Archives
January 2003
(all categories)

January 6, 2003 [LINK]

Offseason trades

The official Major League Baseball Web site has a special page with a summary of the offseason trading activity by all 28 teams. It ranks each team on its degree of preparedness, based on aggressivenss of trading, relative to other teams within the same division. The Reds, Devilrays, Tigers, Indians are rated very low, whereas the Red Sox, Twins, Yankees, Braves, Diamondbacks, and Giants are rated high or very high. The rating system is odd, since the Phillies rank below the Braves, even though they (the Phillies) have picked up the Braves' fine young pitcher, Kevin Millwood, as well as slugging infielders Jim Thome and David Bell. I thought that meant the Phillies were aiming to overthrow the Braves at the top of the NL East, but they traded away Jeremy Giambi and other key players, so perhaps not. Meanwhile, the Braves just acquired first baseman Robert Fick from the Detroit Tigers.

January 8, 2003 [LINK]

Hall of Fame

Former Orioles first baseman Eddie Murray was just voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the very first year he was eligible, a special honor only bestowed upon 37 previous superstars. Very few players combined his consistent superior performance with sheer likeability (Ed-die! Ed-die!), and I'm glad I had the chance to see him play on more than one occasion. His career with the Orioles (1977-1988, and for part of 1996) spanned the Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken eras, and he played with four other teams from 1989 to 1997. Catcher Gary Carter, who played for most of his career with the Expos and Mets, was voted into the Hall of Fame on the LAST year he was eligible. Whew! Congratulations to two great and deserving heroes!

WHOOPS AGAIN!!! Alert reader Steven Poppe has once again called attention to an egregious goof on my part: I uploaded the wrong page to the Baseball folder of my Web site. Sorry, folks! This being off-season, I might not have noticed for a week or more if someone hadn't let me know, so thanks very much, Steven!

January 8, 2003 [LINK]

Argentina party split

As feared, the feud between current president Duhalde vs. former president Menem -- rivals within the Peronista party -- heated up in late December, and no one knows when the party will choose its candidate, much less who that person will be. President Duhalde denied rumors that special presidential elections scheduled for April 27 might be delayed, warning that doing so would make the country look ridiculous. A fierce struggle continues within the Peronista party, as former president Carlos Menem seeks to make a political comeback, against Duhalde and others. Menem is widely blamed for corruption that undermined his economic liberalization program, setting the stage for the economic crisis that exploded in 2001. Duhalde says he will NOT be a candidate for the presidency, and will step down on May 25.

January 10, 2003 [LINK]

Castañeda resigns

Jorge G. Castañeda, foreign minister of Mexico, submitted his resignation to President Fox on Thursday. Fox, a conservative, named the distinguished leftist intellectual to the post when he was inaugurated two years ago in order to allay fears among nationalistic sectors in Mexico that he might be "selling out" to the North Americans. Ironically, Castañeda was in the forefront of those calling for closer ties with the United States. He was scheduled to appear at the American Political Science Association annual meeting in Boston last August, but had to cancel at the last minute. (CNN-E)

January 20, 2003 [LINK]

Relocation, Venezuela

The Business section of today's Washington Post featured a detailed story on the likely economic impact of a new baseball stadium in downtown D.C. It included caveats from Andrew Zimbalist, a leading expert, who downplays the benefits that sports promoters often use to justify asking for public subsidies. This story was motivated by news that MLB officials have accelerated the process of ascertaining which city deserves to get the Montreal Expos franchise, which is expected to be relocated after next season. The Relocation Committee will begin preliminary interviews in the next few weeks as the first step toward reaching a final decision by the All-Star break. Washington is universally regarded as the top contender, but Portland, Charlotte, and San Juan, Puerto Rico are also theoretical possibilities. Because of the rainy weather in Portland, any new stadium would require a roof (like in Seattle), and that would add $100 million to the construction cost, beyond what the city or local investors could afford. The city of Charlotte just forked over a big chunk to get an expansion basketball franchise to make up for the loss of the Hornets to New Orleans, and is low on spare cash. San Juan is a steam bath in the summer. CAVEAT: MLB officials are reportedly insisting that any new stadium be 100% financed by public authorities, and have warned that the Expos may stay put for yet another year in limbo if none of the cities meet satisfactory financial conditions. Was that Peter Angelos's doing? Arghhh...

Because of the all turmoil and risk of violence associated with the general strike called by opponents to President Hugo Chavez, baseball officials in Venezuela decided to cancel the rest of the Venezuelan Winter League season. No games had been played since December 10 or so.