The SoapBoxers

If you don’t realize that I’m a big baseball fan, you’re new around here.  I like baseball as much as Evan likes Evernote – and nearly as much as Lazy Man hates Mona Vie.  I subscribe to MLB Extra Innings, get Sports Weekly in my mailbox every week (just for the baseball coverage), and pre-order Ron Shandler’s newest book every year.  I’d say that it borders on an obsession, but I have to be honest with myself – it crossed the threshold many years ago.  To paraphrase the quote from Jerry Maguire, it had me at “play ball”.

As a fan of the Colorado Rockies, I’m acutely aware of the differences between the offensive numbers the Rockies compile at Coors Field versus the numbers they compile on the road.  Although the installation of a humidor several years ago has cut the gap somewhat, the team typically achieves an OPS (on-base-plus-slugging) of somewhere between 100 and 150 points higher at home (the 220 point differential this year is an outlier).  The typical Major League player has an OPS 31 points higher at home – so Coors Field clearly aids the Rockies hitters.

Chipper Jones of the Braves has thrust his own opinion into this issue into the spotlight, suggesting that Carlos Gonzalez’s numbers are not legitimate due to CarGo’s massive home/road splits.  Never mind that Chipper enjoyed a 244 point differential in his 1999 MVP season.  Apparently dramatic splits are OK, as long as they aren’t compiled by a Rockies hitter.

Of course, a couple of things often get ignored.  First, the home/road disparity can be skewed by the unbalanced scheduled.  The Rockies play more games in San Diego’s Petco Park (a pitcher’s paradise) than the Cubs do, for example (this is also why ESPN’s park factors are flawed).  The second is an effect that has been theorized but not proven – that there is a Coors Hangover effect that negatively affects Rockies players on the road.  The gist of this argument is that Rockies hitters get lulled into the flatness of breaking pitches (curve balls, sliders, etc.) at home and are not prepared for the sharper breaks at lower elevations.  A couple of years ago, I analyzed some data that supported this theory.  In 2008, the Rockies hit line drives on 23% of balls they put into play at home, and just 19.6% of balls they put into play on the road – an indication that they are actually making more solid contact at home, rather than simply enjoying the fact that the balls travels further in thin air.  This was an incomplete study, as I did not analyze the splits for other teams.

More importantly, players on the same team are affected differently by the park.  Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies has an OPS 400 points higher at home this year.  Troy Tulowitzki has a more modest 138 point differential.  I struggled to find a comparable player to CarGo – but the most notable lefty who played predominately in the post-humidor era and had some power is Brad Hawpe (Todd Helton and Larry Walker played a lot of games pre-humidor).  Hawpe has a career differential of about 50 points – not much more than the 31 points for the average MLB player.  The home/road splits are all over the chart – without a lot of logic to the distribution.

I have theorized for many years that there are mental, psychological, and social factors that come into play.  Some players will be consistent studs at home, while others will stink it up in front of the home team fans and dazzle on the road.  Why?

Unique aspects of the park – Every park has unique aspects.  The most notable is perhaps the Green Monster in Boston’s Fenway Park.  The left field wall is a stone’s throw from home plate – but looms 37 feet high.  A play who can tailor their swing to hit high fly balls to left field will get homers at home and harmless outs on the road.  It’s not always as easy as flipping a switch when you go on the road – but if this player were traded, they would likely change their swing to remove the uppercut.

A less notable feature of each park is the batter’s eye in center field.  You may notice that there are never any fans sitting in dead center field, and that this area is always a solid color.  This is to provide a visual background that allows that hitter to see the ball after it is pitched (imagine trying to see the balls with fans in the background, wearing a variety of colors).  A player may become accustomed to their park’s hitter’s eye and hit better with it in the background.  The ability to adapt your style to suit the ballpark is a skill, not a fluke – and it’s portable to a new home environment.

Climate – Call it the Favre factor.  Some guys are going to prefer cooler climates while other prefer warmed climates.  The data do exist to analyze climate data (the box score contains the temperature at the start of the game), but I haven’t seen much work on this topic.

Family life – Everyone is happier when they are around loved ones.  I would theorize that players in happy relationships will do well at home, and players in bad relationships (or no relationship) will not do as well.  If a marriage is turning from bliss into hell, I would expect a player’s home/road splits to become more road-favorable.

Dining and Entertainment Options – I like having my favorite restaurants around.  Plop me into the midst of a vegan-leaning area and I would not do well.  A happy belly is a happy ballplayer.  Likewise, a player who enjoys mountain hikes is going to be happier with his home base in Denver and a fan of Broadway shows will enjoy New York.  Put the mountain hike guy in New York City and the Broadway guy in Denver and neither is as happy.

Community involvement – Some players are much more involved in the community than others.  Some players are more like hired guns – coming in to do a job, and then leaving town the day after the season is over.  I would expect the more involved players to do better at home, because they have a good feeling about the city.

Fans – And, of course, the player’s relationship with the fans.  If the fans are vocally supportive of a player, I’d expect the player to out-perform the park factors – although it’s possible that some players could try to hard and do worse because of the fans.

Really, all of this boils down to one thing.  Players who feel more “at home” in their home city should have better splits than a player who is more neutral about the surroundings.

I haven’t had the time to compile an all-inclusive list, nor have I had the time to do any statistical analysis of the theory.  What other factors do you think can affect a player’s home/road splits?

My Rockies were 11 games out of first place on August 22.  At the end of the day on Sunday, they had pulled to within 1 1/2 games of the division leading Padres and Giants – courtesy of a 10 game winning streak.  A loss to San Diego on Monday dropped them 2 1/2 games back – but with 17 games left in the regular season, the Rockies could once again make some noise down the stretch.

As impossible as it seems, Carlos Gonzalez has been overshadowed in recent days by Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.  Tulo has reported that his wrist is now feeling completely healthy – and Tulo has provided evidence of this by hitting 9 homers in the last 11 games.  Tulo’s career has been sidetracked slightly by injuries and some slows springs, but he is going to be one of the elite shortstops in the game for years to come.

CarGo’s pursuit of the elusive triple crown also seems unlikely at this point, as a hot stretch by Albert Pujols of the Cardinals has put the home run race out of reach for CarGo – barring a Tuloesque stretch of homers.

With the playoffs in sight, we get very different pictures from the two leagues.  In the American Leagues, it’s a foregone conclusion that the Yankees, Devil Rays, Twins, and Rangers are going to the post-season – although there is a possibility that the White Sox could make some noise in the Central.  The Yankees and Devil Rays are locked in a tight battle for the division lead – the loser will be the wild card.

In the National League, the Reds are the only team that can be very comfortable at this point, holding a 7 game lead against the Cardinals.  The Phillies lead the Braves by a game in the East and the Padres lead the Giants by a half game in the West.  None of these four teams is guaranteed a playoff spot – one of them will definitely miss the playoffs, and a late surge by the Rockies could result in two of those four teams missing the post-season.  The sports world might be focused on football, but there is a lot of great baseball drama yet to unfold.

A bit of drama that will unfold after the season involves Yankees star Derek Jeter.  Although it doesn’t get the attention of A-Rod’s salary, Jeter’s 20M+ salary in 2010 is among the highest in the game.  He is a Yankees icon – accumulating more hits than any other Yankee in history.  His post-season heroics have been replayed again and again and again and again.  Jeter leaving the Yankees would be like Peyton Manning leaving the Colts.  If Jeter ends up in Boston, Yankee fans will be storming Brian Cashman’s estate with torches and pitchforks.

Jeter is a free agent at the end of this season.  How much will the Yankees need to offer him to retain his services?  Will they recognize his obvious PR value and keep him near his current salary?  Or will they realize that he’s a 36 year old player in the midst of the worst season of his career, and make an offer commensurate with those facts?  Can they expect him to bounce back in 2011 – or is 2010 the beginning of the end for Jeter?  The mid-30s are unkind to many baseball players, with marked decline in performance being a common occurence.  If Derek Jeter wasn’t Derek Jeter and was instead more of a nomad (thus not eligible for a “loyalty bonus” from his employer) how much would he get?  $6 million per year?  10?

And the interesting quirk is that since Jeter will be a type A free agent, he could draw minimal interest in free agency.  If the Yankees offer arbitration and Jeter declines it, a team signing him would need for forfeit a first round draft pick to the Yankees when they sign him.  The Mets may have been able to con the Braves into signing  a declining Tom Glavine, but I’m willing to bet that some teams paid attention and came to the realization that forfeiting first round talent for a few years of mediocre performance from a declining star is not a great deal.

Johnny went with a LOT of upsets last week and that was a mixed bag. Still a good start for the Goodman.

Straight up –11-4
Against the Spread – 9-6

College

South Florida @ Florida (-18.5) Gators have to bounce back this week after poor showing in the opener. FLA – 35- South Fla – 10

Georgia Tech (-9.5) @ Kansas – Wow Kansas looked HORRRRIBLE. GT-28- KU -7

Georgia @ South Carolina (-3.5) Early SEC Matchup…gimmie the ol ball coach. SC- 21- GA -17

Idaho @ Nebraska (-25.5) – Wake up call for Huskers before they head to Washington next week. Nebs – 35- Idaho – 21

Florida State @ Oklahoma (-8.5) – Sooners were sleepwalking last week waiting for this game. OU – 42 – FLA St – 28

Iowa State @ Iowa (-14.5) – The Battle of the cornbelt….Gimmie Herky!. IA- 28- ISU – 10

Michigan @ Notre Dame (-4.5) – might be the most interesting game of the day. MICH – 45- ND- 41

Miami (FL) @ Ohio State (-10.5) – Too tough at the horseshoe – Bunkeyes 24- MI – 21

Penn State @ Alabama (-13.5) – Roll Tide! Bama 31- Penn St – 14

Oregon (-8.5) @ Tennessee – They won’t score 70 this week but it will be enough – Ducks – 35- Tennessee – 20

NFL

Vikings @ Saints (-5.5) – Just like last year, Who Dat!?!?!? Saints 30- Vikings – 17

Oakland @ Tennessee (-6.5) Titans are way better dan da raiders….Titans 28- Raiders 10

Atlanta (-2.5) @ Pittsburgh – Steelers Defense wins this one. Pitt – 17- Atlanta 14

Baltimore @ NY Jets (-3.5) Revis Island won’t matter against the much improved Ravens attack. Balt – 21 Jets 14

On Sunday, I announced the intention to form a worldwide network of local reporters.  I neglected to mention a few things in the original article.  The first is that reporters are free to decline any opportunity for any reason.  The second is that I will attempt to suggest a few relevant questions whenever I give an assignment.  These are intended to be thought starters – you are not forced to answer these questions.  Drop me a line at kosmo@ObservingCasually.com if you have any questions.

Martin Kelly tried his hand at short story writing with The Bomber Pilot.  I like it – give it a read.

My Rockies swept the division-leading Padres over the weekend and nabbed a win against the Reds on Monday.  They are now just 4 1/2 games back in the NL West, thanks to an 11-4 record over the past 15 games.  The Padres have been free-falling as of late, and the Rockies might find themselves battling the Giants (whom they trail by 3 1/2 games) down the stretch.

Carlos Gonzalez has 10 hits in 19 at bats during the 4 games, boosting his league leading batting average to .340.  He trails NL home run leader Albert  Pujols by 4 homers and RBI leader Joey Votto by just a single RBI.  A hot stretch by CarGo would give him a legitimate shot at becoming the first NL player to win the triple crown since Ducky Medwick in 1937.  That year, Medwick paced the senior circuit with a .374 batting average, 31 homers, and 154 RBI.  If Gonzalez does win the triple crown, many people will point to his huge home/road splits.  However, as has been point out several times in the past, Coors Field boosts a typical player’s OPS by about 120 points.  The 450+ point differential enjoyed by CarGo must be due to some non-physical factors.

Today is the day that CarGo’s teammate Troy Tulowitzki will officially become one of his closest pursuers for the batting title.  Due to injury, Tulo falls just short of the threshold for plate appearances required to qualify for the batting title.  After yesterday’s game, Tulo had 424 plate appearances and the required number of PAs was 424.7.  4 plate appearances in today’s game will make him an official qualifier.

Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez finally notched his 18th win on Monday, in his 6th attempt.  After roaring out of the gates to a 14-1 record by the end of June, Ubaldo has run into a bit of a rough stretch, going 3-5 with a 3.98 ERA in the second half.  It hasn’t all been his fault, though.  he has lost the opportunity to win several games because of offensive struggles or bullpen woes.  In the 5 games prior to Monday, Ubaldo was 0-4 with a very good 3.00 ERA.  On the other hand, the offense has taken him off the hook in some games where he hasn’t been at his best (such as yesterday, when he gave up 4 early runs), so I suppose it all balances out in the end.

In NFL news, the Arizona Cardinals parted ways with quarterback Matt Leinart.  The Cardinals expected Leinart to be a cornerstone for them to build around – but in reality, he simply delayed their success by keeping the ball away from Kurt Warner.  Warner retired after last season, meaning that the Cardinals head into the season without their top two quarterbacks from last season.  Derek Anderson will be the starter and will be backed up by rookie Max Hall.

Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis finally ended his holdout with the Jets.  I don’t begrudge professional athletes their money (are they overpaid?), but I despise holdouts.  A contract should be respected as a legally binding agreement.  So what if you outperform the contract – you agreed to a salary and should stick to it.  If you think you’re going to outperform your contract, just sign a one year deal with a tiny signing bonus in anticipation of cashing in with the next deal.  Interestingly, there’s a posion pill in the contract.  Id Revis holds out in the next few years, the 4 year deal becomes a 7 year deal – with the final 3 years at low salaries.  Sure, you might say that a player could still hold out anyway, but this posion pill gives the team considerably more leverage, as the player cannot negotiate with any other team while they are under contract.

Nationals Nation (village?) suffered a huge setback when it was announced that top prospect Stephen Strasburg would need to undergo Tommy John surgery.  The surgery, named for the former pitcher whose career it saved, involves having an elbow ligament replaced with a tendon harvested from elsewhere in the body.  There’s a roughly 90% chance of success, and rehabilitation generally takes a year.  This means that Strasburg will likely be aiming for a return on the opening day of the 2012 season.

Interestingly, some players actually throw a bit harder after the surgery (for a few years) than they did previously – so Strasburg’s fastball might have a bit more kick when he returns.  (Some nut job parents have approached doctors requesting that the surgery be performed on their healthy sons, simply to get this benefit).  While this is obviously a setback for Strasburg, I’m confident that he’ll return as strong as ever in time for the 2012 season.  MLBDepthChart.com has put together a Tommy John Tracker that will track the progress of those slated for the operation.

If you’re in a “keeper” fantasy league and Strasburg’s owner drops him, I’d suggest snapping him up for the long haul.  Similarly, if you can make a trade for pennies on the dollar, go for it.

My Rockies have been alternating hot and cold streaks.  They faced off against the Phillies on Thursday.  A win would have allowed them to climb within 4 ½ games of Philadelphia in the wild card race.  The Rockies got out to an early 7-3 lead, but ended up losing the game 12-11, slipping to 6 ½ games out of the wild card race.

At this point, there seems to be little hope of catching the Phillies in the wild card – but I’m not convinced that the Rockies are out of the division race.  We’re 7 ½ games behind the front-running Padres – but the Padres have been in a free-fall recently, losing seven straight games.  The Rockies began a 3 games series against the Padres on Friday night (after this article was written) – and a sweep would pull the Rockies to within 4 ½ games on the division lead.  A Padres sweep would likely close the curtain on the Rockies’ playoff chances.

If you haven’t been paying attention to Carlos Gonzalez, this would be a good time to start.  CarGo launched his 31^st homer (“car bomb”) on Thursday night.  He leads the National League in batting average (.332) and slugging percentage (.610) and is 5^th in homers.  It’s possible that a hot September could push CarGo to the lead in homers and RBI and allow him to be the first NL triple crown winner since Ducky Medwick.

CarGo has dramatic home/road split (.391 with 24 homers at home vs. .275 with 7 homers on the road) but you can’t just point to Coors Field as the source of his numbers.  Overall, Coors has tended to add about 120 OPS points to a player’s numbers – CarGo’s 2010 differential is nearly 500 points.  I hypothesize that a large mental factor comes into player that allow some players to amplify the effects of their home park and other players to consistently underperform expectations (such as Ryan Howard of the Phillies, who has roughly even career home/road splits despite playing in a hitter’s paradise).  Whatever the reason, a player who can be absolutely dominant in half the games provides considerable value to a team.

Gonzalez’s teammate Troy Tulowitzki sports a .319 batting average, but you won’t see him listed among the league leaders.  That’s because an earlier  injury cost him playing time and is causing Tulo to fall just short of the threshold to qualify for the batting title (3.1 plate appearances for each game his team has played).  Tulo is currently 8 plate appearances short, so expect him to pop up on the list soon.

You might wonder what would happen if a player had a much higher batting average than anyone else in the league, but fell just short of the threshold – would he be denied the batting title?  Nope.  In these cases, “empty” at bats are added to a player’s totals to determine if he is the champion.  For example, Tulowitzki has 114 hits in 357 at bats, for a .319 batting average.  If the season ended at this point, we’d add 8 at bats (and no hits) and recalculate – 114 hits in 365 at bats, for a .312 batting average.  If this was the highest batting average in the league, Tulo would be the batting champion.  If someone else had a .313 batting average, he wouldn’t be the champion.  In either case, he would still be credited with his actual .319 batting average.

The Iowa State Cyclones kicked off the football season on Thursday night against Northern Illinois.  The Cyclones looked good at some point and bad in others.  It was a definite must-win game for a team facing the schedule from hell.  We face road games at Iowa, Texas, and Oklahoma – and face Utah in one of our pre-seasons games.  It’s possible that the team would be better than last year’s 7-6 squad, but emerge with a worse record.

And in my own backyard, the University of Iowa (in-state rivals to my alma mater) locked up head football coach Kirk Ferentz through the year 2020.  His base salary starts at $3,675,000 and he get a longevity bonus that starts at $325,000 and increases each year.  I think Ferentz is a great coach, but this makes no sense to me.  These sorts of deals just give a false sense of security to the fans of the team.  The coach can still bolt for a better job at any time.  The only thing that it really does is make it impossible to fire a coach if things head south – because the school is on the hook for the entire value of the contract.  Hopefully Ferentz will still be around in 2020 and this will be an academic issue.

Well, it is finally here, the first installment of Johnny’s Picks for 2010! It is about time college football is here!

Thursday

Marshall @ Ohio State (-28.5)
Buckeyes roll early and often. OSU 45- Marshall 10

Saturday

Pittsburgh @ Utah (-3.5)
An interesting game of varying styles. Defense and the ground game win out here. Pitt 28 – Utah 21

Miami (OH) @ Florida (-35.5)
The post Tim Tebow era begins … but not against THAT Miami. Florida 49- Miami (OH) -10

Northwestern (-3.5) @ Vanderbilt
If I could come up with a good Commodores song I would sing it now. Vandy 28 – NW- 24

Washington @ BYU (-3.5)
Jake Locker for Heisman! Washington 24-BYU 23

Cincinnati @ Fresno State (even)
I love pick em games- this will not be a defensive battle. I will take the experience with bigger success last year. The Natti – 35- Frez St. 28

Illinois vs Missouri (-13.5)
Blaine Gabbert will simply be too much here. Mizz- 29- Ill – 10

Colorado (-10.5) vs Colorado State
The Rocky Mountain Rivalry to start the year. Col 21- CSU 17

Connecticut @ Michigan (-3.5)
This one might have the maize and blue fans grumbling afterward. Mich 21- UConn 20

Oregon State @ TCU (-11.5)
Horned Frogs defense is just too strong – TCU – 24- OR St 10

Purdue @ Notre Dame (-10.5)
Boilermakers offense will carve up Touchdown Jesus. Purdue 35 – ND 31

Syracuse (-7.5) @ Akron
Gimmie the Zips in a cover – Syracuse 10 – Akron 7

Western Kentucky @ Nebraska (-35.5)
The Corn will roll in this one big time. West Kentucky has lost 20 straight. Nebs – 52- Hilltoppers – 10

Washington State @ Oklahoma State (-14.5)
Ok State lost ALL of their offense from last year – Ok St 29- Washington St 14

Utah State @ Oklahoma (-28.5)
Booooooomer Sooooooooner. The class of the conference this year. OU- 56, Utah St 10

Until next week when we add some pro games, good luck

It’s late August, and the Pittsburgh Pirates have clinched another losing season – the 18th year in a row that they’ll wind up with more losses than wins.  At the time that I’m writing this, their record stands at 43-89, and they are strong contenders to be awarded the top pick in the 2011 draft (given to the team with the worst overall record).  The Pirates are a team with a rich history – Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell – and it saddens me to see them turn into a mere shell of a baseball team.  The Pirates have gone the direction of putting the cheapest possible team on the field, trading away any player with even a modicum of talent.  This strategy has yielded the expected results.

If you dig down a bit, things start to get a bit more interesting.  The Pirates are 46 games below .500 for the season, but their home record is a relatively respectable 30-36.  That’s not great, but it’s not awful, either.  While most teams play a bit better at home, the home/road differential of the Pirates is quite astounding.  In contrast to their respectable home record, their road record is just 13-48 – a winning percentage that is just above 20%.  This year’s record is an exaggeration of the trend in recent years – the Pirates have largely tread water at home and gotten killed on the road.

The Pirates have an overall winning record against just 4 teams this year.  They are 4-3 against my Rockies, 4-2 against the Phillies, and 2-1 against the Indians.  The fourth team against which the Pirates have a winning record are the division rival Chicago Cubs.  The Pirates have gone 9-3 against the Cubs, given up just 31 runs in those 12 games – an average of just 2.58 runs per game.

I know quite a few Cubs fans, and this is a source of great embarrassment for them.  The Cubs are having a very disappointing year overall, but nobody should lose 75% of their games to the Pirates.  Not only have the Pirates had great success against the Cubs at home, they have also had their number within the friendly confines of Wrigley Field – holding a 4-2 record in Chicago’s home park.  The Pirates set their road-high of 10 runs scored against the Cubs, and also recorded one of their two road shutouts against Chicago. 

To put this in perspective, let’s take a closer look at the rest of the Pirates road wins.  They have two wins against the Rockies, two against the Brewers, and single wins against the Diamondbacks, Reds, Dodgers, Phillies, and Giants.  That’s it.  If you disregard the games against the Cubs, the Pirates are just 9-46 on the road – a winning percentage of just 16.4%.  Their wins against the Cubs account for fully 30% of their road wins.

When the Nationals decided to call up Stephen Strasburg, his first game was “coincidentally” against the Pirates.  Or, more likely, an astute baseball move to boost the confidence of Strasburg with an easy win.  After all, even the lowly Nationals were strong favorites to win at home against the Pirates.

I look forward to the day when the Pirates franchise once again becomes relevant, rather than a laughingstock.  I’m not a fan of the team, but their current state is bad for baseball.  In the meanwhile, I urge you to go to the ballpark the next time your team faces the Pirates.  There’s an 84% chance your team will win – unless your team is the Cubs.

Editor’s note: This is Johnny’s 50th article for The Soap Boxers.  He has been with us longer than any other writer (myself excluded).  I’d like to thank Johnny for all of his hard work and look forward to seeing him write his 100th, 500th, and 1000th article for us!  I’ll leave it to you to figure out why the site is crediting Johnny with 51 articles instead of 50 🙂

With football right around the corner, (and Johnny’s Picks on deck for next week)  today I make some predictions for the 2010 Football Season

Biggest NFL Team disappointment – Minnesota Vikings –  Anything short of a super bowl appearance for the Purple and Gold will be a disappointment, and they are not going to get there.  While they do have a great defense, their offensive line struggles too much at times, their schedule is tough, the division is catching up, and Favre simply cannot replicate his numbers from last year.  Playoff team, likely yes, Super bowl champs?????  Sorry Vike fans.

Biggest Surprise of the NFL Season – I think will be Vince Young.  He is 26-13 all time as a starter, was 8-2 last year with only losses as a starter being to the Colts and the Patriots.  It is no secret that every team they play will put eight guys in the box trying to stop Chris Johnson, this should leave Vince many opportunities for one on one coverage and a chance to have a much better year than

The first starting QB to get benched – Matt Leinart-  The Cardinals will miss Kurt Warner more than Tom Brady misses the Norelco … He has never seemed prepared at this level, has Derek Anderson staring down his back, and no longer has Anquan Boldin.  Sounds like a lot of double teams to me and a lot of time on your back side for this former Heisman Trophy Winner.

Team most flying under the radar this year – Baltimore Ravens.  They get significant offense upgrades with signing Boldin another year of experience of Ray Rice, and Joe Flacco looks poised to have a breakout year.  All that coupled with a still good, but aging defense makes me believe they will make another playoff run.  Why is no one talking about these guys at all?

Biggest Drama I wish would end … Albert Haynesworth.  Ok … we get it already, you are overweight, you don’t like to practice, and you now have a coach that will call you out at every excuse you make.  This is worse than watching the Jersey Shore.  Another smart move signing a guy for the Redskins and way overpaying a problem child on and off the field.  The Redskins are quickly turning into the new look Oakland Raiders.  Island of misfit toys and guys past their prime.  Should be an interesting year in D.C.

Get your pencils sharp for next week with the first installment of Johnny’s picks!

Things went from bad to worse for Mets closer Francisco (K-Rod) Rodriguez.  Last Wednesday night, he got into a fight with his girlfriend’s father at the Mets’ ballpark after a game with the Rockies.  K-Rod was arrested and charged with assault and harassment.  It turns out that Rodriguez also tore a thumb ligament in his pitching hand.  Apparently, he didn’t follow the advice of Crash Davis to never punch someone with your pitching hand.  Rumors are swirling that the Mets are considering voiding his contract.  K-Rod was scheduled to earn $11.5 million in 2011 and has a vesting option of $17.5 million for 2012, with a $3.5 million buyout.  It is very unlikely that the vesting option will vest now.

Voiding the contract is easier said than done, though.  If the Mets void his contract, the MLB Players Association could file a grievance on behalf of Rodriguez.  Back in 2004, the Rockies terminated the contract of pitcher Denny Neagle on grounds that he violated the morals clause of the contract.  Neagle had been charged with soliciting a prostitute.  Neagle was pulled over for speeding and a cop got a little curious about why his pants were undone.  Neagle’s companion told the cop exactly why his pants were down, and exactly how much it had cost ($40).  Neagle filed a grievance and ended up reaching a settlement roughly equivalent to the amount remaining on his contract.  If the Rockies couldn’t win a grievance against Neagle, the Mets probably won’t win one against K-Rod.

Yesterday was the signing deadline for most Major League draftees.  The exceptions are college seniors and those playing in independent leagues.  The top pick, 17 year old Bryce Harper, signed a deal with guarantees him $9.9 million.  This is quite a bit less than the $15 million Stephen Strasburg got last year, but it’s also likely that Harper will need at least a few years of minor league ball before making the jump to the majors, whereas Strasburg made a near-immediate jump to the Nationals.  Thus, the Nationals will be getting minimal major league production from the signing bonus. 

Notable players who did not sign were Barrett Loux (#6, Arizona),  Karsten Whitson (#9, San Diego), and Dylan Covey (#14, Milwaukee).  Loux is a college junior who will be draft eligible again next year.  Whitson and Covey are high school kids who will be eligible again after their junior year of college (assuming that they don’t transfer to a JUCO at some point to accelerate their draft eligibility).  The three affected teams will receive a pick in the 2011 that is one slot below their pick in the 2010 pick (but if they fail to sign the player taken with the compensatory pick).  Considering that the 2011 draft is considered to be a very deep draft, the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Brewers probably aren’t shedding a lot of tears.

The Rockies signed their first round pick, Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker.  Parker was a junior in baseball eligibility, but a was freshman in football eligibility last fall.  You’re probably wondering how this is possible – I certainly was intrigued.  Parker graduated a semester early from high school and played baseball as a freshman in the Spring of 2008.  He then redshirted in football in the fall.  He was a baseball sophomore in spring 2009 and a football redshirt freshman in the fall.  He was a junior in baseball this spring and will be a football sophomore in the fall.  Parker signed a $1.4 million deal with the Rockies, but the team is allowing him to continue his football career.  This is somewhat unusual, but not exactly rare.

I don’t typically follow SEC football, but I’ll definitely be taking an interest in the health of the Clemson offensive line.  Keep the defense away from the QB, guys.

The PGA Championship starts this Thursday at Whistling Straits at Kohler, Wisconsin. This is the second time this great course has hosted a PGA Championship, the last one seeing the Big Fijian, Vijay Singh victorious in a playoff over Chris Dimarco and Justin Leonard.

Whistling Straits is an interesting course, it is a little bit of links style golf in the always links golf thought of state of Wisconsin. Premium is placed on putting your ball in play off the tee, so the winner this week will likely be among the leaders in the field in driving accuracy.

Tiger Woods has no chance to win this week. None, zip, zero, nada. The soon to be former world number one player is … in the words of Joe Willie Namath … struggaaaaliiiing …. Tiger cannot keep it on the golf course, frankly looked completely disinterested last week and now goes into a course that requires you to hit shots to certain spots on each hole. This sounds like appetite to miss the cut if you ask me.

Phil Mickelson, aka Flopsy McChokenstein, showed again last week why we love to get our fill of Phil. Just when it looks like he is poised to make a move, win a big tourney and take over the #1 spot, he goes out and fires a smooth 78 hitting it all over the park and looks completely lost. As only Phil can do in a presser, he indicates he really is close and expects big things this week. Links style courses have not be Phil’s forte, so we shall see what transpires.

Here are Goodman’s Picks for the week in no particular order

• Justin Leonard, has had success here before, played well last week, good driver of the ball. I like this combination
• Jeff Overton , about as consistent as they come over the last few weeks, has been a top 10 machine, so why not again
• Ernie Els, Mr. “What about me” Ernie has fallen out of contention for a few years but has played great this year and leads in Fed Ex Cup points
• Retief Goosen, only a triple bogey to start his third round sidetracked him last week, he finished 3 back, and if the putter gets going on tricky greens…..we have seen it before
• Rory McIlroy, the kid is about due to throw out another great performance, why not this week.

As always I hope the wind blows thirty five, the rough is six feet tall and the ground hard as a runway. I love watching the best have a tough time of it.