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Last week's winner: 55555 This week features Jose Lopez painfully failing to field the ball:
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The hype around young Nationals prospect Steven Strasburg has occasionally been compared to the hype that now-legendary Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller would have received if he was coming up in this day and age when the press knows everything about a prospect years before he reaches the majors. Feller was more than just a fantastic pitcher who spent his entire 18-year career with the Tribe of Chief Wahoo, but he also was a patriot who enlisted in the United States Navy the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor early in his career, putting his nation before his baseball career, which gave him the unusual position of being the only Chief Petty Officer in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Feller grew up as a farm boy in Iowa whose father built a baseball field for him, where Feller learned the skills that would make him one of the greatest pitchers of all time. What Feller did on the mound was even more impressive when you realize that he pitched in the era when complete games were what was expected of a starting pitcher. His stats were impressive, even without the years he spent in the Navy, although he played baseball then with his fellow sailors, and considered the ballgames he played in the Navy more fun than any he had played in the Major Leagues, and considered the time he spent serving his country more valuable than any that he spent dominating the world of baseball.
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Rangers vs. Yankees, the showdown was supposed to be. The dark horse was meant to be the Nationals, until they pulled out. And suddenly, Cliff will be playing back at Citizens Bank Park, rather than Yankee Stadium, Nationals Park, or Rangers Ballpark. I suspected that Cliff Lee wouldn't be going to New York, after the way they treated his wife (and I've heard that when the wife isn't happy, nobody's happy), and I figured that he would be going to the Rangers, since they were the up-and-comers and he had made it to the World Series with them. Instead, he went to the team he had gone to the World Series the previous year. Now let's see anyone beat the Phillies now, with a rotation that is dominated by aces: Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels. And maybe Blanton will be pitching every fifth day, but that means that thy would only lose one fifth of their games, added on the the three or four the rest of the rotation would lose. So now the inevitable prediction for the 2011 World Series is Phillies-Red Sox. But of course, the best teams in the offseason don't always make the World Series: See San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers.
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Firstly, Week 4 winner: My sister, Megan51, and a slight bit of rotten editing to apply more to the caption. Secondly, in each edition of the Chicago Cubs' monthly magazine, the Vine Line, there is an illustration in the magazine, and some of them are rather funny. Here's a gallery linking to all of them, on cubs.com: Vine Line Illustrations. Lastly, the new contest image. This is a photo taken of the Wrigley Field Marquis, during the Allstate Wrigleyville Classic football game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats:
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Yep. The team that just traded for Adrian Gonzalez now has Carl Crawford as well. The Yankees are old, the Rays are being torn apart, the Blue Jays are not an elite team, and the O's stink. (Or at least they did before Showalter came in) Can anyone say "Boston Red Sox, 2011 AL East Champions"? How about "Boston Red Sox, 2011 American League Champions"?
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On Day 1 of the Winter Meetings in Orlando, former GM Pat Gillick became Hall of Fame GM Pat Gillick. On Day 2, Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Bill Conlin became J.G. Spink award-winning Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Bill Conlin. Now on Day 3, they are followed as longtime Expos and Marlins announcer Dave Van Horne becomes Ford C. Frick Award-winning longtime Expos and Marlins announcer Dave Van Horne. Van Horne spent 32 years delivering Montreal Expos games to the English-speaking fans in Canada, and most recently, ten years delivering Florida Marlins games to the folks around Miami and all of Florida. This trio were selected by the Veterans Committee, and more will be selected in by the Baseball Writers of America later on, to join last years inductees like Andre Dawson.
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On the South Side, first base will belong once more to Paul Konerko, while Carlos Pena is taking a trip from Tampa Bay to the North Side. Konkerko will continue to play for the White Sox team that has had him on their roster for more than a decade, while Pena will return to the hitting coach he worked with in Texas, Rudy Jaramillo. Konerko will be trying to keep up what he did in 2010, and continue to serve as a South Side icon, while Pena will attempt to bounce back from a season with a .196 average and over 150 Ks, but he also brings Gold Glove fielding skill to the Chicago Cubs, something the North Siders have been used to with Derrek Lee, who is now an Atlanta Brave due to a waiver trade earlier this season.
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Derek Jeter's new contract with the New York Yankees was made official today during the Winter Meetings, and once again I ask--Did anyone think he wouldn't stay in pinstripes? Meanwhile in the Winter Meetings, the Yankees and Rangers continue to meet with Cliff Lee's agent. The 2009 NL Manager of the Year Jim Tracy is recovering from a collapse in the lobby of the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort, home of the Winter Meetings. The Red Sox, Yankees, and Angels meanwhile all are targeting Carl Crawford, former star third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays. The Cardinals are trying to extend Albert Pujols' contract, and 2009 Al Cy Young Winner Zack Greinke may be on the trading block for the Royals.
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As the Winter Meetings begin, many blockbuster deals will take place. Of course, since this is the BaseBlog, you'd have found the info about them here anyway, but we might as well change the blog's look a bit to tell you that.
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Yeah, it's a done deal. Shout for joy, Bo-Sox fans, you got a great player here.
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As some of you know, the Cubs had a waiver trade with the Braves that sent our first baseman and biggest star Derrek Lee to Atlanta. At first, I was hoping the Cubs would pick up Adam Dunn, but now he's with the White Sox, while most of the other options have been taken away so that the top three available are Konerko, Pena, and LaRoche. Konerko is too expensive for the Cubs, and it's doubtful anyway that he'd want to sign with them after so many years on the South Side. That leaves Pena and LaRoche. LaRoche and Pena both have one big problem. Strikeouts. Pena was part of a Rays team that specialized in swinging and missing, and LaRoche was just thirty shy of having 200 Ks on the 2010 season. However, there's an important difference between them. On a Rays team that won the AL East Division title, Pena had a lower average and fewer RBI than LaRoche, although he had three more home runs. LaRoche also has a higher OPS, total of bases, and more doubles and triples than Pena. Pena would also cost more than LaRoche, as he has been playing for the AL East Champion Rays, while LaRoche played for the last place Arizona Diamondbacks. In other words, I hope to see LaRoche at first for the Cubbies in 2011.
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Jayson Werth has signed with the Washington Nationals for a big amount of money and the promise of playing on a team with two fantastic rookies next year, in the form of Steven Strasburg and Bryce Harper, as well as playing with a terrific third baseman in Ryan Zimmerman. In my opinion, a team with those players has a shot at being a slight threat against the Phillies and Braves in the NL East, but it's going to take a little more before they actually become true contenders.
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Hold that thought. Due to troubles with getting an extension, the Red Sox have decided to hold off on the Gonzalez deal for now.
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The Padres had a comeback season, and were two wins away from winning the NL West and upending the San Francisco Giants. But a game #162 loss to the Giants ended the Padres season, and started SF's world series run. Through the past two years, people have been wondering when Gonzalez would finally leave San Diego, and now it has. Gonzalez will be going to the Boston Red Sox, in return for a few prospects. The deal certainly helps the Red Sox, but now we have to know, will the Padres be able to replicate their 2010 season?
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As if anybody doubted that he would. Yanks are also close to resigning Mariano Rivera. The only question now for NYY is who gets Cliff Lee.
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The Chicago Cubs broadcast every one of their baseball games on WGN News Radio 720 AM, and ever since I listened, the two men who gave to game to us over the airwaves were Pat Hughes and Ron Santo. Up until 2008, the only way I could know what was happening in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field is what Pat and Ron said over the airwaves, since we didn't have satellite television until then. My dad knew him as the third baseman for Chicago back in the '60s alongside Ernie banks, Fergie Jenkins, and Billy Williams, listening to Pat Brickhouse make the calls for the '69 Cubs, which was probably the best Cubs team my dad ever saw play. Unfortunately, Santo has been kept out of the Hall, and as Milo Hamilton mentions in the cubs.com article: For a long time, he has been a Cubs legend. His number 10 flies on Wrigley Field's left field foul pole, and has been there ever since 2003 when it was retired. Santo's broadcasting personality was yet another attribute that can be tightly associated with him, like his no. 10. When you listened to a broadcast with Santo in the booth, it was like you were at the park along with a diehard Cubs fan who was wildly interested in what the team was doing. After all, he was a diehard Cubs fan ever since he first signed with the club as a 19 year-old kid from Seattle, even when they had the lowest monetary offer, but Santo would find that the Cubs had a lot more to give than money. Santo died of bladder cancer, and unfortunately was unable to see the Cubs championship he wanted so much before his death.
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Week 3 winner: Night Fury. This week, we have Shin-Soo Choo going after a fly ball hit by David Ortiz at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Fire away, folks.
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Sorry for the delay. The day before I planned to update, a trojan infected our computer, so I had no access to the computer. Anyhow, this week's winner is Sumiki: "That's home plate." This week will be shorter, as I will still announce the winner this Thursday as originally planned. This time, we have a rather creepy photo of Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Jay Gibbons overshadowed by a Piraka-grin car on one of AT&T Park's advertisements. This is during a San Francisco Giants-LA Dodgers rivalry game midway through September:
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The 2010 Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards were handed out to two World Series competitors. The AL honor was given to 40-save Texas Ranger closer Neftali Feliz, and the NL Award was given to star catcher for the San Francisco Giants, Buster Posey. Feliz bolstered a Rangers' bullpen that helped carry the Rangers to their first World Series in team history, and logged in 40 saves during the regular season--a terrific mark for a new pitcher. Buster Posey, meanwhile, helped save the San Francisco Giants season, often bringing up the question during the postseason that the Giants just barely made it into, "Where would they be without Posey?". We know where they are with him--World Series Champions.
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The Hot Stove has been rather cool, and really, I don't have much to write about. Should the BaseBlog become the PuckBlog and be a hockey blog until the baseball season starts again?
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Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards NL C Brian McCann, ATL 1B Albert Pujols, STL 2B Dan Uggla, FLA 3B Ryan Zimmerman, WAS SS Troy Tulowitzki, COL OF Ryan Braun, MIL OF Carlos Gonzalez, COL OF Matt Holliday, STL P Yovani Gallardo, MIL AL C Joe Mauer, MIN 1B Miguel Cabrera, DET 2B Robinson Cano, NYY 3B Adrian Beltre, BOS SS Alexei Ramirez, CWS OF Jose Bautista, TOR OF Carl Crawford, TB OF Josh Hamilton, TEX DH Vladimir Guerrero, TEX Rawlings Gold Glove Awards NL C Yadier Molina, STL 1B Albert Pujols, STL 2B Brandon Phillips, CIN 3B Scott Rolen, CIN SS Troy Tulowitzki, COL OF Michael Bourn, HOU OF Carlos Gonzalez, COL OF Shane Victorino, PHI P Bronson Arroyo, CIN AL C Joe Mauer, MIN 1B Mark Teixeira, NYY 2B Robinson Cano, NYY 3B Evan Longoria, TB SS Derek Jeter, NYY OF Ichiro Suzuki, SEA OF Carl Crawford, TB OF Franklin Gutierrez, SEA P Mark Buehrle, CWS Yeah, it's only a list, but here's a question to ask. How can Joey Votto win the Hank Aaron Award for best offensive player in the league, but not win the 1B Silver Slugger?
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Unfortunately, there hasn't been much to write about as far as offseason deals and Gold Gloves go, but we do have the first Comic Caption Contest complete, with Legolover-361 as the winner. Not only that, but he graciously provided his own picture with the words already on it, so I didn't have to put them on: WE WANT YOU!... For this week, we have a classic safe-out call argument between Hank Aaron Award winner Jose Bautista and the umpires during the September 11 Rays-Blue Jays game:
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I thought I'd try something for the course of the offseason. It's basically the same as the LEGO.com Comic Caption thing, only baseball. For the first attempt, I've got this picture from Darth Quade's managerial debut, which was also a game I attended, at Nationals Park.
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Is that they always think they know more than the folks in charge. Cubs fans all over Chicago are whining that the Cubs didn't hire Ryno. Now I like Ryno, and I don't think it would have been a bad idea to put him as the manager of the Cubs, but I also think that Quade was a better move for three reasons. 1) He's been working as a coach and manager for five times as long as Ryno. 2) He showed he can work with this team during his short time as manager last year. 3) The players all wanted Quade, although they like Ryno also. Meanwhile, most fans didn't know Quade even existed until he became the interim manager, while they knew Sandberg while he was a player. Many of them are saying that "everybody knew Ryno would leave the Cubs organization if he didn't get the job because he was disrespected by the Cubs", but if Ryno had been hired and Quade left, they would be saying "Quade doesn't deserve to be on the Cubs since he refused to stay just because he didn't get the job he wanted". The Cubs never disrespected Ryno, and frankly, I'm disappointed that he was so set on being a big league manager that he refused to take the Iowa job for a couple more years. Fans simply wanted Ryno because that's who they liked back when he was a player--it had nothing to do with his managing skills, just what they remembered as a kid watching him at second base. In addition, all of the analysts and experts agree with the Cubs' hiring of Quade. They all know that the Cubs wanted a guy who could get the players to be at their best--not a celebrity, although if Ryno had met their criteria they would have hired him anyway, and most likely given Quade the Iowa job again. On the Hot Stove show last night on MLB Network (the show I stole the Hot Stove logo from) they all commented on how there's a different relationship that the players have with a coach versus a manager, and Quade, of the three former team coaches that have been made the official managers for 2011 (Quade, CHC; Gibson, ARI; and Rodriguez, FLA) did the best, making the Cubs a tough team to play against in September and August. Personally, I trust Quade to do what he did at the end of '10, and I hope he does, if only to quiet the whiners that hate Hendry for not hiring Ryno. (Although there are several other reasons to dislike the Cubs' GM. ) EDIT: In addition, I also hate it that after one sour season, some Cubs fans are griping that Ramirez picked up his option. They think that Josh Vitters is ready, but I think that Aramis will come back with a vengeance. Maybe he won't play as well as he did in 2008, but then again, very few people could duplicate the greatest Cubs offense in my sixteen-year lifetime. Anyhow, Ramirez still has plenty left in the tank, and Vitters needs to stay in the minors a little longer before they bring him up, maybe to play first for a little while. (Although I don't think it'll be this season. I think the Cubs will go after Dunn or Konerko for first base. My preference is Konerko, although he's bound to be more expensive, and probably has been on the south side for so long that he wouldn't want to go to their interleague rivals)
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With Cliff Lee's contract ending, we already have an ALCS rematch between the Rangers and Yankees. The Rangers will surely give a healthily-sized offer, along with some southern hospitality vs. Bronx hostility that Mrs. Lee received, which will clearly hurt New York's chances of obtaining the best postseason pitcher of the past two years. The Yankees on the other hand, will surely be the highest bidders, but they know that Cliff Lee likes Texas, and they also know the Mrs. Lee doesn't like New York. (This is the sort of time when Yankees fans should realize that their team is not invincible, and thus should treat other teams and players with respect, particularly if one of them is one of the best pitchers in the MLB that you'd like to bring to your team) Personally, I'm hoping the Rangers keep him, and I think that Mrs. Lee will make sure they don't go to New York. Another Texas Ranger, meanwhile, has had his team choose for him. That player is the starting All-Star Game Designated Hitter, Vladimir Guerrero. Guerrero had a great season in Texas, but apparently, the Rangers would rather get a cheaper DH perhaps, in order to give a better offer to Cliff Lee. Adrian Beltre, unlike Vladdy, chose to leave Boston, declining his option for next year, while Jose Reyes of the Mets and Aramis Ramirez of the Cubs have each chosen to stay with their teams another year. In addition, the NL Central Division Champion Reds have declined Harang and Orlando Cabrera's options, while they picked up Arroyo and Gomes' options, and several other options have been picked up or declined across the majors as well, although these are the most significant.
