Phillies LF Raul Ibanez

With the lack of interest the New York Mets have in upgrading their team this offseason, the media and those who blog tend to overanalyze every move they make as well as every player the team is rumored to have interest in. If this was a prior- more active- offseason, most of the discussions Mets fans have had over the past couple of weeks would probably not exist. So now we have gotten complete breakdowns of Mark Tuiasosopo, Rob Johnson and Jeremy Hefner (which were all well done, by the way) simply because Mets fans have nothing better to talk about.
The latest headline grabbing news involves the Mets search for a fourth outfielder. It started with their effort to lowball Cody Ross, who signed with the Red Sox. Now reports say the team has interest in free agents Johnny Damon, Raul Ibanez, Kosuke Fukudome and Rick Ankiel. Of course, the most logical fit is Ankiel, who can play all three OF positions and is known to be a good defensive outfielder. He is also the most affordable and may be had for as little as a minor league contract. Fukadome may be the next choice, but he is not known to be as good of a defender.

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In addition to the probability that Damon and Ibanez are out of the Mets price range, it is fair to question how much of a fit each one would be (not a fit like Cody Ross, which was a reaction from the Mets after Ross was about to take a better contract). Damon is pretty much a designated hitter at this stage of his career. He played little outfield at all last season, playing in just 16 games in left field for the Tampa Bay Rays. If Damon was added, he could be asked to make a return to CF, which he hasn’t played in a couple of years. It’s a wonder if his return to the outfield would affect his offensive production which is still decent (.261, 16, 73 in 2011).
Ibanez is coming off a three year contract he signed with the Phillies and has driven in 80+ runs in each of the last seven years. It should get him a contract where he can play every day, especially since he is still a decent outfielder. Ibanez may be looking for regular playing time, something the Mets cannot guarantee. He would get to play more than expected, though.
The problem is spots are drying up and the chance of Ibanez ($12,166,666) or Damon ($5.25 million) getting anywhere near what they got last year is not looking good. Should the Mets make them an offer? Even if it is the patented Sandy Alderson contract offer of 1 year and $1 million (which he should trademark, by the way)? I think they should. I know its unlikely Damon or Ibanez would sign for that little, but perhaps some incentives can be thrown in. At the very least, the offers would be weighed against some of the other teams. I think it’s worth a try.

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If it fails, which it probably will, they can focus on Fukudome and Ankiel, who will be more attainable. Though Fukudome is coming off a 4 year, $48 million deal he signed with the Chicago Cubs (making $14.5 million in 2011), he is expected to get less of a deal than Ibanez and Damon are expected to get. He is weighing options of maybe going back to Japan against the pay cut he is expected to take.
Damon and Ibanez going elsewhere and Fukudome going back to Japan will lead the Mets to Ankiel, where they were expecting to be all along. I personally think it’s at least worth a try to get the others. Particularly with Damon and Ibanez, they can be traded midseason if necessary. We all understand the unlikeliness that either would sign, so if either would, I say do it. This team can use some buzz, like I suggested with Manny Ramirez. There is nothing wrong with offering what the team is willing to pay. If they take it, great, if not, it’s no big deal.

Image taken from Google Images

For the second straight season, the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays to advance to the ALCS.  For the second straight season, their success was largely based on recent player acquisitions.

In 2010, Rangers GM Jon Daniels made several key moves in both the offseason and prior to the trade deadline, including the additions of Colby Lewis, Bengie Molina, Jeff Francoeur, and the biggest splash, Cliff Lee.  Lee and Lewis earned wins in five of Texas’ eight total postseason victories, and Molina and Francoeur had big hits that led to the club’s first ever American League pennant.

Despite the Rangers’ well-publicized failure to retain Lee for 2011 and beyond, the front office remained vigilant.  Daniels resisted the temptation to shell out the nine figures necessary to lure Carl Crawford to his home state, and opted to sign Adrian Beltre away from Boston for $85 million.  When an opportunity arose to jump in on a three way deal with the Angels and Blue Jays, Daniels pounced, landing Mike Napoli in exchange for reliever Frank Francisco.

While Napoli’s addition gave the offense a boost, the loss of Francisco, combined with the transition of Alexi Ogando from set up man to starter left a large hole in the bullpen.  Daniels responded.  The Rangers dealt for two of the top relief options available in Mike Adams and Koji Uehara in July.  Seemingly never satisfied, Daniels didn’t stop there, and dealt for lefty-specialist and former closer Mike Gonzalez.

Fast forward to the 2011 ALDS.  Napoli and Beltre hit six of the team’s eight total home runs and propelled Texas past Tampa Bay by razor thin margins.  The added bullpen depth gave Ron Washington favorable matchups to work with, and Texas held off the Comeback Kids.

It’s easy to look ahead to next year and expect the Rangers to once again have a good team.  It’s easy to wonder what will happen to them if C.J. Wilson departs as a free agent.  It’s also easy to imagine that the front office will respond accordingly, and make the right moves to send the Rangers deep into October again in 2012.  After all, possibly the best acquisition they have ever made was not a player.  The best move in franchise history may have been the chance they took in signing a young and inexperienced general manager named Jon Daniels.

Image taken from Google Images

As the 2011 major league baseball regular season comes to a close, we are left to look back at the fantasy baseball season which just ended. However, it is also never too early to look ahead at the coming fantasy baseball 2012 season either. There are several lessons to be taken from this season and several which we can apply to coming years as well. I was lucky enough to have won my fantasy baseball league title in the final game on the final day of the 2011 season on a Jemile Weeks single. This proves one thing for sure: in fantasy baseball, you are never out of it.

Keeping in mind that you are always in the hunt for your league championship, it is never too early to look back on ‘the season that was’ in order to learn some lessons for next year. Here are some lessons we learned from 2011:

Never Give Up

The major league wild card race in both leagues took until the final day of the season to decide. In fact, it could be argued that the final day of the 2011 season was the most exciting night of baseball in decades. In regard to the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, their fate came down to the final at bat of the 9^thinning. The lesson to be learned? It is never too late to be out of the championship, so keep battling right until your final at bat. In daily leagues, keep making changes all the way until the last day and never give up.

Shoulder a Grudge

When it comes to choosing pitchers for your fantasy baseball roster, do not shy away from pitchers coming off of recent Tommy John elbow surgery. Stephen Strasburg proved that a full recovery from the procedure is possible. However, when it comes to shoulder issues, you should not be so optimistic. The Texas Rangers signed Brandon Webb to help shore up their perennial pitching woes. Coming off a shoulder injury, Webb did not throw a big league pitch in 2011 (and hasn’t thrown one since April 2009). Josh Johnson came into 2011 having missed the latter part of the previous season with shoulder issues. After starting 2011 strongly, Johnson did not throw a pitch after May 16^th. The lesson to be learned? Be very wary of pitchers with shoulder problems.

Young Guns

When it comes to dynamic pitching performances, young arms led the charge in 2011. Time after time this season, we saw rookies coming up big and making fantasy owners jump for joy. Craig Kimbrel, Cory Luebke, Jeremy Hellickson, Michael Pineda, Josh Collmenter and Brandon Beachy all seemed to come out of nowhere in 2011 and surprise with outstanding statistics. The lesson to be learned? Keep an eye out for good young talent in 2012, as a pitcher like Matt Moore may have more value than bigger name veterans.

There’s No Such Thing as a Sure Thing

Coming into the 2011 season, there were 3 sure things: death, taxes and Adam Dunn’s offensive statistics. Dunn was the epitome of a ‘sure thing’. His home run totals from 2005-2010 read like clockwork: 40, 40, 40, 38, 38. Likewise, his RBI totals were also machinelike in their regularity and predictability: 102, 101, 106, 100, 105, 103. Then, came the summer of 2011.  Dunn finished with 11 HR and 42 RBI and set a major league record with a .159 BA. He also ended up with 18 more strikeouts than points on his batting average, beating Mark Reynolds mark of 13 more Ks than BA points. Somewhere, Rob Deer is smiling. The lesson to be learned? Never draft a player and consider it money in the bank.

The 2011 season was one for the ages, to be sure. The lesson to be learned? Baseball is truly magical.

Chart taken from http://trendsupdates.com/

When baseball implemented a revenue sharing plan as part of their collective bargaining agreement in 1997, the premise behind the plan was that it would create a more competitive atmosphere between all teams in baseball. So rather than the elite, large market teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox who can continue to pay top dollar for free agents, revenue sharing allows smaller market teams to spend on player salaries as well.

According to the revenue sharing plan implemented in the collective bargaining agreement of 2002, every team pays in 31 percent of their local revenues and that pot is split evenly among all 30 teams. In addition, a chunk of MLB’s Central Fund — made up of revenues from sources like national broadcast contracts — is disproportionately allocated to teams based on their relative revenues, so lower-revenue teams get a bigger piece of the pie.

Also, teams who exceed the set payroll limits pay into the pot a luxury tax, which is then distributed to the lower revenue teams. For instance, in 2008 the New York Yankees, according to the Wall Street Journal, paid out $21.6 million in luxury tax money. That money was distributed to the teams with the lowest payrolls in the league.

Can teams use revenue sharing to improve the quality of the product on the field? There are at least two instances where teams clearly used the extra money to improve.

In 2003, the Detroit Tigers were the worst team in the league, and one of the worst all-time, with a record of 43-119. The club was 13^th out of 14 teams in attendance, and easily qualified for extra revenues at the time. The Tigers used the money to sign catcher Ivan Rodriguez and right fielder Magglio Ordonez, who were key components to the team that won the American League pennant just three years later.

In 2007, after a sixth straight losing season, the Colorado Rockies used all of the $16 million they received in the revenue sharing plan and put it all toward payroll. The following season, the Rockies won 13 of their last 14 games to force a one-game playoff with the San Diego Padres to determine the Wild Card in the National League. The Rockies won that playoff game, and then swept their way into the World Series before eventually losing to the Boston Red Sox.

So there are certainly instances where revenue sharing has been implemented in the way that it was intended.

However, there have been far too many circumstances where revenue sharing clearly hasn’t worked, and smaller market teams have essentially used the extra money to pad their profits.

The Florida Marlins were on top of the world in 2003, having beaten the New York Yankees in the World Series in six games. Their payroll that particular season was $54 million. However, just three years later, after allowing homegrown talent to walk away without offering contracts and trading World Series heroes Josh Beckett and Ivan Rodriguez for much cheaper players, the Marlins’ payroll dropped to $14.9 million, which at the time was just 20 percent of the league average payroll of $78 million. Yet, the Marlins had received almost $31 million in revenue sharing money that year, more than double their actual payroll.

The Tampa Bay Rays were also guilty of receiving over $30 million in payroll dollars for five straight years between 2002-2006, yet their average payroll during that time was just $27 million, and the team reported a profit of an average of $20 million during that same time.

The biggest problem with the current revenue sharing plan is the definition of how the money is to be used is quite vague. All the agreement states is that the money is to be used to “improve the product on the field,” and MLB has done little to enforce that policy over the years.

The simplest solution is to change the language. Rather than stating that revenue sharing allotments should be used to “improve the product on the field,” the agreement should state that “all revenue sharing allotments must be used on player payroll.” It’s simple, cut and dry, and can be easily enforced by MLB.

There is no question that revenue sharing rules should indeed change, but to start, simple language needs to be fixed. What do you think?

Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay, FL

The season is halfway over and it appears that the Rays are still hanging on to a place at the table come October.  Being 6 games out, the chances of taking the Division seem slim, but given the equation of a normal team in Major League Baseball of winning 50, losing 50, and fighting for 62 games each season certainly gives the Rays a chance.  There are two ways to get to the playoffs at the end of the year.  Win the division or earn a wildcard birth.

The Yankees and the Red Sox will make it difficult for the Rays to earn either path to the playoffs.  Starting at 6 games out of first place and 4.5 games out of the wildcard, it will be a challenge for the Rays to progress to either spot.  However, do not count them out yet.  There are some injuries that will come into play for the Yankees and the Red Sox that could help the Rays gain a game here and there.

The Tampa Bay Rays are very strong on the road and will need to continue that consistency to make a run at the top spot.  Their home record sits at .500 presently and the Rays need to improve on that home record to make the difference.  .500 is a great record to have in home settings, but normally you would think that home field advantage would make a big difference.  However, playing indoors is never a plus for any team in a setting like the Tampa/St. Pete region.

Pitching continues to be the strong suit for the Tampa Bay Rays.  The team ERA is 3.58 with Jim Shields yielding a team leading 2.33 average.    Kyle Farnsworth has 17 saves and has figured into the winning percentages dramatically.  Price who appeared to be the strongest point of the Rays pitching staff has slipped over the past month.  Although his numbers are still upscale, he has dropped some games in the win column within the last 4 weeks.

BJ Upton seems to be back on tract for a productive year after getting off to a very slow start.  At this point, Upton leads the team with 15 homeruns, 50 RBI’s, but only has a .239 batting average.  A far cry from what he is capable of producing.  Matt Joyce leads the team while hitting .290 with the team batting average sits at a low mark of .245.

In essence, the Rays have their work cut out for them to go the distance and make up ground over the next 10 weeks.  It is not impossible, but they need to take advantage of the upcoming series with the Red Sox and the Yankees to sneak back into the playoffs picture.

Image Taken from Google Images

The Rays are one of the hottest teams in Major League Baseball with 22 wins.  They have won 7 of their last 10 games and are sitting in first place with the Yankees now in second by 1 game, the Rays are now 22-15 on the season.  Pitching and hitting have equalized and should cause concern amongst the entire American League East Division.

Run production is way up since last week and has the Rays in the top half of the field of MLB teams.  The Rays are the best road team in MLB right now and that fact has certainly been a big factor in their success on the year.  Evan Longoria is back in the line up and BJ Upton has caught fire to help sweep the O’s last weekend.

Matt Joyce has been most consistent with the bat as of late with an average of .358.  Ben Zobrist leads the team in all other batting categories and is hitting almost 30 points higher than his career average to date.  Team batting average is .250 compared to opponents .233.  Pitching is very strong for the Rays as the numbers show and opponent’s average are proof.

Team ERA has fallen for the second week in a row from 3.40 to 3.25.  Rankings for the Rays have jumped from 15^th to 6^th over the past week and are in good company with the St. Louis Cardinals just below and Florida Marlins just above.  This week took the Tampa Bay Rays to Cleveland (they won 2-3) and then back to the Trop for a series with the O’s again.  Jumping ahead a little, here come those Yanks!!!

Image Taken from Google Images

A couple weeks ago, I had written that once the Rays bats start to get hot, lookout.  Well, it is not that the team is batting at its full potential, but the pitching staff has really held their ground and the Rays are consistently winning.  What they have done lately is most impressive. As I stated in the first three Rays Reports, that 0-6 start really puts a team behind the 8-ball right out of the gate.  Now, with a 15-12 record, the Rays have made a total transformation since the first week.

Pitching is still the strongest asset the Rays have and has kept them in games and certainly contributed to the winning record.  James Shields is the first pitcher since 2002 to throw consecutive complete games for the Tampa Rays when he accomplished the feat last week.

The bats came alive in a few games this week by putting more runs on the board.  Sam Fuld’s average has dropped off to a normal .260 after setting the world on fire with his hits and run production early on.  Matt Joyce is batting .321; Ben Zorbrist has 7 home runs in 100 at bats and also leads the team in RBI’s with 25.  Sam Fuld still leads the team with total number of hits for the season after coming on the scene a week late.

Team ERA has fallen from 3.86 to 3.40.    Power Rankings show that the Rays have dropped one spot from last week, mostly due to the strong showings from the Red Sox who jumped from 25^th to 13^th.  There are 2 players that are in the Top 10 in stats in hitting and pitching for the Tampa Rays who are now ranked 21^st in MLB for team batting average and 8^th in team ERA.  As has been the case over the season thus far, pitching has kept the Rays in the hunt and it will need to continue this coming week with series against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles.  Winning each series will create more space between the Rays and the other teams in the division.  Only 1.5 games out of first, the Rays could find themselves leading the American League East by this time next week.

Photo taken from Google Images

You have to take your hat off to the Tampa Bay Rays.  Their play had to be on the mark for the last two weeks and it has been just that.  The team is 8-3 out of the last 11 with a .500 record after starting the season 0-6.  It was a must win situation in every game they played to stay in the hunt and they have accomplished the task.

The American League East is very close from top to bottom with only the Yankees maintaining a winning record to date.  Tampa and Boston (at the time of this writing on 4/24) are only 3 games back, Toronto is close at 3.5 games back and Baltimore in last 5 games back.  Tampa ended an important series with the Blue Jays and has themselves in 2^nd place.  Pitching has remained strong and it remains within the top 10 in MLB in all pitching categories.  Hitting is still lagging behind with the Rays in the bottom 10 of MLB rankings.   It took the Jays 11 innings to beat the Rays on Friday night and a rematch on Saturday.  By the end of the day on Easter Sunday, the Rays had taken the series. With the division being so close from top to bottom the Rays need to maintain their momentum if they are to catch the Yankees.

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Sam Fuld is hitting an impressive .360 and has certainly filled in the gap left by Manny Ramirez’s bat.  BJ Upton who was hot out of the gate and leading the team in all batting statistics has cooled and has been virtually silent for the Rays since the first week.  His average has dropped from .361 to .212 in the past couple weeks.  If the Rays start hitting as an overall team, things will change fast in the American League East.

Team ERA has been the secret ingredient to winning for the Rays at 3.86.  As far as team ERA goes, they are in the top 10 in MLB. The pitching staff has kept the Rays in the hunt when the offence is just getting warmed up.  This coming week will have the Rays taking on the Twins and the LA Angels.  If the bats ever needed to get hot, it is now.  With an 11-11 record, offense, defense and pitching will need to come together to continue winning games and hanging in at the top of the division.

Photo taken from Google Images c/o The Bleacher Report

Photo taken from Google Images

Covering the Tampa Bay Rays was supposed to be a year of excitement on the field.  Winning has gotten off to a slow start as well as the bats of Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon.  A start of 0-6 is certainly not what any team GM or manager wants to contend with.  In addition to the poor start to the season, the Rays rank 30^th in runs scored, batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage in Major League Baseball.  B.J. Upton is putting up good numbers but nobody else on the team seems to be able to match his performance at the plate.

Retired rather than being Suspended for 100 Games (for 2nd Offense)

To add even more troubles for the Rays, the decision for Manny Ramirez to retire after a 19-year career in baseball has added to the panic.  Ramirez was once said to be the best player ever seen by MLB scouts prior to him being drafted by the Cleveland Indians has called it a career.  Manny has certainly had his problems with almost every team that he has played with and decided to escape the 100 game suspension by retiring.  His fault or not, the most recent drug testing policy violation would have made him unavailable to the Rays for most of the season.

On the day of his retirement, he is in a category with the elite of baseball.  His .319 career batting average, 555 homeruns, and .411 on base percentage are most impressive.  Only two other players are in the same category with these types of numbers, Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds.  It is unfortunate that Manny Ramirez is the only player to be in a category by himself for testing positive 2 times for performance enhancing drugs.  This will certainly create a cloud of controversy about his entire career and the numbers he put up.  Where the numbers enhanced by PED’s? We will probably never know the answer to that question.  The expectations from Manny were high.  He was supposed to help the Rays with a boost in offensive power.  Now, the Rays are left without a key member, which they were hoping to rely on heavily for run production.

Pitching for the Rays has not been very spectacular either.  James Shields has put up the only decent numbers on the entire pitching staff for the team.  The team ERA over six games is 4.42 while giving up a total of three homeruns, 26 earned runs, 45 strike outs, and 12 base on balls.  Even though it’s extremely early in the season, the Rays should be concerned.  Hitting, pitching and overall run production is very low.  However, defense is positive with a .991 percentage. There have been only two errors by two different players through the first six games.  At this point, defense and the 10 strikeouts pitched by Jeremy Hellickson are the only shinning spots for the Tampa Bay Rays.

It has been said that in the game of baseball, you will win 50, you will loose 50, and the other 62 is something a team must be determined to fight for to be in contention at the end of the season.  So far, it appears that the Rays are on pace to loose the 50 games first and get that part of the equation out of the way.  The pitching must improve as well as the hitting.  Without the two coming together very soon and remaining consistent, the Rays are in for a long season.  B.J. Upton leads the team in every batting category.  In comparison with his other teammates, there is no comparison.  The rest of the lineup must start producing when the opportunities present themselves if they want to win consistently.

There is still hope for the Rays.  Starting off with a 0-6 record does dampen the spirits of the Rays faithful.  However, this is baseball.  Anything is possible and I would not say that the Rays are completely out of contention just yet.  Baltimore cannot continue at the same pace they are currently on, nor can Toronto.  The Yankees are always just a step behind and Boston will certainly start to win more consistently, too. This coming week will be a determining factor for the Rays as they finished a series with the White Sox (this past weekend), a three game series against the Red Sox (which starts tonight) and then taking on the Twins.  Manager Joe Maddon knows the importance of winning over the next week.  The season may depend on it.