Alright so if your a Jays fan, or just a baseball fan in general you'd know that Alex Anthopolous, the Jays GM, made next to no moves during the offseason, which in all honesty is likely to hamper the teams progress this year and let's face it if your in win now mode you have to spend money to improve the team otherwise you could fall a couple steps behind and make it more difficult the next year or two. Anyhow lets see what I would have tried to spin in order to make the offseason successful
1.) Signing Dioner Navarro - Now I did not think this was a bad signing by any stretch of the imagination, it seemed like a very AA type signing, taking in a player who has shown promise in a part time role and convert him to the position full time and see how he does. All in all Navarro has the chops to pull off a good year behind the plate offensively and his solid defence is a HUGE upgrade from what we had last year.
2.) Sign Masahiro Tanaka - Now I know plenty of people would say 'But The Jays Don't Have That Kind Of Money'. WRONG that is bullshit. And you know why? Well it's because Rogers Communications, the owners of the Blue Jays, have one of the highest incomes for baseball owners (right up there in the top 4 or 5), which means they DO have the money the ownership just needs to step up and offer it. As for what I'd offer I'd go for a similar contract to what the Yankees offered him because you need to indicate to him that the team is serious about winning and that spending spree by the Yankees likely attracted him there but on the other side if he got the same offer from Toronto and saw all the big name players we acquired last year he might've changed his tune a bit. Additionally I believe that AA made a HUGE mistake by not going beyond 5 years, and that is because Tanaka is only 25 and a 7 or even 8 year deal would only take him to age 32-33, which is pretty much statistically the end of a players prime, which means you wouldn't really be eating any of the players downhill performance from getting 'over the hill'. Now I'm not writing any other pitchers in case we lose Tanaka because in my mind it's Tanaka or bust, because time and time again we heard over the offseason we need a front of the rotation starter, but outside of Tanaka every other FA pitcher was at best a 3rd spot in the rotation player.
3.) Trade For Chase Utley/Sign Mark Ellis - Ok so early in the offseason the Phillies re-signed Chase Utley along with some of their other aging players, which was confusing as all hell. But given the size of Utley's salary it would have been easy to try and acquire him by offering up some of our major league ready position players since the position players (nearly all of them) on the Phillies were getting to the point where they wouldn't be able to drive the team anywhere close to the post season and Utley was still able to produce at an offensive level that was a fair bit above the average for second baseman and his defensive prowess was still pretty high level as well. As well considering that we traded Brad Lincoln to the Phillies later in the offseason for Kratz and we still have a surplus of relievers we could have likely put together a package of relief pitchers as well. On the other hand if Utley still optioned to resign with the Phillies for whatever ungodly reason I would go after Mark Ellis, and for the same reason as Utley, he's not going to break the bank like signing Cano would have, but he's about average level offensive production wise and defensive wise. Add on the fact that he was playing in a much bigger park the years before, Dodgers Stadium, moving him to the Rogers Centre in the AL East could have very well given a bit of a boost to his numbers.
Ok so those are the signings/trades I would have attempted to make as the GM of the Blue Jays. Now From here we wonder how the line up would be organized.
Batting Order
1.) Jose Reyes
2.) Melky Cabrera
3.) Jose Bautista
4.) Edwin Encarnacion
5.) Colby Rasmus
6.) Chase Utley/Mark Ellis
7.) Brett Lawrie
8.) Adam Lind
9.) Dioner Navarro
Now obviously the batting order isn't changed much from last year, I moved the second baseman up and kept Navarro down at the bottom, the reason for this is because one of the glaring issues for the Jays last year was inability to hit with runners in scoring position. Now if we look at Utley/Ellis and Navarro they have had pretty high batting avg. over the last couple years, what that tells me is if we sprinkle contact hitters in the late end of the batting order we can ensure that players continue to get on base instead of the 'strikeout alley' we had last year when we had Arencibia, Rasmus, Lawrie and Izturis/Bonifacio all lined up in a row.
Starting Rotation
1.) Masahiro Tanaka
2.) R.A Dickey
3.) Mark Buerhle
4.) Drew Hutchison
5.) Brandon Morrow
Now again heres something I actually liked that AA did, put Morrow in the 5th spot, now that doesn't say anything about his ability as a pitcher but what it does do is, because of travelling days and even lengthen road trips, gives him more rest between starts, which will allow the Jays to stretch him out better and keep him in consistently good shape to prevent wearing out his arm. As well Hutchison had a fantastic spring so I gave him the #4 spot to even things out, otherwise the rotation is the same as last year with the addition of Tanaka.
-Eric
Monday, March 31, 2014
Saturday, March 29, 2014
A New Year A New Season (NL Breakdown)
Alright, here comes the NL side of things.
NL East:
Atlanta Braves: This offseason the Braves didn't do a whole lot, probably because they spent a lot on the Upton brothers and a couple other things last year, what they DID do, and I applaud them for this, is they have been slowly but surely been extending the current players they have to keep their core group of players together for a longer period of time. This will likely ensure they have a quality team to put out on the field for years to come. On the spring training side however the Braves ended up getting the short stick as both Mike Minor and Kris Medlen went down with injuries and will not be available for long periods of time, severely hampering their rotation. So to counter the Braves signed Ervin Santana, who will likely head up the back of the rotation with new guys like Alex Wood coming in to fill the more top of the rotation spots. All in all a good offseason followed by a bad injury hit spring training.
Philadelphia Phillies: Now I still don't think I understand what Ruben Amaro Jr. is trying to do here, it's like he's in a delusional state that still thinks he can win despite the fact that the core of his team is getting to the point of being a rotten apple and his rotation has been falling apart ever since Oswalt started to fall apart a few years ago. Now they again didn't do much in the offseason, they made a few trades (like for Brad Lincoln), they resigned Chase Utley (huh?) and got some players to fill out their starting rotation. Now like the Braves they took a major hit when one of their ace starters, Cole Hamels, went down with an injury. Now it's not as serious as what happened with Medlen but given the glaring weakness the Phillies have in their rotation behind Hamels and Lee it's likely to make big problems for them for the time he is gone.
Washington Nationals: Now all I can do is say bravo to what the Nationals have done so far, they made an INCREDIBLY lopsided trade with the Tigers for Doug Fister, they've managed Stephen Strasburg perfectly so they can now let him off the leash this year and they could make some potential player moves that could play off (ie. slot in Rendon at 3rd and move Zimmerman to 1st). Their spring training thankful hasn't come with any serious injuries to their team and on the other hand Bryce Harper came into camp looking like a god damn tank. The only thing they didn't do was address their bullpen issue as Rafael Soriano was fairly shaky last year in the closer position, though this isn't a huge worry as they still have Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard, 2 proven closers, ready to take over if he stumbles.
Miami Marlins: Not even going to say anything here, they made more questionable signings, and honestly I think the Marlins franchise will be forever tainted after last offseason because after hearing from the guys who got traded it seemed like Jeff Loria has complete control of the team and has no regard for player's livelihood. This can be further seen by the fact that Giancarlo Stanton doesn't seem to want to sign an extension with them, overall I think Loria has damaged the reputation of the Marlins and they will find it hard to sign players for a while, unless they can show otherwise.
New York Mets: Now the Mets again didn't make any huge splashes, they signed a couple aging players like Marlin Byrd and Curtis Granderson, but again thats just what they are aging players, so don't look for them to make any glaring differences in the teams play. Spring training wise it was a bit odd with the Mets, not so much because of injuries but there was a bit of a spat between the Mets and Matt Harvey about where he would rehab his arm, as well as their GM saying that he believed they were capable of winning 90+ games with their current roster. A bit odd, on the other hand, and it pains me to say this, but ex-Jays prospect Noah Syndergaard, who is with the Mets now looked fantastic this spring and is more than likely going to make the starting rotation in a year or two. All in all the Mets are going to be a force to be reckoned with in a couple years as they have Johnathon Niese and Dillion Gee, coupled with Zach Wheeler, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard all three of which have the potential to be top 10 starting pitchers.
NL Central
Chicago Cubs: Well the cubs again like many developing teams, did not make any big time changes to their roster over the offseason. Luckily they managed to stay rather clean in the way of injuries and have made a good decision to slot Mike Olt in at 3rd base for the season, which will no doubt better integrate their future players and there has been talk about bringing up Javier Baez, their SS prospect. Hell even Starlin Castro even has said he'd be willing to move to 2B to make room for Baez, this is very good to hear, not only do they have one of their biggest prospects close to breaking the major league roster but its good to hear that other stars in the roster are excited and willing to bite the bullet so to speak in order to get him in. Much like the Mets, if the Cubs prospects break out at the same time they will be a deadly team in a few years.
Cincinnati Reds: Again like the Cubs, the Reds didn't make any serious moves during the offseason, though they did say goodbye to catcher Ryan Hannigan, and outfielder Shin Soo Choo. The loss of Choo was a pretty big deal as he has a big OBP and was VERY key as their lead off hitter, losing Hannigan however wasn't as much of a big deal as he hasn't recently been a huge piece on the team defensively or offensively. On the other hand they have made changes using internal options, specifically bringing up prospect Billy Hamilton and Tony Cingrani to cover the holes in the oration and outfield. Now both of these guys tore it up in the minors and are looked at as big time prospects, now Cingrani has proved his talent with about half a season under his belt last year. On the other hand there are many detractors to Billy Hamilton since he isn't really profiled as having very good batting stats and abilities, however he has been fairly good during spring training flashing some good ability to act as the Reds lead off hitter and if he can put that speed of his to use it'll be a big help for the Reds (he can beat out a throw from Yadier Molina, the best defensive catcher in the game)
Milwaukee Brewers: Seems like a pretty common thing in the NL Central but the Brewers again didn't break the bank making any major signings either outside of getting Matt Garza back after their trade of him to the Rangers mid last year. Now again like the Reds the holes that were left after last year have been filled by younger players that many analysts believe have some high potentials, such as Khris Davis (yes different from the Baltimore Chris Davis) and Jean Segura. Both of these guys are expected to be fairly high end players in the next few years and given what has been seen from them in the minors, spring training and their limited last year exposure it is very much possible that they could achieve it.
Pittsburgh Pirates: Now I know this may be a surprise but the Pirates………..DIDN'T make any big moves this offseason! It's get a bit odd typing this over and over but its' the truth, the Pirates lost A.J Burnett but not much else and they had Wandy Rodriguez coming back from injury so they already had a worthy option to fill that void, so no issue. Overall they still have the ability to make a splash in the NL Central and potentially make it to the wild card again this year.
St. Louis Cardinals: Now I don't want to sound like I'm branding over for the Cardinals but in my mind these guys are like the gold standard that every baseball organization should strive to be like. Now I say that because they have made some good moves this offseason (signing Johnny Peralta, trading for Peter Bourjos and signing Mark Ellis). Now the Peralta signing may not be perfect but it will likely help with the offensive hold left by Beltran and trading for Bourjos does the exact opposite that happened with Beltran, it gives them a Gold Glove caliber player who can easily cover the range. Now I'm not saying defence is better than offence, but a highly defensive centre fielder is a HUGE asset when you live in a more pitcher friendly park as they can make the catches a slower more power focused CF might not be able to. The only funny thing is that after signing Mark Ellis to cover 2B they noticed Kolten Wong, who broke camp and took away the 2B position from Ellis as his performance in spring training was great. Now this is very helpful because now they have one of their star infielder prospects in and a very usable defensive and offensive replacement ready to go if anything goes south. Then in terms of pitching they have the return of all of their huge new players who dominated last year in the rotation and hell they even have 2 of them (Rosenthal and Martinez) holding up the back end of their bullpen. With their prospects in more fortified positions the Cardinals are again a HUGE bit of competition.
NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks: Ok so the Diamondbacks did make some moves on the offseason for instance being involved in that 3 team trade with the Angels and the White Sox, however they seemed to get the short stick of the trade as they gave up big prospects like Skaggs and Eaton and only got Addison Reed and Mark Trumbo in return. Now I don't think Trumbo is a bad player but with Goldschmidt at first they have to slot him in the outfield and as he's a slower player he's a bit of a defensive liability and he has been a bit strikeout happy over the last couple seasons, which again is not that great even if he hits 30 or so HR a year. Reed on the other hand is good for a closer but not for the trading away of Skaggs and Eaton. Outside of that they have brought up prospects Chris Owings and Didi Gregorious to play SS and it looks like they will likely platoon those guys against their respective pitchers for the best results, in addition they also signed Bronson Arroyo, which was a bit odd because it fortified the back end of their rotation, which you think they would like to keep open since they have younger players that will or already have come up and need to get experience in those 4/5 rotation spots (Randal Delgado and Archie Bradley). However during spring training they lost their ace Patrick Corbin to Tommy John surgery and will be out for the remainder of this year and will likely not be back not be back to full power until about half to a full yr after that (which is pretty typical of pitchers who undergo tommy john, which is why the Nationals held a innings limit over Strasburg the first year back).
Colorado Rockies: Not much was done here, only real move of any consequence that the Rockies made was trading Drew Pomeranz to the Oakland Athletics for Brett Anderson, who will sit mid way in their rotation, which could help but still moving any pitcher to Coors Field is always a bit sketchy but we'll see.
LA Dodgers: Much like the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers only made a few changes to their roster and they weren't all that significant. They first added the Cuban defector Alexandre Guerrero who was supposed to take the place of Mark Ellis at second, however through spring training it was VERY apparent he had a LONG way to go in order to make the major league roster so he's starting the season in the minors and Dee Gordon is getting a second chance in the roster at second until Alex is ready. The other change they made was signing Dan Haren, now the Dodgers slotted him into the 4th position in their starting rotation, which seems to be about the right spot of Haren, however he is a injury risk given his current injury history, which could pose problems since they have lost some of their starting pitching depth to injury or free agency (i.e.. Capuano, Biilingsley, etc.). As well there have been some minor injuries to Dodgers players that will only really affect the first couple games and likely won't effect their finishing position.
San Diego Padres: Ok so the Padres actually have an interesting team this year, now they didn't many changes outside of grabbing up Ian Kennedy, Josh Johnson and Joaquin Benoit. Now these 3 pitchers might not be huge deals in any team in a VERY pitcher friendly park like Petco it increases their value significantly, now Johnson has gotten injured AGAIN so he is likely not to contribute much during the year however Kennedy could very well help the rotation and Joaquin Benoit is a quality set up man and could be invaluable as a backstop behind Huston Street both to protect the lead or fill in if Street gets injured like he has before. Now the reason I say they have an interesting team isn't because of these signings it's because they have 2 high end prospects who have high upside settling in their rotation, Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross, now Cashner has already proved himself as a top of the rotation starter and can hold his own against most. In addition if Venable, Maybin and Cabrera can continue their production from last year or even make a slight step forward their offence will be in a good spot. Additionally they have their big name catcher Yasmani Grandal back from the DL and again that gives the offence a boost and if Gyorko can keep his production from last year and Headley can step back to his 2011 skill set then the Padres could be a logical postseason candidate.
San Francisco Giants: Much like the Dodgers, the Giants made only a couple of signings under the radar because they weren't high end players, those being Tim Hudson and Michael Morse. Now these two signings are good for the Giants because Hudson may be an aged pitcher but AT&T park is one of the best pitcher friendly parks which should make him a more worth while pitcher and Michael Morse is a good candidate to get his power back given what we saw in Spring Training and at the tail end of last year. Outside of this there wasn't any significant changes mad to their roster and their spring training didn't bring about any serious injuries or prospects that could break camp, overall expect more of the same or maybe a slight improvement for the Giants this season.
Ok so that wraps up the Offseason and Spring Training breakdowns for both the AL and NL. Next I'm going to be putting on my GM hat and letting everyone know what I would have done if I was in the position of Alex Anthopolous over last offseason. Now I don't plan on saying I would sign ALL of the big name free agents, I will give specific players that would make sense and explanations to them all.
-Eric
NL East:
Atlanta Braves: This offseason the Braves didn't do a whole lot, probably because they spent a lot on the Upton brothers and a couple other things last year, what they DID do, and I applaud them for this, is they have been slowly but surely been extending the current players they have to keep their core group of players together for a longer period of time. This will likely ensure they have a quality team to put out on the field for years to come. On the spring training side however the Braves ended up getting the short stick as both Mike Minor and Kris Medlen went down with injuries and will not be available for long periods of time, severely hampering their rotation. So to counter the Braves signed Ervin Santana, who will likely head up the back of the rotation with new guys like Alex Wood coming in to fill the more top of the rotation spots. All in all a good offseason followed by a bad injury hit spring training.
Philadelphia Phillies: Now I still don't think I understand what Ruben Amaro Jr. is trying to do here, it's like he's in a delusional state that still thinks he can win despite the fact that the core of his team is getting to the point of being a rotten apple and his rotation has been falling apart ever since Oswalt started to fall apart a few years ago. Now they again didn't do much in the offseason, they made a few trades (like for Brad Lincoln), they resigned Chase Utley (huh?) and got some players to fill out their starting rotation. Now like the Braves they took a major hit when one of their ace starters, Cole Hamels, went down with an injury. Now it's not as serious as what happened with Medlen but given the glaring weakness the Phillies have in their rotation behind Hamels and Lee it's likely to make big problems for them for the time he is gone.
Washington Nationals: Now all I can do is say bravo to what the Nationals have done so far, they made an INCREDIBLY lopsided trade with the Tigers for Doug Fister, they've managed Stephen Strasburg perfectly so they can now let him off the leash this year and they could make some potential player moves that could play off (ie. slot in Rendon at 3rd and move Zimmerman to 1st). Their spring training thankful hasn't come with any serious injuries to their team and on the other hand Bryce Harper came into camp looking like a god damn tank. The only thing they didn't do was address their bullpen issue as Rafael Soriano was fairly shaky last year in the closer position, though this isn't a huge worry as they still have Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard, 2 proven closers, ready to take over if he stumbles.
Miami Marlins: Not even going to say anything here, they made more questionable signings, and honestly I think the Marlins franchise will be forever tainted after last offseason because after hearing from the guys who got traded it seemed like Jeff Loria has complete control of the team and has no regard for player's livelihood. This can be further seen by the fact that Giancarlo Stanton doesn't seem to want to sign an extension with them, overall I think Loria has damaged the reputation of the Marlins and they will find it hard to sign players for a while, unless they can show otherwise.
New York Mets: Now the Mets again didn't make any huge splashes, they signed a couple aging players like Marlin Byrd and Curtis Granderson, but again thats just what they are aging players, so don't look for them to make any glaring differences in the teams play. Spring training wise it was a bit odd with the Mets, not so much because of injuries but there was a bit of a spat between the Mets and Matt Harvey about where he would rehab his arm, as well as their GM saying that he believed they were capable of winning 90+ games with their current roster. A bit odd, on the other hand, and it pains me to say this, but ex-Jays prospect Noah Syndergaard, who is with the Mets now looked fantastic this spring and is more than likely going to make the starting rotation in a year or two. All in all the Mets are going to be a force to be reckoned with in a couple years as they have Johnathon Niese and Dillion Gee, coupled with Zach Wheeler, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard all three of which have the potential to be top 10 starting pitchers.
NL Central
Chicago Cubs: Well the cubs again like many developing teams, did not make any big time changes to their roster over the offseason. Luckily they managed to stay rather clean in the way of injuries and have made a good decision to slot Mike Olt in at 3rd base for the season, which will no doubt better integrate their future players and there has been talk about bringing up Javier Baez, their SS prospect. Hell even Starlin Castro even has said he'd be willing to move to 2B to make room for Baez, this is very good to hear, not only do they have one of their biggest prospects close to breaking the major league roster but its good to hear that other stars in the roster are excited and willing to bite the bullet so to speak in order to get him in. Much like the Mets, if the Cubs prospects break out at the same time they will be a deadly team in a few years.
Cincinnati Reds: Again like the Cubs, the Reds didn't make any serious moves during the offseason, though they did say goodbye to catcher Ryan Hannigan, and outfielder Shin Soo Choo. The loss of Choo was a pretty big deal as he has a big OBP and was VERY key as their lead off hitter, losing Hannigan however wasn't as much of a big deal as he hasn't recently been a huge piece on the team defensively or offensively. On the other hand they have made changes using internal options, specifically bringing up prospect Billy Hamilton and Tony Cingrani to cover the holes in the oration and outfield. Now both of these guys tore it up in the minors and are looked at as big time prospects, now Cingrani has proved his talent with about half a season under his belt last year. On the other hand there are many detractors to Billy Hamilton since he isn't really profiled as having very good batting stats and abilities, however he has been fairly good during spring training flashing some good ability to act as the Reds lead off hitter and if he can put that speed of his to use it'll be a big help for the Reds (he can beat out a throw from Yadier Molina, the best defensive catcher in the game)
Milwaukee Brewers: Seems like a pretty common thing in the NL Central but the Brewers again didn't break the bank making any major signings either outside of getting Matt Garza back after their trade of him to the Rangers mid last year. Now again like the Reds the holes that were left after last year have been filled by younger players that many analysts believe have some high potentials, such as Khris Davis (yes different from the Baltimore Chris Davis) and Jean Segura. Both of these guys are expected to be fairly high end players in the next few years and given what has been seen from them in the minors, spring training and their limited last year exposure it is very much possible that they could achieve it.
Pittsburgh Pirates: Now I know this may be a surprise but the Pirates………..DIDN'T make any big moves this offseason! It's get a bit odd typing this over and over but its' the truth, the Pirates lost A.J Burnett but not much else and they had Wandy Rodriguez coming back from injury so they already had a worthy option to fill that void, so no issue. Overall they still have the ability to make a splash in the NL Central and potentially make it to the wild card again this year.
St. Louis Cardinals: Now I don't want to sound like I'm branding over for the Cardinals but in my mind these guys are like the gold standard that every baseball organization should strive to be like. Now I say that because they have made some good moves this offseason (signing Johnny Peralta, trading for Peter Bourjos and signing Mark Ellis). Now the Peralta signing may not be perfect but it will likely help with the offensive hold left by Beltran and trading for Bourjos does the exact opposite that happened with Beltran, it gives them a Gold Glove caliber player who can easily cover the range. Now I'm not saying defence is better than offence, but a highly defensive centre fielder is a HUGE asset when you live in a more pitcher friendly park as they can make the catches a slower more power focused CF might not be able to. The only funny thing is that after signing Mark Ellis to cover 2B they noticed Kolten Wong, who broke camp and took away the 2B position from Ellis as his performance in spring training was great. Now this is very helpful because now they have one of their star infielder prospects in and a very usable defensive and offensive replacement ready to go if anything goes south. Then in terms of pitching they have the return of all of their huge new players who dominated last year in the rotation and hell they even have 2 of them (Rosenthal and Martinez) holding up the back end of their bullpen. With their prospects in more fortified positions the Cardinals are again a HUGE bit of competition.
NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks: Ok so the Diamondbacks did make some moves on the offseason for instance being involved in that 3 team trade with the Angels and the White Sox, however they seemed to get the short stick of the trade as they gave up big prospects like Skaggs and Eaton and only got Addison Reed and Mark Trumbo in return. Now I don't think Trumbo is a bad player but with Goldschmidt at first they have to slot him in the outfield and as he's a slower player he's a bit of a defensive liability and he has been a bit strikeout happy over the last couple seasons, which again is not that great even if he hits 30 or so HR a year. Reed on the other hand is good for a closer but not for the trading away of Skaggs and Eaton. Outside of that they have brought up prospects Chris Owings and Didi Gregorious to play SS and it looks like they will likely platoon those guys against their respective pitchers for the best results, in addition they also signed Bronson Arroyo, which was a bit odd because it fortified the back end of their rotation, which you think they would like to keep open since they have younger players that will or already have come up and need to get experience in those 4/5 rotation spots (Randal Delgado and Archie Bradley). However during spring training they lost their ace Patrick Corbin to Tommy John surgery and will be out for the remainder of this year and will likely not be back not be back to full power until about half to a full yr after that (which is pretty typical of pitchers who undergo tommy john, which is why the Nationals held a innings limit over Strasburg the first year back).
Colorado Rockies: Not much was done here, only real move of any consequence that the Rockies made was trading Drew Pomeranz to the Oakland Athletics for Brett Anderson, who will sit mid way in their rotation, which could help but still moving any pitcher to Coors Field is always a bit sketchy but we'll see.
LA Dodgers: Much like the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers only made a few changes to their roster and they weren't all that significant. They first added the Cuban defector Alexandre Guerrero who was supposed to take the place of Mark Ellis at second, however through spring training it was VERY apparent he had a LONG way to go in order to make the major league roster so he's starting the season in the minors and Dee Gordon is getting a second chance in the roster at second until Alex is ready. The other change they made was signing Dan Haren, now the Dodgers slotted him into the 4th position in their starting rotation, which seems to be about the right spot of Haren, however he is a injury risk given his current injury history, which could pose problems since they have lost some of their starting pitching depth to injury or free agency (i.e.. Capuano, Biilingsley, etc.). As well there have been some minor injuries to Dodgers players that will only really affect the first couple games and likely won't effect their finishing position.
San Diego Padres: Ok so the Padres actually have an interesting team this year, now they didn't many changes outside of grabbing up Ian Kennedy, Josh Johnson and Joaquin Benoit. Now these 3 pitchers might not be huge deals in any team in a VERY pitcher friendly park like Petco it increases their value significantly, now Johnson has gotten injured AGAIN so he is likely not to contribute much during the year however Kennedy could very well help the rotation and Joaquin Benoit is a quality set up man and could be invaluable as a backstop behind Huston Street both to protect the lead or fill in if Street gets injured like he has before. Now the reason I say they have an interesting team isn't because of these signings it's because they have 2 high end prospects who have high upside settling in their rotation, Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross, now Cashner has already proved himself as a top of the rotation starter and can hold his own against most. In addition if Venable, Maybin and Cabrera can continue their production from last year or even make a slight step forward their offence will be in a good spot. Additionally they have their big name catcher Yasmani Grandal back from the DL and again that gives the offence a boost and if Gyorko can keep his production from last year and Headley can step back to his 2011 skill set then the Padres could be a logical postseason candidate.
San Francisco Giants: Much like the Dodgers, the Giants made only a couple of signings under the radar because they weren't high end players, those being Tim Hudson and Michael Morse. Now these two signings are good for the Giants because Hudson may be an aged pitcher but AT&T park is one of the best pitcher friendly parks which should make him a more worth while pitcher and Michael Morse is a good candidate to get his power back given what we saw in Spring Training and at the tail end of last year. Outside of this there wasn't any significant changes mad to their roster and their spring training didn't bring about any serious injuries or prospects that could break camp, overall expect more of the same or maybe a slight improvement for the Giants this season.
Ok so that wraps up the Offseason and Spring Training breakdowns for both the AL and NL. Next I'm going to be putting on my GM hat and letting everyone know what I would have done if I was in the position of Alex Anthopolous over last offseason. Now I don't plan on saying I would sign ALL of the big name free agents, I will give specific players that would make sense and explanations to them all.
-Eric
Thursday, March 27, 2014
A New Year A New Season (AL Breakdown)
So it's less than a week until opening day for baseball and several teams look quite sharper than they did at the end of last year, let's tale a quick look at the changes to each division over the offseason and subsequent spring training.
AL East
AL East
- Yankees signed McCann, Beltran, Ellsbury, Tanaka, Johnson and Roberts to cover for departures at C, CF, LF, 2B, 3B and SP (I personally think most of these position player signings will come back to bite the Yankees, though I believe thats because most of the position players have shown to be injury risks and have all been signed onto lengthy contracts, so I expect for the first 2-3 yrs they will get what they paid for but then the players will degrade like what happened with Texiera, Granderson and others and the Yanks will be stuck with their dick in their hands once again)
- Red Sox didn't do all that much, signed A.J. Pierzynski and nabbed some other players including Grady Sizemore (whose spring training may indicate he can play up to around the same level he could before, if he manages to stay healthy, which would make the Red Sox a dangerous team again. Although their loss of Dempster in the rotation does put a small hole in their pitching as well)
- Rays, like the Red Sox didn't do a hell of a lot, they re-signed players, snagged some more bargain free agents, which is what they do, and given their ability to develop players, they will undoubtably be a force come postseason time
- Orioles signed some new pitching, specifically guys like Ubaldo Jimenez, now I don't like this guy much (as a pitcher not a person) and thats because he has been incredibly inconsistent bouncing back and forth from good yr to bad yr and on top of that people are over hyping what he did last year since he only managed it for HALF a season. In addition to improvement to their rotation they changed around their bullpen with the departure of Jim Johnson and also filled holes left by Brian Roberts and others as well as finding a temporary fill in for Machado. Like the Rays they have had winning in their eyes and will likely again be a competitive team this year
- Jays, well unfortunately my team didn't do much of anything, they made several rather meaningless minor league deals (except getting Kawasaki back), signed Dioner Navarro (who would be a fantastic signing if he can get to the numbers he had last year in a part time role with the Cubs. In addition they have taken Happ out of the rotation (mostly due to injury) and slotted in 2 of the 3 returning from Tommy John, Drew Hutchison and Dustin McGowan, both who have had productive spring training numbers. The level of success the Jays see this year will solely depend on 3 things, first the teams ability to stay healthy (while lots of people say the Jays were just bad last year there was not a single game where we fielded the lineup AA had set up and a lot of bad performances can be attributed to injuries, like Melky and the tumour or Dickey and his back issues), second the starting rotation needs to pull it's weight and not fall flat on it's face like last year (while injuries were a big part of it the Jays got off to an incredibly slow start due to the rotation, no pun intended, dropping the ball for most of the year and the depth we used to fill being unable to keep up), and third breakouts or progression from McGowan, Hutchison and Lawrie, we all know that Encarnacion, Bautista, Reyes and Rasmus (to a lesser extent) have the ability to drive this offence but the problem we had offensively last year was an inability to hit with runners in scoring position (in essence our first 4 batters would set the table but everyone after was unable to clear it)
AL Central
- Tigers made one decent to 'meh' trade and one really crap trade, they obtained Ian Kinsler for Prince Fielder (a not so great trade for them since Fielder is obviously the more premium player in the deal and Kinsler's skill set has been declining in recent years and moving him to a less hitter friendly park will hurt his numbers more. Then they also let go of Doug Fister for some prospects from Washington, those of which were not of high quality, this was terrible as they were giving up a very solid #2-#3 starter for no real immediate pay off, which is what they need and given that Fister is a ground ball pitcher he would have benefitted from the better defence provided from the newly acquired 2B and Iglesias once he's back. All in all the Tigers slightly downgraded and since last season showed us Miggy is human as he got injured, now while this open the floodgates for Miggy injuries? Maybe but we'll have to see
- White Sox, now I really like what these guys did, they secured through trade and signing some real stellar young talent and then managed to sign some key young players like Jose Abreu that will hold as the core of their roster for years to come. If their pitching in the minors catches up the White Sox could very well be contenders within the next 3-4 years.
- Royals, now I'm in awe at what they have been able to do, they increased their offensive ability and defensive ability by taking on Norichika Aoki as well as Omar Infante, they re-signed Shields and they are bringing up a fireball throwing youngster in Yordano Ventura to cover the last spot in their rotation and if any of the Cardinals young pitchers have shown us anything, these young guys can be stars right off the bat. The Royals will, in my opinion, likely take the AL Central or at least give a real close chase with the Tigers
- Twins, not much of anything to say. They signed Nolasco, Hughes and other mediocre pitchers who are unlikely to really change their situation, I expect they will still be at the bottom of the barrel
- Indians will be in a similar situation to the Tigers in that they let go some key players and didn't do a hell of a lot to make up for their absence and this year they don't have that ridiculously easy schedule to rely upon to get by. All in all in order for the Indians to replicate their 2013 success all of their players are going to have to play at 100+% and they will need breakouts from some of their younger guys like Danny Salazar, Trevor Plouffe or Lonnie Chisenhall
AL West:
- Athletics, now I love most of these small market teams because they manage to be so damn smart about winning, now the Athletics like many small market teams didn't make much of a splash this offseason, they changed closers to Jim Johnson, which couldn't hurt since Oakland has a smaller ball park and better infield defence. In addition they traded away some guys for some pitching depth. Now recently however a couple of their starters have managed to get themselves injured, specifically Jarrod Parker who is out for the year getting Tommy John surgery, which will undoubtedly hurt them in the long run. However the A's still have a good set of pitchers including one of the star young pitchers from last year Sonny Gray and given that every team in the AL West seems to be getting hit by the injury bug I expect them to be the main source of competition in the AL West.
- Rangers, now on the other side of the Tigers trade, they got the best f the deal and they even managed to sort out issues they would have initially had in their bullpen by bringing back Feliz and setting up Soria as the set up man. Now that was before all the injuries hit, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and countless others will be out for extended periods of time putting a big dent in their pitching as well as their offence (Profar and Andrus). If these players can come back in good shape in a hurry they will probably finish second in this division
- Angels, made a couple 'meh' trades to increase pitching depth but similar to the Jays if their players can stay healthy, they get breakouts from some of the younger players and these new pitchers deliver then they could be a force to be reckoned with, especially with the potential ceiling with guys like Tyler Skaggs
- Mariners, these were the big guys who signed Robinson Cano to the most ridiculous deal in the history of baseball, in addition they made other additions like Corey Hart to their offence and brought up some of their high end pitching prospects to start the year (Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, etc.). They have the same kind of out look as the Angels, though their offence has several more questions than the other teams so they aren't likely to make the playoffs or anything
- Astros, while they will likely be looking at another at or around 100 loss season looking at the progress of their prospects and how close they are to the majors, the Astros are going to be a very scary team in the next 4-5 years and the addition of Dexter Fowler will help with holding things down now and maybe helping ease in the new kids when they get called up. All in all I look forward to seeing the progression of the Astros as their farm system risings from the grave to take a shot a the post season.
Well thats the run down for the AL, I'll post the NL version shortly they I'm going to go back and let you know what I would have done if I was in Alex Anthopolous' position during the offseason.
-Eric
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