Barry Bonds is still in trouble, the same trouble he's been in since he was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges nearly six months ago. Most people (myself included) didn't realize that a Federal Judge for the Northern District of California ordered the prosecution to re-write the flawed indictment in late February. The new indictment charges the same offenses as the original: 14 charges of perjury and one for obstruction of justice. The fourteen perjury counts are for each time Bonds supposedly lied while under oath.
The defense has maintained that the indictments against Bonds have been too vague. To this point, the judge has ordered that they be revised, and made more specific, honing in more on what Bonds did that was illegal, noting exact instances both in and out of the courtroom. From the get go, prosecutors faced the problem of trying to prove that The HomeRun King knowingly lied under oath. It would be relativley simple for the defense to disprove, and likewise difficult for the prosecution to prove, the culpable mental state. A " mistake of fact defense is a common and effective means to absolve a defendant of wrongdoing. Perhaps Barry didn't know the contents of what he was injecting/injesting at the time? Then he didn't know that he was lying to prosecutors while under oath. If he didn't, the defense is en vouge, and the perjury charges have no legs.
The new indictment doesn't stand to increase or decrease the amount of prison time that Bonds stands to serve, which is thought to be 30 months. All it really does is give the jury new ways to find him guilty, since the previous indictment is now divided up moreso. He will go to trial, but now that will be delayed.
Actual Baseball Article
After watching Bradndon Backe give up three runs in the first inning last night, I couldn't help but wonder how long our rotation could continue to allow the team to stay in/win ballgames. Roy O is coming around, Chacon has been a pleasant surprise, but Sampson and Moehler cannot be expected to continue to pitch as they did last weekend in Los Angeles. Brandon Backe though, has been perhaps the biggest dissapointment. Sure, he gave us a quality start (6 IP, 3 ER), but a look at his FIP , shows that he has been almost entirely responsible for his less than satisfactory performance thus far. His GDP (ground ball percentage) is the lowest on the team, that's counting Roy who's given up a team high nine home runs already this year. Brandon just does not have the oomph on his fastball to get it past major league hitters when it is not located perfectly.
What to do? Well, the four man rotation , is the impetus for our idea. The idea is basically to take out the fifth starter, put the four remaining starters on a strict pitch count, and watch as your team gives up less runs. That's a perfect world scenario. What could work for a team that has a pretty solid bullpen, which ridiculously high home run rates aside, we believe the Astros have. Ed Wade prides himself on constructing effective, if not slightly overpaid relief corps. Why not have Coop and pitching coach Dewey Robinson figure out a way to manipulate the bullpen to have certain guys pitch in the fifth spot in the rotation? It would have to fluctuate, of course, given the prior days results and necessities, but doing this would eliminate a spot in the rotation for a starter who will most likely struggle to a certain extent, while giving the bullpen work on a specific day. It would mean having a limited bullpen on some days of the week, but Roy, Wandy (when healthy) and Shawn have shown themselves capable of pitching deep into ballgames.
As the season goes on, and if the team stays in the hunt those games where our fifth starter pitches mean just as much as those when Roy takes the mound. The team carries an extra reliever for a reason. Dave Borkowski was a starter in the minor leagues, and has thrown more than four innings five times in 2006 and 2007. Brian Moehler is comfortable coming out of the bullpen or starting, and Oscar Villareal can pitch multiple innings as well. Maybe it wouldn't work, but come August, the team may be willing to try anything to gain an edge.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Indicted (Again) and a craaaazzzzy idea
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2 comments:
I was actually pretty disappointed when I saw that the Astros did not win the game last night. I was just expecting us to come back and win.
The reason the four man rotation is not going to happen this year is that people in baseball are too scared to do something out of the ordinary. It is all about tradition. I have been reading articles for several years saying that teams should revert back to four man rotations and forget the idea of having a closer. It does not look like it is going to be happening anytime soon even though it seems logical. Something crazy is going to have to happen for that sort of a change to take place. Sort of like how it took a crazy, old as hell, drunk bastard to start batting the pitcher 8th.
Amaar:
LaRussa certainly likes his booze. I mean batting the pitcher 8th works, because the 9th hitter and the third hitter are connected in RBI opportunities. We know there's little chance that Coop would use a four man rotation, he seems pretty convinced that certain guys need to know in advance how they're going to be used, etc.
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