All Entries in the "NL" Category
Nats Fans Beware: The Strasburg Effect
Nats Fans Beware: Too much of a good thing can be bad for your health. Here's what can happen when watching future Nats Ace Stephen Strasburg battle back from a 3-0 count to strike a batter out!
The first time around shows Strasburg's last three pitches (all strikes) & you have to look hard in order [...]
Marlins Starting Pitching Is A Sleeping Giant In The N.L. East
JUPITER, FL- As I watched the New York Mets defeat the Florida Marlins in a sloppy 11-2 affair on Monday, I couldn’t help but ponder how different the two N.L. East rivals are.
Much has been written about the New York Mets recent under-achieving, particularly 2009 where they finished 70-92 [...]
Mets Hot Stove Roundup: The Pilot Light Is Out
The Mets went into the offseason with many big needs: No. 2 starter, power-hitting leftfielder, catcher, setup man, and upgrades at second base and on the bench. As spring training begins, they have successfully addressed only one of those needs.
In January, the Mets signed Jason Bay for $66 million over four years, with an option [...]
The 2010 Brewers & The Groundhog Day Principle:
Image via Wikipedia
Last week was Groundhog Day (the holiday, not the Bill Murray Movie). Per Groundhog Day tradition, the weather outside when the groundhog emerges hibernation is supposed to correlate with how much longer winter is supposed to last. For this article I decided to apply this principle with a [...]
Cardinals Are Not Dormant During Winter
While for a lot of teams, the offseason is a quiet time, a time for renewal and reflection. For the Cardinals, this offseason has been anything but.
It would have been hard to believe after the final out of the NLDS that anything would overshadow the pursuit of Matt Holliday during the [...]
The Mark Redman Award Effect: Edwin Jackson
Image by Keith Allison via Flickr
Each year, BaseballEvolution.com doles out Mark Redman Awards for both leagues, recognizing pitchers who began the season surprisingly well but crashed back to earth in the second half of the season. New Arizona Diamondback Edwin Jackson won the 2009 AL Award. Does that have any predicative value for Jackson’s 2010 [...]
DRSEA INFORMER: Home Court Advantage
Volume III, Issue 2
By Charles Farrell
La Ventaja De Campo (Home Court Advantage)
In what looks like a continuing trend, a court in the Dominican Republic has ordered the New York Yankees to pay more than $750,000USD to Carlos Rios, their former director of Latin American scouting, after ruling that his firing was unlawful. Judge Alexis Gomez [...]
SD Padres Bargaining Chips
Image by San Diego Shooter via Flickr
The Padres are phasing in a new owner, and have hired a new GM. As Jed Hoyer tries to put his stamp on this team and fill in the holes on his roster (second base and catcher come to mind), he finds a dearth of valuable pieces he can [...]
Three-Way Trade Is Bad News for D-backs
The Arizona Diamondbacks took part in a three-team trade that sent pitchers Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth to Detroit for right-handers Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. It’s hard to figure what the D-backs were thinking, as the swap will be a detriment to the Diamondbacks’ chances for 2010 and beyond.
The Diamondbacks entered the offseason with [...]
The Holliday Season
Image via Wikipedia
So far, the Cardinals’ hot stove season can basically be summed up into two words.
Matt Holliday.
Everything the Cardinals have or haven’t done since the end of the World Series has been directly or indirectly tied to their pursuit of the outfielder. Their talks with Scott Boras were the focus of their winter meetings [...]
Around The Horn in MLB News
Image by JudeanPeoplesFront via Flickr
Here are a few links to the trades and signings this Hot Stove Season from teams who are either not currently covered here or haven’t been covered in a while…in alphabetical order and from the blogs currently on my blogroll. If you want to be added to my team blogrolls just [...]
Mets’ Hot Stove 2009 – Many Holes to Fill
In recent offseasons, the New York Mets have done a good job of addressing one main need. Last year, they needed a closer and signed Francisco Rodriguez. The year before, the Mets needed an ace and traded for Johan Santana. But this offseason will be much more challenging for general manager Omar Minaya. Even if [...]
Best Ever D-backs By Position
As we approach the end of 2009, it is a good time for the fans to reflect on their team’s best players of the decade. Since the Arizona Diamondbacks have only been around for a dozen years, it makes more sense in their case to evaluate the best players in franchise history. Here they are, [...]
Can Giant’s GM Brian Sabean Become an Iron Chef?
Brian Sabean’s off-season shopping list:
First baseman (with power)
Short-stop (who’s name is not an anagram for aged-rental)
Left fielder
Right fielder
Catcher
Oh, and pick up some milk, bread and maybe some of those frosted holiday cookies. And, one more thing. Could you take Aaron Rowand back? I left the receipt on the firdge, maybe you can get a [...]
Phillies 2009 Year in Review And a Sneak Peak at 2010
The Philadelphia Phillies accomplished quite a bit in 2009, despite falling just short of the coveted World Series Championship repeat. In fact, just getting back to the Fall Classic showed quite a bit of determination, and, to make it more impressive, they did it with a team that was inferior to their 2009 Championship squad. [...]
Playing Good Idea/Bad Idea with the Cubs Offseason
It’s really hard for me in the midst of a brutal Chicago Bears season to take a step back and relive a brutal Cubs season. What a disappointment 2009 was for the Chicago Cubs. So much anticipation, so few results.
I posted my thoughts on Derek Lee and his contributions to the Cubs season in [...]
The Unceremonious End of the J.J Hardy Era
Friday was an interesting day for Brewers fans as they traded J.J Hardy to the Twins for Carlos Gomez.
As a Brewer fan, a J.J Hardy trade was something that I saw coming from a couple time zones away. Still, it isn’t something I’m too thrilled about. On a personal note, J.J Hardy was one of [...]
The Cardinals 2009 Postseason And Some Notes on 2010
It’s been famously noted that the postseason is a crapshoot. While there is definitely some truth to that statement, for the St. Louis Cardinals the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers brought both old and new reasons for a hasty exit from October.
There’s no doubt that the unexpected occurred in this series. [...]
Why Tim Lincecum will be your 2009 NL Cy Young winner
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
After a year in which Cardinals starting pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright dominated the headlines, pitched their team to a division title and were expected to fight for some off-season hardware, it was the Giants’ Tim Lincecum who picked up the first post-season win amongst the trio.
When [...]
Phillies Advance to the 2009 World Series
Congratulations to the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies who have beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 1 to advance to the World Series where they will probably face the New York Yankees!
In tribute of the Great Harry Kalas!
Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
For the Reds, the Off Season Will Flow Out of LF
The biggest decision facing the Reds to begin the offseason is the choice of a left fielder. It is unlikely the Reds will spend money to go after a free agent like Matt Holliday or Jason Bay: instead, the choice is between which incumbent will get a commitment. The candidates: Jonny Gomes, Wladimir Balentien, Chris [...]
A last look at the Brewers ‘09: A first look at what’s next
September General Overview:
September Record 13-15
Season Record 77-81 (with 4 games to go)
The Brewers came into September clearly outside of playoff contention. However, they did have a couple opportunities to impact the Wild Card chase as they had a couple of the front-runners on the schedule in September. In their first chance, they lost 2 of [...]
The Close of A New Season At New Stadiums
By Reed Terry
For sports enthusiasts visiting New York in October, it is definitely the best time to attend a Mets or Yankees game, especially because both these teams have moved out into brand new, high tech stadiums. As the Major League Baseball season gets ready for the post-season, the Yankkees will kick [...]
For The Cardinals, It Was A Stuttering September
It took a while, but finally September gave the Cardinals the moment they had been waiting for, a clinching celebration as they punched their tickets into the postseason as NL Central champs. What happened between September 1 and September 26 to get to that point alternatively thrilled and concerned St. Louis fans as they try [...]
The Diamondbacks Should Exercise Their Option on Webb Now!
The Arizona Diamondbacks must decide on whether to exercise their $8.5 million option on Brandon Webb within 10 days of the conclusion of the World Series. Webb is scheduled to throw in October after missing all but the opening day start of 2009. Regardless of how those throwing sessions go, the D-backs should invoke their [...]
Astros Fire Manager Cecil Cooper
If you were to write up a job description for the incoming manager of the Houston Astros in order to replace Cecil Cooper, who was fired yesterday, it would be a pretty long one. Must be able to work with handsy owner. Must be willing to work with mouthy veterans. Must be willing to play [...]
Braves Run Scored, Run Scored Against Analysis
There’s Hope in Atlanta for 2010!
I’ve noticed this year, like many before, that the Braves seem to lose against teams that have losing records. I’ve got guesses for this, but with 162 games, all teams will do this on occasion anyway.
One such guess is that the Braves often score less runs against certain teams than [...]
Do the Reds Have a Plan?
A team needs a plan. A losing team especially needs a plan. So, the Cincinnati Reds need a plan. Do they have one? Recent evidence calls this into question.
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Owner Robert Castellini has installed a win-now team, going with a veteran manager in Dusty Baker and a veteran general manager [...]
Giants Should Still Bring Bochy Back
Giants don’t score, but should bring Bochy back for more.
Manager Bruce Bochy is in the last year of a three year deal with the Giants.
And in that time the Giants have single handedly redefined the term scoring position; it’s no longer having a runner on second or third base.
Scoring position for your [...]
Brewers Fading Away: An August Recap
Records/General Thoughts:
August Record 13-14
Current Record 64-66 (3rd place-12 Games Behind St. Louis)
August was an interesting month for the Brewers, but not in a good way. The Brewers came into August only 5 1/2 games out of first despite struggling throughout June and July. Instead of taking advantage of an easy August schedule to stay within [...]
