OkayTim » Sports

My 2010 All-Star Ballot

Tim — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:13:25 +0000

Unlike a lot of people who follow baseball and love the long-ball, I’m more of a classic baseball fan (some call it old school). I love a good pitcher’s duel. Give me a 1-0 game with some great defense and I’ll be thrilled every time. It’s kind of sad what’s happened to the game over the past 10 years or so in the “steroid era” where the home run, marketing, and money seems to rule all.

Don’t get me wrong I love a late inning walk-off home run just as much as the next guy, but I’d rather see a perfect game or a 20 strike out performance. Maybe that’s because I was never a great hitter.

But I digress…

Every year I do my research and fill out my All-Star ballot. I don’t vote for the most popular player, I don’t vote 25 times online; I vote once and I vote well. The guys on my ballot may not be well known, but you’re damn sure they deserve the vote.

Without further delay… my 2010 All-Star ballot:

American League

1B – Miguel Cabrera (DET)
2B – Robinson Cano (NYY)
SS – Alex Gonzalez (TOR)
3B – Adrian Beltre (BOS)
C – John Buck (TOR)
DH – Vladamir Guerrero (TEX)
OF – Jose Bautista (TOR)
OF – Alex Rios (CWS)
OF – Josh Hamilton (TEX)

The AL was actually pretty easy other than OF. Brett Gardner and Ichiro were both right there in the mix, but in the end I think these 3 guys are pretty deserving.

National League

1B – Joey Votto (CIN)
2B – Martin Prado (ATL)
SS – Hanley Ramirez (FLA)
3B – Scott Rolen (CIN)
C – Miguel Olivo (COL)
DH – Albert Pujols (STL)
OF – Colby Rasmus (STL)
OF – Andre Ethier (LAD)
OF – Matt Holliday (STL)

1B in the NL was killing me. Pujols and Votto are honestly right there together and a guy who’s hanging around for me is Daniel Murphy of the Mets with 80 RBIs. Ultimately I went with Votto with basically a coin flip; Albert is equally deserving this year (and probably get it) – I put him at DH.

Nomar Garciaparra

Tim — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:33:00 +0000

Nomar Garciaparra signed a 1 day minor league contract with the Red Sox so he could retired today as a member of the Red Sox. Not an uncommon occurrence; and I kind of like it.

He was a great player while he was in Boston and on the fast track to the hall of fame, but got cut down by injuries and was never quite the same after leaving the Red Sox in 2004.

He was one of my all time favorite players and there’s been a gaping hole at shortstop in Boston ever since his departure. In the 6 years since then they’ve been through: Orlando Cabrera, Edgar Rentaria, Pokey Reese, Alex Gonzalez, Julio Lugo, Nick Green, Jed Lowrie and (currently) Marco Scutaro.

Since Scutaro is on a 2 year contract, we probably have at least 3 more years of watching the middle infield search for that mid-season chemistry.

Hall of Fame?

Is Nomar a Hall of Famer? My gut reaction is no because of all the injuries, but let’s look at the stats anyway…

Career	G	AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
14 Years	1,434	5,586	1,747	229	936	.313	.361	.521

Let’s compare that to a couple Hall of Fame Shortstops:

Phil Rizzuto

Career	G	AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
13 Years	1,661	5,816	1,588	38	563	.273	.351	.355

Robin Yount

Career	G	AB	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
20 Years	2,856	11,008	3,142	251	1,406	.285	.342	.430

Nomar Garciaparra was the unanimous 1997 American League Rookie of the Year, finished second in MVP voting in 1998, and won batting titles in 1999 and 2000. The finest all-around shortstop in the American League in the mid-1990s and early 2000s

The Baseball Page

Nomar also ranks in the top 20 all time for shortstops according to The Baseball Page.

I’m not saying whether he should be in the Hall of Fame 5 years from now or not, but looking at the stats, comparing them to the other SS who have been inducted, coupling that with 2 batting titles, a ROY and 6 all star selections, it’s easy to make the case for him as he was a dominant force in the middle infield while he was in his prime.

As long as the “steroid era” stigma passes over Nomar’s stats, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in Cooperstown some day.

MLB picks for 2010

Tim — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:50:47 +0000

If you’re reading this via Facebook, come over to the real site, it’s much nicer

Roll over comments for most of the AL teams for my2Cents.

AL East

New York The Yankee’s key losses this offseason include and DH with bad knees and an aging outfielder who had a oddly productive season in 2009. They’re additions include a very strong outfielder in Curtis Granderson, a DH/1B in Nick Johnson and Javier Vaquez who failed last time he was in New York but had a resurgence in Atlanta last year. They improved in the right spots and got younger in ways that can only benefit the team. This was an easy pick to win the AL East.
Boston ^wildcard Everyone knows how Boston is beefing up run prevention (defense) this year. I think it’s going to be a struggle for them to get the wildcard, but it’s doable. All the preseason drama with the over stuffed pitching staff and the Lowell situation will probably work itself out by opening day, but the Martinez C/1B/DH position switching is going to be a problem and might even negatively effect that run prevention they’re working on. I’m looking for Youkilis, Pedroia and Ellsbury to all have big years to carry this team. SIDE NOTE: other than short stop, they actually had a pretty strong defense last year.
Tampa Bay The Rays rarely make an offseason move, and I like how they use their farm system but unfortunately, in the AL East, you usually need to make some moves to compete They’ll make a solid run, but I don’t think they have the pitching to make it down the stretch. And who knows what’s going to happen with Crawford in a contract year
Baltimore The Orioles have a lot of young talent in players like Matt Weiters, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones, I think they’ll be very good in a couple years and might even contend for a wildcard spot in the east. They’re not quite there yet, but they’re definitely going to be a fun team to watch as long as they don’t sell off their up and coming players.
Toronto The Blue Jays were not a good team last year and they just got rid of a Hall of Fame pitcher. They did pick up some prospects in the process but not nearly enough to make a run at the division. It might take them a few years to get back on track.

AL Central

Minnesota The Twins are at a pretty crucial point where Joe Mauer’s contract is up at the end of the year and baseball is holding it’s collective breath to see if he’ll turn out to be a Cal Ripken, being loyal to a team or an Alex Rodriguez and following the money. Either way, I think this may be the last year the Twins have a serious shot at the playoffs. If they have Mourneu and Mauer eating up $35MIL a year in payroll, it won’t leave the small market with much to play with for signing other talent.
Detroit The Tigers late signing of Johnny Damon will fill a whole for them in LF and offer another option at DH. I’m looking for Bonderman and Verlander to have solid years at 15-17 wins each. They should be right in the wildcard race with the Red Sox deep into September.
Chicago This will be Jake Peavy’s first fun season in Chicago and he should do very well in the Central, but pitching isn’t the White Sox problem; it’s the rest of their aging team. While additions like Omar Vizquel add wisdom and a prove glove, it also adds an aging middle infielder with an historically weak bat. They need a lot of players to spring back from abysmal 2009 seasons to do well in and otherwise tight division. They’ll be close and I wouldn’t be surprised if they prove me wrong, but I see 3rd place in their future.
Cleveland The Indians are a weird team, they have a lot of talent, but went from first to worst last year. I don’t have them quite figured out, but they should outplay the Royals in 2010.
Kansas City I really wish this team could get back to where it was in the years of George Brett, but it doesn’t look like it’s in the cards any times soon. Of course they have some great prospects in Zack Greinke and Alex Gordon, there’s a very good chance players like that are just waiting out their contract to move onto a bigger market or more promising team.

AL West

Seattle The addition of Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins will have a serious impact on the Mariners this year, but want will effect them the most is the falling off of a perennial playoff team in the Angeles. In an already weak division, this team should be able to do some damage in 2010.
Los Angeles There’s no doubt that Angels’ losses of Chone Figgins, and John Lackey will damage the team, but enough to slip out of that garanteed first place slot they have every year in the West? I think so. Replacing Vlad with Matsui isn’t doing to add much pop to the team. Unless they make some mid-season acquisitions this division could slip away.
Oakland
Texas

NL East

Philadelphia
Florida
New York
Atlanta
Washington I’m looking forward to seeing what Stephen Strasburg can do at the Major League Level.

NL Central

NL West

World Series

New York ^winner vs. San Francisco

AL Awards

MVP: Mark Teixeira
Cy Young: Felix Hernandez

NL Awards

MVP: Albert Pujols
Cy Young: Tim Lincecum

2010 Red Sox Outlook

Tim — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:20:14 +0000

This off season, the Red Sox made a lot pretty big moves including: Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, and John Lackey.

So, I want to take a look at some of the bigger moves they made.

Mike Cameron & Jacoby Ellsbury

Mike Cameron is a 37 year old center fielder who has a history of solid defense. He must be pretty great since they decided to move Jacoby to left in order to make room in the outfield.

There’s been a lot of talk about how great an outfielder he is but little talk of the actual numbers. It’s true, he’s a very good center fielder, only making 4 errors in 147 games last year and averaging about 5 per year. Very good stats. But Jacoby’s no shlub making only 2 errors in 153 games last year.

I’m not sure where the Jacoby-hating is coming from, but the guy’s a really good center fielder, and he’s only 26, they don’t need to “save his legs”, the guy stole 70 bases last year. How ’bout saving the legs of the 37 year old? Maybe he could focus on raising that .250 AVG / .340 OBP.

I’d like to see Jacoby patrolling center field at some point in 2010, chances are he’ll be moving back there in a couple years anyway unless Ryan Westmoreland rockets up through the minors and takes over CF. Remember, they still have Josh Reddick who can play both right and left field and looks like a really good prospect. With a little more development I can easily see him starting in 2012 after Cameron’s contract is up.

Final word on this: OK with the Cameron pick up, against moving Ellsbury

Adrian Beltre / Mike Lowell

I don’t like this move at all. I get what they were planning to do: trade Lowell to Texas for Max Ramirez and sign Beltre to fill the hole at third or move Youkils to third and sign Adrian Gonzalez. Disagreement with that move aside, when it doesn’t work out, why would you still go get Beltre? You have a good 3B in Mike Lowell.

Some are syaing that Lowell’s range is worse now because of his hip but how much range do you need at third anyway? It’s more about reaction time. If they hung onto Lowell as the starting third basement for a few month in the season they could have tried to pick up someone like Prince Fielder or Adrian Gonzalez (if Lowell / Ortiz were struggling), move Youklis to third and platoon Lowell / Ortiz at DH. I dunno, I think Mike Lowell has earn the benefit of the doubt. They weren’t hard up for a 3B and now they just created an awkward situation.

Final word on this: Could not be more against it. Mike Lowell has been an all around solid ball player in Boston he never causes any trouble and it’s a shame to see the front office push him out like this. I’ve never liked Beltre, and no one ever seems to bring up that year before he signed his huge contract and hit 48HRs, an obvious steroid season (yea, I said it).

Marco Scutaro / Jed Lowrie

I get this move. I’d rather see Jed out there, but he gets hurt too much and just doesn’t look like he’s working out. It’s a shame, because he has a lot of potential. I hope he gets healthy, strong and another shot to start, even if it’s not in Boston.

On to Marco. Solid SS, about 10 errors last year in 145 games (played 2 games at 2B). He had a good offensive year, but it’s more the exception than the rule. He hasn’t been a strong hitter in the past with a .262 AVG and around 7HRs a year. This is another 2 year deal, so even if it doesn’t work out it’ll give the guys in the minors (Jose Iglesias) some time to develop and hopefully close that revolving door that is SS in Boston come 2012.

Final word on this: I’m OK with this one, it’s a pretty small contract and we’ll hopefully get a full season out of a SS this year. But this is obviously a temporary fix; there are a few SS coming up through the system that look promising.

John Lackey

This was awful. Now they have a 6 man rotation and someone is going to get left out. It looks like they’re hoping to have 1 pitcher injured at all times so this problem “takes care of itself”. Why do I hate this move?

Young starting pitchers in the Red Sox system:

Maybe all those guys won’t make it up, but 3 have already pitched in Boston and have torn through AAA. Are we just going to trade them all away? I don’t know. I like the homegrown talent in Boston and I hope we stick with it and don’t just buy players to keep them away from the Yankees.

Final thoughts on this: It looks more and more like they signed Lackey so they don’t have to re-sign Beckett next year or in anticipation for a Tim Wakefield retirement (not sure why they signed him to a 2 year deal if that was the case). I’m not a big Lackey fan, he does eat innings (and pie) but what good is an innings-eater when he’s not winning games, and you have a killer bullpen?

Overall reaction

Overall I’m not completely thrilled with the moves that the Red Sox made this off season, I understand them, but don’t totally agree. I like Cameron and Scutaro and I strongly dislike Lackey and Beltre (not as people, I just don’t think they add much more than a higher payroll to the team). I like the Hermida pick up as well. I’d actually be fine with him and Reddick platooning in LF all year if the Sox never picked up Cameron.

I would have much rather see the 5 man rotation we had last year with Bowden / Tazawa filling where applicable and developing more as starters so if Beckett leaves, one of them could slide in as a #5 starter, then the other when Wakefield’s contract is up in 2012.

One last thing since this is getting long and I want to see what everyone else thinks. Why would anyone want Kevin Youkilis at any other position than first base? He’s a gold glove caliber player, leave him alone. He’s a great ballplayer and I look forward to many years of him in a Boston uniform.

Posted on OkayTim.