CC Sabathia Trade

CC Sabathia was traded on Monday to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Matt LaPorta and three other players. This looks to be a great trade for both teams. The Indians get Matt LaPorta, a great Double-A hitter who should start for them in left field next year and for years after that. For the Brewers, they get the best possible starting pitcher on the trade market. In addition to that, the best player they gave up, LaPorta, was blocked by Ryan Braun in left field and had little chance of breaking into the majors.

An overlooked advantage of getting CC for Milwaukee is that they traded for him on July 7, more than 3 weeks before the trade deadline. This gives them up until the 31st to see whether the rest of the team can continue their winning ways. As of before Friday's game, the Brewers are the Wild Card leaders, 1/2 game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals and 4.5 games behind the Cubs. Since trading for Sabathia, the Brewers are 2-2. If Sabathia, along with the rest of the staff, can continue playing well the Brewers are in prime position to head to the playoffs as the Wild Card.

Let's say, though, the Milwaukee slides in the next three weeks. What's to say they don't trade Sabathia to the highest bidder? Nothing at all. They traded a prospect that was blocked by their own future star. By trading Sabathia to another contender, they can get back at least two prospects that are on the same level as LaPorta. That would be a huge return for trading Matt LaPorta away. All of this is pretty speculative, of course, because it would take a lot of losing to convince the Brewers to trade away Sabathia three weeks after getting him. The important thing to remember, though, is that the option is there and very real. Just something interesting to watch in the next three weeks.

The Washington Nationals

2007 in Review

The Washington Nationals came into 2007 with little expectations. Many people slated them to lose 100 games, or more. With Manny Acta taking over as manager, this was definitely a rebuilding year. Yet the Nats played better than a lot of people expected. In what was a difficult NL East they held their own, tying the season series with the Mets and winning 10-8 against the Marlins. They even played well against the American League, with a 9-9 record. The Nats were hurt by their poor hitting and OBP, which led to the worst runs per game in the National League. Surprisingly, even with 12 pitchers starting at least 6 games, their team ERA was right in the middle of the NL.

The Nationals best hitter was Dmitri Young, who came out of nowhere for the Nationals to end up winning the Comeback Player of the Year award. He set career highs in batting average and on base percentage while getting his second All Star appearance. For the pitchers, Matt Chico stood out in 2007. While the case could be made for Chad Cordero, Matt Chico was the only starting pitcher for the Nats not to miss a start. All of this was in his rookie season, too.


New Additions

The Nationals were a busy team this offseason. With a new ballpark on the way, there were many trades made to try to build a team that will both be competitive this season, as well as for the long term. Two pickups that could help with the long term goals of the team are Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes. While both these players have had trouble in their previous organizations, they also have the talent to be impact players for a long time to come. The Nats also picked Tyler Clippard from the Yankees, a pitcher who could make the rotation for the Nationals before 2008 is over.

Unfortunately, the Nationals also made a couple of pointless signings. Aaron Boone and Paul Lo Duca were both signed this offseason. I really don't see the point of these signings. Boone is nothing more than a backup with Ryan Zimmerman and Young at the corners. The Nats have a young starter in Jesus Flores, which limits the need for a veteran catcher like Lo Duca. They also have Johnny Estrada, who will fill the backup catcher role nicely. Overall, I'd rate these moves a 3. There were some definite moves that showed thoughts of contention beyond this season, yet moves like signing Lo Duca will only hurt the team (especially with his steroid allegations)


Ranking the Lineup

The Nationals have an interesting lineup. If it plays out like ESPN's Hot Stove predicts, they will have a lot of potential in the outfield with Milledge, Wily Mo Pena, and Austin Kearns. All three of those hitters, as well as Ryan Zimmerman and Jesus Flores will be under 27. While there is a lot of potential in those names, there will also be the danger of inconsistency. In comparison, Dmitri Young, Lo Duca, and Ronnie Belliard will provide some stability in the lineup. Finally there is Cristian Guzman, who the Nats are hoping will play more like he did in 2007 (.328 in limited action) than 2006 (.219 batting average over 456 at bats).

Ranking the lineup, I'd really like to give them a 3. The Nats seem like the team that could put together some good runs, especially moving into a park that is more hitter friendly than RFK Stadium. Yet, I can't because I feel that's putting too much on the production of still unproven hitters. Because of that, the Nationals lineup scores a 2.


Ranking the Rotation

Unfortunately, I do not think nearly as highly of the pitching staff. With four starters under 27 and only John Patterson (age 30) with more than 200 innings pitcher for his career, this is not a rotation that shows in any way a hope for winning games. That's not to say there isn't potential here. Matt Chico, Jason Bergmann, and Shawn Hill all had decent seasons last year. Still, there is no chance that there is a pitcher here who wins 10 more games than he loses. Sadly, they'd be lucky to get a pitcher with 10 wins (last year's leader was reliever Jon Rauch with 8). With all of this in mind, it's pretty obvious that the Nationals pitching staff would score a 1 in this system.


Final Thoughts and Predictions

I don't think I'd mind if I lived in the DC area and had to watch the Nationals every night. Yes, they may not win much again with their pitching staff but at least they'd be interesting. It's far easier to root for a young starter than an old washed up pitcher who's bounced around far too often. The Nationals also have a great bullpen, which will make any close games exciting to watch in the later innings. Finally, their lineup is filled with young players who could easily knock the ball a mile.

While I don't see many wins in 2008 for the Nationals, it wouldn't surprise me if their season went much like 2007. Everyone writes them off and they hold their own and even surprise a team or two. I expect big things from Ryan Zimmerman this year. Since he came into the league, he's had one of the best gloves at third base. I think this will be the year he will complement that with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. I see the Nationals finishing fourth again in the NL East.


Next up: Toronto Blue Jays

The Offseason in Review

With pitchers and catchers reporting to their camps this week, I thought it would be a good time to sit back and take a look at what each team did to better themselves in the offseason. This past offseason was an active one, with many key players changing teams either through trades or free agency. The free agents who remain will most likely fill in spots in rosters that may be a bit thin so now would be a great time to review how player movement has affected each of the 30 major league teams.

Each of the reviews will begin with a synopsis of how the team performed in the 2007 season. This will include my thoughts on their best hitter and pitcher. Following that will be a review of the new additions of the team. To make it easier to compare, I will rank the additions on a scale from 5 down to 1. The rankings will be determined as follows:

1. A team will get a 1 ranking if their only additions will end up hurting their team, whether it be in the short or long term
2. Not as bad as a 1 ranking, scoring a 2 would mean the players added may still end up hurting the team's performance
3. If the additions a team makes will neither positively or negatively effect their team's performance (only minor additions, bench players, average players, etc.)
4. If a team made significant moves in the offseason, they would score a 4
5. This score would be reserved for big additions to a team that will change the outcome of the upcoming season

Following a review of the additions a team made, their new lineup and pitching rotation will also be scored. For the projected 2008 rosters, I will be using ESPN's Hot Stove homepage. The basic idea of the scoring for these ares will follow as such:

1. Hitters: There are no threats in the lineup; Pitchers: None of the 1-5 starters fit into projected rotation results (will be explained below)
2. Both for the lineup and rotation, this score will be for a team with one standout player surrounded by otherwise average or below average players
3. A completely average lineup, the sort that will be enough to win some games, but no real firepower to carry a team
4. This is where a team starts to look interesting. The 1-5 pitchers start to show some real life and the hitters could easily change the course of a game
5. Scoring a 5 would mean having a dangerous lineup, from 1-9. Likewise for the pitchers

A note on what I will be looking for with pitchers. I heard Steve Phillips explain once what he tried to do when putting a rotation together back when he was the GM of the Mets. He said he looked for certain results from his 1-5 pitchers. From his number one pitcher, he looked for about 10 more wins than losses. This could be 14-4 or 20-10, as long as their was that 10 game differential. From his number two pitcher, he wanted 7 more wins than losses. Number three was 5, then a difference of 3 from the number four pitcher, and finally an even record from his number five pitcher.

While in reality, this sort of win differential from a rotation would be very hard to compile, it does have its uses when reviewing a team's rotation. For example, Baltimore has Daniel Cabrera slated as its number one pitcher going into the 2008 season. Last year Cabrera was 9-18 and he has never had a record better than 12-8. Placing him into that framework shows that the Orioles might not have the top of the rotation starter they would be looking for.

After grading the additions, lineups, and rotations, the team review will conclude with a couple of final thoughts on the upcoming season. What to look for, breakout candidates, and the like will finish off the team's offseason in review. The first team on the block will either be the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Washington Nationals, at which point I will work my way alphabetically through all 30 teams. I guess that all depends on whether I want to start with a great team or a team with little hope of getting out of last place in their division (any guesses which is which?)

The Mitchell Report

So George Mitchell will be annoucing tomorrow the results of his investigation into performance enhancing drugs in major league baseball. While I'm sure I could go on about what I think of the process in general, I won't. The only real exciting part of this is that the Mitchell Report is promising to "name names."

So with Mitchell naming players, it leads me to speculate as to who might be on the list. From what I've heard, there are 60-80 players on the list, including some very surprising names. That being said, I thought it would be fun to sit down and try to guess who might be on the list. I'm not good enough to try to guess all 60 players, but there are some names I'd like to get down before it becomes official. Just gut guesses here. No evidence or anything like that.


Here are some links before I get going:
Players suspended for violating MLB Drug Policy: A misleading list, as some of the players were suspended for violations other that steroids (Neifi Perez, for example)
NL Standings and AL Standings for 2005: Assuming that baseball has been "clean" since 2006, any players I am guessing from should be looked at from 2005 and back

The Names (Teams as of 2005):

Marcus Giles, Atlanta Braves - His numbers dropped off after his '05 year and he hasn't been much of a force since then. That could just be from a fluke down year followed by moving to Petco Park, to be fair

Cliff Floyd, New York Mets - Here's a guy who struggled for a lot of his career to stay healthy. Maybe there was a temptation to use steroids to get back quicker

Pedro Martinez, New York Mets - What a shocker this would be? The most dominant pitcher from 1997 - 2005 getting busted for steroids. This would blow my mind. I doubt it would happen, but just imagine if it did

Roger Clemens, Houston Astros - I've thought this for a couple of years now. Someone his age pitching as well as he did has to bring up some suspicions. Honestly, I don't think this one would surprise as many people as if Pedro was flagged.

Jeff Kent, LA Dodgers - He's got the time he spent with Bonds going for him, plus the production at an older age. Also, he was with the Mets while Kirk Radomski was still there.

Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Orioles - He was playing with Rafael Palmeiro, who was caught with steroids, Jay Gibbons, who used HGH, and Jason Grimsley. If he didn't, there has to be a couple of Orioles who did.

Eric Chavez, Oakland A's - This guy was a great hitter from 2000 - 2005 and never really produced the past two years. Injuries were a problem and could explain that

Hank Blalock, Texas Rangers - I heard about him from a guy who knew a guy. If I had to put money down on any player who hasn't been mentioned, it would be him. Just wait and see


So that's my list. Upon review of my list, I think the biggest way in which it won't represent the actual names is the lack of pitchers. I think the list will be made up of about 60% pitchers, most of whom will be relievers. That was something that really doesn't show up while looking over names so I couldn't pick out many myself. Also, I have almost all stars on this list. In all likelihood, the Mitchell report will name mostly players who struggled to get to the majors and stay there. Players like that had the most to gain from steroids.

Regardless of what I've guessed, if this report actually lives up to the hype and names players, it will be a huge challenge for baseball to overcome. Already burdened with being the most scrutinized of professional sports, MLB would then have to deal with 20+ years of results being questioned (meanwhile the NFL has teams with video tapes of opponents being used to win games, but you can never say anything bad about them). Baseball has proven it is strong enough to clean up the game. I hope now it is strong enough to once again change people's perceptions

Postseason Primer

So I wanted to get back here and get some writing done, but the overwhelming event that was the Phillies postseason drive and collapse made me nervous to approach writing about the playoffs. Having only experienced the playoffs when I was nine years old, I thought it better to avoid this site altogther. Now that my worries are no longer an issue, I want to see what I can get done.

We are now in the Championship Series for each league. It is the Colorado Rockies vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox vs. the Cleveland Indians. For me, neither matchup is really spectacular. Not that the teams themselves aren't good, but more that there isn't a story that would hold me like some of the teams who were eliminated. The Phillies remaining in the playoffs would have been best for me. Take that out and you still have the Cubs and Yankees with intriguing storylines. Unfortunately, they are both out as well.

So, in an attempt to find some connection to the teams who are remaining, I have decided to write a Postseason Primer (alliteration is pretty catchy) to sort out the remaining teams. I'll cover a pro and a con for supporting each team. This won't be an official prediction. Maybe I'll get to that later. This will be more of an introduction to the teams that we'll be spending the rest of the postseason with.

The National League

Arizona Diamondbacks

Players to watch: Chris Young, Brandon Webb, Eric Byrnes

Pro:

• They are a young team. 3/4ths of their infield are under 25 and their outfield has 24 year old Chris Young and 20 year old Justin Upton. Maybe that's just more interesting to me because they are my age, but so be it. These are guys who have never seen the postseason before. We could be looking back in a couple of years and see this Diamondback team as the start of a long run of success. Much like Miguel Cabrera and Josh Beckett in 2003 and more recently Justin Verlander, there's bound to be at least one future star on this team

Con:

• This is Arizona's tenth year in the league. In this time, they have already won a World Series. Meanwhile teams like the Cubs and Indians have been waiting a combined 148 years for a World Series victory. The Phillies have 1 World Series win in more than 120 seasons. It's sort of tough supporting a team who could end up with a second W.S. victory in 10 years

Colorado Rockies

Players to watch: Matt Holliday, Manny Corpas, Troy Tulowitzki

Pro:

• The Rockies have won 17 of their last 18 games. To do that at any point in the regular season is ridiculous. To do that in September and the postseason is insane. In the process they beat Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego (in a three game series and the one game playoff), and took two of three from the Diamondbacks (the one loss coming from Brandon Webb on September 28). Even if the Rockies take this series to 7 games and win, they will have won 21 of their last 25 games. 21-4 in 25 games. An .840 winning percentage. A run like that might be the best ever in September and the postseason.

Con:

• Matt Holliday never touched the plate. While it's possible that the Rockies could have gone on to win that play-in game, nothing is guaranteed. If Holliday is called out, the Padres have two outs with their closer on the mound. I think people are forgetting about this, and that's great, but it's still there. And yes, I'm probably bitter that they beat the Phillies. I'm allowed to be

The American League
Boston Red Sox

Players to not watch (snack break?): Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew, Jason Varitek

Pro:

• They have a seriously good team. Josh Beckett made the Angels look like they didn't belong while pitching a complete game shutout. The rest of their pitching is just as good with Curt Schilling (best postseason ERA all time), Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Jonathan Papelbon. They have two great hitters in Ortiz and Ramirez. This team is full of recognizable star players, which makes them very easy to follow.

Con:

• After the 2004 World Series, it seemed like the Red Sox fans were all over the place. In a lot of ways, they became the new Yankees. If the Sox win again this year, this will only add to their numbers. While it's not possible to reverse the season they've had this year, a loss in the ALCS coupled with a few down years could thin out the ranks of the new Red Sox fans (Note: this is impossible....the Red Sox have too many good players to all of the sudden stop being great....nothing against the Red Sox themselves either, but I feel you should be following your regional team unless you have good reasons not to be)

Cleveland Indians

Players to watch: C.C. Sabathia, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Travis Hafner's defensive shift

Pro:

• They haven't won a World Series since 1948. I'm not willing to do the research, but I'm pretty sure that makes them the Cubs of the American League since the White Sox won two years ago. Any time a team has a chance to win their first championship in over 50 years, that makes for an interesting story. Again, a team who has been around since 1901, but only has two World Series victories (the other coming in 1920). It'll be interesting to see if they can win a third

Con:

• I've got nothing. The Indians play well. They have great young pitchers in Sabathia and Fausto Carmona (which still surprises me because he was horrible last year). I even thought they had chance to play well last year (they didn't). I'm not saying this is the team that I will be following, but I don't have anything negative to say about them.

Alright. So that's the Postseason Primer. For people such as myself who are stuck without a team to follow, maybe this will aid in finding a reason to watch the games. I'm pretty sure it will help if the games aren't as one sided as the division series, but that's something that remains to be seen. At least I won't have the stress of watching the Phils forget how to hit. That's a story noone wants to follow

Back Again

So, it's been far too long of a time since I've had something to say about sports. Living in an apartment without cable and internet will do that to you. Things have changed now, though, so I hope to be back in full swing. So without wasting too much more time, I'll get down to work



The NBA Playoffs

I don't have too much to point out here. I did want to note the fact that the playoffs started April 21th. I still think the NBA playoffs are too long. According to nba.com, the first game of the finals isn't until June 7. If that series goes 7 games, you're looking at the playoffs ending two months after it began. Nobody should be expected to follow playoffs for that long.

If I were able to call the shots, I'd try shortening the first two rounds. Nobody needs a best of 7 series between Orlando and Detroit. You can't really allow less teams to get into the playoffs because that will just encourage more teams to play poorly for a better shot at the lottery. The only option would be to have a best of 3 or even best of 5 in the first two rounds. Keep people interested.

That being said, there are some teams I'd like to see play well. Chicago and Toronto have a lot of young players who would be fun to see play in the second round (Chris Bosh, Luol Deng). I also wouldn't mind seeing Iverson getting another shot at a championship. I have no bad feelings about that trade. He deserved to get a better shot with a good team. Detroit and Dallas are two teams who I wouldn't mind seeing bounced at all. They aren't exciting. I'm not going to want to watch them play, especially if they end up in the finals against each other.

With all that said, I'd really like to see Cavs-Suns or Cavs-Nuggets in the finals. Lebron James is ridiculously good and having him face up against the speed of the Suns or the scoring of AI and Carmelo would be a great series to watch. I think everyone would rather see some high scoring and high flying rather than a team like Detroit win again. We will see


Alright. I think I'm calling it quits for today. Hopefully within the next couple of days I'll get down my thoughts on the beginning of the baseball season. It actually looks like the Phils will get a record somewhat close to .500 by the end of April. That will be pretty clutch if they are able to. That'll be a topic for next time though. I'm just getting back in to this. It's probably not best to tackle too much in one sitting.

Reporting Live From the Boondocks

One of the toughest things as a sports fan is when you're put in a situation removed from the sports world. When this happens, news that may seem new to you is in all reality days old. That's the situation I'm in right now and it leaves me with little to write about. Yet I will do my best to get what's on my mind down on "paper."


-It really bothers me that it's been almost a whole month since the World Series ended and I still haven't heard who the MVP is. I read yesterday that Brandon Webb won the NL Cy Young, which is great, but it comes after I've more or less forgotten about who really might have deserved the award. If MLB really wanted to encourage discussion, they would find a way of announcing the winners of the MVP and Cy Young awards during the World Series. Maybe annouce one a game so Joe Buck has something significant to talk about. By November, very few people really care about those awards because the season has been finished for so long.

-I read yesterday that the Red Sox paid over 50 million to negotiate with 27 year old Japanese pitcher Daisuke lastnameforgotten. That really bummed me out when I read about it because it just gives the people who hate baseball one more thing to gripe about. Baseball gets enough bad press about huge salaries already that this will only make it worse. Personally, I can see the importance of getting a, from what I've read, ready made ace for your rotation but even I have trouble with the amount paid just to negotiate with him. (Side note...resident Sports Chair Japanese expert Mike Reddick once told me that the way people have been pronouncing his name...DICE-kay...roughly translates to I love you in Japanese. If he is correct, that's pretty funny).

-Jamie Moyer signed a 2 year deal with the Phillies with a contract incentive that he can leave road trips in which he is not pitching the last game early. I can only guess that is so he can rush home, cash his social security check, and catch the early bird special at Denny's.

-I think I'd pay $25 a month to have some way of staying more informed on what is going on in basketball. After I spent much of last season really trying to keep up with the sport, I have had little chance to see anything this season. I mean, sure, there's probably no difference in the Sixers between this season and last, but that's just one of those things you want to see firsthand.


That's all I've got right now. Hopefully the next time I write I will have more up to date topics to discuss.