Archive for November, 2008
New York Yankees Off Season Report
Season Wrap Up The Yankees failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 90′s due to injuries, age and the less than expected performance out of some of their up and coming pitchers Kennedy and Hughes, not to mention CF Cabrera. They finished in third place just 3 games ahead of the [...]
Tampa Bay Rays Off Season Report
Season Wrap Up Who would have imagined that the newly renamed Rays would have made history in 2008? After finishing last in the AL East in 2007, they finished first in 2008, surpassing the mighty Yankees and Red Sox with their 97 wins. Not only did they win the AL East, but they also won [...]
Happy Thanksgiving!
From those of us at Baseball Reflections, we wish our readers and their families a Very Happy Thanksgiving! We hope all of you will be as pleasantly stuffed with food, family and friends this day! For those history buffs out there, and a lot of baseball fans are just that, here’s a brief history of [...]
Kansas City Royals off Season Report
Season Wrap Up For many other teams, posting a 75 win season isn’t exactly a cause for excitement, but for the first time in a while, the Royals were able to dig themselves out of the bottom spot in the American League Central. They finished fourth, but some improvement is better than none. The good [...]
Minnesota Twins off Season Report
Season Wrap Up Baseball fans last saw the Twins in a one game playoff with the Chicago White Sox for the Central Division crown and a spot in the playoffs. Although they did not win that game, they still had an impressive season. After losing Torii Hunter to free agency and trading away Johan Santana, [...]
Detroit Tigers Season Wrap Up
Everyone in baseball was surprised the Tigers did not vie for a playoff spot last year. In fact, they played more like house cats than Tigers. While their payroll ballooned, their play on the field greatly decreased. Despite having many previous and potential All Stars on their team, Detroit was unable to stay in the [...]
More Tribe News…
On Thursday, the Indians made some moves as they purchased the contracts of five players currently in their minor league system. Outfielder Trevor Crowe, catchers Carlos Santana and Chris Gimenez and pitcher Jeff Stevens from the Columbus Clippers AAA team were four of the five. The fifth was pitcher Hector Rondon of the Kinston Indians [...]
Tribe Names Chuck Hernandez Bullpen Coach
The Indians named their first new acquisition of the off season, Chuck Hernandez who was chosen by Manager Eric Wedge to be the Indians’ new bullpen coach for the 2009 season. Hernandez is just 48 years old, but will be entering his 31st season in professional baseball. His last three seasons were spent with the [...]
Cleveland Indians off Season Report
Season Wrap-up The Indians had a disappointing year on all accounts. Picked by many to go to, and even with the World Series, the Indians underperformed and were marred with injuries to some of their main contributors for most of the season. They also traded away one Cy Young Award winner, but they did have [...]
Chicago White Sox off Season Report
Season Wrap-up Baseball fans last saw the White Sox lose to the Rays in the divisional round of the playoffs. They were by no means a power during the season, but they play in a weak division and were able to stay above water enough to make it to the playoffs. Holes to Fill Their [...]
The Baseball Reflections Annual Team Analysis
This off season Bill and I will tackle the task of analyzing the needs of each team going into the 2009 season. Last year I did it all myself and I think I forgot 1 or 2 teams along the way. Plus, I went overboard with details and the task took me two days worth [...]
MLB Awards: How Did We Do with our Predictions?
Here’s a list of the recently assigned MLB awards and how Baseball Reflections fared in predicting them. AL Rookie of the Year We at Baseball Reflections were right on with selecting Rays 3B Evan Longoria as the hands down choice. But in all fairness, this wasn’t difficult to predict. No one else even came close [...]
This Week’s Hot Stove Red Sox Reflections
Rumors I have heard rumors that the Tigers are interested in SS Julio Lugo in exchange for either SP Dontrelle “D-Train” Willis or SP Nate Robertson. Theo, pull the trigger no matter which one of these guys they offer, but especially if it’s Robertson! Are the Red Sox serious about acquiring 1B Mark Teixeira? Personally, [...]
Indians Focus on a Closer for 2009 and Beyond
After experiencing a closer by committee position last season, the Indians seem to be attempting to solidify that spot on their team with a former All Star during the off season. The Indians have surprisingly become one of the teams that are vying for some of the major free agent closers in the game and [...]
Something Sounds Fishy Here
The day before the beginning of the free agent signing period saw two more trades. One between the Yankees and White Sox while the other being between the Marlins and Cubs. In the American League transaction, the Yankees aquired 1B/OF Nick Swisher and minor league pitcher Kaneoka Texeira from the White Sox in exchange for [...]
Baseball Reflections.com Gets Personal
In recent discussions, the main writers of Baseball Reflections (that would be Bill and I), have agreed to let our hair down so to speak. We will start reflecting upon our hometown teams on a regular basis here on Baseball Reflections. So, Bill, a lifetime resident of Ohio, will reflect upon his Cleveland Indians and [...]
Recent Trades May Change Your Holliday Outlook
The Colorado Rockies, for some strange reason, have traded All-Star LF Matt Holliday to the Oakland A’s for SP Greg Smith, closer Huston Street and OF Carlos Gonzalez. You can see more details of this trade on ESPN. For reactions of this move, please visit Athletics Nation posts entitled New Holliday Thread and The Matt [...]
RIP Former Indians Player and Broadcaster Herb Score
One of the greatest personalities in baseball history, Herb Score, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 75. Most casual baseball fans outside of Cleveland probably never heard of Score, especially if they were born after the 1950s. If Score would have been able to play the length of a normal career, he would [...]
Book Review of The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed
Book Review of The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed by J.C. Bradbury A Review By: Bill Jordan Bradbury’s research in this work could no doubt be considered innovating, not only does he statistically prove many aspects of the game of baseball that were thought to be true already, but he also disproves many that [...]
Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Set for Charity
We were recently contacted by a staff member at The Bench to post this project. You can find a link to their site here: www.thebenchtrading.com They asked us to post this on their behalf for a charity they are working with. We as an on-line community are collecting the 2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy [...]
AL Gold Glove Awards: How Did We Do?
AL Gold Glove Awards Last week, Bill announced his picks for the AL Gold Glove Awards. MLB announced the official list yesterday afternoon, lets see how he did: Pitcher: the official winner was Yankees starter Mike Mussina (another older player as the NL choose Greg Maddux), but Bill choose the White Sox Mark Buehrle. Catcher: [...]
NL Gold Glove Awards: How Did We Do?
NL Gold Glove Awards Last week, Bill announced his picks for the NL Gold Glove Awards. MLB announced the official list yesterday afternoon, lets see how he did: Pitcher: the official winner was Padres/Dodgers starter Greg Maddux, but Bill choose the Giants Matt Cain. Catcher: the official winner was the Cardinals Yadier Molina, but Bill [...]
Free Agents and Possible Trade Bait
Thanks to Tim Dierkes and Co. at MLB Trade Rumors, here’s a few links for those of you who love Hot Stove Baseball talk! Here’s a link to the list of Type A and B Free Agents via ESPN and Keith Law. Here’s a link to the latest rumors regarding the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. [...]
Who Had the Best Organization in the MLB in 2008?
According to Maury Brown and his staff at the Biz of Baseball, they picked the Tampa Bay Rays. We saw the Rays go from being one of the worst teams in baseball in 2007 to one of the best teams in 2008 as they hosted the Phillies in the first two games of the World [...]
Book Review of Dropping the Ball by Dave Winfield
Dropping the Ball: Baseball’s Troubles and How We Can and Must Solve Them by Dave Winfield According to former all star Dave Winfield, if baseball keeps on the path that it is going right now, it will one day, in the not to distant future, reach a point where there are no longer any African [...]
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