SB Nation - Tim Raines

Rifle Muskets and Coors Field: A Revisionist Approach to the Colorado Rockies and Cooperstown

Russ Oates — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:44:14 -0000

SBN Baseball recently decided to do its own Hall of Fame balloting, "inductees" announced 4 January 2010. Allowed ten votes, I placed only six on mine: Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Andre Dawson, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, and Bert Blyleven. (Waits for someone to accuse him of being a Yankees fan because of the Mattingly vote.) All right, I bet that many of you would have a different ballot, and I ask you to offer your own ballots. I hesitated over Tim Raines and Fred McGriff. Rock gets lost in the shadow of Rickey Henderson and the Crime Dog fell just short of that magical stat of 500 homers.

I didn't give much thought to Andres Galarraga. He had some great seasons for the Rockies. He also had some good seasons elsewhere. However, nothing screams Hall of Fame to me. Should I have voted for him as some sort of symbolic gesture: "Hey, this guy was good and played in Coors Field for the Rockies, but don't throw him off the ballot after his first year of eligibility." Join me after jump to find out how this relates to the rifle musket.

Is the Hall of Fame ready for any Rockie? Is Coors Field going to be a detriment to a player's cause? Let's say we have a premise in "Andres Galarraga provides an early litmus test for how Hall voters will react when future Rockies appear." The premise might be stronger if we were a year into the future and we substitute Larry Walker for Andres Galarraga, and for all I know it may be false. But for the sake of this argument, it's true. It appears doubtful Galarraga will garner a huge amount of votes, but will he receive the 5% necessary to move onto the next ballot? If he fails to make the cut on this ballot, we'll all look to 2011 and wait to see the percentage of votes Walker receives. If the Big Cat makes it to the next ballot, maybe we can argue there is a changing perception on the Rockies, Coors Field, and the Hall. Yet, I'll negate that by arguing that it's probably a bad thing for Galarraga to advance because his name will get lost in the shuffle as both controversial and deserving candidates become eligible for the first time: Larry Walker, Jeff Bagwell, Rafael Palmeiro, John Olerud, and Juan Gonzalez among others.

So what does this have to do with the rifle musket?

I want to advocate for a revisionist history of Coors Field in the mold of the rifle musket. The standard history of the rifle musket is that it was a game-changer. War, in particular the American Civil War, was far deadlier than previous conflicts as a result of the rifle musket. Soldiers could strike their opponents at ever-increasing distances. The renowned historian Russell Weigley believed the Civil War demonstrated the devastation the rifle musket could display.¹

But those advocates of this standard interpretation failed to understand that the rifle musket shot its bullet in a parabola, creating two killing zones and one safe zone. Putting that aside for a moment, the standard interpretation, as Earl J. Hess argues in The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Myth and Reality (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2008), did not take into account the actual distance at which soldiers fired. They were only concerned with the possible range of the rifle musket, not at what range soldiers shot. Paddy Griffith first evaluated the standard interpretation in 1989 with Battle Tactics of the Civil War (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) and concluded more research needed to be done in this area. Earl Hess took that challenge up in The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat. He concluded that the rifle musket had little impact on major combat operations and helped in skirmishing and sniping. The failure of the rifle musket to make war more devastating was the range at which soldiers fired and the parabolic trajectory of the bullet. Most men who used the rifle musket (it wasn't until the second half of the war that the rifle musket became the dominant weapon on the battlefield) were poorly trained in its art. And it was the only rifle musket war. Breech-loaders and the bolt-action rifle soon took over after the end of the ACW.

Was Coors Field, like the rifle musket, a real game-changer? Will the voters be more concerned with their perception of Coors Field or with the actual results? Just as one needed to be well-trained with the rifle musket to compensate for the parabolic trajectory of the bullet, one also needs to be able to hit well in order to take advantage of deadly Coors Field and hit even better. Are the Great American Ballpark and Citizens Bank Park the equivalent of the breech-loader and the bolt-action rifle?

It is time for voters and baseball fans to reevaluate their opinions on the Rockies and Coors Field.

¹ Russell F. Weigley, A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861-1865 (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2000), xix.

Hall of Fame Poll: Tim Raines

Tom Dakers — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:22:30 -0000

Tim Raines is one of my all time favorite players. The second best leadoff hitter of his generation, not such a bad thing when you played at the same time as the best leadoff hitter ever. In 23 major league seasons he hit .294/.385/.425, scored 1571 runs, 50th all time, and stole 808 bases, 5th all time. He made 7 All-Star teams, led the lead in steal a bunch of time and batting average once. He played 13 years with the Expos, 6 with the White Sox, 3 with the Yankees (no one is perfect) where he got his two World Series rings. Then ran out his career with Oakland, Baltimore and Florida. You can check out his career here.

I've seen a couple of baseball writers that have said they left his name off the ballot because of his cocaine problem. That seems silly to me, I always want to ask if they voted for Paul Molitor or any of the others from that time period that used. Since it wasn't a performance enhancing drug and that he got help quick and didn't miss playing time because of it, I can't see why it would be an issue, unless, I guess, you are holier than thou. Would you leave Mickey Mantle out of the hall because he drank?

Poll

Would you vote Tim Raines into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Bert Blyleven on Cooperstown Ballot Again

Rev Halofan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:01:26 -0000

Who Should Make the Hall of Fame?

LOOK AT THE BALLOT AND ADD YOUR PICKS AND PANS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION...

In my perfect "Small Hall" Blyleven, Raines and Trammell get the call.

In facing the reality that some real turkeys (Jim Rice, Ryne Sandberg) have made it into Cooperstown, it is hard to shut the door on those deserving based on their superior careers to the lesser enshrined members.

Here are the nominees worth commenting on, followed by the rest of the ballot that is undeserving...

Roberto Alomar - YES. In my perfect world Small Hall I would say NO but in the real world where Ryne Sandberg is in the HOF, Rob-HIV gets a YES vote.

Bert Blyleven - YES, and if I only had one vote Bert would get it.

Andre Dawson - YES. In my perfect world Small Hall I would say NO but in the real world where Jim Rice is in the HOF, Dawson gets a YES vote.

Barry Larkin - YES. I would vote YES knowing it would at least keep him on the ballot, as he has an uphill battle having played in the shadow of Ripken and Ozzie, but it is important to lay a foundation and see how the consensus builds. I have no faith in the Baseball Writers to get any of these votes right.

Edgar Martinez - NO. This guy was such an Angel killer that I want to vote for him to ensure that he stays retired, but NO.

Mark McGwire - NO. He was a one-dimensional player and the gaudy numbers are byproducts of the juice. If Dave Kingman is not in the HOF, McGwire should not be either. Add to that the issue of character, which I believe is one of many important factors that should lead to enshrinement in Cooperstown, and seeing as he could not man up in front of congress, screw Mark McGwire.

Tim Raines - YES. If I only had two votes he would get my other vote. His tragedy is that he played in the shadow of Rickey Henderson.

Alan Trammell - YES. He makes my Small Hall with Bert and Raines. His biggest career mistake was not doing a hand summersault onto the field each opening day.

Kevin Appier - No; Harold Baines - No; Ellis Burks - No; Andres Galarraga - No; Pat Hentgen - No; Mike Jackson - No; Eric Karros - No; Ray Lankford - Who? No; Don Mattingly - No; Fred McGriff - No; Dale Murphy - No; Jack Morris - No; Dave Parker - No; Shane Reynolds - Who? No; David Segui - Who? No; Lee Smith - No; Robin Ventura - No; Todd Zeile - No

And here is hoping that the Veterans Committee adds Bobby Grich to the Cooperstown Roster.

Weekend Dad Mug -- Hall of Fame Edition

Fatter than Joey — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:57:51 -0000

More photos » by Anonymous - AP

Will former Brewer Dave Parker who "did everything that you could possibly do in baseball", be a part of the 2010 HOF class? (AP Photo/File)

Browse more photos »

Hey Kids! Back so soon? -- Why did your Regular Dad drop you off at my doorstop again? Your guess is as good as mine.

In either case let me get some clean sweatpants on (I had a little trouble with the turkey), and tell you all about a bunch of guys that played the game the way it was supposed to be played, not with all the muscle pills that the players use today.

The BBWAA is a group of Busterolney's that randomly elect retired players to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown every year. They released their ballot on Friday. The names that are going into the fishbowl this year are as follows:

Roberto Alomar, Kevin Appier, Harold Baines, Bert Blyleven, Ellis Burks, Andre Dawson, Andres Galarraga, Pat Hentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Shane Reynolds, David Segui, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell, Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile

Former Brewer, Dave Parker believes he should be elected.

The most interesting ballot newbies this year are Roberto Alomar, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff and Barry Larkin. This quartet should make for an interesting election, as none of them are slam-dunks, nor are they easily dismissed.

The Bleacher Report makes an argument for Edgar Martinez. Did you know only Jimmy Foxx and Babe Ruth have a higher BA, while accumulating more BBs (at least 1200 BBs) than strikeouts in their careers?
The Bleacher Report then continues on wondering "How can the Crime Dog McGriff not get elected"? Maybe the answer is to kick Tony Perez out of Cooperstown?
The NY Times catches us up on who Roberto Alomar is spitting on these days...
MLB.com has a summary of the arguments for including Barry Larkin.
And finally, the Bleacher Report just wonders if no one at all will be elected in 2010.

In other turkey grease fires, former Milwaukee superstar Bud Selig announced his pending down-stepping. Stories about Bud Selig interest me about as much as stories about your Regular Dad, or what you are doing in school, so I will leave it to you to find more about this if you so desire.

The Red Sox are in the market for a SS, and now that Alex Gonzalez has been inked by the Jays, Marco Scutaro is the Sox's primary target (Too bad the Brewers didn't have a SS to trade to Boston). Weighing in with the definitive opinion on Scutaro, is deep-frying super-utility man Lou Merloni.

Will Felipe Lopez be joining JJ Hardy in Minnesota next year? -- Bleacher Report seems to think Lopez could be a perfect fit. This just in, Felipe Lopez's wife is turkey-fire hot!

Doug Melvin weighed in on the future of Felipe Lopez and other things in a ESPN interview.

The Brewers may very well pass on offering Lopez and Mike Cameron Arbys.
Mat Gamel could end up in the OF
Cory Hart's attempt to embrace patience was an epic fail
2010 Batting order musings.

I don't want you to think that every Thanksgiving story needs to be exclusively about turkey fires, so here is a nice piece about Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee's son Mack. On the other hand, I do want you to commit to memory the things I am not thankful for, conveniently organized in one of those Sporcle quizzes your Regular Dad seems to be so fond of.

Unless you are Ned Yost, Ned Yost IV or Julian Tavarez, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Poll

Which newbie do you think should get the most votes on the 2010 ballot for the HOF?

Edgar Martinez

40 votes

Roberto Alomar

40 votes

Fred McGriff

25 votes

Barry Larkin

52 votes

Shane Reynolds

4 votes

161 votes | Poll has closed

MLB Hall Of Fame Ballot Announced - Cast Your Ballot

Al — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:57:07 -0000

More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

Put Andre Dawson in the Hall of Fame!

Browse more photos »

Today, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2010 ballot, which contains 27 players. Any player getting votes on 75% of the ballots submitted will be admitted to the Hall in the Class of 2010. Here's the complete list:

Roberto Alomar, Kevin Appier, Harold Baines, Bert Blyleven, Ellis Burks, Andre Dawson, Andres Galarraga, Pat Hentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Shane Reynolds, David Segui, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell, Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile.

The results of the BBWAA voting will be announced on January 6, but now, you can submit your own ballot. Unfortunately, the SBN polling system doesn't allow multiple votes on one poll, so the poll here will let you vote for the ONE player you would vote for if you had only ONE vote (rather than the 10 you'd get on the BBWAA ballot). In the comments, you can leave your entire list of who you'd vote for. Below the fold I'll reveal my own ballot.

My 2010 inductees to the Hall of Fame, if I had a ballot, would be: Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar. Tim Raines and Barry Larkin are close, but I think I'd leave them for future ballots.

It is a crime that Blyleven isn't in already. He is fifth on the all-time strikeout list, threw 60 shutouts (ninth all-time, and among his contemporaries, only Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan threw more, and only one more, 61), and played on two World Series winners, the 1979 Pirates and 1987 Twins. His lack of 20-win seasons (only one) and the fact that he played in small markets works against him; if he'd have been a Yankee, he'd have been in long ago.

Dawson, I also believe should have been in long ago, and this time, with no "gimmes" among first-timers on the ballot, should get in. He got 67% of the vote last year and almost everyone who's gotten that much support in the past should get in.

Alomar had a decline in his last few years, otherwise he'd have gotten 3000 hits and been a lock (he finished with 2724). He was a 12-time All-Star and generally recognized at the best at his position (after Ryne Sandberg retired) among active players.

Barry Larkin suffered too many injuries and didn't have that many MVP-type seasons. In fact, he had a better year the year after he won his only MVP (1996) than the year he won it (1995). And Tim Raines, too, became mostly an ordinary player the last few years of his career, after being one of the best players in the game from 1981-85.

You may disagree. Cast your votes and post your comments!

Poll

Vote for the ONE player you would choose for the Hall of Fame on this year's ballot, if you had ONLY one vote.

Roberto Alomar

154 votes

Kevin Appier

4 votes

Harold Baines

11 votes

Bert Blyleven

223 votes

Ellis Burks

3 votes

Andre Dawson

963 votes

Andres Galarraga

14 votes

Pat Hentgen

6 votes

Mike Jackson

1 votes

Eric Karros

10 votes

Ray Lankford

6 votes

Barry Larkin

84 votes

Edgar Martinez

64 votes

Don Mattingly

114 votes

Fred McGriff

23 votes

Mark McGwire

106 votes

Jack Morris

38 votes

Dale Murphy

40 votes

Dave Parker

9 votes

Tim Raines

54 votes

Shane Reynolds

0 votes

David Segui

7 votes

Lee Smith

129 votes

Alan Trammell

48 votes

Robin Ventura

20 votes

Todd Zeile

7 votes

2138 votes | Poll has closed

Graph of the Day: Henderson vs. Raines vs. Suzuki vs. Gwynn

Jeff Zimmerman (TucsonRoyal) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:48:28 -0000

Tom Tango at his blog requested that this comparison and since we are here to please. I am not exactly sure what he is want to compare, but I am sure he will let us all know. The data was taken from Rally's Historical WAR data.

Name	Lifetime WAR
Tony Gwynn	68.5
Ichiro Suzuki	45.3
Rickey Henderson	113.1
Tim Raines	64.9
Average HOF	76.0
Replacement HOF	54.4

Return of the Son of the Revisitation of the Myth of the RBI Guy: Careers Overrated by RBI Totals

devil_fingers — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:29:46 -0000

Okay, okay, you probably figured we were done with this. And we are. Really. After this. To recap: First, taking a clue from a piece by Jonah Keri, I looked at the most overrated individual seasons since 1972 when judged by their RBI. Last week, I used some of the more recent "advanced stats" (I hate that term, for some reason), to look and see if perhaps the "RBI Guys" had a special knack for situational hitting. In both cases, we found that the real secret to getting to 90 or 100 RBIs in a season doesn't appear to lie in any particular skill, but instead in being in the right spot in the lineup at the right time. I thought I was done with this thing, but then Sky Kalkman of Beyond the Box Score fame asked if I had any careers numbers. With that in mind, as an epilogue, let's take last look (for a while, anyway) at the topic by examining a list of players whose careers were overrated by their RBI numbers. If you're sick of this, blame Sky. If not, then credit me.

For this project, I again used the custom linear weights scripts I used in my earlier posts (see the first post for more details). To narrow down the database query so that it wouldn't take forever to calculate and also becaue the linear weights are closer together since the mid-1950s, I restricted myself to summing up seasons after 1954. So if a player's career began before 1955, the RBI and Runs Created totals only include those seasons 1955-.

Without any further ado, HERE IS THE GOOGLE SPREADSHEET.

What Do These Numbers Mean, Again?

I'll keep this brief, since most of this material is covered in the previous posts on this topic. The simple explanation (and taking into considerations some suggestions from this thread), is that I've taken each player individual career RBI and divided them by this total runs created. The higher the ratio of RBI:Runs Created is, the more his RBI overstate his actual offensive production (probably due to being in the middle of the lineup, etc). So the players at the "top" of the rankings are the most overrated by their RBI. For the sake of interest, I restricted the search and made two lists, one based on players with 1000 or more RBI, and another for players with 500 or more RBI.

Quickly revisiting some definitions:

wOBA (Weighted On-Base Average) is simply the linear weights a players offensive contribution per plate appearanec expressed as a rate stat set to an on-base percentage scale so that one can get a quick read of a player's contribution. This is the players career average 1955-, but the weights I derived using Tom Tango's SQL (adapted by Colin Wyers) adjusts the weights each year for the particular run environment -- very cool stuff. This number is not park adjusted.
wRAA (I called this BRAA in earlier posts) is "wOBA Runs Above Average"). Using the formulae posted in earlier articles, this is the linear weights runs above/below average the player created over his career. This number is park-adjusted using terpsfans' park factors. This is not directly involved in the RBI calculations, but is there to give an a better idea of how good or bad a player was with respect to his particular run environment during his career. wWAA is wRAA converted to a wins scale based on the runs-to-wins conversion for each individual league and season, further specifying the player's relation to his run environment
wRC is wOBA Runs Created. Rather than runs above or below average, this figure is the "absolute" number of runs a player created based on the custom wOBA caculations during his career. This is the figure used in the key "ranking" stat for this project:
RBIperwRC is the key stat as explained above: his career RBI numbers divided by his absolute runs created. The higher the ratio of RBI:Runs Created is, the more his RBI overstate his actual offensive production (probably due to being in the middle of the lineup, etc). So the players at the "top" of the rankings are the most overrated by their RBI.

With the boring stuff out of the way, let's take a look at the lists.

The 1000 RBI Guys

We being with a huge upset here. Sky thought my SQL might be broken when he saw an earlier version. How could Joe Carter not come in first? As it is, he "only" ended up at #4, although I'm sure that won't make Phillies fans feel much better.

Ruben Sierra at number 1? Who knew? Of You look at the guy's numbers and you say, "well, he was above average for his career." Still, a .332 wOBA for his career? That's barely better than Royals' catcher John Buck has at the moment (.331). Hanging around for 20 seasons can help a guy out. David Kingman makes #2 on the 1,000+ list. I hope I don't get a rat in the mail. Can they be emailed? The relatively anonymous Tommy Davis comes in at #3

If Joe Carter fans think "only" being #4 on this list somehow vindicates their man, perhaps they should check the man right at #5: Gary Gaetti, Ageless Wonder and Object of Devotion. Here's a guy who has almost the same wRCperRBi as Joe Carter, yet hit more than 20 runs below average for his career. It's fitting that George Bell is also in the top 20, as well as George Foster. Jose Canseco, Tino Martinez, B. J. Surhoff, Carlos Lee, and Harold Baines rounding out the Top 25 of a list of Overrated RBI guys? I don't know about Jose, but I sure feel Vindicated.

It's is at least as instructive to look at the "bottom" of the list -- the players most underrated by their RBI numbers. RIcky Henderson is at the bottom. Enough, said, probably. Wade Boggs right in above him. How about this: third from the bottom MIckey Mantle. ZOMG JOE CARTER >>>>> THE MICK.!!!!!1111ONE1 Pete Rose... Wow, I can't believe I came up a list which shows Pete Rose as underrated... I mean, one not composed by Pete Rose himself (yes, I know he Craig Biggio, the former object of Bill James' affection, is also on here. Eddie Matthews, Rod Carew... Its very interesting to see guys like Bonds, Mantle, Matthews, etc. on this list because they did hit in the middle of the order (and all of these guys have over 1000 RBI, remember), so it might be more accurate to say that they "outhit" their RBI. Lots of stuff to see here. Derek Jeter, underrated?

The 500 RBI Guys

As you might expect, this is a much longer list. It's interesting to see more active players in and about. Bengie Molina slides in at #8. Hammerin' Jose Guillen #31 out of 542. As for the underrated active guys, Jason Kendall's presence gave me pause, but it's easy to forget, given his present state, what a good OBP guy he was when he was younger. Jimmy Rollins at #500 out o#542 -- another underrated leadoff guy, and we're not even talking about his excellent defense yet. The eternally underrated Tim Raines is #525 out of #542 -- he just missed being on 1000 RBI list by 20.

Just one final note -- Stan Musial is at the bottom of the list (remember this is only 1955- numbers). Wow. And really, my whole point about RBI could have been made by simply making this list and noting that Stan Musial is at the "bottom," and my man Tony Batista is at the top.

Winter League Interleague Play Leads To Clash Of Nationals...Winter Meetings Start Today.

Ed Chigliak — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:23:10 -0000

DWL vs the PRWL...INTERLEAGUE PLAY...

Saturday night, the Tigres del Licey visited the Puerto Rican League's third-place Cangrejeros de Santurce, for some Winter League Interleague play that saw the Cangrejeros beat the Tigres 5-2 with two runs in the second and two in the bottom of the eighth to offset Licey's early 2-0 lead after a first half inning in which LA Angels' infielder Erick Aybar singled and prospective Nationals' second baseman Anderson Hernandez doubled in front of the Tampa Bay Rays' Willy Aybar, who had the third straight hit, the second straight double, and 2 RBI's in his first AB.

DC's backup second baseman Ronnie Belliard was 0 for 3 with a K Saturday, lowering his Winter League average to .353. Anderson Hernandez ended the night 1 for 4 with a run scored, a double, his 16th this winter, and a .359 AVG with the Tigres.

Sunday, Licey took on Criollos de Caguas, who feature, if you've been following along this Winter, Nationals' prospects, Garrett Guzman and Justin Maxwell, so there were a total of four Nationals in the game, Hernandez, Belliard, Guzman and Maxwell...Guess who had the best game? If you said Anderson Hernandez, you're in the growing majority who agree that he'll be starting at second in DC when the '09 season gets underway, and he didn't disappoint, going 2 for 5 with 2 RBI's, for a .360 AVG and 26 RBI's in 41 games this winter. Ronnie Belliard was 1 for 3 with a double, his first, and two RBI's, #'s 13th and 14th in just 10 games in which he's gone 13 for 37 for a .351 AVG...(ed. note - "Sorry, Anderson...No one said Belliard's gonna take you starting at second lying down...")

The Criollos' Nationals' prospects?...Justin Maxwell lowered his PRWL AVG a bit, to .162 this winter, going 0 for 1 with a walk and a run scored after coming on as a defensive replacement in the sixth, and Garrett Guzman, who started in left was 0 for 3 with a walk, a HBP and 2 runs scored...in a 12-9 Caguas' win over the Tigres...(ed. note - "Saturday night the Criollos de Caguas took on the DWL's Estrellas de Oriente, and dropped a 6-1 decision in which Maxwell was 0 for 4 with 3 K's, and Guzman was 1 for 3 with 2 K's in the loss.")

WDJD? Venezuelan League Update...

The Navegantes de Magallanes welcomed the Tiburones de La Guaira to Estadio Jose Bernardo Perez for a battle of the Navigators and Sharks which saw the visiting team take a 7-3 win on the road after scoring six runs in the last three frames to respond to the Navegantes' rallies. No Jesus Flores Friday, but our old friend Wiki Gonzalez got a start, and the son of "the Rock", Tim Raines, Jr. was 1 for 5 with 2 RBI's for the Navegantes...

Saturday night, Jesus Flores was back in the lineup, in the DH role, batting sixth, and he went 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI for a .246 AVG after the game, which the Navegantes de Magallanes win 11-4.

WINTER MEETINGS...Little Talk of Nationals Heading Into Meetings Monday...

I read a lot of Hot Stove talk this weekend, and came across very little outside of MLB.com's Bill Ladson's article about the Nationals' agenda, entitled, "Nationals ready to take necessary steps", in which Mr. Ladson once again reiterates the Nationals' interest in Mark Teixeira first, followed by Adam Dunn, and for the second time, Mr. Ladson mentions the fact that only lefty starters John Lannan and Scott Olsen are assured of starting spots next season...(ed. note - "Wonder what Bally...That's uh, what Balester calls himself...(ed. note2 - 'Yes I read Collin Balester's blog...')...thinks of the news that he didn't earn spot in the starting rotation late last season?")

ESPN.com's Buster Olney actually started his column entitled, "Searching for answers in Vegas", by writing about the Nationals' search for a big bat, and he too mentions Teixeira as the target with Dunn the second option on DC's wish list, but Mr. Olney cautions the former Reds' outfielder done about signing with Washington, writing:

"If Dunn signs with the Nationals, for at least the first season or two he might find himself in a similar situation to what he experienced in Cincinnati -- a player among a few stars on a team that figures to struggle. Does he embrace that chance, or will he prefer a place where he has a better chance to win...?"

(ed. note - "Best to not take that chance, Dunn...I'll have MLB on XM cranked all day and I'll update in the Comments if any Nationals' news breaks...")