American League east Preview

Now the moment you have all been waiting for, the long anticipated AL east preview. The AL East is arguably the most competitive division in baseball . It certainly spends the most money.

Toronto Blue Jays- Will the Jays be competitive minus Roy Halladay? Not a complicated question and the straight forward answer is, Not a chance in Hell. The Jays may benefit from a possible return to form of injured pitcher Shawn Marcum and Dustin McGowan. But overall the Raptors have the best chance of making the playoffs in Toronto. Prediction 70-92

Tampa Bay Devil  Rays – BJ Upton did not perform well in 2009 , I’m predicting him returning to the Upton of 2007 who batted .300 and had 24 Home Runs. Carl Crawford is playing in a contract year and I think he will have an even better season than he did last year. Last year Crawford was insane on the base pads. If Crawford was on base everyone knew he was going to steal second and probably third but nobody could stop him. Look for more of that and look for Scott Shields and the Rays to head back to the playoffs in 2010.

Baltimore Orioles- The Birds are building a bright young offensive team. Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts, Matt Weiters, and Adam Jones are becoming an offensive force to watch out for. Unfortunately the Orioles pitching is probably the worst in baseball. It will be a battle for forth with the Blue Jays all year.

Boston Red Sox- The Red Sox improved their Rotation with the acquisition of John Lakey. John Lester may be one of the most underrated pitchers in the American League. Josh Beckett will be playing for a contract.  Starting pitching will not be a problem. What will be a problem is offense. The loss of Jason Bay and Mike Lowell is going to hurt them. Davis Ortiz is another year older and seems to be on the down slide of his career. Victor Martinez will be an offensive upgrade over Varitek but he is not very good behind the plate. The Sox have a good one two punch at the end of the bull pen but their middle relief is sketchy. Loss of Offense, Shaky middle relievers, Ageing veterans, Will all equal a fight for a playoff spot with the Rays who just might steal that wildcard spot out form under them.

New York Yankees- The reigning World Champions made themselves better. Curtis Granderson is an upgrade over Melky Cabrera . Nick Johnson will produce lots of RBI opportunities for A-Rod and Tex, Javier Vazquez could be a number two or three pitcher on most teams and as a Number four guy will be dominate. The Bull-Pen is deep and Mariano is still the best their is. The loss of Damon does sting a bit but Gardner/Winn is a defensive improvement and does provide more speed for the bench. A full Year of ALex Rodriguez will certainly make a huge difference as well. Look for the Yankees to start hitting right out of the gate and not look back. Don’t be surprised if by mid-season the Yankees have a 8-10 game lead in the east. Another bold prediction is that Robinson Cano will be in contention for the batting title and it will be a three way race for mvp between Tex, A-Rod and Mauer

Twins make a good move

Just yesterday we were talking about how bad the Twins infield was and that their second baseman Nick Punto is a great bench guy because of his ability to play multiple positions . So after reading my article the Twins made a power move and signed Orlando Hudson to play Second Base in 2010. Hudson got a one year 3 million dollar one year deal with an agreement that if he is deemed a class A free agent they will not offer him arbitration. Hudson is a four time gold glove recipient , his most recent being in 2009 with the Dodgers where he committed only 8 errors and held a .988 fielding percentage. Besides having a great glove Hudson can hit too. Last season he hit .288 and holds a career average of .282. He doesn’t have a bunch of power but there is no shame in being a gold glover that hits for average.

Is this enough to win the Twins the Division? Unfortunately no, they still have horrible pitching . Not one of their starters have an ERA under four.  Sorry Minnesota fans this is not going to be your year.

A-Rods 500th homer brings in a pretty penny

A-Rod’s 500th home run was auctioned off by SCP auctions. SCP also handled the sale of Barry Bonds 755th and 756th Home run balls.

The Ball sold for $103,579, this was a considerable amount less than Bonds Home run ball that sold for $750,000. Mark McGuire’s 70th HR ball sold for a whoopin 3 million. I wonder If the guy who bought that is kicking himself now that Mark is an admitted cheater. But of course he would have hit those home runs even if he didn’t cheat.

The Buyer of the A-rod ball choose to remain anonymous.I’m waiting for Arod’s 800th HR before I get involved in the bidding.

Twins or sox you decide

My Co-author and I have a dispute on who will win the AL Central division. So I have decided to put a little research into it and post a position by position comparison. I’m going to leave out bull pens for the sake of brevity and focus on position players and starting rotations.

Catchers

Twins- Joe Mauer- A+  This one is a no brainer Joe is the reigning MVP and is almost not human. He is easily the best player in the game in my book. Last season he hit .365 and in five short years has three silver sluggers, two gold gloves and an MVP.

Sox- AJ Pierzynski – B+  Aj is no spring chicken at 33 but he’s not old either. He batted .300 last year and is known for his physical not afraid to get dirty kind of play. He doesn’t hit for as much power as Mauer but he holds a career .995 fielding percentage and hits for average.

Advantage Twins

First Base

Twins- Justin Morneau – A- Morneau is a good all around player. Plays a good defense at first base and hits with power. He has been a little fragile for a 28 year old and missed the final three weeks of 2009 with a fractured back. If he is completely healthy which appears to be the case he should repeat his .275 ave 30 Hr in 2010.

Sox- Paul Konerko – A  Paul has a little more pop in his bat than Mourneau and in 12 years of play has only 60 errors in the field for a .995 fielding percentage. He has hit 30 or more HR six times in his career and brings leadership and the ability to play third base and left field as well.

Advantage Sox

Second base

Twins- Nick Punto  C+ Nick is not a hitter, or I should say not a very good one . Puto has a total of 12 HR in eight seasons in the MLB. What Punto does offer is a good glove and flexibility to play 2nd, ss, 3rd and all three outfield positions. Punto would make a good bench guy with his career .248 batting average.

Sox- Gordon Beckham B- Beckham had a not so great year as a rookie with the glove committing 14 errors last season. But hitting 14 HR and 63 RBI in 103 games and batting .307 against left handed pitching is certainly an accomplishment for a 23 year old rookie. I expect his first year jitters with the glove to subside and him to be a solid second baseman in 2010.

Advantage Sox

Short Stop

Twins- J.J. Hardy   C+ Another not so good with the bat player for the twins. He holds a career average of .262 which isn’t horrible, but seemed to suck last year with only 11 HR compared to being in the 20’s the two previous years.

Sox - Alexei Ramirez  C+  Another Young  who had a pretty good year with the Bat  posting a .277 average and hit .370 against lefties. (that’s not a misprint) He has decent power too having amassed 21 HR over the past two seasons. He had a rough year with the glove commiting 20 Errors but can play short and second.

Advantage  None

Third Base

Twins- Brendan Harris  C Are you sensing a pattern here? Good with the glove bad with the Bat Harris fits this same category hitting .261 in the hot corner last season with six home runs.

Sox- Mark Teahen  B    Although not a power hitter he hits for average with a little more pop than Harris. Teahen  also has a decent glove and wont embarrass himself in 2010. He should hit a bit closer to .300 with 15-20 HR this year

Advantage   Sox

So far we have learned that The twins have better gloves and the Sox have better bats. as we evaluate the outfielders lets just look at the bats as fielding becomes less of an issue in the big grass.

Center Field

Twins- Denard Span   A-  Span does what a CFer is supposed to do. Hits for average and has speed. .300 average 23 stolen bases in his rookie season. Not much in the line of power but only one season to show for it .

Sox- Alex Rios  A     Rios is due for a big year. This former Blue Jay has tons of talent and hits near .300 and 15-20 HR almost every year. He is also no slouch on the basepads with 24 stolen bases in 2009.

Advantage Sox

Left Field

Twins – Jason Kubel  A-   A young power hitter that had a breakout season last year with 28 HR 103 RBI and a .300 BA  Who could ask for anything more from a power hitting corner.

Sox-  Juan Piarre  B+ No power but hits .300 every year and steals 20-30 bases with ease. A decent fielder but doesn’t get alot of RBI’s

Advantage Twins

Right Field

Twins – Michael Cuddyer   A    Mike is another power hitting corner outfielder for the Twins last season he hit 32 HR and 94 RBI with an average of .276

Sox -  Carlos Quentin   A  Had limited play in 2009 due to injury but in 2008 hit 36 HR and 100RBI with a .288 BA  IF Quintin can repeat this performance the Sox will definitely win this category but for now its a draw.

Advantage   None

So what have we learned: The Twins have better gloves and the Sox have better bats, in the infield. The outfield I think we can pretty much call a draw at this point so what it is going to come down to is the starting rotations. Why? Because pitching wins championships friends. Lets start :

Twins Rotation .

1. Scott Baker  ERA 4.37 Record 15-9  Better record than he should have with an ERA over four. Scott gave up 28 HR in 200 innings, not good.  B

2. Kevin Slowey ERA 4.86 Record 10-3 Also terrible ERA. Slowey spends to much time hurt and only had 90 innings last season. In those 90 innings he gave up 113 Hits, also not good. B-

3. Carl Pavano  ERA 5.10  Record 14-12 in 199 innings he gave up 235 hits. Well at least he didnt spend the whole year on the DL. Gotta go with awful  C-

4. Nick Blackburn  ERA 4.03 Record 11-11 205 innings with 240 hits. also gave up 28 HR and allowed the leauge to bat .290 against him. Better than Pavano but still not good.  B-

5 Francisco Liriano  ERA 5.80 Record 5-13  To be fair to Liriano he has been battleing injuries for the better part of two seasons. But he only has one winning season to show for his world of talent. Until he can show what he did back in 2006 when he went 12-3 he is just not dependable.  C-

White Sox Rotation

1 Jake Peavy-  ERA 3.45 Record 9-6 most of 2009 he was injured so these numbers really dont mean anything. Peavy is 100% healthy and we have no reason to expect that he wont return to his usual form which is double didget wins an ERA under 3 and a trip to the all star game.  A-

2.Mark Buehrle  ERA 3.84 Record 13-10 Mark is a workhorse he has pitched 200 or more innings in nine straight seasons and is only 30 years old . He gives up to many homers but has a winning record in eight of his nine seasons. B+

3. John Danks  ERA 3.77 Record 13-11. John is actually better than his win loss numbers look. In 200 innings last year he only gave up 184 hits and struck out 149 batters. All I can say is UNDERRATED A

4. Gavin Floyd  ERA 4.06 Record 11-11  Gavin is a good guy to have as a number four starter he went 193 innings only giving up 178 hits and struck out 163 batters. He like Buehrle gives up to many home runs but at 27 I would take him in my rotation. B+

5. Freddie Garcia – ERA 4.34 Record 3-4  Freddie is the White Sox re-hab case he has been perpetually injured sense 2006. Will he return to his 200 innings a year 17 win form? I don’t know. It seems though the reward is greater than the risk as a number five starter. C

What have we learned today folks? The White Sox clearly have better pitching than the Twins. So Mr Genevosey I will be expecting your text message any time now admitting to me how I was right and the White Sox are clearly a better team than the young , but talented, Twins.

AL Central Division

Minnesota Twins- Joe Mauer is the gem of all catchers in baseball. He has it all he fields his position well and is one of the premier hitters in the game. Soon he will become a free agent and will make Mark Teixeira money. Im guessing it’s not with going to be with the Twins. The highest paid  player on their payroll is Joe Nathan who makes 11 million the odds of them paying someone twice that amount of money is slim. Beyond Mauer and Maybe Michael Cuddyer  and Justin Morneau who do the twins have that are going to lead them to the playoffs? When you go into the season with your highest paid pitcher being Carl Pavano you know you aren’t going very far. Twins will be staying home come October this year.

Detroit Tigers- How will the Tigers react to losing Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson. Who will replace their production? Granderson has energy and the people of Detroit loved him. He is truly one of the nice guys in the game. Edwin Jackson whom the Tigers picked up from the Rays is a talented young pitcher who is on the verge of really breaking out and having a huge season. The Tigers missed the playoffs by losing a heartbreaking one game playoff for the division title to the twins. The Tigers have some young talent in Austin Jackson but rushing him to the majors before he is ready is not going to help his development. They also have some talent in Brandon Inge and Miguel Cabrera. Like the Twins the Tigers are going in the wrong direction. Maybe they can get with the Twins and watch the playoffs on TV together.

Cleveland Indians- The loss of Victor Martinez and  Cliff Lee crushed the Indians. They had a horrible 2009 and didn’t do anything that would constitute a complete overhaul. Prediction: DEAD LAST AGAIN 

Kansas City Royals- The Royals are a team rebuilding. They haven’t had a winning season since 2003 when they went 83-79. Zack Grienke is the face of this franchise and he will be the man that will one day lead the Royals back into contention. Will it be in 2010? No it wont, but Billy Butler will have a killer year and provide most of the Royals otherwise abysmal offence leading them all the way up to forth place. Someday this young team will be winners just not today.

Chicago White Sox- So in a division full of losers somebody has to be a winner. This year it will be the White Sox. The Sox have been busy in the offseason adding Juan Pierre, Omar Vizquel, Mark Teahan,Andrew Jones and JJ Putz. Jake Peavy will be healthy and solidify the Sox rotation. After coming in third in 2009 the White Sox seem to be the only one in the Central that want to win. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying they are going to win 95 games. What I am saying is that everyone else in the division will be lucky to win 80.

American League West 2010 preview

Now the American League I know a bit more about. Living on the East Coast and calling the Mets my home team representing the National League its always been more difficult to become a fan of the NL style of play. Not to mention the fact that having the pitchers bat is just giving away an out , but that is a story for another time. With the AL I am going to start with the intriguing West.

AL West

LA Angels – I don’t care if you call them the Los Angeles Angels , The Anaheim Angels, The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or even the California Angels, without John Lackey and Chone Figgins the Angels are not going to win the west. Figgins was a terror on the base-pads and a run scoring machine from the lead-off spot. Lackey was the staff ace and only sure thing in what is a mediocre pitching staff. Who will be their Ace now ? Joe Sanders wasn’t bad but with an ERA on the wrong side of four he is more of a solid number three guy. Joel Pinero was awesome last season, in the national league. He has never pitched well in the AL. Ervin Santana is usually injured and Scott Kazmir has never quite lived up to his hype amid moments of greatness. Prediction Angels miss the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Texas Rangers-  Injuries to Michael Young and Josh Hamilton crippled any playoff aspersions the Rangers had in 2009 down the stretch. The sale of the Rangers has been somewhat of a distraction but Nolan Ryan has done a good job improving the pitching staff for the future. The Rangers lack one more big Bat. Vladimir Guerrerro is not the answer to their offensive woes as he is to old and runs like an 80 year old woman.Prediction .500 baseball also missing the playoffs

Oakland Athletics-  I heard someone say that they felt the A’’s were a playoff contender. After I was done laughing so hard I wet myself I asked them to name five players who will make a difference on their Roster. What they do have is youth and talent that may fare well for them in years to come. 2010 prediction 70 wins = miss the playoffs

Seattle Mariners-  So that leaves us with the Mariners . They had the gem of an offseason that reminds me of the year that the Marlins won the world series. (yes that really did happen) The Mariners have one of the best rotations  in the game with Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee , Ryan Roland-Smith Ian Snell and Doug Fister. They added some good defense with SS Jack Wilson. Casey Kotchman brings defense and a Bat. A talented outfield in Suzuki, Gutierrez, Bradley and Byrnes will bring home a Division Crown to the gem of the west coast.

Next up will be the AL Central.

2010 Predictions National League

This is the Third year of Behind the foul Pole and the second year of our predictions . So here goes, Lets break it down division by division Starting with the NL

NL East

Phillies- The Phillies led the NL in Runs and Hr and with the addition of Roy Halladay they are only going to be better.

Marlins – the extension of Josh Johnson is big news for the Marlins. Cameron Maybin and Hanley Ramirez will have huge years and keep the Fish in the Hunt.

Braves- Losing Javier Vazquez is really going to hurt the Braves bad. I love Bobby Cox, he is one hell of a Manager. But with A 38 year old closer and Tommy Hanson still needing to dry off the backsides of his ears I don’t see The Braves doing much better than third if they are lucky.

Mets- The signing of Jason Bay is a good one for the Mets their offense  is going to keep them in the hunt. Once Beltran is healthy (probably by May, he needs micro fracture surgery) Look for The Mets to be competitive after an abysmal 2009. What keeps them from overtaking the Phillies is lack of Rotation depth. Santana will be fine, behind him its a lot of question marks.

Nationals- Look for Washington to build on last years 59 wins complement of Strasburg and Zimmerman.Don’t expect to much though, they are still the worst team in baseball and probably wont win more than 75 games.

NL Central

Cardinals - Winning this Division is no easy task. Unless you have a team of baseball players which the Cardinals seem to be the only team in the division that can put a solid team on the field. The Matt Holiday signing will keep them on top. Look for good enough season from him and Albert Pojols to keep Mark Mcguire from having to pick up a bat.

Cubs- Marlyn Byrd will certainly help the Cubbies put up some offensive numbers but with lack of pitching depth and Soriano seeming to have lost all discipline with the bat they will be watching the playoffs on TV.

Brewers- The Prince Fielder show is fun to watch and he will continue to be the face of the organization in 2010. Ever sense losing CC Sabathia the Brew Crew seems to have lost all sense of what it takes to have a competitive rotation. Last year the Brewers Rotation had an ERA on the wrong side of 4, don’t expect 2010 to be much better.

Reds- On a team that hasn’t had a winning record in a decade Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman may make an impact sooner than we all expect. Who knows maybe they will finish over .500. Who knows maybe the tooth fairy can pinch hit for them.

Astros- Should change their name to the geriatrics. A team of aging veterans that are all on the down side of their careers isn’t going to get them very far. Perhaps they can beat out the Reds for forth though.

Pirates- Just when you thought a team couldn’t be any worse than the Reds and the Astros along come the Pirates. Pittsburg at least has some young talent in the minors that could make them competitive sometime this decade.

NL West

Dodgers- The dodgers hope that Manny being Manny will bring the LA Blue to the promise land. I have to admit on paper they look to be just as tough as last year.

Rockies- The Rockies are a team that always seems to have a late surge and battle their way into the playoffs. Last year they did it with pitching rather than with the mighty bat. The Rockies can’t keep hoping to be the dream team that can come out of the weeds and steal a playoff spot. This year their luck will run out.

Giants- After inking Mark Derosa and Juan Uribe the Giants are finally going to put up some runs to go with their freakishly good pitching. I am going out on a limb and calling this divisions the Giants to lose. The Giants haven’t won the divison since 2003 maybe this is the year.

Padres and Diamondbacks- Both suck and will be bottom feeding with the Nationals as the three worst teams in the NL

There you have it , this is the way that I see the NL falling into place in 2010. Tomorrow I will preview the American Leauge. Guess who will be favored to win it all there?

Twins manager living in fantasy world

Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is living in a fantasy world when he proclaimed that he is confident that a new deal will get done with all star catcher  Joe Mauer. 

Name the Last great player that the Twins kept?  Go ahead I’ll wait…….. It certainly isn’t hard to think of all the great player they have traded away in the name of saving money ala Johan Santana and Tori Hunter. I guess the possibility exists that Mauer could give the Twins a huge hometown discount but It would seem that he is in for a huge payday. I would think he would be able to get six years and around 120 million dollars or so on the open market.

Who knows anything could happen I guess, I just don’t see the Twins paying Mauer what a team like the Red Sox or Yankees would be willing to dish out for the best catcher in baseball.

A’s go balls out

I have to admit it takes a lot of guts to spend 10 million dollars on Ben Sheets a pitcher who hasn’t pitched a full season sense 2008 and hasn’t pitched 200 innings sense 2004. Don’t get me wrong Ben Sheets is no Carl Pavano, when healthy he is certainly one of the premier names out there. But is 10 Million to big a risk on a rehab case?

Sheets has never pitched in the American League which is widely thought of as a more difficult league to pitch in. I think that statement is overplayed at times. NL numbers are usually a bit better because of pitchers batting. That being said Sheets has a Career record of only 86-83 in a league that pitchers bat in. In fact in Sheets eight Major league baseball seasons he has never even had 15 wins. Now I’m not saying that Sheets is a bad pitcher. Sheets has loads of talent and great stuff. What I am saying is that making a player with his history of injuries and questionable results the second highest paid player on your team truely takes balls. The Athletics are not contenders. Frankly they have not had a winning season sense 2006, it would seem to me that ten million dollars could buy a lot of young talent that might make them more competitive in years to come.  This move gets a C- in my book.

Yankees pick up a Winn

Randy Winn that is. The Yankees have come to terms with Randy Winn on a one year deal worth something in the neighborhood of  2 million dollars pending the results of a physical.

Winn has a horrible year with the Giants last year batting .262 in 149 games. On the surface you would think that isn’t to horrible but compared to the previous two years when he batted .300 or better it’s quite a slide. Winn is 35 years old and if he can regain his 2007/2008 form he will be a great addition. Winn is a switch hitter with a bit more power than Brett Gardner and is not a slouch on the base pads either. Last season he had 16 stolen bases only being caught twice. In 2008 he swiped 26 bases also only being caught twice.

Fielding , he is a plus defender with a good arm. Certainly an upgrade over Damon in that department. Winn can play all three outfield positions and will make a good Platoon partner for Brett Gardner and the flexibility to spell the other outfielders to keep them fresh.

The Yankees stated that they were on a tight budget and many of you did not believe this. Primarily because of the Yankees past history of sneaking in the  bushes and jumping in on the big names at the last minute. This deal makes perfect sense, the Yankees were able to make a low risk low budget move that may yield high rewards. If this works out Brian Cashman will again look like a genius if it doesn’t than it was not that much money to begin with.

It would seem that the Yankees may be done dealing and Johnny Damon is likely a man without a contract anywhere’s. Seems he will regret not excepting the offer that the Yankees made at 2 years 10 million. Now he will likely have to settle for even less with another team if he even gets a contract offer at all.

If I were to grade this move I would give it a B-  ( I wanted  Rocco Baldelli) If Winn can return to 2008 form it is more like an A