The 2008 season started with the Red Sox as champs. They were beaten by the A's, who were beaten back by Boston, who were then swept by Toronto, who lost to Oakland, who lost to Cleveland, and so on, until we reached our current champion.
The Heavyweight of the Year is the team that wins the most title bouts at the end of the season.
Final Regular Season Champion:
Atlanta Braves
2008 Title Bout Records:
| Mets | 26 | 19 |
| Cubs | 16 | 4 |
| Phillies | 15 | 14 |
| Athletics | 13 | 13 |
| Red Sox | 11 | 7 |
| Padres | 10 | 9 |
| Braves | 9 | 7 |
| Nationals | 9 | 15 |
| Rockies | 7 | 14 |
| Brewers | 6 | 1 |
| Angels | 6 | 4 |
| Indians | 6 | 11 |
| Cardinals | 5 | 5 |
| Reds | 5 | 5 |
| Marlins | 5 | 5 |
| Dodgers | 5 | 7 |
| Rangers | 4 | 6 |
| Blue Jays | 3 | 3 |
| Mariners | 2 | 1 |
| Yankees | 2 | 3 |
| Tigers | 1 | 2 |
| Giants | 0 | 3 |
| Orioles | 0 | 3 |
| Pirates | 0 | 3 |
2006 Heavyweight of the Year:
Oakland Athletics
2005 Heavyweight of the Year:
Oakland Athletics
Ken: catfish AT zombia d.o.t. com
Ryan: rarmbrust AT gmail d.o.t. com
Philip: kingchimp AT alamedanet d.o.t net
2008 Stats
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The Chronicle reports, via blog, that Jack Cust is the A's answer to the latest injury woes. (When Jack Cust is the answer, you are, perhaps, asking uncomfortable questions...) The Chronicle further notes that Cust is "a longtime favorite of Oakland GM Billy Beane." If that particular phrasing sounds familiar, that's because a variation of it was used to describe the newly acquired Chris Snelling in the morning papers.
So... Cust and Snelling are examples of players that Billy Beane likes. You don't suppose someone could show him some highlights of guys like Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez so he can start to develop affinities for that class of player, do you?
On a more positive note, Snelling has been an Athletic for more than 12 hours now, and he is yet to suffer a debilitating injury. Please keep him encased in his Nerf-lined travel box until first pitch in Tampa on Friday, Larry Davis.
This is unbelieveable, even for Billy Beane. It's as if trading were a reflex, and, punched out cold, the first thing he does upon awakening is to flip open a cellphone and get Ned Colletti or Kevin Towers on speed dial.
But maybe they just see that his only value is as a DH, and now is the first time that they have actually had a DH slot to use him in.
I guess he'll hit better than Danny Putnam at this stage, so I guess that's something. What would be really interesting is if he ends up hitting better than Mike Piazza.
I've seen that sentence construction and content before in other places, but never has its intent been so blindingly obvious. Kudos and well done.
Or does that fall under some other literary term that I'm not familiar with?
I would say it is ironic if it weren't for the serious injury Piazza suffered to his groin back in 02 or 03. Think, Bob, think.
C'mon, that's not fair at all. I have a real hard time believing that Beane is unaware of that ARod and Pujols are better than Jack Cust and Chris Snelling. Besides, what universe are you living in where either of them (or any other star-calibre player) are available for trade right now? Or that Oakland can afford. These are short term, emergency, injury replacement trades - not guys that Beane's been pining for and finally got. If he has to get a AAAA player, he'll get guys that get on base and have power over chemistry, versatility, and experience.
I think the interesting thing about what the A's are going through right now is that it is very reminiscent of what the Dodgers went through in 2005 under Beane protoge Paul DePodesta. Do 'sabermetric' GM's have a blindspot over durability in their quest for efficiency and cost-effectiveness?
Btw, the Dodgers have an experienced outfielder in Larry Bigbie currently playing in AAA Las Vegas and tearing it up. (Again, for what that's worth.) They have to make a decision about him within the month, I believe. I wonder why Beane wasn't interested in him (or maybe he was?) He's doing a combo of OF and DH there at Vegas.
Paragraph two: Often-injured players (like Snelling) are undervalued.
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