Big Coaching Moves in St. Louis

No I am not talking about Tony LaRussa signing a one year extension with the Cards as Manager. I am talking about Big Mac becoming the hitting Coach! McGwire has been out of the spotlight since his famous Congressional hearing where he was "Not here to talk about the past." Well Mark, the whole basis of the hearing was to get all you roided up freaks to ummmm Talk about the past!

It just goes to show you that any public figure who is held in high regards and is behind a huge scandal can always get there way back into the publics good graces. All you have to do is stay out of limelight for a few years and boom, all is forgiven.

I can't actually say that I despise McGwire for several reasons.

1. Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire had made baseball interesting again and rejuvenated a dying game.

2. I still think he was Innocent. Both him and Slammin Sammy were just taking Flinstone vitamins.

Everyone in Major League Baseball, Owners, Management, Coaches, players, media, and fans can all be blamed for the Steroid era, because the bottom line was it was exciting and put fans in the seats. Now everyone wants to do the right thing and pretend they had no idea what was going on and play dumb. No one in the media asked the tough questions when this was happening, they were too busy covering another monster slam by the Bash Brothers. Did anyone in the Owners box or in MLB front office get suspicious when Sammy Sosa smashed about 25 home runs alone in the month of June one year? Of course not.

Mark McGwire is only a career .263 hitter and is an interesting hitting coach selection...almost seems more of a publicity move. I can picture him kinda being like Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite giving advice to young players. "You see that arch out there in, I bet you I can hit a baseball over those arches." Maybe he can have his son still sit in the dugout and run and give him high fives every time a player gets a home run like the old days.

Two more statements on this. The first is that you have the purest, best baseball player in the world in Albert Pujols who to this day has not been really linked with Steroids and PHDs, and now you want to cloud suspicion by bringing in the master of it all.

And second, either the Cubs are going to make a retaliatory move by hiring Sammy Sosa as there newest hitting coach or Mark McGwire may bring him on the Cardinals as an independent Consultant. God knows if Steroids don't work for this team then Sammy can always cork a bat to get the job done. These guys are slime, and the MLB loves it.

In Need of a Holliday

I'm sure you all saw what happened in the St. Louis/LAD game, but in case you missed it the Cardinals got a gem of an outing from Adam Wainwright and led 2-1 in the Bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and no one on. Ryan Franklin induced what looked to be a routine line drive at Matt Holliday who was jogging in for the catch to tie the series at 1-1 when suddenly the unthinkable happened - he missed it. It never even hit his glove, it hit him right in his stomach. The Dodgers ended up rallying and won 3-2.
Wainwright threw incredible though I heard him complaining "I don't think they should be allowed to wave white towels when we're trying to catch a white ball" Shut it down, Wainwright. No one else had a problem catching the ball, Holliday just blew it, no excuses, period.

I would like to point out an excellent bit of managing by Joe Torre that not many will credit but in hindsight may have won them the game. In the top of the 8th, with the Dodgers trailing 2-1, the Cardinals had Pujols leading off (with Holliday and Ludwick also due up)...so who does Torre wheel out of his bullpen? His closer, Johnathan Broxton. This is such an easy decision but it's not one most managers would make. Broxton got them to go 1-2-3 and the rest is history. If he went with anyone else there is a very good chance The Cards would have scratched some more runs and they would be headed back to St. Louis 1-1.

Hamels got beat and didn't look too sharp. Aaron Cook was dominating. I don't want to give the game too much credit as the umpire was miserable. He was giving Cook pitches about 6 inches off the plate. To his credit, Cook noticed this and utilized it more effectively than Hamels...but the umpiring in almost every game this playoffs has been brutal...and speaking of which...

The umpiring in the Red Sox/Angels game last night was absolutely the worst I have ever seen. The 1st base ump was criminally bad missing routine calls that were obvious to the naked eye on a non-high def 13" tv to me. There was also a terrible call at 3rd..and the balls/strikes calls behind the plate were laughable. Again, credit Lackey for noticing this and taking advantage of it...I also would like to say that it appeared to me (and I did bet Boston so I'll acknowledge a possible bias) that especially early on Lackey got every strike call on close pitches and Lester got nothing..they even showed Lester pitches clearly in the K zone that were called balls and Lackey with pitches inches outside it that were strikes. Hopefully the umps get it together because that is not what should be the focus in these games...

Kudos to Torii Hunter for breaking the game open with a 3-run moonshot.


Yanks should roll through the Twins again today.

Interesting game will be Beckett vs. Weaver. I think the winner of this game will probably take the series.

Phils and Colo head back to Denver and it will be interesting to see...Phils used Blanton and Happ out of the bullpen so it appears they'll go with Pedro. Happ only faced one batter though and got hit in the leg - Manuel immediately pulled him..so maybe he would be available. More than likely it's Pedro with Happ being the first up if he gets in early trouble. Phils should not be in this situation - they over-worked Pedro in meaningless regular season games and now need him to come up big. The lineup better come up big or I think the Rocks take the lead.

MLB

Day one of the actual MLB playoffs was quite the success. There was a lot of wind, some great performances and a bit of a surprise that perhaps shouldn't have been...

First, the Yankees somehow really do have that feel of those Championship teams from the late 90's. The lineup has power at nearly every spot. They got 29 homers out of a role player like Nick Swisher. The bullpen has rounded into form and they have some reasonable to outstanding starting pitching.

That said, I think everyone may be going a bit over-board using last night's win as reason enough to already crown this team. We have seen it everywhere - this team is just too good, etc etc. Look, CC Sabathia went out there and beat Brian Duensing in a game the Yanks were trailing an exhausted, average Twins team at one point. On the same day we saw the Phillies bats wake up against a very good pitcher in Ubaldo Jimenez as Cliff Lee nearly threw a complete game shut-out. The Dodgers, a very talented, well-managed club beat Chris Carpenter. Tonight the Yankees kryptonite (the Angels) square off against a somehow flying-under-the-radar Boston team. I'm not saying the Yankees shouldn't win (by the way I thought CC was incredibly sharp and answered all questions surrounding his last start vs. Tampa)...but it's not going to be as easy as everyone seems to think it will.

Today we have some great matchups: At 2:30 the Phils should move to 2-0 as Cole Hamels takes on Aaron Cook. It's an important start to see if Cole Hamels has still got something left in the tank. If Hamels pitches a gem everyone else should be on note that the Phils are ready to defend their title.

The 6 o'clock game pits Clayton Kershaw against Adam Wainwright. Kershaw, the incredibly talented young southpaw can be dominant at times..and can also be prone to getting bombed. Wainwright has been perhaps the team's most consistent pitcher this year...in a series most people expected the Cardinals to walk, it looks like the Dodgers are going to give them more than they bargained for.

At 9:30 it's Lackey vs Lester. Will it be the Angels or the Red Sox attempting to beat the Yankees in the ALCS? The winner of this game has the inside track.

Gonzalez and Halladay Stay: Victor Headed to Beantown

The Red Sox acquired Victor Martinez for Justin Masterson and a couple minor league arms in Hagadone and Price. Some pretty good arms given up, but this was a far more reasonable price than the one that was reportedly being discussed for Adrian Gonzalez. The Sox also flipped LaRoche to the Braves for Casey Kotchman. I guess they wanted to get themselves a good defensive 1st baseman for the stretch run. It will be interesting to see how they go about using all of these guys and how much Martinez catches.

The White Sox received Jake Peavy for four young arms: LHP Aaron Poreda, LHP Clayton Richard, RHP Dexter Carter and RHP Adam Russell. Bizarre as this is essentially the same move that was agreed to in May which Peavy vetoed. It is unclear in what capacity Peavy will be available this year, but he is signed through I believe 2012 so it is a move for the future.

The Marlins made a great move acquiring Nick Johnson from the Nats. Lefty Aaron Thompson was shipped out, I don't know much about him but I do know that Johnson should be huge for that Florida lineup. They desperately needed someone to get on-base ahead of Hanley and they should bat Johnson second, though that remains to be seen.

For some reason the Reds gave up Edwin Encarnacion and someone else for Scott Rolen. I'd rather have Edwin despite his struggles this year.

Yanks picked up Jerry Hairston Jr. So much for countering the Bo Sox.

That is all I have seen...not sure if any more will come rolling in late, but Halladay is reportedly staying put.

Talking Trades

The O's just shipped out left-handed closer George Sherill to the Dodgers, who now have a bullpen which should be completely dominant.

The Pirates have now traded away 13 players from their 08 opening day roster. Most recently shipped were tom gorzelanny and john grabow, a pair of lefties, to the Cubs. I will say I loved the move they made shipping the disgruntled Ian Snell and piece of shit Jack Wilson to the Mariner's, pulling Jeff Clement, a top catching prospect (who may or may not be able to catch, but most certainly can hit, and if he does it while catching this move will have been an absolute heist).

Great move by the Cardinals to get Holliday. That lineup just got ridiculously better and Holliday is going to feel like he's back at Coors hitting alongside Pujols. I'm sure Billy Beane brought the A's back plenty of talent, but the move immediately makes St. Louis a bonafide contender and was therefore a no-brainer.

The other big move was obviously the Phillies acquiring Cliff Lee. Doing so without sending out top pitching prospect Drabek was a brilliant move. Makes sense for the Indians and while they got some nice prospects, I would have held out for Drabek. This also, I would imagine, leaves the door open for the Phils acquiring Halladay still, though it won't happen..could still be considered I suppose.


So today we will sit around and wait to see what happens. Certainly the Yanks, Sox and Rays will all be looking to make a move, and it will be interesting to see if any one team makes a move, if the others feel compelled to counter.
Adrian Gonzalez and Victor Martinez appear to be the most likely big names to be dealt - I think Victor is definitely going to get moved. Halladay talks are not dead as was reported, but it's starting to look more like he may stay put. Fantasy baseball players everywhere will be watching to see if Chad Qualls is shipped and a few other closers. Should be interested and we will update as news comes in with a little more analysis on the prospects and such from here on out.

The Best Closer in Baseball?

After Mariano Rivera recently notched his 500th save and with the starting pitcher post, I started to think about who the best Closer in baseball is today. I think we can all agree all-time that Rivera is the best, with Trevor Hoffman ranking second. But let's look at what the best closers in the game have done so far this year:

Heath Bell and Brian Fuentes lead the MLB with 22 saves each. Joe Nathan, Fransisco Rodriguez and Brian Wilson are next with 21. Johnathan Papelbon and Mariano Rivera each have 20.

Heath Bell, Joe Nathan, K-Rod, Papelbon, Fransisco Cordero, Ryan Franklin, Revor Hoffman, David Aardsma all have over 15 saves with an ERA under 2.

Who is really having the best season though?
Enter Johnathan Broxton and his 2.15 ERA. 19/21 on save opportunities, he is 6-0 with an astounding 62 strikeouts in 37.2 IP. Allowing just 16 hits, he has walked 13 batters.
Those are some gaudy statistics, and yet Broxton doesn't seem to get as much publicity as some of the other closers. Perhaps that is because, like W/L record for starters, people still overrate save totals for closers. He can't give himself the opportunity to close out a game, he can only do so when he gets the chance.

Heath Bell has a 1.34 ERA, but with 20 hits, 14 BBs, 36 Ks in 33.2 IP, in no way has he been anything but more fortunate than Broxton (Petco Park anyone?)

Rivera, for all the talk of him not being what he once was, is actually turning in a fine season...despite a 2.76 ERA, he is 20/21 in save opportunities, allowing 28 hits in 32.2 IP, but putting up a ridiculous (even for him) 40/3 K/BB rate. His 5 home runs allowed, is likely a bit of a product of Yankee Stadium turning into Coors Field as well.

The other guy having a truly tremendous season is, of course, Joe Nathan. A 1.44 ERA, he has converted 21/23 save opps. In 31.1 IP, he has allowed 18 hits and just 6 walks to 39 Ks.


While we keep hearing about Heath Bell, Brian Fuentes, K-Rod and Papelbon, I dare say Rivera, Nathan and Broxton have been head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the closers in the Majors.

The Best Starting Pitcher in Baseball?

After last night pitching yet another gem, going 7 innings, allowing one run, striking out eight, walking just one, while going 2-2 with a double and a homer (.286 on the season), I got to wondering - is there a better starting pitcher than Dan Haren in baseball? And why do we never hear about him as much as the other big names? He has a .81 WHIP in 115 innings as a starter so far this year, that is absolutely insane.
Zack Greinke: 1.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 6.3 K/BB
Dan Haren: 2.19 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 7.5 K/BB
Tim Lincecum: 2.37 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 4.7 K/BB
Felix Hernandez:2.54 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 3.3 K/BB
Roy Halladay: 2.56 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, 6.8 K/BB
Matt Cain: 2.57 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 7.5 K/9, 2.1 K/BB
Jered Weaver: 2.65 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 7.3 K/9, 2.6 K/BB
Josh Johnson: 2.76 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 7.6 K/9, 3.4 K/BB
Yovani Gallardo:2.86 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 2.3 K/BB
Javier Vazquez: 3.04 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 5.4 K/BB
Johan Santana: 3.34 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 3.1 K/BB
Justin Verlander:3.4 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 10.8 K/9, 3.7 K/BB
Josh Beckett: 3.48 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 8.6 K/9, 2.9 K/BB
CC Sabathia: 3.55 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 6.44 K/9, 2.5 K/BB

That is a pretty good lineup of insanely good pitching performances so far this year. I even excluded a number of guys with sparkling ERAs since I am fully confident they are flukes - Edwin Jackson, Kevin Milwood, Jair Jurjjens, Johnny Cueto, Zack Duke, Doug Davis, Nick Blackburn, Joel Piniero to name a bunch. I prefer K/9 and K/BB to the traditional counting statistics because it shows how efficient pitchers are performing, while there is something to be said about eating up innings, for the most part these guys are doing a fairly similar job in IP per start.

Tim Lincecum holds the major league lead with 132 strikeouts, Javier Vazquez is next with 125 strikeouts, ahead of Justin Verlander with 124.

I believe Roy Halladay, 10-2, and Zaxk Greinke, 10-3, are the only pitchers with double-digit wins so far, Matt Cain, Chad Billingsley, Johan Santana and Josh Beckett each have 9.

Interestingly, while Haren has been the best pitcher so far, with a quality start in 15/16 starts, he is only 7-5... and that's after his win last night. A quality start is awarded when a pitcher goes at least 6 innings allowing 3 runs or fewer. Haren leads the majors in Quality Start percentage at 94%. Josh Johnson is next with an 88% (14 QS in 16 starts). Billingsley is 14/17, Lincecum and Greinke are each 13/16, Cliff Lee 13/17.

Alright, so there are a bunch of stats with Haren probably grading out the best, then Greinke, then Halladay, then Vazquez, then Lincecum, then Verlander. But who would you take if you had to win just one game? Would it be Haren? I dare say based on this season's performance (not to mention pitching in a hitter's park), I would take Haren. Roy Halladay, however, has done it for so long now, that I would probably take him, gun to the head. My third choice would probably be Lincecum...and I probably wouldn't take Greinke, Vazquez or Verlander before Johan or CC.

Stephen Strasburg, you're the next contestant on the price is right...

Being right around the corner from Nationals Park I feel compelled to touch on this Stephen Strasburg story. The Washington Nationals are terrible as expected. They invested some money this offseason on slugger Adam Dunn and I hate to say, but they actually have a solid nucleus of young positional players. Not that any of these guys are studs, but Lastings Milledge, Christian Guzman, Adam Dunn, Dukes, Zimmerman, etc...The Nationals actually don't put a poor product on the field.

The main problem is pitching. The staff is absolutely horrendous and they can't protect a lead, or get consistent starting outings from the pitching staff. The starting rotation for the Nats right now is John Lannan, Shairon Martis, Jordan Zimmermann, Ross Detwiler, and Craig Stammen (Scott Olsen and Kip Wells on the DL). A couple young arms in Lannan and Zimpeice, but not really a line-up that is going to win many series as evident in their 15-41 record (but hey, they are only 18 games back).

I have been to three Nats games this year, 2 against the bravos, and one against the cards. The only reason I went to those games is because I am a braves fan, and my buddy is a cards fan. I am convinced that no one goes to the stadium unless the opposing team interests you. The two braves games I went to I sat right behind the braves dugout for a combined price of $5 dollars for two nights. Night number one, no one was at the ballpark, slight rain delay, and by the time the game started we were able to sit down first row. I got some good reactions out of Timmy Hudson as I kept mentioning to him the peice he did with Eddie Perez. The 2nd night some drunk guy outside the stadium gave us lower level seats for free after he tried to scalp them for us for $40 bucks, we said no, and he said okay just take them. The guy was an expert salesmen.

Back to the point of this peice, the Washington Nationals made a huge potential boost to their future and pitching staff by selecting Stephen Strasburg number one overall in this years MLB draft. The stats as mulldog eluded to are unreal on paper. 13-1 record, 1.32 ERA, 65 hits allowed, 16 earned runs, 19 walks and 195 strike outs. There is never a sure thing, especially in the MLB draft which is so hit and miss. Thought scouts have never been so in love, and hyped up someone as much as this kid. The main problem comes in signing this pitcher to a deal. For those of you who weren't aware, last year the Nats picked pitcher Aaron Crow with the 9th overall pick. In a similar situation they failed to sign Crow, who decided to play a year in an independent minor league for the year, re-entering the draft, and being selected this year 12th overall by Kansas City (Tough draw for Crow, nationals then KC....aich). If the Nats aren't carefull they will wind up in a similar situation

As if things weren't going to be hard enough to convince this prospect to sign with the Nationals, the front office has the unfortunate task of dealing with agent Scott Boras. Boras has mentioned that Strasburg will command somewhere in the ballpark of $50M. That is obviously a huge overestimate as the previous highest deal for a Pitcher was $10.5 for Mark Prior back in the day. Ultimately I think this comes down to what Strasburg wants to do. I think that come the end of the signing period he will be looking close to a $15M deal in the face (maybe $20M) but I have a hard time thinking they are going to shell out any more for a guy who has never thrown a major league inning let alone did not even play in one of the best college conferences.

I have heard a rumor that he could test the market out in Japan, sort of what NBA players are doing with Europe. If he could get a crazy Japanese team to put up $30-40 mill for this guy it might be to hard to pass up. The Japanese team would be banking him having a great year and then having MLB teams get into a bidding war as they did with Dice K just to post the rights to attempt to deal with him. Though Strasburg would be at the mercy of signing only with the team that had his rights, it would most likely be a big market team like the Sox or Yankees who can spend that type of money.

Nats front office members better hope they find a way to sign this kid for the mere chance that is adds some buzz around the Potomac, because right now, the only way I am getting dragged to the game is if I have free tickets or a good team is in town.