Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Verducci on Bud, Big Mac, and Eric Chavez
Posted by Matthew NameeBud Selig recently told Jim Gray, "I don't think at this point I will do anything relative to Mark McGwire's records" unless "some day there's a lot more relevant knowledge."
At the bottom of his column yesterday, Tom Verducci had a nice response to that statement from the Commish. Verducci concludes, "... unless Selig has some irrefutable, cold, hard facts as they relate to 'relevant knowledge,' the only time he should open his mouth about McGwire is to give the man an apology." I'm inclined to agree with Verducci.
Also in that column, Verducci compares Eric Chavez to Scott Rolen, when Rolen was entering his 6th service year. Their stats are very similar, but two things are missing: 1) While Chavez is entering his Age 26 season, Rolen was going into his Age 27 year, and 2) Rolen had almost 100 more walks in the same number of games, and thus a 29-point edge in OBP.
Matthew Namee cofounded The Hardball Times in 2004, when he was working as the assistant to baseball author and Red Sox executive Bill James. Matthew still lives in Kansas, where he is currently pursuing a law degree. He can be reached at mfnamee [at] gmail [dot] com.