Daily Archives: December 16, 2015
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 16, 2015
Sports Illustrated
Happy late birthday to Mo Vaughn, a player whose impact on the Boston Red Sox can not be underestimated.
Turn back to the 1990s for this episode of Sully Baseball Daily Podcast
Kansas City Royals State Of The Union For 2016
Back to Back AL pennants and this years World Series Winners. They are the biggest favorite to win their respective division so far on the board. The KC franchise has most of the core nucleus all heading for Free Agency before the 2018 season. If I were a fan of this club – I would be okay with the team rebuilding after this, but for now to throw all chips in and try to cash in on a chance for a small dynasty. Dayton Moore and the Brass should use any one of their Minor League Players to acquire the next piece or 2 to make that happen in 2016 and 2017.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The Royals are back to back AL Pennant winners and the reigning World Series Champions right now. Furthermore, they are playing in the most winnable Division in the Majors right now.
Kansas City were the 1st real small market club to win the World Series since the 2003 Marlins club took home the Fall Classic that year.
Just like the 2014 winter, the club will sustain losses between the end of the year to Spring Training the following year.
The door is not closed on Alex Gordon yet, however I don’t think it is in the clubs best interest to pay a 9 figure salary to a guy who is already 30.
KC has already seen Ben Zobrist sign with the Cubs, Johnny Cueto with the Giants, and Greg Holland will not pitch at all in the 2016 season with Tommy John Surgery recovery, and certainly not for the Royals.
Dayton Moore has done a decent job acquiring talent though. The team resigned Starter Chris Young, and they added one time Royals Closer Joakim Soria.
The window is not just for 2016 – as the club only stands to lose back up Catcher Drew Butera following next year, but also for 2017. Read the rest of this entry
San Diego Padres State Of The Union For 2016
It was a disastrous plan from the beginning, and now the 2014 winter is causing the 2015 offseason to play out different. The NL West has also seen the Giants and Diamondbacks beef up their Rosters while San Diego has lost their top 3 Bullpen arms. This squad will have a tough time avoiding 100 Losses in the 2016 season in my view. The saving grace is they can trade every Veteran player they can and start building up the club for 3 – 4 more years down the road.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
It certainly is a different feel to the winter of the Padres in the 2015 offseason than it was the 2014 Season. I never bought into the premise of how A.J. Preller built the team last year.
It was one of the easiest over/under wagers of the year. It ended in the club losing more games than they did the previous year – despite running a higher payroll.
The franchise loses Justin Upton to Free Agency, and have traded or lost their top 3 Relievers in Craig Kimbrel, Joaquin Benoit and Shawn Kelley.
Preller has also made a few questionable moves in acquiring Jon Jay for one year – and giving up on Jedd Gyorko. In my view, this is a weird move.
In an Infield that is already lacking power, this latest move furthers the need to bring in more hitters. Read the rest of this entry
Odds To Win The 2016 MLB World Series
The Cubs signed Jason Heyward over the last week – and may have dealt a massive blow to the rest of the National League that could be felt for several years. Despite the signing, the odds for Chicago, St. Louis and Los Angeles Dodgers did not change. This is not what is supposed to happen when a player like Heyward signs. The +800 odd is bang on though. I would not put any money down for the value, however they would be my pick to win the World Series if I picked any one team right now for next year’s Fall Classic.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The ripple effect of the Johnny Cueto‘s signing did not hit the odds very much for the Giants. San Fran went from +1800 to only +1600 in one week. The Dodgers also did not lose any ground – standing firm at +1200??
This is crazy. I am not saying the Dodgers value at +1200 isn’t actually right. What I am saying is that the 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series Champs should be right there with them. At least at +1300 – or even more favored than the 2nd place Arizona Diamondbacks.
San Francisco has the best Starting Pitching and Bullpen in the Division. This team also has a comparable lineup 1 – 8 with both the 2 clubs in Arizona and Los Angeles.
There is no doubt that the D’Backs heart of the lineup is better, but guys like Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy all featured decent offense in the 2015 campaign. Read the rest of this entry
MLB Reports 
You must be logged in to post a comment.