A Hard Nine With Minorleagueball.com's John Sickels

Well, crap. Now that the Tampa Bay Rays’ miracle season has come to a premature end, we’re 100+ days from spring training. Don’t worry – your friendly neighborhood BertFlex is here to keep the baseball chatter going during the long, cold, miserable offseason.

To wit: John Sickels is the auteur of minorleagueball.com and way too classy to speak with a fourth-rate blog like us. But don’t tell him that. We sat down with the Hammerin’ Sickels for another of our trademark, Jim Rome-approved interviews.

1. We at BertFlex are big fans of Brett Wallace. Some of us don't know if he can stick at third defensively. What's your expert opinion?

Well, I absolutely love the bat. I think he would be a better fit at first base, but obviously that's not an option for the Cardinals unless Albert has a catastrophic injury of some kind. From what I saw of Wallace in college, he has the arm for third base, and he is actually a pretty good athlete for his size, but his range is no better than average, and as he gets older and slows down that could deteriorate further. However, if he hits as expected, the tradeoff of mediocre defense/outstanding hitting is likely worthwhile.

2. Sticking on the Cardinals front: After Colby Rasmus's disappointing 2008 (granted, injuries played a major factor), have your thoughts on him changed at all? Do you see him as a sure thing or just the best the Cards have right now? Or is he even that?

I still love Rasmus, and I'm not worried about him at this point. The balance of skills is still there. He didn't lose his strike zone judgment. 2008 was the equivalent of his junior year in college, so just be patient. I think he will be fine.

3. How many minor league games do you attend in a season? Does one particular game/memory stick out?

Not enough. I live in Lawrence, KS, which is now about 150 miles from the nearest minor league city thanks to Wichita losing their team in 2008. In most seasons, I do a lot of driving around the Midwest and get good coverage of the Texas League, the Pacific Coast League, and the Midwest League, plus the Arizona Fall League, 25-30 games in a good year. But in 2007 and 2008, we had some family deaths and other tragedies that prevented me from traveling much during the season.

Hopefully, we can get some stability back in 2009 and I can get back on a normal schedule. This is a handicap at times, but it is what it is. I prefer to see players in person, but I have sources I trust who can see players that I can't see and who give me good information when needed. The explosion of video now available on the Internet has helped immensely.

As for 2008, probably the most interesting game I saw this year was a Texas League game in early April between Tulsa and San Antonio, featuring numerous strong prospects on both clubs. Will Inman of the Padres showed me one hell of a breaking ball in that game.

4. (Editor’s Note: The fourth Q&A has gone missing, possibly due to a cut-and-paste mishap. We believe in a hard nine rather than a hard eight (that’s what she said), so we’re including this placeholder. We hope to recover the missing question in time for inclusion on the BertFlex 30th Anniversary DVD.)

5. How much would I have to pay you to get my own entry in the 2009 Prospect Handbook? What's your process for putting that book together each season?

Well, I'm working on the book right now. It will have reports on more than 1,000 players, so space is at a premium ... sorry, at this point we aren't taking custom player orders.

Basically, I write it team-by-team. I usually start off with a list of 50-60 players in each system worth writing about, based on stats and scouting reports. The hardest part is paring that down to 36-38 players per team. Someone cool always gets left out, but if I included everyone the book would take five months to write instead of three, and would be so big no one could carry it to the bathroom to read. (Editor’s Note: Methinks he misunderestimates the BertFlex crowd.)

6. Judging by your SBNation profile, you're a big politics and history buff. Has the current election cycle bolstered or deflated your faith in Americans' ability to handle the responsibilities of democracy?

We will know in another week. Yes, I am a big history buff; I have an MA in European history and worked on my PhD for three years before giving it up for baseball. American history is the long story of our struggle to live up to the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I try to keep my politics out of my baseball writing, but it sneaks in sometimes, and anyone who has read my work over the years can probably figure out where I stand on things.

7. Better classic rock drummer: Keith Moon or John Bonham? (Hint: The correct answer is John Bonham.)

I'm sorry, the correct answer is Nick Mason, circa 1973-1975.

8. Bold prediction time: Who will be the Evan Longoria of 2009?

Matt Wieters, who will hit .279 with a .353 OBP and 25 homers.

9. Do you play baseball/softball in any capacity? I only ask because we're going to be playing in a wiffle ball league this winter and could use another body.

I play catch in the spring and summer with my son, and was a decent wiffleball player in my youth. I had a good arm and could hit a little, but was an awful fielder, a slow runner, and a poor athlete overall. I never did much with actual Little League, which was too structured for my tastes. When I was a kid, I used to play whiffle ball with some neighbors across the street. One of them was Mike Mahoney, who eventually ended up playing some in the majors.

The BertFlex crew sincerely thanks Mr. Sickels for his time and tolerance.

A Hard Nine With Cardinals Beat Writer Matthew Leach

Continuing our tradition of asking big names big questions, we finagled an interview with StLCardinals.com beat writer Matthew Leach, who is your year-round source for Cardinals info and other stuff. We generally don't like seriuzz jurnalizts who try to butter their bread on both sides by maintaining a blog as well as writing hard-hitting news, but Matthew (Matt? Matty? M-Dawg?) is truly a gentleman and a scholar who has been putting up with annoying Cards fans like me for years. We thank him sincerely for his time.

1. Obligatory Cardinals fan boy question: I had this team pegged for 75 wins before the season started. They already have 64. Give me one good reason why I should believe they're for real. (Yes, I realize that's not a question.)

I was certainly a doubter for a long time. But at this point in the season, the reason to believe it is that there are only 45 games left in the season. At some point, it's legitimate, right?

2. Fill in the blanks: I get to the park at ___. I leave at ___. My favorite part of the time between is ___.

1. 3:15 or so for a night game. 10 a.m. or so for a day game.

2. About two hours after the last out.

3. The game, of course! Seriously, I love the game more than ever. This is a job, and sometimes it feels like a job. But I often say, every day they pay me to come to the park is a good day. My favorite part of the WORK, though, is writing a game story. If I make people feel like they were at the game, I feel good about my day's work.

3. Since we at BertFlex are not serious journalists, we'll probably never get to see the inside of the Cardinals pressbox. Tell us something we don't know about it (free food, free beverages, annoying co-workers who could remain anonymous if necessary, etc.).

Free munchies, but not free dinner; can't really complain about that. Free soda, though the coffee is awful -- I'd be happy to pay if we got decent coffee. But then I'm a caffeine addict.

One thing you wouldn't know is that I have the single best seat in the press box. Don't know why, don't know how, but I have the one seat that is on the most direct line behind home plate, in the front row, just generally a fine location.

4. I defy anyone to tell me that Major League isn't the best baseball movie ever made. Do you agree, or do we need to throw hands?

Evidently, we're going to have to throw down. I'm a die-hard Bull Durham guy. I will tell you this, though -- most ballplayers that I know see it your way. The vast majority of players, coaches, etc., whom I've talked to prefer Major League.

5. A large part of the BertFlex staff and readership (or as we like to call him, "Steve") play the fantasy baseball. Do you? If so, how's your team doing? Do a lot of the MLB beat-niks play?

I do. I'm in a league that involves a couple of other STL media types, and this year I am steamrolling them. I'm not a player, I just crush a lot. I think the younger the beat demographic gets, the more people play fantasy. There are some who are still strongly opposed to it.

6. Without ticking anyone off, which of the Cardinals gives the best interview? Who is no fun to interview after a loss?

The thing is, it's not really that black and white. There are guys who are really interesting and insightful in a long, one-on-one, sitdown interview, who are TERRIBLE if you just need a quote to plug in a story postgame. There are guys who are consistently accessible and at least somewhat insightful postgame, who don't have a lot to say in more freeform scenarios.

So with that said, a few stars:

Adam Wainwright is probably the all-around interview star of this team. He's very good postgame. He understands it's part of the job, good or bad. And he's good in longer-form interviews too. Chris Carpenter is in the same category -- insightful, accessible, thoughtful.

Skip Schumaker gets it. He and Aaron Miles are both "go-to" guys postgame. Troy Glaus has been a very pleasant surprise, though big group things are not his best environment. He's a good 1-on-1 guy. Very good.

I won't tell you who I have hard times with, though I am very happy to say that it's a decidedly short list this year.

7. In the event that one of us decides to crack the spine of a book before our time on this mortal coil expires, what should we read? Keep in mind that our attention will only be held if the subject is baseball.

Well, of COURSE you should read Game of My Life: Memorable Stories of Cardinals Baseball by Matthew Leach, available at bookstores throughout greater St. Louis, at Amazon.com and at SportsPublishingLLC.com. Great book, and I hear the author is a terrific guy. Modest, too.

Beyond that, the best baseball book I've read in the past couple years is Jonathan Eig's Luckiest Man, an absolutely magnificent Lou Gehrig biography.

And if you claim to be a baseball fan but have never read Ball Four, well, shame on you. Just, shame on you.

8. Admit it: Fans can be annoying sometimes. What question do you hope you never have to answer again?

(insert insincere denial here) OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way, well, I'd have to say the one I don't want to hear anymore is, “What is Bo Hart up to?” And believe me, I still get it in my email regularly.

9. If you had the talent to play in the majors (and maybe you do - it's possible that you just don't want to make everybody else look bad and choose to write about the game instead), what position would you play and what kind of player would you be? Scrappy, surly, Manny-esque, etc.?

No, no talent here. The only sport I could ever play with ANY skill was tennis, and I certainly couldn't claim to have been good at that.

I always wanted to play second base, for reasons I can't quite explain. Mark Loretta is a guy that comes to mind. Solid defender, good hitter with a good idea of the strike zone, good teammate. To go back a little further, to one of my favorite players from my youth, Marty Barrett is another one. Barrett in ‘84 -- 303/358/383 (Editor’s Note: Minus five points to Mr. Leach here. I don’t like fact-checking.) -- for some reason I think that's sort of what I would have been. Especially since 303/358/383 in 1984 is equivalent to like 320/390/420 now.

A Hard Nine With Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein

It's not everyday that we present the thoughts and opinions of someone who's actually worth listening to. Today is one such occasion. In the first installment of our "Hard Nine" interview series, Baseball Prospectus prospect guru Kevin Goldstein takes some time to give back to the community of baseball geeks for which he is at least partially responsible.

We humbly thank him for everything.

1. Obligatory fantasy dork question: Which prospect who currently is in the minors has the best shot of making a major-league impact this season?
Chase Headley of the Padres.  Outfielder who will hit for average, hit for power and draw walks. (Editor's note: This interview was conducted just before Headley's callup.)

2.  With prospects, sometimes it's hard to know how to pronounce their names. It's kind of the same with you. Are you a Gold-steen or a Gold-stine?
"Steen."  I used to be hung up on it as a kid, but not anymore.  Now I'm just stuck with everyone assuming I'm Jewish (I'm not).  That list includes my father, who kind of rediscovered his Jewish side in his middle-age years and now assumes for some reason I have as well.  He'll do things like ask me what I'm doing for Yom Kippur even though I've never celebrated it once in my life.  It's weird.

3.  Do you watch much major league action in your free time? Or are you more interested in the South Atlantic League pennant race?
I certainly watch quite a bit of it, just because it's what's on baseball-wise.  I go to far more minor league games than major league ones, and I always joke that by June or so, I know far more about the Reading Phillies than I do the Philadelphia Phillies.

4.  Why do scouts grade everything on a 20-80 scale? Is it safe to say that all my tools grade out in the mid-teens?
Ask Branch Rickey, it's his scale and everyone uses it on some level.  Some teams go 2-8, some teams allow half scores (like 45), some don't.  I know of one team that allows for half/half scores (like 43 or 47) as well.  I've had some of our readers who work in the sciences (we have a lot of readers who are way smarter than us) tell me that the 20-80 scale is used in some sciences -- the three scores above and below 50 represent one, two, and three standard deviations from the norm, and anything more/less than that doesn't work.  I don't really get it necessarily, but I don't try to either.  

I have good news for you on the second part of your question.  You can't go lower than 20, so you're 20 across the board.  I have no idea how athletic you are, but hell, you might be a 25 runner – maybe you could beat Billy Butler in a foot race. (Editor's note: Hell yeah I could!)

5.  Who is one player that you were sure was a lock to be an MLB stud who just fizzled out? What did that experience teach you?
There's certainly a few.  Ben Grieve and Corey Patterson come to mind as two guys I thought would be perennial All-Star types.  I can't really say I learned anything in particular from either.  The most important thing to know in prospecting is that there is no such thing as an absolute.

6.  Some of my best friends are stat geeks. What is one thing they would be wise to learn from scouts?
To get out of the house more, and to kiss a girl.  Seriously though, SOME (not everyone is anti-scout) need to realize that tools and skills are important, especially in the minor leagues and the value of statistics one finds in the minors can range greatly from really telling to totally irrelevant.  There are certain types of players that can put up great numbers in the minors but because of the type of player they are, it's just not going to work in the big leagues.  I used to be a number geek myself, and then I learned that scouts do a better job of projecting prospects than the numbers do. 

I'll share with you a story that I always do with questions like this.  In 2001, I was at a Kane County Cougars game.  They had a good team that year, with Adrian Gonzalez, a No. 1 overall pick, at first base, Josh Willingham in the outfield, and some others.  After the game, a scout told me that the best player on the field was the shortstop, who hit .268/.327/.382 that year.  Not only was he the best player for the scout, but the best hitter he'd seen in the league for years.  It made no sense to me at all, as the guy didn't hit for average, didn't hit for much power, and didn't walk much.  That player was Miguel Cabrera.  That's why you listen to scouts.

7.  It's generally accepted that a player's late 20s are his peak years. I'm 28. Is writing for a fourth-rate blog the best I can hope for, or do I have a breakout season in me?
I didn't get into baseball writing until my 30s.  You have plenty of time.  I still haven't peaked.

8.  Reading your chats, it's apparent that you are a fan of the adult beverages and questionable cuisine (e.g., White Castle). Regale us with a tale of a particularly noteworthy feast.
I'm a big fan of food in general, and I'm a good cook, but I'm not a snob about it.  As much as I can appreciate a fantastic, expensive meal, I also see lots of good things in a sack of sliders.  I think the craziest meal I ever had was at Perlan, a restaurant in Reykjavik that rotates above a geothermal power processing plant.  I ate both blackbird and puffin there.

9.  If you were a player, what kind of player would you be? In addition to your position/batting prowess, please indicate whether you'd be scrappy, sullen, Manny-ishly aloof, etc.
I'd probably be a fringy left-handed reliever who throws curveballs, hopes for grounders, and only gets used if the team is up or down by at least ten runs.  I also throw left and bat right, but the resemblances to Rickey Henderson end there.  I'd probably be a lot like Milton Bradley – he's a great teammate, but he doesn't deal with failure well, and he's got quite the temper.  That, for good or bad, sounds about right to me.