NL West Divisional All-Stars

This Divisional team might be the strongest of all the NL teams, as the Western division boasted two playoff teams and one other contender not far behind. So without any further ado, here's how they stack up.

NL West Divisional All-Stars

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g		TEAM(S)
2B	*Felipe Lopez	1,733	11.5		ARI/mil
CF	Matt Kemp	2,347	14.8		LAD
LF	Manny Ramirez	1,449	13.9		LAD
1B	Adrian Gonzalez	2,305	14.4		SD
SS	Troy Tulowitski	2,304	15.3		COL
3B	Mark Reynolds	2,337	15.1		ARI
RF	Andre Ethier	2,223	13.9		LAD
DH	Pablo Sandoval	2,142	14.0		SF	3B
C	Bengie Molina	1,345	10.2		SF
SP	Tim Lincecum	2,678	83.7		SF
	Dan Haren	2,409	73.0		ARI
	Matt Cain	2,078	63.0		SF
	Randy Wolf	1,940	57.1		LAD
	Ubaldo Jimenez	1,904	57.7		COL
CL	Jonathan Broxton	2,152	29.5		LAD
RP	Ramon Troncoso	825	11.3		LAD
	Juan Gutierrez	788	12.1		ARI
	Ronald Belisario	732	10.6		LAD
	Edward Mujica	698	10.4		SD
	^Rafael Betancourt	678	11.1		cle/COL
P	Jeff Weaver	552	19.7		LAD

Felipe Lopez qualified for the West due to the time he spent with Arizona before his trade to Milwaukee. Hitting for more average than ever before, Lopez enjoyed a very solid season as a leadoff hitter, despite not flashing much speed on the basepaths. He beat out the defensive wizardry of LA's Orlando Hudson (who likely would have earned the honor if not for his second-half slump) and the finally-developed power of Colorado's Clint Barmes.

The highest-scoring batter on the team, Matt Kemp, bats second here, as the only player with any significant at-bats in the two-hole. Kemp is the total package, a five-tool player, who, at 24 years old, looks to help the Dodgers for many years to come. After spending far too many games in low-leverage/low-pressure spots in the batting order to give Joe Torre some peace of mind, he finally moved up to the traditional production spots so that his talents could shine out the clearer.

Despite missing 50 games due to a steroid-related suspension, no other left fielder matched the production of Manny Ramirez in '09. His power numbers suffered a little, but he was still getting on base at his career clip. And according to swp, 104 games of Manny is worth even more than 156 games of San Diego's Chase Headley.

Adrian Gonzalez and his career-highs in homers and walks was pretty much the lone bright spot in a lousy season for the Padres. He will undoubtedly be the subject of myriad trade rumors throughout the hot stove season, so this might be the last time he anchors the NL West team. He finished well ahead of perennial contender Todd Helton, who seems to be unaffected by age.

Troy Tulowitski was untouchable at shortstop, returning to the form that saw him finish a close second to Ryan Braun in the 2007 Rookie of the Year voting. He had some people worried after 2008, but there's certainly no need to worry now, about his bat or his glove, despite the Gold Glove snub.

Mark Reynolds got a boost in his swp due to his mammoth home run and impressive stolen base totals (44 and 24 respectively), but I placed him low in the order due to his major league record 223 strikeouts in '09. No use putting fantasy Manny on base only to leave him there with a fantasy Mark Reynolds strikeout. His runner-up, Pablo Sandoval, gets a spot on the team as the DH, which is fitting for a panda-shaped dude without a natural position. He showed that he can hit, no matter where he played, batting .330 and driving in 90 runs for an offensively starved Giants team.

Batting between the two third base candidates is right fielder Andre Ethier. His inclusion completes the second team-sweep of outfielders on a Divisional All-Star team; recall that all three Phillies made it onto the NL East team. Arizona's Justin Upton was hot on his tail, but Ethier pulled out the victory with a 30-100 season, more than helping the Dodgers pick up the slack during Manny's absence.

For catcher, I made an executive decision to include Bengie Molina, even though Arizona's Miguel Montero had a slight edge in swp (a measly 3 points) and ppg (an even measlier 0.3 points). Something about me just trusts Molina's veteran leadership and increased power output. Who cares if he doesn't walk and is one of the slowest players in the league? Plus Molina is a free agent and unlikely to return to the NL West next year, so this may be his last chance. Furthermore, Montero's basically guaranteed a spot in the Wild Card team, so we haven't heard the last from him.

NL Cy Young award repeater Tim Lincecum is the staff ace. It's good that the voters recognized true greatness this year without just catering to the guy who won the most games: with just 15 wins, he's the least-winningest pitcher in history to pick up the Cy Young. But his league-leading 261 strikeouts, paired with his (also league-leading) 4 complete games should dispel all doubts about his freaky delivery.

The underrated control artist Dan Haren follows Lincecum, providing perhaps the best fantasy one-two punch anyone could hope for. Haren had the best WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched) and strikeout to walk ratio of any pitcher in the National League, yet received only 1% of the Cy Young voting share. Behind Haren is Lincecum's Giants teammate Matt Cain, whose 2.89 ERA and 14 wins also received no Cy Young support due to a deep class. At just 24 years-old, though, Cain still shows some potential for improvement.

Extremely reliable pitch-to-contact lefty Randy Wolf and developing young ace Ubaldo Jimenez fill the last two spots of the rotation. Dodgers fans will lament the likely departure of Wolf through free agency after his deceptively good 11-7 2009, while Rockies fans will enjoy watching Jimenez induce ground ball after ground ball with his 100 mph stuff for years to come. Guys that missed the mark: a pair of Dodgers - future star Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley of the disappointing second half -, a pair of Rockies - journeyman Jorge de la Rosa and the always playoff-bound Jason Marquis -, and a single Padre: de facto staff ace Kevin Correia.

Jonathan "the huge scary bear" Broxton is the closer, winning out a close battle with first-year stopper Heath Bell. The NL West had an impressively strong class of closers this year, with Brian Wilson and Huston Street also putting up very good numbers. Despite Bell leading the league in saves, Broxton's strikeout numbers just couldn't be beat. And any time a pitcher posts a WHIP under 1.000, you know you're looking at something special.

The rest of the relief corps is made up of two Dodgers and two relative unknowns. Ramon Troncoso has matured into a legitimate setup man after just one year of MLB experience, and it's likely that the same will happen next year for Ronald Belisario. He spent some time on the DL this year with a sore elbow due to overuse, but he's still young and has plenty of time to bounce back. A good deal of Juan Gutierrez's swp are due to the 9 saves he picked up filling in for the injured Chad Qualls, and Edward Mujica started 4 games for the Padres, but both still qualify as relievers.

For the fifth man, Juan Rincon, I made an executive decision to put him on the team, as San Diego's rookie Luke Gregerson actually barely beat him in swp. But I put Rincon on the team because of his track record and his strong performance after being acquired by the Rockies. Jeff Weaver will act as the swingman, despite being left off the Dodgers' post-season roster.

Next time, I'll compile the best players of all the guys that missed making the three divisional teams to create the NL Wild Card Divisional All-Star Team.

NL Central Divisional All-Stars

A rather weak class in terms of depth for the NL Central this year. But the big guys sure were big. Here's how they stack up position by position:

National League Central

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g		TEAM(S)
CF	Michael Bourn	1,977	12.6		HOU
SS	Miguel Tejada	1,897	12.0		HOU
LF	Ryan Braun	2,697	17.1		MIL
1B	Albert Pujols	3,196	20.0		STL
DH	Prince Fielder	2,784	17.2		MIL	1B
2B	Brandon Phillips	2,002	13.1		CIN
RF	Hunter Pence	1,814	11.4		HOU
3B	Andy LaRoche	1,391	9.3		PIT
C	Yadier Molina	1,242	8.9		STL
SP	Adam Wainwright	2,476	72.8		STL
	Chris Carpenter	2,287	81.7		STL
	Wandy Rodriguez	1,914	58.0		HOU
	Ted Lilly	1,778	65.9		CHC
	Joel Pineiro	1,700	53.3		STL
CL	Trevor Hoffman	1,764	32.1		MIL
RP	Nick Masset	905	12.2		CIN
	LaTroy Hawkins	845	13.0		HOU
	Todd Coffey	800	10.3		MIL
	Jeff Fulchino	753	12.3		HOU
	Angel Guzman	606	11.0		CHC
P	Sean Marshall	439	8.0		CHC

What an improvement for Michael Bourn, whom many pegged as a one-tool player after his 2008 performance (41 steals, but an OBP under .300). But speed wasn't the only aspect of his game in 2009, as the phormer Phillie (he came over to the Astros in the phabled trade for Brad Lidge) raised his batting average by over 30 points, ramped up his walk rate, and played good enough defense to earn a Gold Glove award - all while maintaining his trademark dazzling performance on the basepaths (61 stolen bases). He beat out solid veteran Mike Cameron and surprising rookie Andrew McCutchen to earn the center field honors.

In recent years, Miguel Tejada has seen a dropoff in his power numbers: he averaged 15 home runs per year over the last three seasons, down from an average of 24 for the rest of his career. But in 2009 he apparently made some adjustments - including swinging for more singles and doubles - which got his batting average up over .300 for the first time since 2006 with Baltimore. His defense hasn't improved any (a move to third base could be in his future for 2010 and beyond), nor has his plate discipline (19 walks) or his luck (he grounded into a league-leading 29 double plays in 2009). But he performed well enough to keep Ryan Theriot off the Divisional All-Star team.

Once Ryan Braun moved out from third base, where his fielding was nothing short of atrocious, he became one of the game's best pure hitters. In 2009, the 25-year-old had his third straight season of 30+ home runs, he led the league in hits, his walks have climbed for the third straight year, and he even stole 20 bases. He's bound to be a superstar for a long time, despite his high strikeout totals (121 this year, exactly in line with his per-season average). He finished well ahead of Houston's "El Caballero" (Carlos Lee), whose impressive performance will most likely make him a contender for the Wild Card team.

Albert Pujols never fails to impress: in his nine major league seasons, his numbers have never been anything less than eye-popping. Take 2009, where he led the league in home runs, OPS (including both OBP and SLG), runs scored, total bases, and intentional walks (44, pushing his season total over 100 for the second straight year). Plus he had the special honor of recording a 3,000+ swp season, a feat reached by batters only 17 times since the last two digits of the calendar rolled over to zeros. (Pujols actually has three of those 17 3,000+ seasons.) Despite his brilliance, he actually faced some stiff competition, with his runner-up appearing as the NL Central's DH.

The Prince is back! After a slightly down season in 2008, Fielder rebounded with career highs in hits, walks, RBI (he led the league with 141), batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS, all while playing in every single game. Maybe the improvement is due to all the weight he lost, maybe it's due to more creative teammates; either way he seems to be playing better than ever. Behind him is a deep field of first basemen, including Chicago's Derrek Lee, Cincinnati's Joey Votto (both of whom we'll probably hear from later), and Houston's Lance Berkman.

This is where the NL Central team starts getting weak. Not that Brandon Phillips and Hunter Pence had bad years, per se, but their statistics weren't mind blowing. Their runner-ups were a couple of St. Louis Cardinals: Skip Schumaker, who played a pretty good second base after converting to left field this year, and Ryan Ludwick, whose decent 2009 numbers fell far short of his 2008 smoke and mirrors season.

Third base was a sad story for the NL Central this season. Two teams acquired third basemen that would have earned a spot on the team had they qualified - St. Louis's Mark DeRosa and Cincinnati's Scott Rolen. Chicago's Aramis Ramirez played the best out of the whole group when he was healthy (14.7 ppg), but he only got in half a season's worth of playing time. So Pittsburgh's Andy LaRoche is the de facto winner here, in his first full major league season. Nothing special here, but one must make the best team with what one's got...

Speaking of the best, Yadier Molina was far and away the best defensive catcher in the league this year, and it just so happens that he was the best offensive catcher in his division - no other backstop cracked 1,000 swp. It's funny how often the best offender at a certain position happens to be the best defender as well. I guess that's the mark of a strong athlete.

The two Cy Young award snubs headline this staff: Adam Wainwright lead the league in wins and innings pitched, while his teammate Chris Carpenter got the ERA title. The voting was very close, but neither pitcher ended up with any hardware. They pitched better than any other one-two punch in the league, and give this Central team a couple of aces.

In the three hole is Houston's emerging ace Wandy Rodriguez. He started late (in 2005 he was a rookie at age 26), but he finally found his strikeout pitch, just missing 200 for the year (193 in a career-high 205 innings). After him is veteran lefty Ted Lilly who turned in another solid, if short, season at age 33. 2009 marked the first time he missed a start since September of '05, but he also put up the highest strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career (4.19, which is 1.75 higher than his career mark). Rounding out the rotation is the third Cardinal of the bunch, Joel Pineiro. After a bad year in 2008, Pineiro had the best accuracy of his career, leading the league in walks per nine innings (a minuscule 1.1), and earning 15 wins for his troubles.

It was a very close race for the closer position, with Trevor Hoffman beating out Ryan Franklin by just 2 points. In the end, though, it was the points per game that put the future Hall of Famer over the edge: 32.1 to 28.4, which shows that Hoffman was the more dominant of the two, even if he did pitch in slightly fewer games (55 to 61). Career performance really shouldn't come into play here, but it's hard to ignore 17 years of domination as a closer. Behind the two of them is Cincinnati's Francisco Cordero, who actually saved more games - but also walked more than double the batters - than either of his two competitors.

As for the rest of the bullpen: Nick Masset was a former prospect who was shipped around before getting regular work with the Reds. LaTroy Hawkins was a failed starter then a failed closer for the Twins before finding his niche setting up. (He actually closed a few games for the Astros this year when Jose Valverde went down with an injury. Coffey, Fulchino, and Guzman are three fairly inexperienced middle relievers cut from the same cloth. Relief pitchers are the most volatile and unpredictable element of major league baseball, as players with good stuff and good stamina are usually pegged as starters. If someone doesn't have good enough stuff to start, you won't see him pitching in the major leagues for long.

Speaking of not having good enough stuff to start, Sean Marshall is the swingman for this team - an innings-eater, pure and simple.

NL East Divisional All-Stars

Now that all the major awards for players are officially in the books, it's time to get started with these Divisional All-Star teams. If you haven't read the last post, the way they're organized allows me to use them to recap the 2009 season division by division through looking at the performances of the key players at each position in said division. Up first:

National League East

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g		TEAM(S)
SS	Hanley Ramirez	2,537	16.8		FLA
CF	Shane Victorino	2,077	13.3		PHI
2B	Chase Utley	2,512	16.1		PHI
1B	Ryan Howard	2,660	16.6		PHI
3B	Ryan Zimmerman	2,340	14.9		WAS
RF	Jayson Werth	2,318	14.6		PHI
LF	Raul Ibanez	2,026	15.1		PHI
DH	Adam Dunn	2,142	13.5		WAS	LF/1B
C	Brian McCann	1,706	12.4		ATL
SP	Javier Vazquez	2,459	76.8		ATL
	Josh Johnson	2,093	63.4		FLA
	Jair Jurrjens	2,011	59.1		ATL
	Johan Santana	1,588	63.5		NYM
	J.A. Happ	1,557	44.5		PHI
CL	Francisco Rodriguez	1,559	22.3		NYM
RP	Ryan Madson	999	12.6		PHI
	Peter Moylan	688	7.9		ATL
	Kiko Calero	672	10.0		FLA
	Tyler Clippard	671	16.4		WAS
	Pedro Feliciano	642	7.3		NYM
P	Chan Ho Park	494	11.0		PHI

Albert Pujols winning his third NL MVP award with a landslide victory, ensures another wildly under-appreciated season by shortstop Hanley Ramirez. He won't be totally forgotten, seeing as he won the batting title and drove in over 100 runs. His stolen bases are down, but then again so are those of runner-up Jimmy Rollins, whose batting average has also plummeted over the past few years. Rollins did have a good enough season that I have a strong feeling that we'll see him again soon. Honorable mention: Atlanta's Yunel Escobar who's blossoming into a hot young player.

Shane Victorino was the clear choice in center field; his only competition was Nate McLouth, who qualified for the NL East by spending the majority of his season with Atlanta. The Flyin' Hawaiian's even played pretty good defense, earning his second Gold Glove award in 2009 (although we should all be familiar with the practice of (unofficially, of course) awarding such awards based on offensive production, as counter-intuitive as that sounds).

Chase Utley's quick bat might have made him a star, but his unheralded defensive and baserunning skills will eventually make him a household name. Time is against him as far as 'eventually' goes, as he'll turn 31 next month, but he was untouched as far as 2009 production goes. He finished ahead of Florida's Dan Uggla, another guy we'll probably see more of later.

After Ryan Howard, this was an embarrassingly weak year for the NL East's first basemen. But Howard himself didn't disappoint, putting up even more impressive numbers than last year. He hit for a higher average, got on base more, hit for more power, and even stole more bases. The only thing that went down from 2008 was his walk total. It wasn't even a contest between Howard and second-place finisher Florida's Jorge Cantu.

Wow, did Ryan Zimmerman bounce back from an awful 2008 (1,167 swp) to put up a career year. And not just offensively: Zimmerman not only picked up his first Gold Glove in 2009, he also led the majors in Web Gems, as measured on each edition of ESPN's Baseball Tonight. Numbers-wise, he finished well ahead of the Mets' David Wright, who just couldn't seem to find his power stroke in 2009.

Jayson Werth found both his power stroke and his batting eye this year, making for quite an impressive year. Batting behind him is left fielder Raul Ibanez, rounding out a Divisional All-Stars outfield featuring all Philadelphia Phillies. Neither had much competition, with Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan (FLA) and team-hopper Jeff Francoeur (ATL-NYM) putting up rather pedestrian offensive numbers.

Adam Dunn seemed like a good fit for DH, as he didn't have a natural position for the Nats in 2009. Splitting his time between left field and first base, he narrowly missed his sixth straight 40 homer season while continuing to rack up both the walks and the strikeouts. Rounding out the order is Braves catcher Brian McCann, who put up solid numbers despite having some LASIK surgery-related vision problems early in the year. But armed with a new pair of glasses, McCann quickly returned to form.

Javier Vazquez leads a pitching staff occupied by mostly new faces. Everything was working right for Vazquez this year, who posted a 2.87 ERA (a full 1.32 points below his career average) and struck out an unbelievable 5.41 batters for every walk (second only to Dan Haren in the league). Josh Johnson (all six feet, seven inches of him) becomes the second Marlins prospect to come to fruition in as many years (Ricky Nolasco was last year's candidate, who did finish among the top ten pitchers in the division, despite an ERA over 5). Now if only they could all mature around the same time...

Dutchman Jair Jurrjens was no doubt likely to have an impressive season because he didn't pitch for his country (Netherlands) in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The 23-year-0ld started the most games in the league, pitched over 200 innings, and still put up an ERA under 3 (2.60, good for third best in the league).

Johan Santana finds himself so low on the list due to an injury-shortened season, but as you can see by his ppg, he still kicked some tail when he was able to take the hill. Rookie left-hander J.A. Happ takes our fifth spot, despite starting in only 23 of his 35 appearances. (Incidentally, two of those starts were shutouts, which led the league.) Two of Happ's rotation-mates made it into the AL East's top ten (Blanton and Hamels), as did Atlanta's Tommy Hanson, who managed a Santana-esque 64.1 ppg, but simply didn't rack up enough points to qualify.

Francisco Rodriguez, who last year saved more games than anyone else had in a single season for the Angels and subsequently signed a big deal with the Mets, closes games for this squad. Despite finishing the most games in the league, K-Rod only managed 35 saves (slightly more than half of last year's record total) simply because his team didn't give him that many leads to protect.

The rest of the bullpen features one representative from each team in the division. Philadelphia's Ryan Madson just barely misses qualification as a closer (see this post for a discussion on what makes a closer). Australian setup man Peter Moylan makes the team by sheer brute force, appearing in over half of his team's games. Kiko Calero (a former Oakland A) and Tyler Clippard (a former Yankee; they called him "The Yankee Clippard" in reference to Joe DiMaggio) each had resurgences with Florida and Washington, respectively. Pedro Feliciano, the lone lefty in the 'pen, rounds out the relief corps.

I decided to include a "swingman" in the staff just for versatility's sake, and Chan Ho Park is the man this year. He didn't do anything special; in fact, some might argue that the concept of including a "swingman" in an All-Star team is flawed - people who think that "swingman" is a euphemism for "spot starter" or "someone who's not good enough to start in the rotation." But I think it's important to have a guy like Park who can average more than one inning per game.

Well, that's everybody. Stay tuned for more Divisonal All-Stars as the week progresses.

Up next: NL Central.

Divisional All-Stars

Wow, I didn't expect to publish so many lists all rapid fire like that. I guess I just got carried away!

Anyway, now I'd like to embark on a new list-themed project, one that focuses on the best players of each division. I call it: The 2009 Divisional All-Star Roster Project. I will essentially compile a roster (starting lineup, pitching rotation, and bullpen) for each division, made up of the best players at each position. I'll also compile a "Wild Card" roster featuring the best of the second-bests: the best players out of all the players who failed to make one of the three divisional teams. Eight rosters in all: East, Central, West, and Wild Card for the AL and the NL.

Sound complicated? It's really not. But there are a couple more guidelines to go over.

In each of the starting lineups, AL and NL alike, I've included a DH spot, just for the sake of rounding out each one with a traditional starting 9. The player who fills this spot need not have played as a DH during the season; it's just an opportunity to feature one more big bat and give some credit where it's due.

As expected, I'll use swp to determine who makes these teams. For players who changed teams mid-season, I'm using their full-season aggregate swp, but they're only eligible for inclusion on the team of the division in which they spent the majority of the 2009 season.

These rules look more complicated when written out in general than when they're put into practice. Don't worry, I'll include plenty of illuminating commentary with each list to help clarify the decision process and some conclusions that can be drawn from each one.

Who's excited for some more lists that, taken together, will provide a pretty comprehensive picture of all the best players of 2009? I know I am! And since I'm the author of this blog, that means there are LISTS ON THE WAY!!!1

The Last Round of Lists

This will be the last round of lists summarizing 2009 MLB teams that I/my friends/the liberal media finds it in their hearts to care about. Starting next week will be some more exciting fare.

The Baltimore Orioles (Let's gou Ou's!)

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g
2B	Brian Roberts	2,275	14.3
CF	Adam Jones	1,599	13.4
RF	Nick Markakis	2,081	12.9
1B	*Aubrey Huff	1,172	10.7
LF	Nolan Reimold	1,227	11.8
DH	Luke Scott	1,511	11.8
3B	Melvin Mora	993	7.9
C	Matt Wieters	856	8.9
SS	Cesar Izturis	773	6.8
SP	Jeremy Guthrie	790	23.9
	Brad Bergesen	895	47.1
	Jason Berken	53	2.2
	David Hernandez	259	13.0
	Koji Uehara	429	35.8
	Rich Hill	3	0.2
CL	*George Sherrill	967	23.0
	Jim Johnson	712	11.1
RP	Brian Bass	317	6.6
	Danys Baez	475	8.1
	Matt Albers	152	2.7
P	Mark Hendrickson	628	11.8

Catcher Matt Wieters was supposed to be the second coming of Mike Piazza, Boog Powell, and Cal Ripken all rolled into one; instead, after finally arriving in the slot that Gregg Zaun kept warm for him, he was a complete disappointment. Granted, a disappointment with big upside, but still a disappointment. Rookie Nolan Reimold took over in left after a failed experiment by the O's in using players with good defense. The hypothesis: if we start Felix Pie, the runs he'll fail to produce with the bat will be balanced out by the runs he saves by playing above average defense. The result: plug in a good hitting young guy and try to get him some consideration for Rookie of the Year to boot.

The Orioles' rotation is in shambles and doesn't look to improve any time soon. Their lone established starter (Guthrie) struggled mightily, and the one decent first year starter they brought up (Bergesen) couldn't quite make up for the two lousy ones (Berkin & Hernandez). Uehara made a pretty solid transition from Japan, while Rich Hill showed that he's nowhere near Major League ready.

The New York Mets:

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g
LF	Angel Pagan	1,133	12.9	CF
2B	Luis Castillo	1,363	9.6
CF	Carlos Beltran	1,246	15.2
RF	^Jeff Francoeur	906	12.1
3B	David Wright	1,909	13.3
1B	Daniel Murphy	1,377	8.9
DH	Fernando Tatis	1,003	8.0	1B/3B/LF
C	Omir Santos	672	7.0
SS	Alex Cora	569	6.9
SP	Mike Pelfrey	746	24.1
	Johan Santana	1,588	63.5
	*Livan Hernandez	440	19.1
	Tim Redding	478	15.9
	John Maine	560	37.3
	Oliver Perez	51	3.6
CL	Francisco Rodriguez	1,559	22.3
RP	Brian Stokes	320	4.6
	Sean Green	312	3.9
	Pedro Feliciano	642	7.3
P	Bobby Parnell	302	4.4
	^Pat Misch	299	13.6

Nothing seemed go right for these Mets, who were once favored to beat out the Phillies in the NL East. They lost Carlos Delgado at first, Jose Reyes at short, and Carlos Beltran for most of the year in center having to settle for less-than-replacement-level replacements. I cheated again by putting Angel Pagan in left when he really played more time in center than anywhere else (left field was occupied mostly by Gary Sheffield since Daniel Murphy, the projected starter, had to fill in for Delgado). David Wright, despite finishing the year with solid overall numbers, couldn't find his power stroke all season.

Ace Johan Santana pitched well when he pitched, which was not frequently enough for the Mets. Not a single other pitcher performed to expectation, as evidenced by the amount of work handed to Livan Hernandez.

Nota bene: The pitchers are arranged in order of the innings they pitched rather than effectiveness. That's why you see their lone effective reliever (LOOGY Pedro Feliciano) slotted behind other such bullpen figures.

The Pittsburgh Pirates:

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g
CF	Andrew McCutchen	1,619	15.0
2B	*Freddy Sanchez	966	11.2
DH	Garrett Jones	1,239	15.1	RF/1B
C	Ryan Doumit	754	10.1
1B	*Adam LaRoche	939	10.8
RF	Brandon Moss	848	6.4
3B	Andy LaRoche	1,391	9.3
SS	*Jack Wilson	624	8.3
LF	*Nyjer Morgan	782	11.0
SP	Zach Duke	1,228	38.4
	Paul Maholm	987	31.8
	Ross Ohlendorf	1,262	43.5
	Charlie Morton	431	23.9
	*Ian Snell	166	11.1
CL	Matt Capps	948	16.6
RP	Jesse Chavez	361	4.9
	*John Grabow	378	8.4
	Evan Meek	351	8.6
	Steven Jackson	273	6.8
P	Jeff Karstens	346	8.9

There may yet be some promise for the Buccos, despite their finish in the standings. Andrew McCutchen probably has the NL Rookie of the Year locked up and promises big things. Fellow newbie Garrett Jones looks to be able to fill in for the dearly departed Adam LaRoche (3B Andy's big brother) or seat-filler Brandon Moss (a part of the Jason Bay/Manny Ramirez deal, but disappointing thus far). They've already traded reliever Jesse Chavez to the Rays for their mostly-injured-during-2009-second-baseman Akinori Iwamura to replace Freddy Sanchez, who landed with the Giants for the end of the season.

It's hard to tell which of these young pitchers show any upside, but with all the payroll they shed through trades this year, let's hope it gives GM Neal Huntington some flexibility to improve the club in meaningful ways. They've got nowhere to go but up...

Cleveland Indians

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g
CF	Grady Sizemore	1,502	14.2
SS	Asdrubal Cabrera	1,694	12.9
C	*Victor Martinez	1,312	13.3	1B
RF	Shin-Soo Choo	2,198	14.1
3B	Jhonny Peralta	1,347	8.9
DH	Travis Hafner	1,081	11.5
1B	*Ryan Garko	764	9.8
2B	Luis Valbuena	889	8.6
LF	*Ben Francisco	983	11.0
SP	*Cliff Lee	1,141	51.9
	David Huff	525	22.8
	*Carl Pavano	669	31.9
	Fausto Carmona	62	2.6
	Jeremy Sowers	353	15.3
	Aaron Laffey	512	20.5
CL	Kerry Wood	1,004	17.3
RP	Jensen Lewis	406	8.6
	Rafael Perez	36	0.7
	Tony Sipp	414	9.0
	Joe Smith	255	6.9
P	Tomo Ohka	143	7.9

This was another team, like the Mets, who were favored to compete in their division, but who ended up simply dropping the ball. Many of their key players went to aiding contenders: Victor Martinez went to Boston, Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco went to Philadelphia, Mark DeRosa went to St. Louis, Ryan Garko went to San Francisco, and Carl Pavano went to Minnesota. Except for a couple of bright spots (namely Korean right fielder Shin-Soo Choo and new-to-shortstop Asdrubal (pronounced Ass-dribble) Cabrera) he rest of the guys either played poorly or played injured, insuring the Tribe another season in the dumps.

Colorado Rockies

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POS	NAME	swp	swp/g
CF	Dexter Fowler	1,374	10.2
2B	Clint Barmes	1,563	10.1
1B	Todd Helton	1,957	13.0
SS	Troy Tulowitski	2,304	15.3
RF	Brad Hawpe	1,857	12.8
3B	Ian Stewart	1,456	9.9
LF	Seth Smith	1,300	9.8
DH	Carlos Gonzalez	1,089	12.2	OF
C	Chris Iannetta	977	10.5
SP	Ubaldo Jimenez	1,904	57.7
	Jason Marquis	1,360	41.2
	Jorge de la Rosa	1,479	44.8
	Jason Hammel	1,109	32.6
	Aaron Cook	994	36.8
CL	Huston Street	1,800	28.1
RP	Matt Daley	390	6.8
	Josh Fogg	281	11.7
	Franklin Morales	483	12.1
	^Rafael Betancourt	412	12.9
	Manuel Corpas	112	3.2

The complete mirror image of the Mets/Indians picture, the Rockies were supposed to remain in the basement this year, but somehow surprised everybody. Thanks to Todd Helton's refusal to show his age, Troy Tulowitski's emergence into one of the league's best young shortstops, and the development of Ubaldo Jimenez into a true ace, the Rockies propelled themselves into the playoffs. Sure the mid-season managerial swap (Jim Tracy for Clint Hurdle) probably helped, but it was the talented group of guys on the field (including a couple of Oakland A's castoffs Huston Street and Carlos Gonzalez) that made the magic this season.

Will the Rockies compete next year as well? They will lose starter Jason Marquis, but they'll also regain their injured erstwhile ace Jeff Francis. If Manuel Corpas can pitch effective innings out of the bullpen as everyone expected and their young hitters can stay the course, I don't think they'll have too much trouble keeping pace with the Dodgers. But you never know, due to the Rockies' seeming tendency to only play well when nobody's expecting them to.

More Lists

Yesterday I outlined the process behind drawing up a comprehensive, informative, and aesthetically pleasing list summarizing a baseball team's performance over the course of a season. I also provided two examples of such lists: the two participants in the World Series. Today I'm going to show a few more lists of teams that might draw some interest from my loyal readership. First, the hometown Los Angeles Dodgers:

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POS	Name	swp	swp/g
SS	Rafael Furcal	1,562	10.4
2B	Orlando Hudson	1,578	10.6
LF	Manny Ramirez	1,449	13.9
RF	Andre Ethier	2,223	13.9
1B	James Loney	1,724	10.9
C	Russell Martin	1,244	14.8
CF	Matt Kemp	2,347	14.8
3B	Casey Blake	1,675	12.1
DH	Juan Pierre	1,211	8.4	LF
SP	Randy Wolf	1,940	57.1
	Chad Billingsley	1,467	44.5
	Clayton Kershaw	1,655	53.4
	Hiroki Kuroda	991	47.2
CL	Jonathan Broxton	2,152	29.5
RP	Ramon Troncoso	825	11.3
	Ronald Belisario	732	10.6
	Guillermo Mota	467	7.7
	James McDonald	407	9.0
P	Jeff Weaver	552	19.7

Note the use of only four reliable starting pitchers, like the Yankees. Surprisingly enough, four 2009 contenders (the Angels and Tigers are the other two) couldn't find a suitable fifth starter. Nowadays, given C.C. Sabathia's heroic efforts pitching every day of the week and new research findings suggesting that the human arm might need only three days, rather than four, to fully recuperate after a day of pitching, maybe these four-man rotations will become a bit more common.

Manny Ramirez's season numbers are down because of that nasty 50-game suspension, but if you look at his points per game (13.9 ppg), you can tell that when he did play he performed right up with the best of them (or, at least the very good of them). Notice also Matt Kemp, the team leader in swp, batting towards the bottom of the order. This was Joe Torre's attempt to get Kemp some at-bats in a low-pressure spot in the batting order so as not to lay too much on the shoulders of the youngster (Kemp was only 24 in 2009). By the end of the season and the playoffs, Kemp had moved up the ranks and spent most of his time in the number 2 or 4 spots in the lineup.

Next, just because I feel like it, my favorite, the Oakland Athletics:

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POS	Name	swp	swp/g
3B	Adam Kennedy	1,558	12.1
SS	*Orlando Cabrera	967	9.6
1B	*Jason Giambi	759	9.1
LF	*Matt Holliday	1,258	13.5
DH	Jack Cust	1,593	10.7
C	Kurt Suzuki	1,691	11.5
RF	Ryan Sweeney	1,319	9.8
2B	Mark Ellis	1,132	10.8
CF	Rajai Davis	1,477	11.8
SP	Trevor Cahill	830	25.9
	Brett Anderson	1,315	43.8
	Dallas Braden	868	39.5
	Gio Gonzalez	402	20.1
	Vin Mazzaro	177	10.4
	Josh Outman	624	44.6
CL	Andrew Bailey	1,903	28.0
RP	Michael Wuertz	1,166	15.8
	Brad Ziegler	667	9.7
	^Craig Breslow	652	10.9
	*Russ Springer	231	4.8
P	Edgar Gonzalez	87	3.3

A lot of player movement here, as the A's entered fire sale mode by the middle of the season. Matt Holliday (whose 13.5 ppg show that he was surprisingly effective while playing in Oakland, despite cries of overyhype and altitude sickness) went on to put the Cardinals' offense on his shoulders. Orlando Cabrera took over the shortstop position for the Twins. Jason Giambi had some pinch hits for the Rockies down the stretch. The big success story for the A's offense has to be Kurt Suzuki, who's blossoming into one of the league's premier young catchers.

The rotation was ravaged by injuries (Outman, Braden) and marked by ineffective young pitchers who haven't yet found their grooves in the major leagues (Cahill, Gonzalez, Mazzaro). Given a few years to mature, the majority of these guys will probably develop into very effective, if not dominant, starting pitchers. Speaking of dominance, rookie Andrew Bailey closed out games with the big boys. He's my bet to win the AL Rookie of the Year.

Next, the Minnesota Twins:

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POS	Name	swp	swp/g
CF	Denard Span	1,923	13.3
SS	Brendan Harris	832	6.8
C	Joe Mauer	2,340	17.0
1B	Justin Morneau	1,986	14.7
DH	Jason Kubel	1,962	13.4
RF	Michael Cuddyer	2,131	13.9
LF	Delmon Young	1,031	9.5
3B	Joe Crede	910	10.1
2B	Nick Punto	935	7.5
SP	Nick Blackburn	1,204	36.5
	Scott Baker	1,621	49.1
	Francisco Liriano	401	13.8
	Glen Perkins	305	16.9
	Kevin Slowey	685	42.8
	^Carl Pavano	472	39.3
CL	Joe Nathan	2,247	32.1
RP	Matt Guerrier	861	10.9
	Jose Mijares	585	8.2
	Jesse Crain	384	6.9
	R.A. Dickey	236	6.7
P	Brian Duensing	609	25.4

Had Morneau not spent the end of the season on the DL, he would likely have broken the 2,000 point barrier. Joe Mauer's numbers put him in a good position to win league MVP, especially due to his recently awarded gold glove award. (His main MVP competition, Mark Teixeira, also won a GG and had a slightly better offensive season, but good defense from a catcher is much more valuable than good fielding from a first baseman. Also, good hitting catchers are extremely rare, while good hitting first basemen are a dime a dozen.) Missing eligibility on the list is the acquired SS ^Orlando Cabrera, who put up a respectable 743 (12.6 ppg) line for the Twins.

The Twins' rotation also suffered from injuries (Slowey, Liriano) and ineffectiveness (Liriano, Perkins), but Carl Pavano's clutch arm helped them down the stretch. Joe Nathan was one of the best closers in the league, as usual.

The Seattle Mariners:

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POS	Name	swp	swp/g
RF	Ichiro Suzuki	1,980	13.6
CF	Franklin Gutierrez	1,696	11.1
2B	Jose Lopez	1,797	11.7
LF	Ken Griffey Jr.	1,099	9.4	DH
3B	Adrian Beltre	1,111	10.0
1B	Russell Branyan	1,556	13.4
DH	Mike Sweeney	681	9.2
C	Kenji Johjima	560	7.9
SS	*Yuniesky Betancourt	403	6.4
SP	Felix Hernandez	2,671	78.6
	*Jarrod Washburn	1,267	63.4
	Ryan Rowland-Smith	701	46.7
	Jason Vargas	412	17.9
	Erik Bedard	845	56.3
	^Ian Snell	391	32.6
CL	David Aardsma	1,835	25.1
RP	Mark Lowe	662	8.8
	Miguel Batista	486	8.7
	Sean White	579	11.1
P	Chris Jakubauskas	461	13.2
	Brandon Morrow	524	20.2

I cheated a little on this one: Ken Griffey didn't play enough games to qualify as the left-fielder; he was pretty much a dedicated DH. But the M's didn't have anyone else who played left field consistently. And if Griffey plays in left, that opens up the DH slot for Mike Sweeney. Franklin Gutierrez, acquired from the Indians in the off-season primarily because of his stellar defense, was a surprise offensively. Russell Branyan showed that he can still produce when given a chance to play regularly - the last time he played over 100 games in a season was 2002. Yuniesky Betancourt, who approached absolute zero with both his bat and his glove, was shipped off to Kansas City in June.

King Felix Hernandez has a shot to win the Cy Young. Jarrod Washburn pitched well before being traded to the Tigers, but don't let that asterisk fool you: during his stay in Detroit, he pitched so poorly that he actually put up a negative swp total in his eight starts. Erik Bedard pitched well when healthy, but health was not a frequent state for him.

Four is enough for today. Maybe some more lists another time.