Category: MLB (Page 134 of 448)

      2010 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Catchers

      March 1, 2010 /

      All 2010 Fantasy Articles | 2010 Position Rankings

      If you’re like most guys, you hate shopping. You’ll wait until one of the sleeves is coming off your shirt before you even think about heading to the mall to buy new clothes. And even then, it takes your significant other to say, “Are you seriously going out in public like that?” before you actually turn the keys in the ignition and embark on one of the most annoying days of the year.

      Once you’ve pinpointed where you want to shop, the clearance rack usually calls out to you like that 50-inch plasma at Best Buy. It draws you in and once you’ve selected six shirts for a grand total of $22.50, you’ve completed your clothes shopping for the year.

      Drafting a catcher in fantasy baseball is sort of like when guys go shopping for clothes. Once you finally come to realization that you need them, shopping in the bargain bin (or the clearance rack, or whatever other analogy you prefer) isn’t a bad way to go.

      Unless your opponents fall asleep on Joe Mauer and he drops in your draft, nabbing one of these seven catchers is a good way to fill category voids that were created in earlier rounds. By the end of the year, there probably won’t be a huge gap between one of these catchers and one of the top 3 (Mauer, Brian McCann and Victor Martinez) that your buddy just had to have. (He’s probably the same guy that likes dropping $100 on a new shirt and buys another once the color starts to fade.)

      Matt Wieters, Orioles
      There’s a good chance that you’ll miss out on Wieters because there will be someone in your league that has an infatuation with youngsters that have extreme upside and will take him a round or two early. That’s okay. But if he does happen to fall, grab him because 2010 might wind up being the 23-year-old’s breakout season. After hitting .259 in a little over a month before the All-Star break, Wieters finished his rookie season on a tear while hitting .288 with nine dingers and driving in 43 RBI in 96 games. In September, he hit .362 with three homers and drove in 14 RBI while hitting in the No. 3 spot of Baltimore’s improving lineup. Assuming his success at the end of the 2009 season carries over, Wieters is the one player in this group that is worth taking a round before you’re ready to select a catcher (assuming he’s still available, that is).

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      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Pujols adamant about extending career with Cardinals

      February 27, 2010 /

      Speaking with Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Albert Pujols has intimated that while his future with the Cardinals remains up in the air, he would love to remain part of the team.

      Here are the highlights of multiple conversations I had with Pujols this week; some of his comments came during his visit to my radio show on WXOS (101.1 FM).

      — On his contract, which is up after 2011:

      “People in St. Louis and our fans around the country know where I want to be. And that’s St. Louis. There’s no city like St. Louis to play baseball. And the way the city has embraced me, and my family and our charitable foundation has been unbelievable. I am blessed. So why would I want to go anywhere else?

      “I appreciate being a Cardinal. I appreciate wearing this uniform. I appreciate being part of the legacy over the last nine years and I want to continue to do that. I appreciate being around the Hall of Famers. I don’t think there’s many organizations who have that. I think we have the most (living) Hall of Famers, and they come around. You see Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst all the time. They spend time with us. You appreciate talking baseball with all of those guys. So why would I want to go anywhere?

      “Do I want to do this right now and take care of this so we don’t need to worry about it? Of course. If it happens, it happens. But there are some things I am able to control and there are other things that are out of my hands that I can’t control. And that’s the truth.”

      Pujols is entering his tenth season as a Cardinal, the team with which he has spent his entire career. I’m all for Pujols staying in St. Louis, solely because I appreciate when players and their fans maintain a connection. How many current players have spent ten consecutive seasons (at least 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched) with the same team? They are listed below with their respective team and the number of seasons spent with that team.

      Lance Berkman (Astros) – 10
      Roy Halladay (Blue Jays) – 11
      Andruw Jones (Braves) – 11
      Chipper Jones (Braves) – 15
      Kerry Wood (Cubs) – 10
      Jim Thome (Indians) – 10
      Omar Vizquel (Indians) – 11
      Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners) – 11
      Jamie Moyer (Mariners) – 11
      Luis Castillo (Marlins) – 10
      Melvin Mora (Orioles) – 10
      Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers) – 12
      Jason Varitek (Red Sox) – 12
      Tim Wakefield (Red Sox) – 15
      Todd Helton (Rockies) – 12
      Paul Konerko (White Sox) – 11
      Derek Jeter (Yankees) – 15
      Jorge Posada (Yankees) – 13
      Mariano Rivera (Yankees) – 15

      I might be forgetting a few, but the supplied data speaks for itself: gone are the days of firmly establishing a collection of players. Oh, and the Yankees find a good thing and stick with it. Yes, they have have the money to make it happen, but they’ve utilized the same strategy since their inception. It’s great for both the fans and business.

      Update: I did some more research and found some surprises. While the list has expanded, it’s still disappointing that many teams haven’t kept a player (granted, there are the retirees and those serving the remainder of their contracts) longer than ten consecutive years in the recent past.


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      MLB

      Strasburg to start season in Nationals’ rotation?

      February 26, 2010 /

      After seeing the 2009 top overall pick throw several impressive bullpen outings recently, Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said it’s not in his plans to have Stephen Strasburg begin the season in the starting rotation, but he wouldn’t rule out the possibility either.

      This stance differs from what Riggleman said last weekend when he indicated that Strasburg would likely being the 2010 season in the minors. Riggleman said he would remain open-minded about the idea of the pitcher making the big league club out of spring training, but also noted that Strasburg isn’t really competing for a spot in the rotation. However, as soon as Riggleman saw Strasburg throw his second bullpen session of the spring, he said that the pitching prodigy was “off-the-charts good.”

      Strasburg’s fastball, curveball and changeup are already good enough to face Major League hitters. But it will be his control that ultimately decides whether or not he starts in the show or in the minor leagues. If he blows away the competition this spring, the Nationals may want to start him in the rotation this year to get him big league experience and also sell some tickets in the process.

      That said, rushing a prospect before he’s ready is a good way to ruin his career. Some players never recover after being brought up too soon, although there have been others (Albert Pujols and Tim Lincecum to name a couple) that have became stars right away. We’ll see how Strasburg handles things this spring.


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      MLB

      Eric Gagne admits to taking HGH

      February 22, 2010 /

      Another baseball player has decided to come clean about his use of performance enhancing drugs during his playing career, as reliever Eric Gagne admitted to Los Angeles Times’ columnist T.J. Simers on Monday that he used HGH in the past.

      “Why did you use HGH?” I ask, and he says, “I didn’t.”

      But he knows better. He and I have had a long relationship; he’s the guy who introduced me to a children’s hospital. Heart and guts, the great intimidator, eight innings of splendid work by his teammates riding on his work and almost never disappointing. How could he?

      “You were using HGH, weren’t you?”

      “I did,” he says. “I hate to talk about it. It just doesn’t do anyone any good. But I thought it would help me get better when I hurt my knee. I just don’t want that to sound as an excuse.

      “I’m so ashamed. It wasn’t smart. If I knew what I know now. . . . I didn’t need it. I regret it so much, just now maybe getting over the guilt. It was stupid.”

      It’s great that more players are coming clean about their drug use, but where were these guys when the Mitchell Report was released? I realize the names on that list weren’t supposed to be made public, but once they were it would have been nice if more players admitted their use instead of denying it.

      I could be wrong, but I don’t think fans are as mad about the drug use as they are about being lied to. Don’t get me wrong, fans are still pissed that players like Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds broke records while juicing. But what gnaws at fans more than anything is that these players denied using drugs, only to admit later that they were using. I realize that people tell lies because they think they won’t come back to haunt them, but these players should have just admitted their use when they were caught the first time.

      As for Gagne, his admission isn’t a surprise. His name was on the Mitchell Report, so it isn’t shocking to hear him admit that he was using. Good for him for coming clean, although he’s no better than any other player for admitting that they used after they originally denied it. Still, he gets credit for coming forward when many others refuse to do so.


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      MLB

      2010 to be Manny’s last season with Dodgers?

      February 22, 2010 /

      It appears that Mannywood will be closing after the 2010 MLB season.

      From the Los Angeles Times:

      “I know I’m not going to be here next year,” Ramirez said.

      So you don’t think you will re-sign with Dodgers?

      “I doubt it, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m happy to be here. I’m going to try to enjoy myself.”

      Asked what made him think he wouldn’t be in Los Angeles in 2011, Ramirez replied, “I don’t know. I just know that I’m not going to be here.”

      Did he see himself moving to the American League?

      “I don’t know,” Ramirez said. “We’ll see. Let’s take it a day at a time.”

      Ramirez said he wasn’t even certain if he wanted to play next season.

      “I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know about today, so….” he said. “When the season is over, I want to see where I’m at. If I play, I play. If they let me play, I play.”

      The Dodgers have cause for concern about these comments. Ramirez’s play diminished in Boston right before he was traded in 2008 because he checked out mentally. If he isn’t motivated, he has no problem going through the motions on the field.

      That said, if he wants a contract with another team next season, he’d better play hard in 2010. The Dodgers were essentially the only team that was willing to offer him a contract last offseason, so Manny (and Scott Boras for that matter) better be willing to take one-year offers from here on out. That is, if Man-Ram doesn’t retire after the season.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      MLB

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