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07-02-2002, 01:29 PM
Smizik: All-Star format fails to deliver
Tuesday, July 02, 2002
Baseball refers to the early-July competition between the National and American Leagues as the All-Star Game, and then goes out and makes itself a liar by inviting players who are anything but All-Stars.
This happens because baseball insists on adhering to an archaic rule that states every team must have a representative in the game. The fallout of this stupidity is that almost every year players who absolutely do not belong in the game are invited and players who absolutely do belong are snubbed.
Rob Fick and Randy Winn -- whoever they are -- will be at Milwaukee in a week playing for the American League. Jim Thome and Magglio Ordonez probably won't. What kind of sense does that make?
Every year impostors like Fick and Winn are selected to the game. The Pirates, in fact, have been known to have one or two of their own selected without really belonging there. No one seriously believed Ed Sprague was an All-Star in 1999 or Carlos Garcia in 1994. There were there because they were the most deserving Pirates player, not because they were All-Stars.
Nothing of the kind can be said about the Pirates' latest All-Star.
Mike Williams belongs in the game.
Any notion that he was selected by Arizona Diamondbacks Manager Bob Brenly because baseball rules stipulate each team must be represented is nonsense. Williams ranks among the premier closers in baseball.
He didn't help in making his own case believable by resorting to a heavy dose of false modesty. He downplayed his chances of making the game last week and did the same yesterday before the Pirates' 2-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
"I didn't think I had a chance," said Williams, who will receive a $25,000 bonus for making the team. "I just looked around at the other guys in the league."
Williams didn't look hard enough. Like too many, he seems more impressed with velocity than results. Williams might not have much of the former, but he's top heavy with the latter.
Take away Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who clearly has been the best closer in baseball, and Williams is second to none in the National League.
He is fourth in saves with 24, which is all the more impressive because the three pitchers in front of him are on winning teams. He, of course, is not. Gagne has 29 saves, John Smoltz of Atlanta has 27 and Danny Graves of Cincinnati 24. But the Dodgers had 50 wins, the Braves 51 and Reds 43. The Pirates only 36.
Williams has saved 64 percent of the Pirates' wins. No other closer was over 60 percent.
Of the five closers chosen for the game, Williams' earned run average of 1.95 was second only to Gagne's of 1.30. San Diego's Trevor Hoffman's was 2.30, Arizona's Byung-Hyun Kim's 2.47 and Smoltz's a whopping 4.53.
A closer's job is to keep runners off bases. Only Gagne, among the five closers selected, does a better job of that than Williams. Opponents have an on-base percentage of .185 against Gagne. Williams is second at .252, followed by Kim .280, Smoltz .299 and Hoffman .313.
Although the numbers were on his side, Williams wasn't a believer.
"I had plans to go elsewhere over the break," he said. "I'm glad to change them."
Fick of the Detroit Tigers and Winn of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are two players who should be on vacation. Fick has 10 home runs and 34 RBIs and Winn six home runs and 39 RBIs. Those are distinctly not All-Star numbers, particularly when compared to those of Thome of the Cleveland Indians and Ordonez of the Chicago White Sox.
Thome is tied for first in the American League with 24 home runs. Ordonez is tied for fourth in RBIs with 60. They belong in the game. Fick and Winn do not.
In the National League, there's no disputing that Cincinnati's Adam Dunn is one of the best young players in the game. He has 15 homers and 48 RBIs. But he's not nearly as deserving as Larry Walker (.343 with 17 homers and 58 RBIs), Andruw Jones (19 homers and 53 RBIs) and Brian Giles (18 homers 48 RBIs).
But, if Brenly had added Walker, Jones or Giles instead of Dunn, he would have had to look elsewhere for a Cincinnati representative. The logical choice would have been Graves, third in the league in saves. But if Brenly had taken Graves, he likely could not have taken Kim, who is his guy and the least deserving of the five closers selected.
That wasn't going to happen.
It's called the All-Star Game. In reality, it's the Almost All-Star game.
Tuesday, July 02, 2002
Baseball refers to the early-July competition between the National and American Leagues as the All-Star Game, and then goes out and makes itself a liar by inviting players who are anything but All-Stars.
This happens because baseball insists on adhering to an archaic rule that states every team must have a representative in the game. The fallout of this stupidity is that almost every year players who absolutely do not belong in the game are invited and players who absolutely do belong are snubbed.
Rob Fick and Randy Winn -- whoever they are -- will be at Milwaukee in a week playing for the American League. Jim Thome and Magglio Ordonez probably won't. What kind of sense does that make?
Every year impostors like Fick and Winn are selected to the game. The Pirates, in fact, have been known to have one or two of their own selected without really belonging there. No one seriously believed Ed Sprague was an All-Star in 1999 or Carlos Garcia in 1994. There were there because they were the most deserving Pirates player, not because they were All-Stars.
Nothing of the kind can be said about the Pirates' latest All-Star.
Mike Williams belongs in the game.
Any notion that he was selected by Arizona Diamondbacks Manager Bob Brenly because baseball rules stipulate each team must be represented is nonsense. Williams ranks among the premier closers in baseball.
He didn't help in making his own case believable by resorting to a heavy dose of false modesty. He downplayed his chances of making the game last week and did the same yesterday before the Pirates' 2-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
"I didn't think I had a chance," said Williams, who will receive a $25,000 bonus for making the team. "I just looked around at the other guys in the league."
Williams didn't look hard enough. Like too many, he seems more impressed with velocity than results. Williams might not have much of the former, but he's top heavy with the latter.
Take away Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who clearly has been the best closer in baseball, and Williams is second to none in the National League.
He is fourth in saves with 24, which is all the more impressive because the three pitchers in front of him are on winning teams. He, of course, is not. Gagne has 29 saves, John Smoltz of Atlanta has 27 and Danny Graves of Cincinnati 24. But the Dodgers had 50 wins, the Braves 51 and Reds 43. The Pirates only 36.
Williams has saved 64 percent of the Pirates' wins. No other closer was over 60 percent.
Of the five closers chosen for the game, Williams' earned run average of 1.95 was second only to Gagne's of 1.30. San Diego's Trevor Hoffman's was 2.30, Arizona's Byung-Hyun Kim's 2.47 and Smoltz's a whopping 4.53.
A closer's job is to keep runners off bases. Only Gagne, among the five closers selected, does a better job of that than Williams. Opponents have an on-base percentage of .185 against Gagne. Williams is second at .252, followed by Kim .280, Smoltz .299 and Hoffman .313.
Although the numbers were on his side, Williams wasn't a believer.
"I had plans to go elsewhere over the break," he said. "I'm glad to change them."
Fick of the Detroit Tigers and Winn of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are two players who should be on vacation. Fick has 10 home runs and 34 RBIs and Winn six home runs and 39 RBIs. Those are distinctly not All-Star numbers, particularly when compared to those of Thome of the Cleveland Indians and Ordonez of the Chicago White Sox.
Thome is tied for first in the American League with 24 home runs. Ordonez is tied for fourth in RBIs with 60. They belong in the game. Fick and Winn do not.
In the National League, there's no disputing that Cincinnati's Adam Dunn is one of the best young players in the game. He has 15 homers and 48 RBIs. But he's not nearly as deserving as Larry Walker (.343 with 17 homers and 58 RBIs), Andruw Jones (19 homers and 53 RBIs) and Brian Giles (18 homers 48 RBIs).
But, if Brenly had added Walker, Jones or Giles instead of Dunn, he would have had to look elsewhere for a Cincinnati representative. The logical choice would have been Graves, third in the league in saves. But if Brenly had taken Graves, he likely could not have taken Kim, who is his guy and the least deserving of the five closers selected.
That wasn't going to happen.
It's called the All-Star Game. In reality, it's the Almost All-Star game.