Well we are already through the first two months of the season and it is already one to remember. I would like to give my thoughts on some issues thus far.
AL MVP: Justin Morneau is having an unbelievable season and the Twins will most likely win the Central. It will be interesting to see where his batting average ends up. Keep a look out though as Arod heats up and Evan Longoria continues to prove he is an absolute stud.
NL MVP: I will not be surprised if Jason Heyward becomes the third player ever to win the ROY and MVP in the same season (Fred Lynn in 1975 and Ichiro in 2001). The Braves took over the NL East lead from the Phillies today and are on fire (I will never forgive myself for taking Ryan Howard over Miguel Cabrera and Evan Longoria in the second round). However, we might be seeing a pitcher win an MVP award for the first time since Dennis Eckersley did it in 1992.
AL Cy Young: I really like Jon Lester so far. He is the best pitcher in the toughest division in baseball.
NL Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez is having perhaps the best season ever. In consecutive starts, he has entered the game with an ERA under 1, and LOWERED it. I have also been reminded by Baseball Tonight several times today that he is only the third pitcher ever to win 10 of his first 11 starts and have an ERA under 1.00 (Cicotte in 1919 and Marichal in 1966). Also, my buddies and I created a player for our franchise on The Show this year and made him perfect as a pitcher and Ubaldo is still better in real life.
Surprise team: I thought Aaron Boone was crazy when he said that the Reds would win the NL Wild Card this year, but with Cueto dealing and a line-up that rakes, I’m starting to think that the Cards will actually have their work cut out for them.
Surprise players: One, who the heck is Jose Bautista, and will he continue to lead the AL in homers? Also, what is up with all these catchers hitting home runs all of a sudden?
As for June, we have much to look forward to. It was announced today that Stephen Strasburg will start against the Pirates on June 8th. I expect a nationally televised game.
May 31, 2010
May 20, 2010
Learning a Lesson from Brian Cushing and the NFL
Last week, we found out that rookie linebacker Brian Cushing tested positive for an illegal substance (presumably steroids). Unfortunately, we can't know for sure what that substance was but, honestly, it's beside the point. In baseball, a story like this would be THE story for at least a couple of days. We'd have columns and TV segments devoted to such a story being yet another black eye on the face of baseball, about how baseball has not yet cleaned up its act, and that it's a game chock full of cheaters. In football? Some voters made such a mockery of the story (the ensuing re-vote for the Rookie of the Year award Cushing had won) that they even changed their vote from another player to Cushing .
In case you didn't click on the link and read another entire story, here's a quote for you:
John McClain, who covers the Texans and the N.F.L. for The Houston Chronicle, offered his reason on Twitter for voting for Cushing again: “I vote Kevin Williams All-Pro every year knowing he tested positive. I voted for Peppers in ’02.”
Maybe we would see an MLB writer say this (look up Buster Olney's thoughts on steroids and the Hall of Fame sometime...as a writer who gets a vote for the Hall of Fame, he's actually campaigning AGAINST his having a vote and the way we judge those guilty or suspected of taking steroids) but that writer is a clear oddity, not the norm. Cushing kept his award, meaning that voters like John McClain were indeed of the prevailing mindset. Why such a discrepancy between two popular American sports? The answer: a multi-layered reality check that numerous baseball fans have refused to undertake.
Personally, I respect the NFL writers' re-vote and would've done the same thing myself. Why pretend that something isn't going on and then acting like a moral authority when you definitively find out that it is? Baseball writers LOVED guys like McGwire when they were saving baseball (everyone knew McGwire was taking andro, which is a baby step away from steroids...it was often reported on and NOBODY CARED. Why the sudden moral high ground years after the fact?) yet bastardized them once they could no longer ignore the facts and the realization that steroids were much bigger than just a few guys. But honestly, shouldn't we care LESS once we find out it's a bigger problem? If only a few guys are doing it, then you're given an uneven playing field. If a vast majority are doing it, you're back to even again (or as close as you might get). And that's where the NFL writers get it. They know what goes on but they accept, and even embrace, the fact that people love watching large, fast men run at each other and knock the living crap out of each other. We accept it because it's an even playing field, just like baseball has been.
Right now, if anyone is actually reading this, you're probably a little fired up and thinking about what a complete moron I am. It's possible that I am (actually likely) but I stand by the fact that the Steroid Era should not just be blackballed from baseball history. No, steroids should not just be embraced going forward. It's good that baseball is finally on top of it and working on their testing and ridding the game of PEDs. But the past DID happen and those guys were still very talented ballplayers. Embrace their performance based on the fact that they were competing against guys doing the same questionable things to get better. Sure, there are home run numbers that are skewed.
But let's compare players the way we should--in comparison to those around them. Players of past eras played without blacks or latinos, on speed, on crack...the list goes on of the different things that changed the conditions under which players played. So instead of living in the past and pretending like all of these cross-generational comparisons based on home runs and RBIs really make sense, let's evaluate players in comparison to how they dominated the era in which they played. The NFL gets it. Hopefully Major League Baseball can take a couple of hints and move the game into a new golden age.
In case you didn't click on the link and read another entire story, here's a quote for you:
John McClain, who covers the Texans and the N.F.L. for The Houston Chronicle, offered his reason on Twitter for voting for Cushing again: “I vote Kevin Williams All-Pro every year knowing he tested positive. I voted for Peppers in ’02.”
Maybe we would see an MLB writer say this (look up Buster Olney's thoughts on steroids and the Hall of Fame sometime...as a writer who gets a vote for the Hall of Fame, he's actually campaigning AGAINST his having a vote and the way we judge those guilty or suspected of taking steroids) but that writer is a clear oddity, not the norm. Cushing kept his award, meaning that voters like John McClain were indeed of the prevailing mindset. Why such a discrepancy between two popular American sports? The answer: a multi-layered reality check that numerous baseball fans have refused to undertake.
Personally, I respect the NFL writers' re-vote and would've done the same thing myself. Why pretend that something isn't going on and then acting like a moral authority when you definitively find out that it is? Baseball writers LOVED guys like McGwire when they were saving baseball (everyone knew McGwire was taking andro, which is a baby step away from steroids...it was often reported on and NOBODY CARED. Why the sudden moral high ground years after the fact?) yet bastardized them once they could no longer ignore the facts and the realization that steroids were much bigger than just a few guys. But honestly, shouldn't we care LESS once we find out it's a bigger problem? If only a few guys are doing it, then you're given an uneven playing field. If a vast majority are doing it, you're back to even again (or as close as you might get). And that's where the NFL writers get it. They know what goes on but they accept, and even embrace, the fact that people love watching large, fast men run at each other and knock the living crap out of each other. We accept it because it's an even playing field, just like baseball has been.
Right now, if anyone is actually reading this, you're probably a little fired up and thinking about what a complete moron I am. It's possible that I am (actually likely) but I stand by the fact that the Steroid Era should not just be blackballed from baseball history. No, steroids should not just be embraced going forward. It's good that baseball is finally on top of it and working on their testing and ridding the game of PEDs. But the past DID happen and those guys were still very talented ballplayers. Embrace their performance based on the fact that they were competing against guys doing the same questionable things to get better. Sure, there are home run numbers that are skewed.
But let's compare players the way we should--in comparison to those around them. Players of past eras played without blacks or latinos, on speed, on crack...the list goes on of the different things that changed the conditions under which players played. So instead of living in the past and pretending like all of these cross-generational comparisons based on home runs and RBIs really make sense, let's evaluate players in comparison to how they dominated the era in which they played. The NFL gets it. Hopefully Major League Baseball can take a couple of hints and move the game into a new golden age.
May 10, 2010
My Great Awakening
Last night during Sunday Night Baseball, I did something that would have made the 14 year old version of myself hunt down the new me, wait until I fell asleep, and then smother my new self to death with a pillow. You see, for the first 21 years of my life, I considered myself to be a huge Boston Red Sox fan. On top of that, I hated to New York Yankees more than anything else in the entire world. The climax of my hate probably occurred at the age of 14 during the 2001 World Series, when on back-to-back nights Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius tied the game up in the bottom of the ninth against the D-Backs (Byung-Hyun Kim is still to his day the least clutch baseball player in the history of the world). I was young and impressionable back then (not to mention even dumber than I am now), and would find myself swearing at the tv in my bedroom on a Thursday night. 8 years later, I have changed my ways, and found new things to become angry about (people who don't get cheese in the omelette line in the cafeteria). I also thought I had developed a fool-proof strategy to combat my anger along the way as well: drafting as many Yankees as possible for my fantasy baseball team. I saw it as a win-win situation: the Yankees lose and that's great or they win and thus I win in fantasy. However, something just overcame me last fall during the ALDS and I don't exactly know why. Maybe it was Nick Punto overrunning 3rd base in the playoffs and everyone around Minnesota being satisfied that they simply just made the playoffs in a terrible division again, or maybe it was the simple idea that when it was a close game in the series, the Yankees were going to win. Or maybe it's just the simple fact that the Yankees are the truest example of a professional organization ever known to humanity and we all should be cheering them on. So last night, I sat down for the Sunday Night Baseball game of the week, and can truly say that I wanted the Yankees to beat the Red Sox.
I must admit, I was not given the fairest shot to become a Yankees fan when I was a boy. My opinion of them was clouded by the idea that they won with crybabies like Paul O'Neill, evil-doers like Roger Clemens, and talent wasters like Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. My mind has changed though (I win a lot in fantasy), and I have my reasons (stats free for once).
1.) If you have the money, spend it: This means that you go out and get someone like Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia because it's pitching and 3 run homers that win championships. I'm really over the teams that have gotten caught up with the whole defense wins championships in baseball idea (Boston) and go out and sign Mike Cameron. Yeah that looks great, especially when the Yankees got Curtis Granderson and your own line-up has JD Drew batting in the 5 hole. Wait who bats 5th for the Yankees? Oh yeah, the next Triple Crown winner (you heard it here, or if you were at the Ole Baseball fantasy baseball draft of 2009), Robinson Cano. The Yankees also are in the top 5 in all of baseball in terms of having players from their system on the current 25 man roster.
2.) The Yankees have cooler players than the Red Sox: Derek Jeter is baseball's best model for consistency (after Pujols), Jorge Posada is a success story, Cano and Granderson define sweetness, Arod and Teixeira are dudes, the worst 2 hitters of their order, if that's possible, are an on base and a stolen base machine (Swisher and Gardner), and CC Sabathia is a true ace. On the other hand, Josh Beckett is a tool. I feel so far removed from the Josh Beckett that shut out New York in game 6 of the 2003 World Series, and am too focused on the one who throws at people and has a 7.46 ERA.
3.) Building a team based on defense is stupid.
4.) The Red Sox are trendy (I despise being trendy).
5.) Mariano Rivera
So as I go on this year, I will be cheering for the Yankees (and the A Team), and hoping that they finish second in the East to the Rays!
I must admit, I was not given the fairest shot to become a Yankees fan when I was a boy. My opinion of them was clouded by the idea that they won with crybabies like Paul O'Neill, evil-doers like Roger Clemens, and talent wasters like Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. My mind has changed though (I win a lot in fantasy), and I have my reasons (stats free for once).
1.) If you have the money, spend it: This means that you go out and get someone like Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia because it's pitching and 3 run homers that win championships. I'm really over the teams that have gotten caught up with the whole defense wins championships in baseball idea (Boston) and go out and sign Mike Cameron. Yeah that looks great, especially when the Yankees got Curtis Granderson and your own line-up has JD Drew batting in the 5 hole. Wait who bats 5th for the Yankees? Oh yeah, the next Triple Crown winner (you heard it here, or if you were at the Ole Baseball fantasy baseball draft of 2009), Robinson Cano. The Yankees also are in the top 5 in all of baseball in terms of having players from their system on the current 25 man roster.
2.) The Yankees have cooler players than the Red Sox: Derek Jeter is baseball's best model for consistency (after Pujols), Jorge Posada is a success story, Cano and Granderson define sweetness, Arod and Teixeira are dudes, the worst 2 hitters of their order, if that's possible, are an on base and a stolen base machine (Swisher and Gardner), and CC Sabathia is a true ace. On the other hand, Josh Beckett is a tool. I feel so far removed from the Josh Beckett that shut out New York in game 6 of the 2003 World Series, and am too focused on the one who throws at people and has a 7.46 ERA.
3.) Building a team based on defense is stupid.
4.) The Red Sox are trendy (I despise being trendy).
5.) Mariano Rivera
So as I go on this year, I will be cheering for the Yankees (and the A Team), and hoping that they finish second in the East to the Rays!
May 1, 2010
MLB First Basemen: Thanks Ryan Howard!
Before I get into anything else, I'd like to congratulate Ryan Howard for pulling a fast one on the Phillies. And to Phillies management...I'd like to an extend an open-hand slap to you for completely distorting the salary picture in Major League Baseball. Howard is a great player that has shown the kind of dedication you like to see out of your stars. He's gotten himself in better shape and gotten at least marginally better at first base (still by no means a great first baseman). But how is he worth more than Joe Mauer? Mark Teixeira? Really? Howard is still a couple of years away from free agency and yet the Phils (who have pressing needs this coming offseason, like re-signing Jayson Werth) made him the 2nd highest paid player in baseball. And yes, I am bitter about the contract because of the baseline it just set for the Albert Pujols negotiations. If Howard got $25 mil, expect Pujols to get nothing less than $30 mil/year for about 8-10 years. And the Cardinals have no choice but to pay him. Assuming their payroll pushes to just over $100 million, they'll have almost half of their entire payroll locked up in Pujols and Holliday. Damn you, Phillies (but from the offices of the agents of Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, and Adrian Gonzalez a collective THANK YOU).
In my bitterness, I'd like to, with a smile and a laugh, welcome back Brad Lidge. I guess the Phillies really need you back. In your first appearance, you showed exactly why the Phillies missed you. Wait...you gave up two hits (one of them a home run) in your 1/3 of an inning to kick off 2010. Sure, you missed some time and you're just getting back into "game shape". I would give you the benefit of the doubt, but you look exactly the same as you did last year when you gave up nearly 2 HRs per 9 innings and had a WHIP of over 1.8. If I was running the Phillies, I'd be looking for closer help NOW. I just can't see relying on a guy that hasn't been a dominant closer since 2005. And now everyone (and by everyone I mean no one because no one is actually reading this...I'm writing for myself) will jump up and down and point out how he didn't blow a save in all of 2008 and that he was hurt most of last year (whatever excuse he needs to justify the putrid numbers). So yes, Lidge did his job in 2008 and got the saves he was supposed to. But ever since that Pujols moonshot (apologies on the quality...Major League Baseball has done a great job of killing its popularity by removing nearly any video from YouTube), Lidge has never had a WHIP of below 1.23. At times he's gotten the job done, but it's never been the same. Every save is an adventure and, come playoff time, I'd rather take the closer that has every hitter going "Oh sh*t".
Speaking of hitters saying "Oh sh*t", I'm getting way too excited about Stephen Strasburg. And I'm not even a Nationals fan. Why have none of their fans written a letter to the owner and sent it to the Washington Post begging management to bring him up? Bring the dude up NOW and give your fans some excitement. What else can the Nationals do that will generate any kind of buzz? You're not contending this year, you're not going to be competing in September...give the fans a reason to buy jerseys, a reason to go to the ballpark, and a reason to actually identify themselves as Nationals fans.
And building off of that, might I actually start watching the Nationals over the next couple of years? After this June's draft, I'll have my answer (and you should have yours as well). If they take Bryce Harper with the #1 pick, the Nats could have one of the most exciting young trios in baseball by 2011 or 2012 (Strasburg, Harper, and Jordan Zimmerman coming back from Tommy John). Zimmerman is the most under-the-radar of the bunch but was considered the top pitcher in their system before his opening season was cut short by Tommy John surgery (and the subsequent drafting of Strasburg). So please, Nationals management, draft Bryce Harper and give your fans genuine hope (If they don't draft Harper, fans need to scream for draft reform. It already needs to happen, but this will be the best and most extreme example of why the MLB Draft sucks. Teams can't trade draft picks and there's no real rookie slotting system. Teams that have less money end up drafting guys based on signability as opposed to the top player available. Ask the Padres how they feel about this.) But hey, let's live optimistically for the time being. Here's to the future of the Nats...and to the hopeful demise of the Phillies and that damn contract.
In my bitterness, I'd like to, with a smile and a laugh, welcome back Brad Lidge. I guess the Phillies really need you back. In your first appearance, you showed exactly why the Phillies missed you. Wait...you gave up two hits (one of them a home run) in your 1/3 of an inning to kick off 2010. Sure, you missed some time and you're just getting back into "game shape". I would give you the benefit of the doubt, but you look exactly the same as you did last year when you gave up nearly 2 HRs per 9 innings and had a WHIP of over 1.8. If I was running the Phillies, I'd be looking for closer help NOW. I just can't see relying on a guy that hasn't been a dominant closer since 2005. And now everyone (and by everyone I mean no one because no one is actually reading this...I'm writing for myself) will jump up and down and point out how he didn't blow a save in all of 2008 and that he was hurt most of last year (whatever excuse he needs to justify the putrid numbers). So yes, Lidge did his job in 2008 and got the saves he was supposed to. But ever since that Pujols moonshot (apologies on the quality...Major League Baseball has done a great job of killing its popularity by removing nearly any video from YouTube), Lidge has never had a WHIP of below 1.23. At times he's gotten the job done, but it's never been the same. Every save is an adventure and, come playoff time, I'd rather take the closer that has every hitter going "Oh sh*t".
Speaking of hitters saying "Oh sh*t", I'm getting way too excited about Stephen Strasburg. And I'm not even a Nationals fan. Why have none of their fans written a letter to the owner and sent it to the Washington Post begging management to bring him up? Bring the dude up NOW and give your fans some excitement. What else can the Nationals do that will generate any kind of buzz? You're not contending this year, you're not going to be competing in September...give the fans a reason to buy jerseys, a reason to go to the ballpark, and a reason to actually identify themselves as Nationals fans.
And building off of that, might I actually start watching the Nationals over the next couple of years? After this June's draft, I'll have my answer (and you should have yours as well). If they take Bryce Harper with the #1 pick, the Nats could have one of the most exciting young trios in baseball by 2011 or 2012 (Strasburg, Harper, and Jordan Zimmerman coming back from Tommy John). Zimmerman is the most under-the-radar of the bunch but was considered the top pitcher in their system before his opening season was cut short by Tommy John surgery (and the subsequent drafting of Strasburg). So please, Nationals management, draft Bryce Harper and give your fans genuine hope (If they don't draft Harper, fans need to scream for draft reform. It already needs to happen, but this will be the best and most extreme example of why the MLB Draft sucks. Teams can't trade draft picks and there's no real rookie slotting system. Teams that have less money end up drafting guys based on signability as opposed to the top player available. Ask the Padres how they feel about this.) But hey, let's live optimistically for the time being. Here's to the future of the Nats...and to the hopeful demise of the Phillies and that damn contract.
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