Back in Business

After a long hiatus, CK is back, and (probably not) better than ever. Apathy was the main reason for the time off, and some "I give up" mentality, but with such a great baseball season upon us, how could we not sound off a little? Maybe its the fact that I'm a Yankees fan, and they are finally really good again, or maybe the insane wildcard races in each division, but whatever, CK is back ... for now.

The AL east is acting more like the AL Beast again, which is always fun, and generally good for baseball. The Yanks have a significant (6 game) lead over the Sox, and the Rays have followed up their 2008 Cinderella season with a competitive effort. By shipping Scott Kasmir away, the Rays have effectively bowed out of the playoff race, leaving the wild card battle to the Red Sox and Rangers. Also, apparently today Mark Texiera hit 101 RBI's in a game, which is cool I guess.

As always, nobody cares about the AL central, with the 9-games-over-.500 Tigers dominating the division over the .500 Twins, where Joe Mauer is (extremely) quietly hitting .370. The White Sox have been a disappointment (as always), but Mark Burhle was a joy to watch this year.

The AL West is very competitive, with 3 teams over .500, but the Angels have the division crown basically locked, and leave the Rangers to battle for the wild card. The A's only have a -48 run differential (2 worse than the Mariners), but somehow find themselves 10.5 games behind Seattle in the West, and a whopping 22.5 games behind the Angels for the division lead. Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi underperformed throughout the stretch (with emphasis on Jason Giambi), and their bats still refuse to come alive.

Basically, the division leaders are set in the AL, and the wild card comes down to the Red Sox and the Rangers, with a strong advantage to the Sox. It would take a lot for the Sox to blow their 3.5 game lead, but hey, we can always dream.

The NL is fairly similar in terms of division winners, but its wild card race is far more intriguing. The NL East is locked to the ridiculous Phillies, who have a very good chance of retaining its World Seris crown.

The Central is again, the Central, where the Cubs underperform, St. Louis rides on Albert Pujols' coat-tails, and the Pirates, Astros, and Reds still have no fans. St. Louis is the only team with the shot at the playoffs.

The NL West is by far the most fun division to watch in baseball. The Dodgers pretended to be good for a while, but are now imploding, under Manny's leadership. Lets get this straight though: I love Manny Ramirez. I love the way he cuts off throws from the outfield, I love the way he does steroids, and I love the way he wears headphones when he's in the field. Manny doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks about him, and all he wants to do is hit RBI's and home runs, so I love him. I like when he does well, and like when he gets caught for steroids, because that's just Manny Being Manny. Baseball needs more characters like him.

After the Dodgers, you have a deadlock for the NL wildcard, where Rockies intangibles are battling the Giants absurd pitching. If Matt Cain wins the CY Young this year, the Giants would have 4 Cy Young Award winners on their staff (Johnson, Zito, Lincecum, Cain), and would still have a panda playing third base.

On a personal note, the Giants are my hometown (sort of) team, and I live in Colorado at the moment, so I'm torn on who to root for to win. The G-Men just swept the Rox at home, which evened the race, and gave them an advantage to make it to the playoffs. The Giants tend to choke, and the Rockies tend to overperform (21 wins in 22 games to go to a 1-game playoffs in 07 anyone?), so we'll see how this one turns out. I'd guess the Giants pitching will lock down, and they'll edge out ftw.

That's all for now folks, enjoy the Phils-Braves tonight.

Fun Stats on the A's vs. Jays Series

The A's just wrapped up a four-game series against the Jays, in which Oakland won 3 out of 4. I think this would be a good time to assess some team statistics.

Toronto 2006 team stats:
.293 BA (First in ML and higher than any player on the A's)
565 runs
.360 OBP
.481 SLG (First in ML)

Oakland 2006 team stats:
.249 BA (Last in ML)
472 runs
.328 OBP
.393 SLG (Last in ML)

And these are from after the series ended. The A's offense is disastrous, and yet they are leading the division thanks to mediocre pitching. None of it really makes sense. I don't think the A's can really go down from here, which signals another hot second-half (21 games, anyone?)

No one on the A's is hitting over .290, meaning every single person on the team is hitting below Toronto's average. Thomas, Swisher, Chavez, Scutaro, Johnson, Crosby, and Ellis are all hitting below .255. No one even has an OBP .380 or higher. Frank Thomas is the only player slugging over .500.

Toronto, on the other hand, only has one regular hitting below .275 (and that hitter, Troy Glaus, happens to have 27 home runs). 6 of their starters are hitting over .300. and six are also slugging over .500.

Yet, Toronto is in 3rd in their division and the A's are leading. How I love baseball.

Fun Fact for Yankees Fans

I was gamedaying the Yankees/Mariners game today and looked through the lineups to see who was playing. I looked at 3rd base, saw the name "Green," then realized that something was seriously wrong when the reigning MVP is being replaced by a .145 hitter (who has raised his average significantly today after being 2-2 through the 5th).

Looking at the rest of the lineup, I realized these few fun facts:

Two of nine players starting for the Yankees were on the opening day lineup at the position they were playing: Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon. The two players in the game (Giambi DH, Bernie Williams RF) who were also on the opening day lineup, started the season at different positions (1B, DH). Sidney Ponson also started the game, and gave up a quick 3-run homer to Richie Sexson. What's more impressive is that the Yankees are a season-best 13 games over .500, even without the majority of their starting lineup.

Looks like Brian Cashman needs to start spending fast. Bobby Abreu anyone?

1st Half Power Rankings!

Yeah yeah yeah, I know this thing hasn't been posted on since the end of spring training, but hey, there's no shame in reviving what once was a halfway-decent blog. Here's some midseason power rankings to get me back into the groove:

1. Detroit Tigers - Not much arguing with a .674 winning percentage and a 3.47 team ERA. The combo of youngsters Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson and Justin Verlander, anchored by veteran lefty Kenny Rogers is poised to take this scrappy Detroit team well into the playoffs (with or without cameramen)

2. Chicago White Sox - Maybe its all the homophobia, cursing and All-Star game idiocies, but whatever Ozzie's doing in Chicago is making Southsiders very happy. But seriously Ozzie, don't you think six White Sox is a little eccentric?

3. Boston Red Sox - Despite a shaky series against the D-Rays recently, Papi's boys have been on an absolute tear as of late. The Sox went and impressive 17-9 in June, which included a 12 game winning streak. David Ortiz is absolutely filthy.

4. New York Mets - As much as it pains me to talk about the other New York Team, I've got to give these youngguns credit. David Wright makes circus plays at third, while Jose Reyes is leading the National League in base stealing. Tom Glavine is looking like himself again.

5. New York Yankees - Brian Cashman, what are you doing?! Signing Sidney Ponson as a 5th starter is one of the worst moves I've seen in a while, and yes, I'm being negative so that you will prove me wrong, quickly. In all fairness, Sidney's not that bad, excluding a series of three consecutive bad starts in which he let up 18 runs in less than 9 innings. With fewer injuries, this team would be golden.

6. St. Louis Cardinals - With a .557 Winning Percentage, the Redbirds are stealing this division. What is usually a very dominant team has been flailing without Albert Pujols in the lineup, but his return should bode well for St. Louis baseball. If he hadn't been hurt, Alberto would have given Barry a run for his money for the single-season home run record.

7. Toronto Blue Jays - I still dont really get how this team is good, but I guess offseason aquisitions paid off for our neighbors up north. Vernon Wells is playing to his potential, and Roy Halliday is still Roy Halliday. If they keep playing like they have been, the AL Beast will be a tight race.

8. Minnesota Twins - Interesting how six teams in the top 8 have come from just two divisions. Joe Mauer is establishing himself as the best offensive catcher in the Majors. Sadly, it looks as if the Twins will miss the playoffs for another year. Oh yeah, who the F#$@ is Francisco Liriano?

9. Texas Rangers - With youngsters Michael Young and Mark Texiera anchoring this dominant Texas lineup, the only thing that can stop them is faulty starting pitching. They play in a perrenially underachieving division, but barring an Oakland surge (which happens every year), the Rangers can sneak easily into the playoffs, where they will promptly be destroyed.

10. Oakland Athletics - With double-play wednesdays over in Oakland due to the closing of the upper-deck, fans are looking for more from this squad of underpaid superstars. Frank Thomas is starting to hit home runs (circa 1996), and if the team surges again, fans might be seeing a Green October. (By the way, how annoying are those "A hunt for a green October" shirts?)

11. San Diego Padres - OH MY GOD THE NATIONAL LEAGUE SUCKS. The Pads are riding a 5-game win streak coming into the all-star break, which got them to the top of an extremely weak division. I have to say though, it was cool when Kahlil Greene hit that home run to break his homerless streak on a walkoff line drive.

12. Cincinatti Reds - Adam Dunn did possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen when he broke his bat on a pitch that he missed entirely. He was trying to hold up a swing, but because of the momentum of the bat head, the thing broke clean in two. Sorry, that didnt have anything to do with the Reds...

13. Los Angeles Dodgers - Nomar Garciaparra is freaking incredible, hitting .354 in 274 at-bats. Brad Penny is also making a name for himself (again), with his ERA of 2.91 being one of the best in the big leagues.

14. San Francisco Giants - The irony that is Barry Bonds brings me so much happiness, but Matt Cain and Noah Lowry, San Francisco's two young starters, have been taking headlines off Bonds, and onto some of the more positive aspects of the team. Nothing makes me laugh harder than seeing Steve Finley leg out a triple.

15. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - The name's got a ring to it, doesn't it? John Lackey's pitching has been stellar, but lack(ey)s the run support to make him worthwhile. Vlad is Vlad, and he'll need to lead this team if they want a chance at the post season.

16. Houston Astros - Much to my dismay, Roger Clemens is still on top of his game. Morgan Ensberg's injury might hurt the team a bit, but the team will need more than Ensberg if they want to play in October.

This is the point where we get to the teams that have no chance of making the playoffs, so instead of writing about each, I'll just list them. Rounding up the top 30 are:

17. Seattle Mariners
18. Cleveland Indians
19. Milwaukee Brewers
20. Colorado Rockies
21. Philadelphia Phillies
22. Baltimore Orioles
23. Florda Marlins
24. Atlanta Braves :(
25. Arizona Diamondbacks
26. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
27. Chicago Cubs
28. Washington Nationals
29. Kansas City Royals
30. Pittsburgh Pirates

Peace out, Dusty.

Terrell Owens "Autobiography"

Sorry, I know this isn't baseball related, but it gave me a good laugh at work. Heres a headline from ESPN's main page:

"T.O. claims he was misquoted in autobiography"

Only TO would have the nerve to claim he was "misquoted" and "misunderstood" in a book that HE wrote about himself. I'm pretty sure thats not how autobiographies work, Terrell.

Unexpected Stats from the First Half

One great thing about baseball is that, more than in any other sport, people you have never heard of will lead statistical categories as late as the All-Star Break (and possibly for the entire season). And, even if you have heard of them, no one would have categorized them as solid players before the season.

NL Batting Leader...Freddy Sanchez: .358
So, I actually don't know if I've ever heard of this guy. This is his second full season, and, after 86 games, he is a batting leader. He has no power or speed, and his OBP still isn't above .400. However, hitting that well for the Pirates, where he gets absolutely no support, 49 RBIs at the break is pretty impressive.

AL Batting Leader...Joe Mauer: .377
.377! As a catcher! We all knew he'd be good, but threatening to hit .400 in his second full season? That's a bit absurd. His OBP is .447, and he's even got 7 steals. I can't wait to see if he can keep it up in the second half.

NL Home Runs (tie-2nd Place)...Ryan Howard: 28
So he's not leading, but still, his first full season, and he will probably hit 50 homers. I read those stories pre-season about how powerful he was and how far he could hit a baseball, and figured he'd probably eventually be a 45-homer guy. But 28 in the first half, and a Home Run Derby Championship. He has 52 home runs in his first 191 career games.

NL Wins Leaders...Jason Marquis and Tom Glavine: 11
This is bizarre because Marquis' ERA is 5.34 and Glavine was supposed to have retired a few years ago. Both benefit from strong offenses. But also...Brad Penny, Chris Capuano and Brandon Webb rounding out the top 5? Definitely unexpected.

NL Triples Leader (tie-2nd Place)...Steve Finley: 9
I suppose playing at AT&T helps, but a washed-up 41 year-old hitting 9 triples in 81 games? I just had to mention that.

Also, Francisco Liriano and Jon Papelbon's success is definitely surprising, I think they've gotten enough press.

No Cele-Barry-tion

My friends, this is a sad time in baseball. When a young boy first learns that majestic lore of baseball history in records, he memorized the numbers 714 and 755. These totals were posted by two immortal athletes, embraced by baseball society. If another man came close to these marks, the young boy learned, it would be a time of jubilee and excitement, and the chase would grab the attention of every person who ever had a care for America's pastime. Televisions in every house would be tuned to the station on which his team was playing. At school, the boy and his friends would talk about what the announcer's celebratory call would be, and how excited they would be when another man entered the realm in which only 714 and 755 reside. These two men who have reached the plateau are today defined by their career home run totals. The possibility of a new number was supposed to invigorate this nation.
Sadly, as you know, this is not the case. Mr. Bonds just hit his 713th career homer, something many people did not think they would ever see. It will probably be mentioned in some newscasts, and get a small story somewhere in sports sections across the country. As a baseball fan, I am deeply saddened. I remember '98, when the most common discussion nationwide was about Mark and Sammy. Although that race appears to have been tainted, at least baseball again dominated America, as it had for so many decades during the first 2/3 of the 20th Century.
Now, Bonds' entry into the category of top two sluggers of all time is somewhat ignored. This post is not about steroids, but rather about how the entire controversy is drowning one of the greatest athletic achievements ever. I want to jump up and down every time Barry hits one. I want to have the desire to run to the television every time he's at bat. I want to hear people that never follow baseball discussing Barry's milestone home runs. But I realize that this cannot happen. We are mixed up in a debate over morality, truth and honesty. There is nothing I can do about the situation. I can only wait for a more celebrated athlete to reach these high numbers, and see baseball seep into the hearts of Americans once again. Alex and Albert, I am sitting here, waiting.

Jeff Bagwell > Florida Marlins

This year, the Florida Marlins' team salary is $14,344,500. Most of their players are making minimum wage (327K), and only Dontrelle Willis and Brian Moehler are over 800K. The team with the second lowest payroll is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with $35 million. In the last four years, the lowest payroll besides this year's Marlins was the 2004 Milwaukee Brewers, with a $27 million team salary. To me, these numbers are staggering. Here's a major league baseball team, playing with a total team salary, lower than each of the salaries of 12 players (which includes Jeff Bagwell at $19 million this year).

The Marlins do have a few very good players in Dontrelle and Miguel Cabrera. However, I don't see how Dontrelle could win more than 15 games with this run support, or how Cabrera could get to 30 homers considering the bats around him. I know that Florida has gone through this before, between 1997 and 1998, and won the World Series in 2003. Maybe they could do that again, but, frankly, I don't see how that can happen again any time soon. The Marlins' average age is just below 26, two years younger than the next youngest team. With only 4 guys in their 30s, I don't see any sort of veteran leadership ushering the team through what will definitely be a dark period, especially since those four guys are Joe Borowski, Matt Herges, Matt Treanor and Moehler — all first-ballot Hall of Famers.

Frankly, I just feel sad for the franchise. I would feel sad for the fans, too, but their state hosts Spring Training, and I'm quite jealous. There is discussion of them moving, but I really don't see how that could help them. I mean, if they traded their entire team for one player, they could have a higher payroll.

Am-A's-ing

The A's open this season with high hopes. Many say they'll reach the World Series, just a year after people thought their organization would take 3-5 years to recover from losing the best two of their Big 3. Now, not only do they look poised for a return to the playoffs, (and maybe win a series?) but they seem set to be an AL power for many years to come.

Their offense is solid, with consistently good Mark Kotsay, Eric (still hasn't reached his prime) Chavez, Frank (when I'm healthy I hit 3 homers a week) Thomas, Milton (he may not explode this year) Bradley, Dan (I seem really similar to Lance Niekro) Johnson, and others. The only piece that really seems to be dragging the A's offense down is catcher Jason Kendall. He has the highest salary on the team, $11.6 million, and that will be a hard deal to trade off before it expires after next season (when he will get $13 million). However, it's doubtful that he will be starting until the end of next year. Amazingly, the A's have three promising catching prospects in the minors. Daric Barton (who will probably move to C) was named the A's top 2006 prospect by Baseball America. Barton had a .900 OPS in both A and AA last season. Also, he went 3-7 this spring in Arizona. This year, he'll start the year for the AAA Sacramento Rivercats. Landon Powell (.374 OBP in rookie ball in 2004, injured all of 2005) and Kurt Suzuki (.818 OPS 2005 in A) were first round 2004 picks. The A's will probably trade at least one of these three before season's end, and hopefully they can get another starting pitcher with them.

The fact that the A's are so deep at their worst position is just part of why I think they will become a dominant team in the next few years. Their rotation is pretty good, and I think that Harden, Blanton, and Haren are their three best (combined salary: $2.127 million). Barry Zito seems to be a less severe David Duval, and I fear that he really doesn't care too much that his record over the last three years is 39-36. Esteban Loaiza has won more than 12 games once in his career, and has a 4.60 career ERA. I hope the A's trade Zito by season's end, in exchange for another young starter or two. I think Loaiza is signed for a few years, but I can't imagine him being on the young A's for longer than till next season's (or maybe even the 2006) trade deadline. If the A's can tame Dan Meyer (5.36 ERA in AAA last year, after it was never above 3 at any level), they have another starter for the end of this year or the beginning of the 2007 season.

The A's seem ready, with their young lineup and pitching staff, to be strong contenders until 2010. Billy Beane knew what he was doing by trading away Hudson (who has begun deteriorating since leaving the A's), and I trust that he also knew what he was doing by trading Mulder, although I'm less certain about that. However, I don't see him letting go of Blanton, Haren or Harden until he has another big three ready to go.