Tagged: hon rones

March 31, 2011

Baltimore Orioles Offseason Recap and Preview

Baltimore Orioles 2010:

1. Badness in the first half.

2. Buck in the second.

Grade: A+

Notable Additions:

Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, Kevin Gregg, JJ Hardy, Jeremy Accardo, Justin Duchscherer, Randy Winn, and Vladimir Guerrero.

Notable Subtractions:

Ty Wigginton, Sean Henn, Corey Patterson, and Garrett Atkins.

Why?: Why do the Orioles have a higher grade than the Red Sox? That is because the Orioles gained players that will make more of a impact wins wise than the Red Sox. They also didn’t lose as many impact players as the Red Sox did.

The Orioles gained an impact player at every position besides that which they already had settled, Brian Roberts at Second. In doing this they also, solidified the middle of their line-up. They have a difference making hitter at each spot in the line-up now: DH Vladimir Guerrero, C Matt Wieters, 1B Derrek Lee, 2B Brian Roberts, 3B Mark Reynolds, SS JJ Hardy, LF Luke Scott, CF Adam Jones, RF Nick Markakis.

I think that this lineup will be one of the best in the Majors. It’s like a discount version of the Yankee’s line-up (no holes in it). Can anyone argue with me that the only influential player they lost is Ty Wigginton? They really lost near nothing this offseason.

But who cares about hitters (And never begin you sentences with a conjunction)? It’s pitching that wins championships. Here the names are not as abundant nor are the names as big. The weak pont of this team is still starting pitchers but they did get some bullpen guys.

Predicted Record Range: 70-75 they might have a vastly separated this year’s line-up from that of last but they still have to pitch and probably won’t repeat their post break record from last year.

March 30, 2011

Toronto Blue Jays Offseason Recap and Preview

The Blue Jays lose possibly the best pitcher in the league and what do they do:

Oh, nothing much. Just hit the most home runs of any team in the major leagues.

Grade: B-

Notable Additions:

Frank Fancisco, Rajai Davis, Carlos Villanueva, Sean Henn, Corey Patterson, Octavio Dotel, Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, and Juan Rivera.

Notable Subtractions:

Vernon Wells, Jeremy Accardo, Kevin Gregg, Scott Downs, John Buck, Shawn Marcum, and Lyle Overbay.

Why?: I know that they lost three really good bullpen guys, but look. They also gained four former closers. I know that they lost two middle of the line-up hitters but got a bonafide lead off hitter and whatever you consider Juan Rivera and Corey Patterson to be.

The only thing that suffered in the offseason was the rotation. Not only because of what you might think in Marucm leaving for Milwaukee but also John Buck leaving. With Buck leaving the pretty consistent Blue Jay rotation has had three catchers in three years (or more?) and it is tough. I would make the analogy to Quarter Backs in football playing in different systems every year. It is tough to have to keep adjusting. Just when you get comfortable pitching to a certain catcher he leaves town.

Will the Blue Jays continue to hit home runs? I have no idea. All I know is that even though there were more homeruns, there was also a way lower team AVG. Takee Aaron HIll for example, normally he hits around 15 HRs and bats .280 but last year he hit 24 HRs (or something like that) and had an AVG of around the Mendoza line.

One thing I would tell people is to watch out for Blue Jay prospects in the future. With the new GM, Alex Anthopoulos, the Blue Jays invested a whole lot into scouting, which may pay dividends down the road.

Predicted Record Range: 77-82 wins I see them declining a bit even though they have people like Kyle Drabek coming up because I don’t think they can keep the home run production up in 2011.

March 29, 2011

Boston Red Sox Offseason Recap and Preview

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This scene was way too familiar to Red Sox fans last year. As, a result they overacheived by underacheiving (it makes more sense if you don’t think about it).

Grade: A-

Notable Additions:

Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Brandon Duckworth, Jason Bergmann, Dan Wheeler, Andrew Miller and Bobby Jenks.

Notable Subtractions:

Victor Martinez, Adrian Beltre, Bill Hall, Felipe Lopez, and Mike Lowell.

Why?: Yes mister “my second dream in life was to play for the Red Sox” and Crawford were indeed big additions. Yes, maybe I am a bitter but optimistic Yankee fan but they also lost two big pieces in Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre. Now, I would take the trade of Gonzalez for Beltre any day of the year but I would rather have Gonzalez nothing, though. The piece that really bothers me is the Martinez loss. This is because they don’t have a reliable cather behind him. Sure, he wasn’t the most reliable himself defensively, but he was a force in the lineup. One that will be replaced by either Jarod Saltalamachia (?) or Jason Varitek.

Though I am not sure why people are so up on their rotation, they added some nice armsto the bullpen. They now have, three possible closers, two guys who would normally be set-up men, and a whole lot of depth.

Now on the issue of preformance. If you have a fantasy baseball team, pick Red Sox players. Adrian Gonzalez is going from the worst hitter’s ballpark to the best hitter’s ballpark. He hit 32 homeruns and has one of the best opposite field strokes in the major leagues. Many of the balls that he hit on the screws and were flyouts in PETCO, will be home runs in Fenway. I pedict somewhere in the 40 homerun range with somewhere in the 50 doubles and triples.

Crawford on the other hand, has behind him: Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Gonzalez, and David Ortiz. Sure having Jacoby Ellsbury in front of him may lower his steals somewhat from what they would have been had he been leadoff but remember that he has stolen 62 of 66 bases at Fenway. Maybe this was from the horribly throwing Red Sox catchers but he is still comfortable. I think it was in 2006 that he stole second, third, and home plate against the Red Sox.

Predicted Record Range: 94-99 wins They have the best line-up in all of baseball. However, these records do not account for injuries that have not yet happened.