Yardbarker: Wil Cordero

In Which We Celebrate Ourselves & Sing Ourselves for 3000 Posts

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:00:00 -0500

Kris: Hey Rob, guess how many post there have been in Walkoff Walk history. Rob: 12? Kris: No, I don't mean good posts. I mean total posts. Rob: Oh, I hear tell we are on the verge of 3,000 posts. Kris: You heard tell correctamundo, Brotaint. THIS is our 3,00th post. Granted almost 500 of them have been ridiculous YouTube videos that I put up when you aren't looking. But, still. We've been around awhile! Rob: I think it's a testament to our dozens upon dozens of readers th...

What does 2009 tell us about the future of Cabrera and Valbuena?

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:56:50 -0500

The 2009 season is mercifully over for our boys. We are sick of it. The only reason to think about the 2009 season anymore is to try to figure out what it tells us about the future. In particular, I was interested in what we learned about the future of our middle infield in 2009. What do we have to look forward to from Asdrubal Cabrera and Luis Valbuena? The following essay reads the entrails of 2009 with respect to the fortunes of our youthful double-play co...

Looking at Tim Beckham's Error Rate in Historical Context

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:00:41 -0500

View full size photo uploaded October 3, 2009 The onus of being the top draft pick is never desirable. The money and fame might be, but the rest of it? No way. The expectations are usually unrealistic yet their absence speaks just as loudly. Try being chosen over a local player at a position of immediate need and things become a bit harsher. This is the Tim Beckham experience. The weight of the world is on his shoulders an...

The 1994 MLB Strike Hurt Everyone, Especially the Montreal Expos

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:08:21 -0500

The 1994 MLB Players Association strike hurt everyone. Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres was on pace to hit .400, and would've been the first player to do so since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants was on pace to break Roger Maris's record of 61 home runs in a single season. And the Montreal Expos were the best team in baseball. No, I'm not lying to you. The Expos were led by a good group of players: Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Ped...

The Wil Cordero Memorial Linkpunch, Thursday, July 30th

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:11:56 -0500

Sometimes people write better than us. Each Thursday WoW gives you our favorite baseball links we've come across. Our buddy Sooze takes a deep breath and calls out some ham-and-egger 'journalist' for suggesting that perhaps Erin Andrews orchestrated the distribution of those naughty videos. The job of the sideline reporter is a thankless one but Erin handles it with grace. Babes Love Baseball. Bradford Doolittle estimates and breaks down the Kansas City Royals record based o...

The Wil Cordero Memorial Linkpunch: Thursday, July 23rd

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:46:49 -0500

Sometimes people write better than us. Each Thursday WoW gives you our favorite baseball links we've come across. Former MLB pitcher Jim Parque took HGH during his career and is sorry, despite the fact that HGH was neither illegal nor banned by baseball at the time. He wants you kids to learn from his mistakes. Jim, it's okay, we forgive you for being on the White Sox, it wasn't your choice. Chicago Sun Times. After years of radio silence, Bill James finally opens up on the ...

The Wil Cordero Memorial Linkpunch, Thursday, July 1st

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:06:41 -0500

Sometimes people write better than us. Each Thursday WoW gives you our favorite baseball links we've come across. Erik Manning puts together the Quad-A All Star team, made up of elderly non-prospects who are excelling on the Triple-A level. Finally, Shelley Duncan gets his due. His meaningless, completely anonymous due. Fangraphs. Patrick Sullivan chooses the best players at the midpoint of the season. But he puts a a twist on the affair and goes all the way back to July of 2008 to ...

The Wil Cordero Memorial Linkpunch, Thursday, July 25th

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:04:01 -0500

Sometimes people write better than us. Each Thursday WoW gives you our favorite baseball links we've come across. OMDQ goes in search of Wade Boggs at a Hannaford Supermarket in Nashua and ends up meeting the guy in the strangest of circumstances. No, not in the frozen pizza section. Bus Leagues Baseball. Sheryl Crow reminisces about meeting Willie McGee when she was a college student back in nineteen-dickety-five. This was before the advent of television, of course, and Sheryl had ...

The Wil Cordero Memorial Linkpunch: Thursday, June 18th

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:06:42 -0500

Sometimes people write better than us. Each Thursday WoW gives you our favorite baseball links we've come across. Larry Stone has been following the Brett Favre "will he or won't he just die already" story from a distance and can't help but notice the similarities between Favre's fading glory and that of Mr. Steve Carlton. It's especially interesting to note that, even at age 64, Steve Carlton would have a better passer rating than Favre and would require far ...

The Wil Cordero Memorial Linkpunch, Thursday, June 11th

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:15:14 -0500

Sometimes people write better than us. Each Thursday WoW gives you our favorite baseball links we've come across. Today, a special collection of reactions to the Raul Ibanez steroid kerfuffle. Meech was the first to break the news (at least to me) with his attack on the blogger at Midwest Sports Fans who did the investigative post. It's some righteous indignation, certainly, but I wouldn't expect an ardent Phillies fan to react any other way. The Fightins. David Pinto respo...

The Wil Cordero Memorial Linkpunch, Thursday, June 4th

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:10:00 -0500

Sometimes people write better than us. Each Tuesday and Thursday WoW gives you our favorite baseball links we've come across. Jonah Keri stirs up the Yankee lovers and haters in the baseballblogosphere with his defense of Jorge Posada's legacy (and then cedes to Jay Jaffe) in response to Rob Neyer's ideas about catcher of the decade. You're all wrong. The catcher of the aughts was absolutely the Three-Headed Molina Voltron. JonahKeri.com. Kevin Armstrong takes a jaunt d...

This Week in Yankees History

Sun, 17 May 2009 18:50:03 -0500

This Week in Yankees History May 17th - May 23rdMay 17th1920 - Former Yankees P James “Hot Rod” McDonald (1952-54, 1955) was born. On November 23, 1951, Jim was traded by the Browns to the Yankees for reserve C Clint Courtney. Jim went 16-12 in 69 games for the Yankees. In December of 1954, he was traded by the Yankees to the Orioles in the big 17-man trade. On July 30, 1955, he was traded by the Orioles to the Yankees for veteran starter Ed Lopat. He would go 4-1 in 16 games for the Yankees ...

Who Are the 103 Unnamed Players?

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:29:29 -0500

This is the sort of thing Murray Chass hates about bloggers (or as he calls them " young bloggers who know it all", which I assume is different from old columnists who know it all and are now writing a web site named after themselves). If Clue released a "Who Shot Up With Roids" edition, it could star every player who was on a roster in 2003. Of course instead of "In the dining room with a candle stick" it could be "in the bathroom with Stanizol". Without further ado, here is my list of the 103, feel free to make your own.

-LEGAL DISCLAIMER-

We will break this up into teams and go from there. Once again, I must state THIS IS NOT A LEAKED REPORT, THIS IS SPECULATION ONLY!!!!! Maybe if more people start doing this the other 103 names will be released, because until then ANYONE who played in 2003 could have tested positive.

I chose my names based on the Mitchell Report, the stats from the 2003 season, future suspensions for PED's, anger management issues, and looked at future seasons and injuries to see if these players seemed to break down after the 2003 season or if these players seemed to peak in 2003. I cannot stress enough that this speculation, but look at the list and draw your own conclusions. If you have theories or your own list, feel free to submit it to us at-
editor at centralmainesportsblog.com or leave a comment below.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Matt Mantei
Luis Gonzalez
Shea Hillenbrand

Atlanta Braves
Javier Lopez
Gary Sheffield
Marcus Giles

Baltimore Orioles
David Segui
Jay Gibbons
Tony Batista
Jack Cust

Boston Red Sox
Jeremy Giambi
Jason Varitek
Trot Nixon
Nomar Garciaparra

Chicago Cubs
Sammy Sosa
Kerry Wood
Mark Prior

Chicago White Sox
Jose Valentin
Esteban Loiaza
Magglio Ordonez

Cincinnati Reds
Jose Guillen
Ryan Freel
Russ Branyan
Austin Kearns

Cleveland Indians
Matt Lawton
Jody Gerut
Travis Hafner
Alex Escobar
David Riske

Colorado Rockies
Preston Wilson
Mark Bellhorn

Detroit Tigers
Alex Sanchez
Eric Munson

Florida Marlins
Mike Lowell
Ivan Rodriguez
Carl Pavano

Houston Astros
Morgan Ensberg
Richard Hidalgo
Octavio Dotel

Kansas City Royals
Angel Berroa
Mike Sweeney
Jason Grimsley

LA Angels of Anaheim
Jeff DaVanon
Troy Glaus
Scott Spiezio
Darin Erstad
Brendan Donnelly

LA Dodgers
Paul LoDuca
Adrian Beltre
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagne
Guillermo Mota

Milwaukee Brewers
Richie Sexson
Wes Helms
Scott Podsednik
Ben Sheets
Danny Kolb

Minnesota Twins
Jacque Jones
LaTroy Hawkins

New York Mets
Cliff Floyd

New York Yankees
Jason Giambi
Raul Mondesi
Andy Pettitte
Roger Clemens

Oakland Athletics
Eric Chavez
Erubiel Durazo
Miguel Tejada

Philadelphia Phillies
Babby Abreu
David Bell
Pat Burrell

Pittsburgh Pirates
Randall Simon
Kip Wells
Mike Williams

San Diego Padres
Rondell White
Phil Nevin
Jaret Wright

San Francisco Giants
Barry Bonds
Dustin Hermanson
Jason Schmidt
Benito Santiago
Edgardo Alfonzo

Seattle Mariners
Bret Boone
Mike Cameron
Ryan Franklin
Shigetosi Hasegawa
Rafael Soriano

St Louis Cardinals
Eli Marrero
Fernando Vina
Scott Rolen

Tampa Bay Rays
Aubrey Huff
Jesus Colome
Travis Harper
John Rocker

Texas Rangers (we already know about A-Rod)
Juan Gonzalez
Rafael Palmeiro
Laynce Nix
Hank Blalock
Uggy Urbina (he later played for the Marlins, roid rage for sure though)

Toronto Blue Jays
Vernon Wells

Montreal Expos
Wil Cordero
Rocky Biddle
Joey Eischen

Alex Ramirez is MVP in Japan

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:11:57 -0500

It's amazing how one headline can bring back a rush of Pirate memories. Over at Bucs Dugout, I saw this post about former Pirate Alex Ramirez winning MVP of the Japanese league with a monster year for the Yomiuri Giants. Over the winter in 1999, the Pirate signed Wil Cordero to a contract. He ...

Alex Ramirez is MVP in Japan

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:18:01 -0500