It’s been a while since I’ve introduced a few of our writers and in the past I have done so before they actually posted on the site. But, I guess I’m just a little rusty

Daniel Shoptaw comes to us from his site C70 At the Bat and you can find his first post on Baseball Reflections by clicking HERE.

Rex Jaybels comes to us from his site i94Sports (which focuses on Chicago and Milwaukee sports) and you can find his first post on Baseball Reflections by clicking HERE.

Jim Lakely comes to us from the Examiner where he writes on the Dodgers and you can find his first post on Baseball Reflections by clicking HERE.

Wayne Lin comes to us from his site Texas Rangers News and you can find his first post on Baseball Reflections by clicking HERE.

Now it’s time to say goodbye, after just one post, Bob Ruffolo has gotten bogged down with working on his blog’s new direction and design which will prevent him from writing here again. In parting, he has given us a sneak peek into the New Yankees Stadium with a collection of over 70 pictures. They can be found by clicking HERE.

Taking over for Bob will be Joe O’Rourke, who will have his first Mets post hit the site this coming week. Taking over for Joe writing on the Mets and filling in for Aaron on the Phillies will be Stan Whyte who also comes to us from PSU (the same as Joe) and Bloggle Heads ! You can find his work on their site by clicking HERE.

We still have the following teams that are looking for writers write about them on a monthly basis. They are the Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Twins, Royals, Reds, Pirates, Angels, A’s and Padres.

I would also like to get a one time post (more specifically, a review) from a woman’s perspective on Alyssa Milano‘s Touch line of women’s MLB apparel. Someone who actually owns something from that line.

If anyone is interested in either writing for one of these remaining teams or the Touch post, please contact me at peter@baseballreflections.com

From the site Baseball Evolution , we have Asher who participated in my post/interview on InterLeague Play and Keith . Asher will write monthly reflections on both the Rays and the Cubs. Keith will reflect upon the Diamondbacks. We are now just 1 team shy from full AL East coverage (O’s).

Kurt from Mack Ave Tigers will also be writing for us. That’s 2 in the AL Central!

Nick will be writing periodically on Fantasy Baseball. He use to write for Maury Brown on his Biz sites (football and basketball).

Joining the team to write about the Mariners and periodically about SABR, we have Mike.

We have just recently added Joe O’Rourke formerly of SABR Neighbor and currently of Bloggle Heads!. Joe will be writing to you concerning the Mets.

Last, but not least, we have MLB Expert from NBC Sports.com and the Examiner , Tony DeMarco covering the Rockies.

If I have missed anything, please don’t hesitate to let me and/or the group know. These men will join myself (Red Sox), Bill (Indians), Bob (Yankees), Aaron (Phillies), Matt aka The Zoner (White Sox) and both Hugo and Rincewind (Blue Jays).

If any of you know of anyone who would like to write on any of the remaining MLB teams, please put them in contact with me.

I am also looking to get a one time female writer/baseball fan who has purchased and worn apparel from Alyssa Milano‘s Touch line of Baseball clothing to do a one-off review of the line. So if any of you can help with that as well, I’d appreciate it.

Aaron Schimpf from RBI Magazine

Aaron will be writing on the current World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Here’s a sneak peek of Aaron’s work over at RBI Magazine, this article is called, Phillies Looking At Nomar Garciaparra. He will be making his first post with us either this month or early next month.

Bob Ruffolo from Yankees Rumors

Bob will be writing on the New York Yankees. Here’s a sneak peek of Bob’s work over at Yankees Rumors, this article is called, The Best Yankees during the Bush Administration. He will be making his first post with us this month.

Theo Fightmaster from the SF Giants Examiner

Theo will be writing on the San Francisco Giants. Here’s a sneak peek of Theo’s work over at SF Giants Examiner, this article is called, Is the window closing on this Giants team?. He will be making his first post with us either this month or early next month.

Baseball Reflections: The Phillies did not hit 100 wins in 2007 and in my opinion, they did not improve their pitching staff enough to win 100. It takes more than just a strong offensive team to win 100 games in Major League Baseball these days! A team needs a good # 3 starter before they should even be thinking about a 100 win season.

Then throw into the mix the possibility of having to face arguably the best left hander in the game in Johan Santana around 4 times and the Phillies might not even be good enough to beat out the Mets for first place because of the Santana trade. The Mets saw that they needed a better 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation and they went out and got Santana. That’s a huge advantage for the Mets over the Phillies right now in  the race for their division and Spring Training hasn’t even started yet!

I hope that answers your question Nathan! J

It’s reader interaction time! 

Who has a baseball question they have always wanted to ask but have never gotten the answer to? I may not get to all of these, but I’ll do my best. It can be about a player, a team, fantasy baseball, asking for my specific views on a given baseball topic, you name it! 

Please list your name and where you’re from on each question. 

If this is popular, we can do this again on a regular basis!

Reader Questions

Andrew wrote:

With the NL East fairly stagnant, barring a Mets Johan Santana trade, how do you see this division shaking out?

The Braves and Phillies haven’t really done much, the Nationals are something of a wildcard, and the Marlins have sunk to a new low.

Will it be Mets, Phils, Braves fighting for the top spot, or do you figure a team will fall out of it early?

My reply: 

If the Mets land Santana, I’d have to give them the edge, but I’m not sure manager Willie Randolph bounces back well from their choking at the end of 2007 without a pitcher like Santana. Maybe a healthy Pedro Martinez will be that answer, but I wouldn’t bet on it! I don’t trust his health.

That leaves us with the Phillies and the Braves because neither the Nationals nor the Marlins will be .500 in 2008.

The Phillies have at least tried to bolster their rotation by adding closer Brad Lidge, moving Brett Myers back to the rotation. On the Braves, you have added Tom Glavine, but he is only going to be good for about 10-15 wins and an ERA in the 4’s.

This division may end up being decided on who makes the best deal either before the season starts or at the trading deadline. As they stand right now, I agree, it’s a three team race with the only edge being that the Phillies won it last year and that might account for something. That plus they have one heck of an offense!

Thanks for the question Andrew!

A reader, Pete’s Rose’s Mom, asked the following question in a comment back in October:

    “I’d be interested in learning more about the managers of the 8 teams who made it into the playoffs. How do they compare with one another? What does it take to become a manager let alone a good manager?”

First, sorry for the late reply, but the first 4-8 weeks of starting a blog like this one, they say, are real time consuming & you find yourself working on the look & feel of your site more than you do about posting to it. I’m at about week 4 so please bear with me for a few more weeks or so. 

            I will try to answer this question by breaking it down into sections. I’ll have to admit that I’m not an expert at this or else I wouldn’t be writing this blog, I’d be a major league manager myself! 

What does it take to become a Major League Manager?

            Honesty, I don’t know for sure, but I do know this: Some men get into it simply by being a former major league player who happens to know every aspect of the game. They sometimes are seen as having an advantage to someone without that experience. Some people become major league managers after working in popular High School & College/University programs. Others get into an organization, work hard and climb the ladder until they get a position as a minor league coach, then manager until they move up to a triple A manager & the next step from there is a major league coach or right into becoming a major league manager. In one bad season or decision, it can all be lost. It can be a thankless job that often becomes a scapegoat.

What does it take to be a good Major League Manager?

            This depends or changes from situation to situation. In my opinion, a “good” manager is one who does well in any situation they find themselves in. I’ll explain this point in more detail later in this section. For now, let’s define some of those situations a big league manager might find himself in.

• A Young Team – a team that is mostly comprised of younger players & there are possibly a number of rookies in the starting line up on a daily basis (like the 2007 Diamondbacks)
• A Veteran Team – a team that is mostly comprised of veteran payers & probably doesn’t have any rookies in their starting line up (like the 2007 Yankees)
• A Team in a Small Market City – a team which has a low budget restraint that they need to work within (like Oakland, Kansas City, Colorado & the Diamondbacks)
• A Team in a Big Market City – a team that does not have many budgetary restraints & can almost spend at will (see the Yankees & Red Sox)

A “good” manager would be able to manage in any of these 4 situations, but not all managers are god managers. Jimy Williams (former major league manager for the Red Sox & Astros) was known for being great in the fundamentals & his teaching skills which work well with a young team, but caused some problems when managing a veteran team that no longer needs those managerial skills. They already know, or “should” know the fundamentals. It becomes more complicated when dealing with a big or small market team.

A small market team has to be wise with their spending & also need the backing of ownership & upper management (Baseball Operations & the General Manager) to build a team that will work best in this setting. Oakland GM Billy Beane does a good job at this by optimizing statistical analysis known as Sabermetrics (see the definition of this term in my definitions page). To learn more about Sabermetrics, I recommend the book Moneyball, which was written in part by Bill Beane or better yet, it is a sort of biography of the operations of the Oakland organization during Beane’s tenure as GM (a position in which he still holds with the team). To sum it up, you need to get the most out of your players without spending a lot of money. To do this, you need to figure out your team’s philosophy to winning games. Once that’s done, you build your team around that premise, looking for bargains in the player pool & especially in the draft. There are not usually a lot of star players here; therefore, a manager is typically dealing with players without much of an ego (which seems to haunt star players like a plague sometimes).  Some teams build around base running & speed, while others around on base percentage & even others rely upon the long ball (home runs), while still others rely upon good solid pitching & above average fielding. These just name a few.

A big market team usually has more star players who make considerably more money & with that usually comes bigger egos. What it also attracts are more intense media coverage & sometimes that can be the biggest intangible that a big league manager has to deal with. The dizzying egos & the often relentless baseball media can make even the toughest men want to find a rock to crawl under when things go bad. Likewise, if they are not good with handling people, they are probably not going to fare well with the egos some of these superior athletes have. Terry Francona & Joe Torre both do an excellent job with these elements!

But again I will stress, a “good” major league manager will do well no matter what situation they find themselves in while others are much better suited for just one or possibly two of these styles. You be the judge! If you want my take on a certain manager, post a comment & I’ll reply with a comment of my own! 

Also, I find that former catchers usually make the best managers (see Torre, Scioscia, Girardi, etc.)! They are generally good strategists if they are good at handling a pitching staff!

Who were the 8 managers in the 2007 Playoffs?

• Bob Melvin – Arizona Diamondbacks (NL West Champs)
• Terry Francona – Boston Red Sox (AL East Champs & World Series Champs)
• Joe Torre – New York Yankees (AL Wild Card)
• Eric Wedge – Cleveland Indians (AL Central Champs)
• Charlie Manuel – Philadelphia Phillies (NL East Champs)
• Clint Hurdle – Colorado Rockies (NL Wild Card)
• Mike Scioscia – Los Angelas Angels of Anaheim (AL West Champs)
• Lou Piniella – Chicago Cubs (NL Central Champs)

How do they compare with one another?

            I honestly do not know much about Melvin, Hurdle & Manuel so I can’t really speak much about them. If anyone has an opinion of them they’d like to share, feel free to comment below.

            Torre is great at managing the media & egos of a team and is not a bad strategist, but I don’t care for his handling of a pitching staff, especially his bullpens. I think he over uses them. I don’t care much for how bullpens are used these days in general with lefty specialist, et al. But that’s a post for another day!

            Scioscia is also very good and would be even if he managed a NL team. The Angels have a good bullpen and he typically manages it well. He plays small ball very well (manufacturing runs). 

            Wedge is also very good but has a young team. I expect his skills to only get better along with his team.

            Piniella:  let’s just say that he is very experienced, but I don’t care for his temper & antics with players or umpires.

            Francona seems to shine in the playoffs. Most of his moves work, but in the regular season he sometimes gives me fits. He can stay with a player too long (for example, Kevin Millar in 2005), but this year, sticking with the rookie Pedroia, Francona looked like a genius to stick with him after Pedroia gave such a poor showing in April. He also handles the players’ egos & the baseball media very well.

By Peter Schiller

Welcome to my Baseball Blog! It is my hope & intention to provide a site that is factual, analytical, yet still fun and entertaining. I will be posting periodic trivia, the latest goings on in Major League Baseball (MLB ), introspective articles on the game both on & off the field as well as fun facts.

8-4-2, Part 1

League Divisional Series (LDS)

No, this is not the scoring of a double play! It’s the number of teams per round of the 2007 MLB Post-Season play.

What an exciting time to be a baseball fan! The Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres played a grueling 13 inning instant classic Monday night. Who would have thought that Peavy would cough up 6 runs or that the all-time saves leader, Trevor Hoffman would issue a blown save in the 13th, suffer the loss & then there was the phantom play at the plate (I still have yet to see a good view of this play)? Each team went into that game with a record of 89 and 73 after completing 162 games of the regular season. The pitching match-up was the Padre’s Ace and possible NL Cy Young candidate Jake Peavy (19-6), while Colorado went with their forth starter, Josh Fogg (10-9). On the pitching match-up alone, I would have gone with the Padres on this one, but how much will Peavy’s start have hurt them going into the National League Divisional Series (NLDS) with the Phillies?

The NL match up as follows:

Arizona Diamondbacks (90-72) at Chase Field facing off against the Chicago Cubs (85-77) who haven’t won a World Series in 99 years!

Philadelphia Phillies (89-73) at Citizens Bank Park facing off against the Colorado Rockies (89-73).

The AL match up as follows:

Boston Red Sox (96-66) at Fenway Park facing off against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (94-68)

Cleveland Indians (96-66) at Jacobs Field facing off against the New York Yankees (94-68)

Here’s a hint at some of the topics that I will attempt to take on in the duration of this blog:

• To DH, or not to DH? That is the question!
• Pitch Counts: Are they getting in the way of young arms reaching their potential or are they extending their careers?
• Do fans really dig the long ball or does everyone love a good pitcher’s duel?
• Should potential Hall of Fame (HoF) candidates get in on just their defensive ability or is the Hall becoming a Hitter’s Haven?

I would also like to offer to answer one Baseball question per week (submissions from the readers of this Blog are necessary for the continuance of this feature). Feel free to submit questions by clicking by clicking Here & I will select one of these submissions to answer per week. If I get enough entries (tell all of your friends to participate!), and if time permits, I will dedicate a whole post (periodically) to Q & A! So don’t feel shy, reply! Who knows, your question might just be one of the ones selected.