Is Damon Cooperstown Bound?

We discussed whether the Yanks should bring Johnny Damon back yesterday, and he comes up again today because friend of the blog Josh at Jorge Says No! looked at the same article by Tyler Kepner but was inspired to write a post about a different portion of it; his potential of getting into the Hall of Fame.

Past the part we excerpted, Kepner notes that Damon has been a very well rounded player and has a chance at 3,000 hits:

Only three players have matched Damon’s career totals for hits (2,389), runs (1,459), stolen bases (370), doubles (443), homers (205), runs batted in (981) and batting average (.289). They are the Hall of Famer Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar and Barry Bonds, who are not yet eligible for Cooperstown.

Damon has only one season with 200 hits — for Kansas City in 2000 — but he has an outside chance at 3,000 for his career. He is 10th in hits among active players, but only two players ahead of him are younger: his teammates Jeter (2,688) and Rodriguez (2,483).

Sure, it sounds pretty impressive that only three players are ahead of Damon in those seven categories, but it's a lot harder to get in the Hall for being good at a bunch of things than it is for being great at a couple. He's got a career OPS+ of 105 as a centerfielder, which tells us that he wasn't especially good at hitting for power or getting on base, and those are pretty important skills to have. Even guys like Bernie Williams and Jim Edmonds have him crushed in that category though they don't have the counting stats to go along. He wasn't any great shakes defensively, either.

Johnny needs 611 hits to get to 3,000 so it's pretty safe to assume he would need to play four more seasons to get there. Will he get that chance? I'm not so sure.

Josh conducts a Keltner List, a set of 15 qualitative questions, on Damon which is the best thing aside from a statistical analysis in terms of evaluating a player's Hall of Fame candidacy. Check out Josh's responses to the questions. I found myself agreeing with most every one.

The biggest variable here is that we don't know how writers are going to treat this era. If just 25% of writers don't vote for anyone who played in the so-called steroid era, well, no one is going to get in. Even if 10% or 15% make that decision, it's going to make it much harder to gain entry. If it was 15 years ago, this would be a much simpler question to ponder.

Chances are, Damon is going to be up for consideration shortly after Ken Griffey, Jr. and Andruw Jones (388 HR, 115 OPS+) and alongside Ichiro and Carlos Beltran and I think all four of those guys have either vastly higher peaks or much better overall careers. Perhaps if he compiles 3,000 hits writers will have a hard time turning him down, but I think Damon will ultimately end up in the Hall of Very Good.

Yankees Fathers and Sons [Part 1]

In yesterday's game preview, in honor of Father's Day, we mentioned that Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher are the two second generation Major Leaguers on the Yankee roster. It's Monday; you don't want to work; the team isn't playing too well right now, and we have an off night tonight. Let's kill some time by furthering yesterday's theme and looking at some past Yankees who were part of baseball families:

Shelley Duncan: Everyone's favorite high five/forearm bash enthusiast is pasting the ball at AAA Scranton and is the son of former Big League catcher and famous pitching coach Dave Duncan.

Tom Tresh: Tresh was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1962. He was a switch hitting shortstop with power, who was eventually moved to the outfield. So of course, he faced innumerable comparisons to Mickey Mantle. A back injury ruined Tresh's career and forced him to retire at 31. But before that, he had six pretty good seasons for the Yankees, played on three pennant winners and one World Series winner. Tresh was the son of former White Sox cather Mike Tresh, and passed away last October at 70.

Bill Kunkel: Kunkel pitched for the Yankees briefly in 1963. He washed out of the majors, but began a second career as an umpire, working the AL from 1968 to 1984. Kunkel retired when his son Jeff reached the Majors with the Texas Rangers. He is the last man to both play and umpire in the Major Leagues.

Dale Berra: Everyone knows Yogi, but his son Dale also played in the Majors, including a stint with the Yankees in 1985-86, during which he briefly played with his father as his manager. Dale wasn't very good in his time as a Yankee, with perhaps his most infamous moment coming in this game when he and Bobby Meacham were both thrown out at home on the same play.

Mel Stottlemyre: The former Yankee ace and longtime pitching coach had two sons, Todd and Mel Jr. pitch in the big leagues. Mel Jr lasted only briefly, but Todd had a decent and lengthy career and is now the Diamondbacks pitching coach.

Tim Raines: The former Yankee and current Newark Bears manager is the father of Tim "Little Rock" Raines Jr. After retiring in Spring Training in 2000, Tim Raines unretired for the 2001 season. He spent the bulk of the season in Montreal, where his career had begun. After the Orioles made his son a September call-up, the Expos traded Raines to the O's for the season's final week so he could join his son. They became the second father-son combination to play as teammates.

Ken Griffey: Ken Griffeys Senior and Junior were the first father-son teammate combination and the first father and son to be active in the Majors at the same time. The two hit back-to-back HRs in this game. Griffey Sr. is best remembered as Junior's father and as a member of the Big Red Machine, but he spent 4+ fairly productive years with the Yankees from 1982-86.

Bobby Bonds: If Ken Griffey didn't sire the best ballplaying son of a former Yankee then Bobby Bonds did. Bonds came from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for Bobby Murcer in a big trade for both teams. Bonds spent only the 1975 season with the Yankees, but it was a great one, as he hit .270/.375/.512 with a career high 151 OPS+. He hit 32 HRs and had 30 SB, becoming the first Yankee to go 30/30. He was traded after the season for Ed Figueroa and Mickey Rivers, two key components of the pennant winning teams of the late 70s. Bonds became a bit of a vagabond after that, moving from team to team and traded for several future Yankees: Rich Dotson, Jerry Mumphrey, and Claudell Washington. The Yankees re-signed him in 1982, but after toiling in AAA Columbus for a month, he was released, ending his career. Bonds spent the third year of his pro career playing AA ball in Waterbury, CT, close to where I live. He always liked the city, and in his retirement he ran a celebrity golf tournament there each summer until his death in 2003.

Felipe Alou: A Yankee from 1971-73, Alou's brothers Jesus and Matty were also Big Leaguers, with Matty joining him on the 1973 team. In addition to his son Moises reaching the Bigs, Felipe was also the cousin of Jose Sosa and uncle of Mel Rojas. That's a Big League family right there.

Aaron Boone: Boone did one huge and historic thing in his time in pinstripes and was absolute horseshit for the rest of it. Perhaps more than the Alous, the Boones are a baseball family. Boone's brother Brett, father Bob, and grandfather Ray all had long Major League careers. The Boones and the Bells are the only three generation MLB families to date.

Sandy Alomar: Sandy Senior was with the Yankees in 1975 and 76 and was the on-deck batter when Chris Chambliss hit the homerun that won the 1976 AL Pennant. Given that Alomar Sr. was .245/.290/.288 career hitter, we should all be glad that Chambliss hit that HR. His sons had far better careers and Roberto will likely reach the Hall of Fame.

We'll be back with some more later on.

Forever Tainted?

Isn't it sort of an antiquated notion to think that a player only cheated when they were using steroids or HGH? Are the effects of heroin or cocaine contained only to the time when the user would have tested positive for them?

The reason athletes started using HGH in conjunction with steroids was that it allowed them to hold onto the extra mass gained during the extra hard workouts steroids allowed them to complete. Away from sports, it is used to combat aging by increasing bone density, muscle mass, improving heart functions and even improving skin complexion. Those don't sound like things that are going to subside immediately when you stop taking HGH.

How do you think Barry Bonds had an OPS of 1.422 (the highest single season OPS in baseball history) and had more HRs than strikeouts in 2004 at the age of 39, when the MLB had already instituted their testing policy? Does anyone actually think he wasn't still benefiting from all the steroids/HGH he took in the past?

It seems that only those older anabolic steroids such as Androstenedione and Deca-Durabolin had the drastic cycle on/off effects. As the newer, more sophisticated drugs like Primobolan evolved, those side effects were mitigated.

For the record, I really don't care about athletes using steroids. I don't have kids and don't care what kind of example it sets. Yeah, it sucks that the people who use it indirectly pressure the people who are clean to use it. That's life. Seeing someone drive by you on the highway going 85 in a 65 might tempt you to speed. You know if you get behind them, you might get pulled over.

We've all been at a party where people were smoking pot or doing coke and had to make our own decisions. Maybe it would have enhanced the experience that night, but if you got caught or were extra hungover the next day, you'd have probably regretted it. Common sense tells you it would be wrong, and you choose to either do it or not do it. Those scenarios aren't all that different.

I just think it's worth pointing out that it's awfully narrow-minded to confine the label of "cheating" to the time an athlete tested (or would have tested) positive. They have changed the chemistry of their body indefinitely.

Remember:

Barry Bonds (2000-2003) - Taking steroids/HGH/The Cream/The Clear - Best Hitter Ever

Barry Bonds (2004) - "Clean" - Even Better

A-Fraud?

Despite my strong personal dislike for his postseason performances, I have been reluctant to call Alex Rodriguez "A-Fraud." I never understood the meaning of the term. How exactly was he fraudulent? Given his personality, A-Hole seemed like the proper A-hyphenated nickname. I myself preferred the name "Mr. 162" label -- for his propensity for regular season greatness and postseason suckitude.

However, Selena Roberts and David Epstein of Sports Illustrated have launched a nuclear bomb that give this "A-Fraud" nickname proverbial legs. According to four sources of the two writers of the once-great periodical, in 2003, when he won the American League home run title and his first AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids. According to the sources, Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing.

The results of that year's survey testing of all players were meant to be anonymous under the joint agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association. However, the results were discovered after Feds seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, CA as part of the BALCO investigation by the government. The list of the players is currently sealed. However, sources who know contents of the list told SI that A-Rod tested positive for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known as Primobolan. Some anonymity...

According to the 2007 Mitchell Report, in September 2004, Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' union, violated an agreement with MLB by tipping off a player (not named in the report) about an upcoming, supposedly unannounced drug test. Three major league players who spoke to SI said that Rodriguez was also tipped by Orza in early September 2004 that he would be tested later that month. Rodriguez declined to respond on Thursday when asked about the warning Orza provided him. Wow. you're tipped off and still cannot even pass. Certainly a clutch performer...

Great. Distractions. Just what A-Rod needs. Just what the Yankees need. As if screwing Madonna was not enough. As if the Torre book was not enough.

Rodriguez has repeatedly denied steroid use in the past, including in a "60 Minutes Interview" with Katie Couric. In the interview, when asked by Couric if he had used steroids, human growth hormone or another performance-enhancing drug, Rodriguez said categorically, "No."

"I think baseball's done a fine job of implementing some very strict rules," Rodriguez said in the interview. "I mean, I got tested eight or nine times. I know some of my teammates got tested, you know, seven, eight ... times and, you know, if you think about where the game is today versus where it was six years ago, I think Major League Baseball has made some nice strides."

"I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field," Rodriguez said. "... I felt that if I did my, my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level."

Many people, myself included, thought that A-Rod was untainted and could not wait until he eventually dethroned Barry Bonds as the Home Run King. This news, which turns A-Rod into "A-Fraud," is like somebody stepping on your junk with steel toed boots.

Fortunately for A-Rod, unfortunately for Yankees fans/the Yankee organization, it does not appear that A-Rod's contract will be able to be voided.

Alex, can't you just retire? You have already made more money than anybody needs. As a liar and a cheat, everybody hates you, including Yankees fans. Your records and statistics mean nothing after you cheated or are accused of cheating. Retiring would spare you the public scorn that will disintegrate your already weaker than peanut butter brittle psyche and let you screw as many muscular broads as you want. Maybe you can work with fellow New York cheater Elliot Spitzer. Retiring would be a win-win situation for everyone. PLEASE! JUST DO IT! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

#105

Everyone is talking about how the other 103 players besides A-Rod on that list have to be sweating it out.

How about George Mitchell? The egg is already all over his face and when David Ortiz or any other Red Sock pops up on that list he's going to get an carton's worth more. There are 103 more names to come, it's going to happen. His "objectivity" will be destroyed and everything that went into the stupid fucking Mitchell Report will be called into question.

The only silver lining is that this makes Bud Selig look like even more of a ignoramus.

DO NOT HIRE RUSTY HARDIN

Hey Alex, just a quick bit of advice.

Admit it.

If you deny this, the questions will pile up, reporters will never leave you alone, and your life will be a living hell. Look at Clemens. Now look in the mirror. Be the first big star to own up. Trust me.

Shyster's take.
Will Carroll's take.

Nixon, Bonds, Belichick, A-Rod [Breaking News]

All cheated but none had to.

More to come.