Monthly Archives: December 2016
ON BLUE JAYS & PLUNDERING THE PIRATES FOR LEFTY RELIEF HELP
JAYS FROM THE COUCH LOOKS AT THE POSSIBILITY OF THE BLUE JAYS EXPLORING SOME OF THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES POSSIBLE BULLPEN TRADE PIECES.
On Monday, JP Morosi tweeted out some nuggets on the Blue Jays longing for lefty help out of the bullpen, mentioning interest in Jerry Blevins and Boone Logan. These are names that have been mentioned on Jays From the Couch before (Blevins here and Logan here), but Morosi went further to whet the mouths of Blue Jays fans with reported interest in recently-crowned World Series Champion, Travis Wood.
A tweet and poll later on Monday afternoon over from Pirates Breakdown led to some interesting thoughts in regards to acquiring lefty relief. The Pirates bullpen is a honey hole of strong left-handed relievers, enough that the team will likely consider moving at least one this offseason. Tony Watson and Antonio Bastardo highlight the list, but Pirates Prospects blogger Tim Williams also mentions Felipe Rivero, Wade Leblanc and Tyler Webb all as possible candidates to be dealt…
READ FULL POST on Jays From the Couch
Brian Dozier for Jose de Leon Makes Sense for both the Dodgers and Twins
A new rumor on the Twitter has the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers as possible trade partners in a deal that would send Brian Dozier to LA in exchange for Jose De Leon. The swap would see LA deal its #4 prospect, a huge upside starting pitcher with limited MLB time but dominating AAA numbers, and Minnesota part ways with a slugging second basemen who has been the defacto face of the franchise for nigh on three years.
I love it. This is a trade that makes sense for both teams.
First, let’s look at it from the Twins side since that’s a little simpler. Minnesota is not a very good team. They lost 103 games in 2016 and finished in last place in AL Central. However, as I wrote back in October, Minnesota has a really good young core of position players led by Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, and Max Kepler that should provide good reason for hope in the Twin Cities.
However, the they lack pitching, particularly starting pitching. From my previous Twins post:
“Jose Berrios is supposed to be a starter of the future, and still may very well be, but an ERA above 8.00 in 13 starts certainly doesn’t instill confidence… Phil Hughes is bad; that’s not changing…”
To continue reading about the potential Dodgers and Twins trade, check out offthebenchbaseball.com!
Linked on the Field, in Verse, and in the Corridors of League Power
The Poem only Hints at the Complex and Eternal Connection Between Tinker, Evers and Chance
It was intended as a trifle, a last-minute mad-dash of an assignment. An editor had told him he needed eight lines to fill before he could head to the ball park to cover a game.
And so, New York Evening Globe and Mail columnist Frank Adams wrote his tribute – lodged his complaint – about the trio that had so vexed his NY Giants.
For many fans, Adams’ eight-line throwaway of a poem is all that remains of the famed trio – a shame, considering their immense impact on the game in its early years. They were the main players on baseball’s grand stage. READ THE FULL STORY AT PLATE COVERAGE
The Greatest Detroit Tiger By Position: First Base
Moving on from naming our greatest catcher of all-time for the Detroit Tigers, we take on naming the greatest first baseman of all-time. If choosing a catcher was difficult, this proves to be one of the biggest battles outside of the right field discussion.
With the only criteria of playing for the Tigers for five seasons, with a majority of games at that position, we have seven candidates. They include: Norm Cash, Hank Greenberg, Miguel Cabrera, Rudy York, Lu Blue, Cecil Fielder, and Tony Clark. The only two players that I am going to eliminate from this list right away will be Clark and Fielder, as Clark’s the .277 average and 156 homers aren’t going to cut it with this group, although the numbers are respectable. Fielder, I was intending to write about until I looked at his numbers as a first baseman and realized a third of his homers came as a DH.
We’ll start in chronological order…
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 19, 2016
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
The Raiders are trying to squeeze hundreds of millions of dollars out of Oakland for a new stadium. Why does Oakland bend over backwards for the Raiders and not the A’s?
And the A’s should think of breaking up with Oakland.
Things might not be working out on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
On Mike Bolsinger as Blue Jays Pitching Depth
JAYS FROM THE COUCH PROFILES MIKE BOLSINGER AS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS PITCHING DEPTH IN 2017
There is no way we can expect that the Toronto Blue Jays will be as lucky as they were in 2016. Where a normal year for a normal team necessitates the use of 8 or 9, or more, different starters to get through a season, Toronto got by on using just 7, with Drew Hutchison (2) and Francisco Liriano (8) being the only two “extra starters”. The starting 5 of Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ and R.A. Dickey combined for 152 starts. It was an exceptional display of health.
One of the guys who would be called upon, should this trend not continue, is Mike Bolsinger. The Blue Jays brought him into the organization mid way through the 2016 season and have stashed him in AAA. But, he is now out of options and will have to be given a spot on the club, or be exposed to waivers- where he would surely be claimed. Teams are always looking for pitching depth. Bolsinger provides that, if nothing else…
READ FULL POST at Jays From the Couch
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 18, 2016
It is Sunday and time for The Sunday Request.
@sullybaseball @RayPMcConnell Thats what its CALLED.Ask any BLUE or read an umpire manual. Wow
— Rich Looby (@BobOldisTowel) December 14, 2016
I made a snarky remark… and as it turned out, I was wrong. And I am stunned I was wrong about this topic. I still am.
But it goes to show the value of never thinking you know everything.
We can all learn from this Episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 17, 2016
My final stop on my New York voyage is New Yankee Stadium. I realized that the hugeness and coldness of the stadium makes sense when you consider the pressure of carrying the Yankee label.
But across the street is the place where MOST of the glory took place. It made me bring up an Alexandre Dumas novel.
Ghosts and memories are everywhere on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Sully Baseball Daily Podast – December 16, 2016
I visited the Polo Grounds Towers, once the home of the Giants and the epicenter of New York baseball.
Now it is an apartment complex and the baseball palace is right across the river. How did that happen?
Style and substance in this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Gary Sanchez’s Insane Month of August Is Among the Best This Decade
Making a good first impression is something many people aim for in various areas of life. MLB rookies will now have to chase the ultimate first impression made by New York Yankees catcher, Gary Sanchez, this past summer.
Yankees fans knew Sanchez was expected to be the future for this franchise behind the plate, but had to do quite a bit of waiting before it actually happened. Sanchez accumulated two plate appearances in 2015, followed by another four in May of this past season before getting any kind of consistent opportunity.
But then, it happened – general manager Brian Cashman executed New York’s first sell-off at the non-waiver trade deadline this century, which paved the way for Sanchez to finally get everyday at-bats at the big league level.
Did he take advantage of it? I’d say so.
He immediately endeared himself to Yankee fans eagerly awaiting his arrival, rewarding their patience by providing a historic month of offense – especially considering he entered it with just six big-league plate appearances to his name.
DJ LeMahieu is How the Rockies Will Upgrade Their Pitching
Well, fast forward 4 months and not much has changed, except that LeMahieu’s fit with the Rockies is even worse now.
The Rockies recently signed Ian Desmond in a deal that didn’t make sense on its own. Ian Desmond is a former shortstop turned utility man, penciled in to play first base, where his athletism will be wasted. He only further complicates the Rockies middle infield conundrum as the Rockies are similarly crowded in the outfield. The signing just makes a DJ LeMahieu deal all the more likely.
To continue reading about the Rockies trade scenarios, please click on over to offthebenchbaseball.com
Odds To Win The 2017 MLB World Series
Jon Durr/Getty Images North America
With the Chris Sale deal the Red Sox went fro co-favorites with the Indians t0 near the Cubs stratosphere for overwhelming odds on winners to take home the League Pennants in either league.
While I have no issue with these two squads holding the edge against the rest of the pack, it is just not that much of a discrepancy.
One may argue that the Nationals path of resistance is actually a lot easier than the Cubs for the Division.
The Mets Starting Pitching is suspect for health reasons, and there are holes all around the positional lineup when it comes to lack of a Centerfielder. and 3 men in the Infield who could suffer back injuries all year.
Here is the funny thing though. the Mets still made the WildCard play in game in 2016 despite all of the turmoil that presented itself.
Miami has taken a setback with the tragic loss of Jose Fernandez. This will be felt in the standings in my opinion.
The biggest X factor is if Giancarlo Stanton could remain healthy for 145 Games, but odds dictate he will not, therefore this Division should be beat up pretty bad by the Nats and Mets.
Atlanta and Philly are just a year away from solidly competing. Read the rest of this entry
The True Value of Dexter Fowler to the St. Louis Cardinals
On Friday afternoon, the St. Louis Cardinals finalized a 5-year, $82.5 million with former Cubs center-fielder Dexter Fowler. As has been explained in the media, the Fowler addition was meant to add more athleticism both on defense and atop the Cardinals’ lineup. At face value, this seems to make sense; Fowler’s skills are indicative of a lead-off hitting center fielder. In theory, inserting Fowler in center in place of incumbent Randal Grichuk should improve the outfield defense. In researching this theory; however, I have found that the ‘Fowler Effect’, while certainly providing plus-value, is not as straightforward as it may seem.
I will start with what we know. Offensively, Fowler is a bona-fide leadoff hitter as far as present day terms are concerned. While fans can get bogged down in batting averages (Fowler put up just a .276 mark in 2016), he did finish the year with a .393 OBP and was a table-setter for the first Chicago Cubs World Series victory in over 100 years. In fact, since he became a full-time MLBer in 2009, Fowler has ranked very highly when it comes to getting on base. Take a look at the following chart and see just how well he stacks up.
To continue reading about how Dexter Fowler improves the Cardinals, check out offthebenchbaseball.com.
The Baseball Player Political Cabinet
Hey! Idea: baseball player political cabinet. Which players would be best for each cabinet position. My first nominee: Ozzie Smith for Secretary of Defense because, well, you get it.
Sean Morash:
Ha! Brilliant! Trump needs some help
Max Frankel:
Glad you’re on board. Who’s your choice for education?
Sean Morash:
It’s funny. That’s immediately where my head went as well. I want Pedro Martinez or Greg Maddux. Both are brilliant and insightful. They definitely need to be in our cabinet, but I’m not sure if Education is the best place for either. My mom, a liberal school teacher, kinda hates the Dept of Education. Can we give this to someone with the best intentions but who we really don’t care if they mess it up too bad because it might actually be hopeless? Tell me that’s not A-Rod. I dare you.
Also- do we have any rules? We know Trump’s one rule is: “Are they worth $1,000,000?” If so, they’re in. Do we need our cabinet representatives to be retired ballplayers? Do they need to be alive? What about American Citizens?
To find out who made our made-up baseball player political cabinet, click on over to offthebenchbaseball.com. Seriously, you won’t want to miss our picks for Secretary of Agriculture and Energy and Homeland Defense.
Danny Espinosa a Good Fit For The Los Angeles Angels
Danny Espinosa isn’t a very good major league baseball player. But he is good at one big, important thing: tricking people into thinking he is at least an adequate major league baseball player.
Espinosa typically does this by hitting home runs– specifically, hitting them in bursts, that last long enough to coincide with some big situations, and in overall quantities that make people say: ‘”Woah, Danny Espinosa has that many home runs? No way!”
Danny is so good at this trickery that he somehow convinced the Washington Nationals to keep Trea Turner, the heir-apparent at short stop, in the minor leagues until Turner very nearly forced his way onto the roster. And even then, in Espinosa’s greatest feat of hornswagglery to that point, despite being the far inferior defender, he maneuvered the Nats into converting Turner to center field rather than pushing him (utility infielder Danny) off shortstop.
Now, however, Espinosa’s magical abilities seem to have waned just a bit. Washington brass has seen through his smoke and mirrors act, and shipped him to the Los Angeles Angels for two low-end prospects.
It may not sound like we like Danny Espinosa, but we really do! Check out why Danny Espinosa is a good fit in LA on offthebenchbaseball.com.
How Will The Toronto Blue Jays React To The Dexter Fowler Signing?
At this point, it’s safe to say that the Blue Jays’ offseason has been a failure thus far. GM Ross Atkins can speak as glowingly as he’d like about the additions of Kendrys Morales and Steve Pearce, but their acquisition is heavily offset by the potential losses of Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Michael Saunders, and Brett Cecil.
Still, there was always the possibility that the Jays would sign Dexter Fowler. The NL All-Star and World Series champion would look great hitting in front of Josh Donaldson and playing right field in the Rogers Centre. But his deal with the Cardinals is now official, a 5-year/$82.5 million agreement. Fowler successfully gambled on himself last season, turning down Baltimore’s 3-year/$33 million offer to take a 1-year/$13 million in Chicago.
With their primary target gone, where do the Jays go from here?
It’s obvious that the Jays wanted an athletic outfielder, and preferably one that could hit leadoff, to add to their lineup. Fowler, with a .393 on-base-percentage in 2016 would have been the perfect fit, if only the Jays were willing to spend the money.
To continue reading about the Blue Jays outfield plans, please click on over to offthebenchbaseball.com
Early 2017 MLB Team Win Projections
Having a great offsesson despite David Ortiz retiring. Are the deepest all around team in the American League, with the greatest collection of veterans and young players. The biggest other move in the Division so far was the Yankees signing Aroldis Chapman, and that may just help the Bombers stay above .500 – and have a chance to compete.
Following the recent Winter Meetings, the new CBA being signed. and then the subsequent few weeks after, the projections are win totals based on the teams if over/unders were to be placed.
From the onset. the Boston Red Sox are the clear favorite in the AL East – with adding Chris Sale, Mitch Moreland, Tyler Thornburg to their ALL – Star cast, while David Ortiz (retired), Travis Shaw (traded) Koji Uehara (Signed with the Cubs), Brad Ziegler (Free Agent) are off the postseason roster that lost to the Tribe.
The players going back to the White Sox were not from the Major League Roster for the most part.
With the Jays having Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Michael Saunders. R. A. Dickey, Brett Cecil off the 25 man roster, to replacing with Kendrys Morales and Steve Pearce for the most part as main transactions. this is a far cry from an even trade. However the club will still likely make some more moves.
Cleveland stands to benefit for the rest of the division all seeming to rebuild. but the Tigers have only dealt Cameron Maybin away – so they are sitting on the cusp of challenging for the AL Central again. Detroit may want to explore going for it one more year based on what the Royals have done, and the fact the White Sox and Twins might be the worst clubs in the Junior Circuit.
Houston has been super progressive with signing Josh Reddick and Carlos Beltran as Free Agents, while also flipping for Brian McCann. This was a squad that started 7 – 17,before reeling off a nice 77 – 62 mark down the stretch to fall just short of the playoff bar.
Seattle is also positioning themselves upward just by how bad the Rangers have fared this winter. Not only that, but they added strength to their worst 2 weaknesses in adding Jean Segura at SS. and Carlos Ruiz as a viable backup Catcher. Read the rest of this entry
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 15, 2016
If the Mets fanbase can be traced back to the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, then CitiField needs to honor a few Giants, including John McGraw.
Honor the In Laws on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Latest on RHP Sergio Romo
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the San Francisco Giants aren’t likely to bring back any of their free agent bullpen arms. There still hasn’t been many teams linked to any Giants free agents.
Giants sources have said that reliever Sergio Romo has a few offers on the table from other clubs. The Brawley native is confident that he’ll find a good fit.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 14, 2016
I visited CitiField, the new home of the Mets. It is a monument to the Brooklyn Dodgers and a missed opportunity to honor baseball of the 1960’s.
Missing out of the Don Draper era on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
The 20 Least Powerful MLB Hitters Who Slugged 20-Plus Homers in 2016
There aren’t many better ways for a ballplayer to display their power than by sending an incoming pitch over the outfield wall. That happened plenty this past season, which was one of the best cumulative power performances we’ve ever seen.
There were a grand total of 111 players who surpassed the 20-homer plateau. Not only is that an increase from the 64 players who accomplished it in 2015, it’s a new record.
However, as we detailed last week, there are other ways to determine how powerful a hitter actually is.
So, going off our idea to find the most powerful players who didn’t hit 30 homers, we’re now looking for the opposite. Below is a table displaying the 20 least powerful players who collected at least 20 round-trippers last year.
To figure this out, we limited the search to qualified hitters, sorting them by their ISO (Isolated Slugging Percentage).
Now, to be clear – none of these hitters are “below average.” They’re actually all above average in the ISO department, according to FanGraphs.
Check out who made the list:
The Greatest Detroit Tiger By Position: Catcher
Last year I explored and readers voted on who should be in the Detroit Tigers Hall of Fame from past and present. This year, I’d like to take a look and give my thoughts on the best Tiger at each position. The main condition I have for consideration will be a minimum of 5-years in the old English D uniform at that position for a majority of the season. There are will be some easy battles for certain positions, while others will be incredibly difficult.
Today we’ll start out with Detroit Tigers catchers. There are only six Tigers who even qualify for the minimum seasons needed and are Bill Freehan, Lance Parrish, Oscar Stanage, Ivan Rodriguez, Johnny Bassler, and crowd favorite, Alex Avila.
Blue Jays Front Office Guesses Right on Market for Dynamic Duo
WHEN IT COMES TO JOSE BAUTISTA AND EDWIN ENCARNACION, THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS’ FRONT OFFICE HAS PROVEN TO BE BETTER JUDGES OF OFFSEASON MARKET
It’s winter, alright. Spring seems so far away as we hunker down for some cold, snow and ice. What seems even further away was last spring when the Toronto Blue Jays were in a position to negotiate contract extensions for their Dynamic Duo, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. At the time, the talk of contracts overshadowed Spring Training, ending in nothing but a lot of hot air. No deals were struck and we entered the 2016 season trying not to accept that it could be the last for these two in Toronto.
READ FULL POST at Jays From the Couch
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 13, 2016
I visited the Ebbets Field Apartments in Flatbush Brooklyn. This was once the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Not a lot of clues that baseball was ever played here.
A trip down “Stripped Away Memory Lane” episode The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
View of Ebbets Field
A Cardinal at Ebbets Field
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Joyful Chaos: David Nemec’s Old Time Baseball History and Trivia
The intent on my part, of course, was to plug the book.
That was the intent...
It’s joyful chaos. (READ THE FULL STORY AT PLATE COVERAGE)
Who is the Most Intimidating Hitter in Today’s Game?
For a pitcher, deciding who gets the “Intimidator” label is easy: Guys like Gibson, Clemens, R. Johnson, Pedro. Guys who throw 95, with a mean streak. Guys who throw with skull-cracking menace. Guys who stand you up, then knock you down.
It’s harder to define an intimidating hitter. It’s not about who the “best” hitter is—or else the list might begin and end with Ted Williams. Wade Boggs, Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn were superb hitters, but they were more frustrating than intimidating to pitchers. Sammy Sosa averaged 60 HR a season for four years, but his hop and smile didn’t intimidate anyone – meanness counts. At his peak, Edgar Martinez had no weakness as a hitter, but his preternatural calm seemed designed to lull, rather than panic. And it’s not just about size: Adam Dunn, Jose Canseco, and Dave Kingman could each launch a ball 500 feet; they were also out machines.
Dodgers must choose between Justin Turner or Kenley Jansen
This time of year in baseball really means one thing: new faces in new places. It’s looking increasingly unlikely that Kenley Jansen returns to the Los Angeles Dodgers as their closer in 2017. This is coming on the heels of news that the Miami Marlins have offered Jansen $80 million dollars over five years to come to South Beach.
Did anyone notice at the Winter Meetings this past week that Los Angeles was ‘in’ on players but nothing really materialized? There may be good reason for this. The Dodgers were reported to be in serious amounts of debt. As soon as this news broke, it was obvious that they weren’t going to be able to retain their All-Star closer and their starting third baseman, Justin Turner.
Once Again: Why The MLB Should Consider A Geographical/Market Size Re-Alignment For The Next CBA:
The new CBA has been a godsend for the mid – market teams, and not so great for the 10 top markets, but even more devastating for the 10 lowest markets. One thing the CBA did address was to give the players an additional 4 days off during the league year – stretching from 183 Days to 187 – in lieu of expanding the rosters of 25 to 26.
This website has continued its stance since day 1, that while the economics have been a lot more fair to teams in the last 15 years, there is still much work to do. The best small market teams we have seen in the last 7 years have been the Oakland A’s, Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates and of course the 2015 World Series winning Kansas City Royals. Only one of these teams actually were a decent franchise for some time before they took off.
Pittsburgh lost for 22 years before they finally made 3 straight postseason appearances. With the new CBA not giving them 1st RD Draft Picks for departing players in future seasons like Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco, Starling Marter and Gerrit Cole, this is a sure fire way for the brass to cut the cord on their service team a lot of time ahead of them hitting Free Agency.
Kansas City was a laughable organization from the mid 90’s to 2013 as well, and despite winning back to back pennants in the AL< and being the first small market team to win the World Series since the 2003 Marlins, they will soon start to see their team ripped apart under the same Free Agent terms like the Bucs – with Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Danny Duffy and Mike Moustakas likely all not re-signing with the franchise. Dayton Moore already had to trade ace Closer Wade Davis this past week.
The Tampa Bay Rays were awful from 1998 – 2007, and were able to stockpile #1 overall picks to build up the franchise. The Joe Maddon era ensued for 6 straight quality years where they competed beautifully, including a World Series Loss in 2008, but now they are at a crossroads again from a 68 win campaign. and teams all spending double what they can. Read the rest of this entry
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 12, 2016
In New York City, I took a look at the Yankees rebuilding process, the assumptions and the last time there were no active World Champion Yankees on the roster.
It is a step by step rebuild episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 11, 2016
It is Sunday and time for The Sunday Request.
@swampudlian @sullybaseball What do you think is worse: many yrs of being too terrible to make the postseason, or yrs of postseason ❤️break?
— NastyBeth Richardson (@Bethrich52) November 23, 2016
A dynamite philosophical discussion.
I decided to tackle that question at a little league field turned Christmas Tree lot on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
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