PITCHING RULES IN THE N.L. EAST
By Zachary Kram
April 10, 2012
Having two Cy Young winners and a World Series MVP on one pitching staff is an easy route to success. Last year, the Philadelphia Phillies’ dominant trio of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels compensated for an aging, declining offense, and the team’s starters posted a remarkable 2.86 ERA. As a testament to the pitchers’ success, Halladay, Lee, and Hamels finished 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, respectively, in Cy Young Award voting.
After his Opening Day start, Halladay appears poised to duplicate last year’s accomplishments.
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INDIANS WIN WORLD SERIES OF HIRING
By Murray Chass
April 1, 2012
Remember the names Mike Hazen and Mike Chernoff. They will not be the first two players selected in the annual draft next June; their baseball-playing days are behind them so you will not see them playing in the majors. In the not-too-distant future, however, they will very likely be major league general managers. It is their destiny.
Hazen and Chernoff are assistant general managers, Hazen with the Boston Red Sox, Chernoff with the Cleveland Indians. They are only two of 30 assistant general managers with major league clubs, but they serve with a distinction.
Chernoff works for the Indians; Hazen used to work for them. Working for the Indians, it seems, works like magic. The Indians produce general managers like the Dominican Republic town of San Pedro de Macoris produces shortstops. No other organization can match the Indians for their development of general managers.
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KASTEN: ATLANTA TO D.C. TO L.A. FOR $2 BILLION
By Murray Chass
March 28, 2012
Ownership in Major League Baseball is in such a state right now that Bud Selig looks like the Little Dutch Boy sticking his finger in the holes in a dyke to keep sea water from flooding the city it was built to protect.
The flood facing the baseball commissioner is the sale of teams, and it receded somewhat Tuesday night with the $2 billion sale of the bedraggled Los Angeles Dodgers. But the tide is still rising in southern California with the uncertain status of the San Diego Padres, who could suddenly be in play. It must be something in the sand of the beaches in southern California.
The finale to Frank McCourt’s destructive ownership of the Dodgers was unexpectedly resolved Tuesday night when McCourt accepted the historically high bid by a group that includes Stan Kasten, a long-time baseball executive, and Magic Johnson, and that is funded primarily by Mark Walter, chief executive officer of the financial services firm Guggenheim Partners.
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