It will all be following the money for many of the Free Agents this winter. It all started when all 14 players that had Qualifying Offers politely declined them all over the weekend, and are all FA’s with Draft Compensation due back to their 2013 club.
By Jordan Gluck (Free Agency Correspondent) Follow @JGluck777
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These are my personal predictions on where the top free agents will sign. This is the same kind of list of the top 50 free agents made by our friends at mlbtraderumors.com.
Please keep in mind there will be trades this offseason so holes will be filled that way as well (I believe the Cardinals will trade for a SS).
I am not going to estimate any dollar figures in this specific article but I do expect some overpayments this year.
Robinson Cano 2013 Highlights
Victor Martinez took exception to Grant Balfour blurbing something under his breath. Martinez has been around long enough to know that this is part of the Aussie’s act, however, when you hear the verbal exchange, you get a sense that something set off V-Mart. The Tigers ended up losing the game 6 – 3, and now face elimination in Game #4 at Comerica Park tonight, with Doug Fister towing the hill against Dan Straily. The Tigers are favored at -151.
By Matthew Lafave (Tigers Correspondent) Follow @MatthewLafave
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter: Follow @Mlbreports
The first postseason game in Detroit didn’t go as expected. It wasn’t even due to the 1:00 PM start time either.
Tigers Anibal Sanchez went only 4 1/3 innings and gave up home runs to Josh Reddick, Brandon Moss, and Seth Smith. Yes, that’s 3 home runs.
Though the Athletics jumped to a 3-0 lead early, the Tigers were able to claw back with 3 of their own in the bottom of the 4th.
Martinez and Balfour in a heated foul mouthed exchange – Parental Guidance Is Advised
The A’s have been hanging around the top of the AL West all season long, and have been blasting their way back to the top. With players like Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie, Brandon Moss and Alberto Callaspo leading the way of late, they are poised to make a run for not only the division but maybe the American league Pennant.
By Dan Wanser (MLB Reports Writer) Follow @DanWanser
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The Oakland Athletics have been considered contenders to win the American League West the entire season, but now that the season is coming to an end they are blasting their way to the top in an attempt to overtake the Texas Rangers.
With key players doing their job offensively, Pitchers doing their job well and keeping the team in games, and a pretty easy schedule going down the stretch they have all the components to make a stretch run.
Oakland’s 2012-2013 season Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KccmTHfY9U4
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Coco Crisp is having a good season for the Athletics, while playing superb defense for the club. He has a .251/.332/.752 triple-slash in 347 at-bats on the season. He has 10 HRs and 39 RBIs to include 16 Doubles and 87 hits overall. Coco is still a threat to steal bases with him swiping 16 bases and has only been caught four times. He also shows tremendous plate discipline with walking and striking out 45 times this season. He is a switch-hitter, but prefers to face right-handers with a .275 batting average in 218 at-bats. He does struggle against left-handers, as he only has a .214 average in 126 at-bats. He does a good job with runners in scoring position, as indicated by his .266 average and 29 RBIs in 64 at-bats.
By Chris Lacey (Lead Baseball Columnist/Minority Website Owner) Follow @aecanada12
The surprise team in the American League this season has to be the Oakland Athletics. They have a 2 ½ game lead over the Texas Rangers in the AL West division and they are doing it with their pitching.
The Athletics are 6th in the AL with a starters ERA of 3.90 this season and they have a solid offense that is 8th in the AL with 488 runs scored. The best thing about this team is that their rotation is comprised of several young pitchers.
The Swingin’ A’s 2012 – Parental Guidance Is Advised
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Bartolo Colon is anchoring the rotation for the Athletics this season. He is one of the many reasons why they have jumped out to huge division lead this season. He has already won 14 games for them this season to go along with an ERA of 2.54 in 141.2 innings pitched. He is not the strikeout pitcher he was in the past, but is still effective against opposing batters. Colon has displayed great control this season by only walking 18 batters and has a 1.09 WHIP. He is 4th in the AL with a WAR of 4.5 for pitchers . He is also 2nd in the AL with Win-Loss percentage of.824 to include him throwing three shutouts this season.
By Chris Lacey (Lead Baseball Columnist/Minority Website Owner) Follow @aecanada12
For the most of this season in baseball it seemed like the Oakland Athletics were going to have some competition in the American League West Division.
The Texas Rangers were expected to challenge them for the division title, but that is not the case this season. Oakland has a five game lead over the Rangers with more than two months left in the baseball season.
2012 Oakland A’s Highlights – Parental Guidance Is Advised
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Cespedes put on quite a show in this years HR Derby with him turning Citi Field into his own hitters paradise. He is hitting just .225 on the season for the Athletics. The value he has to the team means more than numbers can show. The opposing teams have to respect the power that he has. Cespedes power numbers are still good with him hitting 15 HRs and 43 RBIs. He does fairly well facing left-handers this season with him hitting .253 against him. He does struggle facing right-handers with his average just at .214 in 220 at-bats.
By Chris Lacey (Lead Baseball Columnist/Minority Website Owner) Follow @aecanada12
If you did not get a chance to watch the HR Derby on Monday, you missed a great young player put on a show. Oakland Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes made Citi Field look like a hitters’ park with each ball he launched into orbit.
That ballpark is not known for being friendly to hitters, but don’t tell Cespedes that. This is not the first time he has been in a competition like this, and it won’t be his last.
Yoenis Cespedes 17 Homeruns in the First Round of the 2013 Homerun Derby
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Follow @mlbreportsTuesday July 16th, 2013
Mariano Rivera holds the ALL-Time Record for any closer (active or retired) with 638 Saves. He has been the most dominant Relief Pitcher on the planet over the last two decades. What is incredible, is that he never has a bad season – which is prone to happen to even Hall Of Fame Relief Pitchers. Rivera also leads Active Pitchers in ERA (2.20), Games Finished (1089) and a WHIP 1.005. Add another 42 Saves, and a 0.70 ERA in 142 IP in his Post Season Career – and you are talking about the standard which any future Closer will be measured up to.
By Dan Wanser (Baseball Writer): Follow @DanWanser
You’re playing your rivals in a game that can put you in first place. You go in to the top of the 9th inning with the score 3-2.
Your starter went a solid seven innings, and then your middle reliever got you through the 8th. Three outs away, who do you call in from the pen?
This one guy will be the difference in whether you win or you lose. He needs to come in and get the next three outs, arguably the most important three outs of the game.
In this nerve-racking situation, you need a guy who can come in, put his nerves aside, and finish off this ballgame to get the win. Who are you bringing in from the pen? Your closer.
So if your team is in this situation, who do you want in the game? Here’s the pitchers who I think have been the best closers in this first half of the season.
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The Triple Play Show will have 5 shows per month. Each show will be about 1 hour. Chuck Booth will guest once a month for MLB Power Rankings,
By The Big Ticket Show ( AKA Triple Play Podcast on http://www.mlbreports.com) Follow @bigticketshow
Guest in this Podcast -Paul Francis Sullivan “Please Call Him Sully”: Follow @sullybaseball
We had a big show planned for almost an hour worth of content, instead we did our best Paul Sullivan impersonation (and not very well), as he is the 20 minute master when it comes to a podcast.
We would like to thank Sully very much for trying to hang in with us. We had about a 14 minute chat with him. There are still some great points that he made about the ALL – Star Game and the format for which it used to decipher home field advantage in the World Series, and it is definitely worth a listen.
Click past the Triple Play Logo or CLICK THE READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON:
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MLB reports and The Benchwarmers Show present 2 and A Hook Podcast.
By James Acevedo – Host (Podcast Veteran ) Follow @yankeeman1973
Guests On The Show
Im back & ready after being off during the 4th of July week to give you all another baseball packed podcast. On today’s show, brought to you by MLB Reports ( www.mlbreports.com ) & yours truly The Bench Warmers Show.
I star by paying respect to the great Yankee Stadium PA announcer Bob Sheppard on the 3 year anniversary to the day that he passed away…
I talk to the boss man Chuck Booth as he returns to do his segment! 16 Minutes in and a 31 Minute Segment Follow @chuckbooth3024
Chuck makes some notions about the New York Yankees and Brian Cashman needing to risk it all for this year – for the legacies of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Robinson Cano. Plus whether the club can trade Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes – and maybe acquire a bat. Read the rest of this entry
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The Giants have gone 9 – 23 in their last 32 Games – and are in danger of having a brutal campaign just one year after capturing the World Series. Key injuries and overlogged pitchers have been the main point of contention. They lost 8 Ranking Spots this past time. Should they also become sellers at the Trade Deadline, Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence could fetch a few players in return. The Giants are currently 40 – 50 and 6.5 Games behind the NL West Leading DBACKS – but are in last in the NL West.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The time has come for the July Power Rankings with Stats Edition. There will be one each for May, June, July, August, September – and then a special playoff edition Power Rankings will be done in October.
I will not do a weekly Power Rankings during these weeks, because in essence, these are the weekly rankings done on a much larger scale.
These Reports are done with a heavy thought to how the teams project by the end of the season – along with how the clubs have fared so far.
I will point out who has had great months for the all 30 MLB Teams. I reward the good performances in these rankings – and leave the poor ones for the Podcasts or future articles. CLICK THE READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON or scroll past the video and picture.
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Bernie Olshansky (Baseball Writer): Follow @BernieOlshansky
Every year there are a number of deserving guys who initially get snubbed out of the All Star Game.
For whatever reason, they just did not get picked. In this piece, I will cover the top five guys from each league that should have made the roster.
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The Boston Red Sox started out the season 21 – 8 after their 1st 29 games, and have maintained over the last 61 games, with 33 Wins and 28 Losses. They are #1 on our rankings charts.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Past this page break or the Dodgers logo, is the written version of the rankings. If you want to listen to the audio podcast we did for this, we have the links below to download or just listen.
Triple Play Podcast Ep #15 Monthly Rankings For All 30 Teams
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Saturday, July.06/2013
Citi Field is one of the newest Ball Parks in the Majors and will be host to the 2013 ALL – Star Game. It is light years ahead of where Shea Stadium was. The home club should have the Starting Pitcher and Third Baseman for the NL, who else will be picked for the NL and AL – will all be revealed in a matter of hours. MLB Reports gave its candidates and choices in this blog. Citi Field also modified its fences last year in hopes of hosting this event. This is the RF cavernous portion that used to be what Right Field was. I took this photo in 2009 – during its 1st season in existence.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
I am doing this list based solely on whether the player is a viable candidate or not. I don’t care if the fans vote someone else in – although they have done a decent job.
This website’s stance on Yasiel Puig is known by know – if you are reading this for the 1st time. We feel the man belongs based on his numbers. He has numbers comparable to Bryce Harper – and his BA and OPS is far above and beyond.
In a recent article our Dodgers Correspondent Follow @eriqwiththeq also mentioned Hanley Ramirez deserves a shot to make the team.
Ordinarily, I would say no – but Troy Tulowitzki is hurt.
Han- Ram might be a victim of all teams needing to be represented as the Padres best candidate is definitely Everth Cabrera – unless Bochy takes Jason Marquis to replace him.
I think behind Bochy should take Ramirez behind David Wright and Pedro Alvarez at 3B. With Segura, Cabrera and Desmond taking spots at SS. Read the rest of this entry
Wednesday July.03, 2013
Updated January.05, 2014
Updated July.05, 2014 for Samardzija deal link
Beane Spins Magic Again In World Series Quest: Picks Up Samardzija + Hammel For Straily + Prospects
Updated July 31, 2014 for Trade Deadline deals.
Beane Acquires Lester + Gomes For Cespedes: Then Acquires Fuld For Millone
Updated Aug 8, 2014 for Hitters Roster Tree
How All Of The A’s Hitters Were Acquired: 2014 Roster Tree Shows Incredible Beane Trading Record
Beane does his transactions throughout the entire year – and very little at the deadline. He is never finished with re-arranging his franchise. Perhaps his best Trade Deadline deal was to acquire Jermaine Dye in 2001. Conversely, he had to pay Dye a big FA contract afterwards (3 YRs/$30 MIL). Between he and Eric Chavez’s deal, (6 YR/$66 MIL deal) Beane learned not to be burned on long term contracts. He is a big fan of 1 – 2 Year Deals with Veterans. A lot of his players have not fared as well when they have left the organization. Even the guys that have, simply cost too much money for the A’s liking. The Oakland team received the same kind of production from them for a small percentage of the salary paid out.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter: Follow @mlbreports
We have talked a ton about Billy Beane‘s genius way on the website. The Website founder ‘Jonathan Hacohen’ was one of the first baseball writers to uncover the new Beane strategy last year.
I further studied some of his brilliant work – by figuring out the current roster tree for all of the current team last November. I was able to pick up a lot more patterns from his work as a GM.
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Chris Davis was the AL hitter of the month for the MLB Reports. The guy has 20 HRs and 20 2B on the season – after hitting 11/11 for both columns in the last 30 Days. The Orioles slugger also hit for a 3 Slash Line of .385/.448/1.256. Davis also Walked 11 Times, drove in 22 RBI – and collected 40 Hits in just 24 Games Played. He is on pace for a 50 HR/50 Doubles Season. “Crush” is due for Arbitration after this year – and will garner a considerable payraise from the $3.3 MIL he will earn this season.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The time has come for the June Power Rankings with Stats Edition. There will be one each for May, June, July, August, September – and then a special playoff edition Power Rankings will be done in October.
I will not do a weekly Power Rankings during this weeks, because in essence, these are the weekly rankings done on a much larger scale.
These Reports are done with a heavy thought to how the teams project by the end of the season – along with how the clubs have fared so far.
I will point out who has had great months for the all 30 MLB Teams. I reward the good performances in these rankings – and leave the poor ones for the Podcasts or future articles. CLICK THE READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON or scroll past the video and picture
Chris Davis 2013 Highlights:
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Miguel Cabrera is absolutely unconscious this season so far; He has a 3 Slash Line of .369 (Leads AL)/.445 (Leads AL/1.121 (2nd in AL), with 17 HRs (2nd AL) and a mind – blowing 65 RBI through 54 Games Played. He is on pace for 51 HRs, 195 RBI and about 250 Hits. He keeps getting better every single year if possible. Despite his prominence – and a lineup full of ALL – Star hitters and Pitchers, the Tigers are limping along at just a few games over .500. It certainly isn’t this 30 Year Old’s fault.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Featuring the Podcasters the Big ticket Show in the Audio Portion Follow @bigticketshow
I will be doing a stat fueled rankings list on this Thursday. These rankings will have some stats and random thoughts of what I will be talking about in today’s podcast with the Big Ticket Show (AKA, Triple Play Podcast.)
Games Prior to Sunday June.02/2013
Cardinals 2013 30/30 Preview
Click the READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON to continue… or scroll past the Triple Play Podcast. Read the rest of this entry
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Follow @mlbreportsTuesday May.14/2013
Cespedes has struggled this year – hitting for a 3 Slash Line of .212/.283/.748. However the team always better when he is in the lineup. They were 4 – 10 with the big fella out of the Lineup. Cespedes left last nights game with an illness – after cracking his 7th HR. With the longball Monday night, Cespedes now has hit 31 HRs and driven in 101 RBI in his 1st 155 Games and 586 At-Bats. Billy Beane signed him as a Free Agent last winter – prior to the 2012 year. He finished 2nd in Rookie Of The Year Voting and 10th in AL MVP Voting. His salary at 4 YRs/$36 MIL deal looks pretty good right now. He made $6.5 MIL last year, will make $8.5 MIL this year – and will earn $10,5 MIL for both 2014 and 2015.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The Athletics will enter game #41 at the record of 20 Wins and 20 Losses. Last nights win was a sigh of relief for the Oakland club and their fans.
After taking 2 out of 3 versus the New York Yankees in the Bronx last week, they were swept in Cleveland in a 4 game series (including that debauchery of a call by Angel Hernandez on the Adam Rosales Game Tying HR) – before losing two of three to the Seattle Mariners.
The A’s have seen their quick start of 12 -4 turn into a barely .500 season thus far at 20 – 20.
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Matt Harvey with his stellar outings so far this season – may have just become the New York Mets “ace”. Harvey is now 4-0 with a 1.66 ERA. Harvey has pitched 40.1 innings – only given up 21 hits, 12 Walks for a League Leading WHIP of .0818. For his awesome 5 weeks – we name him the MLB Reports NL Pitcher Of The Month
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Stats all Prior to May.06th games.
The time has come for the 1sy May Power Rankings. There will be one each for May, June, July, August, September – and then a special playoff edition Power Rankings will be done in October.
I will not do a weekly Power Rankings during this weeks, because in essence, these are the weekly rankings done on a much larger scale.
These Reports are done with a heavy thought to how the teams project by the end of the season – along with how the clubs have fared so far.
I will point out who has had great months for the all 30 MLB Teams. I reward the good performances in these rankings – and leave the poor ones for the Podcasts or future articles. CLICK THE READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON
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How important was Cespedes to The A’s Lineup? They went 82-47 with him in the lineup and 12-21 without him. So far in 2013, the team has gone 10 – 2 with the big Cuban and 4 – 8 without him. Clearly he is the teams MVP.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024 and welcome Jeff Kleiner (Salary, Roster and Depth Chart Expert for the MLB) – visit his website here Follow @prosportsroster
You guys are all in for a treat. Jeff Kleiner recently contacted me about a partnership merge for the website. He has developed a site (prosportsrosters.com) that covers all organizational affiliates in the Minors for all of the Major League Baseball Clubs. We are going to combine efforts to bring you the best look at salaries, current 25 Man Player Rosters and Depth Charts for all 30 teams.
Jeff is going to provide the documents in form of spreadsheets and I am going to accompany the posts with deep analysis of what the numbers tell us from my perspective. If you can’t wait for all of my assessments for each club, go and visit Jeff’s website over at http://www.prosportsrosters.com.
In Speaking with Jeff, he is one of the more passionate fans I have come across towards the game of baseball. He spends enough time in updating his MLB Facts for it to be a Full-Time Job. So after the usual Video Clip and READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY button, you will find some serious &*!@?!#!
Jeff updates this page below on a daily basis. After you click on it….Bookmark it. There is a 3 year salary forecast and stats not listed here on this page. Jeff updates these pages daily and these changes include any Roster moves!
For a Full 3 year Salary Outlook plus last years Stats for every player in the Athletics Organization click here
MLB Hard Talk 101 – Can The A’s Do It Again?
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Oakland Athletics’ Jed Lowrie has made Billy Beane look like a genius once again – with clubbing 16 hits, (8 of the Extra Base Variety), Scoring 10 Runs and Walking 6 times so far in the teams 8 – 2 start. He has an OPS of 1.258. He was acquired from the Houston Astros in a February trade which sent Chris Carter the other way. The man can play several defensive positions well. He is due for Arbitration at the end of this season, before becoming a Free Agent in 2015. Beane doesn’t seem to make a bad move these days.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Hands up.. How many people would have thought that the Oakland Athletics would start the 2013 season with the best record in the Major Leagues so far?
Of course this website is not surprised at all. Jonathan Hacohen (Website Founder and current Oakland A’s Correspondent) wrote a brilliant piece in the 1st week of July/2012 – breaking down Billy Beane‘s new MoneyBall Philosophy here.
I have to admit something right now.. I had not seen the movie “MoneyBall” even by this time. Yes…brutal and I was kicking myself for not seeing it before hand.
After the movie, I did some digging and was extremely flabbergasted with what I found about Beane’s magic. I wrote a Roster Tree for the Hitters and Pitchers in the organization. I studied every single transaction to back track how each of the current member of the team had arrived in an Oakland uniform. You can find that 2 part series here.
Can the Oakland A’s Do it Again in 2013 Preview:
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Sunday, April,07/ 2013
How good has Mike Morse’s start been for the Mariners…Try a 3 Slash Line of .333//364/1.268 so far, and is tied for the MLB lead in HRs with 4 bombs. “Da Beast” has proven that he can get the job when he stays in the lineup. If he can hit like this all year, Seattle may have a chance at the Post Season.
By Sam Evans (Baseball Writer): Follow @RJA206
When the Mariners acquired Michael Morse this past offseason, they were hoping to add some power and a veteran presence to a young lineup. Morse, who struggled in 102 games playing for the Nationals in 2012, appears to finally be healthy and ready to contribute.
Morse has gotten off to a hot start to the season, homering in 4 of his first five games. In 2011, when he hit 31 HR, it took Morse until May 25th to hit his 4th Home Run. This poses the question, could Michael Morse hit 30 Home Runs again in 2013?
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A.J Griffin was 7-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 15 Games Started for the A’s in his 2012 Rookie Season. The A’s will look for the 24 Year old for some Quality Starts in 2013. The former University of San Diego Pitcher yielded a 1.13 WHIP during his time last year. As the teams #4 Starting Pitcher on the depth chart, Griffin should be able to see some favorable matchups in 2013. If he throws like 2012 again in 2013, he might very pole vault to being the ace of the rotation. We may have another 3 – 4 staff that contend for the AL Cy Young like the days of Hudson, Mulder and Zito.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Billy Beane has always recycled his great starting pitchers once they hit the experience level that he could not pay them for. His new crop of pitchers include Jarrod Parker, Brett Anderson, Tommy Milone and new Starter A.J. Griffin.
They also are bringing back Bartolo Colon for the 2013 season, despite taking a 50 game suspension for PED use last year. Billy Beane is a master tactician on assessing a players worth and especially pitchers. Just like the hitters, the pitchers are all mostly in the 25-30 Age bracket. He has a quality set of controllable relief pitchers in the barn to close out games too.
A.J. Griffin at University of San Diego:
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Follow @mlbreportsMonday February 11th, 2013
Chris Carter: A career .283 hitter in the minors, with a .378 OBP and .535 SLG. The perfect combination of power and patience. He will prove to be the one that got away from Billy Beane.
Jonathan Hacohen (Lead Baseball Columnist, Oakland A’s Correspondent and Website Founder): Follow @Jhacohen
Mark down the date of February 4th, 2013. The day that Billy Beane broke my heart. In preparing for my latest A’s feature, the working title of the article was “Chris Carter: The Next Great A’s Superstar”. Then fate intervened. Or rather, Beane decided to pull off one too many trades. After a successful offseason that saw the A’s GM bolster significantly bolster his playoff squad, Beane decided that one more blockbuster move was in order. Jed Lowrie was headed to Oakland, with Chris Carter (the good one), Max Stassi and Brad Peacock going over to the Astros. For the purpose of this piece, I will be focusing on the loss of Carter. Stassi is a former 4th round pick of the A’s and a young 21 Year Old catching prospect. With Derek Norris ready to grab the A’s catching job for the next decade, I can see how he was expandable. Peacock was a 41st round pick of the Nationals. A 25 Year Old arm that may develop one day, but crashed and burned last season in AAA. With the A’s pitching depth, I can see how he could be ticketed out-of-town for a change of scenery. But Chris Carter? Really Billy??!! You worked your magic to get him in the first place from the Diamondbacks. I certainly hope that your return pans out (Jed Lowrie and Fernando Rodriguez). Right now, I simply cannot see the logic of this move.
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A .372 OBP in 2010. A .394 OBP last season. Can you blame Billy Beane for LOVING John Jaso?
Jonathan Hacohen (Lead Baseball Columnist, Oakland A’s Correspondent and Website Founder): Follow @Jhacohen
My name is Jonathan Hacohen. And I am a John Jaso fan. There…I have said it. Feels very good to get it out. Ok, so I don’t own any John Jaso t-shirts or jerseys. I wouldn’t recognize him if I hit him with my car. But when #27 (formerly #28 on the Rays) comes up to bat, I know that good things will usually happen. Remember that .372 OBP in 2010? I sure do. So do many Tampa Bay Rays fans. For you see my friends, John Jaso is a special breed of baseball player. He is a catcher with patience. He won’t hit for great pop, but he finds ways to get On Base. That is a skill that served him very well back in his aforementioned first full MLB season.
From that season on, I came to expect great things from Mr. Jaso. But then 2011 hit. Or actually, he didn’t. A .224 AVG with a .298 OBP was good enough for the Rays to dump Jaso on the Mariners for Josh Lueke. Remember him? Do I really have to say more? The Rays, for all the talk of their poor offensive showing and need for major league bats, decided that John Jaso just didn’t fit into their system. So Jaso was off to Seattle and Jose Molina was brought on board. The same Jose Molina who hit .223 last season with a .286 OBP. The same Jose Molina who got paid $1.5 Million last season. John Jaso on the other hand got paid $495,200 last year. What did he do? Only hit .276 with a .394 OBP. Plus a .456 SLG for good measure. His reward? A one-way ticket to Oakland with a 30 second stopover in Washington. The man can’t win. A good or bad season, either way MLB GM haven’t shown faith in this kid so far in his career. But then, most GMs are not Billy Beane. Despite being apparently set at the position for 2013, Beane proceeded to trade for Jaso and dump George Kottaras, to catch with Derek Norris. Beane said on record that he would have kept Kottaras unless Jaso was made available. So does Billy Beane know something that Andrew Friedman, Jack Zduriencik and Mike Rizzo don’t? The answer is yes. Beane knows which players he wants and usually, he will get them at the end. Now John Jaso is set to bring flair, leadership and of course, On Base skills to Oakland. The playoff picture just got much rosier for the A’s.
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Follow @mlbreportsSunday January 13th, 2013
Bartolo Colon saw his 2012 season end early due to a PED suspension. He is scheduled to return in April. Does he have one more big year left in the tank?
Jonathan Hacohen (Lead Baseball Columnist, Oakland A’s Correspondent and Website Founder): Follow @Jhacohen
Bartolo Colon (or Fatolo as he is known in inner-baseball circles), is set to make his major league return in April, 2013. Back in August, 2012 Colon received a 50-game suspension for the use of a Performance Enhancing Drug (PED). This suspension came a week after Melky Cabrera received his 50-game ban. With only 5 games left in his suspension, Colon will be back in early-April (health permitting). But as much as fans discuss his performance on the field, Colon’s weight always seems to be the center of attention. Generously listed at 5’11” and 265 lbs. on the Baseball Reference site, Colon won’t be winning modelling contests anytime soon. Billy Beane said it best in Moneyball, when he made it clear to his scouts that the team wasn’t trying to sell jeans. They were trying to win ballgames. Regardless of his weight and appearance, as long as Bartolo Colon can get the job done, I say hand him the ball every 5th game. Babe Ruth wasn’t a small guy, but he sure got the job done. Colon may not have the talent possessed by Ruth, but he can still be effective on most given nights. When baseball has 1-2 pitchers falling to Tommy John surgery on a weekly basis, there is something to be said for a pitcher that can go out there and give his team a good chance of winning. That is the Bartolo Colon that the A’s are hoping for in 2013. With a $3 Million salary this year and approximately $2 Million in incentives to be earned, Colon has all the incentives in place to give the A’s the workhorse they need this upcoming season.
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Tuesday, January.08/2013
The Rays Management has been a lot better under the tutelage of the these 3 gentleman. It is too bad that cant secure an MLB Park with the amount of revenue to pay their great players once they become great.
By Jake Bullington (Rays Correspondent) Follow @JakeyJake01
The Tampa Bay Rays have had a great history of producing great MLB talent ever since the current regime of Stu Sternberg, Matt Silverman, Andrew Friedman, and Joe Maddon took over. Their system, is to build talent up in hopes to sign to club friendly long-term deals and have them produce until the price tag becomes just too high and then get the next era in from trades .When it comes to pitching however its a whole new ball game. The Rays have an unmatched system for finding pieces from all over and putting them into a mix that at best could be described as ” an Island of misfit toys” but it works. If you take a look at the Rays bullpen the last couple years you see a couple of guys stand out that really had no place anywhere else.
In 2008, Grant Balfour became what no body thought he was, a great pitcher. In 2008 Balfour went 6-2 in 51 games with a 1.54 ERA and a staggering .89 WHIP. Balfour was signed that season for just above the league minimum at $500,000. Balfour would go onto to Oakland a few years later and signed for a little over 3 Million Dollars.
B.J. Upton Highlights – Parental Guidance is advised
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Follow @mlbreportsFriday, December.28, 2012
Note from Chuck Booth: I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history. 2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4. The Teams Payroll going into 2013 and 5.The Ball Park that they play in. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.) Be sure to check my author page with a list of all of my archived articles section here.
James Shields enjoys most of the Teams ALL-Time Pitching Records so far. David Price may not take very long to surpass all of his Franchise Records with Shields heading to KC now.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The Rays had several lean years of pitching before a starter really made his mark. Out of the gate, Roberto Hernandez had helped the team with closing at least. In the early years, the best pitching was done by Rolando Arrojo, followed by Victor Zambrano, before he was traded for Scott Kazmir. The Mets/Rays trade was the foundation for the pitching staff finally evolving. Soon James Shields was up with the big club. In 2008, the teams 5 starters towed the hill for all season in what would be an eventual World Series Birth. Newly acquired Matt Garza, joined Shields, Kazmir, Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine for double-digit wins and winning records.
David Price was next to join the staff in 2009 and he has not looked back since. Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, Jeremy Hellickson and Matt Moore joined the pitching staff in the next few years after that. The stable of bullpen relievers keeps coming and going. J.P. Howell has been the biggest mainstay there. Even with departing starters of Davis and (the Franchise Leader in several pitching categories) Shields, the team is not bare at the kitchen cupboard. The Rays finished 1st in Team Pitching ERA last year for all of the MLB. The next closest team in the AL was the Oakland – at almost a third of a run more.
The Rays have been blessed with some great years recently out of lower salaried closers. Whether it was Troy Percival, Kyle Farnsworth, Rafael Soriano or Fernando Rodney, Andrew Friedman has had a knack for gluing together a bullpen on a shoestring budget. With David Price winning the Cy Young Award in 2012, the best pitching may be yet to come for the AL East Team. Honorable Mentions went to these players, but they were not the same caliber as everyone else: Esteban Yan, Andy Sonnanstine, Kyle Farnsworth SP/RP Rick White RP Lance Cormier and RP Jim Mecir.
Scroll Down past the Franchise Links for the Pitchers or click on the Read The Rest Of This Entry Icon just past the Video Clip.
Franchise Series Links:
Franchise History: The Tampa Bay Rays: The Franchise 1998-2012: Part 1 Of A 5 Part Article Series
The Hitters The Tampa Bay Rays: The Hitters 1998-2012: Part 2 Of A 5 Part Article Series
2013 Team Payroll Part 4 of 5: Tampa Bay Rays Payroll 2013 And Contracts Going Forward: Updated for Myers Trade Dec.11/2012
Tropicana Field Expert Part 5 of 5: An Interview with Tropicana Field Expert Kurt Smith
Sunday, Dec.02/2012
A.J Griffin was 7-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 15 Games Started for the A’s in his 2012 Rookie Season. The A’s will look to the 24 Year old for some Quality Starts in 2013.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Yesterday we talked about the hitters of the Oakland Athletics current roster and today we will talk about their pitching. This has been an organization that has thrived on brilliant drafting of young arms. In the early 2000’s, the team featured three ace pitchers in Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. Billy Beane had to let each of them leave Oakland because they couldn’t pay them the kind of dollars needed to secure them long term. With the exception of this year, Barry Zito has not lived up to his 7 Years and 126 Million Dollar contract he signed with the San Francisco Giants since leaving the Athletics. Despite a 15-8 year for the SF club this past year, he holds a 58-69 (.447) record for San Francisco lifetime with a 4.47 ERA. He was 102-63 (.618) and a 3.55 ERA with the A’s before leaving at the age of 29. The guy made 18.25 Million in his Oakland days and has already pocketed 99 Million with SF.
Mark Mulder never was the same pitcher in the NL and was out of baseball four years after being traded to St. Louis. His A’s career had netted him an 81-42 (.659) record with a 3.92 ERA. He was only 22-18 (.550) and a 5.04 ERA with the Cardinals before retiring. As you will read in this article below, the franchise made a worthy trade in returns for this man. Mulder made 25.3 Million in his contract with the Cardinals after making only 8.4 Million with the A’s.
Tim Hudson on the other hand, has been one of the better pitchers in the NL for the last decade, still towing the hill for the Braves at the age of 38. He was 92-39 (.702) with a 3.30 ERA for the A’s. He has since gone 105-65 with a 3.52 ERA for the Braves in in 8 years. He definitely has been worth the $ invested (84.5 Million plus another 9.0 Million in 2013.) He only made 4.5 Million in his 6 years with Oakland. The sandwich pick they landed for Hudson’s Free Agent signing was Travis Buck. Unfortunately Buck only played 170 games for the franchise, hitting .250 with 18 HRs and 71 RBI in 571 AB.
Total Record for 3 other teams is 185-152 (.549) and they have made 208.8 Million away from Oakland, whereas they were 275-144 (.656) and made a total 33.15 Million Dollars with the Athletics. I would say, Beane made the right decision in not signing them.
The Future of the Oakland A’s: The Mustache Gang Meets the Bash Brothers: Revealing Billy Beane’s Master Plan click here.
For The Oakland A’s 2013 Roster Tree Part 1: The Hitters Click Here
Monday May 14th, 2012
Peter Stein (Fantasy Baseball Analyst – MLB reports): I think we can learn a lot from Albert Pujols, Adam Dunn, and Prince Fiedler, namely that it is not an easy transition to switch leagues in the middle a career. Adam Dunn, who also reported to the White Sox rather overweight in 2011, was completely overmatched last season and put up one of the worst statistical seasons in major league history. However, in 2012 he has already matched his home run total from last season and he is actually on pace for a career year with .993 OPS (career .879). Dunn is performing like the guy who blasted 38 home runs or more eight consecutive seasons.
Like Dunn, Pujols is struggling in his first season in the major leagues. One must figure that in addition adapting to the new surrounding and pitchers, the mental aspect has to be taking a toll on Pujols. Although I expect him to recover, it will certainly be too late in the minds of fantasy owners who took as one of the first two overall picks. I now see him as a nice buy-low candidate for 2013, in the same mold of Dunn. Although Prince Fielder is not struggling to the same degree, his .746 OPS in 2012 is well below his career .926 average. He and Pujols could still both finish the season with 30 plus homers, but it seems unlikely that they will produce at the level they were accustomed to in the NL. Look for them to both get hot at the end of the season and not struggle through the whole year like Dunn. And since Dunn looked to be one his way out of baseball and has recovered nicely, I think we can expect the same delayed results for the struggling first baseman in Detroit and Los Angeles. Read the rest of this entry
Sunday May 6, 2012
Bryan Sheehan (Baseball Writer): Seeing Mariano Rivera go down with a torn ACL is like driving by a car accident and reflecting on how easily it could have been you in that accident, or in this case- how it could have been your team’s closer cringing in pain on the warning track. And this is the year of the injured closer: from Boston’s Andrew Bailey to San Francisco’s Brian Wilson, closers across the league have been dropping like flies. Other closers, like the Angels’ Jordan Walden, have stayed healthy but haven’t played well enough to keep their coveted ninth inning role. Even though there has only been a month of baseball so far, much has changed for some clubs.
Today, I’ll be taking a look at every team’s closer situation, and breaking down how it got to be the way it is: Read the rest of this entry
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