Tagged: Adrian Beltre
Predict THIS
Whos goin to the playoffs? Lets find out…
AL east
Winner: New York Yankees
(if you expected any other team here, get off my blog)
Almost doesnt count: Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Praying to God for division realignment: Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays
Lets see here…defending WORLD CHAMPIONS, They found a way to add pitching rotation depth to a trio that won that WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, and their bats are as potent as they were last year.
Boston has added defense, sure, but the glory days of Beltre and Cameron are LONG behind them (“Offensively useless, they are.” -Yoda) and Ortiz is on the decline, if you dont believe me, then youre in denile.
True, Tampa Bay caught everyone with their pants down in 2008. But now that we’re aware of it, it wont happen again. Yeah, sure, Longoria can go to to toe with ARod. But theres no one else in their lineup that can match NY. Maybe Boston. But TB lacks the resources that NY and Boston have to make any deadline deal they need…
AL central
Winner: Chicago White Sox
Another one game playoff? God no!: Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers
Not happening: Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals
Jake Peavy + Mr Perfect + my favorite Manager / the weakest division in baseball* = No problem.
Twinkies were a long shot before losing Nathan, while the Tigers need to prove that they can play in September before I give them a vote of confidence for October…
Kansas City will probably be the basement team in the AL, leaving Greinke to count the days until his free agency…
AL west
Winner: Seattle Mariners
We cant win this tiny @S$ division?: Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics
Who the hell are we again?: California Anaheim Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Mariners made all the right moves this winter, and even if that aging *** is on the downhill run, hes still pretty good.
Oakland wont win, I dunno why some people think they will…
Angels are ready to do a 180. I cant wait to see how bad.
NL east
Winner: Philadelphia Phillies
Its like the Yankees moved to Philly: Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins
We dont know how, but we’ll find a way to screw up: New York Mets, Washington Natitnals Nationals
Ive been watching a lot of “Its always sunny in Philadelphia” so not only do I now know how to spell Philadelphia without worry, but now I wanna go there just to find a Paddys Pub.
Theres no other team in this division that can touch them, btw…
NLcentral
Winner: St Louis Cardinals
Close but no cigar: Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs
They resigned Holliday? F**K!: Houston astros, Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers
Right…2 Cy Young caliber starters, Pujols, resigning Holliday? Its over.
Cincinnati has made strides to contend in the future, but no this year.
The cubbies are going in the wrong direction, slowly, but will still be better than most teams in this division.
NL west
Winner: San Francisco Giants
Seriously?: Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies
Yeah, seriously: San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks
Theyve got the pitching, and now the Giants have a better offense. Why not?
Colorado and LA will have their early and late season chokes that will cost them this year.
AL wild card
Winner: Boston Red Sox
Juuuuust a bit outside: Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers
The Yankee wannabes will have no problem winning yet another 2nd place award.
If the Tigers find a way to beat Chicago though, the Sox and Sox might battle for the wild card, and if thats the case, this might be a white wash.
NL wild card
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
Lucy, youve got some splainin to do!: Atlanta Braves
This will be a battle. They both have pitching, but LA has some constistency there and on offense.
“Hell-A, L-A, Hell-Hell-A, L-A” (guess the lyric, win a cookie)
…Hey, 100 posts, go me!
*: I really dont care if my comment offended you if youre a AL central fan. The AL central sucks and until they actually beat some non division opponents, Ill stand by that statement.
MLB network is starting to stink…
…stink a bit like ESPN.
Maybe cuz theyve signed over Peter Gammons-a man I NEVER liked. Him, along side Harold Reynolds, might just be starting a Baseball Tonight reunion.
that and apparently Reynolds is trying to get away saying that the Red Sox have a better defense than the Yankees? That didnt tick me off as much as the fact that he tried to slip in that he thinks that a washed up Adrian Beltre is a better defensive choice than A Rod…HA! Funny, but April fools day is still a long way off….Curtis Granderson is a WAY better defensive player than whatever bum the Red Sux match him with in center…
…Then came the pitching compatison….apparently the BoSox have a better front end rotation than the Yankees…HA! again…I’m sorry, but didnt the front three Yankee pitchers just triple handedly win a world championship? What did the front 3 Red Sox pitchers do? 2 sucked and were swept and the other lost to the Yankees? Yeah, thought so. Yankees have waaaaaaaaaaaay better pitching than the Roid Sox.
…and Peter Gammons, let me now raise my middle finger to you preemptively for all the pro-Red Sox sh!t youre sure to spill this season.
…MLB Network, please stop hiring ESPN ****…thanks in advance…
Hall of Fame 2010: before and after
Very quickly:
Randy Johnson retires. Didnt exactly see it comming but hey, gotta end sometime right? Hopefully he stays retired and doesnt draw it out Clemens style.
Red Sox sign Beltre. 5 years ago this mightve made me worry a little. Now it makes me laugh. BoSox havent exactly been signing any big names for their offense this winter. Even Nick Johnson for us remains a better signing as far as hitters go…
Hinske goes to the Braves. Another 2009 Yankee is officially gone, as Eric Hinske signs on with the Braves. If Atlanta makes the playoffs this year, part of it will be because of all the Yankees theyve aquired this winter…
Holliday stays put. A little anticlimactic but Matt Holliday will stay in St. Louis. Smart for the Cards since they mustve realized that they need SOMEONE to protect Pujols. Big contract too. Wonder how Phat Al feels about it…
Anyway…
Its about noon right now over here. 2 hours from now we’ll find out who makes the Hall of Fame this year. Some notable Yankee players on ballot:
Don Mattingly
Donny baseball! Injuries seems to be killing his Hall run but maybe he could get lucky. Prolly not this year though. Heart and soul of the Yankees for a long time, its only a matter of time for him.
Tim Raines
Tim “Rock” Raines. Yankees currently worried over who could man left field this year, heres a man who patrolled that position while the Yankees wrapped up 2 world championships. One of the best base stealers of all time, you CANT deny him much longer…
Robin Ventura
Heres a man who did great on both sides of New York. Known mostly for his White Sox career, he also produced a few good years for the Mets and was part of the Yankees for a time too.
Todd Zeile
Spend time with the Yankees, mainly backing up Ventura.
Heres who I think should get in, besides all the above Yankees:
Roberto Alomar
…I think everyone else has romanticized over him enough, so I wont add anything…
Edgar Martinez
THE best DH…ever…I recall watching sportcenter a while back where Lou Pinella talked about trying to get Edgar to play a competent 1st base for NL interleague games…DH status might hurt him so as long as hes not a Hall of Famer, Harold Baines has no shot…
Barry Larkin
The greatest Reds Shortstop by far. Great fielder, amazing hitter. Cincinnati missed you, Barry.
Mike Jackson
“Michael Jackson plays baseball?” That was the first thing I said when I saw his baseball card. I highly doubt he’ll get in, but it would be funny as hell if he did.
…I also thought Scott Brosius, Paul O’Neill and all those ’98 Yankees should have gotten in…but theres always the veterens comittee…
More to come, after the announcment…
AFTER…
Interesting…Alomar falls just short of getting in.
Dawson is a good choice to get in. I didnt include him earlier cuz he was a bit before my time so I personally never knew how good he was. Good enough apparently.
Mattingly’s total is going up…16.1 is prolly his best finish, but hes running out of years. Maybe he can garner some “its his last year” votes like that undeserving Red Sox guy got last year…but thats still a few years down the line for Donny…
Some Twins pitcher falls a bit short this year too, but his times comming…
‘Twas the Hot Stove Before Christmas…
Since my little free agentgasm post, the Angels indeed did close the deal on Rodney. As for any last minute X-mas gifts, it looks like there wont be any Tex-caliber presents for anyone this year. The A’s do however find themselves with a gift for them under the christmas tree in Duchscherer, and the fact that the tag technically reads “To: Oakland Athletics…From: Oakland Athletics”
Anyway…I’m bored, tired, and figured why not make a christmas-y poem for baseball?
‘Twas the Hot Stove Before Christmas
‘Twas the hot stove before christmas
and all over the news
the Angels get Rodney
and Justin D stopped singing the blues.
But do the other teams
simply find coal in their stockings?
Good thing the Yankee Hater Haters here
to keep everyones fans from mocking.
Jason Bay to the Mets
to much Boston jeer
since the Mets traded their future
just to be here.
Angels might want Vlad
but thanks to Matsui
Guerreros hopes in Anaheim
just went kablooie.
Yankees would already have Damon
if not for the grinch
Scott Boras’ dealing
put us all in a pinch.
Speaking of Boras
that guy is sure greedy
and may have ended the Twin days
of Mr. Joe Crede
The Rangers were short
of having pretention
But adding Dye this year
would give them contention.
While Smoltz and LaRoche
wait for a suitor
Branyan might end up back
playing with Junior
I know that last rhyme
was a bit iffy
and just to be clear
“Junior” meant “Griffey”
I’d rather not be cliche
with a Holliday holiday rhyme
while on everyone wishlist
DeRosas behind him in line.
In the NL Myers might take
Valverdes spot out in Texas
While up north the Mets want
Bengie Molina for christmas.
While Pedro’s November failures
made him get fired
Ankiel and Delgados DL stints
wont make them get hired
And while Tejada might make plans
to be an Astro again
Merry Christmas to all
see you in 2010.
Remaining free agents
Last year had Bobby Abreu and Manny Ramirez homeless until the last possible moments…what about this year? Could the Yankees use any of them to fill a couple holes, mainly Left field?
…Lets rifle through the list of free agents to see what weve got left…
Justin Duchscherer
Oakland denied him abritration and let him go as a free agent, neither of which could possibly help his depression. Too injury prone for the Yankees to want and Oakland really wants to youth the team up.
Jason Bay
The man wanted out of Boston and it looks like New York wants him…not the Yankees though, too much money. The Mets are the only non-Boston team interested in him to fill their void in left.
Vladimir Guerrero
We wouldve killed for this mo fo the last time he was a free agent, not this time though. With Matsui in LA and the Angels not needing 2 DHs, Vlad-the-impailer is a man without a country. Yankees dont want him now seeing how if we wanted a full time DH we wouldve kept Godzilla.
Johnny Damon
If I were in charge of the Yankees, Id make it policy to have at most 1 Scott Boras client on roster at a time. With Cabrera gone the Yankees have a hole in left field that Damon used to fill. We want him, at OUR price. This has turned into the same stand off BS that we did in 07 with ARod, another Boras client. We’ll get him, as soon as Damon smacks Boras and tells him to “Shut up and go stand in the corner while I talk with the Yankees”
Erik Bedard
The reason the Mariners let him go is because of back-to-back injury filled seasons. Also a reason no team with thoughts of contention would wanna sign him either.
Jermaine Dye
Giants want him. Rangers want him bad. Whispers say the Yankees could plug him in left field. Dye is good. For some reason he always manages to quietly put together a good season. Had he been on the Giants or Rangers LAST season, they mightve made the playoffs.
Adrian Beltre
Heres the dilemma in Boston. They want Lowell out real bad, Ortiz cant play the field to save his life, if Victor Matrinez could play a decent 1st base he wouldnt need to also be a catcher (and vice versa) and Adrian Gonzalez is a pipe dream at best…so they need SOMEBODY besides Youkilis to play the corner infield. Beltre may be their best chance, which isnt a good think offensively.
Russell Branyan
Why not him for Boston? If not Beltre than why not sign Branyan? Decent bench 1st baseman. Seattle might actually want to keep this one.
Hank Blalock
…Never a defensive choice and his average has been lacking. Plus theres the thing where hes always a lock to get hurt every year…
Fernando Rodney
Angels are apparently all over this though. Should the Yankees grab him, he would complete an unstoppabel bullpen. Hey, if the Red Sox are dreaming for Adrian Gonzalez, I can dream for Rodney…
Marlon Byrd
Heres a guy who could but up decent numbers and/or split time with Gardner in left. None of his numbers scream out at you but he could quietly produce…which for the Yankees is better than nothing…
Joe Crede
Wants to play for the Twins again in 2010…but his agent is Scott Boras…
Melvin Mora
Aging…crappy stats…already a surplus of free agent 3rd basemen…PASS…even the Orioles dont wanna bother…
Miguel Olivo
Pretty good power numbers for a catcher, but low stats everywhere else, plus the fact that the Royals dont want you….as long as any “Molina” remains on the market, Ovilo wont have a home…
Matt Holliday
Cardinals want him, and for a long time. Boston wants him because Bay ran away. Yankees could sign him just to be as*holes. probably wont since hes too much money. If I were him, unless the Yankees come calling, stay in St Louis.
Mark DeRosa
Officially known in St Louis as “Plan B” in case Holliday gets away. Yankees might grab him to put in left.
Jose Valverde
For some reason no one wants him. I’m not sure why. I’d take him over Rodney, but thats just me…
Brett Myers
Houston wants him in their bullpen to help fill holes left by a couple people leaving, including the aformentioned Valverde. Myers could do worse than the Astros.
Miguel Tejada
Houston wants him back, which sounds smart on thier part.
Bengie Molina
Mets want him. Then again the Mets want everyone.
Pedro Martinez
The man didnt pitch last year until the 2nd half and he still had nothing left when the world series came. Now he wants to pitch for an entire season? Since the 03 ALCS he just hasnt been as dominating as advertised and last November proved he STILL cant beat the Yankees. Philles should pass, and any team that wants to win should pass too…then again, sign him, let him pitch decent for you until July, then trade him before he craps out. GMs can thank me later.
Joel Pineiro
Good, not great. Too many decent pitchers on the market in front of him. Not many, but he wont go until the better ones go.
Carlos Delgado
HA! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
John Smoltz
If he proved anything last year, its that the Red Sox cant judge pitching worth a damn. He can start, relieve or possible close. A do anything pitcher like him will definatly find a home…probably in the NL.
Adam LaRoche
Braves might want him for 1 more year. Might be his best option.
Rick Ankiel
He’d be a decent pickup…if he werent so injured all the time. If anyone picks him up, itll prolly be to just fill out the roster or a 5th outfielder.
Orlando Hudson
Last year he was one of those last minute signings and the Dodgers looked like geniuses as a result. This year might feature another last minute signing for Hudson, and he’ll once again make whatever GM look smart…might end up being the Dodgers again…
…My God this took longer than I thought…
The Yankee Hater Hater 