Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance MVPs are...

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance has just released the winners of the American League and National League MVP awards. As a proud new member of the Alliance it gives me great pride to say that we got it exactly right.

The American League MVP is Joe Mauer. The National League MVP is Albert Pujols.

You can check out all the details of the voting on the Baseball Bloggers Alliance Site.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 90 blogs spanning 28 of the 30 major league squads as well as those that focus on general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. Those blogs that are not dedicated to a specific team are allowed to vote on either the American League or National League award, but not both.

Empire State of Mind

I have to work tonight. That means I will not get to see the World Series tonight which bothers me more than you might think possible. I never miss the World Series, especially when the New York Yankees are involved. Yes, I am a Yankees fan. Alex Rodriguez has really shown his stuff the last few weeks. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are the old and steady hands. Andy Pettitte is just plain clutch. I'll have the game on in some silent form tonight. Damn the rules. But the nature of my job means that even then I won't see much of it.

I love that the Yankees are facing this Philadelphia Phillies team. It has so many great players on it. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino are just awesome, I'd love to have any of these guys in New York. The pitching should be great for both teams as well. I expect this to be a tight, well fought series. It may not go seven games but both teams will know they were in a battle.

And now the new anthem of New York City... (there is a video, for you RSS types, come check it out)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

2010 Free Agents: Starting Pitchers

Josh Beckett will definitely have his option picked up by the Boston Red Sox. But this list is a lot stronger than we've been led to believe by the bigger media guys. If I ran a team like the Washington Nationals I'd be all over Ben Sheets, Brandon Webb (if the D'Backs are actually dumb enough to let him go), Rich Harden, John Smoltz, Justin Duchscherer, and Randy Wolf. Sure, there is a bunch of risk there, but the upside is incredible and the discounts should be substantial.

Key Sleepers: Justin Duchscherer, Kelvim Escobar

Starting Pitchers
Brandon Backe HOU
Josh Beckett * BOS
Erik Bedard SEA (B)
Daniel Cabrera ARZ
Bartolo Colon CWS
Jose Contreras COL
Doug Davis ARZ (B)
Justin Duchscherer OAK (B)
Adam Eaton COL
Kelvim Escobar LAA
Jon Garland * LAD (B)
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton HOU
Rich Harden CHC (B)
Livan Hernandez WAS
Tim Hudson * ATL - got his wish Thursday after completing a three-year, $28 million extension that includes a fourth-year option for 2013.
Randy Johnson SF (B)
John Lackey LAA (A)
Cliff Lee * PHI (A)
Braden Looper * MIL (B)
Jason Marquis COL (B)
Kevin Millwood * TEX
Brett Myers PHI
Vicente Padilla * LAD (B)
Carl Pavano MIN (B)
Brad Penny SF - Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports the Cardinals have agreed to terms with Brad Penny on a one-year, $7.5 million.
Odalis Perez WAS
Andy Pettitte NYY (B) - Veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees have agreed to terms on a one-year contract worth $11.75 million, major league sources tell ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.
Joel Pineiro STL (B)
Sidney Ponson KC
Jason Schmidt LAD
John Smoltz STL
Tim Wakefield * BOS (B)
Jarrod Washburn DET
Todd Wellemeyer STL
Randy Wolf (A) - The Brewers on Wednesday succeeded in luring free agent left-hander Randy Wolf with a three-year contract that reportedly includes a club option for a fourth year. Other reports followed, including one in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, saying Wolf is guaranteed about $29 million. Other reports on the value of the contract's first three years ranged from $27 million to $30 million.

The Dodgers signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal worth $700K in the Majors, according to the AP.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

2010 Free Agents: Outfielders

Obviously, some of these guys won't actually become available. I think Magglio Ordonez, for example, has earned his option by hitting his target at-bat total. It seems unlikely that would opt out of the deal after his not so hot season but i suppose stranger things have happened. The big market teams will all be chasing Matt Holliday and to a slightly lesser extent Jason Bay. But there are a bunch of very solid players on this list. Bobby Abreu is aging but still a very effective player. Rick Ankiel has monster power potential. Marlon Byrd finally looks like that star player he could have been years ago. Johnny Damon isn't much on defense any longer but he's still a nice leadoff hitter. I bet Brian Giles has some years left in him if he can only escape from Petco Hell. Vlad. Manny. You could add some serious runs to your lineup picking from this collection.

Key Sleepers: Rick Ankiel, Brian Giles, Austin Kearns

Outfielders
Bobby Abreu LAA (A)
Garret Anderson ATL (B)
Rick Ankiel STL
Rocco Baldelli BOS
Jason Bay BOS (A)
Marlon Byrd TEX (B)
Mike Cameron MIL (B)
Frank Catalanotto TEX
Endy Chavez SEA
Coco Crisp * KC - The Royals bought its way out of 2010 contract option on outfielder Coco Crisp for $500,000
Carl Crawford * TB (B) - Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman said after deciding to pick up Carl Crawford's $10 million option for 2010 that the All-Star leftfielder "is a big part of what we've accomplished and what we will accomplish in the future."
Johnny Damon NYY (A)
David Dellucci CLE
Jermaine Dye * CWS (A)
Darin Erstad HOU
Cliff Floyd SD
Ryan Freel TEX
Brian Giles SD (B)
Ken Griffey Jr. SEA - The Mariners re-signed Griffey as a veteran left-handed bat off the bench and insurance
Vladimir Guerrero LAA (A)
Eric Hinske NYY
Matt Holliday STL (A)
Geoff Jenkins * PHI
Reed Johnson CHC
Andruw Jones TEX
Gabe Kapler TB
Austin Kearns * WAS
Mark Kotsay CHW
Hideki Matusi NYY (B) - The 35-year-old designated hitter has reached an agreement with the Angels on a one-year, $6.5 million contract, pending the results of a physical.
Jason Michaels CLE
Xavier Nady NYY (B)
Magglio Ordonez * DET
Scott Podsednik CHW
Manny Ramirez * LAD (A)
Dave Roberts SF
Gary Sheffield NYM
Fernando Tatis NYM (B)
Randy Winn SF (B)

Friday, October 23, 2009

More on Aroldis Chapman

More on Aroldis Chapman, a hat tip to Drunken Jays Fans for posting this video for me to steal. Aroldis is in New York waiting to meet with the Yankees Brass. As much as I'd love to see him on the Yanks I think it would be even cooler to see him sign with the Washington Nationals. They could sign El Duque to a minor league contract and try to acquire Jose Contreras and they'd be nice filler as the team waited for its prospects to develop. It would also give the Nats two of the best pitching prospects in the sport.




Albertin Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 185 lb.
Born: February, 28, 1988 in Cayo Mambí, Frank País, Holguín, Cuba

* Has a wife and young daughter as well as parents and two sisters still living in Cuba
* Holds the Cuban National Series record for fastest pitch thrown in a game at 102 mph.
* Has a fastball (two seam or four seam), sinking fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and a forkball
* Led the Cuban National Series twice in strikeouts in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009.
* Was recognized as the top left handed pitcher in Baseball World Cup in 2007.
* Defected from the Cuban National Team on July 1, 2009 while participating in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands
* Signed a representation agreement with Athletes Premier International (API) for contract negotiation and marketing on July 13, 2009
* Obtained provisional passive residency status in the country of Andorra on September 21, 2009
* On September 25, 2009 was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball following their investigation and the United States Department of the Treasury licensed Chapman as an unblocked National of Cuba

Cuban National Series - Holguín
G GS GF GR W L PCT SHO SV IP AB BF H AVG R ER ERA SO BB IBB 2B 3B HR HBP WP
2005-06 15 15 0 0 3 5 .375 0 0 54 200 263 48 .240 33 26 4.33 56 54 1 7 0 5 5 3
2006-07 23 12 0 11 4 3 .571 0 7 81.1 285 350 59 .207 26 25 2.77 100 50 0 8 1 4 9 5
2007-08 16 16 2 0 6 7 .462 1 0 74 275 324 55 .200 36 32 3.89 79 37 2 10 3 3 8 1
2008-09 22 20 1 2 11 4 .733 0 0 118.1 433 515 109 .252 56 53 4.03 130 62 2 16 0 7 9 14
2009 P’OFFS 2 2 1 0 0 2 .000 0 0 14 51 60 12 .235 6 5 3.21 14 7 1 2 0 1 1 0
TOTALS 78 65 4 13 24 21 .533 1 7 341.2 1244 1512 283 .227 157 141 3.72 379 210 6 43 4 20 32 23


International Competition

2007 Pan American Games - Gold Medalist
IP K
1 2

2007 Baseball World Cup - Silver Medalist
Game G JP IP R ER H SO BB HR WP
VS. SO KOREA 1 0 7 2 2 6 9 1 0 0
VS. JAPAN 1 0 8 1 1 3 11 2 0 1
TOTALS 2 15 3 3 9 20 3 0 1

2009 World Baseball Classic
G GS CG W L SHO SV IP H R ER ERA HR HB BB SO WHIP HLD GF
2 2 0 0 1 0 0 6.1 6 4 4 5.68 0 0 4 8 1.58 0 0

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2009/10/mets-meeting-with-cuban-defect.html#ixzz0Up3ssP1w

Dan Szymborski's 2010 ZiPS Projections

While I don't like to rely on them, I enjoy looking at the numbers various projection systems from Dan Szymborski's ZIPs, Bill James' The Bill James Handbook 2010, and Chone Projections tend to release before most fantasy books come out. I'll keep updating this post as I find more.

2010 ZiPS Projections - Cincinnati Reds

2010 ZiPS Projections - Colorado Rockies


2010 ZiPS Projections - Kansas City Royals


2010 ZiPS Projections - Detroit Tigers

2010 ZiPS Projections - Minnesota Twins


2010 ZiPS Projections - Chicago White Sox

2010 ZiPS Projections - New York Yankees

2009 ZiPS Projections - Los Angeles Dodgers

New:

2010 ZiPS Projections - Tampa Bay Rays

2010 ZiPS Projections - Boston Red Sox



AFL Update: Stephen Strasburg

The Nationals Rotation Ace of the Future, Stephen Strasburg made his second appearance in the Arizona Fall League yesterday. It did not go uite as well as the first one. Actually it was a lot different in that he allowed eight runs (seven earned) over 2 and 2/3 innings. But in the AFL this should not be taken too seriously. This is definitely a hitters league. Every team is essentially a minor league All-Star team. Plus, pitchers are often working on things like developing a change-up or learning to work around the zone.

Harry Pavlidis of Beyond the Box Score has done some great work analyzing Strasburg's pitches. That you should definitely read to get some insight into the pitcher that everyone is talking about. Here is a small sample:
Beyond the speed gap of 7 or 8 mph (very nice), Strasburg's change "sank" about six inches relative to the fastball, which is brutal. If he's hiding that thing at all, yikes. If today was any indication, he was. He kept it out of the zone (30%), but every one he threw for a strike yielded a swing. Two of the seven balls were chased. Of the five total swings, three found nothing but air. Two made contact, on the ground, which still didn't work out well. Both were singles.
You can check out the details of the outing including who did what damage by reading Barry M. Bloom's report on Nationals (dot) com.
Strasburg allowed eight earned runs and seven hits, including three homers (one a grand slam), in a 9-6 loss to the Peoria Javelinas. It was his first look at that kind of disaster. Take note that he gave up only 16 earned runs in 15 college starts this season for San Diego State, for which he was 13-1 with a 1.32 ERA during his junior year.