AL East Position Matchup: Center Field

Posted on February 24, 2012 by TOB$

Today, I will cover the AL East’s strongest position, Centerfield. To the surprise of many Sox fans, Jacoby Ellsbury absolutely broke out last year. The big story throughout the year will be how the Red Sox handle his expiring contract. They avoided arbitration with Jacoby this year by signing him to a one year $8.05 million contract (a big raise from his $2.4 million earned in 2011). I understand that the Red Sox didn’t want to reward him MVP money for the long term after his one year sample of his abilities, but I think they should make moves on a contract early in the season. The bad news for the Red Sox is that Jacoby’s agent is Scott Boras and he’ll be sure to try to squeeze every penny out of any organization for his clients.

For previous positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS–LF

Here are the rankings for Centerfielder:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox
2. Curtis Granderson, Yankees
3. B.J. Upton, Rays
4. Adam Jones, Orioles
5. Colby Rasmus, Blue Jays

Throughout all 2011, Jacoby and Granderson were fighting to be the best centerfielder in their division, but also were fighting to be the league MVP at the same time. Long story short, Jacoby got snubbed for the MVP and placed second, while Granderson came in 4th place after his monster season for the Bronx Bombers. 2012 should be no different. As noted earlier, Ellsbury will be in a contract year and out to prove that last year was no fluke. Granderson wants to prove the same thing, considering he finally lived up to the hype that was pegged onto him after his breakout year in 2007 with the Tigers. Similar to the MVP race, Ellsbury inched ahead of Granderson in the rankings. Jacoby really looks like he figured out his power stroke last year and has speed for days. I think his steal numbers will bump back up to the 50’s, but not near the 70 he swiped in 2009. Jacoby’s speed on the basepaths and in the outfield coupled with his consistent batting average make him a good choice to repeat another big year. I’m predicting .305/18 HR/80 RBI’s out of Ells, with 53 SB’s and 115 runs in his contract year. Granderson on the other hand has pretty much established what he is capable of in his six full years in the majors. I see his 41 hrs as a bit of a hiccup last year. Last year, Granderson hit 16 home runs against lefty’s, while he had only hit 20 against them in his entire career. I still see him getting around 30 HR in Yankee stadium, which is built for swings like Grandersons. Despite this, Granderson has a lower average than Ells and doesn’t swipe as many bags. He gets slotted into the second spot due to this.

Next up is Rays outfielder BJ Upton. As his career really begins to shape, it is starting to look like his brother Justin got the better genes. He was an absolute monster for the D-Backs last year in the NL West. BJ has been exposed for his flaws at the plate throughout his career. He has been known for his streaky hitting and when he’s on a hot streak no pitcher wants to face him (like the 2008 playoffs). He’s a very similar player to Jacoby from a statistical standpoint, except for his much lower batting average (.243 BA last year).

Upton’s edge in the field gave him the third ranking over number four, Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles. Jones is a very dangerous hitter and getting better each year, but he has yet to master his control of the strike zone (.280 BA with a .319 OBP last year).

Rounding up the rankings in Colby Rasmus of the Blue Jays. Colby had an off year last year after a promising first two seasons in St. Louis. He had a horrible batting year last year, with drops in BA, OBP, HR’s, RBI’s and SB’s. If he can figure out how to correct his batting woes from last year, he can provide some power in the sneaky good Blue Jays offense.

For previous positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS–LF

AL East Position Matchup: Left field

Posted on February 23, 2012 by TOB$

On the agenda today is Left field. Left field looked like it was going to be a very weak spot last month when it was announced that Carl Crawford underwent offseason surgery on his wrist. It was recently announced that Crawford has high hopes to be back for Opening Day, which is great news for the Red Sox. Hopefully he can start living up to his contract.

Anyways, back to the rankings:

(Once again for other positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS)

1. Brett Gardner, Yankees
2. Carl Crawford, Red Sox
3. Desmond Jennings, Rays
4. Nolan Reimold, Orioles
5. Eric Thames, Blue Jays

Brett Gardner was a no brainer in the top spot. If this was said before the season last year, it is almost guaranteed that most of Red Sox Nation would have been up in arms. Gardner has been one of the top defensive outfielders in the past two years (3.2 defensive WAR last year) and he’s a force on the basepaths (at least 47 SB’s in each of the last two years). Gardner came back down to Earth in batting last year from his ridiculous 2010 numbers and saw a drop in his BA (.277 to .259), but he still drew a lot of walks.

Carl Crawford is the true question of this division, and the Red Sox team. After a monster year in 2010, where he had a .307/19/90 line with 47 steals, the Red Sox signed him to a massive contract. Hoping for production close to his 6.1 WAR (wins above replacement) in 2010, they were rewarded with a whopping 0.0 WAR in 2011. Despite this, I can’t stand hearing Sox fans bitch about how bad the guy is. Yes, we overpaid for him, but what big signing haven’t we overpaid for?!? He had a horrible April, along with the rest of the squad, and then as he was starting to get into a groove, he got injured. His wrist was nagging him for a while and his hamstring’s were bothering him all summer. Speed is his forte, and he lost his speed last season, I don’t know what fans expected. I’ve heard how hard of a worker he is and I’m confident he will come back strong this year. It’s great news that he is on pace to come back earlier than initially planned, but I’d rather we make sure we don’t rush this one. Crawford was very consistent for the Rays with the exception of 2008 (marred by injuries) and I am confident he will get his mojo back this year and start to live up to (some) of his money.

Next up is the Tampa Bay Rays leftfielder, Desmond Jennings. Jennings was the main reason that the Rays were able to so willingly part with Crawford (that and the fact that the Sox put way too much money on the table). Jennings came into the big leagues on fire last year hitting .333 throughout July and August, until he finally cooled off in September with a .160 BA. Jennings has been touted as one of the top prospects for the last couple years. He is a great athlete and was voted the most exciting player to watch in the International League in the minors.He is regarded as a top baserunner and defensive player in the minors and I’m really interested in seeing how Jennings does as an everyday guy for the Rays this year.

The fourth spot was the hardest decision to make. Eric Thames was never a big prospect for the Blue Jays organization, but had a good run in his first year in the Majors last year. Nolan Reimold was a highly touted prospect, but is now 28 years old and has yet to make an impact for the Orioles. I’m not sold on Thames considering his struggles against lefties and weak fielding skills. Reimold has yet to pan out in the majors due to injuries and personal problems, but he has been effective in his small samples (13 HR in 267 AB’s last year). He has good speed, which pays off on the basepaths and makes up for his bad instincts in the field. Reimold gets the edge in this matchup due to his greater potential for a full year.

For other positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS

AL East Position Matchup: Shortstop

Posted on February 20, 2012 by TOB$

Great news as pitchers and catchers reported for the Sox yesterday.The first workout will be tomorrow and position players will arrive February 24, a day before the teams first full workout. The Red Sox clubhouse is still talking to media about the epic collapse from last year, with Lester and Beckett openly taking blame. Also, guys like Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Adrian Gonzalez have already been vocal about assuming the leadership type of role this team needs.

Let’s get back to the matter at hand, ranking the shortstop’s in the AL East.

Find prior rankings here: C–1B–2B–3B

1. J.J. Hardy, Orioles
2. Derek Jeter, Yankees
3. Yunel Escobar, Blue Jays
4. Nick Punto/Mike Aviles/ Jose Iglesias, Red Sox
5. Sean Rodriguez/ Reid Brignac, Rays

Derek Jeter is nearing the end of his career and the shortstop position has switched from a division strength during the late 90’s and early 2000’s to now the AL East’s weakest position. It seems like just yesterday Nomar was being called “The Human Vacuum Cleaner” by Sports Illustrated for Kids and featured with his shirt off on the Sports Illustrated cover labeled “A Cut Above.” Whether it was the cover jinx or not, injuries arose for the Beantown legend and the position has become vastly different from the days when Nomar and Jeter would duke it out as potential MVP candidates.

J.J. Hardy, Derek Jeter and Yunel Escobar all display plus gloves in the field, although Jeter is the only to have received a Gold Glove out of the three (he has received five total-his latest in 2010). Despite this, Jeter might now be the worst fielder out of three since his range has begin to diminish with his aging body. J.J. Hardy is ranked first due to his reinvented swing from the past two years. Hardy went from hitting 50 HRS in 2007-2008 combined to 11 in 2009 and 6 in 2010. Hardy was killed by pitchers (specifically lefthanders) in these two years, after Alex Eisenberg of Baseball-Intellect.com revealed some flaws in Hardy’s plate approach. He has spent the 2009-2010 battling through a wrist injury and other minor injuries. Hardy now has spent the end of 2010 and 2011 redefining his plate approach by shortening up his swing and lowering and extended his arms in the beginning of the approach. He has began pulling the pull more often and the results showed last year. In his bounce back year, he had 30 HRS and 80 RBI’s. I expect Hardy to hit around 28-34 HR in the hitter friendly Camden Yards.

Next up is Derek Jeter. In Big Nons story earlier this year, I chimed in the comments section giving my thoughts on Jeter: “Can’t call yourself a true fan of both the Red Sox and baseball unless you admit Derek Jeter is a great ballplayer. The guy hustles on the field and is the ideal team captain. Any time i see someone go full speed into a ball in the stands and dive in there with the fans the way Jeter did years back against the Sox, I’m impressed. “The flip?” One of the best heads up plays I have EVER seen a shortstop make. I mean “c’mon son” to any Sox fan that is not willing to have some respect for him.” Despite his declining skills, he is still a force as the leadoff man in the always impressive Yankee lineup. Due to his consistency in this leadoff spot in getting on base and getting himself in scoring position, he gets the nod for the second spot in these rankings. Yunel Escobar on the Blue Jays is the third ranked shortstop. Escobar has displayed the ability to consistently get on base throughout his four year career, even throughout his off year in 2010 (.366 Career OBP with .289 Career AVG).

All of the first three options display some sort of flaw; Jeter’s career is close to ending as he will turn 38 in June and both Escobar and Hardy have had issues with injuries throughout their careers. Despite this, all are better options than the situation the Red Sox and Rays are in. The Red Sox shortstop position opened up in late January when Marco Scutaro was traded. It will be temporarily fixed with Nick Punto and Mike Aviles. Both players are pretty good fielding shortstops, but have been utility infielders for the majority of their careers. Punto has just about zero power, but will reach base at a decent rate in comparison to other options (.249 career BA, .278 last year, .325 Career OBP-.388 last year). Aviles is a slightly better option offensively in terms of power and AVG, but he has a horrible OBP considering his higher AVG (.288 AVG and .318 OBP throughout his career). The real gem could be Jose Iglesias. He has been one of the top prospects in the Red Sox farm system for a few years now, with a glove that is very major league ready. He is touted as a future perennial Gold Glover. His only issue is batting, and its a big issue. He batted .235 in the minors last year, but he has slowly been improving throughout his short professional career. Due to his incredible fielding skills, he will most likely be forced to try and improve in the big leagues. As I’ve said before, I don’t care how good of a fielder he is, every Red Sox fan wants to see offensive production and there is no way he can last in Boston hitting barely above the Mendoza line.

Tampa Bay is in a very similar situation. Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac are both good options fielding wise, but both are worse hitters than Boston’s options, with the exception of Iglesias. Brignac batted .193 last year and Rodriguez batted .223. Unless one of these players figures out their troubles at the plate, Tampa Bay will have the worst situation at shortstop in the AL East.

For other position rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B

AL East Position Matchup: Third Baseman

Posted on February 16, 2012 by TOB$

Today, we are going to move over to the hot corner. Two different ends of the spectrum at third base, with the up-and-coming stars in Evan Longoria and Brett Lawrie and the declining talents of Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Youkilis. Also, we have the “Greek God of Walks” in Kevin Youkilis and also the Strikeout King, Mark Reynolds.

For Other AL East Position Rankings: Catcher– 1st Baseman– 2nd Baseman

Here are the rankings for third base:

1. Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
2. Brett Lawrie, Toronto Blue Jays
3. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
4. Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
5. Mark Reynolds, Baltimore Orioles

These rankings were tough, especially after Longoria in the first slot. Every single player, Longoria included, has something to be criticized about. Evan Longoria has been one of the top third basemen since his monster rookie season in 2008, where he had a .272 AVG/27 HR/85 RBI line in 122 games. Year after year, we have seen great production out of the young superstar, but he hasn’t had a full year showcasing ALL of his skills. In 2010, he effectively lowered his strikeouts and maintained a good average, but his power was down (only hit 22 HR in 151 games). In 2011, he regained his power stroke hitting 31 HR’s in 133 games, but his average dipped to .244. Despite these issues, Longoria has the talent to maintain his position as the top third baseman in the AL East.

Most Sox fans are probably wondering who Brett Lawrie is, and why the hell is rated above A-Rod and YOUUUK. Brett Lawrie was one the top prospects in the Brewers coveted farm system a few years ago, until he was traded for Shaun Marcum in December 2010. Lawrie was a former catcher, turned second baseman, turned now third baseman. He displays pure athleticism on the field, which has helped him in his transistion between positions in the minors. His bat has never been questioned throughout his short career. Although he was said to be major league ready after camp last year with the Blue Jays, they decided to give him more time to work on his glove at the hot corner in Triple A. Lawrie was called up to the bigs on August 5th and made an immediate impact, hitting 6 home runs in his first month. In 150 major league at bats, Lawrie ended up with a .293 average, .373 OBP, and 9 HR’s. He figures to be a major part of the Blue Jays offense, currently projected to hit in the 6 spot in a dangerous lineup. I was skeptical to give him the two spot in the rankings, but his potential, coupled with the injury problems of A-Rod and Youk gave me the green light on this ranking. I also think this guy has a little bit of Gronk in him. He was said to have attitude issues in Milwaukee and openly has pictures of himself drinking and doing “Edward FortyHands” online. His “don’t give a shit” attitude should help him in dealing with some of the increased attention he will get with his elite ability. I don’t see him being as effective as his short major league stint indicates, as most 22 year olds are bound to experience some issues in the first few years in the bigs, but Lawrie will soon become a household name for any AL East fan.

Next up are the walking wounded. With all due respect to Alex Rodriguez (although I don’t believe he deserves much) and Kevin Youkilis, it is quite obvious both are in the “decline” stages of their careers. Due to his incredible past, A-Rod gets the three ranking and seriously contended for second. It was just too hard to justify him above the rising Lawrie. His major league record streak of 13 straight seasons with over 30 home runs and 100 RBI’s ended abruptly last year. He has battled with numerous different injuries in the past four seasons (missed at least 20 games each season and 150 games total). I do see A-Rod making a bit of a comeback, but he has lost a lot of bat speed in the past few years and can’t make pitchers pay for a bad fastball as consistently as he used to.

Kevin Youkilis is more of the same. It seems like every year Sox fans are talking about “If Youk was healthy…” this and that, we’d be such a better team, a more dangerous lineup, etc. At some point, we need to expect him to get injured. Despite his unusual .258 BA last year, he is a great batter and the “Greek God of Walks,” but he is a liability at third base, where he is not nearly as good a fielder there as he is at 1st Base. I love having him in the lineup and he’s just as much the face of the franchise as Dusty, but he has constantly been getting injured in the past few years. I’m expecting a bounce back year for Youk with around a .300 BA, 20-25 HR, 90-100 RBI and of course his .400 OBP. And I, along with every other fan in Red Sox nation, hope that he stays healthy throughout the year and is good to go for a playoff push in September.

Lastly, we have the Strikeout King, Mark Reynolds of Baltimore. In the past four years, Mark’s home run’s look like this: 28, 44, 32, 37. Along with the good comes the bad, Mark’s strikeout numbers look like this: 204, 223, 211, 196. His average also looks like this: .239, .260, .198, .221. Pretty sure the averages and strikeouts speak for themselves. Yes, Reynold’s is a good power hitter, but as a manager I would never want his mentality of “swing for the fences” every at bat on my team. That being said, Reynold’s always brings fear into opposing pitcher’s and fan’s late in the game due to his big play potential.

It will be very interesting to see how this years young stars at third base end up matching up against the aging (and injured) stars of the AL East.

For Catcher rankings: click here.
For First Basemen rankings: click here.
For Second Basemen rankings: click here.

AL East Position Matchup: Second Base

Posted on February 13, 2012 by TOB$

Another day and another position ranking, today I will look into second basemen. First, I analyzed catchers, with Baltimore’s Matt Weiters coming out on top. Next, I analyzed first base, with the Red Sox MVP candidate Adrian Gonzalez filling out the top slot. The AL East’s star position has to be second basemen. It contains 3 of the top second basemen, and two legitimate MVP candidates, who are becoming the face of their respective franchises.

The rankings are as follows:

1. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
2. Robinson Cano, Yankees
3. Ben Zobrist, Rays
4. Kelly Johnson, Blue Jays
5. Brian Roberts, Orioles

This has been by far the toughest decision to make in the position rankings. I know every Yankees fan will disagree, as any loyal fan would, but hear me out on this one. Dustin Pedroia and Robinson Cano have been very similar in terms of offensive impact in the past few years (barring Pedroia’s injury shortened season in 2010). While displaying virtually exact career AVG (Pedroia .305 vs Cano .308), Pedroia has consistently reached base at a higher rate (.373 Career OBP vs Cano’s .349). Cano may be able to put up more HR’s and RBI’s than Pedroia, but Pedey has consistently put up many more steals and runs. Cano’s extra RBI’s can mostly be contributed to his spot in the batting order. Last year, 94.9% of his at bats were taken from the 4 and 5 spots in the order, while 77.3% of Pedroia’s at bats were taken from the 2 spot in the order. Yes, Pedroia’s extra runs can be mostly contributed to his spot in the order, but his steals and baserunning are still much better than Cano’s. All offensive prowess aside, Pedroia definitely has an edge on the defensive side ( 2 Gold Gloves in four eligible seasons vs Cano’s single Gold Glove during his 7 seasons). Also, Pedroia has a better fielding percentage and zone rating. Perhaps the most telling fact is WAR (wins above replacement), in which Pedroia 8.0 2011 rating, clearly outshines Cano’s 5.6.

Despite this argument, it should be noted that if either team had the choice, they would not switch second baseman with the other team. Pedroia is a true Red Sox player, never afraid to get his jersey dirty, while Cano is a Bronx Bomber, provided unheard of power from second baseman position since the sloppy fielding former Yank Alfonso Soriano.

Next up is Ben Zobrist, who is a great player for the Rays, but overshadowed by Cano and Pedroia. Zobrist has the talent to fight for the top second basemen spot in any other division. He has the potential to contend with Cano and Pedroia, but his inconsistency gives him the third ranking. He displayed incredible numbers both last year and in 2009, but his steep dropoff in 2010 (.239 BA and a 63.0% HR decrease) leaves room for concern.

Filling out the fourth spot is Blue Jay second baseman Kelly Johnson. Kelly was acquired by the Jays from the Diamondbacks last year in a trade for Aaron Hill and John MacDonald. Johnson has been even more inconsistent than Zobrist, but should give the Jays a good option at second as long as his average stays up. I see him providing about a .275 average and 20-25 HR’s in his first full year at the Rogers Centre.

Lastly, the Orioles have the oft injured Brian Roberts slotted in as their starting second baseman. Although Roberts was once regarded as a top second baseman, those days are gone after only playing 98 games in the last two years combined. Whether he gets injured again and Robert Andino fills in for him remains the true question. Both will provide similar offensive output and show good speed on the basepaths. I don’t see the credentials to rate either one above any of the other second baseman in this stacked division though.

For Catcher rankings, click here.
For First Baseman rankings, click here.

AL East Position Matchup: First Baseman

Posted on February 9, 2012 by TOB$

As a follow up to yesterday’s post ranking AL East catchers, today I will rank the first basemen of the division. As expected, the first base position provides a lot of power for all five of these teams, but no player is as well rounded as the Adrian the Cat.

The rankings are as follows:

1. Adrian Gonzalez
2. Mark Texeira
3. Carlos Pena
4. Adam Lind
5. Chris Davis

Gonzo needs to be number one here. He was a legitamate MVP candidate last year, which is incredible considering his massive HR drought to start the 2011 season (1 HR in all of April). He’s got a great glove and I expect him to increase his HR total (2nd lowest of career), while maintaining similar RBI production. Although I do see a drop from his career best .338 batting average, I see Gonzo being a force in the middle of the Sox lineup and a MVP contender to start the season.

Texeira is one of the most overpaid players in baseball. He was the third highest paid position player last year (fourth overall). He earned $23.125 million, while Adrian was the 14th highest paid first baseman in the MLB and earned every penny of his $6.3 million. The sad part (for the Yankees) is that they have Texeira and his .248 batting average (from last year) signed into a no trade clause until 2016. I’m the first to admit he is a good hitter, and he’s a player every pitcher is afraid can take them yard any pitch, but he has been unwilling to make any adjustments during his struggles as a Yankee. He’s been known to have struggles adapting to the huge shift that opposing teams put on him as a pull hitter (Sox fans- think David Ortiz during his slump of 2010). Don’t get me wrong, Texiera plays great defense and hits 30+ home runs a year, but any “elite” hitter that earns that much money and then hits .180, .148, and .167 in the last three postseasons, respecitvely, loses all respect in my vote.

I think Pena is starting to decline a bit with his power, which is why I thought about giving Lind the slight edge over him. Despite this, Pena has an uncanny ability to get on base (his OBP is regularly about 130 points better than his BA) and displays underrated defensive skills. Lind hasn’t been consistent enough to warrant the third spot in rankings. Last up is Chris Davis for the Orioles. Davis was a big time prospect a few years ago for the Rangers, and displayed some good power for them in his first two years in the bigs. Since joining the Orioles, Davis struggled with a shoulder injury. He was a good prospect but hasn’t panned out the last few years, so hopefully he can find the power stroke hes been missing lately.

For Catcher rankings: Click Here.

MLB Playoff Expansion Hits Road Block

Posted on February 3, 2012 by TOB$

Bud Selig’s office missed the February 1st deadline to have finished a proposed schedule to send to the players association. Talks have not ended and it still looks like a decent possibility that the MLB will be able to expand to two wild card teams in both divisions, but they have encountered many more scheduling issues than anticipated. There are a ton of different issues, but long story short is they need to figure out how to fit in the extra wild card matchups in between the end of the season and start of the ALDS. The real problem comes from scheduling tiebreaker games between first place and wild cards (which becomes much more important now), rain out makeup games, and also, to do everything in compliance with TV contracts.

This is huge news for Red Sox fans. The day they announced a possible expansion of the playoff format was like Christmas day for every fan of the AL East (yes, even Orioles fans). If the MLB is unable to figure out this situation soon, it will be detrimental to the playoff hopes of each the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays. All are in position to be top teams in the MLB again, with the Blue Jays not far behind. As we all remember last year, the Red Sox failed to make the playoffs with 90 wins and the Braves failed to make the playoff on the last day with 89 wins. In the proposed situation, both would have made the playoffs. Also, this is an important proposition because it awards teams for coming in 1st place, by forcing wild card teams to use their best starters in a one game playoff, while 1st place teams get more resting time.

In other news for the Red Sox, the Nationals have agreed to a one year contract with Edwin Jackson, who was widely believed to be the best free agent pitcher left on the market. Talks look like they are winding down between the Red Sox and Roy Oswalt as well. It looks like we will be heading into spring training with Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Bucholz at the front of our rotation. The Red Sox will then have Daniel Bard, Alfredo Aceves, and an island of misfit toys duke it out and try to fill the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation.

TOB$ Time: Toss Up Round 2

Posted on January 25, 2012 by TOB$

Monster free agent signing in the MLB yesterday. Prince Fielder joined Miguel Cabrera and the reigning AL Cy Young and MVP Justin Verlander in Detroit. I thought two things when I saw this signing. First, was HOLY SHIT. This was simply due to Fielders NINE year $214 million dollar contract. I can’t believe the Tigers agreed to such a long contract with a 27 year old guy like Prince.

Second thing I thought of (and the point of this article) was that this has created one of the best 3-4 batters in a lineup in a while. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder have a chance to do something real special over in Detroit. I immediately thought of Manny-Big Papi for the Red Sox in 2004 and 2005. They were the best in business (maybe steroids had a bit to do with it) and they were a force for years. More importantly, they were consistent and incredibly clutch, clutch enough to break an 86 year old curse.

Here is the 2004 and 2005 seasons in stats for Manny and Ortiz and Feilder and Miguel Cabrera’s individual stats for last year:

			GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP
Manny	2004	BOS	152	568	108	175	44	0	43	130	82	124	2	4	0.308	0.397

Ortiz	2004	BOS	150	582	94	175	47	3	41	139	75	133	0	0	0.301	0.38

			GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP
Manny	2005	BOS	152	554	112	162	30	1	45	144	80	119	1	0	0.292	0.388

Ortiz	2005	BOS	159	601	119	180	40	1	47	148	102	124	1	0	0.3	0.397

			GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP
Cabrera	2011	DET	161	572	111	197	48	0	30	105	108	89	2	1	0.344	0.448

Fielder	2011	MIL	162	569	95	170	36	1	38	120	107	106	1	1	0.299	0.415

Before anyone gets on my case, I understand Prince just came from a pretty good 3-4 punch on the Brewers with Ryan Braun, but Miguel has never batted around the type of talent Prince has, thus inflating his stats in future years (and no Victor Martinez, who batted behind Cabrera last year, does not count). Braun has had the protection of Prince for 5 years and I like to think this has influenced his stats a great deal. Don’t get me wrong, he is a great player, but I like Miguel Cabrera as a hitter more than steroid boy Braun.

After throwing up this comparison, in some ways I feel stupid. The numbers from Ortiz and Manny are jaw dropping. That’s all that can be said. Granted they may have had some help from a few friendly needles up their ass, but those numbers are rediculous. I think Cabrera will have an incredible year this year and Fielder might even have a better year in hitter friendly Comerica Park, but who knows if they can touch Manny and Papi’s numbers. The big factor will be whether they can win a couple World Series rings together, like the former two led the Sox to do.

Homerun Champ Barry Bonds Sentenced

Posted on December 16, 2011 by davecouture

Former MLB Slugger, and all time home run champ Barry Bonds received his sentencing today after being convicted of obstruction of justice back in April. Bonds received a sentence of 30 days of house arrest followed by two years of probation.

I’m sure Bonds really learned his lesson this time. It must be really tough to have to live in a mansion for thirty days. Our government spent millions of our tax-paid dollars to prosecute Bonds and the end result is a millionaire gets to continue to live his luxury lifestyle from the comfort of his own home. Americans complain every day about taxes being too high, and our country being in a depression. Meanwhile our government continues the unnecessary spending just to attempt to prove a point. Imagine if we stopped the ridiculous spending like this? I’m sure the next guy that gets called to the stand will be 100% truthful in fear of paying the consequences Bonds paid.

Before You Hate on Him

Posted on December 15, 2011 by nolankartholl

I know this is the Boston Sports Blog, but I was pretty interested when I stumbled upon this article about Jeter. After being named one of the “Most Fascinating People in 2011,” (sorry Manny) he interviewed with Barbara Walters and was talking to her about the racism he faced growing up in Michigan. I guess I understand where he is coming from, but I really don’t think that this should be the focal point of the interview. Can we talk about the fact that this guy gives the girls he sleeps with a gift basket afterwards? I mean how much of a G can you be? Trust me, on the baseball diamond I hate Jeter as much as everyone in Boston…he was the guy who hit the so-called home-run in the 1996 ALCS against the Orioles that was clearly the worst call in the history of sports (if you don’t know what I’m talking about YouTube Jeffrey Maier). However, this guy is absolutely incredible off the field. He pretty much does what he wants with the media, has dated the most ridiculous list of Hollywood Celebrities ever, and he gives the girls who leave his Trump Tower Penthouse a gift basket of signed memorabilia that is left in the limo that drives them home. I mean come on! Jeter also mentioned that he wants to head up a Baseball Operations for a team, potentially indicating that he is does not plan on extending his contract past 2013, a move that I think would allow him to leave still on top. I know you hate him because of the pinstripes, but this guy knows how to get it done off the field.