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

Much has been written about the New York Mets recent under-achieving, particularly 2009 where they finished 70-92 with the National League’s highest payroll.  The Mets ended up a full 17 games behind the second-place Florida Marlins (87-75), who had the lowest payroll in baseball, just a quarter of what the Mets paid their 25-man roster.

The Marlins franchise is certainly not without baggage.  Area fans still haven’t forgotten former owner Wayne Huizenga’s fire sale of the 1997 World Champs, when the franchise was just about to stake its place in local lore.  The Marlins annually finish last in attendance despite fielding competitive teams and residing in a thriving Miami area that is anything but “small market”.   Having lived nearby for three years, I’ve recognized great passion for baseball throughout south Florida and am stunned at how few have transferred such emotions to the Marlins.

Nevertheless, none of that matters when they hit the field in April.  It’s mano a mano times nine and it doesn’t matter whether your opponent makes more money or has better fan support.  It’s about three strikes, three outs, and whoever wins the race to the bag.

I will “go out on a limb” to argue that the Florida Marlins are better-equipped than the Mets to contend in 2010, poised to give the Philadelphia Phillies a run for their money in the N.L. East. Why?  Very simple, it’s their starting rotation.

The Marlins are blessed with young power pitching that has only scratched the surface of their potential.  The “hextet” of Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad, Sean West, Anibal Sanchez, and Andrew Miller were collectively effective in 2009, but each and every one of them are capable of improvement.  All six are potential 15-game winners.  Even more encouraging is that at age 27, Ricky Nolasco is the oldest.

Photo by Icon SMI

Josh Johnson has already established himself as one of the game’s best starting pitchers and I believe he’s a perennial Cy Young candidate.  Johnson is not only a hard thrower (often 95-98 MPH throughout a start), but he has plus command of his fastball, able to throw strikes both high and low, inside and out.  He’s a pleasure to watch.  There are plenty of flamethrowers in professional baseball, but precious few who can locate it like Johnson and this is what gives him a chance to win 20 games.  His curve and change are also at times plus pitches, but the fastball is his bread-and-butter.  His 15-5, 3.23 ERA, 191 K, 209 IP season in 2009 is no fluke. The 6’6”, 230 lb. righty should be good for 200+ innings now that his medical issues are behind him.

The #2 starter Ricky Nolasco slumped a little bit from 2008 to 2009, but still put together a solid 13-9 record with a 5.06 ERA in 185 IP. Nolasco is a big, strong 6’2”, 230 lb. righty with good stuff across the board and an idea on how to pitch.  Next to Johnson, he’s the second-most likely to win 20 games in the future and 15-17 is a good possibility in 2010. Nolasco has the strength and the mechanics to eat up innings.

Photo by Icon SMI

The remaining quartet of Volstad, West, Sanchez, and Miller are not as proven, but they all have leading man potential.  At the worst, I expect three of the four to become solid 10-12 win, 180+ inning pitchers, which is enough to give the Marlins a strong rotation in 2010. The exciting wildcard is their potential to do much more.

Perhaps Sean West has the most upside.  The 6’8” lefty throws 93-96 MPH in the early innings and flashes a plus hard slider; he just needs to keep pitching and grow into his mechanics to throw with consistent command.  He had a growth spurt late in high school and it usually takes time for the coordination to catch up.  The Marlins have to be thrilled with his 8-6, 4.79 ERA rookie showing in 20 starts. Chris Volstad is a 6’6” former 1^st-rounder with a power arm and a plus change-up. Anibal Sanchez has shown spurts of brilliance, including a no-hitter as a rookie in 2006.  Lefty Andrew Miller is another former 1^st-rounder whose raw stuff was once comparable to Steve Carlton’s though his velocity and slider suffered much in 2009.

I believe that whichever quintet the Marlins settle on will make for a better rotation than either the Phillies, Mets, or Atlanta Braves, the three teams who stand in their way to the N.L. East flag.

The Phillies rotation is perhaps more exciting at the top, with Roy Halladay and lefty Cole Hamels.  But #3 starter Joe Blanton is more a solid innings-eater than a shutdown guy; he’ll keep you in games more times than not, but is not a dominant arm.  Lefty J.A. Happ figures as the #4 man; he had a fine rookie season.  Wunderkind 47 year-old finesse artist Jamie Moyer will probably round it off barring the emergence of a youngster like righty Drew Carpenter.  Pretty good rotation for the Phils, but I’ll take my chances on the Marlins.

The Mets have an ace in lefty Johan Santana to rival Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay, but their rotation falls off steeply compared to their division rivals. Are Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, John Maine, etc. going to do any more than they did last year, which was collectively well below-average?

The Braves? The days of Smoltz/Maddux/Glavine are long gone, but they do have an impressive staff even after dealing Javier Vazquez to the Yankees.  Righty Tommy Hanson (11-4, 2.89 ERA) was a shot in the arm as a rookie while 24 year-old Jair Jurrjens registered an outstanding 2.60 ERA, going 14-10 over 215 innings. Veteran righties Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson (back after Tommy John surgery), and Kenshin Kawakami (technically a rookie in 2009) round out a deep and solid front five.

In fact, the Braves have the deepest and most reliable rotation in the N.L. East, at least on paper.  I’m sure the statisticians would pick the Braves quintet because of their proven record.  Still I believe the Marlins are the most exciting and have the most upside, top-to-bottom, and this should be the year they come through.  They have issues with their bullpen (will Leo Nunez and Matt Lindstrom hold onto leads?) and their lineup is not in the league of the Broad Street Bashers in Philadelphia, but don’t underestimate the value of having a potential shutdown pitcher going to the mound every day.   All of their starters possess that potential and ability to improve upon last season.

New Marlins pitching coach Randy St. Claire has his work cut out for him in 2010, but a chance to make something wonderful.  Fired by the division rival Washington Nationals after seven years last summer, St. Claire has never had this many great young arms to work with and the Marlins’ championship dreams revolve around their development.

Related posts:

1. Can the Florida Marlins Win the NL East
2. Despite Ailments, Streaking Mets Keep NL East Tight
3. Marlins Must Prove That Talent Trumps Experience

These weekly posts of mine will be based on a rotisserie format using a traditional 5×5 scoring system to keep things simple. Personally I prefer more statistics in my leagues (which is why I was the commissioner in one of my leagues), but in order to reach the most readers we will just stick with the basic. But, feel free to either e-mail me or leave a comment in this post if you have specific questions. If I don’t reply to the comment, then ping me in an e-mail, too!

We will go around the horn in this series after skipping the pitcher’s position.

And remember, just because a player had a good fantasy season in 2009, it doesn’t mean he will have another one in 2010 and beyond. Sometimes you need to look into the player’s past and see if he is showing signs of decline over a few years.

Please Note: The 5×5 stats listed below are as follows in this order Runs/HR/RBI/SB/Ave and the number in parenthesis is the player’s age

10 — Felipe Lopez (29) Diamondbacks/Brewers

88/9/57/6/.311
Lopez’s .311 average helps him to hit the top 10 while just edging out Callaspo of the Royals.

9 — Asdrubal Cabrera (23) Indians; also Qualifies at SS with over 20 games started

81/6/68/17/.308

His 17 steals and .308 average gets Cabrera on this list!

The fact that he also qualifies at SS is a plus that gives the fantasy owner nice flexibility.

8 — Brandon Phillips (28) Reds

78/20/98/25/.276

Once again Phillips reaches the 20/20 mark, but it’s not enough when the guy just ahead of you reaches the 30/30 mark (even though that guy hit more than 20 points lower in BA). Phillips will always be in the top 10 while he can go 20/20 every year!

7 — Ian Kinsler (27) Ranger

101/31/86/31/.253
Kinsler’s low average keeps him from breaking the top 5 on my list, but the rest of his numbers are Fantasy worthy to say the least as he reached the 30/30 mark in 2009!

6 — Dustin Pedroia (25) Red Sox

115/15/72/20/.296
Pedroia had an off year as his average dipped below .300, but overall you should see these type of number every year from the diminutive one with the BIG mouth. I expect his average to be north of .300 in 2010 with maybe some more RBI with Scutaro hitting 9th.

5 — Brian Roberts (31) Orioles

110/16/79/30/.283
Roberts is the “old” man of this young list at 31 and he had a very typical year. He ranks 5th on this list mainly due to the weak offensive position and his ability to steal bases!

4 — Ben Zobrist (28) Rays; also Qualifies at RF with over 20 games started

91/27/91/17/.297

I’m actually surprised to see Cano higher on this list based upon how high Zobrist ranked in the MVP predictions I previously posted. This was a break though year for Zobrist and I am not sure you can expect him to hit close to 30 HR every year, but he may be consistently good for 20 each year with sufficient playing time.

His ability to qualify in RF is a big plus!

3 — Robinson Cano (26) Yankees

103/25/85/5/.320
These numbers don’t surprise me from Cano, but I still can’t believe he hits these marks with such slow starts every year. They say he’ll win a batting title one of these years, but I doubt that unless he starts a season without being ice cold. He doesn’t typically hit over .300 in a month until around July.

2 — Aaron Hill (27) Blue Jays

103/36/108/6/.286

Not even Utley reached the 100/30/100 mark last year! Where Utley tops Hill is his ability to steal bases and maintain consistency. I doubt we will see numbers like this from Hill again in 2010, but I’m sure he’ll reach most of these numbers, but I doubt he’ll reach 100 RBI again. All this coming off a concussion shortened 2008 season!

1 — Chase Utley (30) Phillies

112/31/93/23/.282

Utley showed no signs of his off season hip surgery in 2009 as his numbers are right on his norm. Need I say anything more about the man with the greasy hair? Probably not! His stats speak for themselves!

Honorable Mentions:

Alberto Callaspo (26) Royals

79/11/73/2/.300

Jose Lopez (25) Mariners

69/25/96/3/.272

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Fantasy CF in 2009
2. The Top 10 Fantasy DH of 2009
3. The Top 10 Fantasy SS of 2009

The

In the end, they lost to a better Yankee team, but there’s certainly no reason for them to hang their heads. And as disappointing as it is to be on the doorstep of another world title and be turned away, fans around the city are still very supportive and thankful for the team they have, which brings me to my next point.

In addition to the scrappy, never-say-die attitude this team has brought to their city in the past couple of years, they also managed to pull off an equally impressive feast – they turned Philadelphia into a baseball town (again). For about as long as I can remember (I’m 27 years old), I’ve represented the minority in Philly – a Phillies fan first and an Eagles fan second. Philadelphia, until the past 2-3 years, had always been obsessed about the Eagles. The Phillies almost always took a back seat to their football counterparts. But because of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino , and company, everything has changed. The baseball season has been over for weeks now, and the Eagles are in playoff contention at the midway point, but you wouldn’t know it if you turned on the local sports radio. Fans want to know what changes are in store for the Phillies as they make a push to get back to the World Series yet again with their impressive core of talented players primed to win another title. They want to know what radio hosts think about prospective trades and how many days remain until pitchers and catchers report. And although this might seem like an insignificant change to national onlookers, let me tell you this – it’s astounding. But then again, winning changes a lot of things.

So, what is in store for the NL-defending champs? Will they trade Hamels for Halladay? The fan base is surprisingly split on this after a subpar year from the young southpaw, but GM Ruben Amaro assures everyone that, should the Phillies actually make a move to acquire Halladay, it won’t cost them the young lefthander. The Phillies will also be searching for bullpen help, although it seems to be too early to speculate on who is on their radar, as they are likely waiting for the market to develop. Finally, management has made it clear that they are seeking an offensive upgrade at third base after declining Pedro Feliz’s option. Early signs point to Mark DeRosa , although Chone Figgins , Adrian Beltre, Placido Polanco , and even Miguel Tejada are on their radar as well.

Expect for this team to make some necessary adjustments to set up a third consecutive World Series appearance, because Ruben Amaro, Charlie Manuel, and company are quite familiar with the phrase “strike while the iron is hot,” and that’s exactly what they intend to do.

Related posts:

1. Top 5 Low/High Risk 2009/2010 Free Agent Starters
2. Phillies Advance to the 2009 World Series
3. Phillies Fans It Is Not Time To Panic

For those of who who are not excited about this year’s Fall Classic between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, think it over for a minute…and while you’re at it read this snippet from Adam Becker’s article over at Baseball Reflections called, “Get Over It!“. After you read it, I’m betting that you will feel differently. Now, here’s that snippet:

The beauty of this year’s Series is that those of us that don’t have a rooting interest, can sit back, relax, and watch the past two AL CY Young award winners duel in Game 1, Pedro Martinez take another crack at the Yankees in Game 2, the greatest closer of all-time hurling once again in October, and winners of a total of five MVP’s in the past 6 years……not to mention post-season legends Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, and 3-time defending Silver Slugger Chase Utley.

After I read this snippet, my reaction was just…WOW!

BUT, before we dive into my prediction, let’s take a quick look at how these two teams got here from the League Championship Series.

NLCS — The Philadelphia Phillies vs. The Los Angeles Dodgers

The bottom line in this series is that the Dodgers pitching which was so dominant against Cardinals simply couldn’t keep series MVP Ryan Howard and the rest of the Phillies power line up at bay. In the end, the combo of the dominant pitching of Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez and their potent offense  was just more than this Dodger team could handle. This will be the franchise’s 7th trip to the World Series.

ALCS — The New York Yankees vs. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

I honestly don’t know if it was more the dominant play of CC Sabathia and A-Rod or the uncharacteristically hideous Angel defense, which coughed up 8 errors, that sent the Yankees to their 40th World Series appearance. After all, the Yankees committed 3 errors of their own. To be honest, the Yankees didn’t impress me in this series! With the way the Angels were playing this series should have ended quicker. Then again, maybe the Angels were able to take it to 6 games due to the intangibles like their desire to win it for Adenhart. Who knows?

My Prediction for the 2009 Fall Classic

For the first time in as long as I can remember we have as even of a match up as is possible. The Phillies are NOT your typical National League team! Yes they can play small ball and run, but that’s just a part of their game. They are also a power-filled line up much like your above average American League team and much like the Yankees themselves.

This series has the potential to be an instant classic if only given the chance. This match up is THAT good!

Both starting rotations have their question marks after the former Cy Young Award winning Indians take the mound tonight. Will the Yankees still show themselves as Pedro Martinez’s “daddy” as he claimed when he was with the Red Sox? Will A.J. Burnett be caught by Posada or Molina? Which Cole Hamels will we see in game 3 against Andy Pettitte? Likewise, which version of closer Brad Lidge will we see? He will need to be the Lidge we saw in all of 2008 to match Rivera “the great”! And will A-Rod continue his uncharacteristic hot hitting in the post-season?

Will all of the drama, hype and All Stars in this series I for one would be disappointed if it didn’t go 6 or 7 games!

But when the last team is standing, I expect them to be wearing the “red” pinstripes of the Philadelphia Phillies! If for no other reason that I believe that they can dent the armor of Rivera, although not by much, but more importantly I just think they are the better team all around. Plus, winning the Fall Classic last year as opposed nine years ago is an advantage in the Phillies corner

What do you all think? Let your voice be heard!

Related posts:

1. Congratulations to the 2009 World Series Champion NY Yankees
2. Phillies Advance to the 2009 World Series
3. 2009 League Championship Series Predictions

With the Philadelphia Phillies heading to their second consecutive trip to the World Series, here are a few tributes to the late, Great Harry Kalas: A Phillies Legend!

This first one is presented to you by Comcast…

This one is the Harry Kalas tribute video 4/17/09 Citizens Bank Park…

This one is slower with snap shots of Harry the K put to a slow march, very fitting…

Related posts:

1. A Monday in the Offseason: Dustin Pedrioa (video)
2. Phillies Advance to the 2009 World Series
3. A Tribute to Harry Kalas

For those of us that are not Yankees or Phillies fans, perhaps we should simply put our disappointments and jealousies aside and enjoy what should truly be a Fall Classic.

Believe me, as a lifetime Mets fan, I am as unhappy as anyone that I have to sit through another World Series featuring “The Evil Empire”. If that’s not enough of a kick in the keister, the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Mets “rival du jour”, create an impossible rooting situation for most Mets faithful.

I have some advice for my Mets brethren, not to mention all of Red Sox Nation, and any other fans still sobbing about what might have been. Get over it!

If you are truly a baseball enthusiast, then you can swallow your pride for a week or so, and enjoy watching the two best teams in baseball. No other matchup could possibly have offered more of a marquis atmosphere.

The 2009 World Series will feature a collection of players that possess a truckload of in-season and post-season hardware. This batch of MVP’s, CY Young award winners, Gold Glovers, past Series champions, and future Hall of Famers is spectacular. There is not a single significant accomplishment that has not been, or will not be achieved by this group.

I suppose a reunion with Joe Torre would have been cute for New Yorkers to talk about for a few days. A “Freeway Series” would have been electrifying…..for the handful of Californians that would choose baseball over Kobe this time of year.

The beauty of this year’s Series is that those of us that don’t have a rooting interest, can sit back, relax, and watch the past two AL CY Young award winners duel in Game 1, Pedro Martinez take another crack at the Yankees in Game 2, the greatest closer of all-time hurling once again in October, and winners of a total of five MVP’s in the past 6 years……not to mention post-season legends Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, and 3-time defending Silver Slugger Chase Utley.

As for my personal rooting dilemma, I will stick to my guns and root against the Yankees….as always. If it’s too difficult to watch another celebration by either the Yankees of the Phillies, there is another alternative…..the opening of Michael Jackson’s “This is It” film.

I didn’t think so.

Related posts:

1. The Truth About Yankees Fans
2. Yankees’ Ten Most Pivotal Postseason Performers
3. Congratulations to the 2009 World Series Champion NY Yankees

In tribute of the Great Harry Kalas!

Related posts:

1. Congratulations to the 2009 World Series Champion NY Yankees
2. My 2009 World Series Prediction
3. The Phillies Are Headed to the 2008 World Series!

Please check out CNN’s Latinos in America Series to be aired on October 21 and October 22 at 9pm (EST). This clip is part of the interview with Phillies‘ LF Raul Ibanez as he sits down with Soledad O’Brien for CNN Latino in America. Please watch CNN on these days to watch his interview and more.

Phillies LF Raul Ibanez

Related posts:

1. Who Really Created And Made Baseball “America’s Game”
2. America’s Pastime: The Last 4 Innings
3. ONE STOLEN BASE AT THE 2008 WORLD SERIES® EQUALS MILLIONS OF FREE TACOS FOR AMERICA

There’s Hope in Atlanta for 2010!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

One such guess is that the Braves often score less runs against certain teams than the rest of the league would.

Image by SD Dirk via Flickr

Using the stats from the MLB website, the Braves have the 4th best Runs Scored Against in the National League. This is very good considering the pitching injuries they have had. Philadelphia and Colorado are ranked 6th and 7th, with San Francisco, LA and St. Louis ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, who are all above them in the playoff scenarios.

Related posts:

1. Why the Braves will (not) make the playoffs
2. Atlanta Braves Looking for Rebound Season in 2009
3. Atlanta Braves Off Season Report