Archive for June, 2009
Big Papi Comes Up Big in June
Image via Wikipedia So now that David Ortiz has found his stroke again, all the murmurs will start. This will certainly mirror the talk that surrounded Jason Giambi a couple of years ago. You all remember, don’t you? Giambi admitted to doing performance-enhancing drugs before the 2004 season, and followed that up with an 80 [...]
Nick Kappel’s Fantasy Focus: Three Prospects to Keep an Eye on
Last week’s Fantasy Focus centered around three prime sell-high targets. This week, we’ll turn our attention to the minor leagues to find out which prospects are most likely to make a fantasy impact this season. Jhoulys Chacin Chacin’s value has skyrocketed since the beginning of the 2008 season, when Baseball America ranked him as the [...]
Baltimore Orioles Midseason Report: Seeing Past the Ugliness
From the very beginning, the goal of the 2009 season for the Baltimore Orioles has been to be respectable on the field while continuing behind the scenes to develop the pieces needed to eventually lead the Orioles back to contention in the American League East. With the season now three months old and nearing the [...]
Friday Night Links
In this edition of Friday Night Links, we return to our main focus for this series…promoting other sites that we like or think that you should look into. In this edition we will be focusing on Baseball and general sports equipment sites. Sports Diamond.com: a general sport equipment site that focuses on baseball and softball. [...]
Effective Communication Is Important For Coaches
Effective communication is important for coaches to make baseball rewarding and fun for young players Chicago – It was the chance I had waited for since I was a 16th round draft pick drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1976. As a second baseman, I had cups of coffee with the Dodgers in 1980 [...]
June Reflections on the Blue Jays
When my partner in crime, Tom, penned his last epistle about our beloved azure corvidae, things were just going great in the Queen City. He mentioned how much he was enjoying the season thus far, and confided that he wasn’t sure how long the Jays could keep it up. The answer – not long. Almost [...]
The Pendulum Continues To Swing in St. Louis
Joe Morgan would have put the Cardinals on his bad list in June, because they’ve been pretty inconsistent during the month. A pitching staff that is lit up against the Rockies early in the month settles down to some better pitched games, with hiccups along the way. An offense maligned as inept is able to [...]
Interview With Former MLB Catcher Brent Mayne
Whenever you get the chance to talk to someone that has been there, it’s always special to see it through their eyes. On June the 19th, 2009, I was given the pleasure of an audience with Brent Mayne, a 15 year Major League Veteran. My connection with Brent was made through a gentleman named Bob [...]
Nick Kappel’s Fantasy Focus: Three Players To Sell High On
In my last Fantasy Focus, I outlined three pitchers whose slow starts made them prime buy-low candidates. This week I’m going to nominate three players whose hot starts make them excellent sell-high targets. Keep in mind that obvious choices, such as Kevin Millwood, will be left off the list. I would like to think that [...]
Royals Showcase Textbook Bad Baseball
When I last reported on the Royals, the team was sitting just one game out of first place in the American League Central with a respectable 20-18 record. Sure, Kansas City had dropped seven of their last nine games to get to that mark, but all was still well in the land of blue. My, [...]
Friday Night Links
It is out of regret that we have to use this section to once again announce the departure of 2 more writers, but we do have 2 additional writing coming on board, but he will not (as of yet) be covering a specific team. The two gentlemen who will be leaving us are Tony DeMarco [...]
Miller-McCune on Baseball
In a March 16th article in Miller-McCune online, Tom Jacobs wrote about the possible bias in baseball, pop-ups and economics. The article was titled, “Race Ball: Our National Pastime?“. I found the first section on race to be inconclusive as the dates they researched were from three different date ranges 1954-1968, early 70′s to early [...]
Why The Trade Deadline May Be Disappointing For Tigers Fans
With just about six weeks remaining until the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline the Detroit Tigers find themselves in first place in the AL Central, albeit with some gaping holes in their roster. Through ineffectiveness or injury the Tigers are struggling to fill the bottom two spots in the starting rotation, are platooning various youngsters in the outfield [...]
Amazon VOD “SPACEMAN: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY”
Image by Paul Keleher via Flickr I recently was asked to help promote a documentary that was just released on Amazon VOD. It’s called SPACEMAN: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY. Here’s the synopsis: “Throughout the 1970′s, Bill Lee was the ultimate gonzo baseball player, a brilliant left-handed pitcher who flouted every manager orfront office executive who tried [...]
Another One Bites The Dust
Image by Getty Images via Daylife In yesterday’s New York Times, Michael S. Schmidt reported that “Sammy Sosa…is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year“. Sosa is now the second name to be leaked from that 2003 test [...]
Ryan Hanigan: From Rollins College to the Cincinnati Reds
When the Rollins College baseball team hosted the Cincinnati Reds for a spring training exhibition in 2001, no one could have anticipated that one of the Tars would some day be living the big-league dream as a key member of the Reds. But fast-forward ahead eight years and sure enough in 2009 former Rollins standout [...]
Nick Kappel’s Fantasy Focus: Three Pitchers To Buy Low On
Many starting pitchers who are usually reliable such as Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, John Lackey and Roy Oswalt have been wildly unpredictable and/or injured through the first ten weeks of the season. If you are one of the unlucky ones who have been become frustrated with your staff’s inconsistency, you might want to look into [...]
Dodgers Looking Great with 2/3 of the Season to Go
Editor’s Note: Due to my being on vacation, Jim’s article that he wrote on June 5th below has been posted just now. According to Chris at Dodgerfan.net, the Dodgers are the favorite in Las Vegas to win the World Series, with odds at Mandalay Bay at 7-2. But now, with one-third of the season under [...]
Chasing the Aces and the Pennants
Image via Wikipedia It’s officially trade rumor season in the MLB and teams are now just beginning to assess their needs and see what is available on the market. This season marks a special one in the starting pitching department as we have four key names playing for underperforming teams looking to slash payroll and [...]
The Future of the Astros…
Image via Wikipedia The Lancaster JetHawks are the Astros High-A farm team in the California League. For the last few years, Lancaster was the Red Sox‘ California League team. That changed for 2009 when the Astros changed their affiliation. Jeff Lasky has been with the JetHawks for what is now his 4th season. As the [...]
Stadium Review: Blair County Ballpark Home of the Altoona Curve
Blair County Ballpark gets its first praise from this reviewer from the title of the stadium because they have not yet followed suit with many other major and minor league teams and sold the naming rights to their stadium. This is not to say that it will never happen, but it is good to see [...]
Pirates will remain sellers as deadline approaches
After suffering through 16 consecutive losing seasons, many Pirate fans wonder how any team’s management could be more inept; how any team’s ownership could be more stingy. And who could blame them? The streak of sub-.500 finishes will soon be historic. Image by Matt Bandi, MVN via Flickr The sudden and unexpected trade of All-Star [...]
May’s Hottest Hitters By Position
Image by Keith Allison via Flickr Sorry about this, but due to the fact that I gave Nick the week off from his weekly Fantasy Focus and my vacation that I am currently on, this will be a little short. Here are the top hitters by position for the month of May. I will also [...]
Oakland Still Sitting In Last Place
Although they were originally looked at as the number one contender to knock off the two time reigning American League West champions, the Oakland Athletics find themselves ten games under .500 and in last place in the division. General Manager Billy Beane deviated from his usual plan this past offseason by adding aging veterans and [...]
Detroit Tigers June Splits
Every season is a different season, however there are trends in baseball. So today we’ll take a look at the career split stats for the current group of Detroit Tigers for the month of June and see at least on some level, what we might expect. Let’s start with the hitters. As you would expect [...]
Despite Ailments, Streaking Mets Keep NL East Tight
Really? Come on. If this is a surprise then the last few years must be a bit fuzzy to the memory. What has become an annual drama-filled, slug-fest between the New York Mets and bitter rival Philadelphia Phillies has come to fruition once again this season as the two teams remain inseparable atop the National [...]
Reds at 50 (well, 48)
The Reds sit at 26-22 on the last day of May, just 2.5 games out of first place. This should be a familiar record for the Reds this season. With their brand of strong starting pitching, team speed, and improved defense, this team will be between three and seven games over .500 for most of [...]
Will The Baltimore Orioles Have To Trade Aubrey Huff?
Baltimore Orioles team president Andy MacPhail made the right call in his decisions to trade Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada and to keep Brian Roberts. He could soon get another test as he must decide whether to keep or trade free agent-to be Aubrey Huff. There is no question that Huff is a valuable member [...]
The Cubs Are Slumping and on the DL
Over the course of a 162 game season, even the best teams have slumps. Particularly in this era of relatively balanced competition even the perennial division winners – teams like the Red Sox, Cardinals, and Angels – run into rough stretches. But the 2009 Chicago Cubs are currently enduring a slump that even the worst [...]
What’s Wrong With Josh Hamilton?
The Texas Rangers are 30-19 after 49 contests, leading the Angels in the AL West by 5.5 games after play on Saturday. The Rangers’ quick start can be attributed to their potent offense, which ranks fifth in the majors, scoring 5.44 runs per game. Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Nelson Cruz have led the way [...]
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