Phoenix.BloggersPub

It had been forever since I had a Cusano C10 “Crown Corona”, and since it ranks as one of my favorite cigars that was too long.

There’s been a lot going on in the NBA the past week or so, including some memorable games and player matchups.

• 76ers vs Heat - Dwyane Wade and Allen Iverson put on quite a show last night.  Philly ended up on the losing end, despite Iverson’s 45 pts.  Wade led Miami w/ 33 pts and 13 assists.
• Ben Wallace fined by the Bulls - Wallace chose to wear a headband in one of the last games, which resulted in coach Scott Skiles pulling him from the game and fining him for breaking a team rule prohibiting headbands.
• NBA Finals Preview?? - Orlando and Utah met last night for what some say could be an NBA Finals preview.  Dwight Howard’s monster game dealt the Jazz their 2nd loss in a row after starting out the season 12-1.  Utah is way over-hyped… luckily they are in a weak division, so they should still have a good seed in the playoffs.
• Golden State - The Warriors are moving up in the NBA ranks this week after two strong wins over the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs - all despite missing their star player, Baron Davis.  Jason Richardson has stepped up and has led the Warriors.
• Shaq Out - Shaquille O’Neal’s knee surgery is leading some to suggest that his career is declining and/or almost over.  Shaq suggest otherwise of course, but his stats don’t lie… he is on the decline.
• Clippers Reward Dunleavy - The L.A. Clippers rewarded coach Mike Dunleavy w/ a 4 yr contract extension worth $21 million.  This makes no sense, considering the much-hyped Clippers are in the Pacific Division cellar.  What happened to winning the division?  Reward the guy after he performs, not before.
• Corey Maggette - Constant trade rumors surround Maggette almost every day.  The latest rumors suggest the Denver Nuggets may try to acquire him.
• Derek Anderson - Signed by the Charlotte Bobcats.
• Carmello Anthony - Probably the front-runner for MVP right now, Anthony leads the league in scoring and has kept the Nuggets afloat almost single-handedly (J.R. Smith has helped too).
• Best Dunks - The Best Damn Show Period is doing a “Top 50 Dunks of all time“ special.  It’s hard to argue the best dunk, but Vince Carter probably gets the nod with his facial on the Frederic Weis in the 2000 Olympics.

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I was just going to put this story into a diary, as a minor sidenote to this winter’s activities. But let’s give Mr. Green some respect - not least, because that was something sadly lacking during the 2006 season. The Most Valuable Player in the Pacific Coast League the previous season, was forced to sit on the bench and watch Damion Easley suck up at-bats and games like a vacuum cleaner on meth. Easley’s OPS was .741 - among NL players with 200+ PA’s, that ranked 122 of 180 - in contrast, Stephen Drew was thirty-ninth.

And Easley would have been a whole lot lower if not for that freakish game in Atlanta where he smacked three homers: he’s only had one other month where he’s hit more than that, since August 2001. But perhaps Easley’s most unforgiveable sin was occupying a 40-man roster spot that might - just might - have been given to Dan Uggla. So far, this off-season’s signings have been pleasantly devoid of “veteran presence” players like Easley, Jarvis, Grimsley, etc. Long may that continue.

Not that Green’s line (.186/.293/.267) was exactly amazing, but I can’t help thinking that more playing time would have been a benefit. Certainly, it’s hard to see how a player can excel when he gets to start just nine games all tear, and came to the plate only twenty-five times after the All-Star break. He did spend most of August on the DL with a “shoulder injury”, but I can only imagine that was because it had seized up through lack of use. Having battled his way all through his career, from being a 24th-round draft pick in 2000, last season must have been an immensely frustrating experience for Green.

And now it’s off to the Land of the Rising Salary, to play for the champion Nippon Ham Fighter. There, Andy apparently can expect to earn twice as much as he would as a bench-warmer in AZ, around $710K, including the signing bonus. The Fighters also have an $850K option for the season after that (with a $100K buyout), and the total package could come close to $2m. The D’backs get some money back, but it’s basically pocket-change, and isn’t enough to pay even one player at major-league minimum.

I’m not sure whether or not the Diamondbacks dangled Green as trade-bait around other teams. He’s hardly a has-been at age 29, but I can see there might not have been much interest in someone whose batting average over 136 major-league games is below the Mendoza line. We would probably have been better off attempting to work out a deal after his 2005 season, when he batted .343 with 19 home runs, and led all minor-league players in total hits. That kind of gaudy output, even in a known hitter’s park like Tucson (and league, like the PCL), would surely have drawn polite enquiries from interested parties, at the very least.

Still, we wish Green all the best in his new home, and hope he meets the same degree of success as a previous Diamondbacks’ export, Alex Cabrera. In case you’d forgotten, we sold the Venezuelan first-basemen to the Seibu Lions after the 2000 season (the day before we signed Mark Grace), and he then went on to tie the Japanese single-season HR record, hitting 55 in 2002, and being voted MVP in the Pacific League. In six seasons there, he has now hit 246 homers, with a .308 average and an OPS of 1.058. I wonder what he might have done, if he’d been kept in Arizona…

This post is dedicated to Dodge, the biggest My Morning Jacket fan I know. A trip to Zia Records in Tempe, a diversion before last night’s Trail of Dead concert, was worth the while as I plucked the 45 (picture sleeve!) for Off the Record, with this B…

cats as comfortable, recognised members of our household.  Ginger died this evening, very suddenly, of what the vet described as a heart attack. Doubtless he (the vet) was trotting out a formula of explanation easy to grasp when old age wouldn’t fit the bill.

If this were written about a human person we’d launch into a description of early years, achievements, spice (is that the plural of spouse? If not it ought to be!) and so on. But as I’m writing about a cat those things don’t apply.

Nope, he walked in late one evening about three years ago, liked what he saw and decided he wanted to stay. We took him back to his owners and he was back the next night. The night after that his owners had moved away so here he lived. The most placid cat I’ve ever known. Nothing except cars seemed to worry him; whilst he’d happily climb onto or into one he’d run for cover if the engine started.

He was very good with the new-comers. Where the other established members of the household (Cleo and Roo and, latterly, Kitten) would ignore the new-comer or snarl and spit he was more than happy to play and, I presume, helped them feel more at home.

I’ll miss him. Rest in Peace Ginger.

Ben makes a point in the comments to the last post, that’s definitely worth looking into a bit more. “The only thing I worry about in this deal is our ability to keep Davis longer then this coming season. The planned inability, perhaps, the entire reason that Eveland was included in the deal? Anyone have a guess as to what kind of contract Davis would be looking for right now? My personal guess is 6 mil for 3 or 4 years.” It is, certainly, significant that we gave up three players over whom the Brewers will have control for a long time, and received a prospect who is out of options (Kryspqzakj@^# - I won’t learn how to spell his name if he’s gonna be gone by Opening Day), a starter eligible for free-agency after this year (Davis) and Eveland. We traded control for quality, it seems to me.

The Republic reports that Davis is interested in staying, according to his agent. Josh Byrnes, on the other hand, is playing a little hard to get, coyly saying that he doesn’t want to overpay: “We’ve been very careful with multiyear commitments. We value our flexibility.” Caution is wise, since it’s not only Davis that we need to deal with - Hernandez 2.0 is also going to be a free-agent after this year. Rumblings suggest Davis is probably more likely to be extended than Livan, I suspect not least because of the age difference. Though both are allegedly born in 1975, I’m doubtful about that for Hernandez, especially given the huge questionmark over the real age of his half-brother, Orlando. It wouldn’t be a shock if he was nearer 35 than thirty.

The Rep also says of Davis, “He compares favorably to free-agent pitchers currently on the market who are seeking deals worth $8 million per season and upward.” And, lo, according to Baseball Reference, the most similar pitcher to Davis is currently Odalis Perez, who was signed to a 3-year, $24m contract by the Dodgers in 2004. That would seem about the mark for Doug: two years of significant free-agent inflation on the Perez deal are countered by the fact he was coming off a 127 ERA+ season, not the 91 ERA+ season just experienced by Davis. There is no rush to sign Davis, and part of me wants to wait and make sure the sharp increase in his ERA last year was a genuine blip, as I hope. But, the danger of doing that would be, if he does return to form, the price of extending him would increase.

One thing to note about our new starter, though it’s a minor point: he’s not a great hitter. He went 3-for-65 last year, with one walk and 22 K’s. That .046 average was actually a significant improvement over the 2004 figure where he was 1-for-64, with 43 K’s. [Kip Wells of the Pirates actually walked Davis in a May 23 game, and is still undergoing therapy as a result. ] But then, in 2005, he exploded - relatively - to hit .137. That’s the only year in his career he’s reached three figures, so I wouldn’t expect too much from his plate appearances. Mind you, Claudio Vargas has a career .072 average, almost the same as Davis (.071), so the trade shouldn’t exactly derail our offense.

It’s interesting to parallel this with another swap carried out by Josh Byrnes last winter: Vazquez to the White Sox. There, we handed over one starting pitcher, but received another one who could help us now (Hernandez 1.0) plus a prospect for the future (Chris Young). That’s basically what we’ve done in this trade too, in the shapes of Davis and Eveland, as a swap for Vargas, and so I’m wondering if this is going to be Byrnes’ modus operandi. A quick scope of the trades Arizona has done since last November also shows that thirty percent involved four or more players, and half of them three or more. He seems to enjoy putting those “bundles” together, and so, if we make a splash, it could be a Sexson-like, many for one, trade. Let’s just hope with a happier ending…

Is that it as far as deals go? Quite possibly, at least as far as the rotation goes. At the end of last season, JB said, “We probably don’t need to add two (starters). But you never know.” Going through what else he said in that piece, however, I would not be surprised to see us make another move for a hitter: while Eric Byrnes has been named as the left-fielder for 2007, he seems a prime candidate [along with Jorge Julio] to be moved. Sure, Scott Hairston might be shifted instead, but he would likely be able to provide almost equal offense in LF, at a fraction of the cost, and Eric Byrnes - as a 25/25 guy - would fetch a whole lot more in return on the open market than someone who, first turn around, wasn’t exactly outstanding in the major-leagues. The biggest questionmark is Hairston’s defense, which is widely regarded as wretched. Still, if he comes anywhere near his Tucson stats [.323 with 26 HR], we would be happy to overlook a large chunk of defensive indifference.

The Suns trounced a very young Portland Trailblazers team last night to win their 4th straight game and move above .500 for the first time this year.  The win also gets Phoenix out of last place in the Pacific Division; of course that spot is now occupied by the disappointing L.A. Clippers.

Raja Bell led the Suns with 30 points (1 off his career high) while making 7 3’s.  Amare Stoudemire added 20 pts and 11 rebounds for the Suns.  Leandro Barbosa didn’t play in the game, due to an injury.

The game really wasn’t close and the Suns didn’t not falter down the stretch like they were to open the season.  They led almost the whole game (except maybe the 1st quarter) and pretty much embarrassed the youthful Trailblazers.

Things are looking up for Phoenix right now and they’re poised to jump up the standings even more with Golden State’s Baron Davis out and the Clippers struggling so much.  Their only problem is going to be the L.A. Lakers, who are opening up an 8-game home stand at Staples Center.  While the Lakers start is very surprising, it’s weighed by their early homecourt success (8-1 or 9-1).  Assuming they continue to play well at home, they’ll have quite a few games on the road coming up (for a long time), so expect to see them drop in the rankings by late December.

Before Thanksgiving I stopped at Karl’s Quality Bakery and picked up a carrot cupcake, cherry strudel, and some chocolate frosted pumpkin donuts.

The seventh installment of I Used to Love H.E.R. comes from Philadelphia producer SupremeEx, whose latest project was a collaboration with Hieroglpyhics/Souls of Mischief emcee Tajai on Nuntype (available on Rumble Pack Records). Instead of an album, S…