I didn't see a Hot Stove topic, so I'm starting one myself. This is where we will discuss all off-season baseball-related subjects. Allow me to start it off- I firmly believe that we are now witnessing the decline of two of the 90's great dynasties- the Braves and the Yankees. The Braves are definitely done. It's over for them. No good pitching left save Ortiz and Smoltz, and their best hitters have left the building. Sub-.500 to .500 season for them. As for the Yankees, their clubhouse chemistry will be so bad that they will blow up mid-season, winning around 86-92 games and missing out on the post-season for the first time in ten years. Thoughts, anyone?

There was alot of moving going on this season. The Orioles got Javy Lopez, but as a Baltimoron who can't stand the Birds that means nothing to me. I still won't watch them. I'm a Braves fan, and I agree with you about their pitching. I never cared for Maddux anyway. They need major help there. And with Shef gone they need a power hitter. I'm thinking the BoSox are really getting serious about giving the Yanks a run for their money. It should be interesting next season.

Let me TRY to get this topic rolling...

Milwaukee rebelling against Brewers' false promises and payroll cuts...

Where will the Expos end up? Washington? Portland? Virginia? San Antonio? New Jersey???

AL East becoming toughest division in baseball... and the Yankees aren't the front-runner!

Anaheim upgrades its rotation with Colon and Escobar...

A-Rod for Manny deal... will it EVER happen? And is Nomar now certain he'll leave as a free agent next year?

The New York Mets- next year's Florida Marlins?

Those are a few topics we can discuss in here. Thoughts, anyone?

OHHH HA HA HE HE!!!!!!! YOU SEE THAT MIKE!!!!!!HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!

I don't get it...

Ah, you had to be here aroung WS time. Mike Sullivan was always giving me crap about likeing the Mets, and at the end of every baseball post I made, I put something like- Mets will win it next year.So when you posted that, I had to rub it in his face. You watch, he wont even read it.

Well of course I posted that- I'm a Mets fan too!

Ok... I'm going to keep bumping up this topic until it takes off with my own opinions...

The Expos still have not found a permanent home for the future. The only thing that's certain is that they WILL move, at some point. But where? The only three OFFICIAL possible destinations are Washington, Portland, and Northern Virginia. I personally will rule out Northern Virginia because I can't see a baseball team moving to a market that has no other professional teams. Washington and Portland are good options, and I would be inclined to pick Washington over Portland because Washington is a much more important and high-profile city than Portland, but I would love to move the Expos to Portland and then move them to the AL West, just to help remove the uneven divisions, with Pittsburgh moving over from the NL Central to the NL East. Of course, then supposedly we would have to have one interleague series always going on, but I say this is not the case. Simply rest two teams for a series. The season would go on slightly longer, but we can afford to move the beginning of the season earlier, into the last week of March. Of course, this poses quite a problem, which is why I am in favor of expansion. Yes, you heard me right, EXPANSION. I don't want to hear it about diluting talent, I totally believe that it is a total falsehood. The talent pool is about to get a lot bigger, once the floodgates are opened for Asian players to come over here in droves. There will be plenty of talent there that will plug the "gaps" if baseball expands by two teams. There should be 32 teams, 16 in each league, 4 in each division. The divisions would be set up like those in football- North, South, East and West. Here is my plan for baseball expansion and realignment:

NL East

New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington (Expos or Expansion)

NL North

Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Milwaukee Brewers

NL South

Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
Houston Astros
St. Louis Cardinals

NL West

Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants

AL East

Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays

AL North

Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins


AL South

Charlotte (Expansion)
Kansas City Royals
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Texas Rangers


AL West

Anaheim Angels
Oakland Athletics
Portland (Expos or Expansion)
Seattle Mariners

Under this plan, there are at the present some VERY strong divisions (NL South, AL East) and VERY weak ones (NL North, AL South) so it would probably be best to wait a little while before implementing this so that the divisions become more even. Thoughts or comments?

Interesting analysis Val - but since I am just now expelling myself from football mode - I am not informed enough to make comments about the Expos.

Being a Dodger fan though, I will tell you that losing Kevin Brown and Brian Jordan is going to make the season a tough one to sit through. My fantasy baseball buds here will tell you that it didn't matter who was playing or pitching...I was good to pick Brown or Pedro for my starting pitcher with absolutely no hesitation - without even looking at the others. Brown for Weaver and any NUMBER of Yankees is not a fair trade in my opinion.

Dodgers MIGHT get Guerrrero since the Nomar thing didn't happen. I would like to see them get someone really healthy. Go figure.

But then I wanted Clemens to take the Hummer in Houston, just for the fun of it

Bring on Spring Training!

Alright! Another one! You see Mike, we will win!!!

Hopefully the Expos will stay and remain in Montreal although that looks less and less likely. I think my Blue Jays will be in the AL Wild Card hunt next season.

Here are my picks for the playoffs as the teams stand right now:

AL East- Boston Red Sox
AL Central- Kansas City Royals
AL West- Anaheim Angels
AL Wild Card- Toronto Blue Jays

NL East- Philadelphia Phillies
NL Central- Houston Astros
NL West- San Francisco Giants
NL Wild Card- New York Mets

Boston beats Kansas City
Toronto beats Anaheim

Astros beat Phillies
Mets beat Giants

Boston beats Toronto
Astros beat Mets

Boston beats Astros

Here are my orders of finish for the 2004 season as the teams stand right now:

NL East

Philadelphia
New York
Florida
Atlanta
Montreal

NL Central

Houston
Chicago
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Milwaukee

NL West

San Francisco
Los Angeles
San Diego
Colorado
Arizona

AL East

Boston
Toronto
New York
Baltimore
Tampa Bay

AL Central

Kansas City
Minnesota
Chicago
Cleveland
Detroit

AL West

Anaheim
Oakland
Seattle
Texas

The Hall of Fame inductees are to be announced on January 6. Here are my choices for induction (I normally choose the maximum I think deserve it):

Paul Molitor
Dennis Eckersley
Andre Dawson
Ryne Sandberg
Bruce Sutter
Bert Blyleven
Jack Morris
Goose Gossage
Dennis Martinez
Tommy John

Steve Garvey??

I know, after I posted that I realized I'd forgotten Steve Garvey and Jim Rice.

The Baseball Hall of Fame votes are in, and Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley are now the 99th and 100th players in the Hall of Fame. I must say I'm terribly disappointed with the writers. Ryne Sandberg, the best second baseman of the 80's, still hasn't gotten in. Keith Hernandez, Dennis Martinez, and Joe Carter fall off the ballot. The Hall of Fame is a bit too exclusive.

Isn't that the idea?

Bill James, the noted baseball historian and analyst, whose work I highly reccommend, wrote a book called "Whatever Happened To The Hall Of Fame". He argues that there are many undeserving members, as well as many deserving players who are not in.

He attempted to establish some criteria, besides the statistical, to determine if a player was worthy of induction. Among the questions he would ask are

--Was he ever regarded as the best player in baseball
--Was he the best player on his team
--Was he the best player in baseball or in his league at his position
--Did he have an impact on a number of pennant races
--Do his stats meet HOF standards
--Are most players with comparable stats in the HOF
--How many MVP type seasons did the have
--How many All-Star types seasons did he have
(Hitters, .300, 30, 100; Pitchers, 20 wins, 200 K's, ERA under 3.00)
--If he were the best player on his team, would it be likely that his team would contend for the pennant
--Did he have any impact on baseball history

Enough yesses, and the guy should be in.

Steve Garvey, Dennis Martinez, and Joe Carter should have no shot.

Some fairly recent guys who deserve to be in but aren't:

--Orlando Cepeda
--Luis Tiant (Extremely comparable stats to a contemporary, Catfish Hunter, who is in)
--Tony Perez
--Ron Santo
--Gil Hodges

I'd agree with Rice (altho strictly a one dimensional player) and Sandberg. Sutter is marginal.

Cepeda's in already.

Oh, and Perez is too.

This book was written in 1995. I guess I haven't been paying attention.

If you're a real BB fan, you should read some of this guy's stuff, if you haven't already.

Well, if they have the guy that supposedly invented the curveball in there, Sutter (who invented the splitter) should be in as well. My only argument for Dennis Martinez is that he won more games than any other Latin pitcher. Joe Carter was one of the most feared hitters of his time, but probably shouldn't be in because of his .259 batting average. Goose Gossage was the game's most dominating closer of his time. Ron Santo should be in, sure, but the Hall of Fame made really stupid changes to its Veterans Committee system that really screws over players that deserve it but were snubbed by the writers.

I have his 1985 and 2001 baseball handbooks.

I hate the idea of expansion. HATE IT!

More teams = less quality

As I already said, once we have an influx of Asian players, there will be enough talent to keep the talent ratio status quo if we expand by two teams.

Orioles soon to get Guerrero AND Palmeiro, their lineup is going to KILL AL pitchers.

What have you been smoking? The Orioles couldn't kill a cockroach.

Miguel Tejada, Javy Lopez, Vladimir Guerrero, and Rafael Palmeiro? It's a latter-day Murderer's Row!

Palmeiro?? He did shit when we had him the 1st time. He needs to just stay home and pop his viagra.

Newsflash- Palmeiro just officially signed with the Orioles again. How can you knock a guy who's a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer? He only needs two, maybe three more years to reach 3,000 hits!!! He's got 2,740 hits and 528 home runs! He hit 38 homers last year! He's going to put up nice numbers, mark my words. (Unless he gets injured, of course.)