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Sunday, March 4
Updated: March 5, 12:50 PM ET
Rumblings and Grumblings

By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com

CLEARWATER, Fla. – It's supposed to be baseball's happiest time of year. Oops ...

Frank Thomas. Gary Sheffield.

It's supposed to be a time when we remember all over again why we love this great game. Oops ...

	Triviality
	Only one team has six pitchers in camp this spring with more than 100 career wins each. Can you name the team and the pitchers? (Answer at bottom.)

Barry Bonds. The star-crossed David Wells-Mike Sirotka trade.

It's supposed to be a time when we can stop caring about the latest NFL court case and the NBA'S latest wealthy malcontent to refocus on a kinder, gentler slice of sports. Oops ...

Labor. Labor. Labor.

Well, we have this to say: ENOUGH ALREADY!

Ignore all that other stuff. Spring training is still sports' greatest invention. And baseball is still our most unique and beloved sport. Now we're here to remind you why – and just in time, too.

How? With this – the ...

Top 10 things we love about baseball in March
10. Actual line from Cactus League standings Sunday morning: Cubs 4-0.

9. Actual spring-training locations where baseball is played: Joker Marchant Stadium (Lakeland); Ho Ho Kam Park (Mesa); Cecil P. Englebert Complex (Dunedin); Space Coast Stadium -- situated next to cow pasture (Viera); Baseball City (Haines City); Legends Field (Tampa).

8. Omar Vizquel signs contract extension for $17.5 million less a year than A-Rod, then does a cartwheel on the way out to shortstop.

7. Actual nostalgic box-score line: Montreal: Tim Raines, lf 1 0 0 0.

6. Sammy Sosa hits against no one but coaches for five days, then homers on his first swing of spring training.

5. Actual who's-that box-score line: Milwaukee: Jose Mieses vs. Cubs: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.

4. That throng of players whining about contracts get no extensions, while their most vocal critic, Mark McGwire, gets two years, $30 million -- without an agent.

3. Actual crank-up-the-trade rumors box-score line: Montreal: Ugueth Urbina, vs. Mets: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.

2. Our favorite voices – Vin Scully, Harry Kalas, Ernie Harwell, Jon Miller – return to a radio dial near you.

1. Pedro goes to the mound, while New Englanders go for more rock salt.

There. Feel better now?

Miscellaneous rumblings

McGwire's new contract could create a ripple wave as far away as Oakland. Remember, Big Mac is Jason Giambi's best bud and baseball role model. And suddenly, there is talk that Giambi and the A's are getting closer to a deal way under what Giambi could get as a free agent next fall.

Giambi was reportedly willing to take the six-year, $91 million offer the A's made this winter if less of the money was deferred. This deal could be in that neighborhood, only with a higher present-day value – if ownership approves.

"The bottom line is: He wants to be there," says one baseball man close to this situation. "He feels like this is his team. And think of the ramifications if they lose him. Who's the leader? Who's the big threat in the lineup?"

You don't need to be Nelson Doubleday to understand why the Mets continue to have interest in Gary Sheffield. Just check the numbers.

Fewest home run by NL outfields last year:
Padres 45
Rockies 57
Mets 59

Fewest RBI by NL outfields last year:
Padres 214
Phillies 229
Mets 231

Astros outfielders (117) and Cardinals outfielders (108) hit nearly twice as many home runs as the Mets' outfielders. And eight teams in the league got at least 75 more RBI from their outfielders than the Mets did. Subtract Derek Bell, who accounted for about 31 percent of the home runs (18) and 30 percent of the RBI (69), and you can see why Steve Phillips has Kevin Malone on his speed dial.

One reason you don't see more teams trying to get in on the action on Sheffield, though, is that anyone other than the Mets, Braves or Yankees would have to sign him to an extension or face a trade demand after the season.

So what's the problem with that? When Sheffield's current contract, counting the option year, is up, he'll be just a few weeks shy of turning 37. And given his hitting style, the way he wraps the bat and still generates baseball's most remarkable bat speed, not everyone is convinced he'll remain a great hitter into his late 30s.

"He's not your classic hitter," says a front-office man from one semi-interested club. "That's why I think he's going to have a tough time persuading another club to do a whole lot more financially than he's got coming now."

Ugueth Urbina will have plenty of suitors if he continues to throw well. But all indications are that no team is more interested than Texas.

After Travis Lee's one-homer, 14-RBI performance in two months after joining the Phillies last summer, there were several members of the organization who lobbied for trading him over the winter. But GM Ed Wade resisted. Lee then spent the winter working with Jim Lefebvre and the Phillies are really encouraged by what they've seen this spring.

"His whole lower half is very much into his swing now," Wade says.

"It's early," says special advisor Dallas Green. "But he's killed the ball in batting practice. And we never saw that last year."

Clubs that have talked with the Yankees say that 1) they're sufficiently concerned about Shane Spencer to be looking for a left fielder; and 2) they're quietly worried that Derek Jeter's shoulder might be worse than he, or they, are letting on.

One AL executive thinks way too much has been made in Boston of Manny Ramirez's move back to right field.

Yes, Trot Nixon is far superior out there. And yes, right field in Fenway is a challenging, adventurous place to play. "But if they have to depend on Manny Ramirez catching the ball, they ain't that good a team," the exec says. "If their season comes down to his defense, they signed the wrong guy."

	“	Sacrifice bunts might be a thing of the past in our league. ”
		— Phillies manager Larry Bowa, on the higher strike zone

Strike-zone conversation is everywhere this spring, because nobody seems to have figured out what the heck it will mean once the season starts. One of the most insightful predictions comes from Phillies manager Larry Bowa, who predicts the stat most affected by the high strike in the National League will be (surprise) sacrifice bunts.

"It will be hard to bunt the ball up there," Bowa says. "Sacrifice bunts might be a thing of the past in our league."

Asked if he thought games would move faster with the new zone, Bowa joked: "They could be slower – because of the arguing."

Meanwhile, players are openly speculating that if the corners become the real corners instead of three inches off the corners, no one will be hurt more than Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. But Tigers manager Phil Garner isn't buying that.

"Greg Maddux is so sharp," Garner said. "If he can throw it two inches off the corner, he can throw it a quarter-inch on."

Maddux's first outing of the spring: 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 walks.

Other strike-zone one-liners:
From Reds first baseman Sean Casey: "I'm going to be hitting .210 this year."

From hackamatic Tigers shortstop Deivi Cruz, he of the 13 walks in 607 trips last year: "I swing at everything. I don't care."

From 6-foot-7 Tigers first baseman Tony Clark: "For them to throw it up there to me, they're going to have to throw uphill."

If Frank Thomas is worried that his holdout didn't quite do wonders for his popularity, he should be.

A reader in Chicago reports he went to a silent auction last weekend in which one of the items was an autographed Frank Thomas poster. Highest bid on the poster – zero (even a signed Greg Norton baseball went for 50 bucks).

Spring fever
Wayward traveller of the week: All over spring training, people continue to speculate on what exactly happened to cause Ismael Valdes to pull into the A's camp instead of the Angels' camp on day one of spring training.

"He got one of those new navigation systems in his car," theorized retired bullpen witticist Larry Andersen, "the ones that talk. Only this one talked in Pascual Perez's voice."

Debut of the week: Two pitches into his managerial career in Toronto, ESPN alum Buck Martinez found himself with a 1-0 lead over the Yankees, thanks to a Shannon Stewart home run off Dwight Gooden.

Asked what he thought when that ball disappeared, Martinez quipped: "I was managing my tail off."

Cobwebs of the week: Speaking of ex-broadcasters in the dugout, Arizona's Bob Brenly discovered last week that it wasn't his TV habits he needed to outgrow. It was his old catching habits.

Brenly told the Valley Tribune's Ed Price that he needs to work on sending signs from the dugout to his third-base coach, Chris Speier. "I'm used to getting them," Brenly said, "not giving them."

Spring injury of the week: The Pirates – a team obliterated by injuries last year – haven't lost their touch. They were being instructed by umpire Jim Reynolds on the new strike zone Wednesday when Brian Giles fouled off a pitch, and it drilled Kevin Young, who had been leaning against the batting cage. Young has a swollen elbow and might be out almost a week.

"We couldn't even get through the strike-zone demonstration without an injury," manager Lloyd McClendon told the Beaver County Times' John Perrotto. "I don't know if that's a good sign."

Of course, Young is the same guy who managed to strain a groin muscle last year while drawing a walk. "So I guess," he said, "this shouldn't surprise me."

Ejection of the week: The other strike-zone casualty of the week was Seattle's normally mild-mannered David Bell. After a brief, not particularly inflammatory debate on the new zone Thursday, Bell was mysteriously thumbed by quick-triggered plate ump Rob Drake.

Also puzzled by Drake's calls was Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, playing his first game on this side of the Pacific. But Suzuki resisted the urge to join the debate.

"Even if I had," Ichiro said afterward, through the miracle of translation, "no problem. I'd have been speaking in Japanese, so he wouldn't understand me."

Milestone of the week: Looks like we'll need to save some space this year for the Ichiro Suzuki Quote Book.

Here was his reaction to his first hit in the United States – a ground ball that hopped past Padres pitcher Scott Karl: "That was not a hit. That was some bad fielding by the pitcher."

Sparks-plugs of the week: When the Tigers met the Pirates last week, it meant that for the first time ever, both of the Steve Sparks in the big leagues were in the same park in the same day.

They never did track each other down. But when asked by Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler how the world would be able to distinguish between the two still-unrelated Sparks, the Tigers' half of the name game replied:

"I'm Steve W. Sparks – Dubya."

Smokeballers of the week: When Royals manager Tony Muser told his team he wanted to see a little more fire this spring, they took him a little too literally. The Royals found themselves in the middle of the raging forest fire in central Florida.

That fire is finally out now. But there were days it got so smoky, these guys could actually see the air they were (unfortunately) breathing.

One day, after returning to the clubhouse after running, reliever Doug Bochtler told the Kansas City Star's Dick Kaegel: "It's like a Cheech and Chong movie out there."

Useless information dept.

McGwire's new extension will take him through the 2003 season, during which he turns 40 in September. So let's give him some new history to shoot for.

Most home runs in one season, age 37 or older
47, by Hank Aaron, in 1971

Most home runs, age 38 or older
40, by Darrell Evans, in 1985, and Aaron in 1973

Most home runs, age 39 or older
40, by Aaron in 1973

Most home runs, age 40 or older
34, by Evans in 1987.

Guys who hit 40 home runs at age 37 or older
Aaron (47 at age 37, 40 at age 39)
Babe Ruth (41 at age 37, in 1932)
Hank Sauer (41 at age 37, in 1954)
Evans (40, at age 38)

While we're talking homers, team home-run totals don't always measure the depth of a team's power. So let's look at that department another way.

The Blue Jays figure to start seven hitters who hit 20 home runs or more in the big leagues last season – by far the most of any team in either league. Here are the clubs with the most and fewest 20-homer men on the roster:

Most 20-HR men: Blue Jays 7; Marlins 5; Astros 5; White Sox 5; Angels 5 (although Mo Vaughn is out for the year)
Fewest 20-HR men: Twins 0; eight teams tied with 2

Two addenda: Russ Branyan (37 HR in the minors and majors) would give the Indians five 20-homer men. And the Mets would have five if you added either Sheffield or Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who hit 28 bombs for the Hanshin Tigers.

Last week, we had the Elias Sports Bureau look at where Sheffield ranked in the big power departments since he signed his big contract. This week, it's Frank Thomas.

Turns out that since Thomas signed on for nine years before the '98 season, he has made it into the top 25 in baseball in only one category – walks. Here's where he stands over the last three seasons:

HR: 30th (87)
RBI: 20th (329)
Runs: 30th (298)
Slugging: 33rd (.529)
Average: 50th (.299)
Walks: 8th (309)

We want to thank every single citizen of New England for checking in over the last few weeks to report that John Burkett's 12-game postseason losing streak is not a record.

No one has looked up the members of the 1907-09 Tigers or the 1911-13 Giants. But in more modern times, Burkett can't even measure up to Roger Clemens and Mike Greenwell, who were members of Red Sox teams that lost 13 postseason games in a row. For those who may have forgotten them (because they don't root for this team) ...

1986: Lost Games 6 and 7 of World Series (2)
1988: Swept, 4-0, by A's in ALCS (6)
1990: Swept, 4-0, by A's in ALCS (10)
1995: Swept, 3-0, by Indians in ALDS (13)

Speaking of Greenwell, it was a tremendous spring-training moment when his name showed up in the box scores last week for the first time since Sept. 28, 1996. (Thursday, Reds vs. Cleveland: Greenwell PH 1 0 0 0).

Now, not to suggest it had been a while since Greenwell's last box-score appearance in the old U.S.A. But in his previous game, the Red Sox started Arquimedez Pozo at third base and Rudy Pemberton in right field, and used Mark Brandenburg to pitch the ninth.

Not to further suggest that was a while ago, but C.C. Sabathia, who pitched against the Reds in this game, was 16 years old and barely into his junior year in high school the last time Greenwell invaded the small print.

From our annals, the box score in question:

New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Raines lf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .280 BeWilliams cf 3 1 1 1 1 1 .305 1-RRivera pr-cf 0 1 0 0 0 0 .274 O'Neill dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .303 a-Posada ph-dh 1 0 0 0 0 1 .077 Strawberry rf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .262 Hayes 3b 4 1 2 1 0 1 .284 Aldrete 1b 3 1 1 2 1 0 .215 DJeter ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 .315 Leyritz c 2 0 0 0 0 1 .262 Girardi c 2 0 0 0 0 0 .293 Fox 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .198 Totals 32 4 5 4 4 11

Boston AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Bragg cf-lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .262 Frye 2b 4 1 1 0 0 2 .287 c-Canseco ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .289 MVaughn 1b 4 0 2 0 0 2 .328 Jefferson dh 4 0 3 0 0 0 .346 Greenwell lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .295 2-Tinsley pr-cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .245 NGarciaparra ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 .241 Haselman c 4 0 0 0 0 2 .269 Pemberton rf 3 0 2 0 1 0 .500 Pozo 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .148 b-O'Leary ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .259 Totals 36 2 9 0 1 10

New York 021 000 010–4 5 2 Boston 100 000 010–2 9 0

a-struck out for O'Neill in the 8th. b-grounded into double play for Pozo in the 9th. c-struck out for Frye in the 9th. 1-ran for Williams in the 8th. 2-ran for Greenwell in the 8th. E--DJeter 2 (22). LOB--New York 5, Boston 9. 2B--Bragg (26). HR--BeWilliams (29) off Clemens; Aldrete (6) off Clemens. RBIs--BeWilliams (102), Hayes (13), Aldrete 2 (20). SB--RRivera (6), Fox (11), Frye (18), Pemberton (3). GIDP--O'Leary. Runners left in scoring position--New York 2 (O'Neill, Aldrete); Boston 6 (Frye, Canseco, Greenwell, Haselman 3). Runners moved up--Bragg, Greenwell. DP--New York 1 (Wetteland, DJeter and Aldrete).

New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Pettitte 2 2 1 0 1 2 41 3.87 Mendoza W, 4-5 4 3 0 0 0 3 40 6.79 Boehringer 1 0 0 0 0 1 8 5.44 MRivera 1 2 1 1 0 3 29 2.09 Wetteland S, 43 1 2 0 0 0 1 21 2.83

Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Clemens L, 10-13 7 2/3 5 4 4 4 10 129 3.63 Eshelman 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 4 7.11 Brandenburg 1 0 0 0 0 1 14 3.48

Inherited runners-scored--Eshelman 2-0. HBP--by MRivera (Bragg). Umpires--Home, O'Nora; First, Reilly; Second, Cederstrom; Third, Garcia.

After Omar Vizquel peeked out of the Jeter-Nomar-A-Rod shadows to sign his new contract last week, we got to wondering: If he didn't play in an age of offensive shortstops, would Vizquel be considered a Hall of Famer in an Ozzie Smith kind of way?

The Elias Sports Bureau's Rob Tracy compared the careers of Ozzie and Omar. And it's clear that, as great and entertaining a shortstop Vizquel is, he's not the Wizard. Take a look:

                                  Ozzie    Omar
Career Gold Gloves                  13       8
First 12 yrs. Gold Gloves           10       8
Times led league in fielding %       8       3
First 12 Yrs Led LG in fielding %    6       3
Career fielding %                  .978    .982
Career total chances per game       5.14   4.54
Seasons of 5+ chances per game       11      0

Smith had three seasons in which he averaged nearly six total chances per game (two on grass in San Diego, one on Astroturf in St. Louis). Vizquel has never bettered 4.78 chances per game.

Offensively, Vizquel does beat Smith in career batting average through 12 seasons (.276 to .256). But Smith stole more bases (11 seasons of 30-plus in his career, to Vizquel's four), and had a better success rate.

So while it would be hard to rule out Vizquel winding up in Cooperstown eventually if he wins another four or five Gold Gloves and gets close to 2,500 hits, he would need to do no less than that to get serious consideration.

And the reality of Hall voting is that he'll be penalized by voters because it will be impossible to argue he was the dominant shortstop of his time. Then again, it sure wasn't his fault those other three shortstops showed up in his era.

History lesson of the week
Finally, we've gotten massive response to last week's item, in which we asked readers to try to come up with the longest continous service any team has ever gotten from one player. If the player was traded or the club got a draft pick as compensation when he left for a free agent, that new player continued the string.

Here are some of the best submissions, discounting those that turned out to be inaccurate:

41 years, St. Louis Cardinals (1938-79)
Enos Slaughter to Bill Virdon to Dick Littlefield to Ray Katt to Hobie Landrith to Ernie Broglio to Lou Brock (from Eric Berman of Indianapolis)

35 years, New York Giants (1890-1925)
Amos Rusie to Christy Mathewson to Buck Herzog to Jesse Barnes to Hank Gowdy. (from SABR's Doug Pappas)

25 years, New York Mets (1967-92)
Jerry Koosman to Jesse Orosco to Kevin Tapani to Frank Viola. (from Pappas). Jon Springer points out this can be extended by one year. Wally Whitehurst, obtained with Tapani, was later traded for Tony Fernandez, who was traded for Darrin Jackson, who played through '93

33 years, Chicago Cubs (1965-97) Ken Holtzman to Rick Monday to Ivan DeJesus to Ryne Sandberg. (from many contributors)

28 years, Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves(1954-82)
Henry Aaron to Dave May to Jeff Burroughs to Carlos Dias to Tom Hausman. (from the Detroit Internet forum that launched this fun)

27 years, Cleveland Indians (1961-88)
Sam McDowell to Gaylord Perry to Rick Waits to Gorman Thomas to Tony Bernazard to Brian Dorsett. (also from Detroit)

27 Years, Baltimore Orioles (1961-88)
Dave McNally to Mike Torrez to Ken Holtzman to Scott McGregor. (also from Detroit)

27 years, San Francisco Giants (1968-1995)
Bobby Bonds to Bobby Murcer to Bill Madlock to Al Holland to Mark Davis to Kevin Mitchell to Dave Burba to Deion Sanders. (from David Sanford of New York)

Several readers asked about the longest continuous service that is currently active. Paul Covert suggests the following for the Mariners, which begins with 1977 expansion draft pick Bill Stein to Mark Langston (taken with compensation pick when Stein left as free agent) to Randy Johnson to Freddy Garcia/John Halama/Carlos Guillen. Twenty-fours and going strong ...

Got more? Send them along by e-mailing our friendly editor at david.schoenfield@espn.com. This is just getting good.

Trivia answer
The Diamondbacks: Randy Johnson 179, Curt Schilling 110, Todd Stottlemyre 138, Greg Swindell 121, Mike Morgan 139, Bobby Witt 138.

Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com.

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