We've reached the fourth of eight first-round matchups for The Spectrum's Sharpest Point Tournament, and this week Daniel Honigman and Matt Jacobson vie for a second round appearance.
John Norman and Jim Byrne grade the competitors on three 1-10 scales judging style, factual evidence and strength of argument. Highest total score wins the round and lives to argue another day.
With the end of football, and beginning of baseball looming, we propose the question: which off-season addition will bolster its teams chances in 2004 the most?
Daniel Honigman (Staff Reporter): Many non-playoff teams put themselves in position to make the playoffs, and playoff-caliber teams made moves, which they hope, will put them over the top. With that said however, and after many stressful hours of thinking which resulted in the sprouting of more gray hairs, I have concluded that the Houston Astros, in dramatic fashion, have made themselves the most improved team in baseball for the upcoming season.
As the saying goes, pitching wins championships, and the acquisition of two-time American League All-Star pitcher Andy Petitte, coming off career highs in both wins (21) and strikeouts (180), was enough to lure Longhorn hero and perennial All-Star Roger Clemens, a 17-win pitcher in 2003 and future first-ballot Hall of Famer, out of retirement.
This was the single biggest move in the off-season. These two, established, World Series-winning pitchers join a rotation already featuring Houston's duo of young guns Wade Miller and Roy Oswalt.
Granted, the loss of Billy Wagner's huge numbers will be missed, but the Astros have been grooming former Mets farmhand Octavio Dotel and his 96 mph fastball for a full-time closing role.
With the re-signing of Brad Ausmus, a two-time Gold Glove winner at catcher, the Houston pitchers will have someone dependable to throw to, and Houston already has enough offense to support their pitchers.
With a lineup featuring the three B's of Bagwell, Berkman and Biggio, along with Jeff Kent, Richard Hidalgo, look for the Houston Astros to make a splash in 2004.
Matt Jacobson (Web Director): Spring training starts in one week and I, for one, am pretty excited. Fortunately for me this off-season was filled with lots of moves and even more talk.
From the potential Alex Rodriguez to Boston situation to Clemens/Pettitte in Houston and now Pudge to Detroit, it has been a very active off-season, even if Greg Maddux and Rickey Henderson are still homeless.
Had the Rodriguez deal been completed, it would have easily been the biggest deal of the winter. A Rod would have challenged the single season AL Home Run record - still held by Roger Maris at 61 - in that bandbox in Boston.
The team that had the best off-season was Anaheim. They acquired solid pitching in Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar while adding two 30-HR guys to their outfield, Jose Guillen and the best deal, Vlad Guerrero. Guerrero is going to tear the AL West apart. With Guerrero they have one of the most formidable lineups in baseball.
Everyone knows about his HR and RBI prowess, but last season Vlad hit .393 with an OPS of 1.294 against left handed pitching. Now playing in a division with left handed stars such as Jamie Moyer, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Mark Redman and to a lesser extent, Kenny Rogers, Guerrero must be salivating.
He almost can't help but hit .350 with 40 HR and 120 RBI, making him an easy choice to extend the AL West's MVP award streak to nine seasons.
JN: Honigman, are you serious? The Astros? You've got to be kidding me. Sure, Petitte will be great there, but Clemens isn't going to win more than 10 games. Biggio and Bagwell belong in the old man's slow pitch softball league, and Kent is losing it as well.
Once again, there's a real lack of style in this week's installation. Solid writing, but dry. So, Honigman takes it 5-4, with Jacobson losing because he showed some love for Boston. Big mistake.
Next, there was the factual evidence category, in which Jacobson clearly did more research and therefore takes it 7-5.
Finally, the strength of argument the "Web Guy" wins by a score of 7-2, because by choosing the Astros Honigman clearly showed he was delusional, and I can't reward his flawed decision making with a decent score.
JB: Both of these crazy cats seem to have a strong passion for baseball, and as you would guess, that paves the way for a strong debate.
As for the factual evidence, Honigman lays it all out in his argument for Houston. A formidable pitching staff with a potent offense generally equals wins. Jacobson also presents some hard facts, making this a tough category, but the mention of "Kenny Rogers" in the same sentence as "star" makes my ulcer burn and gives Honigman the 9-8 edge.
Honigman and Jacobson loaded up on the facts, and that's definitely good, but they left behind something in the style department earning them both a 5.
In the strength of argument department, Honigman gets down to business a little quicker than Jacobson, thus giving him the 8-7 win.
The Verdict: "Mad Cap" Matt Jacobson 38, "Downtown" Dan Honigman 34
