The Milwaukee Brewers today announced a three-year contract extension for General Manager Doug Melvin. He will remain with the organization through the 2012 season.

“This season, we reached a significant milestone by advancing to the postseason, and this could not have been accomplished without theefforts of Doug Melvin and his staff,” said Brewers Chairman and Principal Owner Mark Attanasio. “Since I first began working with Doug four years ago, one constant has been his unfailing leadership as we have worked toward building a consistently competitive team. He is one of the most respected individuals in the game, and we are proud to have him as a key member of the Milwaukee Brewers.”

Melvin recently completed his sixth season with the Brewers as the Club reached the postseason for the first time since 1982.

The Club also announced that Dale Sveum would not be considered further for the managerial position and that hitting coach Jim Skaalen would not be offered a contract for 2009.

Sveum was named interim manager on September 15 and went 7-5 over the final 12 games of the regular season before falling to Philadelphia in the playoffs.

…According to the Major League Baseball Players Union they have found evidence of teams acting in concert to not sign Baseball’s homerun leader Barry Bonds.

“There were numerous things that occurred that made me believe that the clubs were acting in concert,” Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris, said Thursday. “When I testify as a witness in the case, I will delineate each and every one of them.”

The players association has won three collusion cases in the past, in which owners were to have been found to conspire against players in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

…Not only did the Red Sox pay all of Manny Ramirez’s contract while he played in Los Angeles, but the players have voted that Manny will recieve two-thirds share of the Boston Red Sox playoff money. The two thirds comes from the two thirds of a season that he played in Boston this year before being dealt to the Dodgers.

…The Seattle Mariners General Manger search is now down to four hopefuls. Kim Ng, Jack Zduriencik, Jerry DiPoto and Tony LaCava. Zduriencik was a ’silent’ choice as no one knew about it until recently as he was interviewed the Monday after the Brewers were eliminated from the Play Offs.

…Everyone’s second favorite Steinbrenner, Hank says that Joba Chamberlain will return to the starting rotation in 2009.

“The plan as of right now is Chamberlain is going to be a starter,” the Yankees co-chairman said Thursday after five hours of organizational meetings at the team’s spring training complex. “Everybody’s pretty much in agreement with that.”

…The Houston Astros have named Al Pedrique Minor League field coordinator. He had been the Astros administrative coach and will now be in charge of Minor League spring training and player development.

“Al is a very experienced and passionate baseball man who will take on a vital role as field coordinator,” assistant general manager Ricky Bennett said. “His knowledge and familiarity with our organization will accelerate his impact on the level of instruction in player development. I’m looking forward to working closely with Al to ensure that our players continue to play the game the right way.”

…Stan Javier the Manager of the Dominican Republics World Baseball Classic team is hoping that Albert Pujols will be ready to go in time for the WBC. Pujols just had surgery on his elbow to relieve an irritation, he’s expected to be ready by Spring Training.

…As expected the Cleveland Indians picked up Jamie Carroll’s $2.5MM option for 2009. If they had declined to pick up the option the Indians would’ve been on the hook for $150,000 in a buy out.

It appears that a “smoking gun” has emerged in the Barry Bonds collusion saga.

Although I’ve written probably close to 20 pieces this year between The Hardball Times, MSN Canada and here about it, I don’t think we should get ahead of ourselves just yet. Yes, there is “evidence” but evidence is not proof. Bonds’ agent Jeff Borris stated in the piece linked above “There were numerous things that occurred that made me believe that the clubs were acting in concert … When I testify as a witness in the case, I will delineate each and every one of them.”

Obviously, Borris will be cross-examined and the evidence proffered will undergo scrutiny and conclusions will be drawn from that.

As I’ve written ad infinitum ad nauseum regarding this, I do feel that whatever Borris and the union has, it’s probably fairly convincing since the MLBPA under Don Fehr rarely moves on something unless it’s very sure of its ground.

The fact that MLB seems more concerned about the timing of grievance rather than the grievance itself speaks volumes. If I had to hazard a guess, something was leaked and Selig and Co. realize that the jig is up and is more concerned with not having anything intrude on the playoffs. (Remember Scott Boras’s announcement regarding Alex Rodriguez opting out of the final three years of his contract?)

They likely realize that the bill has come due and they’ll happily pay it since between Bonds’ age, a year’s layoff and his legal entanglements of 2009 his career is probably over and the mission has been accomplished–Barry Lamar Bonds is out of major league baseball.

If collusion is established, it allows the MLBPA to re-open the collective bargaining agreement but I cannot see this being a major concern for Bud Selig, indeed with the Yankees new park set to debut in 2009 he may welcome a re-opening to try and get a salary cap in place before the Bronx Bombers set a new standard in free agent excess and bloated payroll. Never before has the union been so splintered and ownership been so united and if there was a better time to try for the cap–it may be right now.

After all, the Mets, Twins and Blue Jays all but kissed off a chance at the post season to participate in the alleged collusion and if willingly doing so isn’t a testament to the consensus Selig enjoys then what is?

To me, this is the most disgusting aspect in all this:

“They were found guilty … of colluding not to sign free agents … no matter how much those free agents would improve their team… It was, undeniably, an agreement not to field the best team possible–which is tantamount to fixing, not just games, but entire pennant races … The fact that not signing free agents meant not fielding the best teams was revealed graphically when the conspiracy ended … the Dodgers spent over $36 million on three other free agents prior to the 1991 season. Los Angeles general manager Fred Claire said, ‘The motivation for us is to improve our ball club. It’s not a reaction [to the Giants’ signing of free agents] but a dedication to try to be better.’”–Marvin Miller on the 1986-88 collusion against free agents in his autobiography “A Whole Different Ball Game.”

In short, the aforementioned Twins, Mets and Jays tanked the 2008 season choosing to forgo an improved chance at reaching the post season to go along with Selig’s agenda to blacklist Bonds.

I doubt it would happen, but it would be nice if part of the settlement/judgment were an apology to the fans of the affected teams on the part of Selig, MLB and team ownership for depriving them of their optimal chance to enjoy October baseball.

I know for myself that I will look back on 2008 as the year the Toronto Blue Jays’ front office chose to lose. They had the best pitching seen in 20 years but spent the year with a glaring need for power and a solid clutch bat at DH (and left field before Adam Lind was called up). General Manager J.P. Ricciardi was loath to part with any minor league talent to upgrade the struggling offense and signed the likes of Brad Wilkerson and Kevin Mench to “remedy” the situation and despite their season long offensive uselessness remained on the roster.

Bonds was offered for the pro-rated major league minimum and the Jays still opted for mediocrity as respects the hitting.

All Barry Bonds would’ve cost the Blue Jays was a little bit of money and the payoff both financially for the team and the fan base was potentially huge but they chose to short-change both the fans and the organization. I can’t speak for other fans of the team but I view this as a betrayal–a breach of trust that I, as a fan and consumer, can never again trust that the team will do everything in its power to win.

They participated in the collusion of 1986-88 as well and have demonstrated that they will indeed cheat us of the best possible team when they feel the situation warrants it.

Part of the problem many had in understanding the “why” of this particular (assumed) collusion is that it went against a number of teams’ financial best interests. The reason was personal for Selig. All you need to do is watch his reaction when Bonds tied Hank Aaron’s home run record to comprehend it. Bonds record was a visible reminder of Selig’s failure to address the steroid issue and instead focused on the profits the home run boom gave the sport.

I doubt he ever imagined it would cost him the cherished record of a dear friend.

However it did–and Bonds presence on a baseball field would not only be a painful reminder, it would also allow Bonds to put even more distance between him and Aaron but also make it more difficult for heir apparent (and presumably steroid-free) Alex Rodriguez to claim the home run crown. This would shorten the time that Selig’s failure would remain atop the all time home run leader board.

Sadly, in doing so, Selig is guilty of what he feels Bonds was guilty of doing–tainting the record.

If collusion is proven then when Rodriguez (or someone else) finally swats No. 763 the question will be asked forevermore “But what would the record have actually been had Bonds not been blacklisted from the sport?”

If we come away with anything in all this it should be the following: the steroid scandal and its fallout involved everyone in the sport–Bud Selig is every bit as guilty as Barry Bonds for any stains left behind by it.

Past musings on collusion and Barry Bonds…

• If you wish to bury Bonds… (February 27, 2008)
• Illusion, delusion or collusion… (March 25, 2008)
• More Barry point-counterpoint… (March 29, 2008)
• Those who do not learn from history… (April 2, 2008)
• See windmill … tilt at windmill … rinse, lather, repeat (April 9, 2008)
• The plop thickens… (April 20, 2008)
• Frank Thomas’ release could lay a “Big Hurt” on MLB… (April 23, 2008)
• JPs B.J. B.S… (May 1, 2008)
• Somedays I just want to scream (May 1, 2008)
• Discussing the other (phonetically) type of Pujols… (May 16, 2008)
• Maybe it should be called “mediacrity”… (May 21, 2008)
• The cost of Bonds issues (June 14, 2008)
• Is Barry Bonds being blacklisted? (June 20, 2008)
• Baseball’s greatest villain (July 16, 2008)
• What I don’t get… (July 16, 2008)
• Press-ure tactics… (August 16, 2008)
• Not pro-Bonds—just anti-collusion (September 20, 2008)

Best Regards

John

According to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick, Dodgers outfielder Juan Pierre is looking to be traded. Quoth Pierre’s agent, Mark Pieper:

The team has gone in a different direction since it signed him. He has no hard feelings toward anybody. But his preference would be a trade to a team with more playing time than he currently gets. He’ll drop any no-trade clause he has to make that happen. Maybe there’s a better fit.

Different direction? As in, first playoff series win in 20 years? Yeah, that’s novel.

More playing time than he currently gets? A better fit? Okay, so the first order of business is to find a crap team that can afford to stick a 31-year-old outfielder with no arm and limited offensive value in the lineup every day.

And we haven’t even gotten to the money yet. Pierre, in case you had forgotten, is owed $28.5 million guaranteed over the next three years. Yeah, I know, it makes you wish you were real fast.

Anyway, if you know a team that can afford to pay a guy like Pierre to play regularly, get in touch with Pieper or the Dodgers. Maybe you can work something out.

Or maybe not.

It ain’t over ’til it’s over!  The defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox are a testament to that.  Down seven runs in the seventh, the Red Sox stormed back and pulled off the greatest postseason comeback since 1929 capped by a J.D. Drew two-out single in the ninth.

“I’ve never seen a group so happy to get on a plane at 1:30 in the morning in my life,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona.  “That was — I can’t say the game was exciting because the first six innings we did nothing.  They had their way with us every way possible.  And then the place came unglued, and we’ve seen that before.  But because of the situation we’re in, it just — that was pretty magical.”

The Rays outplayed the Red Sox for the first six and a half innings of the game.  B.J. Upton put the Rays up 2-0 in the first with a two-run homer.  In the third, Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria went back-to-back to stretch the lead to 5-0 and in the seventh, B.J. Upton smacked a two-run double to extend the lead to 7-0.

The seventh inning was huge for the Red Sox.  Francona tapped closer Jonathan Papelbon to stop the bleeding after reliever Manny Delcarmen walked the first two batters.  Papelbon pitched into further trouble and allowed Delcarmen’s two runners to score before a double play and a ground out by Carl Crawford kept the damage at two runs.

In the bottom of the seventh, Rays manager Joe Maddon turned the game over to his usually reliable bullpen.  The Red Sox got a double from Jed Lowrie and then three two-out hits including a David Ortiz three-run shot cut the lead to 7-4. 

Papelbon made quick work of the Rays in the top of the eighth and a J.D. Drew two-run homer and two more two-hits — a double by Mark Kotsay and a single by Coco Crisp — tied the game at 7-7.

Papelbon gave way to Justin Masterson who pitched into and out of trouble in the top of the ninth and kept the Rays off the scoreboard.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox made two quick outs against J.P. Howell but then a single by Kevin Youkilis and a bad throw by Longoria moved Youkilis into scoring position.  Howell intentionally walked Jason Bay then Drew finished off the unbelievable comeback with a single to right to send the series back to Tampa Bay for Game 6.

The probables for Saturday’s game in Tampa Bay are James Shields for the Rays and Josh Beckett for the Red Sox.  Saturday’s first pitch is at 8:07 PM.

————————-

RED SOX’ THREE KEYS

• Safely Get From Starter to Papelbon

Give Francona credit for hitting the panic button and going to his best reliever to keep the game as close as possible.  Although Papelbon didn’t completely shut down the Rays, he did pitch a perfect eighth and the offense did the rest.

• Get a Quality Start From Beckett or Wakefield

Game 6’s hopes rely on how healthy Josh Beckett is and if he can finally turn in a solid postseason performance.  If Beckett turns in another dud, all that celebration was for naught tonight.

• Make Rays’ Starters Work

Kazmir pitched a great six innings but was only able to last six because of his high pitch count.  Through six innings, Kazmir allowed only two hits but had to throw 111 pitches to do it.  With the way Kazmir was pitching, the Red Sox were likely relieved to see the game turned over to the usually reliable Rays’ bullpen.

RAYS’ THREE KEYS

• Manufactured Runs

The Rays had a shot to produce more runs in the seventh and another run in the ninth but they let Papelbon and Masterson wiggle their way out of it.

• Have Wheeler Step Up

Wheeler had his second blown save of the ALCS and allowed three runs in 1-1/3 innings of work.  This time, the offense was not able to bounce back and recapture the lead after Wheeler’s blown save. 

• Play Beyond Their Experience

This game was less about their lack of experience and more about a bullpen that completely fell apart.  Although a more seasoned veteran at third may have settled himself and made a better throw for the third out in the ninth but it’s hard to knock Longoria after a tough scoop at third on the grounder.

STAR OF THE GAME

J.D. Drew, Boston Red Sox

Drew had the walk-off single in the ninth and a two-run homer in the eighth to cut the lead to 7-6.  He went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a home run in the game.

There is literally too much to say about this ballgame. Entering the 7th inning, I had all but written off the Sox, as I’m certain everyone else did as well.

The Sox then scored 8 unanswered runs to ruin the Rays celebration and etch their names in MLB Playoff history as the 2nd largest collapse ever.

But how big was this collapse?

According to WalkOffBalk.com, a website that is supplied its fact from Retrosheet’s database, there have been 3053 games since 1977 in which the home team trailed by 7 runs, in the 7th inning with 0 outs and 0 runners on. The home team went on to win a whopping .6% of these games for a total of 17.

This simply provides us with the expected outcomes based on previous occurences, how about an outcome based on probability?

According to FanGraphs.com, prior to Jed Lowrie’s 7th inning leadoff double, the Red Sox had a 98.9% chance of losing this game.

In other words, INCREDIBLE! But I’m certain each and every one of you already knew that.

Here’s a 25-fact roster for you.

Thursday, October 16, 2008…

1. The Cardinals finished the season 86-76 rebounding from last year’s 78-84, extending their streak of not have two losing seasons in succession since the 1958-59 seasons (not counting the strike shortened 1994 season). The White Sox have the longest streak in the AL and haven’t had consecutive losing seasons since 1988-89. The Yankees were back-to-back under .500 in 1991-92.
2. Bill James in the Bill James Handbook 2009, soon to be published by Acta Sports, projects that next season, Manny will hit .301 with 34 homers and 95 RBI and have an OPS of .955. He also projects that next season Dice-K will go 12-8 with a 3.58 ERA.
3. Jason Varitek finished the season with 93 hits and hit .220. In 2004, he recorded his 93rd hit on August 10th and finished the season with 137 hits and a .296 batting average.
4. In 2008, CC Sabathia started 35 games, completed 10, and went 17-10. In 1987, Walt Terrell started 35 games, completed 10, and went 17-10. But, Sabathia’s ERA was 2.70 and Terrell’s 4.05.
5. David Wright has 489 career RBI, the fourth most all-time of any 3rd sacker in the first five years of their careers. Only Pinky Whitney (533), Miguel Cabrera (523), and Eddie Mathews (492) had more.
6. Daisuke Matsuzaka led the AL with 80.6% Left On Base percentage. Johan Santana led all of baseball with an 82.6%.
7. Matt Stairs at 40 became the oldest man ever to hit a pinch-hit postseason homer. Kirk Gibson, at the age of 31, hit the most famous pinch-hit postseason homer on October 15, 1988 in Game 1 of the World Series against Dennis Eckersley.
8. CC Sabathia led the majors in complete games with 10 in 35 starts. In 1969, Bob Gibson had 35 starts and completed 28 of them going 20-13 with a remarkable 2.18 ERA.
9. Of all the catchers who have caught at least 500 games, only Mickey Cochrane (.320) has a higher career batting average than Joe Mauer’s .317.
10. No team hit more fly balls than the Red Sox (1,816) this past season; the Nationals (1.400) hit the fewest.
11. David Price earned his first major-league win in Game 2 of the ALCS becoming one of only four pitchers, to get a win in a postseason game before a regular-season game. The others are Odalis Perez, for Atlanta in 1998; Francisco Rodriguez, for Anaheim in 2002; and Josh Kinney, for St. Louis in 2006.
12. In his career, Tim Wakefield has made 400 starts (168-144 record in his starts) but he’s completed only 30 games, the fewest of any pitcher who has started that many games. However, Jamie Moyer has made 584 starts and completed only 31.
13. Manny being Maury – Manny Ramirez stole three bases this season, his highest total since he stole in three in 2003.
14. Albert Pujols has scored 947 runs in his eight-year career; only Ted Williams scored more in his first eight years with 1,082.
15. In their careers, Ryan Howard and Vernon Wells have each hit 177 homers; Howard has a .283 lifetime avg. and Wells, a .279. But Howard has 100 more strikeouts in about 2,200 fewer at bats.
16. Amongst AL relievers nobody was more efficient against first batters than the Rays Grant Balfour who held the opposition to a .098 batting avg. (4 for 41). The Rays had five of the top 11 relievers in this category. Brad Lidge tied for 19th in the NL at .188.
17. Dustin Pedroia hit .500 (8 for 16) with the bases loaded this regular season.
18. Off to a good start: The first five years of Matt Holliday’s career he has 848 hits, Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski had 847 in his first five seasons.
19. The average major league team made 99 errors this season, which really makes the Astros mere 67 errors simply amazing.
20. It’s hard to remember but this season started for the Red Sox in Tokyo. We should also remember that the Rays played the Jays three games in Orlando this April and won them all.
21. Ichiro has been with the Mariners for eight seasons and all eight he has led the AL in singles. He now has 1,471 singles in his career in 1,280 games the fewest of all the players who have accumulated that many singles. Next is Bill Terry who did it in 1,721 games.
22. Once in a blue moon: Nobody has better ERA in the LCS than former Oakland A’s Blue Moon Odom who in 22.1 innings gave up one earned run for an ERA of 0.40.
23. We’re celebrating 90 years of the Star Spangled Banner and the World Series this year. It was first played on September 5, 1918, at Game 1 of the Red Sox versus the Cubs in Chicago during the 7th inning stretch and has been played at every World Series game ever since.
24. The Padres are looking to move ace Jake Peavy. This makes me think of what Pirates general manager Branch Rickey said to Ralph Kiner in 1953, “We finished last with you, we can finish last without you.”
25. As everybody says a happy goodbye to Shea Stadium we should remember that the first pitcher to start a game there was Jack Fisher, the same Jack Fisher who surrendered Ted Williams last at bat home run and the same Jack Fisher who surrendered Roger Maris’ 60th home run.

Have a great weekend!

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.