Weaver Isn't Bummed About Making $7.365M

The Angels poor off-season continued into Spring Training with the news that Kendry Morales still isn't running at 100% and is questionable to start the season. And too a lesser extent, it appears that Maicer Izturis and his .321 on base percentage from 2010 will be leading off. But there is some good news for my Angels fan brethren. Jered Weaver wasn't fazed by losing his arbitration case...

"It was interesting – kind of fun in a way," said Weaver who attended the four-hour hearing in Arizona Wednesday, listening as both sides made their cases. The arbitrator sided with the Angels and their $7.365 million offer. (Weaver had sought $8.8 million.)

"It wasn't like sitting in math class where I wasn't paying attention. It was interesting. It's one of those things I wish I didn't have to do. But the game has become very business-oriented and the biggest thing I learned is that business is business."

*snip*

"I would love to play with the Angels for a long time and I think they know that," Weaver said. "But that (contract talks) is not something I want hanging over head during the season."

Of course, what is Weaver supposed to say there? And I'm sure he wouldn't mind spending more of his career in Orange County but the problem isn't necessarily with Weaver. Arte Moreno and the Angels have declared war against Weaver's agent, the diabolical Scott Boras.

The Angels have one more bout of arbitration left next year if they can't get a long term deal completed with Weaver. And with all of his metrics headed in the right direction, Boras could demand a Felix Hernandez-esque extension or probably make more by taking him to free agency.

I remember when the only headaches I got from being an Angels fan were due to those damn thunder sticks.

Tournament of Champions Series Preview 2

(4) Cleveland Indians vs. (5) Rockford Peaches

On paper, this should be an extremely competitive series. Each team has a monster power hitter, a flashy center fielder, a staff ace and a colorful manager. This series may come down to the Peaches Dottie Hinson who should go down as the greatest female player in baseball history.

For the Indians
Thanks to a recommitment to Jobu, Pedro Cerrano spotted enough curveballs to become a Three True Outcome player. He hit 40 bombs with a .264/.386/.554 line this season while playing some highly questionable defense in the outfield. Willie "Mays" Hayes was spectacular in center and swiped 68 bases despite only having a .341 OBP. Jake Taylor is still manning his spot behind the dish after having a successful and experimental surgery to replace all the ligaments in his knees with those of an ostrich.

Rick Vaughn made the transition from the bullpen back to being a starter with no problem after several sessions with Dr. Drew for some off the field transgressions. Eddie Harris rejuvenated his career after having adamantium attached to the bones in his hand. Closing in on 60-years-old, Harris scoffs at Jamie Moyer's career.

For the Peaches
Second basewoman Marla Hooch hit 33 home runs with a .292/.380/.535 line. She also had a banner year away from the ball park too when she and her partner adopted their first Asian baby. In center, "All the Way" Mae Mordabito set single season records in both putouts and puts outs.

Kit Keller rejoined the Peaches after patching things up with her sister Dottie Hinson. After resolving her inferiority complex, Keller put up a year for the ages going 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts.

Hinson turned her passion back to baseball after she discovered her husband was actually a polygamist who had several other wives on their farm compound. Fully devoted to the game, Hinson put together a 10.2 WAR from behind the plate and established herself as an all time great.

Key to the Series
The teams are pretty evenly matched. Hinson is the best player in the series but the Indians have much more depth. This could very well come down to the managerial styles of Jimmy Dugan and Lou Brown. Dugan floats between uninterested and passionate depending on which way the booze flows while many experts say Brown is still a great tactician but manages like a ghost of his former self.

Canseco writes new book, but who is going to read it to him?

I stole that joke from Pops Derwood.

Yes, Offbase readers, Jose Canseco is at it again. After his first two books "Juiced" and "Vindicated" talked about steroids and singing armadillos (speculation, I haven't read either book), Canseco is set to release his third book, titled "The Truth Hurts". But that's no fun. So here's a list of titles he should've used*:


1. "Punching Danny Bonaduche Hurts"
2. "To Be An Oriole: How I Plan On Leading The American League in Home Runs In 2025"
3. "Me And Ozzie's Conversations With The Mailbox"
4. "The Day I Wore This Shirt"



5. "Bat Speed: My Day At Dave & Busters"
6. "F.P. Santangelo's Gonna Get Hurt"
7. "Of Softball Home Run Derbys & Men"


* Source: CSWPUJCGHHHN (the committee to send a wheelbarrow to pick up Jose Canseco and get him the help he needs)

The One Where I Hang Out At The Baseball Show

My friends Clint from Diamond Hoggers and Mike from The Golden Sombrero were kind enough to let me come hang out at The Baseball Show podcast this morning. I warned them that I could derail just about any topic they wanted to discuss and I'm pretty sure I backed that up. Here's the description from Diamond Hoggers...

Topics for discussion include but are not limited to the following:

*MTD’s baseball blog Off Base Percentage
*His following the Anaheim Angels
*Edinson Volquez electing a short term contract with the Cincinnati Reds
*The Albert Pujols contract extension
*Will Angels ‘prospect’ Brandon Wood ever pan out?
*We talk about Bo Jackson
*Rob Neyer’s move from the SweetSpot Network to SB Nation
*Who are the most frequently read baseball bloggers?
*The sponsoring of a Baseball-Reference Page
*We give some discussion time to Eric Chavez, Francisco Rodriguez, Nick Markakis, Johnny Cueto, and many more players

And they let me ramble on and on about plenty of other nonsense. The two hours flew by and I'm pretty sure those guys are never going to talk to me again. I'm just kidding, I hope. I think I'm addicted to podcasting now. You can jam my appearance into your ear hole right here...

Cashman Doesn't Believe Sabathia Is 30 Pounds Less Fat

Rumors circulating about CC Sabathia's 30-pound loss might have been exaggerated according to Yankee GM Brian Cashman. It seems like Cashman has been in the headlines for much of the off-season, most notable by being critical and overruled on the Rafael Soriano signing. I'm starting to like Cashman more and more, here's his latest on CC...

"I don't believe it,'' Cashman said. "I saw him (last week) at the B.A.T. dinner and he didn't look like he lost 30 pounds to me. Maybe half that amount. We haven't weighed him so I don't now where that number comes from.''

*snip*

"He obviously has worked very hard to rehab his knee and he's lost some weight, but he's still around 300 pounds,'' Cashman said."Clearly, he's a tremendous athlete and he can handle it , but it has to be managed so it doesn't become a problem. I just think 30 pounds would have been a lot more noticeable.''

Personally, I think the whole "losing 30 pounds" story was just a misunderstanding. It's much more likely the real story was that Sabathia lost 30-pounds of buffalo wings. You know, like behind the couch or under a fat roll. That just seems more plausible.

But I commend Cashman for his honesty as well as his fascination with collecting players who were good in 2005. His recent actions are reminiscent of Lane Kiffin's when he was trying to get fired from Oakland. What's the baseball equivalent of calling for a 76-yard field goal attempt?

Tournament of Champions Series Preview 1

(3) The Sandlot vs. (6) Chico's Bail Bonds Bears

The buzz for this series centers around the classic Benny Rodriquez-Kelly Leak match up and which superstar, by series end, will make the claim as the Josh Gibson of their time. Rodriquez, who had a long career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and finished with a 1.000% stolen base percentage in 11 major league seasons, will be hard to pitch around with the emergence of Ham Porter as a bonafide power threat in the No. 5 hole. After that, the Sandlot lineup gets a little thin as No. 6 hitter Ya Ya Mclendon is still recovering from his brush with the beast and rookie No. 7 hitter Scotty Smalls has a .210/.308/.375 slash line since the start of 2011.

In the other dugout, the Bears' Leak has established himself as not only a power threat at the plate, but the center fielder has taken to handling all fly balls in the outfield. Its caused some tension in the clubhouse, most notably by right fielder Ahmad Abdul Rahim.

"I know he's a future hall-of-famer and he's our clean up hitter, but damn! Can a brother get a fly ball?!" said Rahim.

Despite the outfield situation, Rahim has been excellent in the lead off spot since learning how to drag bunt-.440 OBP since January 15-and the middle of the Bears' order (Leak and catcher Mike Engelberg) are the toughest 1-2 punch in the North Valley League.

Trying to shut down the Bears' lineup will be former minor leaguer Kenny Denunez. Despite his age-Denunez turns 42 on April 6-the right-hander is still imposing and has developed a new pitch similar to his "heater" called "the heater's sister, 'Heather'". If Denunez can keep the pesky top of the Bears' order-namely lead off hitter Tanner Boyle (.390 OBP) and No. 2 hitter Toby Whitewood-off the bases, Leak and Co. may not have many chances to drive in runs.

The Sandlot lineup, which showed its potential in last week's lopsided win over neighborhood rival Tigers, will have to deal with righty Amanda Whurlitzer. The 5-2 former map salesman is in the prime of her career and until the Vaseline ball is outlawed, should be a Buttermaker candidate each year.

While the Sandlot has already played a true road game in the win over the Tigers, the Bears have never ventured away from North Valley Field and will be tested right away with games one and two at the Sandlot.



* All statistics provided by Ogilvie

Rangers Avoid Further Arbitration With Hamilton

The Rangers played nice with Josh Hamilton today by signing him to a 2-year deal worth $24 million. Heading toward arbitration, Hamilton had filed for $12MM and the Rangers had offered $8.7MM which would have been a nice raise from the $3.25MM he made in 2010.

Instead of going to a tough arbitration hearing, the Rangers played it smart and gave Hamilton the 2-year, $24 million deal that buys out his final two years of arbitration but doesn't delay his free agency. Hamilton won the AL MVP with 32 home runs and a .359/.411/.633 line while missing the last month of the 2010 season. According to Fangraphs, that season was worth $32.2 million.

By avoiding the arbitration hearing, the Rangers don't have to bring up Hamilton's past injuries or demons and Hamilton doesn't have to compare himself to Mickey Mantle for his 2010 season. There really aren't many comps for him. So it seems like a win-win situation. The Rangers also trade off minimizing the risk of Hamilton getting hurt for the insane salary he could command in two seasons.

It looks like a nice peaceful settlement that I'm sure Hamilton will think pleasantly of when free agency rolls around. Whereas, I'm pretty sure after the Angels beat Jered Weaver in arbitration, they left a flaming bag of dog poo on Scott Boras' porch as an encore.

Offbase Tournament of Champions Set

The editors at Offbase have always wondered what would happen if some of the great movie and television baseball/softball teams faced off against one another. Could 56-year old Eddie Harris, about to reach his pitch limit of 175, strike out Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth? How would the greatest female baseball player of all time, Dottie Hinson, do against male competition? And could Kelly Leak hit one in to the cornfield?

Soon we'll know.

Introducing the first Off Base Percentage Tournament of Champions, featuring, by seed:

1 - The 1919 Whitesox (Field of Dreams)
2 - Springfield Nuclear Power Plant (The Simpsons)
3 - Sandlot Gang (The Sandlot)
4 - Cleveland Indians (Major League)
5 - Rockford Peaches (A League of Their Own)
6 - Chico's Bail Bonds Bears (Bad News Bears)
7 - Durham Bulls (Bull Durham)
8 - Chatham Athletics (Summer Catch)



Stay with Offbase over the next couple weeks for game previews, recaps and analysis from the greatest imaginary baseball tournament ever created.