Ken Rosenthal Deserves a Gigantic Apology from the Blogosphere

Over the weekend Ken Rosenthal had a hunch. He had a feeling something big was going to happen but he had no proof. Normally he would probably hold onto this feeling and not publish it but this weekend he probably had one two many cups of egg nog so he let it fly.

You want a blockbuster? How about one that includes not one, but two former Cy Young Award winners?

I have no proof that the Phillies are trying to move left-hander Cliff Lee as part of a three- or four-team trade for Blue Jays right-hander Roy Halladay.

But I’ve got a hunch. [Fox]

This hunch was met with several people spinning intense ridicule at the baseball writer, most notably Phillies Bloggers.

Meech, our Phillies interviewee from Blogging the Offseason, said this:

Come on, Ken. If baseball reporting was about hunches, every knucklehead with a press pass would just run possible trades through their dumb head and send them to their editor. It’d be fucking reporting anarchy, man. You might as well have just told us that the Astros are on the verge of signing Brett Myers and called it a day. [The Fightins]

Fellow Phillies blogger Bill Baer at Crashburn Alley pretty much thought the very idea was stupid:
That’s right: Ken proposes that the budget-constrained Phillies send away a 6-7.5 WAR pitcher (Lee) making $8 million in 2010 in an effort to acquire a a 6-7.5 WAR pitcher (Halladay) making nearly $16 million. He suggests that the Blue Jays — desperate to recoup value on the sure-to-depart pitcher — would pay for part of his salary. Unless the Jays cover at least $10 million, there’s absolutely no reason why this trade proposal even begins to make sense. [CA]

Cousins of Ron Mexico over at the Big Lead also joined in on the fun:
Not since Bill Simmons discovered the NBA trade simulator has such creativity been shown in dreaming up trades. [TBL]

Wait did you say just two days later this exact trade happened? Halladay got sent to Philly, Lee Got Sent to Seattlerand a handful of prospects got sent from Seattle and Philly to Toronto. Whoops. I think its time to repent blogger world and apologize to Mr. Rosenthal.

Numbers On Steroids: Bret Boone

Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you. Mr. Boone was once the best power hitting second baseman in the league. How questionable was his success? Averages Say: Why the extra plateu in his mid 30s? At Bats Per Home Run Says: Lowest at Bats Per Home Runs at 37? Hmm.... Explaining It Away Yeak, this one is tough. Umm, late bloomer? He showed potential power early in his career and he just liked playing in Seattle a lot more than everywhere else? And umm, his career was kind of like a running backs in that it just all of a sudden fell off the map? Any of these convincing you? The Verdict Guy never hits more than 24 home runs in a season and then in his age 32 season he hits 37? And in SafeCo a pitchers park to boot? And he follows that up with 24, 35, 24 homer years still at SafeCo? And then he completely falls off the map in 2005 never to be heard from again? We've got a Screamer... Man Get Big Muscles In 30s. Hm...

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Numbers On Steroids: Mickey Mantle

Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you. This week it's throwing a curve ball and looking at All Time Great Yankees. Players that we know did not take steroids to see if this gives a defense to any of the players 'convicted' by Numbers on Steroids. Time to look at my dad's favorite athlete of all time, Mickey Mantle. Averages Say: What's with the mysterious dip at 27 and then the uptick? At Bats Per Home Run Says: That's a mighty jump from 22 to 24 Explaining As If It Was the 90s If you take a look at the numbers there are two time frames which in the 1990s would be questioned. First would be the incredible leap he took from his first year in the big leagues to his first MVP season in 1956. His batting average jumped 50 points. His slugging percentage jumped 90 points and he hit 15 more homers than his previous high. This wouldn't merrit a conviction nowadays though because the young age he...

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