Last night’s episode of The Baseball Show was only supposed to last an hour, but ultimately reached the hour and a half mark, which only means good things.  Clint, MJ, and I touched on several different topics including the Hall of Fame, the Reds’ recent acquisitions, Howie Kendrick‘s extension, and our favorite bizarre MLB injuries.  Last night also marked the debut of “Ask MJ,” a new series where Clint and I ask MJ whatever we want.  Somehow he survived and actually came up with surprising answers, which can be found below.

Hall of Fame Voting

– Barry Larkin is the lone Hall of Fame inductee from the Class of 2012. Would we all have voted for him? Yes.  As a Reds fan, Clint is especially pumped, and we’re pumped for him.

– Larkin isn’t the only player we would have voted for…so who else? We’re not quite sold on Jack Morris, but how about Jeff Bagwell? Absolutely.  Tim Raines? Absolutely.  Edgar Martinez? Hopefully. Perhaps Frank Thomas‘ imminent induction will open the door.

– MJ highly recommends Rob Neyer’s article about players’ integrity and character

– As we look ahead to the Class of 2013, we speculate about which players will make the cut? Our early unanimous votes go to Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, and Curt Schilling.

Reds bullpen

– Clint weighs in on the Reds’ bullpen acquisitions, Sean Marshall and Ryan Madson.

Howie Kendrick

– A great deal for both teams as they lock up Kendrick for his prime years. We all consider him to be about the seventh or eighth best second baseman in baseball.

MLB Injuries

– This past week Dustin Penner of the L.A. Kings injured his back eating pancakes…seriously.  Don’t worry, despite the injury he still finished the meal.

– So naturally we discuss our favorite freak baseball injuries: Clint: Joel Zumaya injuring his elbow playing Guitar Hero; MJ: Clint Barmes falling down a flight of stairs while carrying a slab of deer meat; Mike (three-way tie): Smoltz ironing his shirt while wearing it, Kevin Mitchell microwaving a donut/cupcake that caused the microwave to explode, and Jeff Baker burning his ass while trying to light fights on fire with the Cubs pitchers.

Ask MJ:

Clint’s questions:

– Jerry Dipoto: Over or under career fWAR of 5? – MJ answered under, and was wrong.  Dipoto finished his career with a 6.6 fWAR.

– Worst pick up line ever used on a woman: Told strippers he’s a baseball writer; told women he could get them on a lingerie football team when they were actually having open tryouts; he’s a race car driver.

– In a four-year keeper league, would you rather have Justin Upton or Matt Kemp? – Kemp

– You have to go the next year of your life without either looking at Fangraphs (or any Saber-related site) or drinking booze. Which one would you choose: No booze…it’s hard to be a blogger without using stats.

Mike’s questions:

Who will have more wins in 2012: Reds or White Sox? – Reds

Who would win in a game of scrabble: Delmon Young or Colby Rasmus? – Colby Rasmus

Name the three core ingredients in a Denver omelette: Green peppers, ham, and onions.  Wow, he actually got it right, although his “I’m not even near a computer” claim remains suspect.

Rapid Fire Round – Pick one:
Chuck or Steve Finley: Steve
Freddy or Jason: Jason
Braun or Kemp: Kemp
Todd Hundley or nobody: Nobody
Shane Victorino or Benny Agbayani: Victorino
Todd Walker or Neil Walker: Neil Walker
Nomo or Dice-K: Nomo
Bonds or Aaron: Bonds
Goldstein or Neyer: Goldstein
Trout or Harper: Mike Trout
Paul Assenmacher or Terry Mulholland: Mulholland
Vernon Wells or a pile of rocks: After clarifying that I’m not referring to the rocks beyond the left-centerfield wall…rocks, hands down.
Whiskey or Rum: Rum

Which Hostess product will you be sad to see go? Snowball (Editor’s note: Gross)

Have you ever considered entering the medical field? Somewhat. I am actually a certified medical coder.

If you had the to domesticate one wild animal, what would it be? Probably a hawk or falcon to my bidding.

Who will win the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year? NL? AL: Matt Moore; NL: Paul Goldschmidt

How many dugout/clubhouse brawls will the Marlins have in 2012? It will be a season-long brawl.  Gatorade should remove all dispensers from their dugout.

At this year’s Winter Meetings, the Detroit Tigers struggled to complete a blockbuster trade as they had the previous two seasons.  On a team rich with both young and veteran big-league-ready talent, the first player that every team inquired about was the their prized prospect, Jacob Turner.  In the end, the Tigers were unwilling to hear offers for the 19-year old right-hander, and were forced to pass on several potential trade opportunities.  It seemed that there was nothing offered that could match Turner’s potential impact on both the Tigers’ rotation, as well as the rest of baseball.

After compiling a 20-4 career record and 187 strikeouts for Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, Turner was widely considered to be one of the best right-handed pitchers in the 2009 draft class.  Although he had previously committed to play for North Carolina, the Tigers drafted the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Turner in the first-round with the 9^th overall selection.

Continue Reading ‘St. Louis’ Jacob Turner could reach big leagues in 2011′ >>

Did Aroldis Chapman really hit 105 mph on the radar gun last Friday? Does it matter?  In his major league debut on Tuesday night, Chapman challenged all of his skeptics with a perfect, 1-2-3, 8th inning against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The first hitter that the 22 year-old Chapman faced was Jonathon LuCroy, whom he retired on 3 straight pitches: 98mph fastball, a filthy 86mph slider, 102 mph fastball, and then another untouchable 87 mph slider.

He then retired the next two hitters, Craig Counsell and Carlos Gomez, on weak groundouts that more than likely have their hands hurting today.

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