the opportunity they gave me. And thankful that I could fulfill my responsibility to them. That I was able to come and produce for four seasons is very special.

"A lot of foreign players come to the Giants and many are successful for a short time, for a few years. But I consider four years an accomplishment."

For an encore, Ramirez, whose contract will expire on Nov. 30, is burning to see what else he can accomplish.

"Now, I have a new challenge, a new vision," he said. "I've already won a championship with the Yakult Swallows and with the Yomiuri Giants. I want to win with another team, maybe a team that hasn't won before.

"I am still confident that I can produce with some pretty good numbers."

That Ramirez had a productive season in 2011 was obscured somewhat by a Japan-wide offensive downturn. His batting numbers paled compared to those in previous years, but offense was down across both leagues, largely because of the introduction of a less-lively ball.

The CL league batting average dropped 26 points, from .268 in 2010 to .242 this season, while home runs per game decreased from 4.0 a year ago to 1.12.

Ramirez batted 24 points below his career .303 average. While the frequency of home runs in the CL declined by 70 percent this season, Ramirez's dipped by 80 percent from 2010, when he hit a career-high and led the league with 49.

"My effort is the same," he told The Daily Yomiuri earlier in October. "People

keep coming up to me and saying, 'Rami-chan, How come you're not having that good of a season?' The numbers are down, but I know that in this season, in this park, my numbers are not that bad."

A year ago, Ramirez's .304 batting average was the CL's 11th best Although he hit just .279 this year, it was ninth best in the league. His 23 homers this season tied him for second.

His final regret with the Giants, he said, was that the season ended in the playoffs.

"It's too bad I wasn't able to help the team to win the Climax Series," he said. "We did our best. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. That's baseball.

"But you have to give credit to the Swallows. They are a good team, they were in first place most of the season, so it wasn't going to be easy."

His next step might not be easy, either--waiting and sorting through the offers that come.

"I'll weigh lots of things, but I'll go with whoever shows the most interest," he said. "Right now, I don't have anything in mind."

In his 11 years in Japan, the crowd-pleasing Ramirez has a .303 batting average with 1,850 hits and 359 home runs. He had eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons from 2003 to 2010, which is a Japanese baseball record.
(Nov. 5, 2011)

If Alex Ramirez had stayed in Cleveland, I would have accepted half of that production

Perhaps a new challenge would be sharing the DH platooning duties with Travis Hafner.

JOEZ- Now you have done it! You will awaken the sleeping giant, Rusty!

There's a rather large difference between Japan and the Major Leagues.

Ramirez would never have cut it or do you think it's a total coincidence that nobody ever tried to bring him back?.

Taking into consideration the differences between Japanese baseball and major league baseball, I think the drop off in production "might" be somewhere around 70%. I would have taken those numbers in a heart beat considering all the stiffs that we tried to run out there in the past 10 years.

Ramirez would have been a steal considering that he's making the most money he's ever made playing in Japan the yen equivalent of 6 million dollars a year.

As to why none of the teams were willing to give Ramirez a chance......I would liken the situation to a Dustin Pedroia or a Tim Lincecum scenario in major league baseball. Many teams look at the numbers rather than the desire or the heart to play the game with the intensity of a Lincecum and Pedroia .

Lou!

I only brought the subject due to the circumstances surrounding the situation Ramirez has locked himself into. Six million for at least a year could bring us the power hitter we are looking for from the right side of the plate. Although he's not the outfielder he used to be, he'd have to be a DH here and a part timer at that if we keep Hafner or even Jim Thome around. In fact, I'd try to trade Hafner and keep Thome/Ramirez around as our platoon at the DH spot. That's a gamble I'd look into considering the fact that the Indians are planning to go for it all in 2012.

Just my idea. I doubt Alex would go for it. He's looking forward to his 2000th hit and a chance to manage in Japan.

Thome just signed with the Phillies.

I'd try to trade Hafner and keep Thome/Ramirez around as our platoon at the DH spot. That's a gamble I'd look into considering the fact that the Indians are planning to go for it all in 2012.

Just my idea. I doubt Alex would go for it. He's looking forward to his 2000th hit and a chance to manage in Japan.


What part of the above is not just silly as usual ?

Joe Z missed the fact that no one would give Pena more then a 1 year contract after his 2010 season. The season where Pena resembled Joe's other hero Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Joe Z missed the fact that no one would give Pena more then a 1 year contract after his 2010 season

I guess I went and done it again Lou.

Once again, comprehension skills seem to still be lacking

I was posting Pena 2006-2007, I don't know where Pena 2010 came from ?!?!? But, then again, I'm just a silly kinda guy. What can I say ?!?!

By the way. Rusty. You should stop throwing that word "fact" around so readily.

Joe, stop messing around and start working on that trade of Hafner in your fantasy world.

The one where Alex Ramirez would rather play in Japan because of the money and not because he sucked in MLB.

Yes, you are a very silly guy.

If Alex Ramirez and Carlos Pena (2006 OR 2010) don't qualify as dead horses, I'm not sure who would.