All-Suck Lineups through Week 8

AL
C Jason Kendall
1B Aubrey Huff
2B Erick Aybar
3B Chone Figgins
SS Ben Zobrist
OF Nelson Cruz
OF Emil Brown
OF Jay Gibbons
SP Jeff Weaver
RP B.J. Ryan

NL
C Yorvit Torrealba
1B Rich Aurilia
2B Jamey Carroll
3B Tony Graffanino
SS Adam Everett
OF Ryan Langerhans (Atlanta Model)
OF Kory Casto
OF Steve Finley
SP Mark Redman
RP Jorge Julio

All-Star Lineups through Week 8

AL
C Jorge Posada
1B Kevin Youkilis
2B B.J. Upton
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Derek Jeter
OF Magglio Ordonez
OF Vladimir Guerrero
OF Ichiro
SP Dan Haren
RP Al Reyes

NL
C Russell Martin
1B Todd Helton
2B Chase Utley
3B Chipper Jones
SS Hanley Ramirez
OF Barry Bonds
OF Matt Holliday
OF Carlos Beltran
SP Jake Peavy
RP Takashi Saito

That's Nasty! (Week of May 21)

Isn't it funny how a lot of the best pitching performances are on Sundays? This Sunday, we had Jake Peavy, the best pitcher in baseball, going against the Brewers, who started off hot (24-10) but are in a bit of a tailspin right now, having lost 11 of their last 14 games, including Sunday's. The NL Central is so bad that they haven't lost the division lead yet, though. Anyway, Peavy's line:

7 IP
2 H
1 BB
0 R
8 K
GmSc 80

Just stellar. The two hits were a leadoff Tony Gwynn, Jr. single in the second (Peavy got two flyouts and a strikeout to follow), and a Craig Counsell leadoff single in the sixth (Suppan, trying to bunt him over, ended up bunting into a double play. Whoops.) Of Peavy's 105 pitches, 71 were thrown for strikes. Heath Bell came in to pitch a perfect eighth, including two strikeouts, and Trevor Hoffman "earned" the "save" to protect Peavy's win, 3-0.

NBA Wrap-up

With the NBA season winding down (ie, the Spurs looking far superior to all of their remaining opponents) lets look back on the predictions I made in October:
East Surprise
+Milwaukee - um, oops?, that was a poor season from the Bucks, but hopefully they can continue to improve and add the right pieces in the draft
-Miami - this was pretty much on the nose, I didn't say they'd suck, but they wouldn't do well to defend their title, playing in the 2nd worst division in the East (games against the magic, bobcats, hawks) they only had the 5th best record in the East and were promptly swept out of the playoffs in the first round, they need to get younger soon
Champ: Chicago - close, maybe they'll make the jump next year

West Surprise
+Houston - well, they had home court in the playoffs, but they should have done better in the playoffs
-NOK - this was pretty much correct as well, CP3 couldn't will them into the playoffs, but they were closer to the playoffs than to Mr. Oden
Champ: SA - pretty much right on, not that I've enjoyed how its happened, I'd have preferred to see the titanic clashes between the Mavs, Suns, and Spurs, throw in an upstart like the Jazz and it might have been a little fun, oh well, we'll have to wait til next year

on a side note, the Bobcats will be drafting 8th, so I will be thinking Corey Brewer thoughts will in CO

Braves bits

Mark Redman's ass got sacked!

And Kelly Johnson's getting married!

Tampa Bay Devil Rays, On the Clock

From BA, Devil Rays scouting director R.J. Harrison has confirmed that the club's top three choices are David Price (LHP, Vanderbilt), Matt Wieters (C, Georgia Tech), and Josh Vitters (3B, Cypress [Calif.] High). The club is expected to draft one of the three.

That's Nasty! (Week of May 14)

Well, we had a few contenders this week, including Jason Bergmann taking a no-hitter into the eighth against the Braves (Brian McCann ended the bid with a home run) and A.J. Burnett's complete game dominance against the Orioles (three hits, two walks, one run [a Kevin Millar homer] and 10 strikeouts), but the "That's Nasty!" pitcher of the week is:

Matt Morris, SF
vs. OAK
IP 9
H 2
BB 2
R 1
K 9
GmSc 86

Morris edged Burnett by a hair (Burnett's Game Score was 85). He needed 127 pitches to go the distance, something that may come back to hurt him in the long run (Morris now ranks 8th in Pitcher Abuse Points). The only damage incurred was in the sixth, when Travis Buck led off with a triple and Dan Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to bring him home. The other hit came in the fourth, when Johnson doubled with one out, but Morris ended the threat by retiring Jack Cust (what a start, by the way) and Eric Chavez on strikeouts.

All-Suck Lineups through Week 7

AL
C Jason Kendall
1B Richie Sexson (ouch)
2B Josh Barfield
3B Chone Figgins (that hurts, Ryan)
SS Ben Zobrist
OF Nelson Cruz
OF Emil Brown
OF Corey Patterson
SP Jeff Weaver
RP B.J. Ryan

NL
C David Ross
1B Carlos Delgado (ouch)
2B Ramon Martinez (the Dodgers sent down Wilson Valdez and elected to keep this guy on their big league club...good call, guys)
3B Tony Graffanino (whooooo knows what club he plays for now, without peeking?)
SS Adam Everett
OF Ryan Langerhans (Atlanta Model, just will not give up the top spot)
OF Kory Casto
OF Steve Finley
SP Mark Redman (SHIP HIS ASS OUT)
RP Jorge Julio (it's going to be a while before anyone overtakes him, even though this is just the Florida Model)

All-Star Lineups through Week 7

AL
C Jorge Posada
1B Kevin Youkilis
2B B.J. Upton
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Derek Jeter
OF Vladimir Guerrero
OF Magglio Ordonez
OF Torii Hunter
SP Dan Haren
RP Al Reyes

NL
C Russell Martin
1B Todd Helton
2B Chase Utley
3B Chipper Jones
SS Hanley Ramirez
OF Barry Bonds
OF Matt Holliday
OF Aaron Rowand
SP Tim Hudson
RP Francisco Cordero

Free Agent List

Here's a list of the big-ticket free agents at the end of this season...feel free to make a wish list of trade deadline moves for Andruw.

Just another one of the manager's "duties" taken away

What a story! An ambidextrous pitcher? A "bullpen in himself"? How awesome!

money money money MONEY, MUH-NAY

Yeah, thats my rough interpretation of what the song sounds like, anyways, the group that just bought the Braves was interviewed here, with one of the questions being about payroll expectations. The Liberty Group has signed official documents saying that the payroll will not drop from the average level of the past 3 years. As Greg Maffei (President & CEO) put it "I'm going to leave that to [McGuirk], but I would be surprised [if it doesn't go up]," Maffei said. "The goal is to have a successful franchise, and winning franchises are successful franchises, and there probably is some correlation between payroll and success. Not an absolute correlation, but certainly some correlation."

SWEEEEEEEET

So, the natural question would be, are the Braves gonna keep Andruw?

Clipboards for EVERYBODY!

Alright folks, guess which sport is back in season!!! Its everyone's favorite the NFL!!! Oh, wait, for a sport to come back doesn't it have to go away? Anyways, well, we've completed a loop, and now instead of being the end of last season, everyone has a blank slate, tabula rasas for all, everyone is 0-0, and we all can make it to the Super Bowl. This means that ESPN has published its preseason Power Ratings. (Which look remarkably like the Super Bowl Odds here).
Some initial reactions:
Too High - Saints (not with that honking target on their back), Ravens (aging defense should finally fail them this year, esp w/o Adalius Thomas), Cowboys (see '05 Eagles)
Too Low - Redskins? Cardinals? I really don't know to be honest

That's Nasty!

I'd like to contribute a new segment to the blog in addition to my weekly All-Star lineups; a tribute to Eric Young's "That's Nasty!" segment on Baseball Tonight. I'll highlight the top pitching performance of the week (by a starter) and give a rundown of the game. Look for it on Monday.

Busch League?

Apparently ESPN thinks the Texans are so bad, they've begun reporting their news stories within their "Minor League" page. Also of note, the Texans' franchise record holder in sacks has 15.5, the NFL record is held by Michael Strahan with 22.5, IN A SEASON. In fact, combine Derrick Thomas' two highest sack total games, and you get to 13. The rookie record for a season? 14.5 by Javon Kearse. Yet somehow, the most sacks ever accumulated by a single Texan, over 5 seasons, is 15.5, maybe they should have gone with Peppers over Carr?

The Texans also hold the NFL record for least offensive yards gained by a winning team in a single game, 47.

BK Correction

Whoops! The Marlins are planning on starting Byung-Hyun Kim on Friday against Tampa Bay.

All-Suck Lineups through Week 6

Now with commentary!

AL
C Jason Kendall (Last good season? 2003.)
1B Ryan Shealy (Placed on DL after "injuring hamstring while running the bases")
2B Josh Barfield (Did San Diego know he was going to have such a bad season when they traded him for Kouzmanoff?)
3B Joe Crede (Last good season? Never.)
SS Ben Zobrist (Optioned to the Minor Leagues)
OF Nelson Cruz (Has attained "clutch player" status after hitting a walk-off HR on Sunday, but it's not enough to keep him from claiming the top OF spot)
OF Emil Brown (Serviceable in 2005 and 2006, should return to serviceable form eventually)
OF Delmon Young (Hopefully character issues aren't causing his slump)
SP Jeff Weaver (Placed on DL for acute ERA-itis; his season has been a total disaster)
RP B.J. Ryan (Arm fell off)

NL
C David Ross (Has never eclipsed 250 at-bats in a season)
1B Adam LaRoche (Struck by infamous Braves Curse)
2B Jamey Carroll (Someone please tell me why this guy gets at-bats)
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff (.121/.178/.209 in 101 PA, ugh) (Okay, what's going on with this trade?)
SS Adam Everett (Whoops, teased Astros fans at the beginning of the season by leading the team in hitting; we all knew that wouldn't keep up)
OF Ryan Langerhans (Atlanta Model; no one's passed him yet on the OF depth chart)
OF Kory Casto (It's his first season, he'll pick up after he gets adjusted)
OF Jim Edmonds (Time to think about retirement? He'll turn 37 on June 27)
SP Mark Redman (Placed on DL for acute ERA-itis)
RP Jorge Julio (Shipped off to Colorado for a pitcher [Byung-Hyun Kim] who won't even pitch this season, and hasn't pitched well since 2002)

All-Star Lineups through Week 6

AL
C Jorge Posada
1B Dan Johnson
2B B.J. Upton
3B Alex Rodriguez (.331/.411/.728 in 158 PA)
SS Derek Jeter
OF Vladimir Guerrero
OF Magglio Ordonez
OF Torii Hunter
SP Tim Wakefield
RP Al Reyes

NL
C Russell Martin
1B Todd Helton
2B Chase Utley
3B Chipper Jones
SS Jose Reyes
OF Barry Bonds
OF Matt Holliday
OF Aaron Rowand
SP Tim Hudson
RP Rafael Soriano

Scheduling

Chipper Jones claims that the Braves have the toughest schedule in baseball. The Braves play the Red Sox, Tigers, Twins, and Indians in interleague play. I think he's right, if only by virtue of the fact that the Braves are the only team in baseball who not only play in the same division as the Mets, but draw the Red Sox as an interleague opponent. The Red Sox and the Mets are the top two teams in baseball, a fact that I think can draw little debate. (Certainly not from the pro-Red Sox crowd, and I doubt the Joe Sports Fan crowd would be able to champion the Brewers as one of the top two teams, because they likely haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet. Give 'em a couple more weeks.)

All-Suck Lineups through Week 5

AL
C Jason Kendall
1B Ryan Shealy
2B Josh Barfield
3B Joe Crede
SS Ben Zobrist
OF Jay Gibbons
OF Emil Brown
OF Nelson Cruz
SP Jeff Weaver
RP B.J. Ryan (Broken Elbow Model, whoops)

NL
C David Ross
1B Adam LaRoche
2B Jamey Carroll
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
SS Ronny Cedeno
OF Ryan Langerhans (Atlanta Model)
OF Kory Casto
OF Mike Cameron
SP Mark Redman
RP Jorge Julio

All-Star Lineups Through Week 5

AL
C Joe Mauer
1B Nick Swisher
2B B.J. Upton
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Carlos Guillen
OF Vladimir Guerrero
OF Torii Hunter
OF Magglio Ordonez
SP John Lackey
RP Al Reyes

NL
C Russell Martin
1B Derrek Lee
2B Kelly Johnson
3B Chipper Jones
SS Jose Reyes
OF Barry Bonds
OF Aaron Rowand
OF Carlos Beltran
SP Tim Hudson
RP Takashi Saito

How offensive

The four teams with the best offensive VORP values in the major leagues are as follows:

1. New York Mets, 74.4
2. Florida Marlins, 68.8
3. Philadelphia Phillies, 62.3
4. Atlanta Braves, 61.1

The #5 team, the Brewers, aren't even close, as they stand at 48.8. And oh, by the way, the Washington Nationals? -3.6.

Was it something I said?

The Panthers have released Keyshawn Johnson (I know, news flash, right?) anyways, I figured I'd weigh in with my two cents and provide a link to Darin Gantt's article, which also has some good insight. The only two reasons that I could think of for this: 1) we need the salary space to sign/trade for a new safety 2) we have too many WRs and needed to leave space (after drafting Jarrett and Robinson who should have spots). Apparently the money that is saved isn't a huge issue, but instead the team figured that the presence of Keyshawn would hinder development more than help it. The Gantt article centers around Fox and Hurney basically doing something that they must feel strongly about since it may well make the team worse in the short term. Also, Gantt mentions that the only safeties available are the ones that we released last year (Colin Branch, Shaun Williams).

Just a tidbit

The San Francisco Giants' bullpen has amassed the fewest innings - 62 1/3 - of any Major League club. The Giants have three starters - Barry Zito (#1), Russ Ortiz (#7), and Matt Cain (#12) - that are in the top 12 in Pitcher Abuse Points, which is a measure of how many 100+ pitch outings a pitcher has. (For reference, Livan Hernandez is #5, and Daisuke Matsuzaka is #13.) Shaky bullpen? San Francisco ranks 16th of 30 teams in bullpen strength (WXRL). Dominant or durable starters? Zito's, Ortiz', and Cain's VORPs are 5.0, -3.5, and 14.9, respectively. Zito and Ortiz probably know by this point what their comfortable pitch range is (and Ortiz may carry that knowledge with him to the minors or out of baseball very soon), but the Giants need to be careful about leaving their young (age: 22) ace Cain out there for too long, too often. Also, the six years on Zito's contract may not mean much if he can't pitch for three of them.