MLB Daily Dish: FanPosts

MLB's Sad Lack Of Replay Progression

2013-05-28T23:42:52Z

Once every few weeks, I find myself watching a baseball game, witnessing a terrible call by an umpire that could easily be corrected unfairly hurt a team, and launching myself into a verbal and social media outrage. How can a professional sports league be so stuck in the past? The NHL, NBA and NFL (imagine the change in NFL games especially without replay) all have worked out good ways to utilize the technology that is available while baseball has made one baby step.

Baseball traditionalists argue that the human element is what makes baseball great or that it would slow the game down significantly to expand replay. The human element argument has never made sense to me. Why would anyone embrace mistakes that can be easily fixed? You can either get a call right 30 seconds later or get it wrong. It doesn't have to be complicated. My response to slowing down the pace of the game is that games took over 2 hours and 50 minutes on average last year and the regular season is 162 freaking games long! I don't think pace of the game is real important to the sport.

In terms of expanding replay, I'm in favor of allowing close plays at all bases be reviewed and fair and foul balls down the line. Balls and strikes should not be reviewable. I also suggest either one challenge for each team a game or a limit on reviewable calls in a game. MLB should also draw on the NHL's use of a central replay location (Toronto for NHL) to review plays quickly and let the umpires know faster than them claiming down in the dugout. Hopefully replay changes are made to the MLB's system soon.

If you agree, disagree or have other modifications please comment.

What a difference a year makes.

2013-05-25T22:03:44Z

Going through my daily check of the major league standings for all six divisions,I decided to take a look back at what the standings looked like exactly one year ago. Let me just say, for the most part they don't reflect what teams look like now.

* At this moment the Houston Astros hold the 2nd worst record in baseball. On May 25th, 2012 the Astros were 22-23 with a .489 winning percentage. At that time they had a better winning percentage than the Tigers and Athletics. As we know, both of those teams won their divisions.

Playing in the NL Central the Astros were only 3 games back of the Reds for the division lead. Things never got better for Houston as they finished up their final season in
the National League with the leagues worst record of 55-107.

Now playing in the American League West, the Astros are still in last place with a 14-34 record. But at least they won't carry the worst record in the league. And here's why.

* Last season the Miami Marlins spent a ton of money to attract some of the biggest stars on the market. Through May 25th the Marlins were right in the thick of things in the NL East. With a 25-21 record, the Fish were 2 1/2 games behind the Nationals.

As the Marlins started to struggle they slowly fell out of the playoff race and began selling off players left and right. Though the major fire sale didn't happen until after the season, the Marlins still dealt away Anibal Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez.

After a 69-93 finish the Marlins began the full on fire sale as the traded off Heath Bell, Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Emilio Bonifacio, Mark Buerhle, and John Buck. They now stand as the worst baseball team in the major with a 13-35 record.

* With the Indians playing aw well as they did at this time a year ago, the Detroit Tigers occupied 3rd place in the AL Central. At 21-24 the Tigers were 5 games behind the Tribe for 1st place.

Cleveland couldn't hold their division lead as the 2nd half of the season rolled around and that brought the White Sox as the Central's leader for most of the rest of the season. But the Tigers went on a playoff run to overtake the Sox and claim the crown in the Central, finishing 88-74.

Coming off his triple crown season, Miguel Cabrera leads the Tigers in another hunt to return to the World Series as the Tigers currently hold a 0.5 game lead over the Indians. Cabrera is also on the hunt to win his 2nd straight triple crown, leading the league in RBI's and batting average.

*The Mets were lead by good starting pitching and a lot of timely hitting before Johan Santana fell apart after his no-hitter and that timely hitting stopped showing up. New York, 25-21, finished roughly at 74-88, and eventually traded away Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey.

The NL East was at this time the most competitive division in baseball. All five teams were about the .500 mark at this time with the Nationals leading the charge and eventually went on to win their East crown.

Five teams were over .500 a year ago, and now only the Braves and Nationals are have a positive winning percentage with the Marlins in last, the Mets are having a down year in 4th, and the Phillies are hanging around at 23-25.

It's always fun to look back at the past, but the present is still where all the fun is. I just can't wait to look at what things looked like May 25th, 2014. Who knows what we'll be talking about then?

Poll

What was the biggest headline on May 25th, 2012?

Astros in 3rd.

1 votes

Five team NL East race.

2 votes

Tigers under .500.

0 votes

3 votes | Poll has closed

Should the Dodgers fire Don Mattingly?

2013-05-23T21:05:32Z

Across the baseball spectrum, managers from all over are at risk of losing their jobs. None are more at risk than Dodgers manager Don Mattingly.

With a 19-26 record, the Los Angeles Dodgers are last in the National League West, trailing the Arizona Diamondbacks by 8 1/2 games. The Dodgers have struggled badly to begin the season and now all of Dodger Nation is calling for Mattingly's termination.

I understand that when a team isn't winning someone has to be held accountable. That person is usually the teams manager. The guy calling the shots, making the moves, and setting the lineups.

But as much as it is Mattingly's fault, you can't help but look at the fact the Dodgers have players landing on the DL every other day. The Dodgers have used the disabled list more than any other team in baseball.

Even with the injuries, Mattingly can't have an excuse for his team not winning. The Yankees are losing players left and right, yet their currently in first place when they were suppose to be in last.

Away from the injuries, the Dodgers biggest problem is they they don't score runs. The Dodgers land 29th in baseball in runs scored (156) in front of only the Marlins and rank 28th in team homeruns. This is a team that I expected to score a lot of runs.

Matt Kemp is struggling and just hit his 2nd homerun of the season on Tuesday. He had 14 dingers at that time last season. Kemp is an MVP type player that got off to a great start last season and couldn't do the same this year.

At some point, Mattingly needs to do something to get this team turned around if he wants to keep his job. And his comments to reporters on Wednesday may not have helped him.

“It’s not just all, ‘Let’s go put an All-Star team out there and play games, and the team with the All-Star team wins." Mattingly said. "All grit and no talent is not going to get you there, and all talent and no grit is not going to get you there. There’s got to be a mixture of both.”

Mattingly also criticized Andre Ethier in front of reporters saying he doesn't compete hard. But when asked about it, Mattingly said, "I don't really want to say that, but we've got to compete."

Regardless of the teams struggles and his recent comments about his players and payroll. Sources close to the club a have reported the Mattingly will still be the Dodgers manager when the team opens up at home against the Cardinals this Friday.

One things for sure, Mattingly played with the Yankees under George Steinbrenner for years. If there's one thing he would know best, it's a manager getting fired. He's seen it happen before. Now he's likely live it.

On Trevor Bauer's poor start

2013-04-07T10:07:40Z

With a week of baseball filed away, Justin Upton is playing extremely well and making the Arizona Diamondbacks look foolish in trading him. Trevor Bauer is doing the exact opposite, after the 22-year-old made his American League debut with the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.

An interesting decision by the organization considering Bauer didn't make the team out of spring training, instead being sent down to the minor leagues. But with Scott Kazmir landing on the disabled list, Cleveland suddenly needed a spot-start and called upon Bauer to give them one instead of throwing for their Triple-A affiliate in Columbus.

So, Bauer faced the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. The former No. 3 overall pick in the 2011 draft walked seven batters in five innings while striking out two and, thanks to good fortune, allowed just three runs on two hits. It could should have been a lot worse than that, but the Rays made two outs at the plate and couldn't further capitalize on Bauer's struggles.

The former Diamondback struggled mightily out of the gate, walking the very first four batters he faced before getting James Loney to pop out. Then this happened:

Bauer is very open when it comes to his pitching philosophy, such as how he warms up for a start. Well, another unique thing he did during Saturday's game is move around the rubber, as noted by Tommy Rancel (@TRancel) on Twitter.

If the batter is right-handed, Bauer would pitch from the first base side of the rubber. If the batter is left-handed, he would pitch from the third base side of the rubber. In a larger sense, this means Bauer is working on perfecting two different release points per outing. Quite the tall task, especially with someone who is already struggling with command.

Ignoring the results, the plan had been to send Trevor Bauer back to the minor leagues after his spot-start. He remains one of the more intriguing pitchers to follow given his unorthodox style and quality of pitches, but the question remains if he can put it all together at the major league level.

The former Diamondback struggled mightily out of the gate, walking the very first four batters he faced before getting James Loney to pop out. Then this happened:

Astros Stay Swinging and Missing

2013-04-07T07:56:44Z

In their first four games, Houston Astros batters have been fooled at the plate all too many times, striking out in nearly 42% of their combined plate appearances. Oh, and they don't have a pitcher due up to bat in case you forgot the Astros transitioned to the American League.

But if you compare the strikeout rates between pitchers and Astros batters, it would be hard to tell the difference. Pitchers have went down on three strikes in 42.0% of plate appearances compared to 41.8% of Houston batters. The kicker is those same pitchers have managed to walk in 4.2% of plate appearances versus Houston's 3.7% walk rate.

Believe it or not, the Astros won their first game handily over the Texas Rangers by the score of 8-2. They sent 35 batters to the plate that game, and 13 went down on strikes, or 37%.

After an off-day on Monday, the Houston Astros were given the task of facing Yu Darvish. They didn't do particularly well in any phase besides the category of ''breaking up perfect games with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning''. 14 of the 27 batters became strikeout victims against Darvish and 15 of 29 overall.

Alexi Ogando and Rangers relievers that followed had similar success, striking out 15 of 33 Houston Astros batters.

Relatively speaking, Houston did better on Friday against Dan Straily and the Oakland Athletics relievers, managing to limit the strikeouts to 13 times in 37 plate appearances. Clearly, the A's weren't impressed, sending Straily down immediately after the game.

Are the Astros lacking aggressiveness at the plate? Do they need to swing more often in hopes avoiding two-strike counts? What the hell is going on?

For one, the Astros are seeing just 42% of total pitches inside the strike zone; a slightly higher rate than the Diamondbacks (41.1%) and Marlins (39.6%). But it doesn't matter whether the pitch is in the strike zone or not as Astros batters make contact with just 63.3% (dead last) of pitches, regardless of pitch location. It also doesn't help the Astros are swinging-and-missing on 19.20% of pitches. No one is in their neighborhood. Or zip code, city, county, state, etc. with the Angels' 13.10% a very, very distant second.

Usually when teams are whiffing at this alarming rate, some positive consequences would be power and walking.

As mentioned above, pitchers are walking more often than the Astros batters. Entering Saturday's slate of games, only the Rays are walking less frequently. As for the power, the Astros entered Saturday's games ranking 26th in ISO (Isolated Power). So even when one of Houston's batters are recording a hit, it's basically always a single (17 singles, 25 hits).

Believe it or not, the Astros won their first game handily over the Texas Rangers by the score of 8-2. They sent 35 batters to the plate that game, and 13 went down on strikes, or 37%.

Alexi Ogando and Rangers relievers that followed had similar success, striking out 15 of 33 Houston Astros batters.

Are the Astros lacking aggressiveness at the plate? Do they need to swing more often in hopes avoiding two-strike counts? What the hell is going on?

Usually when teams are whiffing at this alarming rate, some positive consequences would be power and walking.

Monday's Opening Day Observations: CC Sabathia's Velocity and Red Sox Against Lefties

2013-04-02T08:26:20Z

Yesterday, I wrote about Houston Astros No. 1 starter Bud Norris after his outing on Sunday, which featured both the good and bad of what you can expect from Norris. There was nothing else on the slate for Sunday, but there was on Monday when 24 different teams opened up their season, providing viewers with 12 hours of baseball.

I watched several games on Monday, but the first one on was the Red Sox and Yankees, so here is one observation I made for each team on April 1, 2013.

1) CC Sabathia's Velocity

As a Yankees fan, it sure feels CC Sabathia often struggles on Opening Day and just generally early in the season as one of the starters who uses April to shake off the rust and build up arm strength. Monday marked the fifth Opening Day start for CC Sabathia as a Yankee and it went like three of the previous four outings in terms of results (see below); short and ineffective.

The poor results in Sabathia's first start of the season isn't surprising or a great cause of concern when put into perspective (see #2). But the lack of fastball velocity from Sabathia had some disconcerted following the game, including myself.

CC Sabathia's fastball was clocked at an average of 90 MPH via Brooks Baseball on Monday, which is 2 MPH slower than his fastball that sat 92 in his first start last season against the Tampa Bay Rays. When asked about it post-game, "I'm sure the velocity will keep coming back and the arm strength will keep building up the more I throw," Sabathia said. "Healthwise, I feel fine, elbow, shoulder and everything."

The good news is Sabathia got stronger as the game progressed on Monday in terms of fastball velocity instead of flat-lining or decreasing, which would have been a huge red flag. He also has the track record of being a slow starter, so he does get the benefit of the doubt for now.

It is worth mentioning Sabathia pitched a portion of the 2012 season injured and needed offseason arthroscopic surgery in his left elbow to remove a small bone spur in what Yankees GM Brian Cashman called a ''quick and minor cleanup''. To follow up, he only tossed 10 innings in spring training. In 2012, he threw 18 innings and made three more starts. I'm not a doctor nor smart enough to know if those aforementioned reasons are why Sabathia's velocity is two ticks slower than last year, so this is something to keep an eye on when he takes the mound for his second start of the season.

2) Boston is Trouble for Southpaws

If you didn't already know, you do now. The Boston Red Sox made life hell for Yankees ace CC Sabathia on Monday with their right-handed dominant lineup that features a handful of hitters that quite frankly mash southpaw pitching.

With David Ortiz sidelined, the Red Sox only have two everyday players that are specifically left-handed batters in rookie Jackie Bradley Jr. and Jacoby Ellsbury, who doesn't have huge platoon splits.

Meanwhile, Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino have all raked against southpaws throughout their careers and do possess significant platoon splits. In limited time in 2012 as a rookie, Will Middlebrooks did just fine at the plate, but also hit southpaws significantly better than right-handed pitchers. Then there's Dustin Pedroia, who is just an excellent hitter against any kind of starter.

I watched several games on Monday, but the first one on was the Red Sox and Yankees, so here is one observation I made for each team on April 1, 2013.

1) CC Sabathia's Velocity

2) Boston is Trouble for Southpaws

The Curious Case of Bud Norris

2013-04-01T07:41:58Z

Bud Norris has spent the past 3.5 years as a member of the Houston Astros starting rotation, displaying the same weakness -- an inability to get through a lineup effectively for a third time (as seen below, via baseball-reference).

He's also shown the same strength over the past few years, posting an above-average strikeout rate and generating whiffs inside the strike zone. The good and the bad were on display Sunday against the Texas Rangers.

Norris threw 5⅔ innings of work, allowing two runs on five hits while walking three and striking out five. Norris earned all five strikeouts on swings and misses. In first two times through the lineup, Rangers batters went 2-for-16 while walking two times and striking out four times.

Then the sixth inning came and Norris was asked to face the Rangers lineup for a third time, starting with Ian Kinsler, who led the inning off with a five-pitch walk. Norris' fastball that touched 94 earlier in the game is now topping out at 90 (there's no way to tell if Norris completely lost faith in his fastball, but it appeared so, as he only used it once in the next ten pitches against opposing batters), but he was able to get Elvis Andrus to whiff on a slider for strike three.

Lance Berkman singled on a line drive to right off of a changeup, sending Kinsler to third base. With two on and one out, Texas' best hitter is at the plate in Adrian Beltre, who wastes no time by hammering at a first-pitch slider. Unfortunately for Beltre, Norris extended his glove (left arm) up and snared the liner for a second out.

Maybe it isn't all unravelling for Norris, but it would. The next two batters for Texas singled and suddenly the Rangers are only down two, forcing Astros manager Bo Porter to make a pitching change.

As aforementioned above, Norris may have lost faith in his fastball during the troubling sixth inning, rightfully so. Courtesy of Brooks Baseball, here's how his fastball velocity declined through the outing as the pitch count increased. It is just the first start of the season, so conditioning may be an issue for the 6'0'', 220 pound righty.

So, what is Norris? He's kind of a tweener. A two-pitch starting pitcher that throws a fastball/slider and the lack of a third pitch (changeup) doesn't help him when it comes to getting batters out for a third time, especially if he's topping out at 90 miles per hour on his heater. But his ability to work through a lineup twice makes him overqualified for a reliever role, at least with the way relievers are used now.

Oh, and he's Houston's No. 1 starter as of right now.

Originally appeared on Rontrarian Report.

Oh, and he's Houston's No. 1 starter as of right now.

Originally appeared on Rontrarian Report.

Geographic Realignment... if it's inevitable, let's live with it in style

2013-03-29T17:04:21Z

Yesterday over on Baseball Nation, Rob Neyer posted an article defending Bud Selig/MLB owners' decision to move the Houston Astros, after a half-century, to the AL. You can go read it and argue over there if you like... it includes a Seligian "inevitability" quote, and never mentions the Brewers once, so I won't bother rehashing that here.

There, and elsewhere, I've heard increasing resignation that full-time interleague play means that universal adoption of the DH is inevitable. I am a DH-hater, but I'm not going to argue about that here. I even heard Mike Krukow agree with the view on a Giants broadcast last night. He likes the DH less than I do, but he's a lifetime NL guy and a pitcher that hit, so it was interesting to hear him acknowledge the rising tide. In the Baseball Nation post linked above, it's taken as a truism too. So, let's assume we're stuck with interleague play and DH (or, for the weirdos out there, you can rejoice that interleague and DH are inextricably part of MLB play!). Even I know that at every little league, high school, and college game I see involves the DH. 25 years from now I don't think this is going to be an issue, considering that nobody even seems to remember the Brewers are an AL team.

I was surprised at the number of commenters that thought that geographic realignment is inevitable too. It's implicit in Neyer's article, in that the Astros got $75M to change leagues. There's a lot of money out there interested in shuffling teams, partly to save on travel costs, partly from the NFL mindset (which I think is inapposite, and short-sighted, and slights history, but anyway) that geographic rivalry sells better, and because the players' union has long expressed concerns over road trips, particularly of the coast-to-coast variety. As more and more seasons go by with teams only seeing intra-league opponents twice per year, fans are getting used to the idea that the Cardinals and Giants play less frequently than the A's and Giants. When the home-and-home series are separated by months during the season, they're often literally a different team the next time they hit town. So, again, let's assume for some or all of these reasons that Bud and the cartel make this happen and the players go along.

What should it look like? Well, usually folks look at the time zone map and plop teams into divisions based on that. New York and Miami are in the same time zone after all! Houston vs. Minnesota... this time it's personal! And the reduced jet lag and perceived geographic rivalries that would ensue are usually cited to justify them. The witty and intelligent bucdaddy posted a pretty good suggested alignment along those lines, and that got me thinking about a better way to handle the inevitable.

So, after all that, here's how to rescramble the eggs to solve geography problems but maintain some semblance of baseball tradition, and possibly build fan interest at the same time.

The AL and NL go back to, mostly, their historic 8-team configurations.

AL: Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Indians, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Blue Jays

NL: Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Cubs, Cardinals, Mets, Brewers [there could be an expansion Expos franchise here too].

It's not perfect, but 12 of 16 teams stay in the league where they have played for over a century. Toronto stays in its original league. The Mets step into the Dodgers/Giants slot, which of course is why they were formed in the first place, and get to keep their rivalry with the Phillies. Some old rivalries (Mets-Cards, Pirates-Phillies, Yankees-everybody) lost with the unbalanced schedule might come back. The Brewers stay in the NL, but since apparently no one remembers they started in the other league, that shouldn't matter. ESPN and Fox can still show 400 Yankees-Red Sox games per year.

The leagues still span multiple time zones... but now it's only two. And in any case, they spanned time zones before teams traveled by air. It's not a new issue, and within the leagues travel times are going to be pretty small.

And, for those that hate geographic realignment period, this setup really feels a lot better than silly NFL compass direction divisions. Do we really have to talk much about why the Reds play the Cubs and the Indians play the Tigers? It feels even better if the NL keeps the DH and doesn't play AL teams every year... but let's hold off talking about those things for a minute.

Pacific Coast League: Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Athletics, Angels, Mariners.

Let's think of this as the Quantum Leap league: it puts right what once went wrong. The Dodgers and Giants aren't ever going back to NY, but this undoes the major damage done by their relocation to the West Coast in the first place. You can read about the "open classification" experiment here; basically the PCL was "allowed" to reserve more players with the idea that it eventually could become a third major league (or, depending on your readings, stalled until the cartel could relocate teams or expand). The PCL was very successful, both in terms of attendance and players produced, and could certainly have grown over time into a viable third league, especially had players like Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, and Joe DiMaggio stayed there. Bill Veeck studied the West Coast market for Cubs owner Phil Wrigley, and often criticized baseball's method of expansion, which produced noncompetitive teams that weakened leagues and diluted talent in the near-term.

This maintains the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, and as noted above, with unbalanced schedules those teams haven't seen intra-league rivals much lately anyway. It preserves the current NL West in whole. The Angels change leagues, but have a chance at making a real rivalry with the Dodgers, two big-spending titans slugging it out multiple times each season. Maybe they can revive some of the old LA Angels-Hollywood Stars virulence. Giants fans might remember the 2002 collapse against Anaheim, and another excuse to hate on "SoCal" is always welcome in San Francisco. The A's leave their native league, but they have struggled for a century to find a real rival in their league, and the pretend rivalry their fans think exists with the Giants might actually exist in this new league. A's fans certainly remember Kirk Gibson and the Dodgers, East and South Bay residents don't love LA either, and with the Dodgers' gigantic bankroll a nice David-Goliath battle might shape up. The Mariners also leave the AL after 40+ years, but 1) as already demonstrated with the Astros and Brewers, history is bunk to the cartel, 2) they haven't developed much of a rivalry with any team in their division or league, and 3) they might end up rivals with the Giants, as Giants fans would likely travel frequently to Seattle for games and annoy their fans as they do in San Diego now. Attendance in San Diego might be helped too as Angel fans (and A's fans) take advantage of an excuse to visit a very lovely location.

Finally, I think there may be some regional identity that helps build interest over time as well. It may make more sense when discussed below as to the fourth league, but I think that in general Westerners are more familiar with nearby states, family members are more likely located there, and most of these cities are in "blue states". I attended a Pac-10 school, and I think I was not alone in often rooting for the Pac-10 representative when my team (obligatory LOL CAL) was not playing in the Rose Bowl. I met many cool fans from Washington State and Oregon State at games over the years. I think regional interest was part of the PCL's success, and I bet it could come back.

I have also lived on the East Coast, and really believe that many fans just cannot get interested in Western teams in most sports (with the sole exception of the Lakers). I had a professor that often referred to "those big boxy states I can't remember". Eastern hockey fans could care less about teams west of Chicago. I frequently met college sports fans that refused to believe that the team with "Cal" on its helmets was from Berkeley. Whether or not you believe in the dreaded "East Coast Bias", only the craziest fans (or degenerate gamblers) are awake at 10PM when west coast games start. Game threads on east coast teams' boards are often pretty dull when their squads are playing out west. Fans of the reconstituted AL/NL are not going to miss these teams much.

The DH could work a variety of ways, but that probably depends on schedule too, so let's table both topics for the moment.

Southern League: Atlanta, Marlins, Rays, Astros, Rangers, Royals, Washington Nationals [plus a possible expansion team, let's say Carolina/Research Triangle or Charlotte or Nashville or...]

This isn't perfect, but I think it still has a lot to recommend it. And let's start with the obvious. I haven't ever spent much time in the South, but I am informed that there is a great deal of regional identity and pride among Southerners. I've been to Miami and Dallas, and I can't say those two places have everything in common. But the great American subculture persists, and this gives it a league of its own. There's a bit of Quantum Leap here too, as the Civil Rights battles of the 50s and 60s really prevented any kind of viable "open classification" attempt in the South during that period, before the Astros were chartered and the Braves moved and claimed the territory for MLB. If there's some regional identity/rooting interest among the PCL area, and I think there is, there must be even more at play here.

The major revisionist violence is moving Atlanta out of the NL. But their presence adds a bit of history (and a rock-stable franchise) to the new league, and gives the other teams a perpetual Yankees-type enemy to aim for. I'm not sure who their real division rival is at the moment, certainly the Mets don't do much on that front now. I am willing to bet the Rangers or Rays will shape up to be at least as much a rival as are the Phillies. And the Nats come along with them, so that could continue into a rivalry as well.

The Nats are also not a perfect fit, but plenty of their fans hail from Virginia in the first place, and with Atlanta along they might be able to build some enmity over time. I'm sure plenty of Southern fans would enjoy rooting against the team from Washington; the Nats would literally be the Yankees of this league. Ditto for the Royals. They don't really have much of a rivalry with anyone anymore anyway; they're as close to Texas as they are to Colorado or Chicago or Minneapolis. If this happens soon, they would be in a league with the Marlins and Astros, which would be friendlier competition. And they only have to play in one different time zone, and then only on 4 (or 5 with expansion) of their road trips.

Miami? Well, they may be beyond help, but perhaps games with other southern cities will develop some rival somewhere, and their attendance might get a bump from intra-league visitors. Tampa is free of the Yankees and Red Sox, which should be enough to make them happy. The Astros and Rangers are already in a division together; I'm not convinced they'll have much of a rivalry any time soon but whatever there is would come along. Maybe there's a Texas vs. the Deep South vibe, or they'll learn to hate the Barves as have so many others. They don't leave any rivals in the AL either. Other than the Rangers and Nats, all these teams' fanbases could use something different to energize them and spark attendance. Maybe this is it.

Schedule: League and "Association Play"

Here's where reasonable minds can differ. I hate interleague play, but won't go into why an idea that made sense in 1947 is so pointless now and only serves to grease the skids of the slippery slope that's led us here. As noted above, this post assumes that the cartel and TV folks want it and we're not going back. So, since we're stuck with it, the sensible thing to do would be to have each league have "association play" against all the teams in ONE other league each year. There would be a home and home series against each team in the other league, six games per 8 teams equalling 48 games. Assuming for the moment there are 7 other teams within a league, 16 games per league rival team per season builds out to a total of 160 games. The next year, leagues rotate, and within three years everyone has played everyone else. Playing those teams twice in a season makes them more familiar than the current single series, but doesn't make those games as mundane as the current "rivalry" interleague series. If two divisions only have 7 teams, that's easy enough to figure out too, but perfect schedule balance is sacrificed. Again, it has been for years, and it didn't keep the Astros in the NL, so this can't be a serious reason to object now.

Postseason

It would be nice if those 160 games were, as was the case for much of baseball's history, a round-robin tournament among 6 or more teams to crown the best. But pennant races are dead, and we killed them. So, the top two teams in each league could go to the postseason, which would make a simple 8 team tournament like we had until last year. It would make sense to always have the AL teams on one side of the bracket and the NL teams on the other to preserve some semblance of World Series history. Since the PCL would have mostly NL West teams in it, it might make sense to have the PCL teams and NL teams on one side and the AL and SL teams on the other. It makes some sense geographically as well; only the Mets and Phillies are east of the Appalachians among those teams; the AL and SL are contained in two time zones. The bigger divisions mean that it's less likely that 85 win teams sneak into the postseason and that the vast majority of a team's games are against their competitors for postseason births.

But, if we just have to have more 80 win teams playing in the fall, it's easy enough to keep playing the Selig limbo and lower the bar, extending to the third (fourth, fifth, ad infinitum) team in the league. It might make sense to give the pennant winners an automatic in, and then take the teams with the next two best records regardless of league. Or, in a step that would drastically improve the current setup in MLB, have a "springing wild card" that is only triggered if a team wins enough (90, 95, whatever) games to qualify.

It's also easier for fans to stay engaged with this; there's a reason pennant races were exciting. Rather than having a fake "wild card standings" board, each league's daily standings make the painful truth obvious to all interested observers.

Designated Hitter

I think this flows naturally from the "association play" setup. If the DH is universal, as assumed in the first place, well that's that. If the NL teams just can't quit the DH, they can use it in their games, and the AL can keep it in theirs. I recently read suggestions that the DH be left up to the home team manager, declared when lineup cards are presented each game. That would be really interesting, and totally fair. That could even be a test rule in the SL and PCL to see how it plays out: the PCL teams playing in the wide open spaces of western ballparks might really prefer to have a real position player on the roster rather than a AAAA baseclogger.

If the NL and PCL are on the same side of the playoff bracket permanently, they could stay with no DH (only three current AL teams are in that bracket of the association playoffs). The SL could have the DH along with the AL; in the postseason they could go back to the good old alternating-year method for the World Series, or better yet the "home manager calls it" rule.

Conclusion

Really? You read this far? Thanks. Take $5 from petty cash and buy yourself something nice. It felt good to write this out.

Assuming we're stuck with the DH and interleague play, and there's an appetite for "geographic realignment" among MLBPA, TV interests, and the owners' cartel, I think this kind of setup has a lot to offer. It eliminates dinky divisions and their 84 win "champions" from the equation, makes for broader schedules with more familiarity with regional or historical rivals, and preserves (or revives) elements of baseball history. It makes interleague (let's call it "association play") more of the novelty it's claimed to be, with teams facing each other twice in a season but not so horribly frequently (think Yankees-Mets or Giants-A's) as to become dull. Finally, it would be unique to baseball, and that's not an insignificant concern. As other sports seem to blur into time zone organizations and March Madness-style tournaments, this setup should be flexible enough to let baseball innovate without sacrificing history at every turn.

So, after all that, here's how to rescramble the eggs to solve geography problems but maintain some semblance of baseball tradition, and possibly build fan interest at the same time.

The AL and NL go back to, mostly, their historic 8-team configurations.

AL: Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Indians, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Blue Jays

NL: Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Cubs, Cardinals, Mets, Brewers [there could be an expansion Expos franchise here too].

Pacific Coast League: Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Athletics, Angels, Mariners.

The DH could work a variety of ways, but that probably depends on schedule too, so let's table both topics for the moment.

Southern League: Atlanta, Marlins, Rays, Astros, Rangers, Royals, Washington Nationals [plus a possible expansion team, let's say Carolina/Research Triangle or Charlotte or Nashville or...]

Schedule: League and "Association Play"

Postseason

Designated Hitter

Conclusion

Really? You read this far? Thanks. Take $5 from petty cash and buy yourself something nice. It felt good to write this out.

Players to Watch for in 2013

2013-02-27T08:28:31Z

Wrote this post for my personal blog, Rontrarian Report, and am looking for any kind of feedback. Thank you for taking the time to read my piece.

2013 could be the most exciting year of baseball ever, but not for everyone, such as those players facing increased pressure to perform at a high level this season. Some players are being asked to step up as a result of injuries ahead of them on the depth chart, others are entering make-or-break seasons for new contracts, looking to re-establish their presence or are young players vying to avoid being written off. In this entry, I'll identify a few players per group, starting with the first two that come to mind.

Asked to Step Up

Shelby Miller, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals: Miller has spent the past few seasons as one of the game's top prospects, but there was a point in 2012 when many wondered if the Texan would ever put it together after a horrid start to the season. As seen in the table below, the 22-year-old corrected his flaws, regained his velocity and went on a dominant stretch before St. Louis rewarded their top pitching prospect with a September call up. Now with Chris Carpenter sidelined for the season and Jaime Garcia's uncertain status for April, the St. Louis Cardinals will need Shelby Miller to step up for them by grabbing a back-end rotation spot in 2013, but performing at a higher level than that.

Kevin Youkilis, 3B, New York Yankees: With third baseman Alex Rodriguez potentially out for the entire 2013 season, the entire reason Kevin Youkilis was brought in on a one-year, $12 million deal is to fill the void at the hot corner. The former Red Sox had a shaky 2012 campaign that began with Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine publicly criticizing the veteran's work ethic, but ended with the veteran showing he had something left in the tank. The Yankees are relying on Youkilis to perform -- and playing half of his games at Yankee Stadium will help -- but perhaps more importantly, stay healthy, because they quite frankly don't have any other options. For what it's worth, PECOTA projects Youkilis having a nice rebound season at the plate.

Make-or-Break

Tim Lincecum, SP, San Francisco Giants: Tim Lincecum began his career as well as anyone could, winning 2 Cy Young awards in his first three seasons and turning in another few fine seasons that seemingly had him poised to become one of the highest paid pitchers in the league. So it wasn't that crazy for the righty to settle for a two-year, $40.5 million deal as opposed to a five-year, $100 million extension that would have bought out three of his free agency seasons. It didn't quite work that way, though, as the Washington product struggled mightily in 2012, turning in a career worst strikeout and walk percentage while also losing a few ticks off of his fastball. Lincecum's been proving doubters wrong since day one with his unorthodox style that have turned in unparalleled success, but he'll need to do it again in 2013, even if he may never get the long-term deal he once had hoped for.

Jeff Francoeur, RF, Kansas City Royals: Using fWAR (FanGraphs' Wins Above Replacement), Jeff Francouer was one of the worst players to take the field in 2012 to the point he was providing negative value to his own team. The kicker is he's back for another season as the team's everyday right fielder after Kansas City opted to trade his heir apparent in top prospect Wil Myers and bank on the beloved veteran to provide some level of passable production in 2013. Just about everything will have to go right for the Royals to make the playoffs and it starts with Francouer performing in his walk year. So far, he's saying all the right things, but he can prove it on the field?

Re-Establishing Presence

Justin Upton, LF, Atlanta Braves: Ever since Kevin Towers became the Arizona Diamondbacks general manager, Justin Upton found his name in trade rumors on a consistent basis and it was the beginning of the end for the two sides. The relationship became irreparable; before finally finding a landing spot for the 25-year-old Upton, Arizona removed the "Uptown" signs at Chase Field, overcrowded their outfield by signing Cody Ross to a multi-year deal, and lost out on their preferred return package because Upton exercised his limited no-trade clause. With a much needed change of scenery, I expect Justin Upton to re-emerge as a star in 2013 by producing All-Star caliber numbers, meaning he would need to put up a 5 fWAR season.

Melky Cabrera, LF, Toronto Blue Jays: Melky Cabrera hit a ridiculous .346/.390/.516 in 501 plate appearances for the San Francisco Giants in 2012, made it to his first career All-Star game and was on his way to winning the NL batting title. He was doing all this in the final year of his contract, too. Cabrera couldn't have been in a better situation, that is until the outfielder tested positive for testosterone and received a 50-game suspension as a result. While he still managed to sign a two-year, $16 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, Cabrera undoubtedly lost out on millions of dollars in his deal. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays perhaps made the biggest bargain signing in the offseason.

Don't Write Me Off

Eric Hosmer, 1B, Kansas City Royals: As a 21-year-old, Eric Hosmer showed how good he could be at the plate, batting .293/.334/.465 with 19 home runs in his first season in the big leagues. 2012 was a completely different story, though, as Hosmer joined the aforementioned Jeff Francouer as one of the least valuable players in baseball. There are several theories as to why the Hosmer couldn't hit a lick last year, ranging from a shoulder injury to being a 22 year old playing everyday at the highest level. But unless Hosmer lost all the tools he possessed that had him projected as a superstar, it's hard to worry about his putrid sophomore campaign.

Domonic Brown, OF, Philadelphia Phillies: Domonic Brown has been one of the Phillies top prospects for the past few years now, but the team hasn't exactly showed faith in their corner outfielder. Instead of giving the now 25-year-old a chance, Philadelphia has gone out and signed veteran free agents to take over glaring holes on their roster (see: Juan Pierre, Delmon Young). Spring training performances don't mean much, but Brown did have this mammoth home run on Tuesday. Maybe this is the year Brown is given his chance to contribute. Maybe.

Wrote this post for my personal blog, Rontrarian Report, and am looking for any kind of feedback. Thank you for taking the time to read my piece.

Asked to Step Up

Make-or-Break

Re-Establishing Presence

Don't Write Me Off

Re- Analyze The Blue Jays - Marlins Trade

2013-02-06T01:12:54Z

November 19th, 2012 is the day that so-called changed the landscape of the AL East. The day that turned a team that was 22 games out of first and 16 games under .500 a season ago into projected 2013 AL East division Champions. One would think that a team that was 22 games out of first must have signed the top 3 free agents available and had a stud prospect coming up in 2013 to have a chance to win the AL East.

What really happen on November 19th, 2012 is that The Toronto Blue Jays trade with the Miami Marlins that sent Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, John Buck, Emilio Bonifacio and $4 MM in cash to Toronto for Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, Jeff Mathis, Justin Nicolino, Anthony Desclafani and Jake Marisnick became official. A trade which somehow made The Blue Jays AL East favorites after being 16 games under .500 just a season ago.

So exactly how much did the Jays improve after making this trade? Lets analyze the three main pieces the Blue Jays got in this trade; Buehrle, Reyes and Johnson.

Let's start with Mark Buehrle. Before last year, Buehrle spent his whole career as a White Sox. In his career in the AL, Buehrle pitched to a 161-119 record with a 3.83 ERA. Those are respectable number but misleading. He pitched in the AL Central which has some of the most pitcher friendly ball parks in baseball. Coming to the AL East he will pitch in sandboxes like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. And let's not forget the homerun haven his home ballpark is. Something else that is a red flag is the fact that in the last 3 years he has pitched to a 5.07 ERA against the AL East in 76 innings. That equates to a number 5 starter which is something they gave up in the trade in Henderson Alvarez. In 2013 Buehrle will win 10-12 games with 200+ inn and a 4.5 ERA.

Next up is probably one of the Key players in this trade, Jose Reyes. Last season the Blue Jays got nothing out of their SS Yunel Escobar. His slash-line was .253/.300/.344 with nine homers in 608 plate appearances compared to Reyes .287/.347/.433 with eleven home runs in 716 plate appearances last season. Might seem like a legitimate upgrade for the Jays but there is one issue, Reyes had missed 191 games across the previous 3 seasons before last season when he played in 160. Not only is he an injury risk, Reyes is not a team player and will be a cancer in that club house. You can count on Reyes playing less than 110 games and a Slash of .275/.325/.390.

The Only Solid pick up the Jays had in this trade was Josh Johnson. Johnson brings to the Jays a career 3.15 ERA and .602 winning percentage. At 28, Johnson, will be entering the prime of his career and will be the Jays unquestioned Ace for years to come. Johnson had the injury bug in 2011 but in 2012 he came back to pitch 183 inn to go along with a respectable 3.81 ERA. You can expect Johnson to win 13-16 games with a 3.5 ERA and 200+ inn.

Blue Jays 2013 Prediction: 3rd place 86-76

Want to talk baseball? Follow me on Twitter @TheMultiSlacker

So exactly how much did the Jays improve after making this trade? Lets analyze the three main pieces the Blue Jays got in this trade; Buehrle, Reyes and Johnson.

Blue Jays 2013 Prediction: 3rd place 86-76

Want to talk baseball? Follow me on Twitter @TheMultiSlacker

Poll

Where will the Blue Jays Finish?

First

8 votes

Second

2 votes

Third

2 votes

Forth

0 votes

Last

0 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed

Review a Blog, or to Not Review a Blog.

2012-12-07T23:57:48Z

This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship with SB Nation and myself. I'll be posting about movies, video games, sports and I'll even have my own series on here about my Xbox NHL 13 GM Mode season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'll fill in the cracks for you later on but with the Leafs I'm 15-4-0. Malcolm Subban as my goalie was a costly, but interesting call. Where's Reimer now? I hope you'll enjoy whatever I jot down. I'll be linking I Heart Movies TO (IHMTO) on here, as I am a volunteer writer for them so you guys can get some of my work from them! Over there I've written Top 5 Hockey Movies, Top 5 Basketball Movies, Top 10 Football Movies, an article on the Rushes Football Film Festival, and my next project is holiday-related! So keep in touch!

Poll

When will we have an NHL season?

Before Christmas

0 votes

In 2013

1 votes

"Back in my day, we had an NHL!"

3 votes

4 votes | Poll has closed

A Look Back at the Jaw-dropping, Hilarious and Stupid Home Runs of the 2012 Season

2012-10-31T07:35:24Z

The 2012 Major League Baseball season concluded with the best hitter on the planet striking out looking on an 89 MPH fastball right down the middle. Baseball is weird. If baseball wasn't so crazy, and things happened the way the majority of us think they should happen, Miguel Cabrera would have murdered that pitch 15 rows deep in left field. But he didn't. Lucky for us, there were many, MANY more awesome home runs that actually DID happen in this gloriously strange season. I'm here to show you the best of the best, some of which actually suck. I find them all incredible and hilarious in their own ways. Enjoy !

BALL GO FAR

Giancarlo Stanton Hits A Baseball 494 Feet:

This is the first of Stanton's multiple appearances on this list, and with good reason. The guy is a tank. He's laughably strong, and even if you wanna credit Coors Field with the distance of this bomb, it's safe to say that Stanton supplied the bulk of the power. Something always worth watching in these home run clips is the catcher's reaction as soon as the ball is hit. The slow-mo shot at :39 of Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario jerking his head away in disappointment is just hilarious. I also like the left fielder just hopelessly watching the ball fly into the seats. Sums up the Rockies' season pretty well. My favorite part has to be at :11, the fan that looks legitimately angry to have not caught the ball. Dude, do you see where you're sitting ? You're like 50 rows up in dead center field !