In order to help get you ready for the MLB season, we’re doing division-by-division rankings with quick overviews on how each club could fair in 2010. Next to each team, you’ll also find a corresponding number written in parenthesis, which indicates where we believe that club falls in a league-wide power ranking. Be sure to check back throughout the next two weeks leading up to the season, as we will be updating our content daily. Enjoy.
1. New York Yankees (1)
If you think I would get cute in these rankings and suggest that some upstart team would derail the Yankees this season, then you sir, are sadly mistaken. I just don’t have the conjones to bet against them, especially after they added Curtis Granderson, Javier Vazquez and Nick Johnson to their already stacked roster. Sure they lost World Series MVP Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon, the latter of which loved to work the count and provided the Yanks with some pop over the last couple of seasons. But thanks to Granderson, Johnson, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Texeira, Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada, the lineup is still stacked from top to bottom. Vazquez, CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mariano Rivera will once again highlight a strong pitching staff and assuming they don’t suffer any major injuries, there’s nothing to suggest that the Bombers won’t make another championship run. That said, let’s not be oblivious to the potential problems that could arise for the Yanks this season. Age is a factor, as is the fact that Granderson can’t hit lefties and will be under the spotlight as the club’s biggest offseason acquisition. Plus, for as good as Vazquez was over the past couple of years, he was a disaster the last time he wore pinstripes (Boston fans remember this well.) Should the Yankees win another World Series? Yeah – especially considering they have the best-purchased roster in baseball. But just like last year, they still have to prove it between the lines and they’re not immune to hurdles getting in their way.
The baseball season, and more importantly to some of you, the fantasy baseball season, is underway. Some fantasy GM’s, myself included, usually stock up on home run hitters and focus less on stolen bases. It’s a matter of taste and a matter of how your league keeps score. But some speedsters can be difference-makers, and here is a list of the active Top 10 in stolen bases to date, excluding those who are technically active but not currently on a major league roster:
1. Juan Pierre, Los Angeles Dodgers (429)—I had to do a double take. Juan Pierre, still playing? Why yes, he’s only 30 years old, and he had 40 stolen bases for the Dodgers last season. He could easily reach 500 by late next season, putting him in the career company of Luis Aparicio and Paul Molitor, among others.
2. Omar Vizquel, Texas Rangers (385)—He’s 42 and a backup now, but how about Omar’s ’99 season in Cleveland when he hit .333 with 42 steals? The fact that Omar finished 16th in the MVP voting that season says more about the steroid era than it does about his season. Today he’d probably finish in the top 5 with those numbers.
3. Johnny Damon, New York Yankees (363)—It’s hard to believe Johnny Damon has been in the league since 1995, but he has, and he’s been a pesky leadoff hitter the entire time, averaging an impressive 30 steals per season.
4. Luis Castillo, New York Mets (342)—He’s not the speedster he once was, but Castillo stole a modest 17 bases last year while not at 100%, and he’s still only 33 years young.
5. Bobby Abreu, Los Angeles Angels (318)—Bobby has that rare combination of speed, power and the ability to hit for average. It’s amazing he was on the free agent market this past winter for as long as he was.
6. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners (315)—The amazing thing about Ichiro is that he’s only entering his ninth season in the American major leagues. Once he returns from the DL from a stomach ulcer, he’s going to keep adding to this total, probably for several years.
7. Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays (302)—One of the game’s most exciting young players, and he’s only 27 years old.
8. Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies (295)—Rollins is another guy who does it all, including hit for power and play the field like a wizard. A legitimate MVP candidate year after year, and a big reason the Phils won it all in 2008.
9 (tie). Mike Cameron, Milwaukee Brewers (291)—If Cameron had a higher career batting average than his .250 mark, he’d no doubt have more steals by now as well. But .291 is still pretty impressive for any player.
9 (tie). Jose Reyes, New York Mets (291)—One of the cornerstones of the Mets’ franchise and a guy that has contended for the stolen base title every season of his career. Reyes is only 26 years old, and AVERAGING 62 steals per season. That’s just mind-boggling.
I’m not posting this video for the shock and awe of watching a young pitcher being struck in the head by a line drive. I’m posting this video to show the camaraderie of baseball players throughout the league. I watched this game live and was touched by how caring the players were on both teams for this young man’s health.
Here is Giants’ reliever Joe Martinez being stuck in the head in the ninth inning by a Mike Cameron line drive in San Fran’s 7-1 win last night over the Brewers:
It’s often said that all baseball players share a brotherhood and this situation proves it. Cameron’s sensitivity and general care for Joe Martinez’s health shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Hopefully Martinez bounces back and considering he took a line drive to the head and immediately got up, it shows how tough this kid is. I would have laid there for a week after taking a Mike Cameron line drive to the noggin…
After signing CC Sabathia to a mega deal worth an estimated $161 million earlier in the day, the New York Yankees weren’t done on Wednesday as they traded youngster Melky Cabrera to the Milwaukee Brewers for 35-year old Mike Cameron.
The Yankees have been saying that Cabrera and Brett Gardner would compete for the center field job, but the acquisition of Cameron gives them a veteran presence at the position.
Many believed Cabrera would be the center fielder of the future entering the 2008 campaign, but a disappointing season, in which he hit .249 with eight homeruns and 37 RBIs in 129 games, led many to believe he was destined for a future as a utility outfielder. Yankees blue-chip prospect Austin Jackson is not expected to be ready for big league action until at least 2010, making Cameron the ideal one-year stopgap in center field.
Cameron, a former Met, hit .243 with 25 HRs and 70 RBIs in 120 games last season. He will earn $10 million in 2009.
Cameron has always been a fine ball player and it never hurts to add leadership to the clubhouse. But Cabrera is only 24, which means he still has roughly three years before he hits his prime so one would have thought that the Yankees would take their time to develop his talents.
This was a nice trade for Brewers as they cut salary and get a solid young player, but one that will need time to develop.
Many power hitters in baseball also have a penchant for swinging and missing. While batters have evolved over the years into more complete players, and Dave Kingman types aren’t the norm anymore, there are quite a few that we can classify as “windmills.” Here is a list of the Top 10 active players in strikeouts in baseball today.
1. Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox (2155)—Even though Mr. High Socks has a career batting average of .280, his 533 home runs are tempered by the air created when he swings and misses. Thome has struck out 2155 times in his 17-plus seasons, or roughly 30 % of his at-bats. Yikes.
2. Carlos Delgado, New York Mets (1701)—Sitting comfortably behind Thome is Mets’ first baseman Carlos Delgado, who is a cool 454 strikeouts behind Jimmy. Delgado has clubbed 457 home runs, but he has now struck out 100 or more times for the thirteenth straight season.
3. Ken Griffey Jr, Chicago White Sox (1669)—Around the time Griffey was tearing up the American League in the late ‘90’s with 209 home runs over four seasons, he also tallied 454 strikeouts. And with 1669 career windmills, Griffey strikes out about as often as he smiles.
4. Jim Edmonds, Chicago Cubs (1656)—Edmonds has quietly amassed 378 career homers, and has also compiled 1656 career strikeouts. But he’s currently in one of the two places (other than Colorado) where his power more than makes up for his K’s.
5. Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers (1643)—Will someone tell me how a career .313 hitter averages 102 strikeouts per season? Wait, let me guess — Manny being Manny?
6. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (1614)–$22 million for a guy that fans 107 times per season and doesn’t produce in the postseason? Am I missing something?
7. Mike Cameron, Milwaukee Brewers (1605)—Mike Cameron is a six-tool player—speed, average, power, glove, arm, and a penchant for missing the ball with his bat. That’s a very odd combination.
8. Jeff Kent, Los Angeles Dodgers (1515)—Ripping on Vin Scully? In Los Angeles, that’s like the priest ripping on the pope. Yeah, Jeff….you are 40, and even though Manny Ramirez now hits behind you, you still have almost as many career K’s on the scorecard as he does.
9. Andruw Jones, Los Angeles Dodgers (1468)—Seriously, now…..three of the current top ten windmills play for the L.A. Dodgers. No wonder this team can’t seem to catch the Diamondbacks.
10. Frank Thomas, Oakland Athletics (1394)—Mr. Thomas has 521 career homers, and though he’s only struck out more than 100 times three times in his career, he has landed here mainly because of his longevity (currently in his 19th season).
