Every week, we here at The Outside Corner do are best to bring you the latest and greatest analysis from the world of Major League Baseball, but we are but humble bloggers and can’t quite cover every single bit of news as it happens. But when those stories do slip past our watchful eyes, Garrett Wilson is here to catch them with the weekly edition of Just A Bit Outside…
Bud Selig seems confident about expanding the playoffs next season
Whether you agree with a second wild card in each league or not, this appears to be inevitable. Selig keeps talking it up and he even got a backing vote from Mike Scioscia, who is on the special advisory committee for changes to the game that Selig put together, so this idea has acceptance amongst the league elders too.
The real question, and Selig has yet to really offer a concrete plan for this, is how exactly they are going to setup the format for a playoffs with five entrants on each side. Most of the detractors to a second wild card are less concerned with another team making the post-season so much as the potential for a long layoff for the division winners while the two wild card teams essentially play a “play-in” round. Personally, I am still in favor of a three-game series that starts with a doubleheader. That will never happen for TV reasons, but it seems like the best way to keep the series from dragging out the post-season longer than it needs to.
Jim Crane appears to be set to buy the Astros
Oh, Bud Selig, will you ever learn? Crane finally gets his mitts on an MLB team after failing in earlier bids for the Cubs and Rangers. Third time’s a charm, right? But at least he is reportedly set to buy the Astros in a debt-heavy deal. Hmmm, a new owner that is relying heavily on debt and failed in previous efforts to buy a franchise. Why does that sound familiar? Oh, right, because that is the exact same profile as Frank McCourt who is in the process of getting stripped of his ownership of the Dodgers. To be fair to Crane, McCourt did A LOT of other things that were rather shady and not in the best interest of the ball club, so while the parallels are apparent on the surface, that doesn’t mean Crane is going to be as bad an owner as McCourt was. Just to be safe though, Crane might want keep an eye on his wife and her bodyguard, just in case something untoward might be going down.
While there are obvious points of concern over Crane’s ownership, this should be seen as a positive for Houston fans. The franchise had a great deal of success under Drayton McLane’s ownership, but McLane seemed to have lost perspective on how to run his franchise. Much of the last few years were marked by McLane spending for the sake of spending even though the team was never a real threat to contend. Now, the Astros can make a much-needed commitment to rebuilding so that they can hopefully be back on the upswing when their lucrative new TV deal kicks in in 2013. Until then though, Astro fans will likely have to suffer though a late-July fire sale (well, sort of, Houston is exactly ripe with assets that other teams are clamoring to snag).
Albert Pujols started at third base for the first time since 2002
This isn’t so much major news as more an unexpected oddity. All this really accomplished was plugging a hole for the Cardinals as they tried to remedy their depth problem and made much of the baseball-watching world collectively say, “oh yeah, I forgot he used to play third.” If you really want to pique my interest, move Pujols there on a more regular basis.
David Wright was placed on the DL with a stress fracture in his lower back
Well that doesn’t sound good. I think it is safe to say that all of the trade speculation building up around Wright is going recede faster than Mariano Rivera’s hairline. The injury may not sideline him for very long, but teams are generally pretty wary of power hitters with back problems, so he’ll have to come back with a vengeance if he is going to find his way back to the trading block.
On the bright side, the back problem at least provides an explanation for Wright’s early season struggles.
What’s that, Met fan? You don’t know the meaning of the term “bright side?” Silly me, I should have known better. A bright side is pretty much the opposite of what your life as a baseball fan is usually like. If you need further clarification, please consult the nearest Yankee fan.
A fan ran on the field in Houston and actually got away
The film of this fan’s escape should be on exhibit in the Smithsonian. For a field crashed to completely evade security is truly the thing of legends. If I’m this guy, I’m starting a consulting business and immediately taking up residence in Los Angeles. Growing up in LA, I can’t begin to tell you how many high-speed car chases I’ve seen, but not once have I seen the guy get away. It almost happened once but he eventually got cornered near the US-Mexico border and then shot himself in the head on live television. I was nine at the time. Good stuff. Anyway, this slippery interloper could probably have a pretty lucrative consulting business where he advises morons on how to get away from the police in high-speed car chases.
The Mets have are about to start paying out $30 million in deferred salary to Bobby Bonilla
This isn’t nearly as big a deal as it sounds like, but it is still just an embarrassing concept for the Mets. Bobby Bo will be getting $1.2 million per year for 25 years, so it really won’t have any real impact on the annual budget plans for the Mets, it will just be funny to see the Mets having to include a septuagenarian on their payroll. In fact, Bonilla might end up being the first person in MLB history to be drawing a paycheck for his playing days at the same time that he is receiving Social Security benefits. To little surprise, it was Steve Phillips who orchestrated this head-scratching deal with Bonilla. Which, once again, begs the question: why is Phillips employed as an “expert” analysis by anyone?
