» Baseball

Wowzer. 3-4 years ago, I thought the Braves and Mets would never trade with each other again in the history of baseball. I thought only the Red Sox and Yankees were less likely to make a deal – a now it’s Phillies and Mets of course. Interesting deal! The potential out of Jeff Francoeur I like a lot more than the injury potential of Ryan Church. Jeff Francoeur is a great right-fielder, fairly healthy, and young enough where he can improve – ten-fold from how he’s performing now. He’s only 25 and went back to back years with 100+ rbis in 2006 and 2007. He hit for average in 2007, but I don’t know if he’ll ever really do that again, and if its his mind making him perform bad in Atlanta…well, I don’t think that will get much better in New York, but again, I still like the deal. It’s a small shakeup. The Mets need to do a lot more, but they won’t with the market and asking prices. So lets hope this and JJ Putz, Billy Wanger (I mean Wagner, but I figured i’d leave the mispelling), and Carlos Delgado can help the team enough in August and the same for Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes when they get healthy (as well as John Maine & Oliver Perez who already had the epitomic Oliver Perez-like start). And most importantly, the Mets need the help of the Phillies, that they have somewhat received early season until now, but may not any longer.

I’ve been scolded lately for saying the Mets should potentially at least look into trading Jose Reyes to the Red Sox for 2 of their top young pitching prospect and Jed Lowrie as well. In a post from Bleacher Report (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/213365-new-york-mets-need-to-make-a-trade-for-the-future), Joseph Delgrippo says the Mets should potentially look to trade David Wright/3b + Fernando Martinez/of to the Red Sox for Clay Buchholz/sp, Lars Anderson/1b, Jacoby Elsbury/of, and 2 from Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden, and Daniel Bard/p. He goes on to say the Mets could sign a 1 or 2 year free agent 3rd baseman until Wilmer Flores/ss is ready to play 3b in the Majors.

Honestly, it’s very, very intriguing. As a Mets fan i’d have to say it’s…fair – maybe better than fair. The Mets rotation would look amazing for years to come. The one thing I will say is… I already like the Red Sox, and this deal will allow me to stop watching the Mets for at least this year and become a full-time Red Sox fan. Sorry, but honestly, it’s been rough. I’ve been watching Wright since his short days in Binghamton, and he’s about the only bright spot this year (and not (w)right now).

I’ll root for both teams deep down.

If they make this deal, why not trade Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran as well? Stack the team for years to come. Fellow Mets fans…It’s been hard. It’s been devestating. The Phillies are better. The Marlins probably will be next year. The Braves could be as well. Let’s just enjoy baseball and hope.

I had a friend text me again. He asked what I thought about the following trade:

He would give up Alex Rodriguez/3b; Kyle Lohse/sp; Stephen Drew/ss and receive Ian Kinsler/2b; Joba Chamberlain/sp>rp; and Mark Derosa/if.

I told him there were a few contingencies:

1) Is it a keeper league? If so, go for it because I’d definitely keep Kinsler + Joba over Arod + Drew. Kinsler’s younger and cheaper than Arod (even in fantasy depending on how your keeper league might work).

2) Is his middle infielders killing him?

3) Does he have a solid 3b/corner infield to back up for A-rod’s absence (hoping Derosa isn’t it)

4) Finally, I told him to attempt to wait it out and see if Joba will become a reliever since the Yankees have Wang back and the young Philip Hughes. My opinion is that he will becuase he was much more dominant there and Wang’s stuff is meant to start and Hughes is a stud.

Therefore, I told him the only player straight up I’d trade A-rod for is Pujols and maybe Hanley. Unless he believes Joba will remain a starter and so long as it’s not a keeper league, I suggested him not to do it. 1+ Months out of baseball, and A-rod is still on pace for 45+ homers.

The Baltimore Orioles. A good offensive fantasy baseball team. But that’s about it, unfortunately. They’re a Pitching Staff and a Bullpen away from a playoff spot – and 3 top MLB teams as well (Red Sox, Yankees, Rays -probably respectively). You have to absolutely love their lineup (i’ll include Matt Wieters of course over Gregg Zaun):

1-Brian Roberts/2b: According to ESPN Player Rater (http://games.espn.go.com/flb/playerrater?) he’s the 3rd best 2b as of now. Probably more like the 5th or 6th best, but still top notch in r;sb;295+avg

2-Adam Jones/cf: ranked 10th overall by ESPN Player Rater. Enough said. HR/SB + R/RBI + 315+Avg?!

3-Nick Markakis/rf: top 45, but Avg should raise and make him top 25

4-Aubrey Huff/1b: i’ll take him and his rbi on the O’s for one more year

5-Melvin Mora/3b: should put up acceptable #5 hitter stats in this lineup

6-Matt Wieters/c: I’m sure you already heard the Evan Longoria at 3b comparisons

7-Luke Scott/dh: 3 hr and 7 rbi in his last 2 games back from shoulder injury

8-Nolan Reimold/lf: top 6 prospect for the O’s (3 hr the past 3 games; 5hr in 53 ab’s)

9-Cesar Izturis/ss: Bleh. Sorry.

Their rotation consists of (for the most part): Jeremy Guthrie; Koji Uehera; Rich Hill; and then a sundry of guys. Their pitching prospects (that rate from B to B-) are David Hernandez; Troy Patton; Chris Tilman; Brian Matusz; Jake Arrieta; Brandon Erbe; and Zach Britton.

So the question is, what should/can they do? Honestly the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays should be great for years to come with their payroll availability, players, and rotations (minus payroll for the Rays of course). This year (although only 6 games outs), they probably don’t have a chance. Not without a solid rotation or bullpen. They have the third worst ERA in all of baseball.

I think they have some pieces other teams should be interested in that are more than expendable: Felix Pie/of, Ty Wigginton/if, and Gregg Zaun/c. This first tier probably won’t yield many good players in return. The next tier consists of Aubrey Huff/1b, Jeremy Guthrie/sp and maybe Melvin Mora/3b. They have 7 pitching prospects that are generally rated b- or better.

Aubrey Huff + Jeremy Guthrie to maybe the Mets could work out. The Mets should be looking for a 1b/of replacement for Carlos Delgado and an additional SP that can be more consistent than Oliver Perez, Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding, and Jon Niese. I think Huff + Guthrie can net the Orioles a group of Tim Redding (a MLB starter); Jon Niese(sp) or Brad Holt (sp); Reese Havens or Wilmer Flores (ss); Joe Kunz(rp); and Jefrey Marte(3b) or Ike Davis(1b). This deal provides them a young sp for Guthrie plus a needed relief arm along with someone who can at least pitch for them now (Redding). In addition, it provides the Orioles with a 3b and ss for when Mora and Izturis are done/not worth it. As a Mets fan, I think it’s a bit much, but I’m attempting to be realistic. I’d rather the Mets go for Nick Johnson/Nationals for cheap and keep Daniel Murphy in LF. Honestly, I just want the Mets to get another Ace and forget about everything else – especially if the Phillies end up landing another SP.

Unless the Orioles want to trade Wieters+ to Boston, since they would love the Catcher, for Clay Buchholz + Michael Bowden – if the Red Sox or Orioles would even do that, obviously, Wieters should be untouchable. A deal like this, however, may make them a contender this year or next. The Red Sox rotation is probably deep enough: Beckett; Lester; Dicek; Penny; Smoltz; Wakefield; Masterson to maintain pace. A rotation of Guthrie; Ueherea; Buchholz; Bowden; Hill + Prospects looks pretty good.

So in my fantasy land, if I was the Orioles GM, I would perform the following trades:

In about 2-3 years, the team could then potentially compete for the AL East or at least the Wild Card. Else, at least the Orioles should enjoy watching their only 4 current bright spots for years to come (Roberts; Jones; Markakis; Wieters) with hopeful pitching prospects.

How long has it been?

2 Months?

…ya. Sorry, I have no excuse at all other then I have been swamped with school and my golf team. But now the Golf is over, I can talk A’s baseball again! That’s right!

Well, since I have been away a lot of things have happened…

• Matt Holliday has been unproductive. A .234 average, 20 RBIs, 4 HRs, and .423 SLG. Yes that RBI stat is juicy, but that is because he has a little bit of a spark. But the A’s need him to do better with a division up for grabs and a chance for a big trade.
• Ok, its not just Holliday. The whole damn offense is bad. Only one player is batting over .300 (Kurt Suzuki, .324) the next player is at .287 then .261
• The Pitching has had a roller coaster of a ride with ERAs ranging from 2.40 to 7.60. But overall it will thin out and get better
• The Bullpen has been lights out, no problems there
• Finally, the A’s need to pounce on a weak division in the West. They are only 4 games back of the leader, they need to capatialize while they can with the Angles having so many injuries

So ya, there you go. An update for the A’s. Hopefull my posts will be more frequent as the summer rolls along (no more 2 month breaks). Go A’s!

The A’s will be playing the Jays tonight in Oakland (they are playing right now)

Gallagher vs. Tallet

The One man over .300

The 15-inning rubber game of the Mariners-Athletics series this weekend marked an important turning point for The Team No One Believed In. Coming back during the first nine innings to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, falling behind by three runs in the 13th but recovering to win on a Jose Lopez single, the Mariners demonstrated that they have the drive to win, regardless of the circumstances. After 33 innings of baseball this weekend, the team still poured onto the field to congratulate Lopez, who also won Friday’s game with a single in the bottom of the ninth. 

A real team has appeared in Seattle this season.

The Wak Ball of the early games has given way to a more traditional hit-and-run game in the last week, but the M’s are still finding ways to grind out wins. Jason Vargas, who won today’s game after two-and-a-third innings of relief, made his 2009 debut, following the long-absent Denny Stark, whose last pitch in the majors was five years ago. Mike Sweeney also contributed his first home run of the season, as did catcher Kenji Johjima, fresh off the disabled list as of Friday. Franklin Gutierrez and Yunieksy Betancourt have both built their averages up to be consistent bottom-of-the-order contributors. The offense of the team is firing on all cylinders in clutch situations. 

The five-run rule, laid out here, has held up and is essential to the Mariners continuing their winning ways. The team has won all but one of the games in which they scored more than five runs and held the opponent to less than five, 10 games in all (almost exactly the 85% of wins in this situation I predicted, though it was little more than a lucky estimate). The M’s have lost 10 games in which they scored less than five runs. The difference, which accounts for the team’s surprising and pleasing 15-10 record, is the five games in which the the M’s pulled a win out in low-scoring games, when both teams scored fewer than five runs. 

Good pitching has made the real difference. Hernandez, Bedard and Washburn have pitched well. Jakubauskus pitched well today, and he was great in his two-hit loss to the White Sox last Tuesday. 

But there are still some weaknesses. Carlos Silva was horrible again on Friday night. I believe Chris Jakubauskas, today’s starter, would be pitching for wins instead of finding his footing if he’d taken Silva’s place on the roster at the beginning of the season. The good news is that GM Jack Zduriencik has given Silva an ultimatum about his performance, the bad news is that there isn’t a clearly prepared replacement candidate at Tacoma. After Vargas’ promotion, Garrett Olson is the closest to a major-league starter. 

It’s time for Zduriencik to package one of the many catchers he has–Jeff Clement has played better since being sent back to Tacoma–with a pitching prospect in the lower minors to get another quality starter, a number four or five guy to lock down at least 11 more wins this season, which Silva won’t deliver.

My wonderful wife showed me this story this morning: Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090415/lf_nm_life/us_usa_civilrights_baseball;_ylt=Aqd_qRmbM1UvuqQJA8qu4y4LMxIF) reported that a man was ejected from Yankee stadium during the August 26th (Yankees vs. Red Sox) game’s God Bless America song. He attempted to go to the bathroom, but stadium police did not allow this. The police did say that he was being unruly, smelled of alcohol, and they ejected him so others wouldn’t have to be subject to his behavior, however, as per Yahoo, an officer also said “if the [ejected fan] didn’t like this country, he should get out of ‘it’”. If true, this statment alone makes this story horrendous and absolutely despicable, and I don’t think I’ve ever actually written the word despicable down to explain anything.

I hope nothing like this ever happens again. It is unconstitutional – in state, in basketball, in school, and in baseball.

On a related (religious) and very funny note: I think it was last year on April 16th, a 14 or 15 inning game against the Washington Nationals- I’ve never seen so much religion in one AT-BAT. Jesus Colome of the Washington Nationals was pithing to Jesus Flores. Angel Pagan of the New York Mets was on 2nd base. Ryan Church was up at bat. Who won the game? It was a walk-off Base on Balls by none other than SHAWN GREEN – just kidding – it was Brian Schneider…Sounds Jewish though. haha.

Daniel Murphy looks to be a perfect two-hole hitter and a fantasy baseball stat provider. Thus far, in 2009 he’s batting .296 with a .345 obp, including a Home Run in his 3^rd at bat. In 2008, he hit .313, but, considerably more significant was his .397 obp. His offensive approach and surprising patience, will provide Jose Reyes a chance to run and David Wright a chance to drive in someone other than (and in addition to) Jose Reyes. I see Murphy providing the following fantasy line:

93runs-15homeruns-73rbis-6stolen bases-.283avg-.357obp.

I think Daniel Murphy is exactly what the Mets needed in so many different ways. Probably the only way, he’s not extremely needed, is that he hits left-handed, however, this guarantees him hitting 2^nd all year (without any slumps) because the Mets wouldn’t bat Delgado-Murphy-Church-Schneider back to back. I think Reyes(s) Murphy(l) Wright(r) Delgado(l) Beltran(r) Church(l)/Sheffield(r) Shneider(l)/Castro(r) Castillo(s)/Cora(l) is what they will go with all year. Maybe against phenomenal lefties, he could hit toward the bottom of the lineup, but I would say at least 85% of his at bats comes from the 2-hole.

I posted this factor in my first post of the season – NL East Projections/Previews, but I think one of the most important aspects surrounding Daniel Murphy, will be the Met’s ability to trade Fernando Martinez. Maybe they want to keep him for RF, which of course, they should (if he pans out), but I really think we should trade him in addition to one of our top SS prospects (Wilmer Flores/ Reese Havens) and one of our top P prospects (Jon Niese/Brad Holt/Eddie Kunz) for a top notch starter, such as Roy Halladay, Erik Bedard + Jose Lopez, or Jake Peavy. I think Fernando Martinez is expendable because of Murphy; Havens/Flores is expendable because of Reyes; and even our 3b prospect, Jeff Marte is expendable because of Wright. Why not trade these pieces for another starter and 2b while we’re at it:

If they deem Jeff Marte effective, this allows the Mariners to also trade Adrian Beltre(3b), and they then can have a successful fire sale. The Mets lineup and rotation would look as follows:

This trade would not only make the rotation and lineup look significantly better, but the Mets would have Johan Santana – Erik Bedard – Oliver Perez (Lefty-Lefty-Lefty) against the Phillies. I guess I’m subconsciously dwelling on the Phillies, but METS… PLEASE DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE BRAVES – AND MARLINS!!!!!

“Bloop”

I’m starting to lose track of how often that word is thrown around by those few fortunate commentators of the Rangers opposition who undoubtedly bear a mile-wide grin upon the utterance of the word. Naturally, this is followed by the excited roar of an away crowd or the all-too-often heard cry in disbelief from the home cats.

Today the Rangers were looking to avoid falling victim of a sweep to the Tigers, “looking” being the key word. What they found was another well executed exercise in what are blatantly their two most glaring weaknesses: pitching, and defense.

Kevin Milwood started for the Rangers, he faced Edwin Jackson. I’m not going to lie; I don’t really know anything about Jackson so I won’t go into too much depth on him. Comerica Park would see a classic Milwood performance on the mound; all said and done he would throw 112 pitches, 70 of which were strikes. Seven innings of shutout baseball, in addition to a productive early offense primarily provided by Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Elvis Andrus, and Josh Hamilton; each scoring a run in the first three innings. Both Hamilton and Kinsler would knock two-run homers over the fence.

Apart from the chilly 49 degree weather, not much seemed to be able to faze the Rangers, who played pretty well most of the game (at least the part of the game with Milwood in it). Of course, inevitably a single pitcher can’t carry a whole game on his back, so it was time for some relief on the Ranger mound. That relief came in the form of CJ Wilson who in just 24 pitches allowed 6 runs. Yeah, you heard me right: six runs in twenty-four pitches. I know; I couldn’t believe it either! If it weren’t for an easily avoidable error by the rookie Andrus the blow might have been softened, but then speculation never really ends in anything productive. The fact is; the guy on the mound just didn’t perform. Warner Madrigal was called in to try to get the Rangers out of the inning, which he did successfully in twelve pitches, but the damage had been done.

The Rangers would see their last three at bats, but they couldn’t seem to break through the embarrassment they rightly bore on their shoulders. It seemed they had given up.

It’s going to be a long trip back to Arlington, but there’s no rest for the mediocre. Tomorrow is another day, another game, another opponent: the Orioles of Baltimore.

It’s been a few years since I’ve been able to really enjoy a full season of baseball. Joining the military kept me out of the loop in a lot of aspects of life for probably about the first year. Then I got about half a season in before I was sent to England – a country where baseball is almost unheard of. Football on the other hand is all that is spoken of here, and not the pig skin kind that most of this crowd will find at the front lines of their thought. Opening day this April was broadcast on our military satellite service, so I was happily reintroduced to my love for the game, the atmosphere, and how much I missed home.

Coming back into the game now, I see a lot of new names, and faces – a lot of the players I had come to know from teams have been traded, retired, or apparently are free agents now. I’ve been a long time Cubs fan, but had the pleasure of watching a Rangers game last year, and quite enjoyed it. Add to that the probability of me going to college in Texas in a couple years, I figured I’d start to learn the team. I’m not new to disappointment, certainly, as I’ve grown accustomed to a history of failed Cubbie seasons.

It’s no secret that the Rangers aren’t among the best teams in baseball having only made a few playoff appearances in a little over a decade, and never really making it very far when they did. I’ve listened to the first five games they’ve played this season; and found a good amount of excitement in three of them, with an equal amount of disappointment in three of them (not totaling six, just found issue in one of their wins). Their first two games against the Indians went surprisingly well. The third game was a little tense, that’s about when the Rangers’ pitching problem(s) started to rear its ugly head. Scott Feldman came in relief to give up four runs in just two innings. Luckily the Texas offense was able to counter the inefficiency of their pitching counterparts, shooting them to a 12-8 victory over the tribe.

Then it was off to Detroit – a team that had lost two games out of a series of four against the Blue Jays. The Rangers’ performance in their first against the Tigers was abysmal, to put it nicely. This was Kris Benson’s first start of the regular season and if there were any question to him making starting rotation on a regular basis, surely that question is bordering the answer of “no”. Benson gave up eight runs in five innings.

Game two at Detroit was a little more positive – it wasn’t a blowout loss, but surely one the Rangers could have, and should have pulled off – if they could add just a little tweaking to their defense, and obviously their pitching. It was a 4-3 final for the Tigers.

So now the Rangers sit on a no-more-than-average 3-2 record. While it is still extremely early in the season, it has been made incredibly clear; work is needed on pitching and defense. Also, I think it wouldn’t hurt if they started wearing red on a regular basis, maybe for luck.

For someone reacquainting himself with the faces, and names of the league, some standout so far on the Rangers roster: Elvis Andrus, a promising rookie with incredible speed. Salty, Blalock, Hamilton, Cruz, Byrd, Young – well quite frankly the whole roster given that my primary devotion now lies with the Rangers.