Diamondbacks radio broadcaster George Schulte, who has been with the team since its inception, has been nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award. The award is presented at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Fans can determine three of the ten finalists by voting this month.

More on George Schulte and how to vote.

ByrnesBlogger1

"My Friend, the Yankees Fan" has Eric Byrnes on her fantasy team.  She said he’s been one of her most productive players.  This is a straightforward assessment on her part, unvarnished by fandom; she used to kid me about being an Eric Byrnes fan and didn’t think much of him until late last year.  She and I have just exchanged e-mail about Byrnes’ non-selection to the All-Star team.  I gave her the URL to my recent posting, which carries the quote from LaRussa purportedly explaining why he left Byrnes off the squad.

"I’m going to
make it a point to pull him aside and tell him. It came down to the
second half of the game, needing a true center fielder. He’s definitely
had an All-Star qualifying performance. I know he’s played some center
field, but we’re playing in San Francisco. I’m going to explain it to
him. I know he’s from the Bay Area, it’s tough to leave him off."

She asked: Why does the second half of the game require a true center fielder more so than the first half?  I must be dense because I don’t understand his rationale.

What I didn’t say to her, but was thinking at the time, is that the All-Star game has become a strange hybrid, at one time an exhibition but also a game with serious consequences.  (Though not insurmountable ones, as LaRussa himself can tell you).  In this hybrid, he picks Rowand
because Byrnes’ ability to play left and right as well as center, and
the Diamondbacks’ greater need for him in left and right this year,
means he’s not a "true centerfielder."

"My Friend, the Yankees Fan" and I had also exchanged mail earlier about the voting itself.  She made the point then that Byrnesie wasn’t a "national brand" the way some of these other players are.  And in our last e-mail I replied: You have a point about national branding. Byrnes’ numbers are better than Beltran’s in several categories, and not far behind in others. But while Beltran was one of the top votegetters–I think he finished second in the NL– Byrnesie didn’t even make the top 15. Same thing happened to last year’s AZ catcher, Johnny Estrada, who was a match for Paul Lo Duca in stats but not in votes. The big markets will always have an advantage in fan voting.

ByrnesBlogger1

(photo by Francis Speaker)

"I’m going to
make it a point to pull him aside and tell him. It came down to the
second half of the game, needing a true center fielder. He’s definitely
had an All-Star qualifying performance. I know he’s played some center
field, but we’re playing in San Francisco. I’m going to explain it to
him. I know he’s from the Bay Area, it’s tough to leave him off."
– Tony LaRussa

And so now we know why Tony LaRussa picked Aaron Rowand of Philadelphia over Eric Byrnes. I will say this: the fielding
statistics favor Rowand.  He’s been playing more center field than Eric has this year. His fielding percentage is 11 points higher
than Eric’s.  Aaron has one more assist, one more double play and two
fewer errors, even though he has played 26 fewer innings than Eric.  He has
also had 17 more total chances than Eric.  But Byrnes has had fewer
chances because he has spent a significant amount of time in right
field this year because of Carlos Quentin’s early-season injury and his
continued struggles at the plate that induce manager Bob Melvin to take
him out of the lineup and switch Byrnes to right field.

We nopw have a rationale, I still don’t like the pick. In fact, I will argue that Byrnes is the better defensive choice BECAUSE they are playing in San Francisco. Byrnes has had much more experience in "Ballpark By the Bay" than Rowand by virtue of playing in pre-season and Interleague "Bay Bridge Series" with the Oakland Athletics and by playing the NL West division rival Giants in one and a half seasons as a Diamondback.  The D’Backs face the Giants more than the NL East Phillies do. He can play centerfield at AT&T. And if I have my druthers, that’s exactly what he’ll be doing next year.

Byrnes plays all three outfield
positions, an advantage for Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin, who puts
him where he’s needed.  Quentin, Hairston and Young are not as
flexible, and DaVanon, who plays center and right, is still on the DL.
But Eric is a true centerfielder; he was signed by the Diamondbacks as a
centerfielder because they needed someone to play the position until
Chris Young was ready.  He played that position last year quite well. (Eric has four errors this
year. But they are in left and right.  He was charged with only 1 error
in center all last year.  His fielding percentage was .997. I would
argue he’s better in center than in left and definitely than in right). He has played center this year, when Chris Young was injured,  when BoMel didn’t like a matchup between Young and a certain starter, or when Young was lifted in a double-switch.

Remember this catch in center in Atlanta last season? (I’ll bet Marcus Giles, now with the Padres, does).

There was also the one he caught at Shea last year, that I don’t have the photo of.  And the diving catch at Chase against the Dodgers when he fell in a bad position and felt like his arm became detached from his shoulder. But he still got up and threw the ball back to the infield, holding the runner at second.

Eric Byrnes came up to the majors with the Athletics as a centerfielder. If you’d like to see some great catches in center field, go to the Oakland Athletics Top Plays Archive for June 2004, and watch two beauts by Eric on June 26, 2004.

He
was moved out of center this year because of the arrival of Chris
Young, whom the Diamondbacks are very high on, and because of the need
to replace Luis Gonzalez in left.  But center field is really Eric’s
favorite position, and it makes sense given his kamikaze style of
play.  He’s actually better off being the captain of the outfield as
centerfielders are, going after everything he can get to.

Looking at the offensive statistics,  (the stats I’m going to say
are up-to-date as of the morning of Tuesday, July 3, and those are not
the latest stats that Tony LaRussa had in front of him when he made his
final decisions.  But there hasn’t been a radical change in two days so
they’re good enough), Byrnes has a slight lead in batting average, and a significant (more than 10 points) lead in slugging percentage, whereas Rowand has a significant lead in on-base percentage.  On closer examination, we find that the lead in OBP stems mostly from Rowand’s lead in getting hit by pitches.  Rowand has only one more walk than Byrnes, but 10 more HBP.  Frankly, I’m glad Byrnes doesn’t get hit that often.

The Arizona Diamondbacks as of today are 8 games over .500 despite the recent poundings from the Giants and the Cardinals.  They are 2 1/2 games out a first-place in the NL West.  Over in the NL East, the Phillies are just one game over .500 and five games out of first place.  One can argue that Byrnes is more valuable in terms of the overall success of the team, though I’m sure that Philly fans would argue the point.

It’s a shame that the fact that Byrnes cannot be categorized as strictly a centerfielder kept him off the All-Star team.  Versatility is an asset.  But the fact that Byrnesie cannot be pigeonholed has been a stumbling block for him when dealing with people whose comfort zone lies in being able to categorize people as one thing or the other.

ByrnesBlogger1

Congratulations to José Valverde and Orlando Hudson for being named to the All-Star team.  Orlando was a player’s choice and although I did not advocate for him, I think it’s a good selection.  I figured that the Diamondbacks would be unable to land more than two players on the All-Star team and José Valverde would be a lock, so I didn’t push for Orlando because, after all, this is an Eric Byrnes blog and I wanted him on the team as well.

ByrnesBlogger1

You need to name two Diamondbacks to the All-Star team.

One is closer Jose Valverde, who has 24 saves, second in the NL. (He would have more if the Diamondbacks would give him more opportunities. But then again, I’m sure he doesn’t mind when the team wins 8-3 like they did yesterday. <grin> He also just became the franchise leader in career saves, reaching that mark (75) his last time out.

The other is Eric Byrnes, who as of Monday morning June 25, is leading the Diamondbacks in the following offensive categories: BA .317; HR 12; RBI 42 (tied with Orlando Hudson); R 47; SB 14; OPS .883; XBH 32; and TB 158.

Additionally, Eric and Hanley Ramirez of Florida are tied for second in the NL in total hits (97).

Last year, Eric Byrnes set a Diamondbacks franchise record for the combination of homers and stolen bases, going 26/25 to lead the team in both categories and become one of only 3 major leaguers to have at least 25 homers and 25 stolen bases last year.

He’s also been known to flash the leather, too:

He’s a Bay Area native, so his fans here would really love to see him play in the All-Star Game in San Francisco.

UPDATE: True Elation 10: Eric Byrnes got two singles and drove in 2 runs as the Diamondbacks beat the Orioles 8 – 3 to take the series two games to one. The Snakes are now on top of the NL West.

ByrnesBlogger1

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Justin Morneau, first baseman of the AL Central Division Champion Minnesota Twins, was selected the 2006 AL MVP.

This seems like an upset to those to were rooting for Derek Jeter of the Yankees or David Ortiz of the Red Sox. And for people who don’t especially follow the Twins, like us, but who know of the exploits of Cy Young Award winner, Johan Santana, or AL batting champ, Joe Mauer, Morneau seems to be strange pick.

But Twins fan John Nemo, author of The King’s Game and the eponymous MLBlog explained it well:

Morneau not the best player on his own team? With all due respect to Torii Hunter & Joe Mauer, Morneau WAS the Twins offense for most of 2006. Jeter apologists: Consider he plays on a team loaded with superstar talent, where 30-home run hitters and 100 RBI guys are basically in every slot – Giambi, A-Rod, Matsui, Abreu, etc. Morneau did it BY HIMSELF this year – literally carried the Minnesota Twins on his back from June 8 through the end of the season. Numerous articles – including the MVP one – point this out, that Morneau basically led MLB in several critical offensive categories – batting average, RBI, etc. – from June 8 on, and, funny, that’s EXACTLY when the Twins turned around their season, caught fire and went from dead and buried to division champs.

Sounds like an MVP to us. Morneau, who is the Twins first baseman, says he loves Minnesota and would like to play his whole career there. He’s only 25. If Soriano can get an 8-year deal, it would behoove the Twins to give Morneau 10.

More on Justin Morneau.

The Phillies first baseman has won the 2006 NL MVP award in his first full season in the majors.

It’s been quite a year for the man who was the 2005 NL Rookie of the Year. He also won the ASG Home Run Derby, and was the MVP of the recently concluded Japan Series.

DTLFL was hoping he would hit 60 homers, but with pitchers reluctant to throw him strikes in September, he ended up with "only" 58.

We were rooting for him to win this award. As great as Albert Pujols is, the Cardinals were expected to make the playoffs. The Phillies didn’t make it, but we figured Ryan Howard kept them hanging around longer than they would have without him. We thought the Phillies, at least their front office, not the guys on the field, threw in the towel on 2006 when they traded Bobby Abreu to the Yankees. But the team had a big bounce after that and Ryan Howard was a part of it. That’s an MVP to us.

More on Ryan Howard.

K.R.