Fellow list members:

First, I'd like to say "Kung Hei Faht Choi," to those of you who recognize today
as New Year's Day. :-)

OK, Strat-O-Matic Baseball's "Opening Day" has come and gone, and presumably,
the new card sets are on their way to those of us who preordered.

The anticipation of getting the newest cards is a feeling that hasn't changed
much since 1973, when I submitted a preseason order for the first time. Some
things *are* different now, though. I grew up in an age when no one knew what
would be on the new cards until they showed up. Today, of course, the Internet
has changed all that. Not only are some details of the cards available; they're
already generating controversy.

Strat has already anticipated what probably will be the biggest controversy once
cards actually make their way into players' hands: Phillie right fielder Bobby
Abreau's "3" defensive rating, a historic low for a Gold Glove winner. Harold
Richman himself went on record as defending the decision. He said, in not so
many words, that Abreau's Gold Glove is a crock, and that Abreau doesn't deserve
to be better than a "3," no matter what the managers and coaches who voted him
the award say.

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/sphere/abreugg.htm

The game company even got one of Abreau's former teammates, recently retired
center fielder Doug Glanville, to submit a letter defending Strat's decision.
Glanville's letter is interesting for its chastisement of the company for
previous automatic-1 rankings of Gold Glove winners. The fact that this letter
is on Strat's Web site seems to be Strat's way of issuing a mea culpa for
previous bad policy while not actually getting Richman or someone else
affiliated with the game company to acknowledge past mistakes.

As an aside, Glanville apparently still feels he was once cheated out of the
Gold Glove, after which he then had to suffer the indignity of a "2" rating
while the allegedly undeserving winner got a "1." I haven't been able to figure
out the season or the other player, he's talking about, though. If anyone else
knows, tell me.

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/sphere/dougg.htm

A Q-and-A relating to this issue already has appeared in Glenn Guzzo's
officially sanctioned "Talk Show" column. Answering a complaint about Abreau's
"3," Guzzo correctly points out that Abreau can't be compared with someone like
a young Steve Garvey, who in the early '70s went from being a part-time "4" at
first base one year to a mature, full-time "1" the next.

In the same letter, Guzzo ducks the question of why it was OK to give Davey
Lopes a "1" in 1978. The game company and its minions aren't quite ready to say
that that was a mistake. But why not? So it was a mistake. Just because Lopes
got an undeserved "1" 27 years ago doesn't mean SOM is obligated to compound the
problem by continuing to give automatic "1" ratings to Gold Glove winners.

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/sphere/talkshow0106.htm

Anyway, enough on that.

Strat already published online the 2005 players' fielding ratings.

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/sphere/2005rate.htm

The ratings provide no real surprises, but one disappointment: Indians shortstop
Jhonny Peralta is a "4." Again, a disappointment, not a surprise, especially to
those of us who saw him in the field last year. :-) I also see that A-Rod again
got a generous "2" rating at short, despite playing only three games there,
during which he made a whopping two assists and one putout.

Another Strat-O-Sphere article gives more detailed look at some of the ratings.

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/sphere/somworld0106.htm

This piece gives advance warning on Bernie Williams, who may now have the worst
fielding numbers ever for a starting center fielder: a 5e3 rating, and +4 arm.
Ouch. And he played 112 games there last year? I realize Williams was a fan
favorite, but you can't have a center fielder who can't hit, field or throw, and
expect to win anything.

Anyway, enjoy the new set. I certainly will. Feedback on my observations and/or
the cards themselves is welcome.

-Gary

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