This weekend I got to write the Rangers Farm Reports in place of Scott Lucas for the Newberg Report. It was a lot of fun, and I would like to thank both Jamey Newberg and Scott Lucas for letting me write those reports.
This week I will give my AL and NL All-Star teams. These are as if the All-Star game was today, and who I think it should be (which is completely hypothetical, since with the fan vote there will be about 8 Yankees starting, and possibly one player from a team outside the Bronx).
AL:
Starters:
C: Joe Mauer, MIN (.348 AVG, 2 HR, 21 RBI) – Joe has one of the top batting averages in the American League at almost .350, and also has plenty of RBIs, especially for his position.
1B: Justin Morneau, MIN (.377 AVG, 11 HR, 33 RBI) – Justin leads all balloted American League first basemen in batting average, is second in home runs, and is tied for second in RBIs. I think that pretty obviously makes him the starter.
2B: Robinson Cano, NYY (.337 AVG, 9 HR, 28 RBI) – Robinson leads all balloted American League second basemen in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. There is nothing else he could do to make himself more deserving of this spot.
SS: Elvis Andrus, TEX (.312 AVG, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 17 SB) – Elvis leads AL shortstops in batting average by a lot, as no one else is even above .290, and only one is above .280. He also leads shortstops in stolen bases by 11.
3B: Evan Longoria, TB (.319 AVG, 9 HR, 38 RBI) – Evan is second among AL third basemen in batting average, and nobody else’s power numbers are close to his, as he leads them in both home runs and RBIs.
DH: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.341 AVG, 10 HR, 37 RBI) – Vlad has obviously been the best DH in the American League this year, as nobody else with significant time is even hitting .280, none have as many RBIs as Guerrero, and Jose Guillen is the only other one with 10+ home runs.
OF: Vernon Wells, TOR (.302 AVG, 11 HR, 32 RBI) – Vernon has had a great year, hitting over .300 again, and is 2nd behind teammate Jose Batista among AL outfielders in home runs. He’s also third in RBIs.
OF: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.337 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI) – Nelson is second among AL outfielders in RBIs (even though he’s been on the DL for much of the year), is third in home runs, and is tied for first in batting average.
OF: Magglio Ordonez, DET (.312 AVG, 5 HR, 28 RBI) – Maggs has come back strong this year after a major down-year in 2009, hitting well over .300 with plenty of RBIs.
SP: David Price, TB (6-1, 1.81 ERA, 44 K) – David is leading the American League in both wins and ERA, so I don’t know what else he could do, and I don’t think anyone can possibly be more deserving than a person who leads those two categories.
Reserves:
C: John Buck, TOR (.269 AVG, 8 HR, 24 RBI)
1B: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.333 AVG, 9 HR, 38 RBI)
Kendry Morales, LAA (.294 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI)
2B: Orlando Hudson, MIN (.298 AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI)
SS: Alex Gonzales, TOR (.275 AVG, 10 HR, 30 RBI)
3B: Adrian Beltre, BOS (.321 AVG, 3 HR, 24 RBI)
Michael Young, TEX (.315 AVG, 4 HR, 25 RBI)
Alberto Callaspo, KC (.308 AVG, 7 HR, 28 RBI)
OF: Carl Crawford, TB (.321 AVG, 3 HR, 20 RBI, 11 SB)
Shin-Soo Choo, CLE (.297 AVG, 6 HR, 24 RBI, 9 SB)
Josh Hamilton, TEX (.290 AVG, 8 HR, 25 RBI)
Austin Jackson, DET (.337 AVG, 1 HR, 11 RBI)
Alex Rios, CWS (.303 AVG, 8 HR, 21 RBI, 13 SB)
Nick Markakis, BAL (.305 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI)
SP: Doug Fister, SEA (3-2, 1.96 ERA, 25 K)
Jon Danks, CWS (3-3, 2.26 ERA, 45 K)
Matt Garza, TB (5-2, 2.37 ERA, 54 K)
CJ Wilson, TEX (3-1, 2.55 ERA, 39 K)
James Shields, TB (5-1, 3.08 ERA, 66 K)
Jered Weaver, LAA (4-2, 3.40 ERA, 60 K)
RP: Neftali Feliz, TEX (12 SV, 3.22 ERA, 23 K)
Kevin Gregg, TOR (12 SV, 3.26 ERA, 22 K)
Rafael Soriano, TB (12 SV, 1.42 ERA, 16 K)
Jose Valverde, DET (11 SV, 0.48 ERA, 13 K)
Andrew Bailey, OAK (7 SV, 1.08 ERA, 10 K)
Players by Team:
Texas Rangers – 7(3 starters)
Tampa Bay Rays – 6(2)
Detroit Tigers – 4(1)
Toronto Blue Jays – 4(1)
Minnesota Twins – 3(2)
Chicago White Sox – 2(0)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 2(0)
Baltimore Orioles – 1(0)
Boston Red Sox – 1(0)
Cleveland Indians – 1(0)
Kansas City Royals – 1(0)
New York Yankees – 1(1)
Oakland Athletics – 1(0)
Seattle Mariners – 1(0)
NL:
Starters:
C: Ivan Rodriguez, WAS (.325 AVG, 1 HR, 16 RBI) – Pudge leads all National League catchers in batting average at .325, and it’s not even that close, as Carlos Ruiz is the next closest at .300, at .025 points behind Pudge.
1B: Joey Votto, CIN (.313 AVG, 10 HR, 32 RBI) – Joey leads balloted NL first basemen in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. That’s all three categories, and Votto is also the leader in stolen bases with six.
2B: Chase Utley, PHI (.299 AVG, 10 HR, 23 RBI) – Chase is second behind Martin Prado in NL 2B batting average, and is second behind Dan Uggla in both NL 2B power numbers, but has the most balanced numbers of the three, and is very solid in all three categories.
SS: Stephen Drew, ARI (.301 AVG, 4 HR, 19 RBI) – Stephen is one of the National League shortstops in batting average, and has the best power numbers out of the three NL SS with at least 100 at-bats and are hitting .300 or above.
3B: Casey McGehee, MIL (.317 AVG, 9 HR, 38 RBI) – Casey is one of the leaders in batting average among NL 3B, and has the most RBIs out of that group of players.
DH: Alfonso Soriano, CHC (.319 AVG, 8 HR, 25 RBI) – Alfonso definitely isn’t on the team for his defense (note that he’s in the DH spot), but he has been one of the better-hitting outfielders in the National League, and earned a starting spot on my team.
OF: Ryan Braun, MIL (.325 AVG, 7 HR, 30 RBI) – Ryan has had a great year, and surprisingly hasn’t gotten all that much help from Prince Fielder in the middle of that Brewers lineup, and has had to produce much of Milwaukee’s offense.
OF: Andre Ethier, LAD (.392 AVG, 11 HR, 38 RBI) – Andre Ethier is a triple crown contender, with a batting average just below .400, 11 home runs, and 38 RBIs. Anybody that is way up there in all three major categories deserves to be an All-Star starter.
OF: Jayson Werth, PHI (.322 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI) – Jayson is hitting way over .300, at .322, with very good power numbers (2nd among NL outfielders in home runs, 2nd in RBIs). Those are very solid numbers, and deserving of an All-Star starts.
SP: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (8-1, 0.99 ERA, 58 K) – Ubaldo leads all of the major leagues with 8 wins and a 0.99 ERA, which is miniscule, at less than a run a game. He also has plenty of strikeouts at 58.
Reserves:
C: Rod Barajas, NYM (.260 AVG, 10 HR, 24 RBI)
1B: Albert Pujols, STL (.309 AVG, 8 HR, 29 RBI)
Ryan Howard, PHI (.305 AVG, 8 HR, 32 RBI)
James Loney, LAD (.300 AVG, 4 HR, 28 RBI)
2B: Dan Uggla, FLA (.280 AVG, 11 HR, 28 RBI)
Martin Prado, ATL (.315 AVG, 4 HR, 20 RBI)
SS: Hanley Ramirez, FLA (.296 AVG, 7 HR, 22 RBI)
Troy Tulowitzki, COL (.304 AVG, 3 HR, 20 RBI)
3B: Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (.318 AVG, 8 HR, 25 RBI)
Scott Rolen, CIN (.287 AVG, 10 HR, 27 RBI)
OF: Marlon Byrd, CHC (.315 AVG, 7 HR, 25 RBI)
Johnny Gomes, CIN (.292 AVG, 6 HR, 27 RBI)
Jason Heyward, ATL (.290 AVG, 9 HR, 33 RBI)
Andrew McCutchen, PIT (.319 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 12 SB)
SP: Jaime Garcia, STL (4-2, 1.28 ERA, 42 K)
Livan Hernandez, WAS (4-2, 1.62 ERA, 19 K)
Roy Halladay, PHI (6-2, 1.64 ERA, 58 K)
Tim Hudson, ATL (5-1, 2.09 ERA, 26 K)
Tim Lincecum, SF (5-0, 2.35 ERA, 75 K)
Roy Oswalt, HOU (2-6, 2.66 ERA, 60 K)
RP: Matt Capps, WAS (16 SV, 2.01 ERA, 20 K)
Francisco Cordero, CIN (14 SV, 4.09 ERA, 18 K)
Heath Bell, SD (12 SV, 0.95 ERA, 24 K)
Jonathon Broxton, LAD (10 SV, 1.45 ERA, 29 K)
Matt Lindstrom, HOU (10 SV, 1.40 ERA, 15 K)
Players by Team:
Cincinnati Reds – 4(1 starter)
Philadelphia Phillies – 4(2)
Washington Nationals – 4(1)
Atlanta Braves – 3(0)
Los Angeles Dodgers – 3(1)
Chicago Cubs – 2(1)
Colorado Rockies – 2(1)
Florida Marlins – 2(0)
Houston Astros – 2(0)
Milwaukee Brewers – 2(0)
St. Louis Cardinals – 2(0)
Arizona Diamondbacks – 1(1)
New York Mets – 1(0)
Pittsburgh Pirates – 1(0)
San Diego – 1(0)
San Francisco – 1(0)
Come back next week for my May Awards.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4 and GM Comparison
This week I will post the fourth part of my Jon Daniels Trade Analysis series, giving each trade from August 18th of 2009 through the present a win, loss, or draw. Please see the 4/18/10 post for the last entry in this series. I will also compare Jon to Doug Melvin, Jon Hart, and Tom Grieve.
One thing that’s tough about analyzing these recent trades is trying to project what prospects might do in the future. So I didn’t do that, meaning I’m scoring each trade on the basis of the impact at the major league level as of today, because impact at the major league level is ultimately how each trade will be judged. That means that many of the scores will probably change sometime in the future.
8/18/09 Acquired C Ivan Rodriguez from the Houston Astros for RHP Matt Nevarez and SS Jose Vallejo.
Win – Neither Nevarez or Vallejo have made it to the majors yet (although Nevarez is on Houston’s 40-man roster), while Pudge was a good contributor for the Rangers last year. He hit just .245 with 2 home runs and 13 RBI’s in his 98 at-bats with Texas, but that was better than the Rangers were getting from the catching position before that. Plus it was awesome having Pudge as a Ranger again.
Record: 18-6-11
9/4/09 Acquired RHP Danny Gutierrez from the Kansas City Royals for LF Tim Smith and C Manuel Pina.
Draw – This trade could easily end up being a win or a loss, as nobody has made it to the majors in this deal yet. Manny Pina is the only one of the three on a 40-man roster.
Record: 18-6-12
12/7/09 Acquired RHP Clay Rapada from the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations.
Draw – Although the Rangers gave up nothing, they haven’t gotten anything in return. I could definitely see this one being a win by the end of the year, as Rapada has a good ERA at Triple-A, at 3.00.
Record: 18-6-13
12/9/09 Acquired RHP Chris Ray and Ben Snyder from the Baltimore Orioles for RHP Kevin Millwood and cash.
Loss – This move was basically Kevin Millwood for Chris Ray and Rich Harden, because the trade was to get enough money to sign Harden. Harden has a 4.93 ERA, while Millwood has a 3.69 ERA, and although Chris Ray has been very good this year, with a 2.76 ERA, it’s still not worth it, because Millwood has been significantly better than Harden and we could use Millwood’s presence in the rotation. Snyder hasn’t played in the majors for the Rangers yet.
Record: 18-7-13
1/26/10 Traded Greg Golson to the New York Yankees for Mitch Hilligoss and cash.
Draw – Golson is currently on the Yankees’ major league roster but has only had 5 at-bats so far, so this is still a draw for the moment.
Record: 18-7-14
3/22/10 Acquired C Matt Treanor from the Milwaukee Brewers for SS Ray Olmedo.
Win – Ray Olmedo hasn’t played for the Brewers yet, and although Treanor hasn’t been very good (.200 AVG, 1 HR, 6 RBI), the most important thing he did was that he allowed the Rangers to send both Salty and Teagarden down to figure it out. This win isn’t about performance, it’s about what it allowed the Rangers to do.
Record: 19-7-14
3/24/10 Acquired SS Gregorio Petit from the Oakland Athletics for RHP Edwar Ramirez.
Draw – Even though Petit hasn’t played for the Rangers, and Ramirez has pitched for the A’s, Ramirez has allowed 7 runs in 11 innings, and has walked 10, so he’s been terrible, and he’s not in the majors anymore.
Record: 19-7-15
3/27/10 Acquired SS Andres Blanco from the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later.
Win – Blanco is hitting just .222, and his on-base percentage would only be an okay batting average, and that’s horrible. But I give this a win because Blanco is providing some contribution at the major league level and helped us fill a gap while Kinsler was out, while so far we haven’t given up anything in return.
Record: 20-7-15
4/2/10 Traded RHP Luis Mendoza to the Kansas City Royals for cash.
Draw – A change of scenery did nothing for Luis Mendoza, unless you look at the ERA differential from last year and not the actual ERA’s. His ERA is down 13.50 from last year, but is still at 22.50. After just four innings the Royals sent him down to the minors, so the Rangers aren’t missing anything.
Record: 20-7-16
Finally, I accidentally skipped a trade I should have covered last week:
11/28/08 Traded Wes Littleton to the Boston Red Sox for cash. The Boston Red Sox sent Beau Vaughan (December 11, 2008) to the Rangers to complete the trade.
Draw – Neither player has appeared in the majors since the trade.
Record: 20-7-17
Comparison:
Tom Grieve:
Record: 10-13-28
Winning percentage: 43%
Number of trades: 51 in 11 years (average of 4.6 trades per year)
Doug Melvin:
Record: 15-14-16
Winning percentage: 52%
Number of trades: 45 in 7 years (average of 6.4 trades per year)
John Hart:
Record: 7-11-18
Winning percentage: 39%
Number of trades: 36 in 4 years (average of 9 trades per year)
Jon Daniels:Record: 20-7-17
Winning percentage: 74%
Number of trades: 44 in 4.5 years (average of 9.8 trades per year)
Come back next week for my May All-Star Teams.
One thing that’s tough about analyzing these recent trades is trying to project what prospects might do in the future. So I didn’t do that, meaning I’m scoring each trade on the basis of the impact at the major league level as of today, because impact at the major league level is ultimately how each trade will be judged. That means that many of the scores will probably change sometime in the future.
8/18/09 Acquired C Ivan Rodriguez from the Houston Astros for RHP Matt Nevarez and SS Jose Vallejo.
Win – Neither Nevarez or Vallejo have made it to the majors yet (although Nevarez is on Houston’s 40-man roster), while Pudge was a good contributor for the Rangers last year. He hit just .245 with 2 home runs and 13 RBI’s in his 98 at-bats with Texas, but that was better than the Rangers were getting from the catching position before that. Plus it was awesome having Pudge as a Ranger again.
Record: 18-6-11
9/4/09 Acquired RHP Danny Gutierrez from the Kansas City Royals for LF Tim Smith and C Manuel Pina.
Draw – This trade could easily end up being a win or a loss, as nobody has made it to the majors in this deal yet. Manny Pina is the only one of the three on a 40-man roster.
Record: 18-6-12
12/7/09 Acquired RHP Clay Rapada from the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations.
Draw – Although the Rangers gave up nothing, they haven’t gotten anything in return. I could definitely see this one being a win by the end of the year, as Rapada has a good ERA at Triple-A, at 3.00.
Record: 18-6-13
12/9/09 Acquired RHP Chris Ray and Ben Snyder from the Baltimore Orioles for RHP Kevin Millwood and cash.
Loss – This move was basically Kevin Millwood for Chris Ray and Rich Harden, because the trade was to get enough money to sign Harden. Harden has a 4.93 ERA, while Millwood has a 3.69 ERA, and although Chris Ray has been very good this year, with a 2.76 ERA, it’s still not worth it, because Millwood has been significantly better than Harden and we could use Millwood’s presence in the rotation. Snyder hasn’t played in the majors for the Rangers yet.
Record: 18-7-13
1/26/10 Traded Greg Golson to the New York Yankees for Mitch Hilligoss and cash.
Draw – Golson is currently on the Yankees’ major league roster but has only had 5 at-bats so far, so this is still a draw for the moment.
Record: 18-7-14
3/22/10 Acquired C Matt Treanor from the Milwaukee Brewers for SS Ray Olmedo.
Win – Ray Olmedo hasn’t played for the Brewers yet, and although Treanor hasn’t been very good (.200 AVG, 1 HR, 6 RBI), the most important thing he did was that he allowed the Rangers to send both Salty and Teagarden down to figure it out. This win isn’t about performance, it’s about what it allowed the Rangers to do.
Record: 19-7-14
3/24/10 Acquired SS Gregorio Petit from the Oakland Athletics for RHP Edwar Ramirez.
Draw – Even though Petit hasn’t played for the Rangers, and Ramirez has pitched for the A’s, Ramirez has allowed 7 runs in 11 innings, and has walked 10, so he’s been terrible, and he’s not in the majors anymore.
Record: 19-7-15
3/27/10 Acquired SS Andres Blanco from the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later.
Win – Blanco is hitting just .222, and his on-base percentage would only be an okay batting average, and that’s horrible. But I give this a win because Blanco is providing some contribution at the major league level and helped us fill a gap while Kinsler was out, while so far we haven’t given up anything in return.
Record: 20-7-15
4/2/10 Traded RHP Luis Mendoza to the Kansas City Royals for cash.
Draw – A change of scenery did nothing for Luis Mendoza, unless you look at the ERA differential from last year and not the actual ERA’s. His ERA is down 13.50 from last year, but is still at 22.50. After just four innings the Royals sent him down to the minors, so the Rangers aren’t missing anything.
Record: 20-7-16
Finally, I accidentally skipped a trade I should have covered last week:
11/28/08 Traded Wes Littleton to the Boston Red Sox for cash. The Boston Red Sox sent Beau Vaughan (December 11, 2008) to the Rangers to complete the trade.
Draw – Neither player has appeared in the majors since the trade.
Record: 20-7-17
Comparison:
Tom Grieve:
Record: 10-13-28
Winning percentage: 43%
Number of trades: 51 in 11 years (average of 4.6 trades per year)
Doug Melvin:
Record: 15-14-16
Winning percentage: 52%
Number of trades: 45 in 7 years (average of 6.4 trades per year)
John Hart:
Record: 7-11-18
Winning percentage: 39%
Number of trades: 36 in 4 years (average of 9 trades per year)
Jon Daniels:Record: 20-7-17
Winning percentage: 74%
Number of trades: 44 in 4.5 years (average of 9.8 trades per year)
Come back next week for my May All-Star Teams.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Weekend Recap
This week will be a short post because I had an all-weekend baseball tournament in Grand Prairie and I’m worn out. We were out there for about 7 hours Saturday and about 8 hours Sunday.
We got to know the nearby McDonald’s very well over the weekend.
Between games on Saturday in Grand Prairie, me and my dad headed over to the AirHogs stadium (the AirHogs are an independent league team) to kill some time at the team store. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they were having a free exhibition game. We got to see a couple innings before heading back over to my games.
On Saturday night my dad, my sister, and I went to the RoughRiders game and got to see Martin Perez pitch against the Midland Rockhounds. He only went four innings, allowing one run. That wasn’t surprising, though, because he hasn’t gone over five innings in a start all year. He looked pretty good and Brennan Garr did a good job after him in relief.
Next week I will have a full article. Come back for Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4.
We got to know the nearby McDonald’s very well over the weekend.
Between games on Saturday in Grand Prairie, me and my dad headed over to the AirHogs stadium (the AirHogs are an independent league team) to kill some time at the team store. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they were having a free exhibition game. We got to see a couple innings before heading back over to my games.
On Saturday night my dad, my sister, and I went to the RoughRiders game and got to see Martin Perez pitch against the Midland Rockhounds. He only went four innings, allowing one run. That wasn’t surprising, though, because he hasn’t gone over five innings in a start all year. He looked pretty good and Brennan Garr did a good job after him in relief.
Next week I will have a full article. Come back for Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
April Awards
This week I will do my April Awards. The awards are as if the season ended today.
Rangers:
MVP: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.323 AVG, 7 HR, 17 RBI) – Nelson is 2nd on the team in batting average, leads the team in home runs, and leads the team in RBIs. That makes him the obvious choice.
Runner-up: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.326 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI)
Cy Young: CJ Wilson, TEX (2-1, 1.75 ERA, 21 K) – Even though Colby Lewis leads the AL in strikeouts, CJ Wilson is third in the AL in ERA, and I value ERA much more than strikeouts, because, in my mind, it doesn’t matter how you get the outs (although strikeouts are the coolest).
Runner-up: Colby Lewis, TEX (3-0, 2.76 ERA, 38 K)
Rookie of the Year: Joaquin Arias, TEX (.321 AVG, 0 HR, 3 RBI) – Even though Joaquin has no power numbers, his batting average is still very, very good, and the only other two rookies on the team are Smoak and Feliz.
Runner-up: Neftali Feliz, TEX (4 SV, 5.40 ERA, 13 K)
AL:
MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.343 AVG, 5 HR, 26 RBI) – Miguel leads the major leagues in RBIs with 26, and in my opinion, that’s way more important than home runs, although 5 isn’t too bad. He is also 7th in the AL in batting average.
Runner-up: Justin Morneau, MIN (.347 AVG, 5 HR, 17 RBI, .490 OBP)
Cy Young: Francisco Liriano, MIN (3-0, 0.93 ERA, 27 K) – Francisco leads the American League in ERA. He is tied for 2nd in the AL in wins with three, and he has just been dominant. He is one of just three pitchers, along with Ubaldo Jimenez and Livan Hernandez, that have an ERA under 1.00.
Runner-up: Matt Garza, TB (4-1, 2.06 ERA, 34 K)
Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, DET (.356 AVG, 1 HR, 7 RBI) – Austin is the only American League rookie with an average above .300 or an ERA below 3.50, so I think he pretty obviously deserves it.
Runner-up: Reid Brignac, TB (.283 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI)
Manager of the Year: Joe Madden, TB (17-7, 1st place) – The Rays have a very good team, but they are still overachieving at a .708 winning percentage. They are also 9-1 on the road, which is incredible.
Runner-up: Bob Geren, OAK (13-12, 1st place)
NL:
MVP: Ryan Braun, MIL (.361 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI) – Ryan is tied for 6th in the NL in RBIs with 20 of them, and he has also hit 5 home runs on the year. His .361 batting average is second in the National League.
Runner-up: Andre Ethier, LAD (.350 AVG, 7 HR, 22 RBI)
Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (5-0, 0.79 ERA, 31 K) – Ubaldo leads major league baseball in ERA, and in wins. If that doesn’t make you a Cy Young Award winner, I don’t know what will.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay, PHI (5-1, 1.47 ERA, 39 K)
Rookie of the Year: Jon Niese, NYM (1-1, 3.10 ERA, 25 K) – Jon is just one of five Mets starting pitchers that are pitching lights-out, with a 3.10 ERA. That said, though, if Jason Heyward had a better batting average, he would have this spot.
Runner-up: Jason Heyward, ATL (.256 AVG, 7 HR, 20 RBI)
Manager of the Year: Bud Black, SD (15-9, 1st place) – Coming into the year I thought that the Padres might be the worst team in baseball, but after the month of April San Diego is in first place with a .625 winning percentage.
Runner-up: Jim Riggleman, WAS (13-11, 3rd place)
Come back next week for my Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4.
Rangers:
MVP: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.323 AVG, 7 HR, 17 RBI) – Nelson is 2nd on the team in batting average, leads the team in home runs, and leads the team in RBIs. That makes him the obvious choice.
Runner-up: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.326 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI)
Cy Young: CJ Wilson, TEX (2-1, 1.75 ERA, 21 K) – Even though Colby Lewis leads the AL in strikeouts, CJ Wilson is third in the AL in ERA, and I value ERA much more than strikeouts, because, in my mind, it doesn’t matter how you get the outs (although strikeouts are the coolest).
Runner-up: Colby Lewis, TEX (3-0, 2.76 ERA, 38 K)
Rookie of the Year: Joaquin Arias, TEX (.321 AVG, 0 HR, 3 RBI) – Even though Joaquin has no power numbers, his batting average is still very, very good, and the only other two rookies on the team are Smoak and Feliz.
Runner-up: Neftali Feliz, TEX (4 SV, 5.40 ERA, 13 K)
AL:
MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.343 AVG, 5 HR, 26 RBI) – Miguel leads the major leagues in RBIs with 26, and in my opinion, that’s way more important than home runs, although 5 isn’t too bad. He is also 7th in the AL in batting average.
Runner-up: Justin Morneau, MIN (.347 AVG, 5 HR, 17 RBI, .490 OBP)
Cy Young: Francisco Liriano, MIN (3-0, 0.93 ERA, 27 K) – Francisco leads the American League in ERA. He is tied for 2nd in the AL in wins with three, and he has just been dominant. He is one of just three pitchers, along with Ubaldo Jimenez and Livan Hernandez, that have an ERA under 1.00.
Runner-up: Matt Garza, TB (4-1, 2.06 ERA, 34 K)
Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, DET (.356 AVG, 1 HR, 7 RBI) – Austin is the only American League rookie with an average above .300 or an ERA below 3.50, so I think he pretty obviously deserves it.
Runner-up: Reid Brignac, TB (.283 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI)
Manager of the Year: Joe Madden, TB (17-7, 1st place) – The Rays have a very good team, but they are still overachieving at a .708 winning percentage. They are also 9-1 on the road, which is incredible.
Runner-up: Bob Geren, OAK (13-12, 1st place)
NL:
MVP: Ryan Braun, MIL (.361 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI) – Ryan is tied for 6th in the NL in RBIs with 20 of them, and he has also hit 5 home runs on the year. His .361 batting average is second in the National League.
Runner-up: Andre Ethier, LAD (.350 AVG, 7 HR, 22 RBI)
Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (5-0, 0.79 ERA, 31 K) – Ubaldo leads major league baseball in ERA, and in wins. If that doesn’t make you a Cy Young Award winner, I don’t know what will.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay, PHI (5-1, 1.47 ERA, 39 K)
Rookie of the Year: Jon Niese, NYM (1-1, 3.10 ERA, 25 K) – Jon is just one of five Mets starting pitchers that are pitching lights-out, with a 3.10 ERA. That said, though, if Jason Heyward had a better batting average, he would have this spot.
Runner-up: Jason Heyward, ATL (.256 AVG, 7 HR, 20 RBI)
Manager of the Year: Bud Black, SD (15-9, 1st place) – Coming into the year I thought that the Padres might be the worst team in baseball, but after the month of April San Diego is in first place with a .625 winning percentage.
Runner-up: Jim Riggleman, WAS (13-11, 3rd place)
Come back next week for my Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4.
Monday, April 26, 2010
April All-Star Teams
I think it’s crazy that three weeks into the season, the All-Star ballot is already online, but since it is I will do my first monthly All-Star team. I will say who I think the All-Star team should be if the game was today.
AL: stats as of April 24th
Starters:
C: Joe Mauer, MIN (.333 AVG, 1 HR, 10 RBI) – Joe leads all Al catchers on the ballot in RBIs and batting average. He is hitting .333, and even though he has just one home run so far this year, he is still the best of the catchers.
1B: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.353 AVG, 4 HR, 21 RBI) – Miguel is hitting .353 so far this year, which is 2nd among AL first basemen, and he is also second in home runs with four. But Miguel’s best stat this season is RBIs, as he leads all of major league baseball with 21.
2B: Robinson Cano, NYY (.333 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI) – Robinson leads all AL second basemen on the ballot with a sufficient number of at-bats in batting average by a lot, as no one else is even hitting .300. He also is second in both home runs and RBIs.
SS: Derek Jeter, NYY (.328 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI) – Derek has a great batting average, and, like Cano, he is leading AL shortstops in batting average at .328. His power numbers aren’t too shabby, either, with 3 homers and 10 RBIs.
3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYY (.322 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI) – Alex has had a great year so far this April, leading AL third basemen in batting average, and is tied for second in RBIs. Alex rounds out the 75% Yankee starting infield, which was painful to make, since it’s the Yankees.
DH: Jose Guillen, KC (.354 AVG, 6 HR, 13 RBI) – Jose leads the American League DHs in batting average, home runs, and RBIs, so I really don’t think there’s much to argue about in this spot in the lineup, although Vlad is the closest to catching him.
OF: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.327 AVG, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 5 SB) – Nelson is tied for the major league lead in home runs, leads AL outfielders in RBIs, and is hitting well over .300, with is batting average at .327. That doesn’t even mention his 5 stolen bases, 6th among balloted AL outfielders.
OF: Vernon Wells, TOR (.344 AVG, 7 HR, 13 RBI) – Vernon is tied with Nelson for the major league lead in home runs, and also has a batting average way above .300, at .344. The only thing that he has going against him is that he’s driven in himself more than he has his teammates.
OF: Scott Podsednik, KC (.415 AVG, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 7 SB) – Scott leads the American League in batting average at .415, so he obviously leads the outfielders. Even though he has poor power numbers, anybody hitting .400 or above with 7 stolen bases deserves to start.
SP: Jon Danks, CWS (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 21 K) – Jon leads the American League in ERA, and has a plethora of strikeouts (that’s a good vocab word). At 2-0, he is tied for 3rd in the AL in wins, so he is toward the top of all three major categories.
Reserves:
C: Jorge Posada, NYY (.320 AVG, 3 HR, 9 RBI)
Matt Wieters, BAL (.311 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
1B: Kendry Morales, LAA (.303 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
Justin Morneau, MIN (.356 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI)
2B: Dustin Pedroia, BOS (.271 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
SS: Alex Gonzalez, TOR (.292 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
Elvis Andrus, TEX (.286 AVG, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB)
3B: Alberto Callaspo, KC (.302 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI)
Evan Longoria, TB (.297 AVG, 3 HR, 13 RBI)
DH: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.345 AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
OF: Michael Cuddyer, MIN (.324 AVG, 3 HR, 15 RBI)
Carl Crawford, TB (.328 AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 7 SB)
Shin-Soo Choo, CLE (.286 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI)
Franklin Gutierrez, SEA (.391 AVG, 0 HR, 10 RBI)
SP: Matt Garza, TB (3-1, 2.17 ERA, 25 K)
Justin Duchscherer, OAK (2-0, 1.82 ERA, 15 K)
Doug Fister, SEA (2-1, 1.42 ERA, 9 K)
Francisco Liriano, MIN (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 17 K)
Andy Pettite, NYY (2-0, 1.35 ERA, 14 K)
CJ Wilson, TEX (1-1, 1.37 ERA, 16 K)
Ricky Romero, TOR (1-1, 1.57 ERA, 22 K)
RP: David Aardsma, SEA (6 SV, 0.00 ERA, 7 K)
Jon Rauch, MIN (6 SV, 1.29 ERA, 5 K)
Mariano Rivera, NYY (6 SV, 0.00 ERA, 6 K)
Kevin Gregg, TOR (5 SV, 1.17 ERA, 9 K)
Jose Valverde, DET (5 SV, 1.29 ERA, 4 K)
Players by Team:
New York Yankees – 6
Minnesota Twins – 5
Toronto Blue Jays – 4
Texas Rangers – 4
Tampa Bay Rays – 3
Kansas City Royals – 3
Seattle Mariners – 3
Detroit Tigers – 2
Boston Red Sox – 1
Baltimore Orioles – 1
Chicago White Sox – 1
Cleveland Indians – 1
Oakland Athletics – 1
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 1
NL: stats as of April 25th
Starters:
C: Ivan Rodriguez, WAS (.434 AVG, 0 HR, 8 RBI) – Pudge leads the major leagues in batting average at .434, and I really wish he was still a Ranger, especially with our catching struggles this year. He is also tied second among National League balloted catchers in RBIs.
1B: Adrian Gonzalez, SD (.322 AVG, 5 HR, 12 RBI) – Adrian leads NL first basemen in batting average, is 2nd in home runs, and is 3rd in RBIs. He in the top three in all three categories, and is the only NL first baseman to do that.
2B/DH: Kelly Johnson, ARI (.327 AVG, 6 HR, 10 RBI) – Kelly is tied with Chase Utley among balloted second basemen in home runs, but he has a 30-point edge in batting average on him. Kelly has made a very good first impression with his new team.
2B/DH: Martin Prado, ATL (.409 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI) – Martin is hitting over .400 this year, which obviously leads NL second basemen, but with the strength at the NL second base position, he needed a DH spot to be a starter.
SS: Rafael Furcal, LAD (.329 AVG, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 8 SB) – Rafael leads all NL shortstops in batting average and stolen bases, which makes up for his lack of power numbers, especially with how weak the shortstops have been in the National League.
3B: Casey McGehee, MIL (.338 AVG, 4 HR, 14 RBI) – Casey has been incredible for the Brewers this year, as he is 4th among NL 3B in batting average, is tied for 2nd in home runs, and is tied for 3rd in RBIs. Those are some pretty good stats.
OF: Ryan Braun, MIL (.382 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 4 SB) – Ryan has been incredible this year, and is much deserving of the number one starting outfield spot in the NL. He is 1st among NL outfielders with at least 45 at-bats in batting average, is tied 2nd in home runs, and is tied 1st in RBIs, and he also has four stolen bases. If that’s not an All-Star starter, I don’t know what is.
OF: Andre Ethier, LAD (.362 AVG, 5 HR, 16 RBI) – Andre is 2nd in batting average among outfielders with 45 or more at-bats, behind only Ryan Braun. He is also tied with Ryan in home runs with 5, and is tied 3rd in RBIs in the NL outfield.
OF: Matt Kemp, LAD (.319 AVG, 7 HR, 20 RBI) – Matt is tied for the major league lead in home runs with 7, and even though his batting average doesn’t quite match up with Braun’s or Ethier’s, it’s still very good, and he leads the NL outfield in RBIs along with Ryan Braun.
SP: Roy Halladay, PHI (4-0, 0.82 ERA, 28 K) – Roy is tied for the major league lead with Tim Lincecum and Ubaldo Jimenez in wins with four, is 2nd in the majors in ERA behind Livan Hernandez, and is towards the top in the MLB in strikeouts, too.
Reserves:
C: Bengie Molina, SF (.313 AVG, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
1B: Albert Pujols, STL (.275 AVG, 6 HR, 16 RBI)
Joey Votto, CIN (.290 AVG, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 4 SB)
2B: Rickie Weeks, MIL (.324 AVG, 3 HR, 12 RBI)
Dan Uggla, FLA (.333 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI)
SS: Orlando Cabrera, CIN (.254 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI)
3B: Jorge Cantu, FLA (.278 AVG, 4 HR, 20 RBI)
Ian Stewart, COL (.322 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI)
Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (.341 AVG, 2 HR, 10 RBI)
Chase Headley, SD (.379 AVG, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 5 SB)
OF: Jayson Werth, PHI (.333 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
Josh Willingham, WAS (.321 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 4 SB)
Marlon Byrd, CHC (.338 AVG, 3 HR, 14 RBI)
Brad Hawpe, COL (.357 AVG, 3 HR, 7 RBI)
SP: Livan Hernandez, WAS (2-1, 0.75 ERA, 9 K)
Mike Pelfrey, NYM (3-0, 0.86 ERA, 16 K)
Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (4-0, 0.95 ERA, 25 K)
Carlos Silva, CHC (2-0, 0.95 ERA, 12 K)
Tim Lincecum, SF (4-0, 1.00 ERA, 32 K)
Barry Zito, SF (3-0, 1.32 ERA, 19 K)
Brad Penny, STL (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 13 K)
RP: Matt Capps, WAS (7 SV, 0.87 ERA, 12 K)
Francisco Cordero, CIN (6 SV, 3.12 ERA, 10 K)
Matt Lindstrom, HOU (6 SV, 3.00 ERA, 10 K)
Leo Nunez, FLA (4 SV, 0.00 ERA, 10 K)
Brendan Donnelly, PIT (1-0, 0 SV, 2.25 ERA, 9 K)
Players by Team:
Washington Nationals – 5
Cincinnati Reds – 3
Colorado Rockies – 3
Florida Marlins – 3
Los Angeles Dodgers – 3
Milwaukee Brewers – 3
San Francisco Giants – 3
Chicago Cubs – 2
Philadelphia Phillies – 2
San Diego Padres – 2
St. Louis Cardinals – 2
Arizona Diamondbacks – 1
Atlanta Braves – 1
Houston Astros – 1
New York Mets – 1
Pittsburgh Pirates – 1
Come back next week for my April Awards.
AL: stats as of April 24th
Starters:
C: Joe Mauer, MIN (.333 AVG, 1 HR, 10 RBI) – Joe leads all Al catchers on the ballot in RBIs and batting average. He is hitting .333, and even though he has just one home run so far this year, he is still the best of the catchers.
1B: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.353 AVG, 4 HR, 21 RBI) – Miguel is hitting .353 so far this year, which is 2nd among AL first basemen, and he is also second in home runs with four. But Miguel’s best stat this season is RBIs, as he leads all of major league baseball with 21.
2B: Robinson Cano, NYY (.333 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI) – Robinson leads all AL second basemen on the ballot with a sufficient number of at-bats in batting average by a lot, as no one else is even hitting .300. He also is second in both home runs and RBIs.
SS: Derek Jeter, NYY (.328 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI) – Derek has a great batting average, and, like Cano, he is leading AL shortstops in batting average at .328. His power numbers aren’t too shabby, either, with 3 homers and 10 RBIs.
3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYY (.322 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI) – Alex has had a great year so far this April, leading AL third basemen in batting average, and is tied for second in RBIs. Alex rounds out the 75% Yankee starting infield, which was painful to make, since it’s the Yankees.
DH: Jose Guillen, KC (.354 AVG, 6 HR, 13 RBI) – Jose leads the American League DHs in batting average, home runs, and RBIs, so I really don’t think there’s much to argue about in this spot in the lineup, although Vlad is the closest to catching him.
OF: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.327 AVG, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 5 SB) – Nelson is tied for the major league lead in home runs, leads AL outfielders in RBIs, and is hitting well over .300, with is batting average at .327. That doesn’t even mention his 5 stolen bases, 6th among balloted AL outfielders.
OF: Vernon Wells, TOR (.344 AVG, 7 HR, 13 RBI) – Vernon is tied with Nelson for the major league lead in home runs, and also has a batting average way above .300, at .344. The only thing that he has going against him is that he’s driven in himself more than he has his teammates.
OF: Scott Podsednik, KC (.415 AVG, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 7 SB) – Scott leads the American League in batting average at .415, so he obviously leads the outfielders. Even though he has poor power numbers, anybody hitting .400 or above with 7 stolen bases deserves to start.
SP: Jon Danks, CWS (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 21 K) – Jon leads the American League in ERA, and has a plethora of strikeouts (that’s a good vocab word). At 2-0, he is tied for 3rd in the AL in wins, so he is toward the top of all three major categories.
Reserves:
C: Jorge Posada, NYY (.320 AVG, 3 HR, 9 RBI)
Matt Wieters, BAL (.311 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
1B: Kendry Morales, LAA (.303 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
Justin Morneau, MIN (.356 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI)
2B: Dustin Pedroia, BOS (.271 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
SS: Alex Gonzalez, TOR (.292 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
Elvis Andrus, TEX (.286 AVG, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 5 SB)
3B: Alberto Callaspo, KC (.302 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI)
Evan Longoria, TB (.297 AVG, 3 HR, 13 RBI)
DH: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.345 AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
OF: Michael Cuddyer, MIN (.324 AVG, 3 HR, 15 RBI)
Carl Crawford, TB (.328 AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 7 SB)
Shin-Soo Choo, CLE (.286 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI)
Franklin Gutierrez, SEA (.391 AVG, 0 HR, 10 RBI)
SP: Matt Garza, TB (3-1, 2.17 ERA, 25 K)
Justin Duchscherer, OAK (2-0, 1.82 ERA, 15 K)
Doug Fister, SEA (2-1, 1.42 ERA, 9 K)
Francisco Liriano, MIN (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 17 K)
Andy Pettite, NYY (2-0, 1.35 ERA, 14 K)
CJ Wilson, TEX (1-1, 1.37 ERA, 16 K)
Ricky Romero, TOR (1-1, 1.57 ERA, 22 K)
RP: David Aardsma, SEA (6 SV, 0.00 ERA, 7 K)
Jon Rauch, MIN (6 SV, 1.29 ERA, 5 K)
Mariano Rivera, NYY (6 SV, 0.00 ERA, 6 K)
Kevin Gregg, TOR (5 SV, 1.17 ERA, 9 K)
Jose Valverde, DET (5 SV, 1.29 ERA, 4 K)
Players by Team:
New York Yankees – 6
Minnesota Twins – 5
Toronto Blue Jays – 4
Texas Rangers – 4
Tampa Bay Rays – 3
Kansas City Royals – 3
Seattle Mariners – 3
Detroit Tigers – 2
Boston Red Sox – 1
Baltimore Orioles – 1
Chicago White Sox – 1
Cleveland Indians – 1
Oakland Athletics – 1
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 1
NL: stats as of April 25th
Starters:
C: Ivan Rodriguez, WAS (.434 AVG, 0 HR, 8 RBI) – Pudge leads the major leagues in batting average at .434, and I really wish he was still a Ranger, especially with our catching struggles this year. He is also tied second among National League balloted catchers in RBIs.
1B: Adrian Gonzalez, SD (.322 AVG, 5 HR, 12 RBI) – Adrian leads NL first basemen in batting average, is 2nd in home runs, and is 3rd in RBIs. He in the top three in all three categories, and is the only NL first baseman to do that.
2B/DH: Kelly Johnson, ARI (.327 AVG, 6 HR, 10 RBI) – Kelly is tied with Chase Utley among balloted second basemen in home runs, but he has a 30-point edge in batting average on him. Kelly has made a very good first impression with his new team.
2B/DH: Martin Prado, ATL (.409 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI) – Martin is hitting over .400 this year, which obviously leads NL second basemen, but with the strength at the NL second base position, he needed a DH spot to be a starter.
SS: Rafael Furcal, LAD (.329 AVG, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 8 SB) – Rafael leads all NL shortstops in batting average and stolen bases, which makes up for his lack of power numbers, especially with how weak the shortstops have been in the National League.
3B: Casey McGehee, MIL (.338 AVG, 4 HR, 14 RBI) – Casey has been incredible for the Brewers this year, as he is 4th among NL 3B in batting average, is tied for 2nd in home runs, and is tied for 3rd in RBIs. Those are some pretty good stats.
OF: Ryan Braun, MIL (.382 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 4 SB) – Ryan has been incredible this year, and is much deserving of the number one starting outfield spot in the NL. He is 1st among NL outfielders with at least 45 at-bats in batting average, is tied 2nd in home runs, and is tied 1st in RBIs, and he also has four stolen bases. If that’s not an All-Star starter, I don’t know what is.
OF: Andre Ethier, LAD (.362 AVG, 5 HR, 16 RBI) – Andre is 2nd in batting average among outfielders with 45 or more at-bats, behind only Ryan Braun. He is also tied with Ryan in home runs with 5, and is tied 3rd in RBIs in the NL outfield.
OF: Matt Kemp, LAD (.319 AVG, 7 HR, 20 RBI) – Matt is tied for the major league lead in home runs with 7, and even though his batting average doesn’t quite match up with Braun’s or Ethier’s, it’s still very good, and he leads the NL outfield in RBIs along with Ryan Braun.
SP: Roy Halladay, PHI (4-0, 0.82 ERA, 28 K) – Roy is tied for the major league lead with Tim Lincecum and Ubaldo Jimenez in wins with four, is 2nd in the majors in ERA behind Livan Hernandez, and is towards the top in the MLB in strikeouts, too.
Reserves:
C: Bengie Molina, SF (.313 AVG, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
1B: Albert Pujols, STL (.275 AVG, 6 HR, 16 RBI)
Joey Votto, CIN (.290 AVG, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 4 SB)
2B: Rickie Weeks, MIL (.324 AVG, 3 HR, 12 RBI)
Dan Uggla, FLA (.333 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI)
SS: Orlando Cabrera, CIN (.254 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI)
3B: Jorge Cantu, FLA (.278 AVG, 4 HR, 20 RBI)
Ian Stewart, COL (.322 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI)
Ryan Zimmerman, WAS (.341 AVG, 2 HR, 10 RBI)
Chase Headley, SD (.379 AVG, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 5 SB)
OF: Jayson Werth, PHI (.333 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
Josh Willingham, WAS (.321 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 4 SB)
Marlon Byrd, CHC (.338 AVG, 3 HR, 14 RBI)
Brad Hawpe, COL (.357 AVG, 3 HR, 7 RBI)
SP: Livan Hernandez, WAS (2-1, 0.75 ERA, 9 K)
Mike Pelfrey, NYM (3-0, 0.86 ERA, 16 K)
Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (4-0, 0.95 ERA, 25 K)
Carlos Silva, CHC (2-0, 0.95 ERA, 12 K)
Tim Lincecum, SF (4-0, 1.00 ERA, 32 K)
Barry Zito, SF (3-0, 1.32 ERA, 19 K)
Brad Penny, STL (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 13 K)
RP: Matt Capps, WAS (7 SV, 0.87 ERA, 12 K)
Francisco Cordero, CIN (6 SV, 3.12 ERA, 10 K)
Matt Lindstrom, HOU (6 SV, 3.00 ERA, 10 K)
Leo Nunez, FLA (4 SV, 0.00 ERA, 10 K)
Brendan Donnelly, PIT (1-0, 0 SV, 2.25 ERA, 9 K)
Players by Team:
Washington Nationals – 5
Cincinnati Reds – 3
Colorado Rockies – 3
Florida Marlins – 3
Los Angeles Dodgers – 3
Milwaukee Brewers – 3
San Francisco Giants – 3
Chicago Cubs – 2
Philadelphia Phillies – 2
San Diego Padres – 2
St. Louis Cardinals – 2
Arizona Diamondbacks – 1
Atlanta Braves – 1
Houston Astros – 1
New York Mets – 1
Pittsburgh Pirates – 1
Come back next week for my April Awards.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 3
It’s been a while since I did a summary of Jon Daniels’ trades. The last time I did it was in October of 2007, at which time I had given him a 16-4-7 record for all of his trades up to that point. This week I continued my Jon Daniels Trade Analysis, taking up where I left off, and gave each trade a win, loss, or a draw, and analyzed them.
One thing that’s tough about analyzing these recent trades is trying to project what prospects might do in the future. So I didn’t do that, meaning I’m scoring each trade on the basis of the impact at the major league level as of today, because impact at the major league level is ultimately how each trade will be judged. That means that many of the scores will probably change sometime in the future.
12/6/07 - Acquired 1B Chris Shelton from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for OF Freddy Guzman
Draw – Chris was terrible as a Ranger. In his 97 at-bats as a Ranger, Chris hit just .216, and had a terrible .330 slugging percentage. Not only did he hit .216, Chris struck out 33 times, 34% of his at-bats. Freddy Guzman has just 10 at-bats and one hit since the trade.
Record: 16-4-8
12/21/07 - Acquired OF Josh Hamilton from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Edinson Volquez and Minor League LHP Danny Herrera.
Loss – Josh and Volquez have basically done the same so far, they both had All-Star years in 2008, and then were injured for much of the year in 2009. So they cancel each other out. But the Reds also got a very solid relief pitcher in the trade. Danny Ray Herrera had a 3.06 ERA in 61.2 innings pitched in 2009. Herrera is a very valuable left-handed specialist in the Reds bullpen. There is a great chance when it’s all said and done this trade will be a win, but as of today, it’s slightly in the Reds’ favor.
Record: 16-5-8
2/5/08 - Acquired OF Michael Hernandez from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for RHP Armando Galarraga.
Loss – Armando had a great year in 2008 with the Tigers, as he had a 13-7 record and a 3.73 ERA in 178.2 innings pitched. He had a .226 opponents batting average. He didn’t have anywhere near as good a year in ’09 as he did in ’08, with a 5.64 ERA in 143.2 innings pitched. That is in exchange for Michael Hernandez, who has never made it to the majors.
Record: 16-6-8
3/28/08 - Acquired RHP Dustin Nippert from the Arizona Diamondbacks for non-roster RHP Jose Marte.
Win – Dustin Nippert has been a very good contributor to the Rangers, while Jose Marte has never made it to the big league for the Diamondbacks or for any other team. Dustin had a 3.88 ERA in 69.2 innings for the Rangers in 2009 and is very valuable, as he can be used as a long reliever or a spot starter.
Record: 17-6-8
8/25/08 - Acquired RHP Mark Hamburger from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for LHP Eddie Guardado
Draw – Eddie pitched only 7 innings for the Twins in ’08 after the trade before coming back to the Rangers for the ’09 season. Mark Hamburger has not yet made it to the Rangers (and is currently with the High-A team), but the Rangers only gave up 7 innings to get him. This trade made no difference to either team to this point, but has the chance to become a win for the Rangers depending on what Hamburger does.
Record: 17-6-9
11/20/08 - Acquired OF Greg Golson from the Philadelphia Phillies for OF John Mayberry.
Draw – Neither player has played significant time in the majors since the trade, although John Mayberry, Jr. did get 57 at-bats with the Phillies last year (and also got a World Series ring). But he hit just .211, even though he did hit four home runs. Golson got just one at-bat as a Ranger. Even though Mayberry has been better, it’s not significant enough to make it a loss at this point. That could change in the future, though, as Mayberry is still with the Phillies while Golson is out of the Rangers’ organization.
Record: 17-6-10
12/8/08 - Acquired RHP Guillermo Moscoso and RHP Carlos Melo from the Detroit Tigers for C Gerald Laird.
Draw – Even though the Rangers really struggled at the catcher position offensively last year, and Salty got injured, Gerald Laird didn’t have a good season either. He hit just .225 with four home runs and 33 RBI’s in 413 at-bats for the Detroit Tigers last season. Moscoso has pitched 14 innings in the majors for the Rangers (3.21 ERA), which obviously isn’t significant time, and Carlos Melo has not yet made it to the major leagues (and it looks like he’ll be on one of the short season clubs this year).
Record: 17-6-11
Come back next week for Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4 and a GM Comparison.
One thing that’s tough about analyzing these recent trades is trying to project what prospects might do in the future. So I didn’t do that, meaning I’m scoring each trade on the basis of the impact at the major league level as of today, because impact at the major league level is ultimately how each trade will be judged. That means that many of the scores will probably change sometime in the future.
12/6/07 - Acquired 1B Chris Shelton from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for OF Freddy Guzman
Draw – Chris was terrible as a Ranger. In his 97 at-bats as a Ranger, Chris hit just .216, and had a terrible .330 slugging percentage. Not only did he hit .216, Chris struck out 33 times, 34% of his at-bats. Freddy Guzman has just 10 at-bats and one hit since the trade.
Record: 16-4-8
12/21/07 - Acquired OF Josh Hamilton from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Edinson Volquez and Minor League LHP Danny Herrera.
Loss – Josh and Volquez have basically done the same so far, they both had All-Star years in 2008, and then were injured for much of the year in 2009. So they cancel each other out. But the Reds also got a very solid relief pitcher in the trade. Danny Ray Herrera had a 3.06 ERA in 61.2 innings pitched in 2009. Herrera is a very valuable left-handed specialist in the Reds bullpen. There is a great chance when it’s all said and done this trade will be a win, but as of today, it’s slightly in the Reds’ favor.
Record: 16-5-8
2/5/08 - Acquired OF Michael Hernandez from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for RHP Armando Galarraga.
Loss – Armando had a great year in 2008 with the Tigers, as he had a 13-7 record and a 3.73 ERA in 178.2 innings pitched. He had a .226 opponents batting average. He didn’t have anywhere near as good a year in ’09 as he did in ’08, with a 5.64 ERA in 143.2 innings pitched. That is in exchange for Michael Hernandez, who has never made it to the majors.
Record: 16-6-8
3/28/08 - Acquired RHP Dustin Nippert from the Arizona Diamondbacks for non-roster RHP Jose Marte.
Win – Dustin Nippert has been a very good contributor to the Rangers, while Jose Marte has never made it to the big league for the Diamondbacks or for any other team. Dustin had a 3.88 ERA in 69.2 innings for the Rangers in 2009 and is very valuable, as he can be used as a long reliever or a spot starter.
Record: 17-6-8
8/25/08 - Acquired RHP Mark Hamburger from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for LHP Eddie Guardado
Draw – Eddie pitched only 7 innings for the Twins in ’08 after the trade before coming back to the Rangers for the ’09 season. Mark Hamburger has not yet made it to the Rangers (and is currently with the High-A team), but the Rangers only gave up 7 innings to get him. This trade made no difference to either team to this point, but has the chance to become a win for the Rangers depending on what Hamburger does.
Record: 17-6-9
11/20/08 - Acquired OF Greg Golson from the Philadelphia Phillies for OF John Mayberry.
Draw – Neither player has played significant time in the majors since the trade, although John Mayberry, Jr. did get 57 at-bats with the Phillies last year (and also got a World Series ring). But he hit just .211, even though he did hit four home runs. Golson got just one at-bat as a Ranger. Even though Mayberry has been better, it’s not significant enough to make it a loss at this point. That could change in the future, though, as Mayberry is still with the Phillies while Golson is out of the Rangers’ organization.
Record: 17-6-10
12/8/08 - Acquired RHP Guillermo Moscoso and RHP Carlos Melo from the Detroit Tigers for C Gerald Laird.
Draw – Even though the Rangers really struggled at the catcher position offensively last year, and Salty got injured, Gerald Laird didn’t have a good season either. He hit just .225 with four home runs and 33 RBI’s in 413 at-bats for the Detroit Tigers last season. Moscoso has pitched 14 innings in the majors for the Rangers (3.21 ERA), which obviously isn’t significant time, and Carlos Melo has not yet made it to the major leagues (and it looks like he’ll be on one of the short season clubs this year).
Record: 17-6-11
Come back next week for Jon Daniels Trade Analysis Part 4 and a GM Comparison.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Rangers Week 1 Recap
I will have a short post this week because I had an all-weekend baseball tournament out in Mansfield. There’s an amazing baseball complex in Mansfield called Big League Dreams. Each of the eight fields is a replica of a classic major league ballpark. The attention to detail is incredible. This weekend, our games are in replicas of the Polo Grounds and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. They also have replicas of Ebbets Field, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Sportsman’s Park, and Crosley Field. They have two pretty nice restaurants too (one called the Diamond Club and one called the Stadium Club), each overlooking four of the fields. Even if you don’t have a game there, you can tour the complex for $3, eat at the restaurant, and watch whatever games are being played. It was the coolest place I’ve ever played at.
This week I will give a brief recap of the week’s Rangers games.
Opening Day vs. Toronto (1-0):
Scott Feldman pitched really well other than just a couple of bad pitches (he went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs). Neftali Feliz came on in the eight and he really struggled, allowing one run and walking two while getting just one out. Darren Oliver and Frankie Francisco came in to pitch after him, and got the job done. The Rangers got no-hit through six and a third innings before Vlad singled (following a Josh Hamilton walk), followed by a Nelson Cruz home run to tie the game at 3 in the seventh. After Feliz gave the Blue Jays the lead back in the 8th, the Rangers got the bases loaded with one out in the ninth when Jarrod Saltalamacchia came up and hit a walk-off single to win the ballgame. They won 5-4. We were at this game and it couldn’t have been a better day.
Wednesday, April 7th vs. Toronto (1-1):
Rich Harden started for the Rangers and really struggled. He went just 3 and two-thirds innings, allowed just one hit, three runs (one earned), and struck out eight, but he walked five batters. 8 of his 11 outs were strikeouts. Dustin Nippert came in after Harden, and didn’t do any better, allowing three runs and walking four in 2 and two-thirds innings. Darren O’Day came in after him and threw 1.1 scoreless innings, but Darren Oliver gave up a solo home run to Vernon Wells. Chris Ray got the final two outs for the Rangers and allowed no runs. Borbon, Young, Hamilton, Arias, Murphy, Salty, Andrus, and Teagarden combined to go 1-22, (a .045 batting average) and Josh struck out in all four of his at-bats. Nelson Cruz and Vladimir Guerrero hit back-to-back home runs, but they were basically the Rangers’ whole offense, and they lost 7-4.
Thursday, April 8th vs. Toronto (1-2):
CJ Wilson pitched great, and he went 7 shutout innings, striking out 9 and allowing only 7 batters to get on base. After CJ, Feliz came in and threw a perfect 8th inning, but after him Frankie Francisco came in to pitch, and he was terrible. He got just two outs, allowed four hits, three runs (all earned), and walked one, to make his ERA 16.20. Darren Oliver got the last out of the 9th inning. The Rangers hit just as bad in this game as they did on Wednesday, as Borbon, Young, Garko, Arias, Teagarden, Blanco, Hamilton, and Andrus combined to go 0-for-21, while Cruz and Guerrero went 4-for-7. The Rangers lost the game 3-1.
Friday, April 9th vs. Seattle (2-2):
Colby Lewis started this game and picked up the win, going 7 innings, and allowing just one run. Chris Ray pitched the 8th inning, and allowed a solo home run to Casey Kotchman. Doug Mathis then pitched a perfect ninth inning, and struck out two. Nelson Cruz hit his third home run of the season, and him and Guerrero combined to go 5-for-8 in this game. After Cruz’ fourth inning home run, the Rangers scored four runs in the 6th inning, and one run in the 7th. The Rangers won 6-2.
Saturday, April 10th vs. Seattle (2-3):
Matt Harrison started for the Rangers and pitched really well, giving up just one run in six innings of work. Dustin Nippert and Neftali Feliz both followed that up with scoreless innings of their own. But then, once again, Frankie Francisco came in to pitch the ninth, and got one out, allowing three runs. And the out was on a sac bunt, so he didn’t really even get that one, either. Darren O’Day then came in to finish off the inning for the Rangers. Besides Joaquin Arias, the Rangers combined to go 4-for-29 (a .138 batting average). Nelson Cruz hit a solo homer in the sixth, but due to Frankie’s poor pitching, the Rangers lost 4-3.
Sunday, April 11th vs. Seattle (3-3):
Scott Feldman had 7 strong innings once again on Sunday against the Mariners. He allowed just two runs (one earned) in his 7 innings of work, and picked up the win. Doug Mathis and Chris Ray each pitched scoreless innings after him. The Rangers hit much better on Sunday, as everyone got a hit except for David Murphy, and he became the first player ever to get on base by two catcher interference calls in the same game. Michael Young hit his first home run of the year in the first inning off Ian Snell, and, once again Vlad and Cruz both had really good games. Josh Hamilton also doubled twice and walked in the game. The Rangers won 9-2.
Through one week, the Rangers should be 5-1, but their “closer” has made them 3-3. The Rangers’ hitting besides Guerrero, Cruz, Arias, and Hamilton has got to pick up. I’m starting to get a little worried about Chris Davis, but the starting rotation is looking great.
Come back next week for more analysis on the Rangers.
This week I will give a brief recap of the week’s Rangers games.
Opening Day vs. Toronto (1-0):
Scott Feldman pitched really well other than just a couple of bad pitches (he went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs). Neftali Feliz came on in the eight and he really struggled, allowing one run and walking two while getting just one out. Darren Oliver and Frankie Francisco came in to pitch after him, and got the job done. The Rangers got no-hit through six and a third innings before Vlad singled (following a Josh Hamilton walk), followed by a Nelson Cruz home run to tie the game at 3 in the seventh. After Feliz gave the Blue Jays the lead back in the 8th, the Rangers got the bases loaded with one out in the ninth when Jarrod Saltalamacchia came up and hit a walk-off single to win the ballgame. They won 5-4. We were at this game and it couldn’t have been a better day.
Wednesday, April 7th vs. Toronto (1-1):
Rich Harden started for the Rangers and really struggled. He went just 3 and two-thirds innings, allowed just one hit, three runs (one earned), and struck out eight, but he walked five batters. 8 of his 11 outs were strikeouts. Dustin Nippert came in after Harden, and didn’t do any better, allowing three runs and walking four in 2 and two-thirds innings. Darren O’Day came in after him and threw 1.1 scoreless innings, but Darren Oliver gave up a solo home run to Vernon Wells. Chris Ray got the final two outs for the Rangers and allowed no runs. Borbon, Young, Hamilton, Arias, Murphy, Salty, Andrus, and Teagarden combined to go 1-22, (a .045 batting average) and Josh struck out in all four of his at-bats. Nelson Cruz and Vladimir Guerrero hit back-to-back home runs, but they were basically the Rangers’ whole offense, and they lost 7-4.
Thursday, April 8th vs. Toronto (1-2):
CJ Wilson pitched great, and he went 7 shutout innings, striking out 9 and allowing only 7 batters to get on base. After CJ, Feliz came in and threw a perfect 8th inning, but after him Frankie Francisco came in to pitch, and he was terrible. He got just two outs, allowed four hits, three runs (all earned), and walked one, to make his ERA 16.20. Darren Oliver got the last out of the 9th inning. The Rangers hit just as bad in this game as they did on Wednesday, as Borbon, Young, Garko, Arias, Teagarden, Blanco, Hamilton, and Andrus combined to go 0-for-21, while Cruz and Guerrero went 4-for-7. The Rangers lost the game 3-1.
Friday, April 9th vs. Seattle (2-2):
Colby Lewis started this game and picked up the win, going 7 innings, and allowing just one run. Chris Ray pitched the 8th inning, and allowed a solo home run to Casey Kotchman. Doug Mathis then pitched a perfect ninth inning, and struck out two. Nelson Cruz hit his third home run of the season, and him and Guerrero combined to go 5-for-8 in this game. After Cruz’ fourth inning home run, the Rangers scored four runs in the 6th inning, and one run in the 7th. The Rangers won 6-2.
Saturday, April 10th vs. Seattle (2-3):
Matt Harrison started for the Rangers and pitched really well, giving up just one run in six innings of work. Dustin Nippert and Neftali Feliz both followed that up with scoreless innings of their own. But then, once again, Frankie Francisco came in to pitch the ninth, and got one out, allowing three runs. And the out was on a sac bunt, so he didn’t really even get that one, either. Darren O’Day then came in to finish off the inning for the Rangers. Besides Joaquin Arias, the Rangers combined to go 4-for-29 (a .138 batting average). Nelson Cruz hit a solo homer in the sixth, but due to Frankie’s poor pitching, the Rangers lost 4-3.
Sunday, April 11th vs. Seattle (3-3):
Scott Feldman had 7 strong innings once again on Sunday against the Mariners. He allowed just two runs (one earned) in his 7 innings of work, and picked up the win. Doug Mathis and Chris Ray each pitched scoreless innings after him. The Rangers hit much better on Sunday, as everyone got a hit except for David Murphy, and he became the first player ever to get on base by two catcher interference calls in the same game. Michael Young hit his first home run of the year in the first inning off Ian Snell, and, once again Vlad and Cruz both had really good games. Josh Hamilton also doubled twice and walked in the game. The Rangers won 9-2.
Through one week, the Rangers should be 5-1, but their “closer” has made them 3-3. The Rangers’ hitting besides Guerrero, Cruz, Arias, and Hamilton has got to pick up. I’m starting to get a little worried about Chris Davis, but the starting rotation is looking great.
Come back next week for more analysis on the Rangers.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Recent Rangers Moves
This week I’ll catch up on all of the Rangers’ trades and acquisitions from the last few weeks, and analyze them.
On March 9th, the Rangers acquired Edwar Ramirez from the New York Yankees for cash considerations:
I like this trade, because we basically got a major league relief pitcher for nothing. Edwar had a good year with the Yankees in 2008, going 55.1 innings with 3.90 ERA, but then struggled in ’09, going only 22 innings with a 5.73 ERA. But he pitched well in Triple-A, as he had a 3.18 ERA in 51 innings with Scranton Wilkes-Barr (that’s a long name for a city). Cash considerations means that the Yankees might get some cash from the Rangers depending on how Ramirez performs. The Rangers ended up trading Ramirez to the A’s right after that, though.
Grade: C, it isn’t meaningful enough for a high grade
Then, on March 13th, the Rangers claimed Hernan Iribarren off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers. This was a good move, as the Rangers needed more infielders since Khalil Greene couldn’t make it with his social anxiety disorder, and when the Rangers claimed him he actually had a shot to make the team. But he didn’t perform well in Spring Training, as in his 19 total at-bats (Brewers and Rangers) he had just three hits, all of them singles. He has 27 career major league at-bats, and has five hits, a .185 batting average.
On March 22nd, the Rangers traded Ray Olmedo to the Milwaukee Brewers for Matt Treanor:
I like this trade, also, because Ray Olmedo was not going to make the team, and the Rangers needed another catcher in case Salty wasn’t ready to go at the start of the season. Matt has a career .232 batting average in 736 major league at-bats. He is a good defensive catcher, with a career .988 fielding percentage. Like Iribarren, Treanor did not end up making the team, but could be an option to fill in during the season if they need temporary help.
Grade: B-, Matt could still end up being helpful if Salty gets injured again
On March 24th, the Rangers traded Edwar Ramirez to the Oakland Athletics for Gregorio Petit:
I’ve already covered Edwar Ramirez, so I’ll just cover Petit for this trade. Gregorio Petit had 54 major league at-bats for the A’s between ’08 and ’09, and hit .278. Last year with Triple-A Sacramento, Petit hit .244 with five home runs and 32 RBI’s in 357 at-bats. Petit had a very good chance of being the Rangers’ utility infielder until they traded for Andres Blanco, who eventually ended up getting the job.
Grade: C+, Petit could have been valuable, while Ramirez probably wasn’t going to make the team. Ramirez may have had more long-term value though.
On March 27th, the Rangers acquired Andres Blanco from the Chicago Cubs for either a player to be named later or cash:
This is a very good trade, as even though Blanco isn’t the nicest guy (I found that out at the Rangers Spring Training game in Frisco on Saturday), he still will be a solid utility infielder for the Rangers. He is a very good defensive player, and hit well with Triple-A Iowa last year, with a .304 batting average. The Rangers gave up almost nothing to get him, and he should help the team throughout the year. I don’t see any way this ends up being a bad trade. Unless the player to be named later is a legitimate prospect, which is doubtful, even if Blanco doesn’t perform, we didn’t give up anything for him.
Grade: A-, it’s not a big enough trade to go above an A-
On April 1st, the Rangers traded Edwin Escobar to the San Francisco Giants to keep Ben Snyder:
Ben Snyder was the Rangers’ Rule-5 draft pick that they received from the Orioles as part of the Kevin Millwood trade. Snyder didn’t make the team, so he would have gone back to the Giants had the Rangers not made this trade. Ben did not have a good spring (9.00 ERA), but has good stats in the minors, with his ERA not rising above 3.75 in his minor league career. Edwin Escobar went 2-5 with a 5.00 ERA in 13 games with the Arizona League Rangers last year. Escobar has some potential but I think Snyder’s is higher and he’s much closer to contributing to a major league team.
Grade: B-, once again this wasn’t a big enough trade to go much higher
On April 1st, the Rangers claimed Ryan Garko off waivers from the Seattle Mariners. This is a great move. The Rangers have been trying to get Garko since last summer, and he will be the backup corner infielder for the Rangers to start the season. The Mariners waived him after he had a bad spring, batting in the low .200s. Ryan will be a big addition, and I’d much rather have him than Matt Brown or Max Ramirez.
On April 2nd, the Rangers traded Luis Mendoza to the Kansas City Royals for cash:
Luis was out of options and wasn’t going to make the Rangers’ roster. The Rangers got nothing for him (not surprising). In his career, Luis has a 7.73 major league ERA in 80 innings, and personally, I’m happy to get rid of the guy. He just wasn’t performing, but was still in the mix for a bullpen job early this spring.
Grade: C, it doesn’t matter at all
Also, on the day that I left Surprise, news broke that Ron Washington took cocaine last season. It was a stupid thing to do, and I can’t believe he would do it. I really still don’t know what to think of it, and I’m hoping that it will make the players more determined, so that they can show that their manager is a good one.
I enjoyed spring training, but I’m glad it’s over. I can’t wait for opening day tomorrow.
Come back next week for a breakdown of week 1 of the season.
On March 9th, the Rangers acquired Edwar Ramirez from the New York Yankees for cash considerations:
I like this trade, because we basically got a major league relief pitcher for nothing. Edwar had a good year with the Yankees in 2008, going 55.1 innings with 3.90 ERA, but then struggled in ’09, going only 22 innings with a 5.73 ERA. But he pitched well in Triple-A, as he had a 3.18 ERA in 51 innings with Scranton Wilkes-Barr (that’s a long name for a city). Cash considerations means that the Yankees might get some cash from the Rangers depending on how Ramirez performs. The Rangers ended up trading Ramirez to the A’s right after that, though.
Grade: C, it isn’t meaningful enough for a high grade
Then, on March 13th, the Rangers claimed Hernan Iribarren off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers. This was a good move, as the Rangers needed more infielders since Khalil Greene couldn’t make it with his social anxiety disorder, and when the Rangers claimed him he actually had a shot to make the team. But he didn’t perform well in Spring Training, as in his 19 total at-bats (Brewers and Rangers) he had just three hits, all of them singles. He has 27 career major league at-bats, and has five hits, a .185 batting average.
On March 22nd, the Rangers traded Ray Olmedo to the Milwaukee Brewers for Matt Treanor:
I like this trade, also, because Ray Olmedo was not going to make the team, and the Rangers needed another catcher in case Salty wasn’t ready to go at the start of the season. Matt has a career .232 batting average in 736 major league at-bats. He is a good defensive catcher, with a career .988 fielding percentage. Like Iribarren, Treanor did not end up making the team, but could be an option to fill in during the season if they need temporary help.
Grade: B-, Matt could still end up being helpful if Salty gets injured again
On March 24th, the Rangers traded Edwar Ramirez to the Oakland Athletics for Gregorio Petit:
I’ve already covered Edwar Ramirez, so I’ll just cover Petit for this trade. Gregorio Petit had 54 major league at-bats for the A’s between ’08 and ’09, and hit .278. Last year with Triple-A Sacramento, Petit hit .244 with five home runs and 32 RBI’s in 357 at-bats. Petit had a very good chance of being the Rangers’ utility infielder until they traded for Andres Blanco, who eventually ended up getting the job.
Grade: C+, Petit could have been valuable, while Ramirez probably wasn’t going to make the team. Ramirez may have had more long-term value though.
On March 27th, the Rangers acquired Andres Blanco from the Chicago Cubs for either a player to be named later or cash:
This is a very good trade, as even though Blanco isn’t the nicest guy (I found that out at the Rangers Spring Training game in Frisco on Saturday), he still will be a solid utility infielder for the Rangers. He is a very good defensive player, and hit well with Triple-A Iowa last year, with a .304 batting average. The Rangers gave up almost nothing to get him, and he should help the team throughout the year. I don’t see any way this ends up being a bad trade. Unless the player to be named later is a legitimate prospect, which is doubtful, even if Blanco doesn’t perform, we didn’t give up anything for him.
Grade: A-, it’s not a big enough trade to go above an A-
On April 1st, the Rangers traded Edwin Escobar to the San Francisco Giants to keep Ben Snyder:
Ben Snyder was the Rangers’ Rule-5 draft pick that they received from the Orioles as part of the Kevin Millwood trade. Snyder didn’t make the team, so he would have gone back to the Giants had the Rangers not made this trade. Ben did not have a good spring (9.00 ERA), but has good stats in the minors, with his ERA not rising above 3.75 in his minor league career. Edwin Escobar went 2-5 with a 5.00 ERA in 13 games with the Arizona League Rangers last year. Escobar has some potential but I think Snyder’s is higher and he’s much closer to contributing to a major league team.
Grade: B-, once again this wasn’t a big enough trade to go much higher
On April 1st, the Rangers claimed Ryan Garko off waivers from the Seattle Mariners. This is a great move. The Rangers have been trying to get Garko since last summer, and he will be the backup corner infielder for the Rangers to start the season. The Mariners waived him after he had a bad spring, batting in the low .200s. Ryan will be a big addition, and I’d much rather have him than Matt Brown or Max Ramirez.
On April 2nd, the Rangers traded Luis Mendoza to the Kansas City Royals for cash:
Luis was out of options and wasn’t going to make the Rangers’ roster. The Rangers got nothing for him (not surprising). In his career, Luis has a 7.73 major league ERA in 80 innings, and personally, I’m happy to get rid of the guy. He just wasn’t performing, but was still in the mix for a bullpen job early this spring.
Grade: C, it doesn’t matter at all
Also, on the day that I left Surprise, news broke that Ron Washington took cocaine last season. It was a stupid thing to do, and I can’t believe he would do it. I really still don’t know what to think of it, and I’m hoping that it will make the players more determined, so that they can show that their manager is a good one.
I enjoyed spring training, but I’m glad it’s over. I can’t wait for opening day tomorrow.
Come back next week for a breakdown of week 1 of the season.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Spring Training Trip Report
My dad, my granddad, and I went on a trip to Spring Training last week. We got there on Sunday, March 14th and left on Wednesday, March 17th. It was a great trip and I had a blast. This week I’ll give a recap of my trip and a report on how the players looked.
Sunday, March 14th:
We had a very early flight on Sunday morning (7:25), so I had to wake up at 4:45 AM so we could leave the house at 5:15. I was tired. Our plane was on time, though, so we landed in Phoenix at about 8:00 AM Arizona time. On Sunday morning we went straight to the workouts, which were fun as always, and got to talk to Jamey Newberg, Anthony Andro, TR Sullivan, Ryan Tatusko, and CJ Wilson. CJ was especially nice throughout the whole trip, and took time to talk to me a lot after both the Sunday and Monday workouts. At the workouts, we got to see Tanner Scheppers throw a bullpen session. I noticed that Tanner has a good change in his velocity.
The game was in Surprise, so we had time to go eat lunch at Red Robin before heading over to the game. Red Robin had good food as always, and I was happy to be able to watch some of the ACC Championship game as we ate.
We then went over to the Rangers/Diamondbacks game at Surprise Stadium. Colby Lewis was pitching and got out of the first inning quickly, with a 1-2-3 inning that included two strikeouts, and he looked really good. But after that he started to leave his fastball up, and in the next three innings he gave up six runs, not even finishing the fourth inning. He lost his control and just got pounded. In the third inning alone, he left four fastballs right at the letters, and even the outs were hard hit balls. He ended up going 3.1 innings, giving up six runs, all earned, six hits (including one homer), and striking out four. One thing I noticed about him is how quickly he works. It’s just one pitch after another, no Padilla-like stalking around the mound five times before each pitch. Ben Snyder came in to finish the 4th inning and didn’t fare much better. He gave up a home run to his first batter, and then gave up two more hits and another run in the 5th. He got hit hard by almost every batter and gave up two runs in 1.2 innings. Chris Ray gave up a run and three hits in his only inning, but he actually looked really good. All of his pitches had really good movement, and he seemed to have pretty good command of his pitches. Kasey Kiker, Zach Phillips, and Frankie Francisco pitched scoreless 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, respectively. Hamilton looked very good at the plate, as on the day he went 2-for-3 with one home run and two RBI’s. He homered in the first on a ball he got way under, and ended up hitting it over the right-field bullpen. In the third inning he hit a double off the wall in the gap. Vlad hit it solidly in each at-bat, but went just 1-for-3, and Michael Young was 1-for-3 also. Craig Gentry went 0-for-4 and Justin Smoak went 1-for-3. The Rangers lost the game to the Diamondbacks 9-3 with Colby Lewis picking up the loss.
When we got back to the hotel I checked the computer to see what the NCAA brackets were, and I couldn’t have been happier. Texas A&M (my favorite college) was a 5 seed, and were positioned great. They play an easy team in both the first and second rounds before playing the Sweet 16 in Houston, which would be a home game. I was extremely excited about their chances. For dinner we went to NYPD Pizza. They have great pizza there, and we gobbled it up. We got back to the hotel, and both my granddad and I were asleep by 7:30 PM, leaving my dad unable to make any noise until he went to sleep (that’s never fun, I’m just glad it wasn’t me).
Monday, March 15th:
The Rangers had a night game on Monday, so only the minor leaguers had their workouts in the morning, since the major league workouts didn’t start until 2:30 PM. We went to the minor league workouts and saw a few pitchers pitching to live hitters who weren’t allowed to swing. I got to see Martin Perez pitch, and he looked very good, with excellent command of his pitches, as almost every pitch was at the knees. He had a really good curveball. I got to talk to Blake Beavan, Tim Murphy, Rich Rice, and Court Berry-Tripp. They are all incredibly nice people and I would like to especially thank Rich Rice for helping us out while we were in Arizona.
We went to the Reds game in Goodyear and saw them play the A’s. My dad grew up in Cincinnati, so we are also Reds fans (nowhere close to the Rangers, though). We got to see Ben Sheets pitch for the A’s, and that was a lot of fun because he allowed 10 runs and got 0 outs. He got pulled before he even got an out, raising his Spring ERA to 31.15. The A’s defense was horrible, too. On the very first play, Jake Fox, the left fielder, fell down while tracking down a fly ball, then Sheets muffed a grounder on the next play. Later in the inning, the shortstop made an error, and then let the ball lay on the ground as the runner on second took third. The Reds won the game 13-5.
We went back to Surprise for the major league workouts after the Reds game and got to talk to Scott Lucas and also to Court Berry-Tripp and CJ again. CJ talked to me for a long time again. He is such a nice guy.
We went to the Rangers/Giants night game in Surprise at 6:00, and Rich Harden was pitching. He was bad at the beginning and at the end, but was pretty good in between. He allowed two in the first and two in the fourth, but just one other. He needed 80 pitched to get through 3.2 innings, and he allowed 5 runs, all earned, on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out three. Like Colby, Harden works quickly, and there’s not much time between pitches. Doug Mathis came in to finish the fourth, and then he also pitched the 5th and two outs in the 6th. His stats aren’t too bad, as he gave up no earned runs in his two innings of work, but his control was off. He walked four batters but only gave up one hit. The box score shows that he gave up two hits and one earned run, but they credited a San Francisco batter a hit on an obvious error by Elvis Andrus. On the play, Elvis muffed a line drive, and on the throw to the plate after catching the outfielder’s throw, he bounced it in about five feet to the left of the plate, letting the run score. Edwar Ramirez came in next, and gave up one run in 1.1 innings, and then Darren O’Day gave up one run in 2 innings. Nelson Cruz hit a moon shot to straightaway center on the first pitch he saw in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, both Vlad and Matt Brown had RBI’s. Josh got hit by a pitch on the hand, and that was scary, but he’s fine. The Rangers offense really didn’t do anything again until the 8th inning when Max Ramirez and Justin Smoak both drove in runs. The Rangers lost to the Giants 8-5.
Also, I got the chance to talk with Jon Daniels, Thad Levine, and Scott Lucas during the game, which was fun.
Tuesday, March 16th:
Since the Rangers were playing the Cubs in Mesa, which is over an hour away, the major leaguers weren’t doing workouts when we got to the Rangers’ backfields. But the minor leaguers were, so we went to see them. I saw Wilmer Font pitch. He had a good fastball, but his curveball was a little wild, and he couldn’t really control it.
The Rangers were playing a B-game over at the Royals’ complex, so we went over to see that. Esteban German was very impressive in the game, as he made a couple of very good defensive plays at short and also doubled. Luis Mendoza was the opposite of German, as he did not do well at all. Brandon Boggs hit a home run in the game, too.
After that, Ted Price was nice enough to let me be on his podcast to talk to me about what I had seen in camp. His podcasts are always great, and his site is http://rangerspodcast.blogspot.com. It’s called Rangers Podcast in Arlington. Ted does the podcasts with Jamey, and Adam Morris, and sometimes with a guest. It was so much fun to do, and I would like to thank Ted for having me on. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. The video should still be available on his site. It’s the March 16th entry.
We then headed out to Mesa to see the Rangers play the Cubs. It was a sold out game, and the traffic was terrible. The Cubs’ ballpark is built in a residential neighborhood, so the streets weren’t meant for thirteen thousand people. The traffic was so bad that Ron Washington missed the first inning. Neftali Feliz started the game, and looked really good in his first two innings, but then really struggled in the third. He was scheduled to go four innings, but he ended up going just three. He allowed 6 hits, 3 runs (all earned), and struck out 4 in his three innings of work. Omar Beltre came on to pitch the fourth, and he used some kind of wacky half-sidearm, half-overhand delivery. He allowed no runs and struck out two in his inning, but a lot of his pitches were low. CJ Wilson came in after Beltre, and he was dominant. He got five strikeouts in his first three innings, and there was not a single hard-hit ball. He was making the Cubs batters look silly. Jeff Baker hit a home run off him in the third, though. In the fourth inning, the first two Cubs batters got hits, to make it second and third with no outs. And CJ didn’t allow either of the runners to score, as he got three straight weak groundouts. He allowed one run in four innings, and he struck out four. The Rangers only got three hits in the game, a David Murphy single, a Taylor Teagarden single, and a Justin Smoak home run (which was the Rangers’ only run in the game). The Rangers lost 4-1. This made the Rangers 0-3 while I was in Arizona.
For dinner, we went to Outback, and I ordered a burger, but I ended up having just four bites, due to an overload of cheese fries.
On Wednesday, we left Surprise to fly back to Dallas, pick up my mother, little sister, and grandmother and then fly to Orlando for 6 nights at Disney World. We stayed in one of the cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness resort. We managed to catch a Grapefruit League game while we were there, seeing the Braves play the Tigers on Friday night. This was my first-ever Grapefruit League game. I was impressed with the Braves stadium (it’s on Disney property). We had a great trip, with basically back-to-back vacations.
Come back next week for my analysis of recent Rangers news and events.
Sunday, March 14th:
We had a very early flight on Sunday morning (7:25), so I had to wake up at 4:45 AM so we could leave the house at 5:15. I was tired. Our plane was on time, though, so we landed in Phoenix at about 8:00 AM Arizona time. On Sunday morning we went straight to the workouts, which were fun as always, and got to talk to Jamey Newberg, Anthony Andro, TR Sullivan, Ryan Tatusko, and CJ Wilson. CJ was especially nice throughout the whole trip, and took time to talk to me a lot after both the Sunday and Monday workouts. At the workouts, we got to see Tanner Scheppers throw a bullpen session. I noticed that Tanner has a good change in his velocity.
The game was in Surprise, so we had time to go eat lunch at Red Robin before heading over to the game. Red Robin had good food as always, and I was happy to be able to watch some of the ACC Championship game as we ate.
We then went over to the Rangers/Diamondbacks game at Surprise Stadium. Colby Lewis was pitching and got out of the first inning quickly, with a 1-2-3 inning that included two strikeouts, and he looked really good. But after that he started to leave his fastball up, and in the next three innings he gave up six runs, not even finishing the fourth inning. He lost his control and just got pounded. In the third inning alone, he left four fastballs right at the letters, and even the outs were hard hit balls. He ended up going 3.1 innings, giving up six runs, all earned, six hits (including one homer), and striking out four. One thing I noticed about him is how quickly he works. It’s just one pitch after another, no Padilla-like stalking around the mound five times before each pitch. Ben Snyder came in to finish the 4th inning and didn’t fare much better. He gave up a home run to his first batter, and then gave up two more hits and another run in the 5th. He got hit hard by almost every batter and gave up two runs in 1.2 innings. Chris Ray gave up a run and three hits in his only inning, but he actually looked really good. All of his pitches had really good movement, and he seemed to have pretty good command of his pitches. Kasey Kiker, Zach Phillips, and Frankie Francisco pitched scoreless 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, respectively. Hamilton looked very good at the plate, as on the day he went 2-for-3 with one home run and two RBI’s. He homered in the first on a ball he got way under, and ended up hitting it over the right-field bullpen. In the third inning he hit a double off the wall in the gap. Vlad hit it solidly in each at-bat, but went just 1-for-3, and Michael Young was 1-for-3 also. Craig Gentry went 0-for-4 and Justin Smoak went 1-for-3. The Rangers lost the game to the Diamondbacks 9-3 with Colby Lewis picking up the loss.
When we got back to the hotel I checked the computer to see what the NCAA brackets were, and I couldn’t have been happier. Texas A&M (my favorite college) was a 5 seed, and were positioned great. They play an easy team in both the first and second rounds before playing the Sweet 16 in Houston, which would be a home game. I was extremely excited about their chances. For dinner we went to NYPD Pizza. They have great pizza there, and we gobbled it up. We got back to the hotel, and both my granddad and I were asleep by 7:30 PM, leaving my dad unable to make any noise until he went to sleep (that’s never fun, I’m just glad it wasn’t me).
Monday, March 15th:
The Rangers had a night game on Monday, so only the minor leaguers had their workouts in the morning, since the major league workouts didn’t start until 2:30 PM. We went to the minor league workouts and saw a few pitchers pitching to live hitters who weren’t allowed to swing. I got to see Martin Perez pitch, and he looked very good, with excellent command of his pitches, as almost every pitch was at the knees. He had a really good curveball. I got to talk to Blake Beavan, Tim Murphy, Rich Rice, and Court Berry-Tripp. They are all incredibly nice people and I would like to especially thank Rich Rice for helping us out while we were in Arizona.
We went to the Reds game in Goodyear and saw them play the A’s. My dad grew up in Cincinnati, so we are also Reds fans (nowhere close to the Rangers, though). We got to see Ben Sheets pitch for the A’s, and that was a lot of fun because he allowed 10 runs and got 0 outs. He got pulled before he even got an out, raising his Spring ERA to 31.15. The A’s defense was horrible, too. On the very first play, Jake Fox, the left fielder, fell down while tracking down a fly ball, then Sheets muffed a grounder on the next play. Later in the inning, the shortstop made an error, and then let the ball lay on the ground as the runner on second took third. The Reds won the game 13-5.
We went back to Surprise for the major league workouts after the Reds game and got to talk to Scott Lucas and also to Court Berry-Tripp and CJ again. CJ talked to me for a long time again. He is such a nice guy.
We went to the Rangers/Giants night game in Surprise at 6:00, and Rich Harden was pitching. He was bad at the beginning and at the end, but was pretty good in between. He allowed two in the first and two in the fourth, but just one other. He needed 80 pitched to get through 3.2 innings, and he allowed 5 runs, all earned, on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out three. Like Colby, Harden works quickly, and there’s not much time between pitches. Doug Mathis came in to finish the fourth, and then he also pitched the 5th and two outs in the 6th. His stats aren’t too bad, as he gave up no earned runs in his two innings of work, but his control was off. He walked four batters but only gave up one hit. The box score shows that he gave up two hits and one earned run, but they credited a San Francisco batter a hit on an obvious error by Elvis Andrus. On the play, Elvis muffed a line drive, and on the throw to the plate after catching the outfielder’s throw, he bounced it in about five feet to the left of the plate, letting the run score. Edwar Ramirez came in next, and gave up one run in 1.1 innings, and then Darren O’Day gave up one run in 2 innings. Nelson Cruz hit a moon shot to straightaway center on the first pitch he saw in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, both Vlad and Matt Brown had RBI’s. Josh got hit by a pitch on the hand, and that was scary, but he’s fine. The Rangers offense really didn’t do anything again until the 8th inning when Max Ramirez and Justin Smoak both drove in runs. The Rangers lost to the Giants 8-5.
Also, I got the chance to talk with Jon Daniels, Thad Levine, and Scott Lucas during the game, which was fun.
Tuesday, March 16th:
Since the Rangers were playing the Cubs in Mesa, which is over an hour away, the major leaguers weren’t doing workouts when we got to the Rangers’ backfields. But the minor leaguers were, so we went to see them. I saw Wilmer Font pitch. He had a good fastball, but his curveball was a little wild, and he couldn’t really control it.
The Rangers were playing a B-game over at the Royals’ complex, so we went over to see that. Esteban German was very impressive in the game, as he made a couple of very good defensive plays at short and also doubled. Luis Mendoza was the opposite of German, as he did not do well at all. Brandon Boggs hit a home run in the game, too.
After that, Ted Price was nice enough to let me be on his podcast to talk to me about what I had seen in camp. His podcasts are always great, and his site is http://rangerspodcast.blogspot.com. It’s called Rangers Podcast in Arlington. Ted does the podcasts with Jamey, and Adam Morris, and sometimes with a guest. It was so much fun to do, and I would like to thank Ted for having me on. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. The video should still be available on his site. It’s the March 16th entry.
We then headed out to Mesa to see the Rangers play the Cubs. It was a sold out game, and the traffic was terrible. The Cubs’ ballpark is built in a residential neighborhood, so the streets weren’t meant for thirteen thousand people. The traffic was so bad that Ron Washington missed the first inning. Neftali Feliz started the game, and looked really good in his first two innings, but then really struggled in the third. He was scheduled to go four innings, but he ended up going just three. He allowed 6 hits, 3 runs (all earned), and struck out 4 in his three innings of work. Omar Beltre came on to pitch the fourth, and he used some kind of wacky half-sidearm, half-overhand delivery. He allowed no runs and struck out two in his inning, but a lot of his pitches were low. CJ Wilson came in after Beltre, and he was dominant. He got five strikeouts in his first three innings, and there was not a single hard-hit ball. He was making the Cubs batters look silly. Jeff Baker hit a home run off him in the third, though. In the fourth inning, the first two Cubs batters got hits, to make it second and third with no outs. And CJ didn’t allow either of the runners to score, as he got three straight weak groundouts. He allowed one run in four innings, and he struck out four. The Rangers only got three hits in the game, a David Murphy single, a Taylor Teagarden single, and a Justin Smoak home run (which was the Rangers’ only run in the game). The Rangers lost 4-1. This made the Rangers 0-3 while I was in Arizona.
For dinner, we went to Outback, and I ordered a burger, but I ended up having just four bites, due to an overload of cheese fries.
On Wednesday, we left Surprise to fly back to Dallas, pick up my mother, little sister, and grandmother and then fly to Orlando for 6 nights at Disney World. We stayed in one of the cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness resort. We managed to catch a Grapefruit League game while we were there, seeing the Braves play the Tigers on Friday night. This was my first-ever Grapefruit League game. I was impressed with the Braves stadium (it’s on Disney property). We had a great trip, with basically back-to-back vacations.
Come back next week for my analysis of recent Rangers news and events.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
2010 Season Predictions
This week the Rangers acquired relief pitcher Edwar Ramirez from the New York Yankees for cash considerations. Edwar had a 3.55 ERA in 55.1 innings for the Yankees in 2008, but followed up that good year by struggling in 2009, with a 5.73 ERA in 22 innings with the Yankees. Basically, the Rangers get Ramirez for nothing, and I like trades where you get possible contributors and give up nothing in return.
Grade: A-
This week I’ll provide my predictions for the 2010 season.
AL East:
1. New York Yankees: New York won the World Series last year, and as much as it pains me to say it, they’ll probably win the AL East again this year. They have six players starting for the Yankees this year that had 20 or more home runs in 2009. Their pitching is amazing, with CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.37), AJ Burnett (13-9, 4.04), Andy Pettite (14-8, 4.16), and Javier Vazquez (15-10, 2.87). They also have Mariano Rivera as their closer. Even though they lost Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Brian Bruney over the offseason, they still improved in my opinion, as they added both Curtis Granderson and Javier Vazquez from trades.
2. Boston Red Sox (Wild Card): The Red Sox are also very good, and would probably win any division other than the AL East. They have a pitching staff that is just as good, if not better, than the Yankees, with Jon Lester (15-8, 3.41), Josh Beckett (17-6, 3.86), John Lackey (11-8, 3.83), and Clay Buchholz (7-4, 4.21). I think that the Red Sox will be the American League Wild Card this year.
3. Tampa Bay Rays:
4. Baltimore Orioles:
5. Toronto Blue Jays:
AL Central:
1. Minnesota Twins: The Twins’ pitching is not very good, as their #1 starter had a 4.27 ERA, which is high for a #3 starting pitcher in a good rotation, but their hitting is incredible, and they just somehow figure out ways to win. The Twins have Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Orlando Hudson, Denard Span, and Jason Kubel in their lineup. If Joe Nathan doesn’t play this year, which it looks like he won’t, it will be much harder for the Twins to win this year, but I still think they will because the AL Central is so weak.
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians
AL West:
1. Texas Rangers: The Rangers have a good young team, and a very good chance to win the AL West. Their rotation is very good, with Scott Feldman, Rich Harden, Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, and Tommy Hunter. I really think that Derek Holland will have an All-Star year this year and will be dominant. The Rangers also have a chance to have a very good offense, if Chris Davis has a comeback year, Josh Hamilton can stay healthy, and the rest of the team doesn’t decline.
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (otherwise known as the team with the dumbest name ever)
4. Oakland Athletics
NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies made it to the World Series for the second straight year last year. They have a very good team this year, too, as they have almost all their players returning this year from last year. Cliff Lee got replaced by Roy Halladay in the starting rotation, which might actually be a slight downgrade for this year, but in the future it will be for the better since Lee is a free agent after this year. Placido Polanco is the only new starting position player on the team, and he is an upgrade at third base from Pedro Feliz, who was the starter there last year. And the Phillies closing situation will be better this year, just because it couldn’t have been any worse, so it has to get better.
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Florida Marlins
4. New York Mets (who I think should change their stadium name from Citi Field to Injury Field)
5. Washington Nationals
NL Central:
1. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals have what may be the best 1-2 punch in all of major league baseball with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Wainwright had a 19-8 record with a 2.63 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 233 innings pitched, while Carpenter had a 17-4 record with a 2.24 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 192.2 innings pitched. And those two have Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday behind them in the field, and that may also be the best group of two hitters in the middle of the order. Just those four players plus Franklin, Molina, and Ludwick are good enough to make up for the somewhat mediocre remainder of the team.
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Houston Astros
NL East:
1. San Francisco Giants: The Giants pitching staff is amazing and will probably be even better this year with Jonathon Sanchez having another year under his belt. Cy Young Award winner for the past two seasons Tim Lincecum (15-7, 2.48) is the ace of the staff and Matt Cain (14-8, 2.89) would be the ace on most team’s staffs. Barry Zito (10-13, 4.03) improved last year, and actually was a decent pitcher. Jonathon Sanchez (8-12, 4.24) has a lot of potential and could be really good this year, while Madison Bumgarner (9-1, 1.93 in AA and 3-1, 1.48 in High-A) was dominant in the minors last year, and can have a very good season in the majors. The Giants signed Mark DeRosa in the offseason, and that will help the Giants horrible offense, which was basically just Pablo Sandoval and Bengie Molina, along with a little bit of Freddy Sanchez, and then a few hits sprinkled in from everybody else.
2. Colorado Rockies (Wild Card): The Rockies have a very good young team, with Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Stewart, Chris Iannetta, and Carlos Gonzalez all starting for them. Tulowitzki (.297, 32, 92) really led the offense last season, and finished in the top 25 in the NL in batting average, home runs, RBI’s, slugging percentage, on base percentage, OPS, stolen bases, runs, and hits. Brad Hawpe also had a good season last year, hitting .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI’s while making his first All-Star appearance. Ubaldo Jimenez leads the rotation, and had a solid year last year, with a 15-12 record and a 3.47 ERA.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres
AL Awards:
AL MVP: Joe Mauer, MIN
Runner-up: Evan Longoria, TB
Al Cy Young: Cliff Lee, SEA
Runner-up: Zack Grienke, KC
AL Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, DET
Runner-up: Carlos Santana, CLE
AL Manager of the Year: Ron Washington, TEX
Runner-up: Ron Gardenhire, MIN
NL Awards:
NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
Runner-up: Joey Votto, CIN
NL Cy Young: Adam Wainwright, STL
Runner-up: Tommy Hanson, ATL
NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward, ATL
Runner-up: Madison Bumgarner, SF
NL Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy, COL
Runner-up: Bruce Bochy, SF
Playoffs:
ALDS:
Texas Rangers vs. Boston Red Sox: Rangers in 5
New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins: Yankees in 4
NLDS:
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Colorado Rockies: Cardinals in 4
San Francisco Giants vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Giants in 5
ALCS:
New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers: Yankees in 7
NLCS:
St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants: Giants in 5
World Series:
New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants: Giants in 6
I will be taking next week off. Come back in two weeks for a spring training report.
Grade: A-
This week I’ll provide my predictions for the 2010 season.
AL East:
1. New York Yankees: New York won the World Series last year, and as much as it pains me to say it, they’ll probably win the AL East again this year. They have six players starting for the Yankees this year that had 20 or more home runs in 2009. Their pitching is amazing, with CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.37), AJ Burnett (13-9, 4.04), Andy Pettite (14-8, 4.16), and Javier Vazquez (15-10, 2.87). They also have Mariano Rivera as their closer. Even though they lost Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Brian Bruney over the offseason, they still improved in my opinion, as they added both Curtis Granderson and Javier Vazquez from trades.
2. Boston Red Sox (Wild Card): The Red Sox are also very good, and would probably win any division other than the AL East. They have a pitching staff that is just as good, if not better, than the Yankees, with Jon Lester (15-8, 3.41), Josh Beckett (17-6, 3.86), John Lackey (11-8, 3.83), and Clay Buchholz (7-4, 4.21). I think that the Red Sox will be the American League Wild Card this year.
3. Tampa Bay Rays:
4. Baltimore Orioles:
5. Toronto Blue Jays:
AL Central:
1. Minnesota Twins: The Twins’ pitching is not very good, as their #1 starter had a 4.27 ERA, which is high for a #3 starting pitcher in a good rotation, but their hitting is incredible, and they just somehow figure out ways to win. The Twins have Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Orlando Hudson, Denard Span, and Jason Kubel in their lineup. If Joe Nathan doesn’t play this year, which it looks like he won’t, it will be much harder for the Twins to win this year, but I still think they will because the AL Central is so weak.
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians
AL West:
1. Texas Rangers: The Rangers have a good young team, and a very good chance to win the AL West. Their rotation is very good, with Scott Feldman, Rich Harden, Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, and Tommy Hunter. I really think that Derek Holland will have an All-Star year this year and will be dominant. The Rangers also have a chance to have a very good offense, if Chris Davis has a comeback year, Josh Hamilton can stay healthy, and the rest of the team doesn’t decline.
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (otherwise known as the team with the dumbest name ever)
4. Oakland Athletics
NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies made it to the World Series for the second straight year last year. They have a very good team this year, too, as they have almost all their players returning this year from last year. Cliff Lee got replaced by Roy Halladay in the starting rotation, which might actually be a slight downgrade for this year, but in the future it will be for the better since Lee is a free agent after this year. Placido Polanco is the only new starting position player on the team, and he is an upgrade at third base from Pedro Feliz, who was the starter there last year. And the Phillies closing situation will be better this year, just because it couldn’t have been any worse, so it has to get better.
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Florida Marlins
4. New York Mets (who I think should change their stadium name from Citi Field to Injury Field)
5. Washington Nationals
NL Central:
1. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals have what may be the best 1-2 punch in all of major league baseball with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Wainwright had a 19-8 record with a 2.63 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 233 innings pitched, while Carpenter had a 17-4 record with a 2.24 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 192.2 innings pitched. And those two have Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday behind them in the field, and that may also be the best group of two hitters in the middle of the order. Just those four players plus Franklin, Molina, and Ludwick are good enough to make up for the somewhat mediocre remainder of the team.
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Houston Astros
NL East:
1. San Francisco Giants: The Giants pitching staff is amazing and will probably be even better this year with Jonathon Sanchez having another year under his belt. Cy Young Award winner for the past two seasons Tim Lincecum (15-7, 2.48) is the ace of the staff and Matt Cain (14-8, 2.89) would be the ace on most team’s staffs. Barry Zito (10-13, 4.03) improved last year, and actually was a decent pitcher. Jonathon Sanchez (8-12, 4.24) has a lot of potential and could be really good this year, while Madison Bumgarner (9-1, 1.93 in AA and 3-1, 1.48 in High-A) was dominant in the minors last year, and can have a very good season in the majors. The Giants signed Mark DeRosa in the offseason, and that will help the Giants horrible offense, which was basically just Pablo Sandoval and Bengie Molina, along with a little bit of Freddy Sanchez, and then a few hits sprinkled in from everybody else.
2. Colorado Rockies (Wild Card): The Rockies have a very good young team, with Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Stewart, Chris Iannetta, and Carlos Gonzalez all starting for them. Tulowitzki (.297, 32, 92) really led the offense last season, and finished in the top 25 in the NL in batting average, home runs, RBI’s, slugging percentage, on base percentage, OPS, stolen bases, runs, and hits. Brad Hawpe also had a good season last year, hitting .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI’s while making his first All-Star appearance. Ubaldo Jimenez leads the rotation, and had a solid year last year, with a 15-12 record and a 3.47 ERA.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres
AL Awards:
AL MVP: Joe Mauer, MIN
Runner-up: Evan Longoria, TB
Al Cy Young: Cliff Lee, SEA
Runner-up: Zack Grienke, KC
AL Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, DET
Runner-up: Carlos Santana, CLE
AL Manager of the Year: Ron Washington, TEX
Runner-up: Ron Gardenhire, MIN
NL Awards:
NL MVP: Albert Pujols, STL
Runner-up: Joey Votto, CIN
NL Cy Young: Adam Wainwright, STL
Runner-up: Tommy Hanson, ATL
NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward, ATL
Runner-up: Madison Bumgarner, SF
NL Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy, COL
Runner-up: Bruce Bochy, SF
Playoffs:
ALDS:
Texas Rangers vs. Boston Red Sox: Rangers in 5
New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins: Yankees in 4
NLDS:
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Colorado Rockies: Cardinals in 4
San Francisco Giants vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Giants in 5
ALCS:
New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers: Yankees in 7
NLCS:
St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants: Giants in 5
World Series:
New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants: Giants in 6
I will be taking next week off. Come back in two weeks for a spring training report.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Spring Training Infielders Analysis
The Rangers have 10 infielders and 6 catchers in major league camp. I did an analysis of all the infielders and catchers in big league camp, gave their chances of making the team at the end of Spring Training, and predicted the infield and catching roster.
Elvis Andrus – Elvis Andrus is obviously going to be on the team as the starting shortstop after he won the Rookie of the Year Award last year. Oh, wait, that went to a guy who got 26 saves, which is less than the number of stolen bases Andrus had. That makes no sense. Anyways, Elvis hit .267 last year with six home runs, 40 RBI’s, and 33 stolen bases. But his biggest addition to the team was his defense, which was incredible, and saved so many runs over the course of the year.
Percentage of making the team out of Spring Training: 100%
Joaquin Arias – Arias was a huge prospect when the Rangers traded for him as part of the deal that sent A-ROD to the Yankees, but now has become just another guy fighting for the utility spot that wouldn’t have even been up for competition if not for Khalil Greene not being able to come to camp. Last year Arias had just eight major league at-bats, and didn’t get on base once, and struck out three times. And he looked even worse than the stats show. He hit .266 with a .295 OBP with Oklahoma City last year and, really, I don’t see why he deserves to be on the team, or even in the race to be on the team.
Percentage: 46.9%
Matthew Brown – Brown is being looked at to be on the Opening Day roster to be a backup corner infielder for the Rangers. Last year with the Angels Triple-AAA team in Salt Lake, Matthew hit .245 with 13 home runs and 69 RBI’s. He has 24 major league at-bats (all with the Angels) and has just one hit, while striking out 11 times.
Percentage: 23.4%
Chris Davis – After having a great rookie year in 2008 (.285 AVG, 17 HR, 55 RBI), Davis struggled at the beginning of last year before being sent down to the minors where he hit .327 with six home runs and 30 RBI’s in just 165 at-bats. When he got called back up he hit much better, and his stats at the end of the year were: .238 AVG, 21 HR, 59 RBI. He will almost surely be the Rangers starting first baseman out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 97.6%
Esteban German – Esteban is going to have a chance to play his way into the utility infield spot on the team’s roster to start off the year. But being a non-roster invitee will make it harder for him to make the team. Last year with the Rangers, German hit .304 and looked really good in his 46 at-bats. With OKC, he hit .319 (.053 better than Arias in Oklahoma) with a .419 OBP (.124 better than Arias in Oklahoma), which is incredible. He also had 35 stolen bases, and I think that he deserves the utility infield spot more than Arias.
Percentage: 50.2%
Ian Kinsler – Ian will be the starting second baseman for the Rangers, and there is no chance that he won’t be. He had a down year for him last year, as he hit just .253, but he was also a 30-30 guy as he hit 31 home runs and stole 31 bases. In 2008, he had hit .319, but with just 18 home runs and 26 stolen bases. If he can combine last year’s power numbers with ‘08’s batting average, he will have a great chance at AL MVP.
Percentage: 100%
Marcus Lemon – Marcus was invited to big league camp after Khalil Greene’s situation. He doesn’t really have a chance to make the team. Last year with Frisco, Lemon hit just .262 and had 25 extra-base hits, as 93 of his 118 hits on the year were singles. That gives him a .333 slugging percentage, which is extremely low.
Percentage: 2.3%
Ray Olmedo – Ray is a non-roster invitee and does not have a good chance to make the team, but does have some major league experience. In his 403 major league at-bats split over five seasons (’03-’07) and two teams (Reds and Blue Jays), Ray has a .228 batting average, two home runs, 26 RBI’s, and six stolen bases. He last played in the majors with the Blue Jays in 2007. With AAA-Durham last year, Ray hit .250 with six home runs and 47 RBI’s.
Percentage: 7.5%
Justin Smoak – Justin probably won’t be on the team to start the year out of Spring Training, although he does have a very good chance to be called up to the team at some point this year, despite not being on the 40-man roster. Last year in Frisco, Justin hit .328 with six home runs and 29 RBI’s, and with Oklahoma City, he hit .244 with four home runs and 23 RBI’s.
Percentage: 17.9%
Michael Young – Michael had another great year last year, hitting .322 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI’s, and if not for a late-season injury, he would have gotten another 200-hit season. Last year Michael showed the power to hit 20 home runs in a season that he hadn’t shown since 2005. He will obviously be the starting third baseman, and there will not be any competition for that position as long as he’s still around and playing well.
Percentage: 100%
Emerson Frostad – Emerson does not have much of a chance to make the team out of Spring Training. Emerson spent most of his year last year with Oklahoma City, and hit just .226 with only one home run and 20 RBI’s. That average is bad even for Frostad, a career .256 minor league hitter. He actually hit more home runs in Frisco (3) in 44 at-bats than he did in OKC (1) in 208 at-bats.
Percentage: 1.2%
Toby Hall – Toby is more for insurance than he is for competing for the Opening Day roster. He is still recovering from right shoulder surgery last May, but is almost fully recovered. Last year was the first year that Hall did not play in the majors since 1999. In his career Toby is a .262 hitter with 46 HR’s and 269 RBI’s, and has spent most of his time with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but has also had stints with the Dodgers and the White Sox. He has a chance at the team, but it is a minor one.
Percentage: 12.1%
Max Ramirez – Max doesn’t seem to be in a good position to be on the Rangers Opening Day roster, but he definitely has a chance at it. He had a horrible year last year, though, hitting .234, well below his .299 career average, with just 5 home runs and 43 RBI’s with Triple-AAA Oklahoma. In his only major league experience in 2008, Max hit .217 with two homers and 9 RBI’s.
Percentage: 21.4%
Kevin Richardson – Kevin finally got a chance to get a taste of major league ball after many years of minor league play, and being great at working with the pitchers. He only got six at-bats, but he got three hits, so he made the most of his opportunity. His hitting is not his strong suit though, as in his minor league career his average is .239. He probably will not be on the team, and probably won’t be up this year at all.
Percentage: 15.4%
Jarrod Saltalamacchia – It looks as if Salty will be battling for the starting catching position will Taylor Teagarden this spring, with the loser of that battle backing up the other. Salty had a bad year last year, even without the injuries, hitting .233 with nine home runs and 34 RBI’s. He’ll almost surely be on the team, and my guess is he’ll be starting, but his numbers have to improve from last year to be able to keep that starting spot.
Percentage: 92.7%
Taylor Teagarden – Taylor has a great chance at being the starting catcher this year, but needs to perform better than he did in ’09. Even though he was solid defensively, as always, he hit just .217, and struck out 76 times in 198 at-bats. That means that he struck out in 38% of his at-bats, which is way too high. His OBP was just .270, which is not just an okay number for a batting average. I think that he’ll do much better this year, especially if he starts.
Percentage: 93.1%
Predicted Infield and Catching Roster:
First Base: Chris Davis
Second Base: Ian Kinsler
Third Base: Michael Young
Shortstop: Elvis Andrus
Utility Infielder: Esteban German
Catcher: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Back-up Catcher: Taylor Teagarden
Next in Line:
Joaquin Arias
Come back next week for my 2010 season predictions.
Elvis Andrus – Elvis Andrus is obviously going to be on the team as the starting shortstop after he won the Rookie of the Year Award last year. Oh, wait, that went to a guy who got 26 saves, which is less than the number of stolen bases Andrus had. That makes no sense. Anyways, Elvis hit .267 last year with six home runs, 40 RBI’s, and 33 stolen bases. But his biggest addition to the team was his defense, which was incredible, and saved so many runs over the course of the year.
Percentage of making the team out of Spring Training: 100%
Joaquin Arias – Arias was a huge prospect when the Rangers traded for him as part of the deal that sent A-ROD to the Yankees, but now has become just another guy fighting for the utility spot that wouldn’t have even been up for competition if not for Khalil Greene not being able to come to camp. Last year Arias had just eight major league at-bats, and didn’t get on base once, and struck out three times. And he looked even worse than the stats show. He hit .266 with a .295 OBP with Oklahoma City last year and, really, I don’t see why he deserves to be on the team, or even in the race to be on the team.
Percentage: 46.9%
Matthew Brown – Brown is being looked at to be on the Opening Day roster to be a backup corner infielder for the Rangers. Last year with the Angels Triple-AAA team in Salt Lake, Matthew hit .245 with 13 home runs and 69 RBI’s. He has 24 major league at-bats (all with the Angels) and has just one hit, while striking out 11 times.
Percentage: 23.4%
Chris Davis – After having a great rookie year in 2008 (.285 AVG, 17 HR, 55 RBI), Davis struggled at the beginning of last year before being sent down to the minors where he hit .327 with six home runs and 30 RBI’s in just 165 at-bats. When he got called back up he hit much better, and his stats at the end of the year were: .238 AVG, 21 HR, 59 RBI. He will almost surely be the Rangers starting first baseman out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 97.6%
Esteban German – Esteban is going to have a chance to play his way into the utility infield spot on the team’s roster to start off the year. But being a non-roster invitee will make it harder for him to make the team. Last year with the Rangers, German hit .304 and looked really good in his 46 at-bats. With OKC, he hit .319 (.053 better than Arias in Oklahoma) with a .419 OBP (.124 better than Arias in Oklahoma), which is incredible. He also had 35 stolen bases, and I think that he deserves the utility infield spot more than Arias.
Percentage: 50.2%
Ian Kinsler – Ian will be the starting second baseman for the Rangers, and there is no chance that he won’t be. He had a down year for him last year, as he hit just .253, but he was also a 30-30 guy as he hit 31 home runs and stole 31 bases. In 2008, he had hit .319, but with just 18 home runs and 26 stolen bases. If he can combine last year’s power numbers with ‘08’s batting average, he will have a great chance at AL MVP.
Percentage: 100%
Marcus Lemon – Marcus was invited to big league camp after Khalil Greene’s situation. He doesn’t really have a chance to make the team. Last year with Frisco, Lemon hit just .262 and had 25 extra-base hits, as 93 of his 118 hits on the year were singles. That gives him a .333 slugging percentage, which is extremely low.
Percentage: 2.3%
Ray Olmedo – Ray is a non-roster invitee and does not have a good chance to make the team, but does have some major league experience. In his 403 major league at-bats split over five seasons (’03-’07) and two teams (Reds and Blue Jays), Ray has a .228 batting average, two home runs, 26 RBI’s, and six stolen bases. He last played in the majors with the Blue Jays in 2007. With AAA-Durham last year, Ray hit .250 with six home runs and 47 RBI’s.
Percentage: 7.5%
Justin Smoak – Justin probably won’t be on the team to start the year out of Spring Training, although he does have a very good chance to be called up to the team at some point this year, despite not being on the 40-man roster. Last year in Frisco, Justin hit .328 with six home runs and 29 RBI’s, and with Oklahoma City, he hit .244 with four home runs and 23 RBI’s.
Percentage: 17.9%
Michael Young – Michael had another great year last year, hitting .322 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI’s, and if not for a late-season injury, he would have gotten another 200-hit season. Last year Michael showed the power to hit 20 home runs in a season that he hadn’t shown since 2005. He will obviously be the starting third baseman, and there will not be any competition for that position as long as he’s still around and playing well.
Percentage: 100%
Emerson Frostad – Emerson does not have much of a chance to make the team out of Spring Training. Emerson spent most of his year last year with Oklahoma City, and hit just .226 with only one home run and 20 RBI’s. That average is bad even for Frostad, a career .256 minor league hitter. He actually hit more home runs in Frisco (3) in 44 at-bats than he did in OKC (1) in 208 at-bats.
Percentage: 1.2%
Toby Hall – Toby is more for insurance than he is for competing for the Opening Day roster. He is still recovering from right shoulder surgery last May, but is almost fully recovered. Last year was the first year that Hall did not play in the majors since 1999. In his career Toby is a .262 hitter with 46 HR’s and 269 RBI’s, and has spent most of his time with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but has also had stints with the Dodgers and the White Sox. He has a chance at the team, but it is a minor one.
Percentage: 12.1%
Max Ramirez – Max doesn’t seem to be in a good position to be on the Rangers Opening Day roster, but he definitely has a chance at it. He had a horrible year last year, though, hitting .234, well below his .299 career average, with just 5 home runs and 43 RBI’s with Triple-AAA Oklahoma. In his only major league experience in 2008, Max hit .217 with two homers and 9 RBI’s.
Percentage: 21.4%
Kevin Richardson – Kevin finally got a chance to get a taste of major league ball after many years of minor league play, and being great at working with the pitchers. He only got six at-bats, but he got three hits, so he made the most of his opportunity. His hitting is not his strong suit though, as in his minor league career his average is .239. He probably will not be on the team, and probably won’t be up this year at all.
Percentage: 15.4%
Jarrod Saltalamacchia – It looks as if Salty will be battling for the starting catching position will Taylor Teagarden this spring, with the loser of that battle backing up the other. Salty had a bad year last year, even without the injuries, hitting .233 with nine home runs and 34 RBI’s. He’ll almost surely be on the team, and my guess is he’ll be starting, but his numbers have to improve from last year to be able to keep that starting spot.
Percentage: 92.7%
Taylor Teagarden – Taylor has a great chance at being the starting catcher this year, but needs to perform better than he did in ’09. Even though he was solid defensively, as always, he hit just .217, and struck out 76 times in 198 at-bats. That means that he struck out in 38% of his at-bats, which is way too high. His OBP was just .270, which is not just an okay number for a batting average. I think that he’ll do much better this year, especially if he starts.
Percentage: 93.1%
Predicted Infield and Catching Roster:
First Base: Chris Davis
Second Base: Ian Kinsler
Third Base: Michael Young
Shortstop: Elvis Andrus
Utility Infielder: Esteban German
Catcher: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Back-up Catcher: Taylor Teagarden
Next in Line:
Joaquin Arias
Come back next week for my 2010 season predictions.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Spring Training Outfielders Analysis
On Saturday, my dad, my uncle, and I drove down to College Station to see Texas A&M play Texas in basketball. A&M won 74-58, and I have to say…GIG’ EM! The game was awesome, and I had a blast. After watching A&M dominate, we went and ate at DoubleDave’s Pizza, which is very good and used to be here in Dallas but shut down.
If you haven’t been reading it lately, you should check out Eleanor Czajka’s blog (http://emcmlb.blogspot.com/). It’s very good.
The Rangers have 10 outfielders in major league camp. I did an analysis of all the outfielders in big league camp, gave their chances of making the team at the end of Spring Training, and predicted the outfield roster.
Brandon Boggs – Brandon will be fighting for the 5th outfielder spot along with Endy Chavez and Craig Gentry. Brandon had just 17 major league at-bats last year, and had just one hit, but struck out eight times (striking out in 47% of his at-bats). In 2008 though, he looked good, even though he hit just .226, with 8 home runs and 41 RBI’s. His defense was strong, picking up 7 assists. With Triple-A Oklahoma last year, Brandon hit .268 with 8 home runs and 47 RBI’s. He has a good shot to make the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage chance of making the team out of Spring Training: 33.9%
Julio Borbon – Julio will be the starting center fielder this year. Last year with the Rangers, he went .312 with 4 home runs and 20 RBI’s. He also had 19 stolen bases and looked really impressive on the bases. He also played well with Oklahoma City last year, as he hit .307 and had 25 stolen bases. There is no chance of him not making the team.
Percentage: 100%
Endy Chavez – Last year, Chavez spent his season with the Mariners, and hit .273 in 161 at-bats, and had 9 stolen bases, before needing surgery to repair a torn ACL after getting injured in a collision with Yunieski Betancourt while going after a fly ball. His best year was in 2006 with the Mets, where he hit .306, his only year in which he hit above .300. He doesn’t draw many walks, though, as his career high is 31. The fact that he is not on the 40-man roster will make it harder for him to make the Opening Day roster. He’s likely to start the season in the minors so that the Rangers can fully test his recovery.
Percentage: 43.5%
Nelson Cruz – Nelson had a break-through year last year, as he hit 33 home runs and had 76 RBI’s in just 462 at-bats. He also was a threat on the bases, as Nelson stole 20 bases for the Rangers last year, while being caught stealing just four times. I don’t think that there is any question that he will be the starting right fielder for the Rangers to start out the year.
Percentage: 100%
Craig Gentry – Gentry had just 17 major league at-bats, and went just 2-for-17 in them, but he is very speedy, and a great defensive player, getting named the Rangers 2009 Minor League Defensive Player of the Year. He had a great year with Double-A Frisco, hitting .303 with 8 home runs and 53 RBI’s, and made the Texas League All-Star Game. He had 49 stolen bases with Frisco, and his speed threat and defensive ability are the two reasons why I think he’ll be the team’s fifth outfielder out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 55.4%
Vladimir Guerrero – Last year Vlad had a down year, despite hitting .295. His power numbers dipped from 27 HR’s and 91 RBI’s in ’08 to 15 HR’s and 50 RBI’s in ’09, the second lowest in both categories in seasons where he spent significant time in the big leagues. His only worse season in terms of power numbers was his rookie season, and the .295 average, although it is solid, is the worst in his major league career. Vlad will be the DH for the Rangers, and really doesn’t have any competition for it in Spring Training.
Percentage: 100%
Josh Hamilton – Josh will be on the team to start the year (unless he gets injured) for sure. But the Rangers are moving him to left field, as the injury risk isn’t quite as high as in center. Josh struggled last year, hitting just .268 with 10 home runs and 54 RBI’s, and got injured multiple times, limiting him to just 89 games. That was following a monster year in ’08 in which he hit .304 with 32 home runs and 130 RBI’s. There’s no question whether he’ll be on the team this year, it’s just whether he’ll perform like he did in ’08 or like he did in ’09.
Percentage: 100%
Mitch Moreland – Last year Mitch split time between High-A and Double-A Frisco, and was great at both levels. In Bakersfield he hit .341, and in Frisco he hit .326. He had a combined 16 homers and 85 RBI’s between the two levels. He really does not have much of a chance to make the team, especially since he’s a non-roster invitee.
Percentage: 6.3%
David Murphy – David has played well ever since coming to the Rangers in 2007. Last year he hit .269 with 17 home runs and 57 RBI’s, following a year in ’08 in which he hit .275 with 15 home runs and 74 RBI’s. He will be the fourth outfielder going into Spring Training, and I would be shocked if he wasn’t the fourth outfielder coming out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 97.8%
Chad Tracy – Like Mitch Moreland, Chad doesn’t really have much of a shot at the Opening Day roster, and is a non-roster invitee. Last year with Frisco, Chad hit .279 with 26 home runs and an incredible 107 RBI’s. That number is amazing because the minor league season is one month shorter than the major league season is. He might not have a shot to make the team, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at those numbers.
Percentage: 7.4%
Predicted Outfield Roster:
Center Field: Julio Borbon
Right Field: Nelson Cruz
Left Field: Josh Hamilton
4th Outfielder: David Murphy
5th Outfielder: Craig Gentry
Next in Line:
Endy Chavez
Brandon Boggs
Come back next week for an analysis of Rangers Spring Training Infielders and Catchers.
If you haven’t been reading it lately, you should check out Eleanor Czajka’s blog (http://emcmlb.blogspot.com/). It’s very good.
The Rangers have 10 outfielders in major league camp. I did an analysis of all the outfielders in big league camp, gave their chances of making the team at the end of Spring Training, and predicted the outfield roster.
Brandon Boggs – Brandon will be fighting for the 5th outfielder spot along with Endy Chavez and Craig Gentry. Brandon had just 17 major league at-bats last year, and had just one hit, but struck out eight times (striking out in 47% of his at-bats). In 2008 though, he looked good, even though he hit just .226, with 8 home runs and 41 RBI’s. His defense was strong, picking up 7 assists. With Triple-A Oklahoma last year, Brandon hit .268 with 8 home runs and 47 RBI’s. He has a good shot to make the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage chance of making the team out of Spring Training: 33.9%
Julio Borbon – Julio will be the starting center fielder this year. Last year with the Rangers, he went .312 with 4 home runs and 20 RBI’s. He also had 19 stolen bases and looked really impressive on the bases. He also played well with Oklahoma City last year, as he hit .307 and had 25 stolen bases. There is no chance of him not making the team.
Percentage: 100%
Endy Chavez – Last year, Chavez spent his season with the Mariners, and hit .273 in 161 at-bats, and had 9 stolen bases, before needing surgery to repair a torn ACL after getting injured in a collision with Yunieski Betancourt while going after a fly ball. His best year was in 2006 with the Mets, where he hit .306, his only year in which he hit above .300. He doesn’t draw many walks, though, as his career high is 31. The fact that he is not on the 40-man roster will make it harder for him to make the Opening Day roster. He’s likely to start the season in the minors so that the Rangers can fully test his recovery.
Percentage: 43.5%
Nelson Cruz – Nelson had a break-through year last year, as he hit 33 home runs and had 76 RBI’s in just 462 at-bats. He also was a threat on the bases, as Nelson stole 20 bases for the Rangers last year, while being caught stealing just four times. I don’t think that there is any question that he will be the starting right fielder for the Rangers to start out the year.
Percentage: 100%
Craig Gentry – Gentry had just 17 major league at-bats, and went just 2-for-17 in them, but he is very speedy, and a great defensive player, getting named the Rangers 2009 Minor League Defensive Player of the Year. He had a great year with Double-A Frisco, hitting .303 with 8 home runs and 53 RBI’s, and made the Texas League All-Star Game. He had 49 stolen bases with Frisco, and his speed threat and defensive ability are the two reasons why I think he’ll be the team’s fifth outfielder out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 55.4%
Vladimir Guerrero – Last year Vlad had a down year, despite hitting .295. His power numbers dipped from 27 HR’s and 91 RBI’s in ’08 to 15 HR’s and 50 RBI’s in ’09, the second lowest in both categories in seasons where he spent significant time in the big leagues. His only worse season in terms of power numbers was his rookie season, and the .295 average, although it is solid, is the worst in his major league career. Vlad will be the DH for the Rangers, and really doesn’t have any competition for it in Spring Training.
Percentage: 100%
Josh Hamilton – Josh will be on the team to start the year (unless he gets injured) for sure. But the Rangers are moving him to left field, as the injury risk isn’t quite as high as in center. Josh struggled last year, hitting just .268 with 10 home runs and 54 RBI’s, and got injured multiple times, limiting him to just 89 games. That was following a monster year in ’08 in which he hit .304 with 32 home runs and 130 RBI’s. There’s no question whether he’ll be on the team this year, it’s just whether he’ll perform like he did in ’08 or like he did in ’09.
Percentage: 100%
Mitch Moreland – Last year Mitch split time between High-A and Double-A Frisco, and was great at both levels. In Bakersfield he hit .341, and in Frisco he hit .326. He had a combined 16 homers and 85 RBI’s between the two levels. He really does not have much of a chance to make the team, especially since he’s a non-roster invitee.
Percentage: 6.3%
David Murphy – David has played well ever since coming to the Rangers in 2007. Last year he hit .269 with 17 home runs and 57 RBI’s, following a year in ’08 in which he hit .275 with 15 home runs and 74 RBI’s. He will be the fourth outfielder going into Spring Training, and I would be shocked if he wasn’t the fourth outfielder coming out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 97.8%
Chad Tracy – Like Mitch Moreland, Chad doesn’t really have much of a shot at the Opening Day roster, and is a non-roster invitee. Last year with Frisco, Chad hit .279 with 26 home runs and an incredible 107 RBI’s. That number is amazing because the minor league season is one month shorter than the major league season is. He might not have a shot to make the team, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at those numbers.
Percentage: 7.4%
Predicted Outfield Roster:
Center Field: Julio Borbon
Right Field: Nelson Cruz
Left Field: Josh Hamilton
4th Outfielder: David Murphy
5th Outfielder: Craig Gentry
Next in Line:
Endy Chavez
Brandon Boggs
Come back next week for an analysis of Rangers Spring Training Infielders and Catchers.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Spring Training Pitchers Analysis Part 2
The Rangers have 31 pitchers in major league. This week, I analyzed the second half of the pitchers in big league camp and gave their chances of making the team at the end of Spring Training (see last week’s post for analysis of the first half of the pitchers). I also gave my prediction for what the Opening Day pitching roster will look like.
Brandon McCarthy – Sadly, last year Brandon had the second most major league innings pitched in a season in his career, even though he threw just 97.1 innings, and that’s only 4.1 innings away from his career high in that stat category. Last year he went 7-4 with a 4.62 ERA and 65 strikeouts for the Rangers. If Brandon doesn’t get injured in Spring Training, I think that he’ll be on the team at the start of the season.
Percentage: 63.5%
Luis Mendoza – Mendoza is out of options, and so if he does not make the team out of Spring Training, he will go through waivers. That said, I still don’t think he’ll make the team, as two years ago in the majors (he only threw one inning in ’09, and allowed four runs in that inning), he went 3-8 with an 8.67 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP in 63.1 innings pitched. That followed up a 2007 season where he dominated, with a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings. He didn’t really have that good a year in the minors last year, either, going 6-7 with a 4.53 ERA in 111.1 IP for the AAA Redhawks last year.
Percentage: 28.7%
Guillermo Moscoso – Last year Moscoso pitched 14 innings for the Rangers, and did pretty well, with a 3.21 ERA. That was after struggling in Frisco in his first year in the Rangers organization after being traded to Texas by the Tigers in the ’08-’09 offseason, going 3-1, but with a 4.46 ERA in just 42.1 innings pitched. He has a shot to win a spot in the bullpen to start the year off, but I don’t think he will.
Percentage: 33.1%
Dustin Nippert – In his second year as a Ranger, Dustin pitched very well while in the majors. In 69.2 innings pitched, he was 5-3 with a 3.88 ERA. He pitched in 20 games, and ten of those were starts. He had some solid starts, but he also had some very bad starts. He is on the outside looking in on the team right now, but with a good Spring Training he could force his way into either the starting rotation or the bullpen.
Percentage: 35.8%
Darren O’Day – After picking up the loss in his first game as a Ranger in Toronto while wearing a Kason Gabbard jersey (they didn’t have Darren’s ready yet) on the day that the Rangers got him from the Mets, O’Day was brilliant. While with the Rangers, he went 2-1 with a 1.94 ERA in 55.2 innings pitched. His BAA was an incredible .199, and I would be shocked if he wasn’t on the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 98.4%
Alexi Ogando – Alexi is one of the two guys from the Dominican Republic who were coming over to the US and got caught up in a marriage scandal, which caused the US to deny them entry for five years. He is just now getting to come over to the United States. He has no pitching experience in the United States, and really won’t have a shot to make the team out of Spring Training. Like Omar Beltre, Alexi will most likely start at Frisco and get some experience before he can get called up to the big leagues.
Percentage: 3.4%
Darren Oliver – This will be Darren’s third stint with the Rangers. He was a Ranger from ’93-’98 and again from ‘00-’01. The last four years, Darren has been incredible, especially the last two with the Angels. In ’08 he was 7-1 with a 2.88 ERA in 72 IP, and last year he was 5-1 with a 2.71 ERA in 73 IP. The Angels used him in a very large amount of games, as he has pitched in 117 games the past two seasons. This will be his 17th season in the major leagues. There is no way he won’t be on the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 100%
Zach Phillips – Phillips is on the 40-man roster because the Rangers wanted to protect him from the Rule-5 draft and does not really have much of a shot to make the team out of Spring Training. He had a great year in the minors last year, with a 1.23 ERA in Bakersfield (44 innings), and a 1.64 ERA in Frisco (33 innings). He pitched in 36 games total, three of them being starts, and amazingly only gave up two total home runs in 77 innings of work.
Percentage: 2.2%
Omar Poveda – Although Poveda really doesn’t have a chance at the team out of camp, he was one of the people Jon Daniels mentioned as having a good shot at making a spot start down the road during the year. He was a Double-A All-Star last year with Frisco, with an 11-5 record and a 4.07 ERA in 130.1 innings pitched.
Percentage: 6.8%
Clay Rapada – Rapada has 27.1 major league innings in his career, and is 3-0 with a 4.94 ERA and 21 strikeouts (and an incredibly high 18 walks, a number even Mitch Williams would think was too high) in those innings. Last year he had a really good year with the Tigers AAA team in Toledo. He went 4-2 with a 2.80 ERA in 45 innings pitched (and 17 walks, which is less than his MLB amount). He probably will not make the team out of Spring Training, a fact not helped by him not being on the 40-man roster.
Percentage: 12.4%
Chris Ray – Chris missed all of 2008 due to injury, and really struggled in ’09, with a 7.27 ERA in 43.1 innings pitched, and was 0-for-3 in his save opportunities. But he was just that good in 2006, as he had a 2.73 ERA and 33 saves in 66 innings. He followed ’06 up with a decent year in 2007, with a 4.43 ERA with 16 saves in ’07. Unless he gets injured, he should be on the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 95.3%
Tanner Scheppers – Tanner is not on the 40-man roster and has no major or minor league baseball experience, so he does not have much of a chance to be on the Rangers’ roster on Opening Day. But he has very mature stuff and is close to major-league ready, so he’s probably not that far off on the horizon as far as being on the Rangers active roster goes.
Percentage: 9.4%
Ben Snyder – Ben was the Orioles’ Rule-5 draft pick (Snyder was originally from the Giants organization and was acquired by the Rangers from the Orioles in the Kevin Millwood trade), and so he will almost surely return to the Giants if he is not on the Rangers’ Active Roster at any point during the season. So if he is not on the Rangers out of Spring Training, he will go back to the Giants. Ben has no major league experience, but last year in Double-A Connecticut, he was 4-4 with a 2.88 ERA in 97 innings pitched. I think he will be on the team at the start of the year because the Rangers will want to keep him in the organization.
Percentage: 65.6%
Pedro Strop – Last year Pedro threw just seven innings with the Rangers, and had a 7.71 ERA in his limited action. He did okay with Frisco last year, as he had a 5-5 record and a 4.38 ERA, along with 48 strikeouts in 51.1 innings pitched. I think he has a chance to be on the team on Opening Day, but it will take a lot of work and a great Spring Training for that to happen.
Percentage: 14.1%
CJ Wilson – CJ had a very good season last year, as he was 5-6 with a 2.81 ERA in 73.2 innings pitched. He had an amazing 84 strikeouts, and he also had 14 saves. Personally, I think that he both deserves and should be the closer to start off the year, and if he’s given the opportunity, I think he’ll be dominant. I just hope they give him the chance to win the job in Spring Training.
Percentage: 100%
Projected Opening Day Pitching Roster:
Starter #1: Scott Feldman
Starter #2: Rich Harden
Starter #3: Colby Lewis
Starter #4: Derek Holland
Starter #5: Brandon McCarthy
Long Reliever: Ben Snyder
Middle Reliever: Neftali Feliz
Middle Reliever: Chris Ray
Middle Reliever: Darren O’Day
Lefty Specialist: Darren Oliver
Set-up Man: CJ Wilson
Closer: Frank Francisco
Next in Line:
Doug Mathis
Tommy Hunter
Dustin Nippert
Matt Harrison
Guillermo Moscoso
Come back next week for my Spring Training Infielders Analysis.
Brandon McCarthy – Sadly, last year Brandon had the second most major league innings pitched in a season in his career, even though he threw just 97.1 innings, and that’s only 4.1 innings away from his career high in that stat category. Last year he went 7-4 with a 4.62 ERA and 65 strikeouts for the Rangers. If Brandon doesn’t get injured in Spring Training, I think that he’ll be on the team at the start of the season.
Percentage: 63.5%
Luis Mendoza – Mendoza is out of options, and so if he does not make the team out of Spring Training, he will go through waivers. That said, I still don’t think he’ll make the team, as two years ago in the majors (he only threw one inning in ’09, and allowed four runs in that inning), he went 3-8 with an 8.67 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP in 63.1 innings pitched. That followed up a 2007 season where he dominated, with a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings. He didn’t really have that good a year in the minors last year, either, going 6-7 with a 4.53 ERA in 111.1 IP for the AAA Redhawks last year.
Percentage: 28.7%
Guillermo Moscoso – Last year Moscoso pitched 14 innings for the Rangers, and did pretty well, with a 3.21 ERA. That was after struggling in Frisco in his first year in the Rangers organization after being traded to Texas by the Tigers in the ’08-’09 offseason, going 3-1, but with a 4.46 ERA in just 42.1 innings pitched. He has a shot to win a spot in the bullpen to start the year off, but I don’t think he will.
Percentage: 33.1%
Dustin Nippert – In his second year as a Ranger, Dustin pitched very well while in the majors. In 69.2 innings pitched, he was 5-3 with a 3.88 ERA. He pitched in 20 games, and ten of those were starts. He had some solid starts, but he also had some very bad starts. He is on the outside looking in on the team right now, but with a good Spring Training he could force his way into either the starting rotation or the bullpen.
Percentage: 35.8%
Darren O’Day – After picking up the loss in his first game as a Ranger in Toronto while wearing a Kason Gabbard jersey (they didn’t have Darren’s ready yet) on the day that the Rangers got him from the Mets, O’Day was brilliant. While with the Rangers, he went 2-1 with a 1.94 ERA in 55.2 innings pitched. His BAA was an incredible .199, and I would be shocked if he wasn’t on the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 98.4%
Alexi Ogando – Alexi is one of the two guys from the Dominican Republic who were coming over to the US and got caught up in a marriage scandal, which caused the US to deny them entry for five years. He is just now getting to come over to the United States. He has no pitching experience in the United States, and really won’t have a shot to make the team out of Spring Training. Like Omar Beltre, Alexi will most likely start at Frisco and get some experience before he can get called up to the big leagues.
Percentage: 3.4%
Darren Oliver – This will be Darren’s third stint with the Rangers. He was a Ranger from ’93-’98 and again from ‘00-’01. The last four years, Darren has been incredible, especially the last two with the Angels. In ’08 he was 7-1 with a 2.88 ERA in 72 IP, and last year he was 5-1 with a 2.71 ERA in 73 IP. The Angels used him in a very large amount of games, as he has pitched in 117 games the past two seasons. This will be his 17th season in the major leagues. There is no way he won’t be on the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 100%
Zach Phillips – Phillips is on the 40-man roster because the Rangers wanted to protect him from the Rule-5 draft and does not really have much of a shot to make the team out of Spring Training. He had a great year in the minors last year, with a 1.23 ERA in Bakersfield (44 innings), and a 1.64 ERA in Frisco (33 innings). He pitched in 36 games total, three of them being starts, and amazingly only gave up two total home runs in 77 innings of work.
Percentage: 2.2%
Omar Poveda – Although Poveda really doesn’t have a chance at the team out of camp, he was one of the people Jon Daniels mentioned as having a good shot at making a spot start down the road during the year. He was a Double-A All-Star last year with Frisco, with an 11-5 record and a 4.07 ERA in 130.1 innings pitched.
Percentage: 6.8%
Clay Rapada – Rapada has 27.1 major league innings in his career, and is 3-0 with a 4.94 ERA and 21 strikeouts (and an incredibly high 18 walks, a number even Mitch Williams would think was too high) in those innings. Last year he had a really good year with the Tigers AAA team in Toledo. He went 4-2 with a 2.80 ERA in 45 innings pitched (and 17 walks, which is less than his MLB amount). He probably will not make the team out of Spring Training, a fact not helped by him not being on the 40-man roster.
Percentage: 12.4%
Chris Ray – Chris missed all of 2008 due to injury, and really struggled in ’09, with a 7.27 ERA in 43.1 innings pitched, and was 0-for-3 in his save opportunities. But he was just that good in 2006, as he had a 2.73 ERA and 33 saves in 66 innings. He followed ’06 up with a decent year in 2007, with a 4.43 ERA with 16 saves in ’07. Unless he gets injured, he should be on the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 95.3%
Tanner Scheppers – Tanner is not on the 40-man roster and has no major or minor league baseball experience, so he does not have much of a chance to be on the Rangers’ roster on Opening Day. But he has very mature stuff and is close to major-league ready, so he’s probably not that far off on the horizon as far as being on the Rangers active roster goes.
Percentage: 9.4%
Ben Snyder – Ben was the Orioles’ Rule-5 draft pick (Snyder was originally from the Giants organization and was acquired by the Rangers from the Orioles in the Kevin Millwood trade), and so he will almost surely return to the Giants if he is not on the Rangers’ Active Roster at any point during the season. So if he is not on the Rangers out of Spring Training, he will go back to the Giants. Ben has no major league experience, but last year in Double-A Connecticut, he was 4-4 with a 2.88 ERA in 97 innings pitched. I think he will be on the team at the start of the year because the Rangers will want to keep him in the organization.
Percentage: 65.6%
Pedro Strop – Last year Pedro threw just seven innings with the Rangers, and had a 7.71 ERA in his limited action. He did okay with Frisco last year, as he had a 5-5 record and a 4.38 ERA, along with 48 strikeouts in 51.1 innings pitched. I think he has a chance to be on the team on Opening Day, but it will take a lot of work and a great Spring Training for that to happen.
Percentage: 14.1%
CJ Wilson – CJ had a very good season last year, as he was 5-6 with a 2.81 ERA in 73.2 innings pitched. He had an amazing 84 strikeouts, and he also had 14 saves. Personally, I think that he both deserves and should be the closer to start off the year, and if he’s given the opportunity, I think he’ll be dominant. I just hope they give him the chance to win the job in Spring Training.
Percentage: 100%
Projected Opening Day Pitching Roster:
Starter #1: Scott Feldman
Starter #2: Rich Harden
Starter #3: Colby Lewis
Starter #4: Derek Holland
Starter #5: Brandon McCarthy
Long Reliever: Ben Snyder
Middle Reliever: Neftali Feliz
Middle Reliever: Chris Ray
Middle Reliever: Darren O’Day
Lefty Specialist: Darren Oliver
Set-up Man: CJ Wilson
Closer: Frank Francisco
Next in Line:
Doug Mathis
Tommy Hunter
Dustin Nippert
Matt Harrison
Guillermo Moscoso
Come back next week for my Spring Training Infielders Analysis.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Spring Training Pitchers Analysis Part 1
The Rangers will be opening Spring Training with 31 pitchers in major league camp as long as no more moves are made. This week, I analyzed half of the pitchers in big league camp and gave their chances of making the team at the end of Spring Training. I'll finish the pitcher analysis next week.
Omar Beltre – Omar is one of the two guys from the Dominican Republic who were coming over to the US and got caught up in a marriage scandal, which caused the US to deny them entry for five years. He is just now getting to come over to the United States. In 2003 Omar played for Clinton and went 3-3 with a 2.39 ERA, and then in 2004, when he played for Stockton, he went 4-5 with a 2.45 ERA. He was amazing in 2005, and even though it was in the Rookie League, his numbers are still very impressive. He had a 1.62 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 72.1 innings pitched. He could be a key member of the Rangers pitching staff in the future, but he will almost surely start the year off in Frisco to get some experience before he even has a chance to be in the majors.
Percentage of making the team out of Spring Training: 5.6%
Willie Eyre – Willie is at Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, which will make it harder for him to make the team, since they would have to add him to the 40-man roster for him to be able to do so. Last year he pitched just 18 innings with the Rangers, with a 4.50 ERA in that limited time period. He was great in Oklahoma, though, with a 2.10 ERA in 34.1 innings. He has a fairly decent chance at the team, though, as, even though his stats don’t show it (4-6, 5.16), he had a very good year in the majors with the Rangers in 2007.
Percentage: 19.3%
Scott Feldman – Scott was the best pitcher on the team last year, and will most likely be the number one starter out of Spring Training this year, as last year he went 17-8 with a 4.08 ERA in 189.2 innings pitched. And the amazing this about it is, he wasn’t even a starter the first month of the year, because Kris Benson was starting. His ERA as a starter was below 4.00, and he was incredibly consistent, earning the 2009 Rangers Pitcher of the Year. He had an incredible .250 batting average against, which is right where you want your best pitcher at, as that was 15th in the AL.
Percentage: 100%
Neftali Feliz – Neftali was amazing last year in the majors, with a 1.74 ERA and 39 strikeouts and just 8 walks in 31 innings pitched. Those are amazing numbers for a ten-year-veteran, much less a rookie getting his first big league experience. He had an astonishing .124 BAA last year, so batters weren’t getting anything off him. That combined with just 8 walks gave him a 0.68 WHIP last year. A WHIP under 1.00 is great, so he blew that away.
Percentage: 94.7%
Frank Francisco – Frankie was the closer last year, and he was great…….until late June. He had an ERA well under 2.00……until July. He had an ERA well under 3.00……..until mid-August. He had an ERA well under 3.90……until late September. His breaking ball was breaking…..until mid-August. He started the year great, and ended it horribly. His final ERA was 3.83, with 25 saves and 57 strikeouts in 49.1 innings pitched. It seems that he’ll be on the team as the closer this year, and we’ll see how it goes from there.
Percentage: 100%
Geoff Geary – Geoff is a non-roster invite to the Rangers Spring Training Camp, and he actually has a shot. Even though he was horrible last year with the Astros (1-3, 8.10), he has had good years. Just in 2008, he had a 2.53 ERA and a .197 BAA in 64 innings pitched with Houston. Two years before that he went 7-1 with a 2.96 ERA in 91.1 innings pitched for Philadelphia, and the year before that, he had a 3.72 ERA for Philly. While I don’t think he’ll make the team, he has a shot at it.
Percentage: 14.8%
Rich Harden – Rich is obviously going to make the team (if he’s not injured) and will probably be the #2 guy. Rich has been dominant when he’s pitched. He has a 3.39 career ERA and has had an ERA below 3.00 in three of his seven major league seasons and has had an ERA below 4.00 in four of his seven major league seasons. His highest ERA was as a rookie in ’03 at 4.46.
Percentage: 100%
Matt Harrison – Due to injury, Matt only pitched 63.1 innings last year, and struggled in them, going 4-5 with a 6.11 ERA. He allowed 104 baserunners (81 hits, 23 walks) in those 63.1 innings, a horrible 1.64 WHIP. He allowed a .316 BAA, after allowing a .300 BAA in 2008. In ’08, Matt went 9-3, but also had a 5.49 ERA. His injury, paired with his big league struggles might make it harder for him to make the team.
Percentage: 33.1%
Derek Holland – Although Holland went just 8-13 with a 6.12 ERA in 138.1 innings pitched, he showed flashes of brilliance, and you could tell he has great potential. That was never more evident than a three-game stretch in August where he threw a complete-game shutout against the Angels, allowed two runs in 6.2 innings against the Red Sox, and allowed just one run in 5.1 innings against the Twins. That’s why I’m not only predicting him to make the team out of Spring Training, I’m predicting him to have a sub-4.00 ERA in 2010.
Percentage: 75.1%
Tommy Hunter – Tommy had a good year last year, going 9-6 with a 4.10 ERA in 112 innings pitched for the Rangers. That was a big improvement (it wasn’t that hard for him to do) in the ERA department, going all the way from 16.36 in ’08 down to 4.10 in ’09. The fact that he only pitched 11 innings in 2008 might’ve had something to do with it, but I’m just saying. His BAA also went all the way down from .404 two years ago to .259 last year. He will definitely have a shot to play himself into the rotation this year.
Percentage: 45.9%
Eric Hurley – Hurley missed all of last year and didn’t throw a single inning due to a shoulder injury. It will probably also keep him from competing for a roster spot out of Spring Training. 2008 was his only major league experience, and he went 1-2 with a 5.47 ERA in 24.2 innings of pitching in Texas. I would be shocked if he was on the team coming out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 10.4%
Kasey Kiker – Last year Kiker was an All-Star in Frisco and was deserving. Although his record was not outstanding, at 7-7, he had a 3.86 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 126 innings pitched. His control took a major dip from ’08 in Bakersfield. He either walked or hit 36 more batters in ’09 than he did in ’08, while only pitching 4.1 innings. He’s in major league camp so that he can benefit from the experience and is not a legitimate contender to make the team.
Percentage: 2.3%
Michael Kirkman – Last year was a really good year for Michael, especially in his time in Bakersfield. His combined stats between Frisco and Bakersfield were solid, going 9-8 with a 3.48 ERA, striking out 118 in 144.2 innings. With the Blaze, Kirkman dominated, going 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA before getting called up to Frisco, where he went 5-7 with a 4.19 ERA, which, although it isn’t as good as 2.06, still is a solid ERA. They are not looking at him for the major league team yet, and he is only on the 40-man roster so that they could protect him from the Rule-5 draft.
Percentage: 5.1%
Colby Lewis – I cannot find Colby Lewis’ 2009 Japanese stats, but in 2008, for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Colby went 15-8 with a 2.68 ERA in 178 innings pitched. Colby dominated in Japan, and apparently got some new pitches, and with the Rangers seemingly so high on him, I would be shocked if he wasn’t on the team. He will most likely be the #3 starting pitcher in the rotation.
Percentage: 94.7%
Warner Madrigal – Warner had a horrible year last year, with a 9.95 ERA in 12.2 innings, and just couldn’t get anybody out. He did this after looking very good the year before, with a 4.75 ERA in 36 innings during his rookie season. His control was horrible in ’09, walking 12 batters and striking out just five in just his 12.2 innings of work. He’ll need a lights-out camp to make the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 24.8%
Doug Mathis – Doug looked very good last year, and deserves to make the team but, despite his 3.16 ERA and .244 BAA in his 42.2 innings in ’09, I predict he’ll be the odd man out to make room for Ben Snyder. He’s very valuable, because he can come in and do some good long inning work out of the pen, and he can also make spot starts in case of an injury and be successful in those. I hope he makes the team, and he has a great chance to do so.
Percentage: 48.9%
Come back next week for my Spring Training Pitchers Analysis Part Two.
Omar Beltre – Omar is one of the two guys from the Dominican Republic who were coming over to the US and got caught up in a marriage scandal, which caused the US to deny them entry for five years. He is just now getting to come over to the United States. In 2003 Omar played for Clinton and went 3-3 with a 2.39 ERA, and then in 2004, when he played for Stockton, he went 4-5 with a 2.45 ERA. He was amazing in 2005, and even though it was in the Rookie League, his numbers are still very impressive. He had a 1.62 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 72.1 innings pitched. He could be a key member of the Rangers pitching staff in the future, but he will almost surely start the year off in Frisco to get some experience before he even has a chance to be in the majors.
Percentage of making the team out of Spring Training: 5.6%
Willie Eyre – Willie is at Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, which will make it harder for him to make the team, since they would have to add him to the 40-man roster for him to be able to do so. Last year he pitched just 18 innings with the Rangers, with a 4.50 ERA in that limited time period. He was great in Oklahoma, though, with a 2.10 ERA in 34.1 innings. He has a fairly decent chance at the team, though, as, even though his stats don’t show it (4-6, 5.16), he had a very good year in the majors with the Rangers in 2007.
Percentage: 19.3%
Scott Feldman – Scott was the best pitcher on the team last year, and will most likely be the number one starter out of Spring Training this year, as last year he went 17-8 with a 4.08 ERA in 189.2 innings pitched. And the amazing this about it is, he wasn’t even a starter the first month of the year, because Kris Benson was starting. His ERA as a starter was below 4.00, and he was incredibly consistent, earning the 2009 Rangers Pitcher of the Year. He had an incredible .250 batting average against, which is right where you want your best pitcher at, as that was 15th in the AL.
Percentage: 100%
Neftali Feliz – Neftali was amazing last year in the majors, with a 1.74 ERA and 39 strikeouts and just 8 walks in 31 innings pitched. Those are amazing numbers for a ten-year-veteran, much less a rookie getting his first big league experience. He had an astonishing .124 BAA last year, so batters weren’t getting anything off him. That combined with just 8 walks gave him a 0.68 WHIP last year. A WHIP under 1.00 is great, so he blew that away.
Percentage: 94.7%
Frank Francisco – Frankie was the closer last year, and he was great…….until late June. He had an ERA well under 2.00……until July. He had an ERA well under 3.00……..until mid-August. He had an ERA well under 3.90……until late September. His breaking ball was breaking…..until mid-August. He started the year great, and ended it horribly. His final ERA was 3.83, with 25 saves and 57 strikeouts in 49.1 innings pitched. It seems that he’ll be on the team as the closer this year, and we’ll see how it goes from there.
Percentage: 100%
Geoff Geary – Geoff is a non-roster invite to the Rangers Spring Training Camp, and he actually has a shot. Even though he was horrible last year with the Astros (1-3, 8.10), he has had good years. Just in 2008, he had a 2.53 ERA and a .197 BAA in 64 innings pitched with Houston. Two years before that he went 7-1 with a 2.96 ERA in 91.1 innings pitched for Philadelphia, and the year before that, he had a 3.72 ERA for Philly. While I don’t think he’ll make the team, he has a shot at it.
Percentage: 14.8%
Rich Harden – Rich is obviously going to make the team (if he’s not injured) and will probably be the #2 guy. Rich has been dominant when he’s pitched. He has a 3.39 career ERA and has had an ERA below 3.00 in three of his seven major league seasons and has had an ERA below 4.00 in four of his seven major league seasons. His highest ERA was as a rookie in ’03 at 4.46.
Percentage: 100%
Matt Harrison – Due to injury, Matt only pitched 63.1 innings last year, and struggled in them, going 4-5 with a 6.11 ERA. He allowed 104 baserunners (81 hits, 23 walks) in those 63.1 innings, a horrible 1.64 WHIP. He allowed a .316 BAA, after allowing a .300 BAA in 2008. In ’08, Matt went 9-3, but also had a 5.49 ERA. His injury, paired with his big league struggles might make it harder for him to make the team.
Percentage: 33.1%
Derek Holland – Although Holland went just 8-13 with a 6.12 ERA in 138.1 innings pitched, he showed flashes of brilliance, and you could tell he has great potential. That was never more evident than a three-game stretch in August where he threw a complete-game shutout against the Angels, allowed two runs in 6.2 innings against the Red Sox, and allowed just one run in 5.1 innings against the Twins. That’s why I’m not only predicting him to make the team out of Spring Training, I’m predicting him to have a sub-4.00 ERA in 2010.
Percentage: 75.1%
Tommy Hunter – Tommy had a good year last year, going 9-6 with a 4.10 ERA in 112 innings pitched for the Rangers. That was a big improvement (it wasn’t that hard for him to do) in the ERA department, going all the way from 16.36 in ’08 down to 4.10 in ’09. The fact that he only pitched 11 innings in 2008 might’ve had something to do with it, but I’m just saying. His BAA also went all the way down from .404 two years ago to .259 last year. He will definitely have a shot to play himself into the rotation this year.
Percentage: 45.9%
Eric Hurley – Hurley missed all of last year and didn’t throw a single inning due to a shoulder injury. It will probably also keep him from competing for a roster spot out of Spring Training. 2008 was his only major league experience, and he went 1-2 with a 5.47 ERA in 24.2 innings of pitching in Texas. I would be shocked if he was on the team coming out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 10.4%
Kasey Kiker – Last year Kiker was an All-Star in Frisco and was deserving. Although his record was not outstanding, at 7-7, he had a 3.86 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 126 innings pitched. His control took a major dip from ’08 in Bakersfield. He either walked or hit 36 more batters in ’09 than he did in ’08, while only pitching 4.1 innings. He’s in major league camp so that he can benefit from the experience and is not a legitimate contender to make the team.
Percentage: 2.3%
Michael Kirkman – Last year was a really good year for Michael, especially in his time in Bakersfield. His combined stats between Frisco and Bakersfield were solid, going 9-8 with a 3.48 ERA, striking out 118 in 144.2 innings. With the Blaze, Kirkman dominated, going 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA before getting called up to Frisco, where he went 5-7 with a 4.19 ERA, which, although it isn’t as good as 2.06, still is a solid ERA. They are not looking at him for the major league team yet, and he is only on the 40-man roster so that they could protect him from the Rule-5 draft.
Percentage: 5.1%
Colby Lewis – I cannot find Colby Lewis’ 2009 Japanese stats, but in 2008, for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Colby went 15-8 with a 2.68 ERA in 178 innings pitched. Colby dominated in Japan, and apparently got some new pitches, and with the Rangers seemingly so high on him, I would be shocked if he wasn’t on the team. He will most likely be the #3 starting pitcher in the rotation.
Percentage: 94.7%
Warner Madrigal – Warner had a horrible year last year, with a 9.95 ERA in 12.2 innings, and just couldn’t get anybody out. He did this after looking very good the year before, with a 4.75 ERA in 36 innings during his rookie season. His control was horrible in ’09, walking 12 batters and striking out just five in just his 12.2 innings of work. He’ll need a lights-out camp to make the team out of Spring Training.
Percentage: 24.8%
Doug Mathis – Doug looked very good last year, and deserves to make the team but, despite his 3.16 ERA and .244 BAA in his 42.2 innings in ’09, I predict he’ll be the odd man out to make room for Ben Snyder. He’s very valuable, because he can come in and do some good long inning work out of the pen, and he can also make spot starts in case of an injury and be successful in those. I hope he makes the team, and he has a great chance to do so.
Percentage: 48.9%
Come back next week for my Spring Training Pitchers Analysis Part Two.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Newberg Bound Edition Release Party #2
Last Tuesday night, my dad, my granddad, and I went to the second Newberg Report Bound Edition Release Party, at Sherlock’s Pub in Dallas. It was a great night, with Michael Young, Chuck Greenberg (the new Rangers owner), and Jake Krug (Rangers assistant director of player development) answering questions for over two hours. Chuck Morgan emceed the Q&A to make it even better. And there was a charity auction for Wipe Out Kids Cancer that raised over $12,000.
We got there at about 5pm so that we could get a good table and eat dinner before the event. The Q&A session started at about 6:15 with Jake Krug and he was quickly joined by Chuck Greenberg. Michael Young arrived later and started taking questions after the charity auction was over.
Chuck Morgan and Jamey were nice enough to let me ask the first question to each of the three guests. Here are the four questions I asked.
To Jake: Can you please say what the major focus areas are for developing players at each level, beginning with the Rookie level and going to triple-A?
Answer: I think there are a lot of different dynamics to that question. There are different types of players, from 16-year-old Dominican players who have no feel for the English language to 18-year-old high school players that come in many different forms as far as maturity level to your polished college guys, and even then you can have some college guys who need time to mature. Our philosophy is that everyone has their own path and their own timeframe on when they’re going to get there. Some guys move very fast, some guys move very slow, and that’s fine either way. Obviously, we prefer guys to move fast. You’ve got guys like Martin Perez and Neftali Feliz who are special and can skip a level and other guys who go level-to-level or even repeat levels. Every guy’s different and one of our major focuses is to realize that everybody’s different and each guy goes at their own pace and to be patient with them.
To Chuck Greenberg: What ideas have you implemented at the minor league level related to the fan experience that you might suggest implementing at the major league level?
Answer: That’s a great question. I think the fan experience is a very broad subject because it goes beyond the walls of the ballpark. I think the fan experience is about a feeling that exists between a franchise and the community, a feeling that it’s a shared journey, that we’re all in it together, that we have the same objectives, that we care in the same way, and that this is important to us and enriches all of our lives. That’s a feeling that transcends geographic boundaries. In terms of the fan experience within the ballpark, I think it has to do with having an obsessive desire to do everything we can to make the experience perfect, recognizing that it’s impossible to be perfect but it’s essential to strive to be the very best you can be. It’s being open to suggestions, whether they come from fans or from the media or from our business partners. If there’s an idea that can make us better, we want to hear about it because we want to be the best that we can be. We certainly take what happens between the white lines very seriously but we’re not going to take ourselves seriously at all. We’re going to have fun, we’ll always have the utmost respect for the game, and we’re going to do everything we can to try to bring our players to the community. Because the players are great guys. One of the best parts of being involved in baseball is the people in the game - the managers, the players, the scouts, the coaches, everybody. And the more that we can bring forth everyone’s personalities to our fans, the more there is that shared experience between the organization and the fans and the more we’re all one, and that’s the way I try to do things.
To Chuck Greenberg: There’s already been talk about moving the High-A team from Bakersfield next year, so is there a good chance that we’ll see the High-A team in Myrtle Beach next year?
Answer: That’s far too professional a question. In Myrtle Beach, our organization has a great relationship with the Braves. We’re looking forward to this season. All of my attention has been focused on what we need to do to get this (the Rangers deal) done and we’ll turn to that later. Obviously we’ll look at everything with an open mind.
To Michael: Is there anything specific that you’ve been working on this offseason and if so what is it?
Answer: Having a healthy hamstring to start. To be honest with you, really just sharpening up parts of my game that I think are weaknesses. Base stealing is still a weakness for me and I know I can get much better at it. Going in knowing I’ll be working at third base is a huge advantage for me as opposed to last year where I had to get in there and get used to it. I do have a lot of clear goals heading into this year but defense and base running are probably tops on the list.
Here are some of the other highlights from the Q&A session.
From Chuck Greenberg:
- When asked by Jamey why he bought the Rangers now instead of waiting for Pittsburgh to go on the market, he said he believes that the Rangers are the most attractive opportunity on every level in all of sports right now. Baseball’s his favorite sport and he believes the Rangers are the greatest sleeping giant in major league baseball and all of sports.
- When asked how he determines the value of a franchise, he said there’s no science to it. You look at what’s happened with other franchises, revenue of the franchise, and what you think the potential is. He said that this is an incredible market, the largest in baseball to only have one team, and there’s a lot of potential.
- He expects to win the division and wouldn’t trade our roster or farm system for anything. It has outstanding young players and great veterans.
- When asked whether he plans to spend equal to the size of the market, he said ‘absolutely’ but pointed out that it doesn’t happen day one. He said the best role models are the Phillies and the Angels.
- He thinks the ballpark is beautiful but that it needs to be refreshed and updated. The best example is the need for a new video board, which is very dated. We won’t see it in 2010 but he expects to have some changes in place by opening day 2011.
- One of Chuck’s fondest memories is from when he was a kid and went to Photo Day at Forbes Field. He still has pictures of himself with Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Maury Wills.
- He’s in favor of mass transit to the ballpark but hasn’t had the chance to look into it yet.
- He has a mindset that this is the fans’ franchise and he’s just operating it for them.
- Regarding the heat in Texas and how it impacts fans and attendance, he said that if people are connected emotionally to the team, it will be compelling and people will come.
- Chuck feels it’s important for baseball to be fun affordable family entertainment and they’re going to be looking at opportunities to make the Rangers experience even more affordable than it is now.
- When asked who his favorite Ranger is, he said he loves them all equally. He said this team reminds him of the ‘We Are Family’ Pirates of 1979 as far as their personality and character.
- He’s planning to get a copy of Eric Nadel’s Rangers book to help educate himself on the team’s history.
- Minor league attendance isn’t impacted too much by team performance. In 2008, Myrtle Beach had the best record in professional baseball and set an attendance record. In 2009, he thinks they had the third worst record in professional baseball and they set another attendance record.
From Michael Young:
- The biggest difference this year is that they completely expect to win.
- He doesn’t care where he hits in the batting order. His approach will always be dictated by the game situation.
- When asked whether he hated Vladimir Guerrero based on what he’s done to the Rangers in the past, he joked that he didn’t hate him but he definitely disliked him. He said at the All-Star game, he was asked if he had any good Vladimir Guerrero stories and he said he had no good ones but a ton of least favorite Vladimir Guerrero stories. He said that he never hated him but that he expects he’ll love him pretty soon.
- Their excitement level with adding Rich Harden to the team is on the level of their excitement with adding Guerrero.
- He thinks he gets too much credit for moving to third base to allow Elvis to play shortstop. (I disagree by the way - he deserves a lot of credit.)
- He doesn’t believe in days off. If he doesn’t play, it’s because he can’t go that day.
- When asked who his favorite Ranger is, he said he’d go with Ian Kinsler just because he knows how good he wants to be. He thinks Kinsler’s going to have a monster year.
- His experience with A-Rod was great. He also mentioned Randy Velarde and Rusty Greer as veterans who had an impact on him early in his career.
From Jake Krug:
- When asked by Eleanor about his expectations regarding where Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando will start out and what their path will be, Jake said that he thinks both will probably start in Frisco. He said Alexi was more of a bullpen guy and Omar will most likely also be in the bullpen but could be an option as a starter. He said neither of them are far away and both have electric stuff.
- They expect to win the West and anything less than that would be a disappointment. The whole mindset has changed. It’s gone to expecting to win 90+ games. The mentality’s turned and that’s the way it should be.
- We’re eight deep in the rotation, which hasn’t been the case in the past. After Feldman, Harden, and Lewis, there’s competition.
- A fan asked whether Colby Lewis has been penciled in for the number three spot and how confident the Rangers are that his success in Japan will translate to success here, given his struggles in the US previously. Jake said that where he falls in the rotation is still to be determined, but as far as what’s different, Colby has a different delivery and attitude than the player we saw a few years ago.
- Regarding the change from Rudy Jaramillo to Clint Hurdle, Clint’s approach is a little more high energy and in your face and he thinks the players are really responding to it.
- When asked who his favorite Ranger is, he said Dean Palmer.
It was a great night and I would like to thank Jamey, Eleanor Czajka, Ted Price, Chuck Morgan, Chuck Greenberg, Michael Young, Jake Krug, and everyone else involved with putting it on.
Come back next week for the beginning of my Rangers spring training roster analysis.
We got there at about 5pm so that we could get a good table and eat dinner before the event. The Q&A session started at about 6:15 with Jake Krug and he was quickly joined by Chuck Greenberg. Michael Young arrived later and started taking questions after the charity auction was over.
Chuck Morgan and Jamey were nice enough to let me ask the first question to each of the three guests. Here are the four questions I asked.
To Jake: Can you please say what the major focus areas are for developing players at each level, beginning with the Rookie level and going to triple-A?
Answer: I think there are a lot of different dynamics to that question. There are different types of players, from 16-year-old Dominican players who have no feel for the English language to 18-year-old high school players that come in many different forms as far as maturity level to your polished college guys, and even then you can have some college guys who need time to mature. Our philosophy is that everyone has their own path and their own timeframe on when they’re going to get there. Some guys move very fast, some guys move very slow, and that’s fine either way. Obviously, we prefer guys to move fast. You’ve got guys like Martin Perez and Neftali Feliz who are special and can skip a level and other guys who go level-to-level or even repeat levels. Every guy’s different and one of our major focuses is to realize that everybody’s different and each guy goes at their own pace and to be patient with them.
To Chuck Greenberg: What ideas have you implemented at the minor league level related to the fan experience that you might suggest implementing at the major league level?
Answer: That’s a great question. I think the fan experience is a very broad subject because it goes beyond the walls of the ballpark. I think the fan experience is about a feeling that exists between a franchise and the community, a feeling that it’s a shared journey, that we’re all in it together, that we have the same objectives, that we care in the same way, and that this is important to us and enriches all of our lives. That’s a feeling that transcends geographic boundaries. In terms of the fan experience within the ballpark, I think it has to do with having an obsessive desire to do everything we can to make the experience perfect, recognizing that it’s impossible to be perfect but it’s essential to strive to be the very best you can be. It’s being open to suggestions, whether they come from fans or from the media or from our business partners. If there’s an idea that can make us better, we want to hear about it because we want to be the best that we can be. We certainly take what happens between the white lines very seriously but we’re not going to take ourselves seriously at all. We’re going to have fun, we’ll always have the utmost respect for the game, and we’re going to do everything we can to try to bring our players to the community. Because the players are great guys. One of the best parts of being involved in baseball is the people in the game - the managers, the players, the scouts, the coaches, everybody. And the more that we can bring forth everyone’s personalities to our fans, the more there is that shared experience between the organization and the fans and the more we’re all one, and that’s the way I try to do things.
To Chuck Greenberg: There’s already been talk about moving the High-A team from Bakersfield next year, so is there a good chance that we’ll see the High-A team in Myrtle Beach next year?
Answer: That’s far too professional a question. In Myrtle Beach, our organization has a great relationship with the Braves. We’re looking forward to this season. All of my attention has been focused on what we need to do to get this (the Rangers deal) done and we’ll turn to that later. Obviously we’ll look at everything with an open mind.
To Michael: Is there anything specific that you’ve been working on this offseason and if so what is it?
Answer: Having a healthy hamstring to start. To be honest with you, really just sharpening up parts of my game that I think are weaknesses. Base stealing is still a weakness for me and I know I can get much better at it. Going in knowing I’ll be working at third base is a huge advantage for me as opposed to last year where I had to get in there and get used to it. I do have a lot of clear goals heading into this year but defense and base running are probably tops on the list.
Here are some of the other highlights from the Q&A session.
From Chuck Greenberg:
- When asked by Jamey why he bought the Rangers now instead of waiting for Pittsburgh to go on the market, he said he believes that the Rangers are the most attractive opportunity on every level in all of sports right now. Baseball’s his favorite sport and he believes the Rangers are the greatest sleeping giant in major league baseball and all of sports.
- When asked how he determines the value of a franchise, he said there’s no science to it. You look at what’s happened with other franchises, revenue of the franchise, and what you think the potential is. He said that this is an incredible market, the largest in baseball to only have one team, and there’s a lot of potential.
- He expects to win the division and wouldn’t trade our roster or farm system for anything. It has outstanding young players and great veterans.
- When asked whether he plans to spend equal to the size of the market, he said ‘absolutely’ but pointed out that it doesn’t happen day one. He said the best role models are the Phillies and the Angels.
- He thinks the ballpark is beautiful but that it needs to be refreshed and updated. The best example is the need for a new video board, which is very dated. We won’t see it in 2010 but he expects to have some changes in place by opening day 2011.
- One of Chuck’s fondest memories is from when he was a kid and went to Photo Day at Forbes Field. He still has pictures of himself with Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Maury Wills.
- He’s in favor of mass transit to the ballpark but hasn’t had the chance to look into it yet.
- He has a mindset that this is the fans’ franchise and he’s just operating it for them.
- Regarding the heat in Texas and how it impacts fans and attendance, he said that if people are connected emotionally to the team, it will be compelling and people will come.
- Chuck feels it’s important for baseball to be fun affordable family entertainment and they’re going to be looking at opportunities to make the Rangers experience even more affordable than it is now.
- When asked who his favorite Ranger is, he said he loves them all equally. He said this team reminds him of the ‘We Are Family’ Pirates of 1979 as far as their personality and character.
- He’s planning to get a copy of Eric Nadel’s Rangers book to help educate himself on the team’s history.
- Minor league attendance isn’t impacted too much by team performance. In 2008, Myrtle Beach had the best record in professional baseball and set an attendance record. In 2009, he thinks they had the third worst record in professional baseball and they set another attendance record.
From Michael Young:
- The biggest difference this year is that they completely expect to win.
- He doesn’t care where he hits in the batting order. His approach will always be dictated by the game situation.
- When asked whether he hated Vladimir Guerrero based on what he’s done to the Rangers in the past, he joked that he didn’t hate him but he definitely disliked him. He said at the All-Star game, he was asked if he had any good Vladimir Guerrero stories and he said he had no good ones but a ton of least favorite Vladimir Guerrero stories. He said that he never hated him but that he expects he’ll love him pretty soon.
- Their excitement level with adding Rich Harden to the team is on the level of their excitement with adding Guerrero.
- He thinks he gets too much credit for moving to third base to allow Elvis to play shortstop. (I disagree by the way - he deserves a lot of credit.)
- He doesn’t believe in days off. If he doesn’t play, it’s because he can’t go that day.
- When asked who his favorite Ranger is, he said he’d go with Ian Kinsler just because he knows how good he wants to be. He thinks Kinsler’s going to have a monster year.
- His experience with A-Rod was great. He also mentioned Randy Velarde and Rusty Greer as veterans who had an impact on him early in his career.
From Jake Krug:
- When asked by Eleanor about his expectations regarding where Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando will start out and what their path will be, Jake said that he thinks both will probably start in Frisco. He said Alexi was more of a bullpen guy and Omar will most likely also be in the bullpen but could be an option as a starter. He said neither of them are far away and both have electric stuff.
- They expect to win the West and anything less than that would be a disappointment. The whole mindset has changed. It’s gone to expecting to win 90+ games. The mentality’s turned and that’s the way it should be.
- We’re eight deep in the rotation, which hasn’t been the case in the past. After Feldman, Harden, and Lewis, there’s competition.
- A fan asked whether Colby Lewis has been penciled in for the number three spot and how confident the Rangers are that his success in Japan will translate to success here, given his struggles in the US previously. Jake said that where he falls in the rotation is still to be determined, but as far as what’s different, Colby has a different delivery and attitude than the player we saw a few years ago.
- Regarding the change from Rudy Jaramillo to Clint Hurdle, Clint’s approach is a little more high energy and in your face and he thinks the players are really responding to it.
- When asked who his favorite Ranger is, he said Dean Palmer.
It was a great night and I would like to thank Jamey, Eleanor Czajka, Ted Price, Chuck Morgan, Chuck Greenberg, Michael Young, Jake Krug, and everyone else involved with putting it on.
Come back next week for the beginning of my Rangers spring training roster analysis.
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