the new captain intangibles?

Ladies and Gentleman, your AL All-Star Reserve Catcher… JASON VARITEK! Despite the fact that Tek can’t hit anything in the last month plus, as shown by his recent 15 for his last 114 with only 3 of those hits going for extra bases (2 doubles and 1 homer), he also has to be one of the worst all-stars ever selected.

Varitek currently sports a line of 218/.300/.358. Yes that’s right, he is slugging .358. For point of reference, Neifi Perez has a career slugging percentage of .375. To go along with that, in a very good offensive line-up, Varitek has managed to score only 18 runs and collect only 27 RBIs. His VORP (Value Over Replacement) stands at -2.4, which means you could replace him with virtually any player and add wins to your team. Words and stats cannot describe how bad a season Varitek is having. Stats cannot cover his intangibles though, which he must be chock full of!

Francona did not even select him. Varitek made it to the team due to the players vote, in which he finished a distant second to Joe Mauer. However, due to an awful rule, because Mauer was already selected by the fans, Varitek had to go because he in essence was selected by the players. Maybe we can have the top fantasy baseball writers in the country vote in the All-Stars, as I’m sure they wouldn’t cause this much controversy.

What a disgrace. Somewhere in the South Side of Chicago, AJ Pierzynski is crying, and the MLB players don’t seem to care.

 

UPDATE: Varitek went 0-3 with a strikeout tonight to bring his average down to .215 on the season. He now has just 12 hits in his last 117 at-bats. He should withdraw from the All-Star festivities out of embarrassment at this point.

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the 6 million dollar man, i mean boy

If you pay any attention to baseball international free agency, you already know about the mysterious Michel Inoa, the hottest international pitcher outside of Yu Darvish (who is pitching in Japan, so he isn’t a free agent and must be posted).

Iona is just 16 years old (can we see a birth certificate?) yet already sports a 94 mph fastball, with a slightly above average curveball and a decent changeup. Sounds okay right? Well what makes him special is his projectable body: 6’7″, 205 lbs… remember this kid is only 16! Assuming he is actually 16, this is a special player.

While some International Free Agents (IFAs) remain secrets like Jose Reyes, Michel Inoa is anything but; he’s already been evaluated by all 30 major league clubs and is asking for a contract of at least $4 million, with some reports saying $6 million. Wow. That type of contract would destroy anything ever given to an IFA; sorry Wily Mo!

Reports are that the Oakland Athletics are the front-runners in the Inoa sweepstakes, with the Rangers and Reds joining in on the bidding war. I find it hard to believe that the Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, and Mets would back down from the kid’s price tag. I find it equally hard to believe that the A’s would go after Inoa so feverishly, as their organization’s philosophy is to stay away from high school pitchers. Why would Beane throw serious dough at a 16 year old, yet throw a temper-tantrum when they drafted Jeremy Bonderman out of HS.

The IFA signing period begins July 2nd, stay tuned. In the meantime, anyone ever know what became of Edward Salcedo?