MLB Reports

Wednesday July 25, 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 Team’s Payroll going into in 2013 and 5. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.) To follow all of the updates, be sure to check my author page with a list of all archived articles here.

Livan Hernandez leads the 2005-2012 version of the franchise in ALL-Time wins and innings pitched.

Chuck Booth (Lead baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- I think it safe to say that the best days of the Washington Nationals are purely ahead of them. They have a great nucleus of young talent with Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Drew Storen, Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, Mike Morse and Gio Gonzalez. These guys are so good that they all made the ALL-Time 25 man roster for the 2005-2012 Washington Nationals. I am a firm believer that these guys will be the best team in the National League within 2 or 3 years. I like Ted Lerner’s attitude on spending for now. This will ensure the money will be spent on the team to keep competing for the city of Washington’s 1st World Series Title since 1924. I would venture to say that not many living fans of the old Washington Senators saw the club hoisting the trophy 88 years ago.

The Nationals Park went soaring up my ranks as a baseball venue to see in the 30 stadium circuit. This place is now electric. I was so elated when I was able to see Strasburg pitch and win for the Nationals back in April. Next year I hope to see Bryce Harper play ball when I go on another 30 park tour. Next year is when I will have the official rankings of all of the ballparks posted here. I can assure you that the President’s Race will probably be voted the most popular race of any in the Majors at the parks. My humblest of apologies to the sausage race fans in Milwaukee and racing legend heads in Arizona. I still follow the campaign to ‘Let Teddy Win’, however that may take all of the fun out of it if Teddy does win one of those races.

As a fan of the old Expos franchise, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Washington Nationals. Playing meaningful baseball in September and October this year would be incredible to witness. So without further speak, let us start with our 25 man roster for the best players in the last 8 years. I picked the roster based on longevity or utter greatness for a couple of players. If this team was to play an alumni game right now, all of the positions would be filled. I don’t think I excluded anyone entirely crucial here. Please feel free to let me know if I did on any social platform. If you make a solid case for someone for whom I may have omitted, I could always add them later.

For Part 1 of the Article Series, The Expos Hitters: click here

For Part 2 of the Article Series, The Expos Pitchers: click here

For Part 3 of the Article Series, The Demise of the Montreal Expos: click here

For Part 4 of the Article Series, The Washington Nationals Franchise 2005-2012: click here

For Part 6 of the Article Series, The Nationals 2013 Payroll and Contract Statuses click here

Here is the highlight reel from Stephen Strasburg’s debut at Nationals Park. 14 Strikeouts is amazing!

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The Washington Nationals Franchise 2005-2012: (Part 4 of The Expos/Nats Series)

Jul 20

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Friday, July.20/2012

Stephen Strasburg is the new face of the Washington Nationals. Will Bryce Harper and he be able to bring a World Series to Washington?

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)– At the beginning of 2005, MLB returned to Washington for the first time since 1971. So how was this time going to be any different from the first two times in DC? The Minnesota Twins first moved from the old Washington in 1961 and the Texas Rangers moved in 1971 from Washington a decade later. The Washington Nationals (or Senators in the early 20’s where the won a World Series in 1924. The first and only WS the city of Washington has seen) had hall of fame players such as: Goose Goslin, Sam Rice and Joe Cronin to accompany the great Walter Johnston. By the time the team moved to Minnesota before the start of the 1961 season, the club had young phenoms Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison seen as their nucleus of a young Washington team before moving.

Washington’s second go around (in the American League this time) lasted from 1961-1971. The Washington fans were granted an AL Expansion team by MLB-to hold ontotheir anti-trust exemption status. The Los Angeles Angels were their expansion cousins. These AL Washington teams were awful and only were saved by Frank Howard and his 6 foot 7 frame smashing home runs for the years of 1965-1971 as their first baseman/outfielder. The team only managed one winning season in a decade and that was under the managerial guide of Ted Williams. Bob Short had acquired the team with 9.4 Million Dollars that was all borrowed after the previous owner had died in 1967. Short promptly named himself the General Manager. Finances caught up to him and he eventually traded away some of the best talent before selling the club to the city of Arlington after the 1971 season. Washington would be without baseball for 33 years until the Expos moved back into RFK Stadium and changed their name to the Nationals in 2005.

For Part 1 of the Article Series, The Expos Hitters: click here

For Part 2 of the Article Series, The Expos Pitchers: click here

For Part 3 of the Article Series, The Demise of the Montreal Expos: click here

For Part 5 of the Article Series, 2005-2012 Nats Best 25 Man Roster click here

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Baseball Movie Review: Ballplayer Pelotero

Jul 16

Posted by samevans87

Monday July 16th, 2012

Sam Evans: “Ballplayer: Pelotero” is a documentary that follows two highly regarded Dominican fifteen year-old baseball players. It’s a story of lies, backstabbing, and MLB’s darker side. I highly recommend “Ballplayer: Pelotero” if you’re at all interested in International Free Agency, and how young prospects can get taken advantage of.

The two players shown throughout the film are Miguel Angel Sano and Jean Carlos Batista. Sano is portrayed as an extremely talented fifteen year-old, who comes from a very poor family. As you may know, Sano is now in the Minnesota Twins organization, and he has more raw power than any other player in the minors. Throughout the film, Batista opens up about the death of his father in a dramatic eye-opening fashion. He ends up signing with the Houston Astros, after a major discovery is made by Major League Baseball that alters his signing bonus.

Posted in On the Verge: MLB Prospects

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Justin Morneau: Twins Trade Bait or Damaged Goods?

Jul 12

Posted by bernieolshansky

Thursday July 12th, 2012

Bernie Olshansky: Over the past few years, Twins fans have been disappointed with Justin Morneau’s performance. He’s been plagued by a concussion he sustained in Toronto two years ago after sliding into the leg of Aaron Hill. Before the injury, Morneau was hitting .345 through 81 games, hit .274 in the year before that (2009), finished second in MVP voting in 2008 after hitting .300 with 23 home runs and 129 RBIs, and won the AL MVP award in 2006 after hitting .321 with 34 homers and 130 RBIs. The big question is: Can he return to his original form? Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in MLB Player Profiles

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MLB Reports Monthly Power Rankings: July 2012

Jul 4

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Wednesday July.4, 2012

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)-We are going to bring you monthly power rankings every month of the season. There will be a few notes written for each team. Please feel free to let us know your thoughts. The Texas Rangers are the top ranked team yet once again, although teams are certainly gaining on the them in the last month. If this report was being done last week I might have put the New York Yankees in 1st and Texas in 2nd. A 7 game winning streak help preserve another month for Texas on the leader-board. There were superior months by Aaron Hill, Jose Bautista, Joey Votto , Jason Heyward and a new phenomenon was born with Jose Altuve. It was a great month for the MLB. With 20 teams within 5.5 games or less for the playoff races, we are sure to see some serious movements in the Power Rankings in the 2nd half of the season.

Standings taken before play Tuesday July.03/2012

July Power Rankings-Last Month Rank in Parenthesis

1. Texas-50-30 (1) The Rangers rode a 7 game winning streak to end up 18-8 for the last month. David Murphy, Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus all hit over .300 in the last 30 days. The Rangers were able to weather a slow spurt from Josh Hamilton, in which he hit .222 with only 4 HRs for the month. Matt Harrison has asserted himself as an ace on the staff with a 5-0 month with a 1.29 ERA, while leading the American League with 11 wins on the year. The Rangers have 6 players going to the ALL-Star Game including 3 starters. Yu Darvish can make a 7th if he is voted into the final roster spot with his rookie campaign of 10-5 so far.

2. NY Yankees 48-31(5) The Yankees have ridden good pitching and a hot bat from Robinson Cano to a 19-7 record over the last month, with a 5 games lead over their competition in the AL East. Cano hit .370 with 12 HRs and 24 RBI in the last month. Derek Jeter is hitting .298 overall but saw his average go from .389 in April, to .283 in May to .232 in June. He still tops a list of 4 Yankees heading to the ALL-Star Game including 23 HR homer man Curtis Granderson. Phil Hughes went 5-1 in the month with a 2.59 ERA and Ivan Nova won his 3 decisions with a miniscule 1.32 ERA. Rafael Soriano has converted 18 out of 19 save opportunities since taking over as team closer.

3. San Francisco 45-30 (9) The Giants went 16-11 in the month and saw a perfect game from Matt Cain, with a few other 1 hitters. The team shutout the Dodgers 3 games in a row in a series last week. The Giants have Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Melky Cabrera starting in KC next week. The Melkman continues to show that last year was no fluke with his .352 Average and he is leading the Major Leagues with 111 base hits. The Giants pitching staff has coped with the loss of Brian Wilson and the ineffectiveness of starter Tim Lincecum, by the rest of the staff having career years.

4. LA Angels 45-35 (12) The Angels have been really steady since the end of May. They just finished going 17-8 in the last 25 days on the backs of ALL-Stars Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo and resurgent Albert Pujols. Trout might be the most exciting player on the planet these days and is a lock for AL Rookie of the Year if he keeps this up. Trout hit .367 over the last month and has taken over the AL batting lead with a .342 AVG. Trumbo hit 10 HRs and drove in 28 RBI for the month and Pujols hit .337. to raise his average 40 points. C.J Wilson was good enough in June to be named as CC Sabathia‘s replacement at the ALL-Star game.

5. Washington 45-32(9) Mike Morse has returned to the lineup with a vengeance during the last week with a .484 average. Super Sub Tyler Moore has also hit .415 in the last 14 games with 4 HRs and 12 RBI. Ian Desmond had 16 Extra base hits for the month to go along with 20 RBI, while he made the ALL-Star game as a reserve. Ryan Zimmerman awoke from a season long slump to plate 17 RBI. Adam LaRoche still contributed 7 HRs and 15 RBI despite a paltry .191 average in June. Stephen Strasburg is 9-3 on the year with a 2.81 ERA and a league leading 122 SO. Gio Gonzalez is 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA. Both Gonzalez and Strasburg made the ALL-Star squad. Read the rest of this entry →

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Montreal Expos Drafting Record Part 2: The Pitchers

Jun 27

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Wednesday June.27/2012

Drafted in 1985 by the Montreal Expos, Randy Johnson was erratic in his early days. After trading away Mark Langston to acquire the young fireballer, the Mariners worked him into the rotation and he developed into a Hall of Famer.

Chuck Booth (Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- When looking back at some of the pitchers that the Montreal Expos have had in their organization, you don’t have go down the list very far to find Randy Johnson. He is the ‘crown jewel’ of the draft history record for the club. It is unfortunate the ‘The Big Unit’ was traded to the Seattle Mariners with Brian Holman and Gene Harris to the Mariners for rental player Mark Langston and a player to be named later. To be fair to the Montreal Expos, they were in serious contention for the pennant in 1989 and were trying to chase down the Chicago Cubs. Langston was one of the top Left Handed Aces in the Majors and he was available. Johnson was completely wild in the Minor Leagues and the Expos had a lot of veteran pitchers like Dennis Martinez and Bryn Smith that were on the back end of their careers. The time to try and win was now and they could not wait for Johnson to come around. The Expos did not succeed in capturing the pennant and Langston moved onto the California Angels as a free agent while Johnson blossomed into the premier left handed pitcher in his generation. Speaking of Martinez and Smith, they won 100 and 81 games respectively for the club. While they were not drafted by the Expos, they are 2nd and 3rd on the all-time win list.

Along with Smith and Dennis Martinez (who threw a perfect game as an Expo in 1991 and note: Bill Stoneman also threw two no-hitters for the franchise), you have to factor in the career of Pedro Martinez as an Expo for guys that were great pitchers during their prime. Pedro was acquired prior to the 1994 season from the Dodgers in exchange for the Expos departed ALL-Star second baseman Delino DeShields. Martinez went 11-5 in the strike shortened year and formed an impressive 1-2 ace combination with Ken Hill. Pedro went onto a 55-33 record and a 3.06 ERA for his 4 year Expos career. Pedro’s best year with the club was 1997 where he was the NL CY Young with a 17-8 record and a 1.90 ERA. Martinez finished the year with 305 strikeouts and a ridiculous 13 complete games. Pedro ended up signing with the Boston Red Sox before the 1998 season and he ultimately won a World Series with the Beantowners in 2004. In his post game celebration, Martinez mentioned the Expos franchise and their fans. Pedro shared his triumph as a testament to them. It was talent like this that Expos could never afford to resign and would lose outright- or have to trade for prospects based on their economic viability. I will get more into this in Part 3 of the Article Series on Friday.

For Part 1 of the Article Series, The Hitters: click here

For Part 3 of the Article Series, The Demise: click here

For Part 4 of the Article Series, The Washington Nationals Franchise 2005-2012: click here

For Part 5 of the Article Series, The Nats Best 25 Man Roster 2005-2012 click here

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MLB Reports Monthly Power Rankings: June 2012

Jun 4

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Monday June.4, 2012

June Power Rankings-Last Month Rank in Parenthesis

1. Texas-32-22 (1) The Rangers rode Josh Hamilton in the month of May-who enters today on pace for about 60 HRs and 170 RBI while hitting .354. Nelson Cruz is starting to heat up and the duo of Adrian Beltre and Ian Kinsler are steady as as ever. Yu Darvish is 7-3 en route to the leading the group amongst Rookie of The Year Contention. Joe Nathan is looking like his old self again out of the pen with an ERA under 2.

2. LA Dodgers 33-21 (5) Even with Matt Kemp out of the lineup again, the Dodgers are winning ball games with solid contributions from Andre Ethier and A.J Ellis on offense. The pitching staff has been anchored by Clayton Kershaw and a fast 7-1 start by Chris Capuano. Ted Lilly was 5-1 before a stint on the DL. It is too bad because Lilly is 125-104 since 2004.

3. Tampa Bay 31-23 (2) Hideki Matsui homered in two of his first 3 games back with the Rays. The team has had steady pitching to stay in contention. Carlos Pena has really struggled in the last month and will need to pick it up. Luke Scott with 35 RBI has good production numbers in spite of his .225 AVG. Fernando Rodney has converted 17 out of 18 saves to pace the club.

4. Cincinnati 30-23 (12) Joey Votto has hit .404 in the last 30 days and maybe the best all-around hitter in the National League right now. Jay Bruce has 12 HRs and 34 RBI and is living up to his all-star potential. Aroldis Chapman has 27 Strikeouts in just over 14 innings and has yet to yield a run while opponents are hitting a paltry .043 against him.

5. NY Yankees 29-24 (6) The Bronx Bombers have 6 players with 8 HRs or more, which is a good thing because with the exception of Derek Jeter, a lot of them are hitting under their career averages. The return of Andy Pettitte has helped the rotation with the loss of Micheal Pineda. Phil Hughes threw a complete game over the weekend and CC Sabathia is on pace for another 20 win season. Read the rest of this entry →

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Twins: Is it Time to Blow Up the Team in Minnesota?

May 31

Posted by bernieolshansky

Thursday May 31st, 2012

Bernie Olshansky: The Twins are sitting at the very bottom of the American League standings with a winning percentage (.360). For those of you without a calculator, that is .248 points less than the leading Rangers (.608). It’s obviously time to do something to turn the Twins around… but what? The Twins shouldn’t be playing this badly, as they have two former MVPs in Joe Mauer (2009) and Justin Morneau (2006) in their lineup. Granted, Mauer won the MVP three years ago and has had a few injuries since, and it’s been six years since Morneau won his MVP, and he’s suffered from a nasty concussion he received when sliding two years ago in Toronto. If these two stars could play to their potential at the same time for a full season, the Twins might be achieving bigger things. The unfortunate truth, however, is that this most likely will not happen.

On paper, the Twins aren’t awful. Carl Pavano anchors the pitching staff followed by an on-and-off Francisco Liriano (who had a rough start to this year), Nick Blackburn, and Scott Diamond. Jason Marquis threw 34 innings this season posting an embarrassing 8.47 ERA while going 2-4 before being released. Just recently the Twins announced the return of Liriano to the starting rotation after a brief time in the bullpen. We’ve seen some flashes of brilliance in the recent past from both Liriano and Pavano. Pavano went 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA with the Marlins in 2004 and more recently went 17-11 with a respectable 3.75 ERA in 2010. Liriano in 2010 had a solid 14-10 record with a 3.62 ERA and last year threw a no-hitter. 2010 was the last good year for the Twins as they finished first in the Central but ended up losing to the Yankees in the Division Series. The team has fallen on extreme hard times since. Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in MLB Teams: Articles and Analysis

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Tags: american league central, baseball, cole hamels, francisco liriano, joe mauer, justin morneau, matt caps, minnesota twins, mlb, scott diamond, white sox

MLB Should Investigate a Payroll/Geographical Look into Division Re-Alignment

May 21

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Follow @mlbreports

Monday, May.21/2012

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- Despite being a Yankees fan, I admit the economics of baseball are way out of whack. I was talking with a few other fans about the MLB and thought of a radical new change in division re-alignment that may finally end the disparity between all ball clubs having a chance to make the playoffs each year. Much like soccer, it would kind of be a tier system. Scheduling and travel wise it makes a lot more sense as well. For those hardcore fans I would also make each team play at least 3 games against every other team in the Majors. Let’s see if you like what I have done.

The new AL would feature the bigger payroll teams. I know this break’s up 130 years of tradition but it is time to move into the new millennium. There would be 15 teams in each league so that would make for 1 Interleague series at all times. Under this format you could still keep your 2^nd wild card berth. After you read these Divisions take a look at how I would break up the 162 game schedule-and then demo sampled the natural rivalries playing each other 12 or 19 times still. I believe this is the fairest and most accurate way to have competitive balance for all of the clubs. The National League would take a bit of a hit however they should change the All-Star Game to mean nothing for the World Series home advantage. The team with the best record overall in the regular season should have home field advantage when deciding the World Series and playoff round. There would be 50 interleague games for each team. This still only represents 30% of the games folks. With more teams rotating through the league, the games would remain fresh. They can still keep the American League and National League Stats separate like the NFL does. Read the rest of this entry →

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MLB Payroll Report: Rating the Value of Each club Per Win

May 16

Posted by chuckbooth3023

Follow @mlbreports

Wednesday, May.16/2012

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- Once again the New York Yankees top the charts for payrolls in the Majors, although the other teams are definitely catching up a little. Now while the below charts tell us a story on value, obviously you are better off being one of the teams that spends more money. Tampa Bay, Toronto and Baltimore are amongst some of the best valued teams for payroll and wins so far. This bodes well for the competitive balance in the American League East long-term. What I am also seeing, is that teams that are on the bottom of the payroll scale are starting to invest money in their teams. One can only hope that the Houston Astros will start investing in the club once they shift over to the AL West. Oakland may be still playing ‘Moneyball’ as the top value for each win, however this concept will only carry them so far. The team still needs to find a long-term home so they can catch up with the moneys spent by the rest of the Major Leagues. Read the rest of this entry →

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Tags: AL East, alex anthopoulos, alex ríos, arizona diam, Atlanta Braves, baltimore orioles, billy beane, chicago cubs, chicago white sox, cincinnati reds, cleveland indians, colorado rockies, detroit tigers, houston astros, jeffrey loria, josh hamilton, kansas city royals, la angels, la dodgers, miami marlins, milwaukee brewers, minnesota twins, moneyball, new york mets, new york yankees, oakland a's, philadelphia phillies, pittsburgh pirates, san diego padres, san francisco giants, seattle mariners, st louis cardinals, tampa bay rays, texas rangers, toronto blue jays, vernon wells, washington nationals

Ask the Reports: ATR Answers Your Baseball Questions – May 12th, 2012

May 12

Posted by Jonathan Hacohen

Saturday May 12th, 2012

Jonathan Hacohen: Posted every Weekend: Your top baseball questions from the past week are answered. E-mail all questions to mlbreports@me.com, message us on Twitter, post on our Facebook Wall and leave comments on our website! There are many ways to reach us and we will get to your questions from all social media outlets!

Let’s get to your top questions of the week:

Q: (a) What are the chances of the indians moving; and

(b) Josh Hamilton obviously, Matt Kemp too, but after that Im not sure(maybe Bruce,Braun, etc). Who do you think will be the contestants this year? Robert

JH: Two questions for Robert this week. A great way to kick off ATR! Now I am getting many messages on the Indians moving, so it is time for some clarification. I had tweeted a couple of weeks back on the hypothetical scenario on “if your team was to relocate or contract, which team would you start to follow and why.” Completely hypothetical and never intended to be more than that. The Indians came up with Larry, MLB reports’ #1 fan (his fave team)…and based on that discussion, the whole concept of the Indians moving was born. Now digging through the attendance figures for last season, the Indians were ranked 24th with approximately 1.8 million fans. Good…but certainly not great. Just to compare, both the Yankees and Phillies draw approximately 3.6 million fans as the top gates, while Oakland was the worst at 1.476 million. The Marlins and Rays were both very close to the bottom, with the Marlins now having a new stadium and the Rays desperately needing one. If the Rays and A’s don’t get new parks, expect to see these teams move in the next five years. The Indians though are not going anywhere. Not in our lifetimes at least. The Indians as a major league team were formed in 1901 in Cleveland and formally became the Indians in 1915. Translation: too much history and tradition. Still a very popular team. This team is not going anywhere. Progressive (formerly Jacobs) Field opened in 1994, so it is still relatively new. A beautiful park and a loyal fan base that loves their team, the Indians are here to stay.

As far as your second question, I will say this on the MLB Home Run Derby. It’s time is starting to run out. Last year, Ortiz and Fielder were the captains for the event. Contestants included Cano, Bautista, Adrian Gonzalez, Weeks, Kemp and Holiday. Cano ended up winning it, which was suprising considering that he wasn’t even a considered candidate by many. By Rickie Weeks? A little weak in my book. Many players do not wish to participate anymore, given injury risks and the issues it can create with their swings. Remember Bobby Abreu back in 2005? He was never the same after that one. I think we will see more and more young players participating. I think the old guard has had enough, with the young players still looking forward to the event. I would love to see Cespedes, Bruce, Napoli all join in the fun. I think Kemp will want a year off from this one, but Major League Baseball would love to see him and Hamilton duke it out. It boils down to politics vs. players’ preferences. I would expect to see some established stars, but more of the prospects as this event continues to grow. The captains idea was a good one- allowing more players input into the event. Hopefully Major League Baseball can continue to grow and evolve the Derby. Read the rest of this entry →

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Tags: albert pujols, anaheim angels, ask the reports, atr, baseball, cleveland indians, homerun derby, jay bruce, matt kemp, minnesota twins, mlb, mlb expansion, montreal expos, ryan braun, toronto blue jays, vladimir guerrero

MLB reports Monthly Power Rankings: May 2012

Tuesday May 8th, 2012

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)-We are going to bring you a monthly power rankings every month of the season. There will be a few verses for each team. Please feel free to let us know your thoughts.

May Power Rankings

Texas (19-10) Josh Hamilton is clubbing the ball at his 2010 like AL MVP clip. Yu Darvish appears to be the real deal. Mike Napoli hits 8^th on most nights. Michael Young might be the most under-appreciated hitter in the last decade. Ian Kinsler is on pace for 162 runs. If Nelson Cruz starts hitting and or Nathan rounds into form, than this team may blitz by every one.
Tampa Bay (19-10) The pitching staff is incredible right now. David Price is asserting himself as one of the premier left-handed pitchers in baseball. Strong starts from Evan Longoria, Luke Scott and Carlos Pena have helped. Joe Maddon may be the best ‘in-game manager’ of baseball now with Tony La Russa out of the Majors.
Atlanta (18-12) The reason I have Atlanta rated so high is they are not even having a good year from Tim Hudson yet and Jair Jurrjens has been atrocious. Still they sit near the top of the standings. Chipper Jones has 21 RBI and Freddie Freeman has taken the next step so far with 26 RBI. Last year the team had a lot of players with career worst years and they were only eliminated on the last day of the season. This year may be different.
St. Louis (18-11) You lose a franchise player like Albert Pujols and you spend half the money for Carlos Beltran and Rafael Furcal, who are finally hitting the numbers like the back of their bubble gum cards from 5 years ago. Are we giving enough credit to Mark McGwire here? Lance Lynn has morphed into Chris Carpenter with his 6-0 start.
LA Dodgers (19-10) Matt Kemp is the best player in baseball right now and may walk away with the triple crown this year. Andre Ethier has matured into the RBI guy he needs to be. Solid pitching by Clayton Kershaw, Chris Capuano and Ted Lilly have this team looking solid. Dodgers look good in the future when the new ownership takes over. (more…)

Posted on May 8, 2012 | Image

Twins Pitching Prospects to Remember

May 1

Posted by samevans87

Sked is here: fastestthirtyballgames3021.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/30in20/

Tuesday May 1st, 2012

Sam Evans: The Twins have made it obvious they have no plans of contending this year. Their whole infield is pretty depressing and the pitching staff has looked awful. Minnesota doesn’t have an amazing farm system, but they do have some pitchers that probably will be in the majors in the coming years. Here is a review of a couple of the top Twins pitching prospects.

Madison Boer, RHP, A-Ball: Madison Boer is a twenty-two year old right-handed throwing starting pitcher. He was drafted in the 2011 2nd round out of the University of Oregon but he was born in Minnesota. His fastball sits in the low-90’s and he also has a slider and a splitter. Last year, in fifteen games pitching in relief in Rookie ball, Boer struck out thirty-one of the sixty-seven batters he faced.

In 2012, Boer has gotten off to another hot start. Facing A-Ball hitters, Boer has posted a 3.31 FIP. Unfortunately, his strikeout rates have not been close to where they were in 2011. This year, Boer has faced one hundred and sixteen batters, and only struck out twenty. He’s only had five starts, but his strikeout rates will definitely be something to watch this year. Overall, Boer could turn into a solid #3 starter for the Twins. I’m sure the Twins would be thrilled if they could get that kind of value from a second round pick. Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in On the Verge: MLB Prospects

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Tags: al central, Alex Wimmers, baseball, Hudson Boyd, Madison Boer, milb, Minnesota, minnesota twins, mlb, pitchers, prospects, twins

A New GWR Record and Many New Ball Park Chaser Friends

Apr 30

Posted by chuckbooth3023

The Streak ended at 30 MLB Parks in 23 calendar days!!

I broke my old record of 24 days by being-Fastest to see all 30 MLB parks in 23 days from April 6th to 28th!

Follow me-@chuckbooth3024 on twitter

https://mlbreports.com/gwr-tracker/ or at my official website for all updates!

Monday, Apr.30/2012

Ken Lee, Chuck Booth, Lori Martini and Roger Ratzenberger after the final pitch in Ball Park #30 in 23 days for Chuck Booth’s New World Record. Camden Yards is the sight of this picture.

Monday April.30/2012

MLB Park # 30 Day # 23

OAK 1 @ BAL 10

April.28/2012

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- I am going to do this segment in reverse. I am jumping right ahead to the last game of the streak. Sure I have eight other recaps (besides this one) to still post that were technically before this game, but I need to write about this game first. I will post parks 22-24 on Wednesday and 25-29 on Friday. I will also have the Expert Interviews for Chase Field, Miller Park, US Cellular Field, The Great American Ball Park, Busch Stadium and PNC Park updated by the week’s end. Eventually all of this information will be available on my website at www.thirtyballgames3021.wordpress.com. The game had wrapped up in Busch Stadium for what was game #29. My wing-man Ken Lee, had done some great driving work to help me with 2 straight double-header even before heading to St. Louis. As we left the city on I-70, I took on the duties of driving. Ken had exhausted himself in the process of helping me. I started the 1^st 8 hours of driving towards Baltimore. This would be park number 30 in only 23 days. For me I knew this would mean another world record. In the back of my mind it was a long time between cities so I was gearing up to face the challenge. I was rested up as much as I had been in several weeks. The driving was actually a nice change from being a passenger.

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Tags: a's, Air Tran Airways, aj pierzynksi, baltimore, ben fallon, Best Western Hotel, bob devries, boog powell, busch stadium, cardinals, chicago, Chuck Booth, Cleveland, columbus, Doug Miller, earl weaver, eddie murray, fastest thirty ballgames, frank robinson, great american ballpark, Guinness Book of World Records, indians social media suite, ken lee, Lori Martini, Los Angeles, Mark Shapiro, marlins, Meg Minard, mets, mike o'hara, minnesota twins, mlb, National Car Rental, New Marlins Park, new York, oriole park at camden yards, orioles, pittsburgh, pnc park, progressive field, RJ Breisacher, roger ratzenberger, ryan wagner, salter family, San Diego, short film caught, Southwest Airlines, Steve Fekete, target field, tike narry, tyler ross, us cellular field, waffle house, yankees

Jack Morris: It Is Time To Elect This Winner Into The Baseball Hall Of Fame!

Apr 22

Posted by chuckbooth3023

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Tuesday, January.08/2013

Jack Morris led the Major Leagues for Wins in the 80's by posting a 162-129 Record (.556). He was a 5 Time ALL-Star and had 6 Top 10 Finishes for AL Cy Young. He also hurled 175 Complete Games. He won 20 Games 3 separate years, 16+ Wins in 9 Years and 15+ Wins in 12 of his 17 full years and 18 seasons overall.

Jack Morris led the Major Leagues for Wins in the 80’s by posting a 162-119 Record (.577). He was a 5 Time ALL-Star and had 6 Top 10 Finishes for AL Cy Young. He also hurled 175 Complete Games. He won 20 Games 3 separate years, 16+ Wins in 10 Years and 15+ Wins in 12 of his 16 full years – and 18 seasons overall.

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024

The debate for whether or not Jack Morris belongs in the Baseball Hall Of Fame has heated up to an ALL-Time high with the big vote going down tomorrow. 575 members of BBWAA fraternity will decide whether or not the big man from Minnesota will enter one of the hardest Hall Of Fame’s to enter in pro sports (if not the hardest). Morris will need a 75% (432 Minimum Votes) of them to write down his name on their ballot for enshrinement into Cooperstown. Last year, Morris received 66.7 % of the writers votes in his 13th year of eligibility. He will have his name on a 14th ballot this year. He has been trending up in recent years, so if he can improve with the same amount of 2011-2012 jump of (+13.2%), then he will make it in. If he fails to reach the Hall this year, 2014 would be his last year of eligibility for the BBWAA Vote. He could still make it via the Veterans Committee after that.

Jack Morris was a winner, a true throwback pitcher who came after hitters with reckless abandon. He pitched based on what the score was – and had no personal regard for his own personal statistics. It is this very reason why the debate has hit epic proportions on social media hubs, amongst bloggers, former players, analysts, broadcaster and statisticians. I intend to prove the case for the guy in a manner that will have some similarities to other pieces you may have read, yet promote a big look into the numbers that I have been bouncing around in my head for months. I even have had a #JackMorrisAwarenessWeek on Twitter and have been having feuds with people on the other side who don’t think he belongs in Cooperstown- while I have been Retweeted by his biggest supporters. Let the battle lines be drawn!

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Tags: 1984 World Series, 1991 world Series MVP, AL East, alcs, ALL-Start Appearances, ALL-Time Innings Pitched Leader Pitching, ALL-Time Strikeout Leaders Pitching, ALL-Time Wins Leaders Pitching, All-Time Wins list, American league, andy pettitte, Atlanta Braves, baseball hall of fame, BBWAA, boston red sox, california angels, chicago white sox, Chuck Booth. fastest 30 ballgames, cleveland indians, cooperstown, CY Young voting, dave stieb, detroit tigers, ferguson jenkins, Greg Maddux, jack morris, jamie moyer, jim kaat, kansas city royals, metrodome, mike mussina, milwaukee brewers, minnesota twins, oakland athletics, randy johnson, roger clemens, roy halladay, seattle mariners, stephen strasburg, tom glavine, tommy john, toronto blue jays, twitter @chuckbooth3024, veterans committee, washington nationals

AL Central: Value Picks, Up-and-Coming Players and Red Flags in Fantasy Baseball

Mar 13

Posted by pwstein87

Tuesday March 13th, 2012

Peter Stein (Fantasy Baseball Analyst – MLB reports): Prince Fielder teams up with Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, as the Detroit Tigers are the home of the Al Central’s three biggest fantasy stars. While the rest of the teams in the division are “rebuilding” (I don’t really know what the White Sox are doing), there are many promising youngsters and other players to target as value picks in the AL central on your draft day.

Posted in MLB Teams: Articles and Analysis

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Tags: adam dunn, addison reed, AL West, alex ríos, baseball, chicago white sox, chris sale, cleveland indians, detroit tigers, fantasy baseball, gordon beckham, joakim soria, jose valverde, justin verlander, kansas city royals, mat thornton, max scherzer, miguel cabrera, mike napoli, minnesota twins, mlb, paul konerko, prince fielder, ryan doumit

The Twins Need Justin Morneau

Sunday March 11th, 2012

Sam Evans: In this new era of baseball, you can’t make the playoffs without an above-average first baseman. Two years ago, the Twins had one of the best first basemen in the game and they won ninety-four games. Then, Justin Morneau got injured sliding hard into second base on July 7th, 2010. Morneau might not ever be the same after suffering this fatal concussion. The Twins witnessed how rough it was without Morneau, after suffering through a 99-loss season last year.

When the 22-year-old Morneau first broke the big leagues with Twins in 2003, he struggled miserably. Year by year after 2003, Morneau improved, leading him to the 2006 AL MVP award. The Twins, led by manager Ron Gardenhire, were slowly building an A.L Central dynasty. From 2003-2009, the Minnesota Twins won an average of eighty-eight games.

Without Morneau and Joe Mauer leading the Twins to the playoffs regularly, the Twins probably wouldn’t have Target Field. Justin Morneauhad six straight seasons of an OPS over .834. He was a leader in the clubhouse, and on the field. Morneau’s exemplary play didn’t fly under the radar nationally. He was a four-time All-Star, and a two-time Sliver Slugger award winner. Morneau was the most consistent player on the Twins, and without him, you can question if Target Field would exist. (more…)

Posted on March 11, 2012 | Image

Chad Moeller Interview: From MLB Catcher to Coaching- Living the Baseball Dream

Mar 10

Posted by Jonathan Hacohen