I think that it is crazy that the All-Star ballots are already out there. There is no way to be able to choose the best players of the first half this early. I’ll vote, but I think that it’s just completely lame for the MLB to do this and to almost make sure that nobody that’s not a big name is starting.
Also, Michael Young is on pace to hit just over 50 home runs this year. I’m sure it won’t happen, but that’s a pretty good pace.
Since the All-Star ballots are available, this week I decided to determine who should be in the All-Star game, based purely on how they’re doing so far this season (they have to be on the ballot). The AL stats are as of April 25th and the NL stats are as of April 26th.
AL:
Starters:
1B: Carlos Pena, TB (.254 AVG, 8 HR, 21 RBI): Even though he is only batting .254, his power numbers make up for that, as he leads the majors in home runs with 8, and he also has 21 RBI’s.
2B: Ian Kinsler, TEX (.382 AVG, 5 HR, 17 RBI): Aaron Hill has 1 more RBI than Kinsler….But Kinsler has a higher batting average and 6 more stolen bases. They are probably the top two second basemen in the AL so far.
SS: Derek Jeter, NYY (.290 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI): He is tied for the lead in AL shortstops in both home runs and RBI’s, but has a higher batting average than Marco Scutaro, the one who he is tied with in both those categories.
3B: Evan Longoria, TB (.377 AVG, 5 HR, 16 RBI): Evan has a great batting average, a lot of home runs, and 16 RBI’s. He has the highest batting average of the AL third basemen, and he is tied for the most RBI’s of the AL third basemen.
C: Victor Martinez, CLE (.386 AVG, 5 HR, 9 RBI): Martinez is in the top 5 in the major leagues in batting average. He has the most home runs of AL catchers. And, he should be an All-Star starter, in my opinion.
OF: Nelson Cruz, TEX (.295 AVG, 6 HR, 15 RBI): Nelson is 3rd in AL outfielders in RBI’s, and he is tied for 2nd in AL outfielders in home runs. And out of the three people that are ahead of him in those categories, only one of them has a better batting average.
OF: Carlos Quentin, CWS (.250 AVG, 7 HR, 14 RBI): If it weren’t for his awful batting average, he would be a no-brainer to start, but with it, he just barely edges out Nick Markakis of the Orioles for that start.
OF: Grady Sizemore, CLE (.271 AVG, 6 HR, 18 RBI): Grady Sizemore has great power numbers, and even though his batting average is kind of low, his 6 home runs and 18 RBI’s more than make up for that.
SP: Zach Grienke, KC (4-0, 0.00 ERA, 36 K): He is tied for the major league lead in wins. He is 2nd in the major leagues in strikeouts. He leads the major leagues in ERA. He has not allowed an earned run the whole year, and that’s pretty amazing. He is the obvious choice here.
Reserves:
1B: Kevin Youkilis, BOS (.433 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI)
Miguel Cabrera, DET (.410 AVG, 4 HR, 13 RBI)
2B: Aaron Hill, TOR (.373 AVG, 5 HR, 18 RBI)
Robinson Cano, NYY (.354 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
SS: Jason Bartlett, TB (.390 AVG, 2 HR, 5 RBI)
3B: Brandon Inge, DET (.304 AVG, 6 HR, 15 RBI)
Michael Young, TEX (.308 AVG, 5 HR, 11 RBI)
C: Jorge Posada, NYY (.283 AVG, 3 HR, 12 RBI)
OF: Nick Markakis, BAL (.385 AVG, 2 HR, 19 RBI)
Torii Hunter, LAA (.327 AVG, 6 HR, 11 RBI)
Adam Jones, BAL (.333 AVG, 2 HR, 12 RBI)
Jason Bay, BOS (.288 AVG, 4 HR, 13 RBI)
P: Jon Danks, CWS (2-0, 0.95 ERA, 16 K)
Jarrod Washburn, SEA (3-0, 1.71 ERA, 17 K)
Glenn Perkins, MIN (1-1, 1.50 ERA, 12 K)
Armando Galarraga, DET (2-0, 1.96 ERA, 17 K)
Andrew Bailey, OAK (2-0, 0.79 ERA, 13 K)
Erik Bedard, SEA (2-1, 2.08 ERA, 29 K)
Joakim Soria, KC (1.80 ERA, 5 SV)
Brandon Morrow, SEA (4.05 ERA, 5 SV)
Jonathon Papelbon, BOS (1.23 ERA, 4 SV)
Frank Francisco, TEX (0.00 ERA, 3 SV)
Mariano Rivera, NYY (2.16 ERA, 4 SV)
Players per Team:
Texas Rangers – 4
New York Yankees – 4
Tampa Bay Rays – 3
Boston Red Sox – 3
Detroit Tigers – 3
Seattle Mariners – 3
Cleveland Indians – 2
Chicago White Sox – 2
Kansas City Royals – 2
Baltimore Orioles – 2
Toronto Blue Jays – 1
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – 1
Minnesota Twins – 1
Oakland Athletics – 1
NL:
Starters:
1B: Albert Pujols, STL (.348 AVG, 7 HR, 25 RBI): Even with Albert leading all NL first basemen in both home runs and RBI’s, that’s still not it. He leads all NL first basemen in stolen bases also, with three. He has been dominant this year and should be a starter.
2B: Chase Utley, PHI (.322 AVG, 5 HR, 14 RBI): Even though Dan Uggla has two more RBI’s than Utley, he is only hitting .213 compared to Chase Utley’s .322. That’s too big of a difference.
SS: Ryan Theriot, CHC (.344 AVG, 0 HR, 6 RBI): Ryan has a very good batting average, the highest among all NL shortstops (on the ballot) and even though his power numbers aren’t that good, nobody has good power numbers at that position in the NL, so that’s not a big problem.
3B: Aramis Ramirez, CHC (.358 AVG, 3 HR, 14 RBI): Ramirez leads NL third basemen in batting average and RBI’s and the only person who has hit more home runs than him has a .228 batting average. There is almost no competition, so he is the obvious choice.
C: Bengie Molina, SF (.328 AVG, 3 HR, 13 RBI): He has the best power numbers of all NL catchers, and he has one of the best batting averages, also. His brother, Yadier Molina, is the only one who gave him in competition, and, in my opinion, he isn’t playing as well as Bengie.
OF: Ryan Ludwick, STL (.356 AVG, 5 HR, 19 RBI): Ryan has good power numbers and a good batting average. He is one of the top players in the major leagues in home runs, and has a good amount of RBI’s. That should get you in.
OF: Andre Ethier, LAD (.308 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI): Andre is hitting over .300, and he has great power numbers. Even though the outfield has about 10 all-stars in it, he is one of the top ones.
OF: Ryan Braun, MIL (.359 AVG, 4 HR, 13 RBI): Ryan is hitting over .300, has 13 RBI’s, and 4 HR’s. The power numbers are decent, but his average is what got him a starting job on my NL All-Star team.
SP: Johan Santana, NYM (3-1, 0.70 ERA, 37 K): Even though Johan has a loss, he leads all of baseball in strikeouts, has an ERA under 1.00, and still has three wins. Even though Chad Billingsley is 4-0, he is 2nd to Santana.
Reserves:
1B: Joey Votto, CIN (.358 AVG, 3 HR, 16 RBI)
Adrian Gonzalez, SD (.306 AVG, 6 HR, 13 RBI)
2B: Orlando Hudson, LAD (.370 AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
SS: Hanley Ramirez, FLA (.292 AVG, 2 HR, 11 RBI)
3B: Chipper Jones, ATL (.298 AVG, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
C: Yadier Molina, STL (.333 AVG, 1 HR, 10 RBI)
Jeff Baker, FLA (.306 AVG, 1 HR, 9 RBI)
OF: Carlos Beltran, NYM (.415 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI)
Kosuke Fukudome, CHC (.345 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI)
Brad Hawpe, COL (.308 AVG, 2 HR, 13 RBI)
Adam Dunn, WSH (.302 AVG, 4 HR, 12 RBI)
P: Chad Billingsley, LAD (4-0, 2.05 ERA, 26 K)
Paul Maholm, PIT (3-0, 2.03 ERA, 10 K)
Wandy Rodriguez, HOU (1-2, 1.80 ERA, 22 K)
Jair Jurrjens, ATL (2-1, 1.42 ERA, 14 K)
Dan Haren, ARI (1-3, 1.38 ERA, 26 K)
Aaron Harang, CIN (2-2, 2.00 ERA, 19 K)
Heath Bell, SD (0.00 ERA, 7 SV)
Jonathon Broxton, LAD (0.96 ERA, 6 SV)
Francisco Cordero, CIN (1.29 ERA, 6 SV)
Matt Capps, PIT (1.42 ERA, 5 SV)
Ryan Franklin, STL (0.00 ERA, 5 SV)
Brian Wilson, SF (1.17 ERA, 3 SV)
Players per Team:
Los Angeles Dodgers – 4
St. Louis Cardinals – 4
Chicago Cubs – 3
Cincinnati Reds – 3
San Francisco Giants – 2
New York Mets – 2
San Diego Padres – 2
Florida Marlins – 2
Atlanta Braves – 2
Pittsburgh Pirates – 2
Philadelphia Phillies – 1
Milwaukee Brewers – 1
Washington Nationals – 1
Houston Astros – 1
Arizona Diamondbacks – 1
Colorado Rockies – 1
Results of last week’s poll:
Which of my playoff teams do you think has the best shot at winning the World Series?
Rangers – 35%
Rays – 21%
Cubs – 14%
Marlins – 10%
Yankees – 7%
Twins – 3%
Giants – 3%
Phillies – 3%
Come back next week for my April Awards.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Tim Murphy Interview
A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Rangers pitching prospect Tim Murphy. Tim began his pro career in 2008 after being drafted by the Rangers. After a successful year, with time spent in both Spokane and Clinton, Tim opened this season in Bakersfield. I spoke with him as he was wrapping up spring training in Arizona.
Me: Do you enjoy hitting or pitching more?
Tim: It’s tough to say. I grew up as a hitter and I consider myself to be an athletic guy. I got drafted out of high school as an outfielder by the Angels and, once I got to UCLA, I didn’t pitch during my freshman year. But it turned out that pitching was going to be my future and that’s where I ended up today. It’s tough to say. They’re two totally different sides of the game and I enjoy doing them both. But realistically, my future’s on the mound so I’m going to stick with that and that’s where I’m at right now.
Me: Do you prefer starting or relieving?
Tim: I’ve had the privilege to do both. At UCLA, I was fortunate enough to be a starter my sophomore year and going into my junior year. But also in midweek games I had the opportunity to close some weeks. They’re totally different mindsets in my opinion and if I had it my way I’d like to stay as a starter. Either way’s fine with me but I’d prefer starting over relieving.
Me: Did you enjoy playing football or baseball more?
Tim: Definitely baseball. I grew up playing all different sports – basketball, soccer, hockey - you name it, I probably played it. Football was fun for me but it was more something to pass time. It was something I enjoyed and I was somewhat successful at it, but baseball was one of the things I’ve played since I was five years old. It’s my true love and I definitely have more of a passion for baseball than I ever had for football or any other sport. It’s stuck with me since and I still love going out there every day and playing the game.
Me: What position did you play in football?
Tim: My freshman year in high school I played quarterback, and then my sophomore year I got called up to varsity and they were looking at me as a quarterback. But we had a couple of older guys who ended up stepping up. I was converted to defensive back and ended up playing safety. I played safety my sophomore and junior year. I also played a little wide receiver my junior year. I ended up giving up football my senior year so I could concentrate on baseball. I felt like that’s where my future was and I really didn’t want to jeopardize anything with an injury or anything like that. I knew baseball was my future and it wasn’t going to be football, so I ended up sticking with baseball and it got me here today so I can’t complain.
Me: What was your reasoning for not signing with the Angels when they drafted you in 2005 as an outfielder out of Rancho Buena Vista High School?
Tim: There were a couple of different reasons. Obviously I had committed to UCLA and I had an opportunity there to go with a pretty successful coach who had a pretty good background with developing players in the past. There were a couple of different situations that went into it. The situation obviously wasn’t right. The Angels had a couple of guys they had to sign before me before they could offer me money, since they had drafted me in the later rounds. It was going to take above slot money to sign me and take me away from my commitment to UCLA. So that was probably one of the main factors, which was that everything didn’t really line up at the time. If it had, I could have been with the Angels today. But the way I look at it is that everything happens for a reason. I couldn’t see myself as a professional hitter. I don’t know if I ever would have made it to the big leagues as a hitter. Pitching’s kind of where everything worked out. Definitely I feel like I can be a successful pitcher and I have the chance to make it to the big leagues and hopefully have a very successful career and a long one as well.
Me: Well I’m glad you’re here and not with the Angels.
Tim: Yeah me too. Actually I’ve been very happy with the Texas Rangers organization. They’ve been really good to me so far and I couldn’t ask for anything more. I could be with other teams that are going to the free agency market but the Rangers are promoting guys from within. There’s definitely an opportunity here for homegrown talent and they’ve proven that with their track record the last few years. I definitely feel with the Rangers that there’s a pretty good opportunity here in front of me.
Me: Which stat means more to you: having the lowest ERA on UCLA, or having the fourth lowest ERA in the whole Pac-10 conference?
Tim: That’s a tough one. Obviously you want to be in a class by yourself as a leader on the field and obviously you want to start with your own team first. That’s what you look at on an individual basis. Individual statistics are good and are something that comes along with team success. Without the team I wouldn’t have had the lowest ERA with UCLA. There’re a lot of things that go into that. But the Pac-10 is a highly touted conference and there are a lot of guys that have come out of that conference and have had successful major league careers. I didn’t even know that I had the fourth lowest ERA until you told me just now. So that’s a tough one but I’d probably go with the Pac-10 on that one because it’s kind of a nice individual honor. But like I said, it goes into the team success as well. Guys have to play behind you with defense and you have to get run support, so it wasn’t all on my own but I guess I did have a little bit to do with it.
Me: So, do you not ever pay attention to your stats?
Tim: There are different stats you look at so you can see where you’re at in the season and what you need to work on. But the stats that are more important to me are ball-to-strike ratios. After a certain outing I’ll go back and look at our pitch chart to see how many first-pitch strikes I threw, how many guys I threw strikes to on the first 2 out of 3 pitches, quality pitches, fly balls, ground balls. Those are the stats I pay more attention to. The other stats are ones that you might look back on at the end of the season and take some pride in but during the season you don’t really focus too much on ERA or strikeouts. Those things kind of just happen but if you take care of the prime ones that people don’t look at so much that don’t show up in the box scores, then the ones that do show up in the box scores take care of themselves.
Me: Was it frustrating for you to go 5-6 even though you had the team’s lowest ERA in 2008?
Tim: Yeah, I guess you could say that. Obviously you’d like to have more wins. You always feel like you could do better. But like I said earlier, the Pac-10 was a difficult conference. I was throwing against people that were just as good or even better than me. It comes with the territory. I tried to go out there every Friday night and give my team a chance to win and sometimes you fall on the short end of the stick. That’s baseball. It’s a really weird game. You never know what’s going to happen. We had guys with higher ERAs who had pretty successful seasons. I guess you could say it’s disappointing, but in the long run it really didn’t matter too much. We ended up making the playoffs and had a pretty good run. We fell a little bit short and didn’t meet our main goal, which was obviously a national championship for UCLA, but you can’t look too far into that in my eyes.
Me: What 2008 accomplishment means more to you: leading the Pac-10 in strikeouts with 111 or being named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week three times?
Tim: Probably in the long run I’d have to say leading the Pac-10 in strikeouts. It’s a tough one to say, too, because the Pac-10 pitcher of the week honors go with the team. You can go out and throw a shutout, but the team still has to put up that one run and play defense behind you, so I feel like the Pac-10 ones are not so individually based. But definitely the Pac-10 strikeout leader I can look back on 40 to 50 years from now and tell my grandchildren that I led the Pac-10 in strikeouts in 2008. I think that’s something that I’ll cherish a little bit more once my baseball career is over and I look back on things. That’s probably something that I’ll remember forever.
Me: As a pitcher, as the season goes along, would you rather throw more strikeouts or less walks?
Tim: Obviously less walks. At any level of the game, you can’t give away free bases. Once you start giving away free bases, that’s when bad things start to happen. If I had zero strikeouts and zero walks in a game versus seven strikeouts and three walks in a game, I’d take the zero and zero, just for the fact that there are other ways to get a guy out than strikeouts and you can’t strike a guy out on one pitch. Strikeouts can lead to high pitch counts. I’d definitely take the fewer walks than strikeouts.
Me: When your coach at UCLA, John Savage, had you throw 144 pitches in an 8-0 win, what were some of the thoughts that went through your head?
Tim: If I remember correctly, that was against Berkeley, and we were a bubble team going to the playoffs. We weren’t a shoe-in for the playoffs yet, so, if I remember correctly, it was a game up there that we kind of needed to win and it was late in the season. It was the last start of the regular season for me and pitch count by then is individual based. People talk about 100 pitches being the highest that someone can go, but it’s something that Nolan Ryan’s gone into here with the Rangers in that it’s kind of individually based. You have to push your limits, I feel, and some guys are capable of doing that. And if you can, then why not? I think our pitch counts here this year with the Rangers are going to get more stretched out. If I remember correctly, I threw those 144 pitches and then came back the next Friday and had a pretty successful game against Virginia. So it’s all individually based in my opinion. If a guy can handle it then a guy can handle it. It didn’t have any negative effect on me and it was a big game for UCLA to get us into the playoffs. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. It’s one of those things I did for the team. We made it to the regionals and it didn’t have any long-lasting effects on me.
Me: What adjustments did you make between 2007 and 2008 that helped you lower your ERA from 5.68 to 3.34 and lower your opponent’s batting average from .278 to .227?
Tim: 2007 was really my first full year of pitching, especially at a higher level. I pitched a little bit in high school. I was still pretty new to pitching in 2007. I was a guy who had a decent arm that was more of a thrower than a pitcher. I feel like probably the biggest difference between 2007 and 2008 was that I made the transition into a pitcher, refined my command with fastballs, my curveball got a little better, experience, all sorts of stuff contributed to the switch between the two seasons. It was more experience and being out there more and more. Like anything else in life, the more and more you do something the better and better you’ll become at it in my opinion.
Me: In both ’07 and ’08 you allowed more unearned runs than earned runs. What were your first thoughts whenever one of your teammates would make an error behind you?
Tim: Everyone makes mistakes. Physical errors are going to happen. Guys are going to bobble a ground ball or drop a fly ball. It’s the mental errors that will get to you. But if a guy makes an error behind you, that’s going to happen. It’s no different than me leaving an 0-2 pitch over the middle of the plate that wasn’t supposed to be there and the guy hits a home run. You don’t have eight guys behind you bickering at you when you make a mistake on the mound, so if a guy makes an error behind you, you’ve got to go on and pick him up. If anything, you want to get the next ball right back to him. You want to give him another chance. You want him to be able to redeem himself. He feels just as bad. It’s not like he did it intentionally. You need to move on to the next guy, take it one pitch at a time, clear your mind and go to the next pitch - challenge the next guy even more. I never have a negative feeling towards a player when an error happens or anything like that.
Me: Did you notice a big difference when you got to the minor leagues in the defense behind you?
Tim: The biggest difference I noticed from college to professional baseball is that, especially in the lower levels, guys are a little bit more raw. In college, you see guys that are a little more average across the board with everything they do. Once I got to pro ball, you could make some mistakes and get away with them and then make another mistake and the guy hits a 500-foot home run. That’s probably the biggest difference. And then obviously everyone here got drafted for a reason so most of the guys have some tools. You see guys with more ability here in pro ball. They might not be as consistent with their ability yet but that’s part of the minor leagues and developing, as opposed to college where you see more guys with average tools who make the routine plays and not make the spectacular ones. Up here in the minors, you’ll see some guys make some unbelievable plays that you’re awed by and then see them boot or misplay a ball on a play that they should make. That’s probably the biggest difference – it’s a little more up-and-down in the minor leagues and it was a little more even-keeled in college ball.
Me: Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?
Tim: I’d probably have to say Matt West. He was my roommate in Spokane and he was one of the first guys I met with the Rangers. He had been with the Rangers a year, so he kind of showed me the ropes of professional baseball, some of the little things I didn’t know. He was my roomie so I spent a lot of time with him in Spokane. Another guy would probably be Corey Young. We hit it off. He has some of the same interests as me. He’s from New Jersey but you’d never know it. You’d think he was a California kid. We clicked right away. The third guy would probably be Corey Ragsdale. He’s an older guy. I met him later in the year in Spokane when he got transitioned from shortstop to the mound. When he came down, he kind of gave me a new perspective on baseball. Well, not just in baseball. He’s a more mature guy and we had some heart-to-heart talks. I felt like he helped me grow up a little bit, I guess would be the best way to describe it. I feel I’d have to attribute some of my success in Spokane to him and some of the talks we had and trying to get more out of my ability.
Me: Who are the three toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?
Tim: Probably the toughest guy, and he was left-handed too, was Brett Wallace. He probably has a shot at being in the big leagues this year. He was just one of those guys that I always had trouble with in college. Two other guys? I don’t know. It’s tough to say. I wouldn’t consider myself an average pitcher. I kind of do things a little bit differently. I kind of still have a position player’s mentality. I really don’t remember too much.
Me: Well, that’s a good sign if you can’t think of tough hitters.
Tim: Yeah, I only remember certain things. It’s weird. Like, I’ll remember how to pitch certain guys, or a weakness, or I’ll remember how a guy’s really fast and liable to bunt anytime during a game, or that sort of thing. But hitters-wise, you could say that if a guy has success off of me or I have a bad outing, it’s one of those things where I just want to move on to the next start as soon as possible. You just kind of forget about those negative moments. You take them and learn from them but you don’t dwell on them. That’s the biggest reason why I don’t remember the toughest hitters. Like I said, Brett was my toughest guy.
Me: What is your best pitch and how was it developed?
Tim: I’d have to say that it’s definitely going to have to be my fastball. I live off my fastball. Anyone you ask, a scout or anyone in the organization, the fastball is my number one pitch and I think it should be for every single pitcher. You have to have a fastball and you have to establish it early in the game. If you don’t have a fastball then, in my eyes, you’re going up the creek the wrong way. Probably the thing I’ve developed the most is being able to locate it better and have better command. Going into this year, I’ve been trying to keep the ball down, especially out here in spring training, and it’s something that I’ll carry over into the season. I’ve had pretty good success out here so far in spring training. I’ve been able to refine my command of that and I’ve been able to put it where I want more often.
Me: What’s been the best game so far of your professional career and why?
Tim: I don’t know about best game but the most memorable game came up in Washington. There was a promotion called ‘10 K’s for $10,000’, so if the whole Spokane pitching staff combined had 10 strikeouts in 9 innings, then one of the fans would win $10,000. Matt Matt Nevarez started the game and I think he went around 4 innings with 6 strikeouts, and I came in around the 5th and got one strikeout that inning. By the end of my outing, I had about 2 or 3 innings and I got that 10th strikeout. So, I think in the 7th inning, we had 10 combined strikeouts and we actually won a fan $10,000. So that was probably the most memorable moment just because it was something cool and probably something I’ll never see again.
Me: That must have been fun for the fan.
Tim: Yeah, I’m sure they were pretty happy. I don’t know too many people who wouldn’t take $10,000.
Me: What was your favorite team growing up?
Tim: I grew up in San Diego, so obviously the Padres. It was the Padres and then my favorite player growing up was Steve Finley. He kind of bounced around from team to team, so I followed whatever team he was on pretty closely. But I followed the Padres most as a kid.
Me: I went to Petco Park the year it opened. I guess you’ve been to Petco, right?
Tim: Oh yeah, I’ve been to Petco for many games. My dad’s a firefighter so he goes in every year and gets a season ticket package and splits it with the others. They each get about five games apiece. My parents have had season tickets there for the last four or five years. So I definitely got my fair share of games in. It still looks brand new and it’s probably the most clean stadium I’ve ever been in. It’s a pretty nice place.
Me: It’s much nicer than Jack Murphy.
Tim: Yeah, way better than Qualcomm.
Me: What sports did you play growing up and which were you best at?
Tim: I started playing baseball when I was 5. I played t-ball every year and never skipped a year on that. I played soccer for 2-3 years. I played hockey for a year or a year and a half. I played basketball in middle school for a year. Then it was on to football in high school. I really like football. It was really fun to me. It’s a lot more of an athletic game. You can be a good athlete and you can get away with a lot in that sport, as opposed to baseball where I feel you need to be athletic but there’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes, especially mentally. I feel like I was probably the best at baseball. I’m still playing baseball now so I can’t say I wasn’t the best at baseball.
Me: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had to deal with?
Tim: Hands-down it was when I broke my jaw my junior year of high school. I got hit by a baseball and broke my jaw in two spots. I think it was 2 or 3 weeks before the season and I had to have it wired shut for six weeks. It was definitely, easily, without a doubt the worst injury I’ve had. I ended up losing 17 pounds from it. I couldn’t eat. The thing I survived on was taking hot pockets and putting them in a blender and adding either chicken or beef broth to liquefy them even more and then I’d suck them down with a straw because I couldn’t chew or move my jaw. It’s something I’ll never forget and hopefully never have to go through again. I hope no one has to go through that actually.
Me: That must have hurt.
Tim: Yeah, it was pretty painful too. The initial contact and injury didn’t hurt. But the surgery and the first week were unbearable. You wanted to rip the wires and metal out of your mouth but it was just something you had to go through.
Me: What are your hobbies?
Tim: I like movies and hanging out with my friends during the offseason. I go to the beach a lot. Those are probably my biggest hobbies. I love the beach. You’ll always find me at the beach during the offseason. I don’t think I’ll ever move from southern California. It’s probably somewhere I’ll always be during the offseason.
Me: Well, that’s all the questions I have. Thank you so much for doing the interview.
Tim: No worries. If you ever have any other questions or ever need anything, just give me a call. It was good hearing from you again.
I would like to thank Tim for taking so much time to talk with me for this interview and wish him the best of luck in Bakersfield this season. We should be seeing him in Frisco soon. I got to meet Tim in January at the Rangers Winter awards ceremony. Tim sat at our table for dinner. I also talked with him a few times in Surprise in March when I was up there for spring training. Tim is a great guy and always very friendly. I really appreciate him taking time out of his schedule for this interview.
Come back next week for numbers 36-40 on my Top 50 All-Time Rangers List.
Me: Do you enjoy hitting or pitching more?
Tim: It’s tough to say. I grew up as a hitter and I consider myself to be an athletic guy. I got drafted out of high school as an outfielder by the Angels and, once I got to UCLA, I didn’t pitch during my freshman year. But it turned out that pitching was going to be my future and that’s where I ended up today. It’s tough to say. They’re two totally different sides of the game and I enjoy doing them both. But realistically, my future’s on the mound so I’m going to stick with that and that’s where I’m at right now.
Me: Do you prefer starting or relieving?
Tim: I’ve had the privilege to do both. At UCLA, I was fortunate enough to be a starter my sophomore year and going into my junior year. But also in midweek games I had the opportunity to close some weeks. They’re totally different mindsets in my opinion and if I had it my way I’d like to stay as a starter. Either way’s fine with me but I’d prefer starting over relieving.
Me: Did you enjoy playing football or baseball more?
Tim: Definitely baseball. I grew up playing all different sports – basketball, soccer, hockey - you name it, I probably played it. Football was fun for me but it was more something to pass time. It was something I enjoyed and I was somewhat successful at it, but baseball was one of the things I’ve played since I was five years old. It’s my true love and I definitely have more of a passion for baseball than I ever had for football or any other sport. It’s stuck with me since and I still love going out there every day and playing the game.
Me: What position did you play in football?
Tim: My freshman year in high school I played quarterback, and then my sophomore year I got called up to varsity and they were looking at me as a quarterback. But we had a couple of older guys who ended up stepping up. I was converted to defensive back and ended up playing safety. I played safety my sophomore and junior year. I also played a little wide receiver my junior year. I ended up giving up football my senior year so I could concentrate on baseball. I felt like that’s where my future was and I really didn’t want to jeopardize anything with an injury or anything like that. I knew baseball was my future and it wasn’t going to be football, so I ended up sticking with baseball and it got me here today so I can’t complain.
Me: What was your reasoning for not signing with the Angels when they drafted you in 2005 as an outfielder out of Rancho Buena Vista High School?
Tim: There were a couple of different reasons. Obviously I had committed to UCLA and I had an opportunity there to go with a pretty successful coach who had a pretty good background with developing players in the past. There were a couple of different situations that went into it. The situation obviously wasn’t right. The Angels had a couple of guys they had to sign before me before they could offer me money, since they had drafted me in the later rounds. It was going to take above slot money to sign me and take me away from my commitment to UCLA. So that was probably one of the main factors, which was that everything didn’t really line up at the time. If it had, I could have been with the Angels today. But the way I look at it is that everything happens for a reason. I couldn’t see myself as a professional hitter. I don’t know if I ever would have made it to the big leagues as a hitter. Pitching’s kind of where everything worked out. Definitely I feel like I can be a successful pitcher and I have the chance to make it to the big leagues and hopefully have a very successful career and a long one as well.
Me: Well I’m glad you’re here and not with the Angels.
Tim: Yeah me too. Actually I’ve been very happy with the Texas Rangers organization. They’ve been really good to me so far and I couldn’t ask for anything more. I could be with other teams that are going to the free agency market but the Rangers are promoting guys from within. There’s definitely an opportunity here for homegrown talent and they’ve proven that with their track record the last few years. I definitely feel with the Rangers that there’s a pretty good opportunity here in front of me.
Me: Which stat means more to you: having the lowest ERA on UCLA, or having the fourth lowest ERA in the whole Pac-10 conference?
Tim: That’s a tough one. Obviously you want to be in a class by yourself as a leader on the field and obviously you want to start with your own team first. That’s what you look at on an individual basis. Individual statistics are good and are something that comes along with team success. Without the team I wouldn’t have had the lowest ERA with UCLA. There’re a lot of things that go into that. But the Pac-10 is a highly touted conference and there are a lot of guys that have come out of that conference and have had successful major league careers. I didn’t even know that I had the fourth lowest ERA until you told me just now. So that’s a tough one but I’d probably go with the Pac-10 on that one because it’s kind of a nice individual honor. But like I said, it goes into the team success as well. Guys have to play behind you with defense and you have to get run support, so it wasn’t all on my own but I guess I did have a little bit to do with it.
Me: So, do you not ever pay attention to your stats?
Tim: There are different stats you look at so you can see where you’re at in the season and what you need to work on. But the stats that are more important to me are ball-to-strike ratios. After a certain outing I’ll go back and look at our pitch chart to see how many first-pitch strikes I threw, how many guys I threw strikes to on the first 2 out of 3 pitches, quality pitches, fly balls, ground balls. Those are the stats I pay more attention to. The other stats are ones that you might look back on at the end of the season and take some pride in but during the season you don’t really focus too much on ERA or strikeouts. Those things kind of just happen but if you take care of the prime ones that people don’t look at so much that don’t show up in the box scores, then the ones that do show up in the box scores take care of themselves.
Me: Was it frustrating for you to go 5-6 even though you had the team’s lowest ERA in 2008?
Tim: Yeah, I guess you could say that. Obviously you’d like to have more wins. You always feel like you could do better. But like I said earlier, the Pac-10 was a difficult conference. I was throwing against people that were just as good or even better than me. It comes with the territory. I tried to go out there every Friday night and give my team a chance to win and sometimes you fall on the short end of the stick. That’s baseball. It’s a really weird game. You never know what’s going to happen. We had guys with higher ERAs who had pretty successful seasons. I guess you could say it’s disappointing, but in the long run it really didn’t matter too much. We ended up making the playoffs and had a pretty good run. We fell a little bit short and didn’t meet our main goal, which was obviously a national championship for UCLA, but you can’t look too far into that in my eyes.
Me: What 2008 accomplishment means more to you: leading the Pac-10 in strikeouts with 111 or being named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week three times?
Tim: Probably in the long run I’d have to say leading the Pac-10 in strikeouts. It’s a tough one to say, too, because the Pac-10 pitcher of the week honors go with the team. You can go out and throw a shutout, but the team still has to put up that one run and play defense behind you, so I feel like the Pac-10 ones are not so individually based. But definitely the Pac-10 strikeout leader I can look back on 40 to 50 years from now and tell my grandchildren that I led the Pac-10 in strikeouts in 2008. I think that’s something that I’ll cherish a little bit more once my baseball career is over and I look back on things. That’s probably something that I’ll remember forever.
Me: As a pitcher, as the season goes along, would you rather throw more strikeouts or less walks?
Tim: Obviously less walks. At any level of the game, you can’t give away free bases. Once you start giving away free bases, that’s when bad things start to happen. If I had zero strikeouts and zero walks in a game versus seven strikeouts and three walks in a game, I’d take the zero and zero, just for the fact that there are other ways to get a guy out than strikeouts and you can’t strike a guy out on one pitch. Strikeouts can lead to high pitch counts. I’d definitely take the fewer walks than strikeouts.
Me: When your coach at UCLA, John Savage, had you throw 144 pitches in an 8-0 win, what were some of the thoughts that went through your head?
Tim: If I remember correctly, that was against Berkeley, and we were a bubble team going to the playoffs. We weren’t a shoe-in for the playoffs yet, so, if I remember correctly, it was a game up there that we kind of needed to win and it was late in the season. It was the last start of the regular season for me and pitch count by then is individual based. People talk about 100 pitches being the highest that someone can go, but it’s something that Nolan Ryan’s gone into here with the Rangers in that it’s kind of individually based. You have to push your limits, I feel, and some guys are capable of doing that. And if you can, then why not? I think our pitch counts here this year with the Rangers are going to get more stretched out. If I remember correctly, I threw those 144 pitches and then came back the next Friday and had a pretty successful game against Virginia. So it’s all individually based in my opinion. If a guy can handle it then a guy can handle it. It didn’t have any negative effect on me and it was a big game for UCLA to get us into the playoffs. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. It’s one of those things I did for the team. We made it to the regionals and it didn’t have any long-lasting effects on me.
Me: What adjustments did you make between 2007 and 2008 that helped you lower your ERA from 5.68 to 3.34 and lower your opponent’s batting average from .278 to .227?
Tim: 2007 was really my first full year of pitching, especially at a higher level. I pitched a little bit in high school. I was still pretty new to pitching in 2007. I was a guy who had a decent arm that was more of a thrower than a pitcher. I feel like probably the biggest difference between 2007 and 2008 was that I made the transition into a pitcher, refined my command with fastballs, my curveball got a little better, experience, all sorts of stuff contributed to the switch between the two seasons. It was more experience and being out there more and more. Like anything else in life, the more and more you do something the better and better you’ll become at it in my opinion.
Me: In both ’07 and ’08 you allowed more unearned runs than earned runs. What were your first thoughts whenever one of your teammates would make an error behind you?
Tim: Everyone makes mistakes. Physical errors are going to happen. Guys are going to bobble a ground ball or drop a fly ball. It’s the mental errors that will get to you. But if a guy makes an error behind you, that’s going to happen. It’s no different than me leaving an 0-2 pitch over the middle of the plate that wasn’t supposed to be there and the guy hits a home run. You don’t have eight guys behind you bickering at you when you make a mistake on the mound, so if a guy makes an error behind you, you’ve got to go on and pick him up. If anything, you want to get the next ball right back to him. You want to give him another chance. You want him to be able to redeem himself. He feels just as bad. It’s not like he did it intentionally. You need to move on to the next guy, take it one pitch at a time, clear your mind and go to the next pitch - challenge the next guy even more. I never have a negative feeling towards a player when an error happens or anything like that.
Me: Did you notice a big difference when you got to the minor leagues in the defense behind you?
Tim: The biggest difference I noticed from college to professional baseball is that, especially in the lower levels, guys are a little bit more raw. In college, you see guys that are a little more average across the board with everything they do. Once I got to pro ball, you could make some mistakes and get away with them and then make another mistake and the guy hits a 500-foot home run. That’s probably the biggest difference. And then obviously everyone here got drafted for a reason so most of the guys have some tools. You see guys with more ability here in pro ball. They might not be as consistent with their ability yet but that’s part of the minor leagues and developing, as opposed to college where you see more guys with average tools who make the routine plays and not make the spectacular ones. Up here in the minors, you’ll see some guys make some unbelievable plays that you’re awed by and then see them boot or misplay a ball on a play that they should make. That’s probably the biggest difference – it’s a little more up-and-down in the minor leagues and it was a little more even-keeled in college ball.
Me: Who are your three favorite teammates since you joined the Rangers organization and why?
Tim: I’d probably have to say Matt West. He was my roommate in Spokane and he was one of the first guys I met with the Rangers. He had been with the Rangers a year, so he kind of showed me the ropes of professional baseball, some of the little things I didn’t know. He was my roomie so I spent a lot of time with him in Spokane. Another guy would probably be Corey Young. We hit it off. He has some of the same interests as me. He’s from New Jersey but you’d never know it. You’d think he was a California kid. We clicked right away. The third guy would probably be Corey Ragsdale. He’s an older guy. I met him later in the year in Spokane when he got transitioned from shortstop to the mound. When he came down, he kind of gave me a new perspective on baseball. Well, not just in baseball. He’s a more mature guy and we had some heart-to-heart talks. I felt like he helped me grow up a little bit, I guess would be the best way to describe it. I feel I’d have to attribute some of my success in Spokane to him and some of the talks we had and trying to get more out of my ability.
Me: Who are the three toughest hitters you’ve faced and why?
Tim: Probably the toughest guy, and he was left-handed too, was Brett Wallace. He probably has a shot at being in the big leagues this year. He was just one of those guys that I always had trouble with in college. Two other guys? I don’t know. It’s tough to say. I wouldn’t consider myself an average pitcher. I kind of do things a little bit differently. I kind of still have a position player’s mentality. I really don’t remember too much.
Me: Well, that’s a good sign if you can’t think of tough hitters.
Tim: Yeah, I only remember certain things. It’s weird. Like, I’ll remember how to pitch certain guys, or a weakness, or I’ll remember how a guy’s really fast and liable to bunt anytime during a game, or that sort of thing. But hitters-wise, you could say that if a guy has success off of me or I have a bad outing, it’s one of those things where I just want to move on to the next start as soon as possible. You just kind of forget about those negative moments. You take them and learn from them but you don’t dwell on them. That’s the biggest reason why I don’t remember the toughest hitters. Like I said, Brett was my toughest guy.
Me: What is your best pitch and how was it developed?
Tim: I’d have to say that it’s definitely going to have to be my fastball. I live off my fastball. Anyone you ask, a scout or anyone in the organization, the fastball is my number one pitch and I think it should be for every single pitcher. You have to have a fastball and you have to establish it early in the game. If you don’t have a fastball then, in my eyes, you’re going up the creek the wrong way. Probably the thing I’ve developed the most is being able to locate it better and have better command. Going into this year, I’ve been trying to keep the ball down, especially out here in spring training, and it’s something that I’ll carry over into the season. I’ve had pretty good success out here so far in spring training. I’ve been able to refine my command of that and I’ve been able to put it where I want more often.
Me: What’s been the best game so far of your professional career and why?
Tim: I don’t know about best game but the most memorable game came up in Washington. There was a promotion called ‘10 K’s for $10,000’, so if the whole Spokane pitching staff combined had 10 strikeouts in 9 innings, then one of the fans would win $10,000. Matt Matt Nevarez started the game and I think he went around 4 innings with 6 strikeouts, and I came in around the 5th and got one strikeout that inning. By the end of my outing, I had about 2 or 3 innings and I got that 10th strikeout. So, I think in the 7th inning, we had 10 combined strikeouts and we actually won a fan $10,000. So that was probably the most memorable moment just because it was something cool and probably something I’ll never see again.
Me: That must have been fun for the fan.
Tim: Yeah, I’m sure they were pretty happy. I don’t know too many people who wouldn’t take $10,000.
Me: What was your favorite team growing up?
Tim: I grew up in San Diego, so obviously the Padres. It was the Padres and then my favorite player growing up was Steve Finley. He kind of bounced around from team to team, so I followed whatever team he was on pretty closely. But I followed the Padres most as a kid.
Me: I went to Petco Park the year it opened. I guess you’ve been to Petco, right?
Tim: Oh yeah, I’ve been to Petco for many games. My dad’s a firefighter so he goes in every year and gets a season ticket package and splits it with the others. They each get about five games apiece. My parents have had season tickets there for the last four or five years. So I definitely got my fair share of games in. It still looks brand new and it’s probably the most clean stadium I’ve ever been in. It’s a pretty nice place.
Me: It’s much nicer than Jack Murphy.
Tim: Yeah, way better than Qualcomm.
Me: What sports did you play growing up and which were you best at?
Tim: I started playing baseball when I was 5. I played t-ball every year and never skipped a year on that. I played soccer for 2-3 years. I played hockey for a year or a year and a half. I played basketball in middle school for a year. Then it was on to football in high school. I really like football. It was really fun to me. It’s a lot more of an athletic game. You can be a good athlete and you can get away with a lot in that sport, as opposed to baseball where I feel you need to be athletic but there’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes, especially mentally. I feel like I was probably the best at baseball. I’m still playing baseball now so I can’t say I wasn’t the best at baseball.
Me: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had to deal with?
Tim: Hands-down it was when I broke my jaw my junior year of high school. I got hit by a baseball and broke my jaw in two spots. I think it was 2 or 3 weeks before the season and I had to have it wired shut for six weeks. It was definitely, easily, without a doubt the worst injury I’ve had. I ended up losing 17 pounds from it. I couldn’t eat. The thing I survived on was taking hot pockets and putting them in a blender and adding either chicken or beef broth to liquefy them even more and then I’d suck them down with a straw because I couldn’t chew or move my jaw. It’s something I’ll never forget and hopefully never have to go through again. I hope no one has to go through that actually.
Me: That must have hurt.
Tim: Yeah, it was pretty painful too. The initial contact and injury didn’t hurt. But the surgery and the first week were unbearable. You wanted to rip the wires and metal out of your mouth but it was just something you had to go through.
Me: What are your hobbies?
Tim: I like movies and hanging out with my friends during the offseason. I go to the beach a lot. Those are probably my biggest hobbies. I love the beach. You’ll always find me at the beach during the offseason. I don’t think I’ll ever move from southern California. It’s probably somewhere I’ll always be during the offseason.
Me: Well, that’s all the questions I have. Thank you so much for doing the interview.
Tim: No worries. If you ever have any other questions or ever need anything, just give me a call. It was good hearing from you again.
I would like to thank Tim for taking so much time to talk with me for this interview and wish him the best of luck in Bakersfield this season. We should be seeing him in Frisco soon. I got to meet Tim in January at the Rangers Winter awards ceremony. Tim sat at our table for dinner. I also talked with him a few times in Surprise in March when I was up there for spring training. Tim is a great guy and always very friendly. I really appreciate him taking time out of his schedule for this interview.
Come back next week for numbers 36-40 on my Top 50 All-Time Rangers List.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
AL Season Predictions and Playoff Predictions
This past week I went to Opening Day and got to see the Rangers light Cliff Lee up and Kevin Millwood shut the Indians down. The Rangers’ new ribbon scoreboards and out-of-town scoreboard look very nice. They’re big improvements that have been needed for a while. They make the ballpark look much more modern. I also like the new brick wall that lines the infield and the fact that they replaced the cupholder at our seats that’s been missing for two years. It was a great day. The weather was great, the game was great, and we really didn’t have any problems dealing with the big crowds. It was also good seeing and talking to usher Ron, who’s a very nice guy.
I would like to congratulate Jeff Zimmerman for his minor league deal with the Mariners and wish him good luck. I’m looking forward to seeing him back in the majors.
This week I will provide my AL season predictions. I will predict the standings and the awards, plus the playoffs. Records in parentheses are as of April 11.
AL East:
1. Tampa Bay Rays (2-3) – The Rays made it to the World Series last year as a young team, and now they’re just one year older and one year better. They have a really good line-up with Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, and Pat Burrell taking up the middle and Carl Crawford starting it off. The Rays also have great defense, as only three American League teams made less errors than the Tampa Bay Rays last year. They have great pitching with James Shields, Scott Kazmir, and Matt Garza as the 1-2-3 guys, when Garza would be the #2 guy in most places, and in some, the #1, and Kazmir would be the #1 starter for many teams. Andy Sonnanstine went 13-9 last year and is their #4 starter. In my opinion, they have the best team because they can run (they had the most stolen bases out of anyone last year), they can hit for power (they had the 5th most home runs in the AL last year, they even have a back-up who hit 10 home runs last year), they can field, and they can pitch (they had the 3rd lowest ERA in the majors last year).
2. New York Yankees (3-2) (my wild card winner) – The Yankees rotation has injury issues. Chein-Ming Wang was out most of last season due to injury, AJ Burnett is incredibly injury-prone, and CC Sabathia has had oblique problems in the past. Pettitte had a 4.54 ERA last year and Joba Chamberlain only pitched past the 6th inning three times last year and only finished seven innings once. They have a very good top of the rotation when healthy, but I don’t think they’ll be healthy very long and I think that they will struggle because of that. They have a decent offense, but it doesn’t have much depth (at the moment) with Cody Ransom at third (for now), Brett Gardner at center, and almost nobody on the bench that could step up and be a solid starter. They also have a tough schedule the second half of the season, as they play playoff teams (from last year) 9 times starting July 27th. I think the Yankees can afford to lose one of their top three pitchers due to injury and still be the Wild Card, but if they lose two or three, I don’t think they’ll make the playoffs.
3. Boston Red Sox (2-3) – The Red Sox went to the ALCS last year, but I don’t think they will do it this year. They depend too much on David Ortiz, even though he only hit .264 last year in the regular season, and .186 in the playoffs last year. Mike Lowell is injury-prone and Jason Varitek is not very good. Jed Lowrie only hit .258 last season and he is their starting shortstop. Youkilis, Pedroia, Bay, and Ellsbury are all good, but JD Drew almost surely will get injured soon (probably very soon), and then they’ll lose him again. Beckett and Lester are a good 1-2 punch, but Beckett is injury-prone, and after that it’s too inconsistent. Dice-K is usually good, but he has a few too many bad outings to be an ace, and he has very high pitch counts, so he doesn’t go very far into the games. Wakefield went 10-11 last year and then Brad Penny is coming off an injury and might have some issues. I think in most divisions they would be in 1st, but in this one I think they are in 3rd.
4. Toronto Blue Jays (5-1) – The Blue Jays have a very good team, but it’s not as good as the Rays, Yankees, or Red Sox. Lyle Overbay, Aaron Hill, Marco Scutaro, and Scott Rolen (Blue Jays infield) don’t match Carlos Pena, Akinori Iwamura, Jason Bartlett, and Evan Longoria (Rays infield), or Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, and soon-to-be A-ROD (Yankees infield), or Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jed Lowrie, and Mike Lowell (Red Sox infield). But the Blue Jays outfield has a very good upside with Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, and Travis Snider. They each have 30-home run potential. Roy Halladay is a workhorse and has pitched at least 220 innings each of the last three seasons. Jesse Litsch had a 3.58 ERA last year to go along with 13 wins and he is pretty good. David Purcey is in his second big league season this year, and he should do better this year. Both of the 4-5 starters are rookies this year, and so I think that that will also hold the Blue Jays back and that it will make them pretty easily the 4th place team instead of the 2nd or 3rd.
5. Baltimore Orioles (4-1) – The Orioles have one good starter, Jeremy Guthrie. He had a 3.63 ERA last year even though he only had a 10-12 record. Their second pitcher is a rookie. Their second pitcher. That pretty much sums up the rest of the rotation, a pitching staff that had the second worst ERA in the AL last year. Aubrey Huff is good at first base, though, as he hit .304 with 32 HR’s and 108 RBI’s last year and Brian Roberts covers second, so that position’s covered. Melvin Mora had a big improvement last year from 2007 as he hit .285 with 23 HR’s and 104 RBI’s, and he’s a pretty good third baseman. Nick Markakis in right is the face of the franchise, as he deserves to be. Last year he hit .306 with 20 HR’s and 87 RBI’s, and it was a down year power-number-wise. That’s really saying something. Speedy center fielder Adam Jones is a very good center fielder and is a pretty good hitter, but after those five players, there’s not much, and so I think that they will be last in the division.
AL Central:
1. Minnesota Twins (3-3) – This depends on how long it takes Joe Mauer to get back from his injury. Mike Redmond is just not the same as the 2006 AL Batting Champion Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau can make up for him and keep them in contention for a little bit, but he can’t do it for too long. They will need their rotation to really do well until he can come back. Francisco Liriano is incredible and I think he’ll improve on his 3.20 career ERA. After him, they’ve got solid young pitchers that can get the job done. I think that the Twins will be the team with the worst record that makes the playoffs.
2. Chicago White Sox (2-3) – The White Sox are an old team that keeps getting older. Jose Contreras, Bartolo Colon, Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, and AJ Pierzynski are all old in baseball terms. Josh Fields is a work-in-progress after having just 32 at-bats last year. Chris Gentz is a rookie and will probably go through some growing pains and Carlos Quentin is coming back from injury. The White Sox are a good team, but they have too many question marks to win the division.
3. Kansas City Royals (2-3) – The Royals are a very underrated team. They have good pitching with Gil Meche and Zach Grienke at the top of the rotation. Kyle Davies, who had a great Spring Training, is the #3 guy, and Sidney Ponson and Horacio Ramirez finish off the rotation. Mike Jacobs and Alex Gordon can hit for power and Mike Aviles, Coco Crisp, and David DeJesus all can have good batting averages. When Jose Guillen gets back, he’ll just bring more power into the line-up, and if the Royals can get a lead into the late innings, they probably won’t lose it with Joakim Soria as their closer. He saved 42 games last year for the Royals. Don’t be surprised if they make the playoffs this year.
4. Cleveland Indians (0-5) – Here’s the Indians rotation:
1. Cliff Lee (who had a 12.46 ERA in 21.2 Spring Training innings this year)
2. Fausto Carmona (who had a 5.44 ERA last year)
3. Carl Pavano (who allowed 9 runs against the Rangers in 1 IP in his first start this year)
4. Scott Lewis (who only pitched 24 innings last year)
5. Anthony Reyes (who had a 6.04 ERA in 2007)
If Cliff Lee pitches like he did in Spring Training this year, then the Indians’ rotation has two #5 starters and three minor leaguers. That is not good at all. Even if Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, and Victor Martinez all hit 40 home runs this year, they still probably wouldn’t win the division with that rotation. You just can’t do that.
5. Detroit Tigers (3-3) – The Tigers have a bunch of over-paid, under-achieving players. Justin Verlander and Armando Galarraga are the only pitchers you can count on, and that’s not enough. They should have a good offense, but even if they do, if they have another 4.90 ERA like last year, that’s not going to do a whole lot of good. And with Francisco Rodney being their closer, you don’t have much faith in the bullpen, either. I think that they either are in 4th or 5th place, but I don’t see them being anywhere else.
AL West:
1. Texas Rangers (3-2) – They’re wearing red. The last time that happened they made the playoffs three out of four years. Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz, and Josh Hamilton all have 30 home-run power, maybe even 40. Michael Young is one of the best third basemen in baseball and Elvis Andrus is speedy, and a great defensive player. It will be nice to have Andrus’ speed on the basepaths this year, as he had 54 stolen bases in Frisco last year. Ian Kinsler is one of the best lead-off hitters in baseball, as he hit .319 last year with 18 HR’s and 71 RBI’s. Salty should also make a big improvement this year, and even if he doesn’t, they’ve got Taylor Teagarden right there to take his place. David Murphy and Marlon Byrd are a pretty good platoon, as they combined for 25 HR’s and 127 RBI’s last year and neither one of them hit below .275. Both Millwood and Padilla are in contract years this season and last time that happened, Millwood was the AL ERA Champion, and Padilla went 15-10 and pitched 200 innings. Once they replace Kris Benson with Scott Feldman, they’ll have a consistently good starting pitcher in Feldman. Brandon McCarthy looked good in Spring Training and Matt Harrison won 9 games in just 15 appearances last year and will hopefully just get better. If the starters can get you into the 8th with the lead, then it’s pretty much as good as a win, with CJ there to shut down whoever comes up in the 8th and Frankie Francisco there to get the save in the 9th.
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2-3) – The Angels could have some serious problems this year, as John Lackey, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar, their three top pitchers are injured. And, sadly, Nick Adenhart is gone, leaving an empty spot in the rotation. For now, they have Joe Saunders at the #1 spot, which isn’t bad, but after that they have Jered Weaver at #2, and he took a step backwards last season with his 4.33 ERA. Dustin Moseley had a 6.79 ERA last year, and yet somehow he is third in the rotation. Shane Loux is next and he’s in his rookie season, so he could have some issues this year. The outfield is very old, with 35-year-old Bobby Abreu, 33-year-old Torii Hunter, and 34-year-old Vladimir Guerrero, and they are all past their prime. Juan Rivera is their DH, despite only hitting .246 last year in 256 at-bats. His OBP was only .282. Kendry Morales, the Angels’ starting first baseman, hit .213 in 61 at-bats last year, and in the year with his most at-bats, 2006, he only hit .234 in his 197 AB’s. Howie Kendrick is good at second, but this will be his first year as a full-time starter, and he has no power whatsoever, and he barely takes any walks, as he only has 31 career walks and 968 career at-bats. Erick Aybar is also in his first full-time starting job and he will be their starting shortstop even though he only hit .277 with a .314 OBP along with only 3 HR’s and 39 RBI’s in 346 AB’s last season. 31-year-old third baseman Chone Figgins had a big decline last year and hit only .276 with 1 HR and 22 RBI’s in 453 at-bats. From 2007, Figgins’ only numbers that went up were games (by 1), at-bats (by 11), walks (by 11), and caught stealing (by 1, even though he had 6 less attempts than ’07). Mike Napoli has good power from behind the plate (20 HR’s and 49 RBI’s in just 227 at-bats last year), but he strikes out too many times, as he struck out 70 times last year, which equaled just about 31% of his at-bats. Their bullpen isn’t as good anymore, either, as Brian Fuentes just doesn’t match K-Rod, although he is still good. I think that the Angels will need some serious trade deadline help to get into the playoffs this year.
3. Oakland Athletics (2-3) – Last year the A’s scored the least amount of runs in the AL by 15 and had the worst batting average in all of baseball (.242). Their starting first baseman (Jason Giambi) had a .247 average last year, the 2B (Mark Ellis) had a .233 average, the 3B (Eric Chavez) hit .247, the SS (Orlando Cabrera) hit .281, the three outfielders (Matt Holliday, Ryan Sweeney, and Travis Buck) hit .321, .286, and .226, the DH (Jack Cust) hit .231, and the catcher (Kurt Suzuki) hit .271. The A’s have only one starter that hit .300 last year (Matt Holliday), and then nobody else even hit .290. That’s not enough offense. Their #1 starter (while Justin Duchscherer is injured), Dallas Braden, has only 150 innings of major league experience. The #2 starter has 5 innings of major league experience, the #3 starter has 238.1 innings of major league experience, the #4 starter has 6 innings of major league experience, and the #5 starter has 30 innings of major league experience. The pitcher with the most major league experience has less innings pitched in his career than Roy Halladay had last year. This team will be good, but it will take a couple years to get all of the pitchers developed.
4. Seattle Mariners (4-2) – Here are the Mariner players that had good years last year: Felix Hernandez and Jose Lopez. Here are the Mariner players I think will have good seasons this year: Felix Hernandez and Jose Lopez. And possibly Erik Bedard. Here are the players on this team that would be starters for the Rangers: Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard. That pretty much sums up their whole team. Not very good. Last year the only AL team that scored less runs than the Mariners was the A’s. Last year the Mariners had the fourth highest ERA in the AL. They can’t hit and they can’t pitch. That’s not a very good combination.
AL Awards:
AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, TEX – If the Rangers win the division (like I think they will), I think that he will be the obvious choice, especially if he hits 40 HR’s and gets 125 RBI’s (like I think he will).
Cy Young Award: Kyle Davies, KC – Kyle had a great Spring Training and I don’t think he will stop. He has had the potential for a while, but I think that this will be the year that he breaks through.
Rookie of the Year: Elvis Andrus, TEX – He can run, he can field, he can hit. There isn’t too much competition this year that are starters at the beginning of the year, so I think that will help him win.
Playoffs:
AL Round 1:
Minnesota Twins over New York Yankees:
I think that the injury bug will hit the Yankees hard and the Twins will be able to take advantage of it. The Yankees are an older team and will be tiring towards the end of the season, while the Twins are a younger team and should still have plenty of energy for the playoffs.
Tampa Bay Rays over Texas Rangers:
Pitching wins championships. The Rays have the better pitching here, although by 2010 it will be different, but for this year, it’s the Rays.
NL Round 1:
Florida Marlins over Chicago Cubs:
I think that this will be the pattern in the series: Emilio Bonifacio using his speed to get into scoring position, Hanley Ramirez driving him in. I think the Cubs need to go into the playoffs hot if they are going to win this series.
Philadelphia Phillies over San Francisco Giants:
The Phillies have much more playoff experience than the Giants, and I think that will pay off. The Giants don’t have much offense, and Randy Johnson would be the only pitcher in the playoff rotation with playoff experience, and if he was in his prime, they might still have a chance, but Randy Johnson is not in his prime, so I just don’t see it.
ALCS:
Tampa Bay Rays over Minnesota Twins:
The Rays have a deeper rotation than the Twins, even though Liriano might be better than all three of them. But the Twins will need some trade deadline help to make it to the World Series, in my opinion.
NLCS:
Florida Marlins over Philadelphia Phillies:
They will both know each other pretty well from being in the same division and I think that will help the Marlins more than the Phillies. If Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez return to form after injuries, which I think they will, the Marlins will have the better rotation and I would give them the edge in the series.
World Series:
Florida Marlins over Tampa Bay Rays:
I think that it will be a terrific pitching match-up in every single game of this all-Florida World Series, and the games would most likely all be low-scoring. I think that the Marlins will be able to put together a very good offensive output, though, if they could go into the series with a hot Hanley Ramirez and a hot Dan Uggla. If they can get that, then I think they will win the series.
Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think will win the NL East?
Phillies – 37%
Mets – 25%
Braves – 18%
Marlins – 12%
Nationals – 6%
Come back next week for an interview with Rangers pitching prospect Tim Murphy.
I would like to congratulate Jeff Zimmerman for his minor league deal with the Mariners and wish him good luck. I’m looking forward to seeing him back in the majors.
This week I will provide my AL season predictions. I will predict the standings and the awards, plus the playoffs. Records in parentheses are as of April 11.
AL East:
1. Tampa Bay Rays (2-3) – The Rays made it to the World Series last year as a young team, and now they’re just one year older and one year better. They have a really good line-up with Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, and Pat Burrell taking up the middle and Carl Crawford starting it off. The Rays also have great defense, as only three American League teams made less errors than the Tampa Bay Rays last year. They have great pitching with James Shields, Scott Kazmir, and Matt Garza as the 1-2-3 guys, when Garza would be the #2 guy in most places, and in some, the #1, and Kazmir would be the #1 starter for many teams. Andy Sonnanstine went 13-9 last year and is their #4 starter. In my opinion, they have the best team because they can run (they had the most stolen bases out of anyone last year), they can hit for power (they had the 5th most home runs in the AL last year, they even have a back-up who hit 10 home runs last year), they can field, and they can pitch (they had the 3rd lowest ERA in the majors last year).
2. New York Yankees (3-2) (my wild card winner) – The Yankees rotation has injury issues. Chein-Ming Wang was out most of last season due to injury, AJ Burnett is incredibly injury-prone, and CC Sabathia has had oblique problems in the past. Pettitte had a 4.54 ERA last year and Joba Chamberlain only pitched past the 6th inning three times last year and only finished seven innings once. They have a very good top of the rotation when healthy, but I don’t think they’ll be healthy very long and I think that they will struggle because of that. They have a decent offense, but it doesn’t have much depth (at the moment) with Cody Ransom at third (for now), Brett Gardner at center, and almost nobody on the bench that could step up and be a solid starter. They also have a tough schedule the second half of the season, as they play playoff teams (from last year) 9 times starting July 27th. I think the Yankees can afford to lose one of their top three pitchers due to injury and still be the Wild Card, but if they lose two or three, I don’t think they’ll make the playoffs.
3. Boston Red Sox (2-3) – The Red Sox went to the ALCS last year, but I don’t think they will do it this year. They depend too much on David Ortiz, even though he only hit .264 last year in the regular season, and .186 in the playoffs last year. Mike Lowell is injury-prone and Jason Varitek is not very good. Jed Lowrie only hit .258 last season and he is their starting shortstop. Youkilis, Pedroia, Bay, and Ellsbury are all good, but JD Drew almost surely will get injured soon (probably very soon), and then they’ll lose him again. Beckett and Lester are a good 1-2 punch, but Beckett is injury-prone, and after that it’s too inconsistent. Dice-K is usually good, but he has a few too many bad outings to be an ace, and he has very high pitch counts, so he doesn’t go very far into the games. Wakefield went 10-11 last year and then Brad Penny is coming off an injury and might have some issues. I think in most divisions they would be in 1st, but in this one I think they are in 3rd.
4. Toronto Blue Jays (5-1) – The Blue Jays have a very good team, but it’s not as good as the Rays, Yankees, or Red Sox. Lyle Overbay, Aaron Hill, Marco Scutaro, and Scott Rolen (Blue Jays infield) don’t match Carlos Pena, Akinori Iwamura, Jason Bartlett, and Evan Longoria (Rays infield), or Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, and soon-to-be A-ROD (Yankees infield), or Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jed Lowrie, and Mike Lowell (Red Sox infield). But the Blue Jays outfield has a very good upside with Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, and Travis Snider. They each have 30-home run potential. Roy Halladay is a workhorse and has pitched at least 220 innings each of the last three seasons. Jesse Litsch had a 3.58 ERA last year to go along with 13 wins and he is pretty good. David Purcey is in his second big league season this year, and he should do better this year. Both of the 4-5 starters are rookies this year, and so I think that that will also hold the Blue Jays back and that it will make them pretty easily the 4th place team instead of the 2nd or 3rd.
5. Baltimore Orioles (4-1) – The Orioles have one good starter, Jeremy Guthrie. He had a 3.63 ERA last year even though he only had a 10-12 record. Their second pitcher is a rookie. Their second pitcher. That pretty much sums up the rest of the rotation, a pitching staff that had the second worst ERA in the AL last year. Aubrey Huff is good at first base, though, as he hit .304 with 32 HR’s and 108 RBI’s last year and Brian Roberts covers second, so that position’s covered. Melvin Mora had a big improvement last year from 2007 as he hit .285 with 23 HR’s and 104 RBI’s, and he’s a pretty good third baseman. Nick Markakis in right is the face of the franchise, as he deserves to be. Last year he hit .306 with 20 HR’s and 87 RBI’s, and it was a down year power-number-wise. That’s really saying something. Speedy center fielder Adam Jones is a very good center fielder and is a pretty good hitter, but after those five players, there’s not much, and so I think that they will be last in the division.
AL Central:
1. Minnesota Twins (3-3) – This depends on how long it takes Joe Mauer to get back from his injury. Mike Redmond is just not the same as the 2006 AL Batting Champion Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau can make up for him and keep them in contention for a little bit, but he can’t do it for too long. They will need their rotation to really do well until he can come back. Francisco Liriano is incredible and I think he’ll improve on his 3.20 career ERA. After him, they’ve got solid young pitchers that can get the job done. I think that the Twins will be the team with the worst record that makes the playoffs.
2. Chicago White Sox (2-3) – The White Sox are an old team that keeps getting older. Jose Contreras, Bartolo Colon, Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, and AJ Pierzynski are all old in baseball terms. Josh Fields is a work-in-progress after having just 32 at-bats last year. Chris Gentz is a rookie and will probably go through some growing pains and Carlos Quentin is coming back from injury. The White Sox are a good team, but they have too many question marks to win the division.
3. Kansas City Royals (2-3) – The Royals are a very underrated team. They have good pitching with Gil Meche and Zach Grienke at the top of the rotation. Kyle Davies, who had a great Spring Training, is the #3 guy, and Sidney Ponson and Horacio Ramirez finish off the rotation. Mike Jacobs and Alex Gordon can hit for power and Mike Aviles, Coco Crisp, and David DeJesus all can have good batting averages. When Jose Guillen gets back, he’ll just bring more power into the line-up, and if the Royals can get a lead into the late innings, they probably won’t lose it with Joakim Soria as their closer. He saved 42 games last year for the Royals. Don’t be surprised if they make the playoffs this year.
4. Cleveland Indians (0-5) – Here’s the Indians rotation:
1. Cliff Lee (who had a 12.46 ERA in 21.2 Spring Training innings this year)
2. Fausto Carmona (who had a 5.44 ERA last year)
3. Carl Pavano (who allowed 9 runs against the Rangers in 1 IP in his first start this year)
4. Scott Lewis (who only pitched 24 innings last year)
5. Anthony Reyes (who had a 6.04 ERA in 2007)
If Cliff Lee pitches like he did in Spring Training this year, then the Indians’ rotation has two #5 starters and three minor leaguers. That is not good at all. Even if Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, and Victor Martinez all hit 40 home runs this year, they still probably wouldn’t win the division with that rotation. You just can’t do that.
5. Detroit Tigers (3-3) – The Tigers have a bunch of over-paid, under-achieving players. Justin Verlander and Armando Galarraga are the only pitchers you can count on, and that’s not enough. They should have a good offense, but even if they do, if they have another 4.90 ERA like last year, that’s not going to do a whole lot of good. And with Francisco Rodney being their closer, you don’t have much faith in the bullpen, either. I think that they either are in 4th or 5th place, but I don’t see them being anywhere else.
AL West:
1. Texas Rangers (3-2) – They’re wearing red. The last time that happened they made the playoffs three out of four years. Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz, and Josh Hamilton all have 30 home-run power, maybe even 40. Michael Young is one of the best third basemen in baseball and Elvis Andrus is speedy, and a great defensive player. It will be nice to have Andrus’ speed on the basepaths this year, as he had 54 stolen bases in Frisco last year. Ian Kinsler is one of the best lead-off hitters in baseball, as he hit .319 last year with 18 HR’s and 71 RBI’s. Salty should also make a big improvement this year, and even if he doesn’t, they’ve got Taylor Teagarden right there to take his place. David Murphy and Marlon Byrd are a pretty good platoon, as they combined for 25 HR’s and 127 RBI’s last year and neither one of them hit below .275. Both Millwood and Padilla are in contract years this season and last time that happened, Millwood was the AL ERA Champion, and Padilla went 15-10 and pitched 200 innings. Once they replace Kris Benson with Scott Feldman, they’ll have a consistently good starting pitcher in Feldman. Brandon McCarthy looked good in Spring Training and Matt Harrison won 9 games in just 15 appearances last year and will hopefully just get better. If the starters can get you into the 8th with the lead, then it’s pretty much as good as a win, with CJ there to shut down whoever comes up in the 8th and Frankie Francisco there to get the save in the 9th.
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2-3) – The Angels could have some serious problems this year, as John Lackey, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar, their three top pitchers are injured. And, sadly, Nick Adenhart is gone, leaving an empty spot in the rotation. For now, they have Joe Saunders at the #1 spot, which isn’t bad, but after that they have Jered Weaver at #2, and he took a step backwards last season with his 4.33 ERA. Dustin Moseley had a 6.79 ERA last year, and yet somehow he is third in the rotation. Shane Loux is next and he’s in his rookie season, so he could have some issues this year. The outfield is very old, with 35-year-old Bobby Abreu, 33-year-old Torii Hunter, and 34-year-old Vladimir Guerrero, and they are all past their prime. Juan Rivera is their DH, despite only hitting .246 last year in 256 at-bats. His OBP was only .282. Kendry Morales, the Angels’ starting first baseman, hit .213 in 61 at-bats last year, and in the year with his most at-bats, 2006, he only hit .234 in his 197 AB’s. Howie Kendrick is good at second, but this will be his first year as a full-time starter, and he has no power whatsoever, and he barely takes any walks, as he only has 31 career walks and 968 career at-bats. Erick Aybar is also in his first full-time starting job and he will be their starting shortstop even though he only hit .277 with a .314 OBP along with only 3 HR’s and 39 RBI’s in 346 AB’s last season. 31-year-old third baseman Chone Figgins had a big decline last year and hit only .276 with 1 HR and 22 RBI’s in 453 at-bats. From 2007, Figgins’ only numbers that went up were games (by 1), at-bats (by 11), walks (by 11), and caught stealing (by 1, even though he had 6 less attempts than ’07). Mike Napoli has good power from behind the plate (20 HR’s and 49 RBI’s in just 227 at-bats last year), but he strikes out too many times, as he struck out 70 times last year, which equaled just about 31% of his at-bats. Their bullpen isn’t as good anymore, either, as Brian Fuentes just doesn’t match K-Rod, although he is still good. I think that the Angels will need some serious trade deadline help to get into the playoffs this year.
3. Oakland Athletics (2-3) – Last year the A’s scored the least amount of runs in the AL by 15 and had the worst batting average in all of baseball (.242). Their starting first baseman (Jason Giambi) had a .247 average last year, the 2B (Mark Ellis) had a .233 average, the 3B (Eric Chavez) hit .247, the SS (Orlando Cabrera) hit .281, the three outfielders (Matt Holliday, Ryan Sweeney, and Travis Buck) hit .321, .286, and .226, the DH (Jack Cust) hit .231, and the catcher (Kurt Suzuki) hit .271. The A’s have only one starter that hit .300 last year (Matt Holliday), and then nobody else even hit .290. That’s not enough offense. Their #1 starter (while Justin Duchscherer is injured), Dallas Braden, has only 150 innings of major league experience. The #2 starter has 5 innings of major league experience, the #3 starter has 238.1 innings of major league experience, the #4 starter has 6 innings of major league experience, and the #5 starter has 30 innings of major league experience. The pitcher with the most major league experience has less innings pitched in his career than Roy Halladay had last year. This team will be good, but it will take a couple years to get all of the pitchers developed.
4. Seattle Mariners (4-2) – Here are the Mariner players that had good years last year: Felix Hernandez and Jose Lopez. Here are the Mariner players I think will have good seasons this year: Felix Hernandez and Jose Lopez. And possibly Erik Bedard. Here are the players on this team that would be starters for the Rangers: Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard. That pretty much sums up their whole team. Not very good. Last year the only AL team that scored less runs than the Mariners was the A’s. Last year the Mariners had the fourth highest ERA in the AL. They can’t hit and they can’t pitch. That’s not a very good combination.
AL Awards:
AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, TEX – If the Rangers win the division (like I think they will), I think that he will be the obvious choice, especially if he hits 40 HR’s and gets 125 RBI’s (like I think he will).
Cy Young Award: Kyle Davies, KC – Kyle had a great Spring Training and I don’t think he will stop. He has had the potential for a while, but I think that this will be the year that he breaks through.
Rookie of the Year: Elvis Andrus, TEX – He can run, he can field, he can hit. There isn’t too much competition this year that are starters at the beginning of the year, so I think that will help him win.
Playoffs:
AL Round 1:
Minnesota Twins over New York Yankees:
I think that the injury bug will hit the Yankees hard and the Twins will be able to take advantage of it. The Yankees are an older team and will be tiring towards the end of the season, while the Twins are a younger team and should still have plenty of energy for the playoffs.
Tampa Bay Rays over Texas Rangers:
Pitching wins championships. The Rays have the better pitching here, although by 2010 it will be different, but for this year, it’s the Rays.
NL Round 1:
Florida Marlins over Chicago Cubs:
I think that this will be the pattern in the series: Emilio Bonifacio using his speed to get into scoring position, Hanley Ramirez driving him in. I think the Cubs need to go into the playoffs hot if they are going to win this series.
Philadelphia Phillies over San Francisco Giants:
The Phillies have much more playoff experience than the Giants, and I think that will pay off. The Giants don’t have much offense, and Randy Johnson would be the only pitcher in the playoff rotation with playoff experience, and if he was in his prime, they might still have a chance, but Randy Johnson is not in his prime, so I just don’t see it.
ALCS:
Tampa Bay Rays over Minnesota Twins:
The Rays have a deeper rotation than the Twins, even though Liriano might be better than all three of them. But the Twins will need some trade deadline help to make it to the World Series, in my opinion.
NLCS:
Florida Marlins over Philadelphia Phillies:
They will both know each other pretty well from being in the same division and I think that will help the Marlins more than the Phillies. If Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez return to form after injuries, which I think they will, the Marlins will have the better rotation and I would give them the edge in the series.
World Series:
Florida Marlins over Tampa Bay Rays:
I think that it will be a terrific pitching match-up in every single game of this all-Florida World Series, and the games would most likely all be low-scoring. I think that the Marlins will be able to put together a very good offensive output, though, if they could go into the series with a hot Hanley Ramirez and a hot Dan Uggla. If they can get that, then I think they will win the series.
Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think will win the NL East?
Phillies – 37%
Mets – 25%
Braves – 18%
Marlins – 12%
Nationals – 6%
Come back next week for an interview with Rangers pitching prospect Tim Murphy.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
NL Season Predictions
The season is finally here. I saw my last game of spring training Friday night when the Rangers played the Royals at the Frisco RoughRiders’ ballpark. This was the fourth year they’ve played a spring training game there and it’s always a great experience. The ballpark was packed, the Rangers won, and Brandon McCarthy looked sharp. Also, I managed to get Omar Vizquel’s autograph before the game. You may remember that he was one of three players I needed an autograph from at spring training that I wasn’t able to get when I went to Surprise. That leaves me needing just Casey Daigle and Joe Torres. Torres will probably start the season in Frisco, so he should be easy to get, but the Rangers released Daigle last week. Anyway, now I’m ready for the season to begin. I’ll be at Opening Day tomorrow and can’t wait.
This week I will do my NL season predictions. I will predict the standings and the awards.
NL:
NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies – The Phillies have only two weaknesses, third base (Pedro Feliz) and catcher (Carlos Ruiz), which is less than the other teams in the division. They’ve got a strong rotation with Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer, and Joe Blanton in the 1-4 spots. The opposing pitchers have to deal with Jimmy Rollins, then Jayson Werth, then Chase Utley, then Ryan Howard, then Raul Ibanez, and then Shane Victorino before getting to the bottom three spots of the lineup. The bullpen is solid with Brad Lidge as the closer, Ryan Madson, and, once he gets back from his suspension, J.C. Romero. The Phillies also had the 5th least amount of errors in the NL last year and I don’t see that changing.
2. Florida Marlins (wild card winner) – The Marlins’ infield is very, very good with Dan Uggla, one of the better second basemen in baseball, and Hanley Ramirez, who is very powerful, along with 40-steal capability speed, and great defense. He is a five-tool pitcher. They also have Jorge Cantu who picked his game up last year and hit 29 HR’s and 95 RBI’s. Jeremy Hermida in the outfield hit 17 home runs in just 142 games last year. In center field they have Cameron Maybin, a speedy prospect who is 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts in his career and last year went 16-for-32 at the plate. Their rotation also has a chance to be one of the best in baseball. It has Ricky Nolasco, who went 15-8 with a 3.52 ERA last year, and a healthy Josh Johnson, who went 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2006 when he was healthy and then after coming back from an injury last season went 7-1 with a 3.61 ERA, in the 1-2 spots. They also have Chris Volstad, who went 6-4 with a 2.88 ERA in his first season in the majors in the number 3 spot, even though in some rotations he would be either the 1 or 2 starter. They finally have a healthy Anibal Sanchez back in the rotation, and the last time they had that, he went 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA (2006). He could be amazing this year if he stays healthy. Andrew Miller is the only weak spot in the rotation, as he went 6-10 with a 5.87 ERA last year. The Marlins’ rotation may be the best in baseball if healthy and I think that will carry them into the playoffs as the wild card.
3. New York Mets – While the Mets fixed their bullpen by getting JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez this offseason, their rotation after Johan Santana is not very good. Their #2 pitcher is Mike Pelfrey, who had a WHIP of 1.36 last year, not as good as you want your #2 starter to have. Oliver Perez has mental lapses, and Livan Hernandez had a 5.48 ERA last year with the Twins. John Maine allowed over 1 home run per 9 innings. Their offense is very good, but it’s hard to consistently win when you can count on a good pitching performance only one out of every five days.
4. Atlanta Braves – The Braves’ infield should be one of the best parts of the team with Chipper Jones at 3rd, Yunel Escobar at shortstop, Kelly Johnson at 2nd, and Casey Kotchman at 3rd. But the outfield is not very good, as Garrett Anderson’s skills are diminishing, Jeff Francoeur hit only .239 last year, and Jordan Schafer is a rookie with no major league experience at all. Derek Lowe (14-11, 3.24) and Jair Jurrjens (13-10, 3.68) are good 1-2 pitchers, but the number three pitcher, Javier Vazquez, went 12-16 with a 4.67 ERA last year. After that, the rotation is not very good at all. They have a playoff-worthy infield, but nothing else comes close to matching that.
5. Washington Nationals – The Nationals have holes in CF, 2B, C, SP, RP, closer, and, if last year is any indication, RF, possibly along with 1B and 3B if Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman can’t come back from injury. John Lannan, Adam Dunn, and Christian Guzman are the only players who do not have big question marks. That will not win you a lot of games, and the Nationals will suffer because of it.
NL Central:
1. Chicago Cubs – First off, the Cubs had three 14-game winners last year (three more than the Rangers) and then Rich Harden. That is a pretty good starting rotation and I expect it to dominate. They have a great bullpen, too, with Jeff Samardzija, Aaron Heilman, and two closers in Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg. And then here’s their line-up:
1. Alfonso Soriano
2. Mike Fontenot
3. Derrek Lee
4. Milton Bradley
5. Aramis Ramirez
6. Kosuke Fukudome/Reed Johnson
7. Geovany Soto
8. Ryan Theriot
9. Pitcher
That is pretty good. Soriano, Lee, Bradley, and Ramirez can all be clean-up hitters, and they’re all on one team. It is a pretty weak division and I think there is no doubt they will win it.
2. Cincinnati Reds – The Reds are a young, up-and-coming team, and even though I think they’ll be just under .500, I think the other teams will be under .500, too. If Aaron Harang can come back and be in his 2007 form, when he went 16-6 with a 3.73 ERA in 231.2 innings, then they’ll have a pretty solid rotation with him, Edinson Volquez, Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto (really good prospect), and either Micah Owings or Homer Bailey (really good prospect). Every single one of them is capable of having an ERA under 4.00 if Cueto and Bailey can put it together and Arroyo can pitch like he did in 2006, when he had a 3.29 ERA. Joey Votto (.297 AVG, 24 HR, 84 RBI in rookie season last year), Brandon Phillips (.261 AVG, 21 HR, 78 RBI last season), and Jay Bruce (.254, 21 HR, 52 RBI in just 108 games in his rookie year last season) should all just get better. This offseason they traded for catcher Ramon Hernandez, who hit 15 home runs and 65 RBI’s last year. If Edwin Encarnacion can combine his past two seasons (had a .289 AVG and 76 RBI’s in ’07 and hit 26 HR’s in ’08) then he’ll be a very good player for the Reds. They also got Willy Tavares this off-season and Willy will add some speed, as he had 68 stolen bases last year and got caught only seven times. Alex Gonzalez will be healthy this year, so the Reds will have a better shortstop.
3. St. Louis Cardinals – Although both Adam Wainwright and Kyle Lohse are both good pitchers, the Cardinals just don’t have the depth in their rotation that Cincinnati has. The pitching depends way too much on Chris Carpenter, and that won’t work out very well when he gets injured again. Their infield is very weak other than Albert Pujols, as they have Skip Schumaker at second, Khalil Greene at short, and David Freese at third. They don’t have much depth at the catcher position, either, as Jason LaRue is their back-up. If Ankiel, Duncan, and Ludwick can play as well as last year (or, for Duncan, ’07), then they’ll have a pretty good outfield, but outfield won’t win you a division that has the Cubs in it.
4. Milwaukee Brewers – The Brewers have a terrible rotation, but somehow it is still better than Houston’s and Pittsburgh’s. Their #1 starter is Jeff Suppan, and even though that doesn’t match Roy Oswalt, I think that Yovani Gallardo will have a big year and really break through. Yovani had a 1.88 ERA in 24 innings last year after going 9-5 with a 3.67 ERA in 110.1 IP in 2007. Even if he doesn’t break through this year, they have Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Ryan Braun, and JJ Hardy who can make up for that. They went out and signed Trevor Hoffman to close for them and once he gets off the DL he’ll be able to do that. Even though he’s not as good as he used to be, he’s still okay, not great, but okay, so he won’t blow too many saves.
5. Houston Astros – The Astros have the worst farm system in all of baseball. And one of the worst teams in all of baseball. And one of the worst rotations in baseball after Roy Oswalt. Their number 2 pitcher is Wandy Rodriguez. The Houston Astros’ #3 pitcher is Mike Hampton, who’s basically a guy to fill up the DL. Brandon Backe will probably take the #3 spot once he gets back from injury and when Mike Hampton goes out for the year with an injury. Their rotation finishes out with Brian Moehler and Russ Ortiz. They have a good middle of the lineup, though, with Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence, and Miguel Tejada. But they also have Michael Bourn starting, Geoff Blum starting, and Pudge starting. That is not a good enough team, even in this terrible division.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates – Here are the Pirates’ holes: SP, C, 1B, SS, 3B, LF, RF, and RP. That leaves 2B, CF, and closer. Those three spots won’t win you a whole lot of games. Ian Snell went 7-12 with a 5.42 ERA last year and he’s the Pirates second starter in the rotation. Zach Duke went 5-14 last year and had a 4.82 ERA. Ross Ohlendorf went 0-3 with a 6.35 ERA in only 22.2 innings last year and yet somehow he’s on the team. Jeff Karstens went 2-6 last year and he’s also in the rotation. And your closer can’t save a whole lot of games when you’re always losing. The Pirates are a sad franchise that will be sad again this year.
NL West:
1. San Francisco Giants – The Giants have the best rotation in the division, possibly the best in baseball. They have NL Cy Young Tim Lincecum to start it off, followed by Randy Johnson who pitched great for the Diamondbacks after his injury last year and is only 5 wins away from 300 career wins. Matt Cain is 3rd and he has had an ERA under 3.80 and over 200 IP in both of the last two seasons. He would be a #1 starter for some teams. Barry Zito is 4th and he only allowed 12 earned runs in 34.1 innings to end 2008, so he might (although probably not) get back to form this year. Jonathon Sanchez is the number five starter and even though he hasn’t pitched very well so far in his career, he definitely has the stuff to do so. But their offense is terrible with Travis Ishikawa at first, Emmanuel Burriss at second, Pablo Sandoval at third, and Fred Lewis in left. Their best hitters are Randy Winn, Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina, and Edgar Renteria. Even though they won’t score many runs, their starting pitching will make up for that. And I also think that they will get some offensive help at the trade deadline.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers’ pitching will be terrible this year, as they lost Derek Lowe and Brad Penny this offseason. Now their #1 starter is Hiroki Kuroda, a pitcher who went 9-10 and only threw 183.1 innings last year. Randy Wolf is behind him, and even though he pitched well in Houston after being traded, before the trade he went 6-10 with a 4.74 ERA in pitcher-friendly Petco Park (Padres), so the Dodgers’ pitcher-friendly park might not make a difference. Chad Billingsley should be good from the #3 spot and Clayton Kershaw could pitch amazingly, but that’s only two of the five pitchers, not four (or maybe five if Zito does well) out of five like the Giants. The Dodgers can definitely hit with Manny, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, Rafael Furcal, Orlando Hudson, James Loney, and Russell Martin, and that’s every spot but the pitcher’s spot. But even with this offense, they’re going to need to have some good pitching performances to win the division.
3. Arizona Diamondbacks – The D’Backs have a good 1-2 punch in the front-end of the rotation and both Doug Davis and Jon Garland can be solid, but I just don’t see them beating out the Dodgers or the Giants. Mark Reynolds, their starting 3rd baseman, struck out 204 times last year, Felipe Lopez is their starting 2nd baseman, Chad Tracy is their starting 1st baseman, Chris Snyder is their starting catcher, and Chad Qualls is their closer. They have plenty of strong spots, but too many gaping holes, especially at the closer spot, to win the division and make the playoffs.
4. Colorado Rockies – The Rockies are no longer a good team. I think Aaron Cook and Ubaldo Jimenez will be very good, but after them the rotation really doesn’t have much. And in their hitter-friendly ballpark, they don’t have the power to take advantage of that. Garrett Atkins is their only power hitter. The Rockies really don’t have a chance at winning this division.
5. San Diego Padres – The Padres start the rotation off well with Jake Peavy (10-11, 2.85 ERA) and Chris Young (7-6, 3.96 ERA), but then it drops off after that with Cha Seung Baek (6-9, 4.62 ERA), Walter Silva (rookie), and Kevin Correia (3-8, 6.05). Their good hitter is Adrian Gonzalez, which is not anywhere near enough, especially when Heath Bell is your closer. They are almost surely in last place.
NL Awards:
MVP: Ryan Howard, PHI: Ryan finished off last year strong and had a great spring. He led the majors this spring in home runs with 10, two more than anybody else, and he was third in RBI’s with 24 only behind Josh Hamilton and Micah Hoffpauir. He will start off the year hot and I don’t think he will cool off.
Cy Young: Cole Hamels, PHI: Cole is just one year older, one year more mature, and one year better. He has great stuff, good speed, and has a good defense behind him. He will dominate all year and I think he will be the obvious Cy Young award winner.
Rookie of the Year: Chris Dickerson, CIN: Chris will be starting in left field for the Reds this year and I think he will do well. Last year in just 102 at-bats and 31 games, he hit .304 with 6 HR’s, 15 RBI’s, and a .413 OBP, and I think those numbers will just go up.
Manager of the Year: Fredi Gonzalez, FLA: If the Marlins make the playoffs, which I think will happen, he’s the obvious winner in my opinion.
Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think will win the AL East?
Red Sox – 43%
Rays – 31%
Yankees – 18%
Orioles – 6%
Blue Jays – 0%
Come back next week for my AL predictions and my playoff predictions. And, the week after that, I’ll be posting an interview with Rangers pitching prospect Tim Murphy.
This week I will do my NL season predictions. I will predict the standings and the awards.
NL:
NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies – The Phillies have only two weaknesses, third base (Pedro Feliz) and catcher (Carlos Ruiz), which is less than the other teams in the division. They’ve got a strong rotation with Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer, and Joe Blanton in the 1-4 spots. The opposing pitchers have to deal with Jimmy Rollins, then Jayson Werth, then Chase Utley, then Ryan Howard, then Raul Ibanez, and then Shane Victorino before getting to the bottom three spots of the lineup. The bullpen is solid with Brad Lidge as the closer, Ryan Madson, and, once he gets back from his suspension, J.C. Romero. The Phillies also had the 5th least amount of errors in the NL last year and I don’t see that changing.
2. Florida Marlins (wild card winner) – The Marlins’ infield is very, very good with Dan Uggla, one of the better second basemen in baseball, and Hanley Ramirez, who is very powerful, along with 40-steal capability speed, and great defense. He is a five-tool pitcher. They also have Jorge Cantu who picked his game up last year and hit 29 HR’s and 95 RBI’s. Jeremy Hermida in the outfield hit 17 home runs in just 142 games last year. In center field they have Cameron Maybin, a speedy prospect who is 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts in his career and last year went 16-for-32 at the plate. Their rotation also has a chance to be one of the best in baseball. It has Ricky Nolasco, who went 15-8 with a 3.52 ERA last year, and a healthy Josh Johnson, who went 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2006 when he was healthy and then after coming back from an injury last season went 7-1 with a 3.61 ERA, in the 1-2 spots. They also have Chris Volstad, who went 6-4 with a 2.88 ERA in his first season in the majors in the number 3 spot, even though in some rotations he would be either the 1 or 2 starter. They finally have a healthy Anibal Sanchez back in the rotation, and the last time they had that, he went 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA (2006). He could be amazing this year if he stays healthy. Andrew Miller is the only weak spot in the rotation, as he went 6-10 with a 5.87 ERA last year. The Marlins’ rotation may be the best in baseball if healthy and I think that will carry them into the playoffs as the wild card.
3. New York Mets – While the Mets fixed their bullpen by getting JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez this offseason, their rotation after Johan Santana is not very good. Their #2 pitcher is Mike Pelfrey, who had a WHIP of 1.36 last year, not as good as you want your #2 starter to have. Oliver Perez has mental lapses, and Livan Hernandez had a 5.48 ERA last year with the Twins. John Maine allowed over 1 home run per 9 innings. Their offense is very good, but it’s hard to consistently win when you can count on a good pitching performance only one out of every five days.
4. Atlanta Braves – The Braves’ infield should be one of the best parts of the team with Chipper Jones at 3rd, Yunel Escobar at shortstop, Kelly Johnson at 2nd, and Casey Kotchman at 3rd. But the outfield is not very good, as Garrett Anderson’s skills are diminishing, Jeff Francoeur hit only .239 last year, and Jordan Schafer is a rookie with no major league experience at all. Derek Lowe (14-11, 3.24) and Jair Jurrjens (13-10, 3.68) are good 1-2 pitchers, but the number three pitcher, Javier Vazquez, went 12-16 with a 4.67 ERA last year. After that, the rotation is not very good at all. They have a playoff-worthy infield, but nothing else comes close to matching that.
5. Washington Nationals – The Nationals have holes in CF, 2B, C, SP, RP, closer, and, if last year is any indication, RF, possibly along with 1B and 3B if Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman can’t come back from injury. John Lannan, Adam Dunn, and Christian Guzman are the only players who do not have big question marks. That will not win you a lot of games, and the Nationals will suffer because of it.
NL Central:
1. Chicago Cubs – First off, the Cubs had three 14-game winners last year (three more than the Rangers) and then Rich Harden. That is a pretty good starting rotation and I expect it to dominate. They have a great bullpen, too, with Jeff Samardzija, Aaron Heilman, and two closers in Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg. And then here’s their line-up:
1. Alfonso Soriano
2. Mike Fontenot
3. Derrek Lee
4. Milton Bradley
5. Aramis Ramirez
6. Kosuke Fukudome/Reed Johnson
7. Geovany Soto
8. Ryan Theriot
9. Pitcher
That is pretty good. Soriano, Lee, Bradley, and Ramirez can all be clean-up hitters, and they’re all on one team. It is a pretty weak division and I think there is no doubt they will win it.
2. Cincinnati Reds – The Reds are a young, up-and-coming team, and even though I think they’ll be just under .500, I think the other teams will be under .500, too. If Aaron Harang can come back and be in his 2007 form, when he went 16-6 with a 3.73 ERA in 231.2 innings, then they’ll have a pretty solid rotation with him, Edinson Volquez, Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto (really good prospect), and either Micah Owings or Homer Bailey (really good prospect). Every single one of them is capable of having an ERA under 4.00 if Cueto and Bailey can put it together and Arroyo can pitch like he did in 2006, when he had a 3.29 ERA. Joey Votto (.297 AVG, 24 HR, 84 RBI in rookie season last year), Brandon Phillips (.261 AVG, 21 HR, 78 RBI last season), and Jay Bruce (.254, 21 HR, 52 RBI in just 108 games in his rookie year last season) should all just get better. This offseason they traded for catcher Ramon Hernandez, who hit 15 home runs and 65 RBI’s last year. If Edwin Encarnacion can combine his past two seasons (had a .289 AVG and 76 RBI’s in ’07 and hit 26 HR’s in ’08) then he’ll be a very good player for the Reds. They also got Willy Tavares this off-season and Willy will add some speed, as he had 68 stolen bases last year and got caught only seven times. Alex Gonzalez will be healthy this year, so the Reds will have a better shortstop.
3. St. Louis Cardinals – Although both Adam Wainwright and Kyle Lohse are both good pitchers, the Cardinals just don’t have the depth in their rotation that Cincinnati has. The pitching depends way too much on Chris Carpenter, and that won’t work out very well when he gets injured again. Their infield is very weak other than Albert Pujols, as they have Skip Schumaker at second, Khalil Greene at short, and David Freese at third. They don’t have much depth at the catcher position, either, as Jason LaRue is their back-up. If Ankiel, Duncan, and Ludwick can play as well as last year (or, for Duncan, ’07), then they’ll have a pretty good outfield, but outfield won’t win you a division that has the Cubs in it.
4. Milwaukee Brewers – The Brewers have a terrible rotation, but somehow it is still better than Houston’s and Pittsburgh’s. Their #1 starter is Jeff Suppan, and even though that doesn’t match Roy Oswalt, I think that Yovani Gallardo will have a big year and really break through. Yovani had a 1.88 ERA in 24 innings last year after going 9-5 with a 3.67 ERA in 110.1 IP in 2007. Even if he doesn’t break through this year, they have Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Ryan Braun, and JJ Hardy who can make up for that. They went out and signed Trevor Hoffman to close for them and once he gets off the DL he’ll be able to do that. Even though he’s not as good as he used to be, he’s still okay, not great, but okay, so he won’t blow too many saves.
5. Houston Astros – The Astros have the worst farm system in all of baseball. And one of the worst teams in all of baseball. And one of the worst rotations in baseball after Roy Oswalt. Their number 2 pitcher is Wandy Rodriguez. The Houston Astros’ #3 pitcher is Mike Hampton, who’s basically a guy to fill up the DL. Brandon Backe will probably take the #3 spot once he gets back from injury and when Mike Hampton goes out for the year with an injury. Their rotation finishes out with Brian Moehler and Russ Ortiz. They have a good middle of the lineup, though, with Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence, and Miguel Tejada. But they also have Michael Bourn starting, Geoff Blum starting, and Pudge starting. That is not a good enough team, even in this terrible division.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates – Here are the Pirates’ holes: SP, C, 1B, SS, 3B, LF, RF, and RP. That leaves 2B, CF, and closer. Those three spots won’t win you a whole lot of games. Ian Snell went 7-12 with a 5.42 ERA last year and he’s the Pirates second starter in the rotation. Zach Duke went 5-14 last year and had a 4.82 ERA. Ross Ohlendorf went 0-3 with a 6.35 ERA in only 22.2 innings last year and yet somehow he’s on the team. Jeff Karstens went 2-6 last year and he’s also in the rotation. And your closer can’t save a whole lot of games when you’re always losing. The Pirates are a sad franchise that will be sad again this year.
NL West:
1. San Francisco Giants – The Giants have the best rotation in the division, possibly the best in baseball. They have NL Cy Young Tim Lincecum to start it off, followed by Randy Johnson who pitched great for the Diamondbacks after his injury last year and is only 5 wins away from 300 career wins. Matt Cain is 3rd and he has had an ERA under 3.80 and over 200 IP in both of the last two seasons. He would be a #1 starter for some teams. Barry Zito is 4th and he only allowed 12 earned runs in 34.1 innings to end 2008, so he might (although probably not) get back to form this year. Jonathon Sanchez is the number five starter and even though he hasn’t pitched very well so far in his career, he definitely has the stuff to do so. But their offense is terrible with Travis Ishikawa at first, Emmanuel Burriss at second, Pablo Sandoval at third, and Fred Lewis in left. Their best hitters are Randy Winn, Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina, and Edgar Renteria. Even though they won’t score many runs, their starting pitching will make up for that. And I also think that they will get some offensive help at the trade deadline.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers’ pitching will be terrible this year, as they lost Derek Lowe and Brad Penny this offseason. Now their #1 starter is Hiroki Kuroda, a pitcher who went 9-10 and only threw 183.1 innings last year. Randy Wolf is behind him, and even though he pitched well in Houston after being traded, before the trade he went 6-10 with a 4.74 ERA in pitcher-friendly Petco Park (Padres), so the Dodgers’ pitcher-friendly park might not make a difference. Chad Billingsley should be good from the #3 spot and Clayton Kershaw could pitch amazingly, but that’s only two of the five pitchers, not four (or maybe five if Zito does well) out of five like the Giants. The Dodgers can definitely hit with Manny, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, Rafael Furcal, Orlando Hudson, James Loney, and Russell Martin, and that’s every spot but the pitcher’s spot. But even with this offense, they’re going to need to have some good pitching performances to win the division.
3. Arizona Diamondbacks – The D’Backs have a good 1-2 punch in the front-end of the rotation and both Doug Davis and Jon Garland can be solid, but I just don’t see them beating out the Dodgers or the Giants. Mark Reynolds, their starting 3rd baseman, struck out 204 times last year, Felipe Lopez is their starting 2nd baseman, Chad Tracy is their starting 1st baseman, Chris Snyder is their starting catcher, and Chad Qualls is their closer. They have plenty of strong spots, but too many gaping holes, especially at the closer spot, to win the division and make the playoffs.
4. Colorado Rockies – The Rockies are no longer a good team. I think Aaron Cook and Ubaldo Jimenez will be very good, but after them the rotation really doesn’t have much. And in their hitter-friendly ballpark, they don’t have the power to take advantage of that. Garrett Atkins is their only power hitter. The Rockies really don’t have a chance at winning this division.
5. San Diego Padres – The Padres start the rotation off well with Jake Peavy (10-11, 2.85 ERA) and Chris Young (7-6, 3.96 ERA), but then it drops off after that with Cha Seung Baek (6-9, 4.62 ERA), Walter Silva (rookie), and Kevin Correia (3-8, 6.05). Their good hitter is Adrian Gonzalez, which is not anywhere near enough, especially when Heath Bell is your closer. They are almost surely in last place.
NL Awards:
MVP: Ryan Howard, PHI: Ryan finished off last year strong and had a great spring. He led the majors this spring in home runs with 10, two more than anybody else, and he was third in RBI’s with 24 only behind Josh Hamilton and Micah Hoffpauir. He will start off the year hot and I don’t think he will cool off.
Cy Young: Cole Hamels, PHI: Cole is just one year older, one year more mature, and one year better. He has great stuff, good speed, and has a good defense behind him. He will dominate all year and I think he will be the obvious Cy Young award winner.
Rookie of the Year: Chris Dickerson, CIN: Chris will be starting in left field for the Reds this year and I think he will do well. Last year in just 102 at-bats and 31 games, he hit .304 with 6 HR’s, 15 RBI’s, and a .413 OBP, and I think those numbers will just go up.
Manager of the Year: Fredi Gonzalez, FLA: If the Marlins make the playoffs, which I think will happen, he’s the obvious winner in my opinion.
Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think will win the AL East?
Red Sox – 43%
Rays – 31%
Yankees – 18%
Orioles – 6%
Blue Jays – 0%
Come back next week for my AL predictions and my playoff predictions. And, the week after that, I’ll be posting an interview with Rangers pitching prospect Tim Murphy.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
3/18 Rangers/Padres Spring Training Game Breakdown
This week I will analyze the Rangers @ Padres game on 3/18 that I saw while I was at Spring Training.
Top of the 1st - Cesar Ramos pitching:
Ian Kinsler – Ian got down 0-2, then got a hard-hit double.
Frank Catalanotto – He forced a 2-0 count with a good eye, then hit an RBI single up the middle.
Score: Rangers 1, Padres 0
Josh Hamilton – Josh chased the first pitch, which was way low-and-outside, and fouled it off. He then bunted for a single, it was a perfect bunt, right down the third base line, and he ran it out, showing good speed. Josh later said that he made the decision to lay down a bunt because he saw that San Diego was playing him back.
Nelson Cruz – Nelson killed a 1-0 pitch and hit a 3-run homer to left field. He just completely crushed this one.
Score: Rangers 4, Padres 0
David Murphy – Murphy had a good eye and got ahead 3-0 before drawing a five-pitch walk.
Chris Davis – Chris flied out to center field.
Travis Metcalf – He put the ball in play on a hit-and-run, but flied out to deep center field despite getting good contact.
Taylor Teagarden – Taylor forced a 2-0 count and got a 2-0 fastball, but fouled it off. Murphy then stole second, although it wasn’t due to great speed (he was actually pretty slow); it was because the catcher’s throw was more like a lob than a throw. Taylor then flied out to left field.
Bottom of the 1st – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Chris Burke – Brandon threw a four-pitch walk to start off the game.
David Eckstein – McCarthy got ahead 0-2, then struck him out on a really good fastball. Teagarden then threw Chris Burke out trying to steal second with a bullet to complete the strike-him-out-throw-him-out double play.
Cliff Floyd – Cliff flew out to right field.
Top of the 2nd - Cesar Ramos pitching:
Elvis Andrus – Elvis chased the first pitch and fouled it off before grounding out.
Ian Kinsler – Ian forced a 2-0 count, then got a fastball but was late, before getting a hard-hit single.
Frank Catalanotto – Frank grounded into a double play after falling behind 0-2.
Bottom of the 2nd – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Emil Brown – Brandon got ahead 0-2, then threw two straight balls, until Brown hit a high chopper to Metcalf, who made a good play on it.
Chris Snelling – Snelling flied out to left field.
Kyle Blanks – On a 2-2 count, McCarthy had good movement on his pitch, which froze Blanks for a strikeout. McCarthy had allowed no hits through two innings.
Top of the 3rd - Cesar Ramos pitching:
Josh Hamilton – Josh pushed one to left field for a double.
Nelson Cruz – Nelson hit a sac fly.
David Murphy – David got a 3-1 count, and then hit an RBI sac fly.
Score: Rangers 5, Padres 0
Chris Davis – Chris forced a 3-2 count and then got a walk.
Travis Metcalf – Travis smoked a single up the middle.
Taylor Teagarden – Taylor got to a 3-0 count, then after two straight strikes he hit a high pop-up to second base.
Bottom of the 3rd – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Will Venable – Brandon got ahead 0-2, threw two straight balls, then made Venable ground out to 2nd.
Nick Hundley – On a 2-1 count, McCarthy blew the fastball right by him, and then he got a pop-out to third.
Everth Cabrera – Everth grounded out to 1st. McCarthy allowed no hits through three.
Top of the 4th - Jae Kuk Ryu pitching:
Elvis Andrus – Elvis fell behind 0-2, then struck out on a great curveball.
Ian Kinsler – Ian hit a ball hard for a ground-ball double.
Frank Catalanotto – Frank swung on top of the ball and hit a chopper to 2nd, moving Kinsler over to 3rd with 2 outs.
Josh Hamilton – Josh got a hard-hit RBI double to right-center field.
Score: Rangers 6, Padres 0
Nelson Cruz – got down 0-2, then forced a 2-2 count with a good eye. A 3-2 pitch almost hit him and he got on base with a walk.
David Murphy – David hit a should-be-RBI-double, but was robbed on a diving play by the first baseman. That play made SportCenter’s top 10 plays.
Bottom of the 4th – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Chris Burke – Brandon got ahead 0-2 and then forced a ground-out to short.
David Eckstein – David also grounded out to short.
Cliff Floyd – forced a walk after falling behind 1-2.
Emil Brown – Brandon got a three-pitch strikeout. He threw four no-hit innings and looked terrific.
Top of the 5th - Jae Kuk Ryu pitching:
Chris Davis – Got ahead 2-0, but grounded out on a good defensive play.
Travis Metcalf – After falling behind 0-2, Metcalf forced a 3-2 count before grounding out to 3rd.
Taylor Teagarden – Flied out to center field as he got under the ball.
Bottom of the 5th – Brendan Donnelly pitching:
Chris Snelling – Brendan got ahead 0-2, then threw a great change-up to strike him out. On this at-bat he looked very good.
Kyle Blanks – Brendan fell behind 3-0, then allowed a double, the Padres’ first hit of the game.
Will Venable – After getting ahead 0-2, Donnelly allowed an RBI single.
Score: Rangers 6, Padres 1
Nick Hundley – Nick lined out to Davis, who tagged Venable out for an inning-ending-double-play.
Top of the 6th - Arturo Lopez pitching:
Elvis Andrus – Grounded out to 3B.
Joaquin Arias – Grounded out to 2B.
Frank Catalanotto – Chased a very low pitch and popped it up.
Bottom of the 6th – John Bannister pitching:
Everth Cabrera – John allowed a double.
Chris Burke – Bannister got ahead 0-2, then allowed a single up the middle.
Chase Headley – Chase hit into a double-play that scored a run.
Score: Rangers 6, Padres 2
Cliff Floyd – John gave up a bloop single to Floyd.
Emil Brown – Emil grounded out to 3B.
Top of the 7th - Edwin Moreno (former Ranger) pitching:
Julio Borbon – Got a hard-hit triple that would have been a double for most people.
Greg Golson – Hit an RBI sac fly.
Score: Rangers 7, Padres 2
Brandon Boggs – Got robbed of a hit by the third baseman.
Justin Smoak – Grounded out.
Bottom of the 7th – Willie Eyre pitching:
Chris Snelling – Eyre got ahead 0-2, then struck him out with a 2-2 pitch.
Kyle Blanks – Willie struck Blanks out, also, this time on a 3-2 pitch.
Matt Antonelli – Flied out to center field. Willie looked very good this inning.
Top of the 8th - Joe Thatcher pitching:
Travis Metcalf – Fell behind 0-2, then dropped his shoulder on the 0-2 pitch and struck out on three pitches.
Adam Melhuse – Hit a grounder to short, but the ball was thrown over the first baseman’s head for an error.
Omar Vizquel – Hit a single between the shortstop and third baseman.
Joaquin Arias – Hit a bloop RBI single after falling down 0-2.
Score: Rangers 8, Padres 2
German Duran – Hit an RBI sac fly to score Vizquel.
Score: Rangers 9, Padres 2
Julio Borbon – Grounded out to 2B.
Bottom of the 8th – Neftali Feliz pitching:
Jose Lobaton – Feliz threw a four-pitch walk.
Everth Cabrera – Feliz struck him out.
Dowdy – Hit into a double play.
Top of the 9th - Matt Buschmann pitching:
Greg Golson – Flew out to right field.
Brandon Boggs – Grounded out to 1B.
Justin Smoak – Flew out to LF.
Bottom of the 9th – Neftali Feliz:
Neftali allowed two runs on three hits in the ninth. This was not a very strong outing for Feliz.
Final Score: Rangers 9, Padres 4
Results of last week’s poll:
What do you think should determine home-field advantage for the World Series?
Best Record – 57%
All-Star Game – 26%
League with best interleague record – 15%
Other – 0%
Come back next week for my season predictions.
Top of the 1st - Cesar Ramos pitching:
Ian Kinsler – Ian got down 0-2, then got a hard-hit double.
Frank Catalanotto – He forced a 2-0 count with a good eye, then hit an RBI single up the middle.
Score: Rangers 1, Padres 0
Josh Hamilton – Josh chased the first pitch, which was way low-and-outside, and fouled it off. He then bunted for a single, it was a perfect bunt, right down the third base line, and he ran it out, showing good speed. Josh later said that he made the decision to lay down a bunt because he saw that San Diego was playing him back.
Nelson Cruz – Nelson killed a 1-0 pitch and hit a 3-run homer to left field. He just completely crushed this one.
Score: Rangers 4, Padres 0
David Murphy – Murphy had a good eye and got ahead 3-0 before drawing a five-pitch walk.
Chris Davis – Chris flied out to center field.
Travis Metcalf – He put the ball in play on a hit-and-run, but flied out to deep center field despite getting good contact.
Taylor Teagarden – Taylor forced a 2-0 count and got a 2-0 fastball, but fouled it off. Murphy then stole second, although it wasn’t due to great speed (he was actually pretty slow); it was because the catcher’s throw was more like a lob than a throw. Taylor then flied out to left field.
Bottom of the 1st – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Chris Burke – Brandon threw a four-pitch walk to start off the game.
David Eckstein – McCarthy got ahead 0-2, then struck him out on a really good fastball. Teagarden then threw Chris Burke out trying to steal second with a bullet to complete the strike-him-out-throw-him-out double play.
Cliff Floyd – Cliff flew out to right field.
Top of the 2nd - Cesar Ramos pitching:
Elvis Andrus – Elvis chased the first pitch and fouled it off before grounding out.
Ian Kinsler – Ian forced a 2-0 count, then got a fastball but was late, before getting a hard-hit single.
Frank Catalanotto – Frank grounded into a double play after falling behind 0-2.
Bottom of the 2nd – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Emil Brown – Brandon got ahead 0-2, then threw two straight balls, until Brown hit a high chopper to Metcalf, who made a good play on it.
Chris Snelling – Snelling flied out to left field.
Kyle Blanks – On a 2-2 count, McCarthy had good movement on his pitch, which froze Blanks for a strikeout. McCarthy had allowed no hits through two innings.
Top of the 3rd - Cesar Ramos pitching:
Josh Hamilton – Josh pushed one to left field for a double.
Nelson Cruz – Nelson hit a sac fly.
David Murphy – David got a 3-1 count, and then hit an RBI sac fly.
Score: Rangers 5, Padres 0
Chris Davis – Chris forced a 3-2 count and then got a walk.
Travis Metcalf – Travis smoked a single up the middle.
Taylor Teagarden – Taylor got to a 3-0 count, then after two straight strikes he hit a high pop-up to second base.
Bottom of the 3rd – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Will Venable – Brandon got ahead 0-2, threw two straight balls, then made Venable ground out to 2nd.
Nick Hundley – On a 2-1 count, McCarthy blew the fastball right by him, and then he got a pop-out to third.
Everth Cabrera – Everth grounded out to 1st. McCarthy allowed no hits through three.
Top of the 4th - Jae Kuk Ryu pitching:
Elvis Andrus – Elvis fell behind 0-2, then struck out on a great curveball.
Ian Kinsler – Ian hit a ball hard for a ground-ball double.
Frank Catalanotto – Frank swung on top of the ball and hit a chopper to 2nd, moving Kinsler over to 3rd with 2 outs.
Josh Hamilton – Josh got a hard-hit RBI double to right-center field.
Score: Rangers 6, Padres 0
Nelson Cruz – got down 0-2, then forced a 2-2 count with a good eye. A 3-2 pitch almost hit him and he got on base with a walk.
David Murphy – David hit a should-be-RBI-double, but was robbed on a diving play by the first baseman. That play made SportCenter’s top 10 plays.
Bottom of the 4th – Brandon McCarthy pitching:
Chris Burke – Brandon got ahead 0-2 and then forced a ground-out to short.
David Eckstein – David also grounded out to short.
Cliff Floyd – forced a walk after falling behind 1-2.
Emil Brown – Brandon got a three-pitch strikeout. He threw four no-hit innings and looked terrific.
Top of the 5th - Jae Kuk Ryu pitching:
Chris Davis – Got ahead 2-0, but grounded out on a good defensive play.
Travis Metcalf – After falling behind 0-2, Metcalf forced a 3-2 count before grounding out to 3rd.
Taylor Teagarden – Flied out to center field as he got under the ball.
Bottom of the 5th – Brendan Donnelly pitching:
Chris Snelling – Brendan got ahead 0-2, then threw a great change-up to strike him out. On this at-bat he looked very good.
Kyle Blanks – Brendan fell behind 3-0, then allowed a double, the Padres’ first hit of the game.
Will Venable – After getting ahead 0-2, Donnelly allowed an RBI single.
Score: Rangers 6, Padres 1
Nick Hundley – Nick lined out to Davis, who tagged Venable out for an inning-ending-double-play.
Top of the 6th - Arturo Lopez pitching:
Elvis Andrus – Grounded out to 3B.
Joaquin Arias – Grounded out to 2B.
Frank Catalanotto – Chased a very low pitch and popped it up.
Bottom of the 6th – John Bannister pitching:
Everth Cabrera – John allowed a double.
Chris Burke – Bannister got ahead 0-2, then allowed a single up the middle.
Chase Headley – Chase hit into a double-play that scored a run.
Score: Rangers 6, Padres 2
Cliff Floyd – John gave up a bloop single to Floyd.
Emil Brown – Emil grounded out to 3B.
Top of the 7th - Edwin Moreno (former Ranger) pitching:
Julio Borbon – Got a hard-hit triple that would have been a double for most people.
Greg Golson – Hit an RBI sac fly.
Score: Rangers 7, Padres 2
Brandon Boggs – Got robbed of a hit by the third baseman.
Justin Smoak – Grounded out.
Bottom of the 7th – Willie Eyre pitching:
Chris Snelling – Eyre got ahead 0-2, then struck him out with a 2-2 pitch.
Kyle Blanks – Willie struck Blanks out, also, this time on a 3-2 pitch.
Matt Antonelli – Flied out to center field. Willie looked very good this inning.
Top of the 8th - Joe Thatcher pitching:
Travis Metcalf – Fell behind 0-2, then dropped his shoulder on the 0-2 pitch and struck out on three pitches.
Adam Melhuse – Hit a grounder to short, but the ball was thrown over the first baseman’s head for an error.
Omar Vizquel – Hit a single between the shortstop and third baseman.
Joaquin Arias – Hit a bloop RBI single after falling down 0-2.
Score: Rangers 8, Padres 2
German Duran – Hit an RBI sac fly to score Vizquel.
Score: Rangers 9, Padres 2
Julio Borbon – Grounded out to 2B.
Bottom of the 8th – Neftali Feliz pitching:
Jose Lobaton – Feliz threw a four-pitch walk.
Everth Cabrera – Feliz struck him out.
Dowdy – Hit into a double play.
Top of the 9th - Matt Buschmann pitching:
Greg Golson – Flew out to right field.
Brandon Boggs – Grounded out to 1B.
Justin Smoak – Flew out to LF.
Bottom of the 9th – Neftali Feliz:
Neftali allowed two runs on three hits in the ninth. This was not a very strong outing for Feliz.
Final Score: Rangers 9, Padres 4
Results of last week’s poll:
What do you think should determine home-field advantage for the World Series?
Best Record – 57%
All-Star Game – 26%
League with best interleague record – 15%
Other – 0%
Come back next week for my season predictions.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Spring Training Trip Report
For the fourth year in a row, my dad, my granddad, and I went to see Rangers spring training in Surprise (near Phoenix) over spring break. This week, I’ll chronicle our trip, including my observations on the Rangers.
Monday March 16:
We left first thing Monday morning and got to Phoenix on time and without any delays. This was a nice change, as the last two years we have had delays that made us arrive at games in the 7th inning.
After landing and getting our car, we drove straight to Goodyear to see the Mariners at the Indians (it was an off day for the Rangers). The Indians just moved to Goodyear from Florida this year and are playing in a brand new stadium, but it was awful. The stadium was very metallic and not very modern and it was just filthy. The metal was mostly just covered in filth and then there were streaks of clear along it that made it look even worse. The jumbo-tron didn't work during the whole game and the scoreboard didn't work until the second inning. Also, the stadium was boring with no personality. We were really disappointed that they didn’t put more effort into building it. We’ve heard that the Indians’ complex, backfields, and clubhouse are great, but we couldn’t tell that from visiting the stadium.
Before the game, Bob Feller was at a booth signing autographs for ten dollars. We paid the $10 and I got his autograph. He was really, really nice and gave me pitching tips. He also told us how he pitched to Mickey Mantle. It was really amazing to find Bob Feller there and then get his autograph.
The game was very close the whole way and it was great to watch. It was 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth when Luis Pena pitched. He hit Matt LaPorta (a huge Indians prospect), got Travis Hafner to hit into a double play, and then he fell apart. He walked Carlos Santana and walked Wilson Valdez (who hit .216 for the Dodgers last year in 74 at-bats). Chris Gimenez then completely crushed one off of Pena for a 3-run walk-off homer to give the Indians the 4-1 win. The former Rangers that played in the game were Chris Shelton, who went 2-for-3 and played the whole game, and Travis Hafner who went 0-for-3 with a walk and played the whole game.
After we got to our car in the parking lot, the traffic was horrible. The parking lot only had one exit, which is just crazy, and we were near the back. After about ten minutes of not moving an inch, my granddad said that we should go to another lane, and that was a great idea as it saved us about 45 minutes (although they should have had more than one exit – I don’t know what the designer was thinking).
After the game we went to the Outback in Surprise and got burgers and fries. Their burgers are good, but not as good as Mooyah's. Then we went to our hotel (the Hampton Inn & Suites in Surprise – our 3rd year to stay there), watched some TV, and went to sleep.
Tuesday March 17:
This was our first day in Rangers camp. We went to the Rangers workouts in the morning and I got to see Kris Benson throw in the bullpen. He seems to have a smooth stretch delivery, and in the bullpen session he did a very good job of keeping the pitches low. He had decent speed and a good change-up, and most of his pitches would have been right at the knees. I also saw Andruw Jones take batting practice and he struggled the first time through as most of them were fly balls to center field and I didn't see any go out, and the third time through was pretty much the same. But he crushed the ball the second time through,
On Tuesday at the workout, I got to see and talk to a lot of the people I know with the team:
- Josh Hamilton – Josh is a great guy. When he saw me on his way to the field, he went out of his way to come over and say hello and see how I was doing. I got to tell him that I got baptized last summer and he high-fived me.
- Ian Kinsler – I got to talk with Ian a little before he took BP. He was nice as always.
- Rich Rice – Rich is in charge of media relations for the Rangers and this was the first time I met him. He's a nice guy and I want to thank him for the help he gave me during the week.
- Ben & Skin – I got to talk with Ben & Skin from The Fan a lot during the week during the morning workouts. It was fun getting to know them better and talk Rangers with them.
- Brennan Garr – Brennan is another great guy. I got to know him last summer when he was pitching in Frisco. He stopped and talked with us for about 10 minutes on Tuesday morning on his way back from the minor league workouts.
- Thomas Diamond – it's always good seeing Thomas and we talked a few times during the week.
- Jamey, Ginger, Erica, and Max Newberg – they were at the workouts every morning, so we had lots of time to talk about the Rangers.
- Scott Lucas – Scott was also at the workouts every morning during the week and was fun to talk to.
- Kevin Kennedy – This was the first time I had ever met Kevin, so it was really neat to talk with him. It sounds like he'll be working Tampa Bay Rays' TV games this year instead of working for Fox.
- I also got to see and talk with Jon Daniels, Thad Levine, Court Berry-Tripp, Jenny Martin, Evan Grant, Kea Kometani, and Ted Price during the week. It was good seeing and catching up with all of them.
I also played catch with Jamey Newberg's son, Max, who has a cannon arm and always wants to play catch.
The workout crowds were crazy. Probably between 250-300 people were there, most of them chasing after Josh Hamilton wherever he went. In previous years, there were usually about 20-50 people at the workouts, so this was a big difference. It made it almost impossible to talk with the players or get autographs.
I also started my autograph hunt for the week that day. I always try to get the autographs of everyone in major league camp that I don’t already have. This year, there were only nine people in camp that I didn't have: Kris Benson, Andruw Jones, Greg Golson, Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, Omar Vizquel, Justin Smoak, Brendan Donnelly, and Derrick Turnbow. I thought it would be easy, since in the past I've needed way more than that and had no problem getting them. But once I saw the crowds, I knew it would be hard. Tuesday, I got Kris Benson's and Greg Golson's autographs at the workout.
After the workouts I got to see the first part of the first minor league games of Spring Training at noon before going to the Rangers game. There were two different games going on at the backfields. They were playing the Royals. After watching those games for about 45 minutes, we headed to the main stadium, where I got to meet Sean Salisbury (formerly of ESPN, currently of The Fan) and ask him some questions about the Rangers up behind the press box (where he had been doing his show). He was very nice and gave me a lot of his time. There were some minor league questions that he didn't know the answer to, and so he called his partner, Newy, and asked him to come up to answer those. Newy was also very nice and I would like to thank him and Sean for giving me so much of their time.
We got down to our seats in the middle of the second inning. In the bottom of the second Kinsler got such a good jump off of first that there wasn't even a throw to try to get him out. Then Young got a broken bat single, but made a baserunning blunder and got picked off of first by the relay throw. In the top of the third Feldman got out of a jam. The Rangers scored six runs in the bottom of the third as Nelson Cruz got a triple, Marlon Byrd hit an RBI single, Kinsler had a 2-RBI single, Young had a 2-RBI double, and Hamilton had a 2-RBI single. The Rangers had ten batters come to the plate in the inning. In the top of the fourth Feldman threw a quick inning, and the bottom of the fourth was also quick. Feldman allowed five runs in the fifth and looked strong. I think he’s ready for the season. Ian Kinsler went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI’s, Michael Young went 3-for-4 with 1 RBI, Josh Hamilton went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI’s, and Marlon Byrd went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI’s. Derrick Turnbow pitched the eighth and looked like his old self for that inning. He didn’t allow anybody on base and struck out all the batters he faced.
After the game I got autographs from Derrick Turnbow and Justin Smoak. That left me with five players that I needed: Andruw Jones, Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, Omar Vizquel, and Brendan Donnelly.
That night we went to the Phoenix Coyotes game against the San Jose Sharks. This was the second time we had seen a Coyotes game (we also went last year). The Coyotes have a nice stadium (nicer than the AAC). It was a great game, as the Coyotes scored three goals in the first period, but the Sharks came back to tie it in the 3rd period. The Coyotes then scored another goal to beat what was the 2nd best team in hockey at the time, 4-3. Shane Doan scored the game-winning goal with 27 seconds left in the game for Phoenix. We went back to the hotel to sleep after that.
Wednesday March 18:
We went to the Rangers workouts on Wednesday morning, too. At that workout, I got Andruw Jones' autograph, leaving Brendan Donnelly, Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, and Omar Vizquel. That morning, we saw TR Sullivan, my friend from mlb.com, and Anthony Andro (Rangers beat writer from the Fort Worth Star Telegram) for the first time. I also saw CJ Wilson, Tim Murphy, Michael Schlact, Scott Feldman, Terry Clark, Kevin Millwood, and Blake Beavan for the first time. All of them are great guys and I got to talk with them for a long time.
I focused on watching BP during the workouts this morning. Michael Young did well in BP and, even though he didn't hit many home runs, he hit the ball solidly every time. Chris Davis struggled.
We went to Red Robin after the workout and we got burgers before heading to the Rangers/Padres game in Peoria. Our seats for the game were awesome, the best I’ve ever had. We were in the first row right behind home plate and were sitting about five feet away from the on-deck circle (which was really neat). Before the game, I got an autograph from Brendan Donnelly, meaning I only needed Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, and Omar Vizquel.
The Rangers won the game 9-4 and Nelson Cruz hit a home run. Josh Hamilton also got a bunt single, which was great. He saw that the Padres were playing him back so decided he would take advantage of it and bunted himself on base. The next time Josh came up, a fan asked him if he was going to hit any homers and Josh joked, ‘No, I’m just bunting today’. We noticed that Josh interacted with the crowd a lot when he was in the on-deck circle and Chris Davis did some too, showing again what nice guys that are. Brandon McCarthy threw four no-hit innings for the Rangers, looking great in the process, but Neftali Feliz struggled when he came in late in the game. I’ll be giving a play-by-play description and analysis of this game next week.
After the game, we went back to the hotel for a little while before going to the evening Royals/Mariners game in Surprise. The Mariners won 9-3. Robinson Tejeda allowed three runs, all earned, in only 1.1 innings for the Royals. We went to sleep after the game.
Thursday March 19:
We went to the workouts again on Thursday morning and got to meet Ryan Tatusko, the guy who does the Backfield Diaries for Jamey Newberg's report. He was really nice and he talked with us for a while. CJ Wilson did really well while he was pitching in BP, his first work in a while due to a blister on his finger. He looked strong and ready to go.
The crowd at the workouts was really bad again, though. After the workouts we went straight to the Dodgers/Rockies game at the Dodgers new stadium, which is really nice. We decided to skip the Rangers game this day so that we could check out the Dodgers’ new stadium (they just moved to Glendale from Florida). The Dodgers’ new stadium is as nice as the Indians’ is bad. It has a cool look to it.
The Dodgers won the game 3-2 and we got to see Clayton Kershaw, a big Dodgers prospect, pitch. He threw five one-hit innings, but the most memorable thing about his performance was the fact that he hit a solo home run that put the Dodgers on top and after that they were never behind.
After the game, we went behind the stadium to check out their backfields, which are really nice. They have a lake between the Dodgers and White Sox facilities, with walking paths beside the lake, and they have really nice fields. Each team has a field replicating their major league stadium’s dimensions. They also have an orange grove like they did in Vero Beach, although we didn't get to see it. They had lots of exits from their parking lots and it was easy to get out.
We went to NYPD Pizza (New York Pizza Department) for dinner on Thursday. Their pizza is very good and it's in Surprise, too, near the Rangers’ ballpark. We hung out at the hotel after that and my dad and I watched some of the Lord of the Rings. This is my first time to watch those movies. We watched the first one last month and watched the second one on this trip. These are the extended versions of the movies so each movie is about 4 hours long.
Friday March 20:
On Friday we went to the backfields for a little bit in the morning and saw Mike Hindman for the first time. He had just gotten into town. The Rangers were playing in Tucson Friday and most of them had already left by the time we got to the complex. We watched the remaining Rangers begin their warm-ups and then left to get down to the game in Tucson.
We made the two and a half hour drive down to Tucson to see the Rangers play the Rockies, but Tucson made it as hard as possible to get there. They had all of the exits into downtown closed for some type of construction (they were all closed last year too so it must be a big project), so we had to exit north of the city and wind around the city streets. When we finally got to the stadium, all of the parking lots were full. They apparently don’t have enough parking spaces at the stadium. We circled the parking lot for about 20 minutes, along with dozens of other cars. There was not even a single employee directing traffic or helping people out by telling them that the lots were full and directing them to alternate lots. We saw some signs telling us to go to something called the El Con Mall and take a shuttle over, but we had no idea where El Con Mall was. We finally found an employee who was guarding a VIP parking lot and my dad got her to tell us what we were supposed to do. So my dad dropped my granddad and me off at the stadium so that we wouldn’t miss any of the game (it was only about 10 minutes before first pitch) and went to find parking. He had to go about a mile through gridlocked traffic to the mall. When he got there, there was only one shuttle bus driving the route between the mall and the park and there were hundreds of people waiting for it, so my dad just decided to walk the mile over to the ballpark. When he got in, it was the middle of the second inning. But the thing was, the ballpark was nowhere near full, so I don't know how the parking lot could have been so short on capacity. It doesn’t seem that they planned this stadium very well and they definitely don’t do a good job dealing with the traffic, the parking, and the shuttles.
The Rockies’ stadium wasn't even very good, as it was an independent league team's stadium and there was nothing special about it. It seems very old and doesn’t even have seating in the outfield. They make it so hard to get to the ballpark and then, once you do get there, the Rockies make it hard to park, and then, once you park, the Rockies make it hard to get to the stadium, and then, once you get to the stadium, there's nothing special about it. So my advice is - don't go to a Rockies spring training game.
The game was good, though. The Rangers won 11-5 and Nelson Cruz and Frank Catalanotto each hit home runs. Derrick Turnbow pitched again but really struggled this time. His command was erratic and he took forever between pitches. Cruz ended up 2-for-2 with 2 RBI’s, and Frank Catalanotto got three RBI’s, while Royce Huffman from minor league camp went 2-for-5.
I never was able to get the last three autographs I wanted. I couldn’t find Casey Daigle or Joe Torres all week. I asked Omar Vizquel for his autograph a bunch of times but he never signed.
After the game ended we drove back to Phoenix to check into Embassy Suites near the airport to get ready to leave on Saturday morning. It was nice to have two rooms instead of just one and, when we got to our room, I watched the NCAA Tournament and then my dad and I watched more Lord of the Rings.
We flew home first thing Saturday morning. It was a great trip and has me excited about the Rangers’ season.
PLAYER POLL:
I asked 15 players a poll question this week. The following players participated: Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson, Kevin Millwood, Ian Kinsler, Doug Mathis, Chris Davis, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Scott Feldman, Kris Benson, Thomas Diamond, Justin Smoak, Derek Holland, Jason Jennings, Blake Beavan, and Ryan Tatusko.
Question: What do you think should determine home-field advantage for the World Series?
Answers:
53% - Best overall record of the two teams playing
40% - The team from whatever league won that year’s All-Star game
7% - The team from whatever league had the best interleague record
I would like to thank all the players who answered my poll this year.
BALLPARK RANKINGS:
I have now been to every Cactus League stadium, so I am giving each one a letter grade.
Camelback Ranch (Dodgers and White Sox) – A
Goodyear Ballpark (Indians) – D-
Hi Corbett Field (Rockies) – F----
HoHoKam Park (Cubs) – B+
Maryvale Baseball Park (Brewers) – C-
Peoria Stadium (Padres and Mariners) – A-
Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Athletics) – C
Scottsdale Stadium (Giants) – B+
Surprise Stadium (Rangers and Royals) – A+
Tempe Diablo Stadium (Angels) - B
Tucson Electric Park (Diamondbacks) – B
Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think will be the Rangers starting catcher coming out of Spring Training?
Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 74%
Taylor Teagarden – 18%
Max Ramirez – 8%
Other – 0%
Come back next week for a play-by-play analysis of the Rangers’ March 18th game against the Padres.
Monday March 16:
We left first thing Monday morning and got to Phoenix on time and without any delays. This was a nice change, as the last two years we have had delays that made us arrive at games in the 7th inning.
After landing and getting our car, we drove straight to Goodyear to see the Mariners at the Indians (it was an off day for the Rangers). The Indians just moved to Goodyear from Florida this year and are playing in a brand new stadium, but it was awful. The stadium was very metallic and not very modern and it was just filthy. The metal was mostly just covered in filth and then there were streaks of clear along it that made it look even worse. The jumbo-tron didn't work during the whole game and the scoreboard didn't work until the second inning. Also, the stadium was boring with no personality. We were really disappointed that they didn’t put more effort into building it. We’ve heard that the Indians’ complex, backfields, and clubhouse are great, but we couldn’t tell that from visiting the stadium.
Before the game, Bob Feller was at a booth signing autographs for ten dollars. We paid the $10 and I got his autograph. He was really, really nice and gave me pitching tips. He also told us how he pitched to Mickey Mantle. It was really amazing to find Bob Feller there and then get his autograph.
The game was very close the whole way and it was great to watch. It was 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth when Luis Pena pitched. He hit Matt LaPorta (a huge Indians prospect), got Travis Hafner to hit into a double play, and then he fell apart. He walked Carlos Santana and walked Wilson Valdez (who hit .216 for the Dodgers last year in 74 at-bats). Chris Gimenez then completely crushed one off of Pena for a 3-run walk-off homer to give the Indians the 4-1 win. The former Rangers that played in the game were Chris Shelton, who went 2-for-3 and played the whole game, and Travis Hafner who went 0-for-3 with a walk and played the whole game.
After we got to our car in the parking lot, the traffic was horrible. The parking lot only had one exit, which is just crazy, and we were near the back. After about ten minutes of not moving an inch, my granddad said that we should go to another lane, and that was a great idea as it saved us about 45 minutes (although they should have had more than one exit – I don’t know what the designer was thinking).
After the game we went to the Outback in Surprise and got burgers and fries. Their burgers are good, but not as good as Mooyah's. Then we went to our hotel (the Hampton Inn & Suites in Surprise – our 3rd year to stay there), watched some TV, and went to sleep.
Tuesday March 17:
This was our first day in Rangers camp. We went to the Rangers workouts in the morning and I got to see Kris Benson throw in the bullpen. He seems to have a smooth stretch delivery, and in the bullpen session he did a very good job of keeping the pitches low. He had decent speed and a good change-up, and most of his pitches would have been right at the knees. I also saw Andruw Jones take batting practice and he struggled the first time through as most of them were fly balls to center field and I didn't see any go out, and the third time through was pretty much the same. But he crushed the ball the second time through,
On Tuesday at the workout, I got to see and talk to a lot of the people I know with the team:
- Josh Hamilton – Josh is a great guy. When he saw me on his way to the field, he went out of his way to come over and say hello and see how I was doing. I got to tell him that I got baptized last summer and he high-fived me.
- Ian Kinsler – I got to talk with Ian a little before he took BP. He was nice as always.
- Rich Rice – Rich is in charge of media relations for the Rangers and this was the first time I met him. He's a nice guy and I want to thank him for the help he gave me during the week.
- Ben & Skin – I got to talk with Ben & Skin from The Fan a lot during the week during the morning workouts. It was fun getting to know them better and talk Rangers with them.
- Brennan Garr – Brennan is another great guy. I got to know him last summer when he was pitching in Frisco. He stopped and talked with us for about 10 minutes on Tuesday morning on his way back from the minor league workouts.
- Thomas Diamond – it's always good seeing Thomas and we talked a few times during the week.
- Jamey, Ginger, Erica, and Max Newberg – they were at the workouts every morning, so we had lots of time to talk about the Rangers.
- Scott Lucas – Scott was also at the workouts every morning during the week and was fun to talk to.
- Kevin Kennedy – This was the first time I had ever met Kevin, so it was really neat to talk with him. It sounds like he'll be working Tampa Bay Rays' TV games this year instead of working for Fox.
- I also got to see and talk with Jon Daniels, Thad Levine, Court Berry-Tripp, Jenny Martin, Evan Grant, Kea Kometani, and Ted Price during the week. It was good seeing and catching up with all of them.
I also played catch with Jamey Newberg's son, Max, who has a cannon arm and always wants to play catch.
The workout crowds were crazy. Probably between 250-300 people were there, most of them chasing after Josh Hamilton wherever he went. In previous years, there were usually about 20-50 people at the workouts, so this was a big difference. It made it almost impossible to talk with the players or get autographs.
I also started my autograph hunt for the week that day. I always try to get the autographs of everyone in major league camp that I don’t already have. This year, there were only nine people in camp that I didn't have: Kris Benson, Andruw Jones, Greg Golson, Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, Omar Vizquel, Justin Smoak, Brendan Donnelly, and Derrick Turnbow. I thought it would be easy, since in the past I've needed way more than that and had no problem getting them. But once I saw the crowds, I knew it would be hard. Tuesday, I got Kris Benson's and Greg Golson's autographs at the workout.
After the workouts I got to see the first part of the first minor league games of Spring Training at noon before going to the Rangers game. There were two different games going on at the backfields. They were playing the Royals. After watching those games for about 45 minutes, we headed to the main stadium, where I got to meet Sean Salisbury (formerly of ESPN, currently of The Fan) and ask him some questions about the Rangers up behind the press box (where he had been doing his show). He was very nice and gave me a lot of his time. There were some minor league questions that he didn't know the answer to, and so he called his partner, Newy, and asked him to come up to answer those. Newy was also very nice and I would like to thank him and Sean for giving me so much of their time.
We got down to our seats in the middle of the second inning. In the bottom of the second Kinsler got such a good jump off of first that there wasn't even a throw to try to get him out. Then Young got a broken bat single, but made a baserunning blunder and got picked off of first by the relay throw. In the top of the third Feldman got out of a jam. The Rangers scored six runs in the bottom of the third as Nelson Cruz got a triple, Marlon Byrd hit an RBI single, Kinsler had a 2-RBI single, Young had a 2-RBI double, and Hamilton had a 2-RBI single. The Rangers had ten batters come to the plate in the inning. In the top of the fourth Feldman threw a quick inning, and the bottom of the fourth was also quick. Feldman allowed five runs in the fifth and looked strong. I think he’s ready for the season. Ian Kinsler went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI’s, Michael Young went 3-for-4 with 1 RBI, Josh Hamilton went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI’s, and Marlon Byrd went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI’s. Derrick Turnbow pitched the eighth and looked like his old self for that inning. He didn’t allow anybody on base and struck out all the batters he faced.
After the game I got autographs from Derrick Turnbow and Justin Smoak. That left me with five players that I needed: Andruw Jones, Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, Omar Vizquel, and Brendan Donnelly.
That night we went to the Phoenix Coyotes game against the San Jose Sharks. This was the second time we had seen a Coyotes game (we also went last year). The Coyotes have a nice stadium (nicer than the AAC). It was a great game, as the Coyotes scored three goals in the first period, but the Sharks came back to tie it in the 3rd period. The Coyotes then scored another goal to beat what was the 2nd best team in hockey at the time, 4-3. Shane Doan scored the game-winning goal with 27 seconds left in the game for Phoenix. We went back to the hotel to sleep after that.
Wednesday March 18:
We went to the Rangers workouts on Wednesday morning, too. At that workout, I got Andruw Jones' autograph, leaving Brendan Donnelly, Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, and Omar Vizquel. That morning, we saw TR Sullivan, my friend from mlb.com, and Anthony Andro (Rangers beat writer from the Fort Worth Star Telegram) for the first time. I also saw CJ Wilson, Tim Murphy, Michael Schlact, Scott Feldman, Terry Clark, Kevin Millwood, and Blake Beavan for the first time. All of them are great guys and I got to talk with them for a long time.
I focused on watching BP during the workouts this morning. Michael Young did well in BP and, even though he didn't hit many home runs, he hit the ball solidly every time. Chris Davis struggled.
We went to Red Robin after the workout and we got burgers before heading to the Rangers/Padres game in Peoria. Our seats for the game were awesome, the best I’ve ever had. We were in the first row right behind home plate and were sitting about five feet away from the on-deck circle (which was really neat). Before the game, I got an autograph from Brendan Donnelly, meaning I only needed Joe Torres, Casey Daigle, and Omar Vizquel.
The Rangers won the game 9-4 and Nelson Cruz hit a home run. Josh Hamilton also got a bunt single, which was great. He saw that the Padres were playing him back so decided he would take advantage of it and bunted himself on base. The next time Josh came up, a fan asked him if he was going to hit any homers and Josh joked, ‘No, I’m just bunting today’. We noticed that Josh interacted with the crowd a lot when he was in the on-deck circle and Chris Davis did some too, showing again what nice guys that are. Brandon McCarthy threw four no-hit innings for the Rangers, looking great in the process, but Neftali Feliz struggled when he came in late in the game. I’ll be giving a play-by-play description and analysis of this game next week.
After the game, we went back to the hotel for a little while before going to the evening Royals/Mariners game in Surprise. The Mariners won 9-3. Robinson Tejeda allowed three runs, all earned, in only 1.1 innings for the Royals. We went to sleep after the game.
Thursday March 19:
We went to the workouts again on Thursday morning and got to meet Ryan Tatusko, the guy who does the Backfield Diaries for Jamey Newberg's report. He was really nice and he talked with us for a while. CJ Wilson did really well while he was pitching in BP, his first work in a while due to a blister on his finger. He looked strong and ready to go.
The crowd at the workouts was really bad again, though. After the workouts we went straight to the Dodgers/Rockies game at the Dodgers new stadium, which is really nice. We decided to skip the Rangers game this day so that we could check out the Dodgers’ new stadium (they just moved to Glendale from Florida). The Dodgers’ new stadium is as nice as the Indians’ is bad. It has a cool look to it.
The Dodgers won the game 3-2 and we got to see Clayton Kershaw, a big Dodgers prospect, pitch. He threw five one-hit innings, but the most memorable thing about his performance was the fact that he hit a solo home run that put the Dodgers on top and after that they were never behind.
After the game, we went behind the stadium to check out their backfields, which are really nice. They have a lake between the Dodgers and White Sox facilities, with walking paths beside the lake, and they have really nice fields. Each team has a field replicating their major league stadium’s dimensions. They also have an orange grove like they did in Vero Beach, although we didn't get to see it. They had lots of exits from their parking lots and it was easy to get out.
We went to NYPD Pizza (New York Pizza Department) for dinner on Thursday. Their pizza is very good and it's in Surprise, too, near the Rangers’ ballpark. We hung out at the hotel after that and my dad and I watched some of the Lord of the Rings. This is my first time to watch those movies. We watched the first one last month and watched the second one on this trip. These are the extended versions of the movies so each movie is about 4 hours long.
Friday March 20:
On Friday we went to the backfields for a little bit in the morning and saw Mike Hindman for the first time. He had just gotten into town. The Rangers were playing in Tucson Friday and most of them had already left by the time we got to the complex. We watched the remaining Rangers begin their warm-ups and then left to get down to the game in Tucson.
We made the two and a half hour drive down to Tucson to see the Rangers play the Rockies, but Tucson made it as hard as possible to get there. They had all of the exits into downtown closed for some type of construction (they were all closed last year too so it must be a big project), so we had to exit north of the city and wind around the city streets. When we finally got to the stadium, all of the parking lots were full. They apparently don’t have enough parking spaces at the stadium. We circled the parking lot for about 20 minutes, along with dozens of other cars. There was not even a single employee directing traffic or helping people out by telling them that the lots were full and directing them to alternate lots. We saw some signs telling us to go to something called the El Con Mall and take a shuttle over, but we had no idea where El Con Mall was. We finally found an employee who was guarding a VIP parking lot and my dad got her to tell us what we were supposed to do. So my dad dropped my granddad and me off at the stadium so that we wouldn’t miss any of the game (it was only about 10 minutes before first pitch) and went to find parking. He had to go about a mile through gridlocked traffic to the mall. When he got there, there was only one shuttle bus driving the route between the mall and the park and there were hundreds of people waiting for it, so my dad just decided to walk the mile over to the ballpark. When he got in, it was the middle of the second inning. But the thing was, the ballpark was nowhere near full, so I don't know how the parking lot could have been so short on capacity. It doesn’t seem that they planned this stadium very well and they definitely don’t do a good job dealing with the traffic, the parking, and the shuttles.
The Rockies’ stadium wasn't even very good, as it was an independent league team's stadium and there was nothing special about it. It seems very old and doesn’t even have seating in the outfield. They make it so hard to get to the ballpark and then, once you do get there, the Rockies make it hard to park, and then, once you park, the Rockies make it hard to get to the stadium, and then, once you get to the stadium, there's nothing special about it. So my advice is - don't go to a Rockies spring training game.
The game was good, though. The Rangers won 11-5 and Nelson Cruz and Frank Catalanotto each hit home runs. Derrick Turnbow pitched again but really struggled this time. His command was erratic and he took forever between pitches. Cruz ended up 2-for-2 with 2 RBI’s, and Frank Catalanotto got three RBI’s, while Royce Huffman from minor league camp went 2-for-5.
I never was able to get the last three autographs I wanted. I couldn’t find Casey Daigle or Joe Torres all week. I asked Omar Vizquel for his autograph a bunch of times but he never signed.
After the game ended we drove back to Phoenix to check into Embassy Suites near the airport to get ready to leave on Saturday morning. It was nice to have two rooms instead of just one and, when we got to our room, I watched the NCAA Tournament and then my dad and I watched more Lord of the Rings.
We flew home first thing Saturday morning. It was a great trip and has me excited about the Rangers’ season.
PLAYER POLL:
I asked 15 players a poll question this week. The following players participated: Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson, Kevin Millwood, Ian Kinsler, Doug Mathis, Chris Davis, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Scott Feldman, Kris Benson, Thomas Diamond, Justin Smoak, Derek Holland, Jason Jennings, Blake Beavan, and Ryan Tatusko.
Question: What do you think should determine home-field advantage for the World Series?
Answers:
53% - Best overall record of the two teams playing
40% - The team from whatever league won that year’s All-Star game
7% - The team from whatever league had the best interleague record
I would like to thank all the players who answered my poll this year.
BALLPARK RANKINGS:
I have now been to every Cactus League stadium, so I am giving each one a letter grade.
Camelback Ranch (Dodgers and White Sox) – A
Goodyear Ballpark (Indians) – D-
Hi Corbett Field (Rockies) – F----
HoHoKam Park (Cubs) – B+
Maryvale Baseball Park (Brewers) – C-
Peoria Stadium (Padres and Mariners) – A-
Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Athletics) – C
Scottsdale Stadium (Giants) – B+
Surprise Stadium (Rangers and Royals) – A+
Tempe Diablo Stadium (Angels) - B
Tucson Electric Park (Diamondbacks) – B
Results of last week’s poll:
Who do you think will be the Rangers starting catcher coming out of Spring Training?
Jarrod Saltalamacchia – 74%
Taylor Teagarden – 18%
Max Ramirez – 8%
Other – 0%
Come back next week for a play-by-play analysis of the Rangers’ March 18th game against the Padres.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Spring Training Catchers Analysis
This past week 105.3 The Fan put my blog on their website at http://www.1053thefan.com/pages/3988228.php?contentType=4&contentId=3642573. The Fan is the great new sports radio station in town and their website (http://www.1053thefan.com/) has a lot of good content. You should check it out. I think they plan to keep posting my blogs on their site and I’d like to thank Devin Pike and Gavin Spittle from The Fan for putting me on their site.
This week I completed my analysis of the players in Rangers camp with an analysis of the seven catchers in big league camp, with my percentages of them making the Opening Day roster this year.
Adam Melhuse: Last year Melhuse hit .167 in only thirty at-bats. He hit .200 with 0 HR’s and 1 RBI in 20 AB’s for the Rangers and .100 with 0 HR’s and 1 RBI in 10 AB’s for the Rockies. This was the worst average of his career when he had 25 or more at-bats. In 2007, Melhuse hit .231 with 0 HR’s and 2 RBI’s in 26 at-bats for Oakland and hit .206 with 1 HR and 7 RBI’s in 68 AB’s for the Rangers (a .213 batting average between the two teams). His best year was in 2004 with Oakland when he hit .257 with 11 HR’s and 31 RBI’s in 214 at-bats (the most home runs, RBI’s, and at-bats of any season in his career). But with the Rangers having Teagarden, Ramirez, and Saltalamacchia and with Melhuse being a non-roster invite, he probably will not make the team out of Spring Training, but if an injury occurs he might be called up on short-term basis.
Percentage chance of making the team out of Spring Training: 11.4%
Manuel Pina: Last year (his 4th in the Rangers system) Pina hit .265 with 3 HR’s and 24 RBI’s in 223 at-bats with the Blaze before being called up to Frisco where he hit .275 with 0 HR’s and 9 RBI’s in 80 at-bats. He threw out 32% of the California League base-stealers and 40% of the Texas League base-stealers. Pina has almost no chance of making the team out of Spring Training with the Rangers’ catching depth and him being a non-roster invite. Pina is an excellent defensive catcher with good plate discipline but is in big league camp this year mostly to get some experience.
Percentage: 2.9%
Max Ramirez: Ramirez made his major league debut last year and struggled in 46 AB’s, hitting only .217 with 2 HR’s and 9 RBI’s. In his 243 at-bats with Frisco in 2008 he hit .354 with 17 HR’s and 50 RBI’s. His on-base percentage was .450. In 2007 after he was traded to the Rangers for Kenny Lofton, Ramirez hit .307 with 4 HR’s and 20 RBI’s in 114 at-bats for Bakersfield. Max has great offensive potential and may ultimately be part of the team as something other than a catcher (he may be better suited as a 1B/DH). He’s currently not in camp, as he’s playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, where he’s gone 0-for-5. He definitely has a good chance of making the team, but I think that he will start off the year in Oklahoma City.
Percentage: 45.1%
Kevin Richardson: In 2008, Kevin spent the whole year in Oklahoma City and hit .251 with 6 HR’s and 22 RBI’s in 187 at-bats. In 2007, with Frisco he hit .222 with 14 HR’s and 45 RBI’s in 320 at-bats. Kevin works really well with pitchers and is someone who probably has a future as a coach, even if he doesn’t play in the majors. Kevin has no chance of making the team out of spring training since he had knee surgery that will keep him out for a while.
Percentage: 0%
Jarrod Saltalamacchia: Salty only had 198 at-bats last year and struggled. He hit .253 with only 3 HR’s and 26 RBI’s, but even though he had 110 less at-bats than 2007, he still walked 12 more times in 2008 than in 2007, showing that he’s learning to be more disciplined at the plate. He had nine errors last year and only a .976 fielding percentage and struggles throwing out base-stealers. In 2007, he hit .266 with 11 HR’s and 33 RBI’s in 308 AB’s between Atlanta and Texas. Salty has looked great during the off-season (.364, 9 HR and 21 RBI in 66 at-bats in the winter league) and during camp so far. Salty will almost surely make the team out of Spring Training and most likely will be the starter.
Percentage: 93.4%
Taylor Teagarden: Teagarden played very well in his short stint with the Rangers last year and hit .319 with 6 home runs and 17 RBI’s in 47 at-bats. His OBP was .396 and his slugging percentage was .809. He hit only .225 with 7 HR’s and 16 RBI’s in 187 at-bats with Oklahoma City in 2008 and hit only .169 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s in his 59 at-bats with Frisco in ’08. He is great defensively and works well with pitchers and, if he can keep up anything close to the offensive numbers he put up with the Rangers last year, will be the complete package at catcher. He will probably make the team, but not as an outright starter, most likely splitting the games with Saltalamacchia.
Percentage: 72.9%
I’m not sure that Emerson Frostad is in major league camp, but I think that he was brought over to replace the injured Kevin Richardson:
Emerson Frostad: Emerson hit .256 with 6 home runs and 38 RBI’s with Frisco in ’08. He played in 92 games and had 332 at-bats, an average of 3.61 at-bats per game played. He walked 35 times, but struck out 78 times. He had 85 total hits and was 4-for-6 in stolen base attempts. He can play third, catcher, and first, but doesn’t run very well. He has almost no chance of making the team this year.
Percentage: 1.2%
Here is my predicted catching roster on Opening Day:
Starting Catcher vs. Lefties: Taylor Teagarden
Starting Catcher vs. Righties: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Next in line:
Max Ramirez
Here are my predictions for the Rangers’ roster on Opening Day:
Starter #1: Kevin Millwood
Starter #2: Vicente Padilla
Starter #3: Matt Harrison
Starter #4: Scott Feldman
Starter #5: Brandon McCarthy
Long Reliever: Dustin Nippert
Long Reliever/Middle Reliever: Doug Mathis
Long Reliever/Middle Reliever: Josh Rupe
Middle Reliever: CJ Wilson
Middle Reliever: Warner Madrigal
Set-up Man: Eddie Guardado
Closer: Frankie Francisco
Starting Catcher vs. Lefties: Taylor Teagarden
Starting Catcher vs. Righties: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
1B: Chris Davis
2B: Ian Kinsler
3B: Michael Young
SS: Elvis Andrus
DH: Hank Blalock
Utility: Omar Vizquel
Center Field: Josh Hamilton
Right Field: Nelson Cruz
Left Field vs. Righties: David Murphy
Left Field vs. Lefties: Marlon Byrd
Back-up Outfielder: Frank Catalanotto
Come back next week for a summary of my trip to Rangers camp at Spring Training.
This week I completed my analysis of the players in Rangers camp with an analysis of the seven catchers in big league camp, with my percentages of them making the Opening Day roster this year.
Adam Melhuse: Last year Melhuse hit .167 in only thirty at-bats. He hit .200 with 0 HR’s and 1 RBI in 20 AB’s for the Rangers and .100 with 0 HR’s and 1 RBI in 10 AB’s for the Rockies. This was the worst average of his career when he had 25 or more at-bats. In 2007, Melhuse hit .231 with 0 HR’s and 2 RBI’s in 26 at-bats for Oakland and hit .206 with 1 HR and 7 RBI’s in 68 AB’s for the Rangers (a .213 batting average between the two teams). His best year was in 2004 with Oakland when he hit .257 with 11 HR’s and 31 RBI’s in 214 at-bats (the most home runs, RBI’s, and at-bats of any season in his career). But with the Rangers having Teagarden, Ramirez, and Saltalamacchia and with Melhuse being a non-roster invite, he probably will not make the team out of Spring Training, but if an injury occurs he might be called up on short-term basis.
Percentage chance of making the team out of Spring Training: 11.4%
Manuel Pina: Last year (his 4th in the Rangers system) Pina hit .265 with 3 HR’s and 24 RBI’s in 223 at-bats with the Blaze before being called up to Frisco where he hit .275 with 0 HR’s and 9 RBI’s in 80 at-bats. He threw out 32% of the California League base-stealers and 40% of the Texas League base-stealers. Pina has almost no chance of making the team out of Spring Training with the Rangers’ catching depth and him being a non-roster invite. Pina is an excellent defensive catcher with good plate discipline but is in big league camp this year mostly to get some experience.
Percentage: 2.9%
Max Ramirez: Ramirez made his major league debut last year and struggled in 46 AB’s, hitting only .217 with 2 HR’s and 9 RBI’s. In his 243 at-bats with Frisco in 2008 he hit .354 with 17 HR’s and 50 RBI’s. His on-base percentage was .450. In 2007 after he was traded to the Rangers for Kenny Lofton, Ramirez hit .307 with 4 HR’s and 20 RBI’s in 114 at-bats for Bakersfield. Max has great offensive potential and may ultimately be part of the team as something other than a catcher (he may be better suited as a 1B/DH). He’s currently not in camp, as he’s playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, where he’s gone 0-for-5. He definitely has a good chance of making the team, but I think that he will start off the year in Oklahoma City.
Percentage: 45.1%
Kevin Richardson: In 2008, Kevin spent the whole year in Oklahoma City and hit .251 with 6 HR’s and 22 RBI’s in 187 at-bats. In 2007, with Frisco he hit .222 with 14 HR’s and 45 RBI’s in 320 at-bats. Kevin works really well with pitchers and is someone who probably has a future as a coach, even if he doesn’t play in the majors. Kevin has no chance of making the team out of spring training since he had knee surgery that will keep him out for a while.
Percentage: 0%
Jarrod Saltalamacchia: Salty only had 198 at-bats last year and struggled. He hit .253 with only 3 HR’s and 26 RBI’s, but even though he had 110 less at-bats than 2007, he still walked 12 more times in 2008 than in 2007, showing that he’s learning to be more disciplined at the plate. He had nine errors last year and only a .976 fielding percentage and struggles throwing out base-stealers. In 2007, he hit .266 with 11 HR’s and 33 RBI’s in 308 AB’s between Atlanta and Texas. Salty has looked great during the off-season (.364, 9 HR and 21 RBI in 66 at-bats in the winter league) and during camp so far. Salty will almost surely make the team out of Spring Training and most likely will be the starter.
Percentage: 93.4%
Taylor Teagarden: Teagarden played very well in his short stint with the Rangers last year and hit .319 with 6 home runs and 17 RBI’s in 47 at-bats. His OBP was .396 and his slugging percentage was .809. He hit only .225 with 7 HR’s and 16 RBI’s in 187 at-bats with Oklahoma City in 2008 and hit only .169 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s in his 59 at-bats with Frisco in ’08. He is great defensively and works well with pitchers and, if he can keep up anything close to the offensive numbers he put up with the Rangers last year, will be the complete package at catcher. He will probably make the team, but not as an outright starter, most likely splitting the games with Saltalamacchia.
Percentage: 72.9%
I’m not sure that Emerson Frostad is in major league camp, but I think that he was brought over to replace the injured Kevin Richardson:
Emerson Frostad: Emerson hit .256 with 6 home runs and 38 RBI’s with Frisco in ’08. He played in 92 games and had 332 at-bats, an average of 3.61 at-bats per game played. He walked 35 times, but struck out 78 times. He had 85 total hits and was 4-for-6 in stolen base attempts. He can play third, catcher, and first, but doesn’t run very well. He has almost no chance of making the team this year.
Percentage: 1.2%
Here is my predicted catching roster on Opening Day:
Starting Catcher vs. Lefties: Taylor Teagarden
Starting Catcher vs. Righties: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Next in line:
Max Ramirez
Here are my predictions for the Rangers’ roster on Opening Day:
Starter #1: Kevin Millwood
Starter #2: Vicente Padilla
Starter #3: Matt Harrison
Starter #4: Scott Feldman
Starter #5: Brandon McCarthy
Long Reliever: Dustin Nippert
Long Reliever/Middle Reliever: Doug Mathis
Long Reliever/Middle Reliever: Josh Rupe
Middle Reliever: CJ Wilson
Middle Reliever: Warner Madrigal
Set-up Man: Eddie Guardado
Closer: Frankie Francisco
Starting Catcher vs. Lefties: Taylor Teagarden
Starting Catcher vs. Righties: Jarrod Saltalamacchia
1B: Chris Davis
2B: Ian Kinsler
3B: Michael Young
SS: Elvis Andrus
DH: Hank Blalock
Utility: Omar Vizquel
Center Field: Josh Hamilton
Right Field: Nelson Cruz
Left Field vs. Righties: David Murphy
Left Field vs. Lefties: Marlon Byrd
Back-up Outfielder: Frank Catalanotto
Come back next week for a summary of my trip to Rangers camp at Spring Training.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Jeff Zimmerman Interview Part 1
Evan Grant got a job as the Rangers beat writer for D Magazine. He started his new blog (which he’ll be doing with Mike Hindman) at http://insidecorner.dmagazine.com/. It’s really good and you should go check it out. It’s now linked to my blog (on the left).
This week I am posting Part 1 of my interview with former Rangers pitcher Jeff Zimmerman and you’ll see that he gave the greatest answers. He is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known and I would like to thank him for spending so much time on this interview. These two questions are only part one. The interview will continue sometime soon.
Question 1: Can you describe the experience of playing for the Canadian National Baseball Team? What is the toughest thing about playing baseball in Canada and why? What is the best thing about playing baseball in Canada and why?
Answer: At the time, playing for the Canadian National Baseball team was the pinnacle of my baseball career. I never wanted to “make” a team as badly in my entire life. It is difficult to describe the enormous pride you feel when representing your country. Hearing your national anthem played while wearing your country’s uniform gives you chills up and down your spine. It is the same sensation that you feel on opening day in Texas when the fighter jet flies over the Ballpark after the Star Spangled Banner.
Playing for your country is more emotional than anything I experienced collegiately or professionally. The games take on more gravity as you are not just playing for your team but your entire country. Each inning and even each at bat seem to have more of a sense of urgency. As all the games mean something, the atmosphere is similar to playoff baseball.
The most difficult thing about playing in Canada is the weather. Growing up I was lucky to play 40 games a year. This translated into a lack of exposure to quality instruction, coaching and scouts (pro and college). As a result many Canadian players aren’t as seasoned as the players who come out of the United States and Latin America. However, things have vastly improved in all areas over the last 15 years to the point that there are almost 1000 Canadians playing college ball in the USA and well over 100 playing professionally.
The best thing about playing baseball in Canada is that it is still played for fun. The focus is more on teamwork than individually honing your skills to get to the next level. I was reminded of this a few years back when I attended a camp for a traveling team in the Metroplex. Kids ranging from age 9 to 17 were going through a variety of workouts to make a team in this “organization”. Coaches had the 9 and 10 year olds throwing in front of radar guns and one of the coaches told me that if a kid isn’t throwing XX mph by the time he’s 10, he can’t pitch on the team. I found this pretty astounding (and absolutely ridiculous) considering I never even knew what a radar gun looked like until I was 16.
Question 2: Can you describe how you made the journey from the independent leagues to the major leagues? How did you end up signing with the Rangers? How did you find out that you had been called up to the majors and what was your first MLB game experience like?
Answer: Ironically, my journey from the independent leagues to the major leagues went so much smoother than I expected. I began playing independent ball in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1997 never having faced a wood bat before. It was there I gained supreme confidence in my slider as the weight distribution in the wood bat made it much more difficult for hitters to check their swings as opposed to the metal bats.
My manager in Winnipeg was Hal Lanier who played and managed in the big leagues and led the Astros to the playoffs in ’86. He was the first ever professional baseball person to show any confidence in me, let alone interest. This was the turning point in my career. Here was someone who managed Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott telling me that I had what it took to play professional baseball. It’s hard to describe, but this vote of confidence confirmed my belief that it was possible and then opened up pitching abilities that I never knew I had. I rode this momentum all through the season and ended up one of the top pitchers in the league.
At the end of the season many of my teammates told me to wait by the phone as typically the top 5-10 players from the Northern League get picked up by organizations. The phone call never came. I tried to find an agent but at age 25 I was too old and too Canadian (US work Visas were limited to 30 per organization then). So I became my own agent and put together a “baseball resume” and faxed to all 30 clubs. When Reid Nichols, the Rangers’ farm director, called the next day I was so blown away that I thought it was my brother playing a joke on me. Up to that point in my life nothing had ever come easily for me and surely the man in charge of the entire Ranger minor league system had better things to do than wake me up with a phone call early in the morning.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a dream, and I was given an invite to the Rangers’ minor league spring training in Port Charlotte, FL. Upon arrival I took one look at the army of pitchers who were younger, bigger and threw harder and felt my heart sink. To further the insecurity, I was the only player of almost 200 who had black spikes. Actually there were a couple others who had the wrong shoes and we were all told that we had 3 days to find red spikes or find our own way home. My roommate let me use his as he had just learned he needed knee surgery. They were a size too big but nothing that 2 pairs of socks couldn’t cure in the Florida heat.
After the shoe drama had passed I got to pitch in some of the A ball games. It was a huge relief to find that the momentum that I had built up the previous season in Winnipeg returned and I threw well enough to make the high A club in Port Charlotte in the Florida State League.
Six weeks into the season we were playing in Daytona Beach and my roommate and I heard a knock on our hotel room door at 11pm. Figuring it was a curfew check we opened the door to see our pitching coach Lee Tunnel. He pointed to each of us and said, “I need to talk to you and I need to talk to you”. Coincidentally, my roommate, Rodney Pedraza (a good ol’ Texan from Cuero) had just signed with the Rangers from Winnipeg where we played together last season. Upon getting the “point” from Lee we both looked at each other thinking the same thing – “great, back to Winnipeg we go”. Lee did have a plane ticket, but it was to Tulsa! I was going up to AA.
Tulsa was an amazing experience. We had a great club with an awesome manager (Bobby Jones) and pitching coach (Brad Arnsberg). Everyone on the team got along great. I thought that once you reached AA (within sniffing distance of the big leagues) things would have been more cut throat and players more selfishly motivated. I couldn’t have been more wrong. You couldn’t tell the prospects and bonus babies from the journeymen and roster fillers. We all were just having a blast playing the game we loved. Nobody was immune from being poked fun at. With this chemistry we won the AA championship. It was the first ever championship team I had been a part of and wow was it fun.
Things didn’t stop there. Shortly before the end of the Tulsa season I was chosen by the organization to play in the Arizona Fall League. It was at this point that I finally realized that I might actually have a shot at playing in the big leagues as the AFL rosters are comprised of 6 of the top prospects from each organization. What was equally as cool was that our pitching coach in the AFL was Lee Tunnel. To top that, my younger brother Jordan, a Seattle LHP prospect, was on the team. So this time when I arrived for the AFL I wasn’t intimidated by all the big name prospects that I had followed in Baseball America. I actually felt like I belonged. The adrenaline and buzz from the Tulsa experience carried on through the AFL. I was quite sad when it ended. It had been such an amazing, whirlwind season that I thought if it ended I would wake up from the best dream ever to find myself back throwing in a parking garage in Vancouver.
Luckily, the dream didn’t end. Upon returning home to Vancouver the Rangers had even more great news to make me really think that it was even too good to be a dream:
I had been named the “Nolan Ryan Minor League Pitcher of the Year”. An award for me named after and presented by my child, teenage, and adulthood hero.
I was one of 3 Ranger prospects selected to attend the MLB Rookie Career Development Program in Washington DC. Yet another awesome experience, I got to meet George Brett, Cal Ripken Jr. and President Clinton.
I didn’t think it was possible, but it got even better as I was invited to attend the Rangers’ MAJOR LEAGUE spring training as a non-roster invitee.
Big league camp was as intimidating as minor league camp at first but at least I had the right color shoes. Walking into the clubhouse on the first day and seeing Juan, Pudge, and Raffy was quite a surreal experience. But seeing John Wetteland in his roller blades wearing a hockey helmet and gloves shooting pucks into his locker made the Canadian kid in me feel somewhat at home. The atmosphere was super laid back. Doubly so for me since I knew there was no way I would be making the club as a non-roster guy who hadn’t even sniffed AAA. With this in mind I relaxed and soaked up the experience.
Then the games began and I was astounded that Johnny Oates kept putting me into them…and early too…while the big league starters were still playing. I was looking forward to watching some games, maybe get an inning or two when the big leaguers left after the 5th inning and hopefully hoarding another week’s worth of meal money before being sent back to minor league camp. Instead, I’m getting to face Knoblauch, Jeter, Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill in front of 7,000 fans in Tampa as Roger Clemens makes his first start for the Yankees. I stayed with the club all the way through to their final exhibition game at the Ballpark in Arlington before I was sent to AAA in Oklahoma City.
My bags were already packed (I couldn’t believe they actually have people who do that for you) when I saw a note on my suitcase. It was from Mike Morgan, the ultimate veteran who played the game with the enthusiasm of a ten year old.
“Zimdog, Great camp. It was fun watching you pitch. One pitch at a time, one batter at a time, one day at a time. Keep doing this and you’ll look back on this moment with 20 years in the bigs under your belt. See you soon.
Mo Man”
I wish the “Mo Man” was right about the 20 year part, but he did see me soon as I was called up to the Rangers after only a week in Oklahoma City. We were in Albuquerque and before the game the manager, Greg Biagini, told me that there was a chance that I would be called up to the Rangers after the game tonight. I wasn’t going to pitch in the game, so just relax and try to enjoy it, but don’t tell anyone what we had just talked about. That was probably the most un-relaxed I had ever been on a baseball field. I couldn’t pitch, I couldn’t say anything about my potential call-up – I thought my head was going to explode. Needless to say that 2 and half hour game was the longest game in the history of baseball to me. I could not sit still, I could not shut my brain off. Thoughts popped in and out of my head like a ping pong game.
When the game finally ended, the torture continued in the clubhouse. I was too wound up to eat the post game spread, my stomach was in knots. I tried to be nonchalant but couldn’t keep from staring at the manager’s office like a stalker. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and forced myself to get something to eat from the spread. Of course, as soon as I took a huge bite out of my oozing barbeque beef sandwich, the manager motioned me into his office. When I got into the office he nodded his head and on cue I spit my mouthful of sandwich all over my uniform. I wanted to hug him, but settled for a handshake due to the bbq sauce mess on my jersey.
I arrived in Seattle the next morning after getting a grand total of zero hours of sleep. After pinching myself before walking into the clubhouse I had a flashback to my first minor league spring training and how I wondered if I had made the right decision or should be getting on with my life in the real world. Except this time everyone knew who I was and welcomed me as if I was one of them. I was baptized by fire into the bullpen core. John Wetteland had devised a very unique set of “rules” and code of etiquette for the relievers to follow in order to keep from going stir crazy during the early innings of the game. Unfortunately, I had to learn them through trial and error (mainly error) much to the delight of the veterans. I was fined (given head slaps) for being late for the season. When I poured myself a cup of water from the jug in the pen without asking if anyone else wanted a cup I was quickly reminded of my greenness as everyone in the pen got to throw water in my face.
In the meantime, Pudge was in the process of going 3 for the 3 with a grand slam, 3 run homer and 2 run double as we were up 15-0 after 5 innings. The next thing you know the phone in the pen rings and I’m motioned to get up. My heart jumps into my throat and my entire body starts to shake. My jaw starts to chatter like it’s 20 below zero in the Kingdome. I can’t feel my arm or the ball in my hand as my first warm-up throw sails 5 feet over the catcher’s head and all the way down behind home plate in the game.
I can’t recall anything else until I’m on the mound in the game and Raul Ibanez steps into the batters box. Finally, I stop shaking and get the sign. All of a sudden everything gets really quiet. The crowd noise stops almost as if I’m a tennis player getting ready to serve. The only thing I can hear is my heart beating. Thank goodness my body decides to take over because if it was left up to my brain I’d still be standing there right now wondering how in the world did this all just happen. Automatically, my leg kicks up and the ball jumps out of my hand as if I’m watching it on a video game. I don’t remember if my first pitch was a strike or not, but as soon as it left my hand the game turned back into what it always was…a game that I had played with love since I was 8 years old.
I threw 1 2/3 innings and all I really remember is the last pitch that I threw, a high and away fastball to Edgar Martinez that he swung through for the final out of the inning. After the game, Rusty Greer came up to me and said, “Do you know what you just did? You just made Edgar Martinez, the best right-handed hitter in the league look silly on a pitch that he normally drives into the right field bleachers. Welcome to the big leagues.” Maybe these guys are human after all.
Results from last week’s poll:
Who do you think will be the utility infielder for the Rangers this year?
Omar Vizquel – 50%
Joaquin Arias – 25%
German Duran – 12%
Jose Vallejo – 6%
Other – 6%
Come back next week for an analysis of the catchers in Rangers Spring Training.
This week I am posting Part 1 of my interview with former Rangers pitcher Jeff Zimmerman and you’ll see that he gave the greatest answers. He is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known and I would like to thank him for spending so much time on this interview. These two questions are only part one. The interview will continue sometime soon.
Question 1: Can you describe the experience of playing for the Canadian National Baseball Team? What is the toughest thing about playing baseball in Canada and why? What is the best thing about playing baseball in Canada and why?
Answer: At the time, playing for the Canadian National Baseball team was the pinnacle of my baseball career. I never wanted to “make” a team as badly in my entire life. It is difficult to describe the enormous pride you feel when representing your country. Hearing your national anthem played while wearing your country’s uniform gives you chills up and down your spine. It is the same sensation that you feel on opening day in Texas when the fighter jet flies over the Ballpark after the Star Spangled Banner.
Playing for your country is more emotional than anything I experienced collegiately or professionally. The games take on more gravity as you are not just playing for your team but your entire country. Each inning and even each at bat seem to have more of a sense of urgency. As all the games mean something, the atmosphere is similar to playoff baseball.
The most difficult thing about playing in Canada is the weather. Growing up I was lucky to play 40 games a year. This translated into a lack of exposure to quality instruction, coaching and scouts (pro and college). As a result many Canadian players aren’t as seasoned as the players who come out of the United States and Latin America. However, things have vastly improved in all areas over the last 15 years to the point that there are almost 1000 Canadians playing college ball in the USA and well over 100 playing professionally.
The best thing about playing baseball in Canada is that it is still played for fun. The focus is more on teamwork than individually honing your skills to get to the next level. I was reminded of this a few years back when I attended a camp for a traveling team in the Metroplex. Kids ranging from age 9 to 17 were going through a variety of workouts to make a team in this “organization”. Coaches had the 9 and 10 year olds throwing in front of radar guns and one of the coaches told me that if a kid isn’t throwing XX mph by the time he’s 10, he can’t pitch on the team. I found this pretty astounding (and absolutely ridiculous) considering I never even knew what a radar gun looked like until I was 16.
Question 2: Can you describe how you made the journey from the independent leagues to the major leagues? How did you end up signing with the Rangers? How did you find out that you had been called up to the majors and what was your first MLB game experience like?
Answer: Ironically, my journey from the independent leagues to the major leagues went so much smoother than I expected. I began playing independent ball in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1997 never having faced a wood bat before. It was there I gained supreme confidence in my slider as the weight distribution in the wood bat made it much more difficult for hitters to check their swings as opposed to the metal bats.
My manager in Winnipeg was Hal Lanier who played and managed in the big leagues and led the Astros to the playoffs in ’86. He was the first ever professional baseball person to show any confidence in me, let alone interest. This was the turning point in my career. Here was someone who managed Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott telling me that I had what it took to play professional baseball. It’s hard to describe, but this vote of confidence confirmed my belief that it was possible and then opened up pitching abilities that I never knew I had. I rode this momentum all through the season and ended up one of the top pitchers in the league.
At the end of the season many of my teammates told me to wait by the phone as typically the top 5-10 players from the Northern League get picked up by organizations. The phone call never came. I tried to find an agent but at age 25 I was too old and too Canadian (US work Visas were limited to 30 per organization then). So I became my own agent and put together a “baseball resume” and faxed to all 30 clubs. When Reid Nichols, the Rangers’ farm director, called the next day I was so blown away that I thought it was my brother playing a joke on me. Up to that point in my life nothing had ever come easily for me and surely the man in charge of the entire Ranger minor league system had better things to do than wake me up with a phone call early in the morning.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a dream, and I was given an invite to the Rangers’ minor league spring training in Port Charlotte, FL. Upon arrival I took one look at the army of pitchers who were younger, bigger and threw harder and felt my heart sink. To further the insecurity, I was the only player of almost 200 who had black spikes. Actually there were a couple others who had the wrong shoes and we were all told that we had 3 days to find red spikes or find our own way home. My roommate let me use his as he had just learned he needed knee surgery. They were a size too big but nothing that 2 pairs of socks couldn’t cure in the Florida heat.
After the shoe drama had passed I got to pitch in some of the A ball games. It was a huge relief to find that the momentum that I had built up the previous season in Winnipeg returned and I threw well enough to make the high A club in Port Charlotte in the Florida State League.
Six weeks into the season we were playing in Daytona Beach and my roommate and I heard a knock on our hotel room door at 11pm. Figuring it was a curfew check we opened the door to see our pitching coach Lee Tunnel. He pointed to each of us and said, “I need to talk to you and I need to talk to you”. Coincidentally, my roommate, Rodney Pedraza (a good ol’ Texan from Cuero) had just signed with the Rangers from Winnipeg where we played together last season. Upon getting the “point” from Lee we both looked at each other thinking the same thing – “great, back to Winnipeg we go”. Lee did have a plane ticket, but it was to Tulsa! I was going up to AA.
Tulsa was an amazing experience. We had a great club with an awesome manager (Bobby Jones) and pitching coach (Brad Arnsberg). Everyone on the team got along great. I thought that once you reached AA (within sniffing distance of the big leagues) things would have been more cut throat and players more selfishly motivated. I couldn’t have been more wrong. You couldn’t tell the prospects and bonus babies from the journeymen and roster fillers. We all were just having a blast playing the game we loved. Nobody was immune from being poked fun at. With this chemistry we won the AA championship. It was the first ever championship team I had been a part of and wow was it fun.
Things didn’t stop there. Shortly before the end of the Tulsa season I was chosen by the organization to play in the Arizona Fall League. It was at this point that I finally realized that I might actually have a shot at playing in the big leagues as the AFL rosters are comprised of 6 of the top prospects from each organization. What was equally as cool was that our pitching coach in the AFL was Lee Tunnel. To top that, my younger brother Jordan, a Seattle LHP prospect, was on the team. So this time when I arrived for the AFL I wasn’t intimidated by all the big name prospects that I had followed in Baseball America. I actually felt like I belonged. The adrenaline and buzz from the Tulsa experience carried on through the AFL. I was quite sad when it ended. It had been such an amazing, whirlwind season that I thought if it ended I would wake up from the best dream ever to find myself back throwing in a parking garage in Vancouver.
Luckily, the dream didn’t end. Upon returning home to Vancouver the Rangers had even more great news to make me really think that it was even too good to be a dream:
I had been named the “Nolan Ryan Minor League Pitcher of the Year”. An award for me named after and presented by my child, teenage, and adulthood hero.
I was one of 3 Ranger prospects selected to attend the MLB Rookie Career Development Program in Washington DC. Yet another awesome experience, I got to meet George Brett, Cal Ripken Jr. and President Clinton.
I didn’t think it was possible, but it got even better as I was invited to attend the Rangers’ MAJOR LEAGUE spring training as a non-roster invitee.
Big league camp was as intimidating as minor league camp at first but at least I had the right color shoes. Walking into the clubhouse on the first day and seeing Juan, Pudge, and Raffy was quite a surreal experience. But seeing John Wetteland in his roller blades wearing a hockey helmet and gloves shooting pucks into his locker made the Canadian kid in me feel somewhat at home. The atmosphere was super laid back. Doubly so for me since I knew there was no way I would be making the club as a non-roster guy who hadn’t even sniffed AAA. With this in mind I relaxed and soaked up the experience.
Then the games began and I was astounded that Johnny Oates kept putting me into them…and early too…while the big league starters were still playing. I was looking forward to watching some games, maybe get an inning or two when the big leaguers left after the 5th inning and hopefully hoarding another week’s worth of meal money before being sent back to minor league camp. Instead, I’m getting to face Knoblauch, Jeter, Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill in front of 7,000 fans in Tampa as Roger Clemens makes his first start for the Yankees. I stayed with the club all the way through to their final exhibition game at the Ballpark in Arlington before I was sent to AAA in Oklahoma City.
My bags were already packed (I couldn’t believe they actually have people who do that for you) when I saw a note on my suitcase. It was from Mike Morgan, the ultimate veteran who played the game with the enthusiasm of a ten year old.
“Zimdog, Great camp. It was fun watching you pitch. One pitch at a time, one batter at a time, one day at a time. Keep doing this and you’ll look back on this moment with 20 years in the bigs under your belt. See you soon.
Mo Man”
I wish the “Mo Man” was right about the 20 year part, but he did see me soon as I was called up to the Rangers after only a week in Oklahoma City. We were in Albuquerque and before the game the manager, Greg Biagini, told me that there was a chance that I would be called up to the Rangers after the game tonight. I wasn’t going to pitch in the game, so just relax and try to enjoy it, but don’t tell anyone what we had just talked about. That was probably the most un-relaxed I had ever been on a baseball field. I couldn’t pitch, I couldn’t say anything about my potential call-up – I thought my head was going to explode. Needless to say that 2 and half hour game was the longest game in the history of baseball to me. I could not sit still, I could not shut my brain off. Thoughts popped in and out of my head like a ping pong game.
When the game finally ended, the torture continued in the clubhouse. I was too wound up to eat the post game spread, my stomach was in knots. I tried to be nonchalant but couldn’t keep from staring at the manager’s office like a stalker. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and forced myself to get something to eat from the spread. Of course, as soon as I took a huge bite out of my oozing barbeque beef sandwich, the manager motioned me into his office. When I got into the office he nodded his head and on cue I spit my mouthful of sandwich all over my uniform. I wanted to hug him, but settled for a handshake due to the bbq sauce mess on my jersey.
I arrived in Seattle the next morning after getting a grand total of zero hours of sleep. After pinching myself before walking into the clubhouse I had a flashback to my first minor league spring training and how I wondered if I had made the right decision or should be getting on with my life in the real world. Except this time everyone knew who I was and welcomed me as if I was one of them. I was baptized by fire into the bullpen core. John Wetteland had devised a very unique set of “rules” and code of etiquette for the relievers to follow in order to keep from going stir crazy during the early innings of the game. Unfortunately, I had to learn them through trial and error (mainly error) much to the delight of the veterans. I was fined (given head slaps) for being late for the season. When I poured myself a cup of water from the jug in the pen without asking if anyone else wanted a cup I was quickly reminded of my greenness as everyone in the pen got to throw water in my face.
In the meantime, Pudge was in the process of going 3 for the 3 with a grand slam, 3 run homer and 2 run double as we were up 15-0 after 5 innings. The next thing you know the phone in the pen rings and I’m motioned to get up. My heart jumps into my throat and my entire body starts to shake. My jaw starts to chatter like it’s 20 below zero in the Kingdome. I can’t feel my arm or the ball in my hand as my first warm-up throw sails 5 feet over the catcher’s head and all the way down behind home plate in the game.
I can’t recall anything else until I’m on the mound in the game and Raul Ibanez steps into the batters box. Finally, I stop shaking and get the sign. All of a sudden everything gets really quiet. The crowd noise stops almost as if I’m a tennis player getting ready to serve. The only thing I can hear is my heart beating. Thank goodness my body decides to take over because if it was left up to my brain I’d still be standing there right now wondering how in the world did this all just happen. Automatically, my leg kicks up and the ball jumps out of my hand as if I’m watching it on a video game. I don’t remember if my first pitch was a strike or not, but as soon as it left my hand the game turned back into what it always was…a game that I had played with love since I was 8 years old.
I threw 1 2/3 innings and all I really remember is the last pitch that I threw, a high and away fastball to Edgar Martinez that he swung through for the final out of the inning. After the game, Rusty Greer came up to me and said, “Do you know what you just did? You just made Edgar Martinez, the best right-handed hitter in the league look silly on a pitch that he normally drives into the right field bleachers. Welcome to the big leagues.” Maybe these guys are human after all.
Results from last week’s poll:
Who do you think will be the utility infielder for the Rangers this year?
Omar Vizquel – 50%
Joaquin Arias – 25%
German Duran – 12%
Jose Vallejo – 6%
Other – 6%
Come back next week for an analysis of the catchers in Rangers Spring Training.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
