Diamondbacks 2009: Capitalizing on youth?
I’ve finally reached the midway point tonight with the 82-80 Arizona Diamondbacks.
In what’s considered a pretty wide-open division (at least for the next few minutes right up until Manny signs), the Diamondbacks are considered the trendy and maybe safe pick for the NL West.
The Good
Any good points about the Diamondbacks have to start with Brandon Webb. He is one of the best pitchers in baseball and so long as he’s healthy, he’ll be in that conversation for several more seasons to come. Then you throw in the rest of the young talent including Danny Haren, Justin Upton, Stephen Drew and Chris Young and it’s clear why people favor the Diamondbacks to be a solid team again in 2009.
Trivia Question
Mark Reynolds accomplished a rare feat last year, leading the league in strikeouts and errors. Can you name the last player to lead the league in both categories in the same season?
The Bad
3B Mark Reynolds is a strikeout machine. If I’m not mistaken, the Brewers (Rob Deer) and Indians (Cory Snyder) of the 1980s found out that a good power hitter who strikes out every other time he struts up tot the plate isn’t a recipe for success. I’m also not too high on Chad Qualls at the closer position. He’s done well for his career out of the pen and had some success last year for the Dbacks, but I’m not convinced Qualls can hang onto the lead 40 times a season for a contender.
Bottom Line
For a team with so much talent last year, 82-80 wasn’t really a good record. Now the Diamondbacks are faced with a new season sans Orlando Hudson, Randy Johnson, Brandon Lyon, Adam Dunn and (presumably) Juan Cruz. On the other hand, Arizona brought Jon Garland, 41 year old Tom Gordon and the always moving (teams) Felipe Lopez in. Sure there’s enough talent here to be competitive in this division again, but if you want to know what’s wrong with Arizona for 2009, all you have to do is look at the Giants, Dodgers and Rockies, all of which made major moves (for better or worse) as an effort to win.
Trivia Answer
Zoilo Versailles had one of the strangest seasons on record in 1965 for the Twins. Versailles led the league with 122 strikeouts and 39 errors. He also managed to win the MVP and Gold Glove that year.
Prediction
Based on the teams as they sit currently (I.e., Dodgers without Manny Ramirez), I think the Diamondbacks are the third best team in the division. On any given day (especially when Webb starts) they could be the best team in the division, but Webb and Haren can’t start 162 games, this isn’t 1909.
3rd Place, NL West, 80-82
Photo credits:
Webb: http://suttonplace.mlblogs.com/
Zoilo Versailles: http://www.facebook.com/people/Zoilo-Versailles/577849633
Indians 2009: Return to Form
Two of the last three years I picked the Cleveland Indians to win the World Series. The only year I didn’t, they fell just short when the Red Sox came back from down 3 games to 1 in 2007. Last year, the Indians were a popular pick, although not as “hot” as the Tigers. This year, that chatter seems to have fallen off yet again and I’m not sure why.
Trivia Question
Last year, the Indians figured their season was over early and parted ways with reigning Cy Young winner CC Sabathia before midseason. Who was the last reigning Cy Young winner to be traded while holding the Cy Young crown? (Hint: I’ve already used this pitcher in a previous trivia question) (Double Bonus Hint: the traded pitcher was dealt for someone on this Indians team in the trade following being named Cy Young winner.)
The Good
Anytime a team adds a dependable (when healthy) pitcher like Kerry Wood and trades for an under-rated everyday guy who’s exceptional in a utility role like Mark DeRosa to a team that went 44-28 down the stretch, don’t you have to be considered armed and dangerous? Travis Hafner is expected to be healthy, Victor Martinez is expected to be healthy, Fausto Carmona is expected to be healthy and Grady Sizemore may be the best player in baseball that nobody talks about.
The Bad
There aren’t many people that expect a repeat performance out of Cliff Lee in 2009 (count me among those). However, Lee is and always has been a good pitcher. The biggest question, is can he lead the team from Game 1 through Game 162 and beyond? Continuing with pitching questions, is what effect Carl Pavano can have on this staff. If he’s even mediocre, he becomes one of the best free agent moves of this offseason. If not, the Indians have plenty of youngsters to fill in, I’m just not sure the end outcome will be as bright.
Trivia Answer
1997 marked the first Cy Young of Pedro Martinez career and it was for the Montreal Expos (the only one in franchise history). Of course, 23 days after the Marlins doused the Indians in Game 7 of the World Series, Martinez was shipped to Boston for Carl Pavano (and Tony Armas, Jr. as the player to be named later). We all know how well that deal worked for Boston and Montreal.
Bottom Line
Outside of the top three teams in the AL East, the Indians should be considered the best team in the American League. Of course all of this is tied directly to the pitching staff. CC Sabathia and Bartolo Colon are no longer the aces for this staff. So long as Lee or Carmona can fill those shoes the Indians will be playing deep into October.
Prediction
I have no doubts about the talent on this team. I think they stay healthy and Eric Wedge does another great job for the Indians getting another playoff berth. (you’ll have to wait for my post-season preview after I’m done with all the teams to find out how far they go)
94-78; 1st Place AL Central.
Photo credits:
Martinez: http://bballsml.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/
Wood: http://tribechick.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/12/kerry_wood_is_officially_welco.html
19 years ago today
19 years ago today, one of baseball’s finest, Tony Conigliaro, passed away, he would have been 64 if alive today.
Conigliaro, who’s career was cut short by a tragic result from a pitch to the face, was considered by many to be one of baseball’s brightest young talents in the mid 1960s.
While Canigliaro’s career ended before I emerged from the womb, I understand what he meant to Boston and baseball.
To read more about young Tony C., check out this story from Rico Petrocelli.
Rangers 2009: Run Run Run
The 2008 Texas Rangers were the best and worst when it came to runs scored. The Rangers led the majors with 901 runs scored last year behind a breakout season by Josh Hamilton and several other solid starters. Unfortunately, the Rangers still can’t figure out how to pitch, as the staff allowed 83 more runs than Pittsburgh (29th in the league), and yet, the Rangers still finished just 4 games under .500.
The goal for the 2009 Rangers is obviously to improve the pitching without allowing the offense to lose ground.
Trivia Question
The Rangers were one of two teams since 1990 to lead the majors in runs scored and runs allowed. Name the other. Bonus points for the other team’s top home run hitter and wins leader.
The Good
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Chris Davis, Taylor Teagarden, and others are bringing a new wave of young talent to the Rangers lineup. Add in the return of Hamilton, Michael Young and Ian Kinsler, and the Rangers offense should still be very dangerous to opposing staffs.
The Bad
Beyond allowing youngsters to get playing time this season, the Rangers made no moves at improving the team. Sure, management flirted with Ben Sheets and Milton Bradley, but for all the starting pitching available this offseason, the Rangers stood pat and will allow Kevin Millwood to be the king of the Rangers’ hill come opening day.
Trivia Answer
The 1991 Rangers (85-77) scored 829 (+30 over Milwaukee) and allowed 814 (+18 over Baltimore). Juan Gonzalez (27) was one of three players to hit 25 or more homers for the team, Rafael Palmeiro and Ruben Sierra were the others. If you guessed Nolan Ryan as the team’s leader in wins, you were incorrect. Ryan finished with 12 wins, as did Kenny Rogers. Jose Guzman topped the Rangers with 13.
Bottom Line
I just don’t see how not helping the worst pitching staff in the majors will make this team better. Nobody’s suggesting they should have dropped $140MM on CC Sabathia, but being in the hunt for Oliver Perez or Derek Lowe could have helped bring in someone to anchor this staff.
Prediction
The Rangers are treading water again. Their offense is one of the most dangerous in the league, but I do think they’ll return to earth some with the influx of rookies and the potential slight dip from Hamilton.
3rd Place, AL West, 77-85.
Photo credits
Josh Hamilton – http://withmalice.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/tb-rays/
Juan Gonzalez – http://trsullivan.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/09/
Don’t Say IT
I’m not suggesting anything here, but when players like Lance Berkman and David Ortiz come out railing against steroids, HGH, PEDs and players that have allegedly used any of the above, aren’t they inviting someone to look at their past too?
It’s happened too often for players to deny any use of anything, and then the truth (or alleged truth) comes out indicating otherwise.
I’m not a big fan of any of the steroid chatter, and in fact, if I was an HOF voter, I would cast my vote for the best of the Roid’ers because we’re never going to know everybody who was or wasn’t using over the last 20 years. I don’t see it as fair to give someone like Mike Piazza a free pass into the HOF understanding that I can’t 100% guarantee he never used anything.
Anyway, back to Ortiz. The story of him working out with Angel Presinal (linked to ARod & PEDs) is exactly why if an athlete is going to say something they should do some homework first.
If you’re innocent, somehow get access to all your piss-tests. It can be done, otherwise we wouldn’t find out about all the failed tests before testing. Then come out and make your detrimental statement about the state of the game and the using-players.
If you’re innocent, be smart, in the internet age, it is way to easy to link anybody with anything.
Bonus blogging: for anybody that complains about players in the 70s using amphetamines, stop. If there had been internet in the 1970s, Mike Schmidt wouldn’t be in the HOF either. It has nothing to do with the degree of the drug, it only has to do with technology. Nobody knew for years this was going on. Now, this thing called the internet can spread a story in seconds around the globe. In the 70s, I’m pretty sure it took a little longer thanks to the Pony Express.
2009 Preview
I linked my 2009 Preview Update in the “Pieces of Me” links to the right.
Athletics 2009: Contenders or Pretenders
There’s a lot of analysts suggesting the 2009 Athletics will be in contention for the AL West crown, I am not one of those analysts. Did they improve? Yes. Did the Angels fall back? Maybe. Did the A’s close the gap enough? No.
The Good
In case you haven’t noticed, the A’s brought back Jason Giambi (2008 – 32 HR; career – 396) and traded for Matt Holliday. The addition of those two players should greatly improve the A’s offense, an offense that scored 25 less runs than Seattle in 2008, to finish dead last in the American League.
The pitching staff finished in the top 10 in MLB in ERA and runs allowed last year, despite the team’s 75-86 record.
Trivia Question
The A’s have now gone back-to-back seasons allowing more runs than they’ve scored. Can you name the team’s best home run hitter the last time the team had back-to-back seasons where their offense was worse than their pitching?
The Bad
Oakland fans understand if the team struggles, Beane is willing to implode the infrastructure and rebuild in a matter of minutes. And the short-term investment in Holliday this year has to be the scariest reminder of Beane’s strategy we’ve seen possibly ever.
Trading away Rich Harden, Joe Blanton and Huston Street since Opening Day 2008, has completely changed the look of the pitching staff, putting Justin Duschesher in his first Opening Day start this year. It also means the A’s will likely look at Brad Ziegler to hold down the 9th inning, and based on his 2008 finale, he may be capable of being a top-notch closer.
Bottom Line
I learned a long time ago not to bet against the A’s, so while I don’t think they’ve got enough to finish first in the AL West or take the Wild Card, I also wouldn’t be surprised if this team is good enough to make a first round playoff exit.
Trivia Answer
The years were 1997 and 1998, and the A’s had one very prominent power hitting first baseman leave and another take over the reigns.
Big Mac, Mark McGwire slugged 34 homers in 105 games for the 1997 A’s before being dealt to the Cardinals. In 1998, Giambi took over at first (after playing LF in his first couple of seasons for the A’s) and hit a team leading 27 homers.
Prediction
2nd Place, AL West, 86-76. The A’s fool everybody by competing into July, still dealing Holliday (to the Yankees for Robinson Cano and a couple other pieces), where Cano becomes a team-leader and nearly gets the team to the playoffs.
Photo credits:
Giambi – http://kingofcali.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/01/giambi_is_back_in_oakland.html
McGwire – http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/01/22/mcgwire.steroids.ap/
Royals 2009: It could be worse
The Kansas City Royals. Seriously, are there four words that conjure up failure better than those four. Other than the Royals burst of excitement in 1993, the team has just five seasons with a winning record since winning the World Series in 1985, and four of those were before 1991.
Trivia Question
Joakim Soria was one of the Royals best pitchers in years with his 42 saves and 1.50 ERA in 2008. Yet his 42 saves are good for only 4th on the Royals all-time list. Name the Royals who saved more games (hint it’s 2 pitchers with 3 combined better save seasons).
The Good
GM Dayton Moore has been active. He’s bringing in players that are better than what Royals fans may be accustomed too, like Kyle Farnsworth, Coco Crisp and Mike Jacobs. Sure they aren’t big names, but ask yourself this. If you were Manny Ramirez, CC Sabathia or even Orlando Cabrera, would Kansas City be at the top of your “I’d like to play for” list????
The other good piece for Royals fans is they have some talented youngsters like Zack Greinke and Alex Gordon to name just two. But there isn’t anybody who knows anything about baseball willing to bet the Royals get to the World Series based on their current roster.
The Bad
With massive-ugly contracts like Jose Guillen, Gil Meche and Farnsworth, the Royals are still prone to make bad mistakes with signing players. I still believe Farnsworth will be a good add for the Royals, but after seeing what the market did, $6M seems a bit high. The Royals other big concern is all of a sudden, the AL West doesn’t seem to be MLB’s official Disaster Division anymore. Each of the other four teams in the division can easily make a case to win the division.
Trivia Answer
You probably guessed Dan Quisenberry. Which would be correct, in 1984, Q set the Royals mark at 44, where the record stood for just one season before he reached 45.
The other, Jeff Montgomery, who also got 45 in 1993.
Bottom Line
I, like many baseball writers and bloggers, don’t think the Royals will be all that bad and won’t be surprised if they finish near .500. On the other hand, the Royals could be the prime example of what the economy can do to a team. The Royals have made moves as an attempt to get better (Meche, Guillen) and may end up paying out the wazoo for mediocre players who won’t be easy to unload come July 31. Instead, the contenders will be targeting Gordon, Greinke and Billy Butler as pieces that may actually help. So Royals fans, even if the season looks horrid from the get-go, I think seeing the young pieces getting into place could lead to something better someday. The question becomes when is someday.
Prediction
The Royals barely edge out Detroit again this year. They use more young, excited players and just eat the Jose Guillen contract as nobody is going near that one.
4th Place AL CENTRAL, 76-86.
Photo credits
Soria – http://stateoftheline.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/royals-will-release-dull-ethnicity-reference-free-soria-shirt/
Quisenberry – http://thekclpipeline.blogspot.com/2007/03/royal-legacy-23-1983-royals-79-83.html
Montgomery – http://royals.scout.com/2/603235.html
Nearly a senior, Junior rejoins M’s
You know what, I think the move the Mariners made by signing Ken Griffey, Jr. to a one-year deal was a good one. Not great, but certainly good.
Look at it this way. If Griffey plays even mediocre (like the rest of the Mariners), they win 60-65 games this year.
If (somehow) Griffey plays like a 39 year old stud, the Mariners win 60-65 games this year, thanks in large part to having little back up talent on the team.
If he plays like he did in Chicago last year (whether he’s used full-time or part-time) the Mariners still win 60-65 games this year.
Seriously it’s pretty much a win situation from the stance that Griffey will at least bring the team more income (jerseys, memorablilia, and some tickets) while really not affecting the offensive or defensive output of the franchise.
Plus, by signing him to just a one-year deal, they aren’t tied down to the future, not that they have one in the immediate forecast.
The best part though, is that we as baseball fans can watch Griffey finish his HOF career in the comforts of his first home. The place where we saw the brightest talent in MLB since the playing days of Willie Mays.
To Junior, welcome home (on a personal note, I’m glad you skipped on Atlanta, the final touches of your career wouldn’t have been the same).
Rockies 2009: 2007 was soooo long ago
Another major disappointment last year, the Colorado Rockies backed up their 2007 World Series appearance with a 74-88 record in 2008.
What I saw was overachieving down the stretch in 2007 and lots of bandwagoning going on in 2008. Then Rockies’ managements delivers the critical blow to 2009′s season.
Matt Holiday, the centerpiece of the Rockies offense (747 runs last year) was shipped off as the Rox knew they needed to get something rather than risk losing him to free agency after 2009. What they got in return was some young (mostly) unrealized talent.
Trivia
The Rockies projected opening day starter, Aaron Cook is currently third all-time in wins for the Rockies with 52 and needs just 7 to become the franchise leader (so long as he wins more than Jeff Francis, 51, does). Can you name which two former Rockies have more wins for the franchise.
The Good
The Rockies aren’t the Padres or the Mariners. By that I mean they are willing to make moves to get better now, while still preparing for the future. Adding Huston Street and Alan Embree to the bullpen should help overcome the loss of closer Brian Fuentes. The Rox did up their rotation some as well, with innings eater Jason Marquis and youngster Greg Smith. As an overall, the pitching should be slightly improved.
The Bad
Dealing away Holliday may not cripple the offense, but it’s not like Todd Helton is Benjamin Button. He’s still getting older, while Garret Atkins, Ryan Spilborghs and Clint Barmes are still virtual gambles as impact players. I don’t see any scenario where Carlos Gonzalez and Matt Murton (the two offensive pieces of the Holliday deal) make up the offense they lost.
Trivia Answer
Jason Jennings pitched for the Rockies from 2001-2006 and accumulated 58 wins; while Pedro Astacio spent 1997-2001
in Colorado racking up 53.
Bottom Line
Somebody else will be dealt before the deadline this season. It won’t be Troy Tulowitzki, but don’t be shocked if Atkins is sent packing even after getting an extension, especially if the Rox struggle out of the gates.
Prediction
The Rockies have NOT improved their team to the point they win more games and get back into contention. Rather they brought in pieces that will keep the team in a virtual stalemate for at least one more season while they hope the economy recovers to afford them an opportunity at bringing in other names for 2010.
4th Place NL WEST, 71-91.
Photo credits:
Holliday: www.scoresreport.com/tag/colorado-rockies/
Astacio: www.jamd.com/image/g/275577
Jennings: blog.kir.com/archives/2007_07.asp
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