<Gene Wilder>My name is Frahhnkunschteen!</Gene Wilder>
“Fukudome” looks like it’d be a good name for a covered ballpark or stadium.
Anyway, this is the team that already has a player named “Ryan The Riot” and another named after a dessert. (Mmmm… pie…)
Because they weren’t very good last year, and I don’t think this year’s squad is much better. The W-L record was an illusion; they were remarkably lucky, wining 88 games while actually allowing more runs than they scored. The team should really be judged going forward from the 79-83 record they SHOULD have had.
If Bedard remains healthy all year he could be a huge boost, but I’m not sure I trust him to remain healthy all year.
Never having the chance to hear him pronounce this name, late one afternoon, after a few beers, makes the passing of Harry Cary all the more sad.
The player who won’t lead the league in outs made. It should be an easy decision.
Being a jackrabbit is worthless unless you’re actually on the basepaths.
I
missed this the first time though, but I am incredulous anyone would want to play Pierre over Ethier.
Ethier is not just a bit better; he’s a LOT better, and it doesn’t matter if the team has power or not. Ethier is a better player in any lineup that has ever been fielded in the history of baseball.
Juan Pierre would be a useful bench player, and he would be a fine regular is only he could get his on base percentage up back to where it was with Florida, but as it stands he’s way below Andre Ethier’s level of production. As a regular he eats outs and his stolen bases doesn’t come close to making up for it. All of Pierre’s baserunning last year was probably not worth ten runs.
Oh, and Ethier is just 25 years old, so he’s got lots of room to improve.
Granderson broke his finger. Time to test the Tigers depth already.
Although this will still be Coco’s last year due to Ellsbury, he really is actually playing very well. I’ve been impressed by him, and he seems to be really healthy starting this season as well. I listened to him crack off a triple this morning around 9AM from Japan.
Anyone else going to wake up early to watch Sox vs. A’s Tuesday morning?
Toronto released Reed Johnson today, making him Exhibit A of a player who was gotten rid of a year too late. In November 2006 I was screaming for him to be traded; instead, in typical J.P. Ricciardi fashion, they waited for him to be worthless before letting him go.
This means the left field platoon will be significantly worse, since the righthanded hitter half, Shannon Stewart, doesn’t really hit lefties any better than Johnson did and neither he nor Stairs can field. Take 1 win away from Toronto, maybe 2 if Stewart gets hurt.
Scott Rolen broke a finger today; take a win, maybe two from Toronto.
They’re back to about 88-74.
Paging Brandon Inge. Paging Brandon Inge!
Texas Rangers:
Going into ST, they knew the starting rotation was their biggest concern.
Uh… yeah. It’s still that. We’ve already got a starter shut down for opening day.
There are still some uncertain spots in the bullpen, but overall that looks all right to me.
Josh Hamilton, our new CF, is a monster at bat and in the outfield. I’m not worried about our OF at all, really. Even though they insist on saying Milton Bradley will be out there eventually.
My only concern with the infield is Ben Broussard, the first baseman. He hasn’t seemed too… well, impressive. Big shoes to fill and all, following Teixeira. There are, however, 3 outfielders on the 40-man roster who are also first-base capable. I bet we’ll be okay.
If Seattle sucks this year - and no, I haven’t been paying attention to Seattle - maybe we have a chance at #2 in the AL West. If Seattle is normal this year, we’ll be thrilled to death with third place.
When have the Rangers *ever * had a respectable pitching staff? Not even the putzes who pitched the 4 of 5 days Nolan Ryan didn’t qualified as one.
This is actually a very interesting question, because I’ve been following baseball all my life and I can’t ever remember the Rangers having a good pitching staff. Even when they won division titles.
I looked it up and there were a few times in the 70s they had good pitching staffs. That’s about it.
Ankiel has to be one of the greatest reclamation stories of American sport. I truly never expected him to reach the majors again, and to do it in such a different capacity is amazing.
Rasmus is already on youtube, and I saw him mentioned in a baseball magazine as the #3 impact rookie for this season. I’d love to have him replacing Edmonds essentially, soon.
Seattle has a very weird team on paper. Starting pitching ranges from good to tentatively great, with a relief corps only marginally worse than last year’s above-average group. Offense, however, is no better, and probably worse. It’s a bunch of contact hitters, plus a couple of so-called sluggers who haven’t been delivering the goods. Not to mention, with only a couple of exceptions, they’re really slow on the basepaths. The desperate hope of management is for a whole slew of low-scoring contests, in which Mariners pitching keeps the games within reach of the puny offense.
There’s no reason to think Oakland or Texas will represent much of a threat, so the safe bet has been to pick the M’s as a weak second-place finisher in the division. However, now that Anaheim’s starting pitching has suffered a near-catastrophic one-two blow at the top of the rotation, the picture is decidedly fuzzy.
If absolutely everything works out for the Mariners, they have a (remote) chance at controlling a middling-to-poor division. Even that happens, they’ll struggle to get 90 wins. They desperately need one big (and reliable, and non-streaky) bat in the lineup; without it the season’s going to be a serious grind.
Is there an official non-fantasy baseball thread up yet? I’m gearing up to listen to my second game of the MLB season.
Not yet, but then for most of us, it is still Spring Training.
I am jealous, I was watching the game for a few minutes on ESPN, but it was not on my local radio. I searched the entire AM band. It was 4-0 Oakland when I got my last update.
I was reviewing the entire AL again. I have one strong conclusion. Baltimore is clearly the worst team in the AL and by a decent margin. They should end up losing over 100.
Texas has little chance of rising as high as second and are more likely to take fourth behind Oakland.
Chris Woodward made the type of error yesterday that should finish off his chances of making the team.
AL West Prediction by Jim:
**Angels ** will win though they still have no protection for Vlad, they appear to have a slight edge over …
**Mariners ** will come in second based on their Starting Rotation and hit and run offense.
The **Rangers ** should have enough to beat out…
**A’s ** who look inept almost everywhere. One starter and and little line up.
Al Central:
The Tigers should win but will be counting on Willis, Robertson, Bonderman and Rogers all have bounce back years. That might be asking a lot with their bullpen. I think they have the second best line-up in the Majors behind the Yanks.
**The Indians ** have a really good pitching staff and a good line-up. They could take the division or at least the Wild Card.
Twins & Whitesox: Flip a coin and it don’t matter, neither will challenge.
The Royals are still last in the central, but they have improved enough that I could see then sneaking into fourth if one of the others stumble.
Well that is my AL round-up. I leave the NL for NL fans.
Jim
**Oakland beat Boston 5-1 to bring both teams to 1-1 records. **
So my Dodgers are taking on the Red Sox this weekend, including a great historic game at the Coliseum on Saturday. Has it ever happened before that a team has played in exhibition games AFTER playing games on the regular season schedule? And is Oakland playing any exhibition games during the remainder of this week?
Yes, it has happened before. For a few decades the Yanks and Mets played a game called the Mayor’s Trophies Game in mid-season.
Additionally, I think when the Yanks played Tampa in Japan, both teams had a few exhibition games after returning.
Oakland A’s are playing three games against the Giants. Friday the 28th & Sunday at At AT&T Park (SF) and the Saturday game At McAfee Coliseum (Oak).