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.