Happy birthday, Todd Van Poppel

by Adam J. Morris on Dec 9, 2008 2:45 PM CST

Happy birthday to Todd Van Poppel, who turns 37 today.

Quite a journey for TVP in his baseball career...the Braves wanted to take him #1 overall in the 1990 draft, but were scared off by his commitment to UT and his contract demands, and had to settle for high school shortstop Larry Jones (which worked out pretty well for them).

The A's drafted him, moneywhipped him, and ended up getting little out of him. He ended up in Texas in 1997 and is partially responsible for Michael Young ending up in Texas, as he was dealt (with Warren Morris) to the Pirates for Esteban Loaiza in 1998.

He then, of course, had a couple of solid seasons in the bullpen for the Cubs at the turn of the century, racking up big strikeout numbers that resulted in John Hart signing him as a free agent in that disastrous 2001-02 Ranger free agent class (which ended up including Chan Ho Park, Juan Gonzalez, Jay Powell, Dan Miceli, John Rocker, Dave Burba, Hideki Irabu, and a collection of other guys who were not good).

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Chipper

Hall of Famer or not a Hall of Famer. I vote yes.

"You’re the only here who contributes schtick only." - brettgardner

by trza on Dec 9, 2008 3:13 PM CST reply actions

he's probably not a hall of famer

weird, i would have thought yes but looking at his numbers, he’s barely a borderline case

Mandatory reading before suggesting a trade

by ab03 on Dec 9, 2008 3:29 PM CST up reply actions

correction

he is the type of guy that might get in if he has a longer career and starts racking up some milestones.

but as of now, not really

Mandatory reading before suggesting a trade

by ab03 on Dec 9, 2008 3:30 PM CST up reply actions

Yes

on Chipper.

It will be interesting to see how the voters react to Chipper, compared to Gary Sheffield.

Don't believe the hype about sloppy seconds. They ain't bad.

by tricer on Dec 9, 2008 3:54 PM CST up reply actions

they are very similar cases

great but not the best for a really long time. also in the mold of raffy (who i would have thought would have gotten in eventually before steroids talk).

btw, sheffield’s case is obviously worse because of steroids

Mandatory reading before suggesting a trade

by ab03 on Dec 9, 2008 4:41 PM CST up reply actions

Former Martin Warrior

Represent!

I had a paper route when I was a kid. I was supposed to go to 2,000 houses. Or two dumpsters.

by TheBZA on Dec 9, 2008 3:23 PM CST reply actions

Homo's

mormons stole me and held me against my will with Oklahoma beer and 12+ hour work days.

by Jayslick on Dec 9, 2008 3:35 PM CST up reply actions

Why is that possessive?

dumbass

Nothing pithy here. Please move long.

by WyoRanger on Dec 9, 2008 4:14 PM CST up reply actions

b/c your my homos!!!!

ps: at least i dont live in wyoming, southern wyoming looks like mad max…

mormons stole me and held me against my will with Oklahoma beer and 12+ hour work days.

by Jayslick on Dec 9, 2008 4:24 PM CST up reply actions

Hell yeah!

Class of ’89!!!!!!!!!

by Mike Simonek on Dec 9, 2008 5:32 PM CST up reply actions

04

I had a paper route when I was a kid. I was supposed to go to 2,000 houses. Or two dumpsters.

by TheBZA on Dec 9, 2008 7:41 PM CST up reply actions

God

I am old

by Mike Simonek on Dec 9, 2008 8:22 PM CST up reply actions

TVP

I remember when I opened up a pack of Upper Deck and bam! Todd Van Poppel rookie card. I was convinced I’d just won the lottery and I would won day be rich.

"You’re the only here who contributes schtick only." - brettgardner

by trza on Dec 9, 2008 3:29 PM CST reply actions

Pssh I got you beat

Opened up a NBA fleer pack back in 2000.

2 Insert Rookie Fleer Futures. I shit my pants.

I’d be rich! How could I lose with Chris Mihm and Marcus Fizer?!?

Gerald Laird: One Man, 5 Scoops.

by Maximilian on Dec 9, 2008 3:56 PM CST up reply actions

Dude, that card was the rage.

In a weird way, that card was probably my first fascination with rookie cards.

I remember reading about him in the papers and seeing him on the news just months before. I just couldn’t believe that a kid who lived in the same town I did could play baseball in high-school and then become a major league superstar overnight.

And by ‘major league superstar’ I mean a guy with his own baseball card.

meet me at the mawwl... it's goin dowwn...

by oc on Dec 9, 2008 10:44 PM CST up reply actions

Mine was the Juan Gonzalez "reverse negative" from the 1990 Donruss set.

I thought that was totally dude-ical.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

There are two kinds of men in this world: Men who make jump throws, and men who wish that they were Derek Jeter so that they could make jump throws.

by thedirkatron on Dec 10, 2008 8:54 AM CST up reply actions

van poppel

I went to Martin just as he was leaving (we won the state championship my senior year with Ben Grieve), and I always kind of followed Van Poppel’s career.

If I recall, he signed a ML contract, and subsequent events (healthwise) conspired to force the A’s to call him up before he was really ready. I think he never really had a chance to develop secondary stuff. Look at the play-by-play of his first game. I may be completely off-base and wrong, I’m only a casual fan, but I think if his minor league path had been different, he could have had a major league career more in-line with expectations. Anyway, I remember watching his first game, he completely dominated the first pass through the order, and then got absolutely shelled. In my mind, he is the poster child for letting a pitcher develop secondary pitches, and not calling up until ready.

Check out his ML debut:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK199109110.shtml

by bhudson on Dec 9, 2008 4:40 PM CST reply actions

re: Oakland and wunderkind, once-in-a-generation pitchers

I hate to wish ill on a kid, but I really hope that in a few years this sentence here:

The A’s drafted him, moneywhipped him, and ended up getting little out of him.

Can be amended just a bit to look like this:

The A’s ~~drafted him, moneywhipped him,~~ stole him from the Rangers by making a a totally against the rules early bid and getting him to agree to sign with them before the Rangers had a real chance to make their better, more lucrative deal, and ended up getting little out of him.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

There are two kinds of men in this world: Men who make jump throws, and men who wish that they were Derek Jeter so that they could make jump throws.

by thedirkatron on Dec 9, 2008 4:55 PM CST reply actions

well

given Grant’s “correction” today, it doesn’t seem like they stole him from the Rangers anymore than they stole them from the rest of the league.

I don’t think we can really say that the Rangers even offered Inoa the highest contract anymore.

Mandatory reading before suggesting a trade

by ab03 on Dec 9, 2008 5:57 PM CST up reply actions

Inoa

It may be that no one besides Oakland made an offer, if the rumors that a deal was reached between Oakland and Inoa before the negotiating period opened is correct.

by Adam J. Morris on Dec 9, 2008 8:22 PM CST up reply actions