All Entries in the "NL East" Category
Looking Ahead to the 2012 Mets
After some encouraging moments, the 2011 season is essentially over for the Mets. Actually, it’s been over for a while. So it’s not too soon to talk about 2012, since General Manager Sandy Alderson is building for next year and beyond. Here is how next year’s starting lineup shapes up: JOSH THOLE (C): [...]
Dear Ruben, Just Say No to Carlos
Attention Ruben Amaro and anyone of the Phillies top brass: DO NOT BRING CARLOS BELTRAN TO THE PHILLIES I beg you, please don’t bring Carlos Beltran to the Phillies Trading for Carlos Beltran would be an awful idea for the Phillies. Would adding him to the roster help the Phillies this year? Probably. Is he [...]
A Mets Fan’s View of the K-Rod Trade
The Mets’ trade of Francisco Rodriquez to the Brewers was a good one because it gives them a much better chance of signing Jose Reyes in the offseason. The Mets dumped their closer to Milwaukee for players to be named later. In doing so, they don’t have to worry about the financial repercussions of [...]
The Brewers High-StaKes Gamble
With their recent acquisition of Francisco Rodriguez, the Milwaukee Brewers further solidify their bullpen and continue to push all their chips onto the table for a 2011 playoff berth. The Brewers bullpen to date has offered them a steady 1.4 WAR according to Fangraphs, which is in the middle of the pack in MLB. K-Rod, [...]
The 2011 All-Star Futures Game
On Tuesday night, the 2011 All Star game will take place. Of course, it’s supposed to be a battle of the biggest stars of the sport, and for the most part, it is. I’ll leave my reservations about the voting process for another day. MLB has done a great job advertising the Home Run Derby, [...]
Dodgers Fans Show No Love For Their Team
I’m finally back from my trip to Los Angeles for a Muscular Dystrophy study. Sorry for the lag in articles, but no laptop and no home = no articles. But all was not lost, my friends. My trip to sunny California gave me a chance to compare Phillies fans and Dodgers fans. I [...]
Mets’ Pitching Looks Bright
Many have said that the immediate future of the Mets appears bleak. While the team has many critical decisions to make this summer, the future is not as dark as it seems to be. The reason for such optimism? The starting pitching, the most critical part of any any major league team, has given Mets [...]
The 2011 Mets Have Contracted the Injury Bug; Quick, Call an Exterminator!
At some point this summer, if the Mets ever get everyone on the field, they would actually field a pretty formidable team. A lineup of Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis, Jason Bay, Josh Thole and Justin Turner, with Daniel Murphy in reserve, would excite many Mets [...]
Harper Changes Hagerstown on His Way to Washington
Superstars change everything, no matter where they go. This is true in business, personal life and, of course, sports and is on display, at least for the time being, in Hagerstown, MD. Hagerstown is the home of the Hagerstown Suns, the Class A Affiliate of the Washington Nationals and is home to [...]
2011 Fantasy Baseball Projections: What’s Wrong With Florida Marlins’ Hanley Ramirez?
The consensus No. 2 pick before the season started, Hanley Ramirez has done little to justify his draft position. Through 181 at-bats this season, Ramirez is flirting with the Mendoza Line (.210) and sports a Jason Bartlett-like OPS (.618). To make matters worse, Ramirez was removed from Sunday’s game after the first inning with lower back stiffness. He [...]
Mets Not Giving Up Just Yet
The Mets lost two out of three to the Yankees in the Subway Series, but it wasn’t a complete lost weekend for Terry Collins’ club. True, the Mets were nine outs from taking the series from the Bombers, and several breaks didn’t go the Mets way during the disastrous 8-run seventh inning. But on Friday [...]
State of the Mets: After the First 40
The Subway Series is coming up over the weekend, and believe it or not, the Yankees appear to be in more disarray than the Mets. The Mets just had a solid week, winning road series against the Rockies and the Astros and moving over .500 on the road for the season – no small feat. [...]
Phillies review: April 2011
Not a bad start to the 2011 season for the Phillies. Amid “World Series or bust” talk after acquiring Cliff Lee, the 2011 Phillies lived up to their lofty expectations. The Phillies finished April with an MLB best 18-8 record, setting a club record for April wins in the process. As [...]
Top of Phillies Lineup vs. Bottom of Phillies Lineup
We all knew that losing Utley and Werth would hurt the Phillies offense, and losing Ruiz just exacerbated the issue. Their injuries have created a gaping hole in the bottom of the Phillies lineup. But there is a silver lining to the ineptitude of the last four hitters: the 2011 Phillies team [...]
Daniel Murphy: The Savior at Second Base
The Mets have found a second baseman, and his name is Daniel Murphy. Historically, the Mets have had trouble finding second basemen. With the exception of guys like Edgardo Alfonzo, Wally Backman and Felix “The Cat” Millan, there has not been much stability to the position. Recently, it’s been comical. [...]
Should The NY Mets Trade SS Jose Reyes By the Trade Deadline?
Photo taken from Google Images There has been a lot of talk about the future of Jose Reyes, with the shortstop in the final year of his contract. The Mets should trade him before the deadline, many people are saying. “Reyes will be too expensive too keep, they say. “He does [...]
2011 Phillies Predictions
It’s here: our final 2011 Phillies predictions! With our Phillies predictions blogs complete for the infield, outfield, and starters, we naturally finish with the overall 2011 Phillies predictions blog. To make this year’s Phillies prediction more official, I tried to use as many statistics as possible. I therefore went position by position with [...]
2011 Atlanta Braves Season Preview
At the time of this writing, on the eve of the 2011 season, the season is beginning to come into focus for the Atlanta Braves. A strong lineup and the best starting rotation outside of Philadelphia seems to point to a return to the playoffs, but will it be enough to overcome the vaunted rotation [...]
Of the NY Mets and the Knees of Carlos Beltran
At the risk of seeming dramatic, the Mets’ fortunes this year likely rest with Carlos Beltran’s knees. Beltran, who has missed a huge chunk of the last two years with knee injuries, appears poised to play Opening Night against the Marlins. And it would be great if he does play in the opener. [...]
The NY Mets 2010/2011 Offseason Under New GM Sandy Alderson
The Phillies made waves this offseason by signing much-sought free agent pitcher, Cliff Lee. Braves stole Dan Uggla from the Marlins in a trade. The Mets’ biggest enemies in the NL East both made major moves to bolster themselves. So what have the Mets done? Well, not as much. Image via Wikipedia New GM Sandy [...]
Phillies Payroll Indicates Owners are Finally “Committed to Winning”
Now that the Phillies have blown up their payroll by adding Cliff Lee, the total payroll looks to be over $160 million in 2011. Once regarded as greedy Gremlins who lurked in dark alleys, all of a sudden this Phillies ownership group is “committed to winning.” But just how committed are they? I thought it [...]
BBA Baseball Talk Tonight Covering The Phillies and the Hall of Fame Voting
I just want to send out a note that Steve Keane from The Eddie Kranepool Society and This Call To The Bullpen will be hosting the BBA Baseball Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio tonight at 11PM ET. His guest will be fellow BBA member, Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley. Bill and I will be [...]
Mets Front Office Went Through an Amazing Transformation in November
Mark it down – it is going to be a “wild” summer in Queens. While it is true teams don’t win pennants in November, the Mets had an impressive month. They hired Sandy Alderson as their general manager. And now they have hired Terry Collins as their manager. Even though Wally Backman was my first [...]
Can the Phillies’ payroll afford Jayson Werth?
In our last article examining the Phillies payroll, we found that allowing Jayson Werth to walk essentially maintains the same payroll of $141 million next season. Re-signing Werth would simply ADD Werth’s salary on top of the $141 million. It originally seemed like $15 million would be enough to keep J-dub. But after listening to [...]
What will the Phillies payroll look like in 2011?
Mere moments after Ryan Howard struck out to finish the Phillies season, the focus quickly shifted to Jayson Werth and the Phillies’ payroll. Will or won’t the Phillies keep Werth? Before even considering re-signing Werth, we need to examine the Phillies payroll. A quick look at the payroll provides a clear answer. According to USAToday.com, [...]
The Hiring of New Mets GM Sandy Alderson Brings Optimism to this Citi
Image by Getty Images via @daylife It’s a new beginning for the Mets with the hiring of Sandy Alderson as general manager. It was a great choice – he is a strong leader and disciplinarian, which is exactly what this team needs. New beginnings are always nice – they always bring hope, optimism and promise. [...]
2010 Mets: Disappointing Season Leads to Regime Change
On the Bright Side The 2010 season was far from a total disaster for the Mets. The team won 79 games, up from 70 the year before. David Wright and Jose Reyes rebounded from disappointing seasons marred by injury. Mike Pelfrey won 15 games and established himself as a solid starter. Unheralded outfielder Angel Pagan [...]
An Instant Classic: Roy Halladay Adds His Name To Baseball History
Doc Halladay was Nearly Perfect Major League Baseball’s “Year of the Pitcher” has a new defining moment following Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the opening game of the 2010 National League playoffs. In his first-ever post season appearance, Halladay enters some heady company as he joins [...]
American and National League Divisional Series Prediction
OK, this is my first attempt at a webcast so it’s bound to be a little rough around the edges. I now see that it is much easier doing one of these with at least one more person like on the BBA Baseball Talk podcasts or online with the guys over at Pro Rumors TV. [...]
Phillies Month in Review: August
The Charlie Manuel Affect Charlie Manuel teams play well in August, and 2010 was no different. The Phillies were 18-10 for the month and went from 3.5 games back and in 2nd place to sharing the lead with the Atlanta Braves. Not bad for a team that has been slammed with injuries and plagued with [...]
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