Let’s get one thing straight: Josh Childress didn’t sign with Olympiacos of Greece because he wants to get away from the Hawks, because he wants more playing time, or because he thinks his game might be a better fit with a European league. All of those aspects might be valid (the Hawks are dysfunctional, Childress is a 6^th man who wants to start, and he’s just the kind of finesse player with a good outside shot who thrives in Europe), but in this case, it’s all about the dollars…or should I say the Euros.

Childress is a classic tweener. He’s 6’8”, but only weighs 210 pounds, so he isn’t strong enough to take advantage of his height on the inside, while not being fast enough to play with the guards. He’s just the kind of player who, back in the 90’s, washed out of the NBA in a few years (Ed O’Bannon, anyone?). But in today’s game, with limits on the handchecking rules, increasing numbers of finesse players from Europe, and very few true centers, tweeners actually have some value. They still don’t usually make it as starters, but they can definitely have value off the bench as 6^th men, and that’s where Childress has made a niche for the past four years, averaging between 10-13 points and 4.9-6.2 rebounds per game every year. He is a very efficient offensive player (57.1 shooting percentage this year), both inside and outside, even though he isn’t a commanding offensive presence. All in all, it’s a great 6^th man package.

Thing is, when teams are looking at career 6^th men as free agents, they really aren’t going to break the bank. The Hawks were offering Childress a 5 year, $33 million deal as a restricted free agent, and that was more than fair. You won’t find 6^th men making more than that unless they are players on the back end of deals they signed back when they were starters.

In the old days, that would have been the best offer Childress could see. But this time it isn’t – Olympiacos reportedly is offering Childress a 3 year deal worth over $20 million even after taxes. The Hawks losing Childress is the first American basketball victim of the weakening US dollar against the Euro.

There is nothing intrinsic about American leagues that makes them the preeminent leagues in every sport. Players from other nations have flocked to American leagues because American owners paid the best, and the highest salaries have led to the highest levels of competition. The dollar was the best currency in the world, and everyone wanted to be paid with it. Now the dollar has been in a freefall, and other options are just as good. Athletes have returned to Europe (Juan Carlos Navarro, Carlos Delfino); others decided to never come to America in the first place (Tiago Splitter, Fran Vazquez); and players who couldn’t make it in the NBA have opted to play in Europe (Trajan Langdon). What is entirely new is that now even American players in their primes who are valuable players are being lured by the Almighty Euro.

I’m not trying to give a doom and gloom speech here based strictly on the loss of Josh Childress; there are plenty of Josh Childresses available for NBA teams right now, and the NBA isn’t going to collapse because a few players decide not to grace it with their presence. But the Childress signing is symbolic of a shift in the international attitude toward the NBA. Where once going to Europe was a threat that was made by free agents for leverage but never actually taken, now it is a real possibility.

WNBA players have been supplementing their income by playing in Europe for years. Childress and prep hoopster Brandon Jennings are simply the first male American basketball players to follow the money. In the future, there is the very real possibility that the NBA will not automatically get access to all the best players in every league; it’s rejoining the pond of basketball leagues. For the past 20 years since Sabonis and Petrovic, we have assumed that any player of any ability would try coming to the United States, whether from Europe, South America, or even China. Everywhere else was for those who weren’t good enough. There was the NBA, and there was everybody else. That is no longer true.

Mark Mulder’s career probably ended last week, not with a bang but with a whimper. Mulder couldn’t get out of the first inning of the Cardinals game July 9 against the Phillies, throwing 16 pitches and getting only one out before leaving the game due to yet another injury, possibly the final setback of his extended comeback attempt.

Mulder’s gradual fade hasn’t gotten a lot of attention – it has been spread over three years to the point that people have just forgotten about him, and while his statistics are good, they were never eye-popping. One year leading the league in wins (2001), but no ERA crowns, no strikeout titles (never even in the picture on strikeout races, in fact), little jumping off the back of his baseball card.

But I, for one, will miss Mark Mulder. Not because of any connection to the A’s or the Cardinals; I have none. Not because of any personal connection to Mulder. I’ll miss him because he was one of the few true aces left in baseball, along with marvels like Roy Halladay (who finishes more games that he starts than any other team in baseball right now). I’m not talking about guys who put up the aforementioned eye-popping ERAs and strikeout totals and WHIPS; I’m talking about a stopper, a starter who can put his team on his back for a whole game and just carry them, even when nothing else is working for the team. The whole nine innings.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Johan Santana and think he’s an incredible pitcher; his arsenal is just devastating at times, and it’s just fun to watch guys like him pitch. He’s up to his usual tricks this year, with an ERA under 3.00 and stellar ratios all around. But were you aware that in his 194 career starts (to date), Johan has completed exactly 6 of them? In other words, Johan is an incredible pitcher and will give his team a chance to win almost every game he starts, but he will always need somebody else to finish the job. And even when that somebody else is his team’s closer, be it Joe Nathan or Billy Wagner or whomever, I think it’s safe to say that somebody else is a less talented pitcher than Johan himself. So a Johan start means you get Johan’s innings plus the less talented bullpen innings to finish the job. And those bullpen innings are too many to just give to the Nathans and Wagners – Johan has only once in his career averaged seven innings per start for a season, and that just barely in 2005 at 7.02, leaving 2-3 innings for less talented pitchers than himself, less talented pitchers who could lose the game.

I’m by no means arguing that Mulder is a better pitcher than Santana for a 162 game season – but rather that because he was able to go the distance when necessary, he was better equipped to win tough, close games, when the offense is getting shut down or in a slump (these kind of games, coincidentally, become more frequent in the postseason, where Mulder was incredibly successful).

One of my favorite games of all time – despite having no team-based rooting interest – was the April 23, 2005 game between the Astros and the Cardinals. Roger Clemens took the mound for Houston at the beginning of perhaps his most spectacular season as he managed to maintain a 1.87 ERA for the season despite winning only 13 games for the punchless ‘Stros. Opposing him were the Cards and Mulder. Mulder and Clemens traded zeros for 7 innings, after which Clemens headed for the showers (he averaged 6.6 innings per start that year and only finished the year with one complete game). Meanwhile Mulder kept on. He traded zeros for two more frames with Houston reliever Chad Qualls, and even threw a scoreless 10^th before the Cardinals scored in the bottom of the 10^th off of Qualls and Brad Lidge.

Clemens got a quality start, lowered his ERA, and earned the sympathy of fans who cried that he deserved to win since he threw seven scoreless innings (a refrain that would be repeated often that year, as Clemens frequently left games early and ended with no-decisions). But it was Mulder who did what he had to do to make sure his team won the game, even when they were getting shut down offensively. Since his team wasn’t scoring, he made sure he could win the game for his team by pitching efficiently and keeping his pitch count low enough so that he could go the distance and make sure the job got done right. If you want the job done right, sometimes you have to be willing to do it yourself. Seven inning “aces” shouldn’t complain when they get no-decisions or the bullpen blows their leads – if they want the wins, they should find a way to keep themselves in the game as long as possible and minimize innings pitched by inferior pitchers.

That might mean making sure the manager knows that you want to stay in the game. On July 4 this year, Johan was keeping the Mets in a close game against the Phillies, tied at 2 after 8. Santana had only thrown 95 pitches for the game and blew through the Phils in the 8^th with a strikeout and two weak groundouts. It was obvious Santana could go nine. Yet when the Phillies came up to bat in the bottom of the 9^th, it was Duaner Sanchez, and not Santana, on the mound. Johan Santana and other pitchers who are being paid to be aces for teams (don’t think that I’m picking on Johan alone here; there are plenty of other pitchers for whom this qualifies, and Johan is just a convenient example since I follow him more closely than others, such as Jake Peavy (7-5, 2.47 ERA this season), Dan Haren (8-5, 2.72), or the late-career Clemens, whose W-L records underwhelm compared to their performance) need to face one of two problems: 1)Get themselves to the point where they are able to pitch more innings and win more games for their teams, or 2)Make sure their managers know that they are able to do so and not get pulled too early with gas still in the tank.

Doing this will help teams’ performances tremendously. You can maximize use of your best pitcher – more innings by Johan or Peavy or Haren is better for their teams because it means less innings by the weaker bullpen pitchers. Giving your ace relievers a day off when the ace starter is going saves your best relievers for games pitched by lesser starters, when the relievers are more needed. It also saves bullpen arms from overuse, since even warming up without entering the game takes a toll on an arm. (Excuse me, I have to take a call…Strange, it’s a voice that calls himself Scott from L.A. and all he keeps saying is “Help. He’s after me again.”)

Right now, teams are paying their best pitchers a king’s ransom to be statistical wonders for seven innings. They’ll be better off if they can pay that king’s ransom for true aces.

New Yankee Stadium - Photo by Duane Bailey-Castro

It’s been a crazy few days here at The Ace Report. On Sunday, we had over 500 visitors, marking the greatest total on any given day since we launched in early May. Thank you for coming and we hope you tell everyone about the quality sports commentary you receive at The Ace Report!

Additionally, there have so many headlines in sports recently, it’s almost impossible to keep up on it all. So, we thought we’d provide you with some Friday quick hits. We might even make it a weekly tradition, trying to recap some of the bigger stories of the week. Don’t worry, we can’t and won’t stop giving you the scoop on the important junk going on in all the leagues…

::: Brett Favre, despite our pleas to end the rumors and just be what he said he was… (Ahem, RETIRED!!!!!), has reportedly asked for his release from the Packers. For those of you who don’t really know what’s going on, if Favre is granted his release, his contract with the Packers is null and void, thus allowing him to sign on with any team during this offseason. The fool… I understand his desire to play football and prove his awesomeness, but I think I can speak for all of us when I say that he’s done that. Why can’t he go home to his wife and enjoy throwing the football around with the kids? Granted, he’ll probably be competitive this year, but now our hopes lie in the hands of the Green Bay front office. May they gain wisdom unrivaled and keep Favre in the guest house. :::

::: Elton Brand, despite being the stud we all know him to be, has decided to bolt the Los Angeles Clippers for the city of Brotherly Love. The 76ers gave him a five-year $79.795 million deal and Elton took the bait. What really gives the best picture of the sucker-punch he landed is the fact that Brand was openly courting his in-state phenom Baron Davis once he heard Davis had opted out of his last year of his contract. Baron fulfilled his side of the deal and when Elton’s number gets called, he ditches his deal for the money. Professional athletes get paid significantly more than they should, and unfortunately, these days, money is a greater pull than honesty and truthfulness. :::

::: The Ace Report staff grew up in New York. One of us became a Yankees fan (leave your comments at the door) and the other became a Mets fan. Regardless, both of us are sad to see Yankee Stadium bid its farewell. Monument park. The frontier that is behind home plate. The black behind the center field wall. And a ton of history. Records broken and championships won. Yankee Stadium will be sorely missed, even by those who consider the Yankees less than valuable. Granted, new Yankee Stadium is going to be beautiful, but I think season tickets will most likely be for those with assets in excess of a few million only. Still, the All-Star game hosted for the first and last time in the home of so many past and present All-Stars only seems fitting. :::