27 Outs is Baseball Inside and Out of the Box

The Fire Sale Begins

jbost06 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:09:19 +0000

As many people around baseball expected Richie Sexson was released today by the Seattle Mariners. He was hitting a dismal .218/.315/.381 with 11 homeruns and 30 RBI’s. It will be interesting to see if a contending team will take a chance on Sexson. I think this is the begining of the Seattle Mariners fire sale. Guys like Beltre, Vidro, Ibanez, Cairo, Johjima, Washburn, Batista, and Rhodes might be on there way out of Seattle. They need to rebuild there farm system after trading it all away for Erik Bedard who today went on the DL. Some of these veterans could be impact players down the stretch for some contending teams that need help.

General Managers Possibly on the Hot Seat

jbost06 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:48:11 +0000

So far this season we have seen Wayne Krivsky and Bill Bavasi get canned. Most of the General Managers in baseball right now seem pretty secure but there are a few guys on the hot seat.

Omar Minaya: The Mets have been surrounded with the drama this year. Everything from Gary Carter calling the Mets to tell them if the Managerial position became vacant that he would be interested to the firing of Willie Randolph and the way in which it was done. If the Mets do not make the playoffs I think Omar Minaya’s job could be in trouble. With the 2nd highest payroll in the Majors not making the playoffs for the 2nd straight year could make Omar Minaya’s seat a little uncomfortable.

J.P. Ricciardi: The Blue Jays have been hit with the injury bug this year and Alex Rios and Vernon Wells arent playing as well as they would have hoped. To top it off Ricciardi talked major trash about Adam Dunn on the radio. Then apologized to Dunn and turned out it was just a prankster pretending to be Adam Dunn. Along with a 97 million dollar payroll and sitting in last place in the AL East probably will not be tolerated for much longer.

Jim Bowden: I have to think since the Washington Nationals are currently the worst team in baseball that their GM might be on the hot seat. What Bowden does have going for him is that the payroll is not astronomical and is pretty reasonable. If he can make some good deals at the deadline and get good prospects in return I think he will be able to buy more time but I dont know how much time he has left.

Other GM that could be on the hot seat are Kevin Towers in San Diego, Ned Colletti of the Dodgers, and Brian Sabean of the Giants. I dont know if Colletti’s job is in trouble but recently there have been rumors flying around that Dodgers owner Frank McCourt nixed a trade to acquire CC Sabathia. As for Kevin Towers, I dont see this guy being in too much trouble just because he has done such a good job with the Padres over the years but with Sandy Alderson coming out and saying the Padres are defenite sellers it makes me wonder. And Sabean’s biggest mistake is Barry Zito. Zito has struggled most of the season but if Zito can turn it around I think Sabean could be safe for a while.

NL West – Trade Deadline

jbost06 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:04:47 +0000

The National League West is by far the worst division in baseball. I am going to share with you what I think each team needs to do before the trade deadline.

Arizona Diamondbacks: They got out to a smoking hott start in April and have fallen off ever since. Their young guns such as Justin Upton, Chris Young and company have slowed down considerably with the bat. Also pitchers Micah Owings and Randy Johnson performed well early on and have struggled since. They need to add a bat and a middle of the rotation pitchers. I have been hearing rumors that the Diamondbacks have had some discussions about Barry Bonds. Another name floating out there is Mark Teixeira. The Diamondbacks defenitely have the talent to get Teix. As for a pitcher somebody like Jared Washburn would be a good fit and since the Mariners are going to have a fire sale they could probably get him at a good price.

Los Angeles Dodgers: If you have seen any games this year in which the Dodgers were playing chances are they did not score very many runs. They have had considerable trouble hitting the ball and scoring runs but somehow are still in the National League West race. The Dodgers have had a slew of injuries to Rafael Furcal, Andruw Jones, Nomar Garciaparra, and Brad Penny. Those are just to name a few. There was rumors that the Dodgers were going to acquire CC Sabathia but the Owner Frank McCourt nixed the deal. There is no question the Dodgers need a bat but unless they find a bat at the shortstop position I am not sure where the Dodgers would put him. There has been rumor the Dodgers are interested in names like Jack Wilson and David Eckstein but that is not much of an upgrade.

San Francisco Giants: The biggest suprise of the National League West by far. Every baseball analyst picked them to finish in last place. The Giants have had great pitching from Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain and terrible pitching from Barry Zito. The Giants are mix of young players such as Fred Lewis, Emmanuel Burriss, and Travis Denker with some good veterans like Aaron Rowand, Randy Winn, and Bengie Molina. The Giants have been overachieving with their current team but I do not think this is their year. So if I was Brian Sabean I would try to get even younger. They have done a nice job of that but with Omar Vizquel, Rich Aurillia, and Ray Durham having solid years and could really contribute to a contending team down the stretch. They should trade off these veterans to get some good young talent.

Colorado Rockies: Have been the second biggest suprise in the west behind the Giants only because they have been terrible thus far. The Rockies have underachieved due to the lack of pitching and the handful of injuries suffered. I think the Rockies should be buyers before the deadline. Why not go for it again. By far the Rockies have the best offense in the West when healthy by great lengths. With a healthy Matt Holiday, Brad Hawpe, Garrett Atkins and Troy Tulowitski. If they can get Tulo going after his second stint from the DL this year and upgrade their pitching before the deadline the Rockies could make another historic run. They are the most dangerous team in the National League West.

San Diego Padres: The Padres had the best pitching staff coming into the season but with a lack of offense the pitching staff has struggled. The Padres have also had their own fair share of injuries to Peavy and Young. The Padres have some good prospects up right now starting with Chase Headley and Josh Banks. I think the Padres have some good veterans that can be moved to a contender such as Brian Giles, Randy Wolf, and Greg Maddux. All 3 of those guys could net the Padres some solid prospects that are close to coming to the big leagues.

All in all the National West consist of 3 buyers and 2 sellers. With the Rockies being the most dangerous team of all. It will be very interesting to see what happends in the National League West. Whatever team gets hott after the All-Star Break will win the West.

Making Sense of Recent Trades

jbost06 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:32:09 +0000

In the past 48 hours we have seen CC Sabathia and Rich Harden dealt to contending teams. With this we have seen a total of 8 prospects traded for these 2 guys. Sabathia was the 2007 Cy Young Award winner and was basically given to the brewers for 1 big prospect in Matt LaPorta and the rest just okay prospects. As for Harden the Cubs traded the A’s pennies on the dollar for Harden. Beane said that he would have to be wowed to trade Harden and he basically gave him away for Matt Murton and Shaun Gallagher. Not to take anything away from these guys Rich Harden has showed some dependablity this year and looks like a very good 2 starter. If he can stay healthy throughout the rest of the season the Cubs will win the Central Division and the Brewers will look like fools for trading for Sabathia. And this is not the first time a big transaction like this hasnt worked out the way teams wanted it too. For Example, the trade for Mark Teixeira to the Braves for a kings ransom of prospects to the Rangers and the Braves did not make the playoffs. Another example is Carlos Lee going to the Rangers in 2006 and the Rangers at the time were just a game and a half out of first place and did not make the playoffs. What it comes down to is that the teams that do not disrupt the team chemistry and add a little pieces to the puzzle usually turn out better than adding a big name at the trading deadline. I think the Cubs and Brewers will battle down the stretch but look for the Brewers to fade down the stretch again due to the lack of pitching beyond Sabathia and Sheets.

What is going on in the NL West?

jbost06 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:22:37 +0000

What is going on in the NL West? If you follow baseball at all you will know that the NL West does not have a team over .500. The Diamondbacks started boiling hot and looked like they were going to run away from the division. Then we have the defending National League Champion Colorado Rockies. This team went on one of the best runs of all time to get to the World Series but this team has struggled tremendously due to injuries and the horrendous starting pitching. Francis, Jimenez, and Morales have been dimsle. Next is the Los Angeles Dodgers many picked the Dodgers to win the NL West due to the fact that they have loads of young talent accompanied by seasoned vets such as Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, and Derek Lowe. But they have been flooded with injuries and the loss of Rafael Furcal is huge. The San Diego Padres arent looking too good right. Many people in baseball thought the Padres would be a solid team due to the starting pitching they had going into the season and it keep them in contention in April but after that they have been anemic on offense and injuries to Peavy and Young did not help either. Lastly the Giants are probably the biggest surprise in the division they were picked by everyone to finish last in the division and with some of their young pieces playing well they have a good chance to finish at least 3rd in the division. The National League West is easily up for grabs. I would give the inside edge to the Dodgers because they have Nomar Garciaparra and Andruw Jones coming back this weekend against the Giants. Andruw cannot possibly play any worse than he was we went on the DL. And I am confident the Dodgers can go out and get a pitcher and bat at the deadline because of the amount of prospects the Dodgers have in their system. I say the Dodgers win the division by 5 games over Arizona.

Clayton Kershaw optioned to Double A

jbost06 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:20:09 +0000

Today the Dodgers announced that Clayton Kershaw would be sent down to Double A Jacksonville and activated Hiroki Kuroda. Dodgers skipper Joe Torre said “We made the move, not because he wasn’t handling it, but we’ve got pitchers coming back.” But Kershaw did not seem to accept the Dodgers reasoning behind the move. He said “They can say they don’t have enough room. But they sent me up when they didn’t have enough room. All those guys were healthy then.” Kershaw seemed to be having the time of his life while up in the big leagues. He has just been far to inconsistent for the Dodgers liking right now. I am sure that Kershaw will be back with the squad sometime after the All-Star break.

Baseball Traditionalist Need to Unify With Sabermetrics

jbost06 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:53:34 +0000

The sabermetric charge lead by Bill James and Baseball Prospectus have opened the eyes to different statistics such as On Base Percentage and VORP(Value Over Replacement Player). Many baseball traditionalist have rejected sabermetrics and its followers due to the traditional ways of scouting and many baseball traditionalist have argued that they already use statistics to analyze the game. The sabermetrics community along with the traditional baseball men need to end the division amongst who is right and who is wrong and just realize that in order to win you must have effective scouting along with in depth statistcal analysis with not just traditional stats such as batting average or homeruns but with VORP, FRAR, OBP, EqA and so forth.

A Week in Review

jbost06 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:42:21 +0000

Lets see this week started out with some more interleague play which all the players seem to despise. Then we see the Umpire in Kansas City this week have to leave the game due to being struck with a broken bat. We also umpire Brian Runge bump Mets skipper Jerry Manuel and be suspended for it. We have seen the Padres lose every single game this week. We saw the Dodgers win a game without a hit and finally we saw interleague play come to a close. And people say baseball is boring.

Dodgers NO HIT but WIN!

jbost06 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:16:06 +0000

Yes, you read correct the Dodgers were collectively no hit by the Angels Saturday night even though the Elias Sports Bureau does not consider that a no hitter due to the Angels only pitching 8 innings. Nevertheless the Dodgers did not have a hit and still won the game. Matt Kemp reached base via an error and stole second then advanced to third on the bad throw by the Angels catcher Jeff Mathis. Then he scored on the sac fly hit by Blake DeWitt. That just goes to show you how much the Dodgers and Angels are struggling offensively. Luckily for the Dodgers Rafael Furcal, Andruw Jones, and Nomar Garciaparra are starting a rehab assignment in Triple A Las Vegas Monday and the Dodgers are expected to have Furcal and Garciaparra back by the series against the Giants.

Maple Bats

jbost06 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:04:46 +0000

Due to the high volume of maple bats breaking. Major League Baseball is further looking into the risks that maple bats have opposed to ash bats. Looking at the bat situation is a must for Major League Baseball. It is a shame that it takes people getting hurt like the umpire the other night in Kansas City to get Major League Baseballs attention. I think all types of woods should be tested by Major League Baseball to determine which bats are the safiest and most durable. If Major League Baseball doesnt do something about this soon there could be a serious tragedy and that would not be good for the game of baseball.