Exhibition Baseball at Chase Field

 

The 2011 Major League Baseball Season starts tomorrow! Isn't everyone excited? I know I am. But, like so many of you baseball fiends out there who just can't wait for regular season action to check out baseball at your local stadiums, I checked into an exhibition game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Sultanes de Monterrey at Chase Field in Phoenix last night. Half the D-Backs squad was actually across town in Mesa playing the Cubs in a Spring Training contest, but the other half - including starters Justin Upton, Chris Young, and Melvin Mora - officially opened the gates to the big league park and hosted a team from the Mexican League.

Because of scheduling constraints, I arrived to the game in the second inning, thus missing a grand slam by utility infielder Ryan Roberts, which put the Diamondbacks into a lead that they would never relinquish. Incidentally, I learned that Roberts distinguishes himself from the hundreds of other random utility infielders out there with a shock of tattoos all the way up his arms and around his neck. It's amazing the things you learn from watching the jumbo tron at games that you wouldn't pick up through a normal TV broadcast.

When I entered the stadium, I noticed that the pitcher for the Sultanes was apparently named Value. At least that's what it said on the back of his jersey. Then I noticed that all the Sultanes players had that name above their numbers; and below their numbers, it read Carta Blanca. I later learned that Carta Blanca is the name of the local beer brand produced by the company that owns the team. And that the team had been in existence, owned by that company, since 1939, and that the team had originally taken the name of the brand as their team name! Anyone who's upset about lucrative sponsorship deals and corporate stadium names should look at what's been going on in south of the border baseball and at least be thankful that we haven't gone that far in this country.

A quick look at the Sultanes' active roster showed a couple of former major league names that I was excited to see, namely Erubiel Durazo (former Diamondback and Athletic) and Karim Garcia. Those two, however, didn't make it to Arizona to play. A more in-depth look at the roster showed that Durazo hadn't played since 2009, and Garcia since 2007. But that gave me a chance to see other stars of the Mexican League, such as Agustin Murillo, Lorenzo Buelnas, and Baltazar Lopez (whose home run stunned 22-year-old starter Charles Brewer, who made it through five strong innings).

As far as level of competition goes, the Mexican League is classified as AAA-ball, so it was understandable that the Diamondbacks whipped the pants off the Sultanes to the tune of an 11-4 score. J.J. Putz came in for the ninth, struck out the first two batters he faced, then hit a batter, walked the next batter, and gave up an RBI single before retiring the side. The former closer-turned-setup man-turned-back-to-closer will hope for some quieter ninth innings as he has to face major league talent in the regular season.

So that's how my first trip to Chase Field went, in a nutshell. It was my first trip to the stadium, so I picked up a miniature bat, bringing my total to 15. I have now watched a game at half the major league stadiums in existence. As I continue my journey, I will think of you, my loyal readers, and send updates from across the country!

Fantasy Draft Results - Gotham Batmans

Logo for my team: The Gotham Batmans!

Hey, remember that plan I made regarding writing stories for each of the games I saw two weekends ago at Spring Training? Remember how I wrote one of those stories? Well, it looks like that's all I'm going to get to because FANTASY SEASON IS HERE! OH YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT! Our draft was yesterday, and my 25 players are all set to take the field, score some runs, strike some dudes out, and get on with the general business of WINNING, DUH!

But I'd like to take some time before the season starts to attempt to digest some of the proceedings of the draft. Each year, I start out thinking I'll be so on top of things. I have all my rankings - MLB's rankings cross-checked against the ESPN rankings that show up on the draft screen, all supplemented by my own personal swp system. I have algorithms and charts depicting the best strategies. I have my knowledge of the rumor mill, tracking which players are trending up and down. And yet somehow, on each draft day, the anxiety and pressure and excitement all come to a head, and I find myself flying by the seat of my pants.

The main equation to keep in mind while drafting is to balance the best players available at the time of your pick with the specific needs of your team. For those first few picks, the best strategy is to just grab the best player out there. So when my pick came up (I was #7 this year - didn't get the luck to draft Pujols like I did in '010), I picked another power hitting first baseman who you can build an offense around: Miguel Cabrera. Up through the first 8 picks, we drafted the top 8 ESPN-ranked players, so the fact that I took 7th-ranked Cabrera with the 7th pick was seemingly pre-ordained. The fact that he's ranked 3rd overall by the MLB rankings just makes that pick a little sweeter.

With pick 7 of 10, and the snake draft system in use, I got two picks in relatively short succession, so with pick #2, I got Felix Hernandez. He is the second-highest ranked pitcher in both MLB and ESPN rankings (second to Roy Halladay in both counts), so I figured he'd be a good ace. I won't go pick by pick like I did last year. It just feels like the first couple of picks sometimes set the tone for the entire draft. With stars to bolster my lineup in both sides of the field, I was ready to fill in the rest of the holes.

With my next 3 picks, I concentrated on my infield: ever-consistent A-Rod at 3B, hopeful injury-bounceback Jose Reyes at SS, and #3-ranked Catcher Brian McCann. Those guys are hopefully all set for the season; 2B is a different story. First I picked up Ben Zobrist: he found some power in 2009, then focused on the SB in 2010 - maybe this is the year he puts both all together.

Then, since "Zorilla" also has outfield eligibility, I went breakout-or-bust with Kelly Johnson. Johnson had a great arbitration-eligible year with the Diamondbacks, which led to a one-year contract. He outperformed his history, but he'll still be playing for his stripes, so maybe there's a chance he'll repeat. I had a choice between Johnson and former one-season breakout star Aaron Hill, so I'll definitely be checking back in with both players throughout the year to see if I did good.

Now, the format we're using this year allows for an extra IF spot (as well as a UTIL (read: DH)), so both of these guys could potentially play at the same time. Other IF backups: SS Rafael Furcal in case Reyes has another injury setback, 1B Ike Davis, who could be poised for a monster season, and 3B Scott Rolen who as yet has shown only minimal signs of aging.

Speaking of aging, I nabbed Jorge Posada as my backup catcher, even though he will be primarily DH-ing this year for the Yankees. Hopefully he retains his eligibility, cuz I don't want to have him clogging up the DH spot. Also, seeing as DH-only types (e.g. David Ortiz and Vladimir Guerrero) weren't searchable in the draft system, who knows if Posada will just disappear into the void if he loses the ability to play as a catcher...

My outfield is a different story. I didn't pick an outfielder until Round 7 (pick 67), which is almost exactly where Jay Bruce falls on my Aggregate Rating Scale (56 MLB-rank + 74 ESPN-rank / 2 = 65). He has tremendous upside, but hasn't been able to put it all together. Another player with unrealized upside is my centerfielder Adam Jones (plus he's a friend of a friend's friend, so I consider him a good karmic pick, even though I was just seconds away from getting Matt Kemp). Then rounding out the OF is proven masher Nick Swisher.

But, wait - since our league format allows for 4 OF spots, that's not the entire lineup. For the last spot and first backup, I picked two more speedsters coming back from injuries: Coco Crisp and Grady Criesmore Sizemore. And, as you'll remember, neither of these two risky picks have to play, provided both Zobrist and Johnson come through.

After King Felix, I actually was able to stumble upon a couple more star starters: 2010 NL ERA champ Josh Johnson and AL strikeout leader Jered Weaver. Weaver's getting a bad fantasy wrap, but according to an article I read on the Angels' fantasy questions, he shouldn't be. The rest of my rotation includes some high-risk, high-upside picks: A's young lefties Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez, and Rockies phenom Jhoulys Chacin.*

*The pick of Chacin was unintentional and a bit embarrassing. Between picks, I had of course followed which players had been picked - the better to cross-reference the best available players according to each ranking system. With my 18th round pick approaching, I was ready to pick up either a fifth starter or a third reliever. I had my sights set on Daniel Hudson (who I'm convinced will break out this year) or Jose Valverde, but both went mere rounds before. Then when my 90 seconds came around, I panicked. I still didn't have a backup catcher. What if my outfielders didn't pan out? I asked myself these questions, and by the time I remembered my original plan and settled on newly-converted closer Matt Thornton, my time had run our and autopick grabbed Chacin for me. Thornton went 8 picks later.

To finish games (and rack up the saves) I have one of the top 5 closers in Joakim Soria. Behind him is former A's Rookie of the Year Huston Street. (He's ranked just slightly higher than the most recent A's Rookie of the Year closer, Andrew Bailey.) Then, because of Thornton-gate, I was stuck with Drew Storen and Leo Nunez to round out my bullpen. Hey, aside from the Phillies, the NL East looks a little weak this year, might as well capitalize...

So that's it, my 2011 Fantasy Draft in a nutshell. Now I have a core of players to keep EXTRA track of over the course of the season...

Fear and Loathing at Spring Training '11, Chapter 2: OAK @ CHW, 3/18/11

Camelback Ranch - Glendale: The Heart of Spring Training-dom on Earth

If you want to see what happened when the Chicago White Sox hosted the Oakland Athletics on Friday, 3/18, you should look at the box-score at mlb.com - the site I prefer for immediate post-game statistics. They do a much better and more concise job of publishing numbers and results than I could or want to. If you want to see who prevailed in this slugfest at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, AZ between these two AL teams, both trying to be contenders after disappointing second place finishes, you should stay right here.

See, in my effort to better understand the game of baseball, I broke it down into all the elements I could isolate, from the smallest and most narrow to the biggest and most broad. Starting small, we have the plate appearance, the outcome of which is dictated by pitch selection and prowess at the plate. Then we move onto the game itself, which is comprised of innings, and can result in either a win or a loss. Moving on, we have two types of analysis: performance and personal. Performance analysis takes into account how each player did on the field, and personal analysis goes into what that performance means for his role on the team and his team's chances of fielding a contending ballclub. Then you can look at the season as a whole, and if you want to expand your gaze even further, you can study the entire history of organized baseball.

An individual plate appearance is best experienced watching the game on television. After all, the broadcast camera still offers the best view of home plate except by the umpire. The best way to watch a full game is live in attendance. That way you get the full view of the field, you can experience the sounds and smells of the game in addition to the sights, and you have generally a more complete perspective of what goes on. For statistical analysis, you can get all the numbers spread out in front of you at sites like mlb.com and baseball-reference.com. But for personal analysis, or the Stories of the Game, you need a good old fashioned blog.

For instance, if you read the boxscore for this game in question, you'd see that the White Sox shelled the A's to the tune of 18-1. Pretty embarrassing, right? What wouldn't be apparent from the boxscore, however, is that Chicago had their best pitcher from 2010 on the mound, while Oakland's starter was little more than a personal interest story who's not even in near contention for the starting rotation. And while the A's fielded their entire starting nine, they only got a couple of at-bats each before giving way to backups and prospects. So this contest was less a "game" and more a chance for the White Sox to pad their spring stats while the A's looked helplessly on.

White Sox starter John Danks was arguably the White Sox's best starting pitcher last year, despite settling in at 3 or 4 on the team's latest depth chart (depending on who you check). He led his club in swp, and performed like it against the A's. He tallied 102 points: 0 walks, 0 home runs, and 4 strikeouts in the "three true outcomes" categories.

The lineup behind him wasn't that bad either, cranking 18 runs on 21 hits, including 4 homers. And this was without their speedy table setter Juan Pierre or their superslugging new DH Adam Dunn. It looks like Gordon Beckham might be poised to break out of his sophomore slump - he scored an incredible 62 swp off a 3-4 performance, including a 3-run home run, a walk, a steal, and 4 runs scored. New contract recipient Paul Konerko and injury prone Carlos Quentin hit home runs too. Considering the White Sox play in the 3rd best hitters park in the majors (according to the Hardball Times) and that they were the 5th highest swp scoring offense in the league before the addition of Dunn, I think we'll see plenty of runs on the south side of Chicago next year.

The absence of the two above mentioned regulars freed up some at-bats for Alejandro de Aza, a hopeful backup outfielder, and Lastings Milledge, a nearly-completely washed out prospect. He's unlikely to break camp with the Sox, and after failed tries with the Mets, the Nationals, and the Pirates, this might be his last chance at big league-dom. The only other notable we saw was catcher of the future Tyler Flowers, who hit a big ninth inning home run.

The A's were as bad as the White Sox were good. Bobby Cramer was on the mound, a career minor leaguer who finally made the bigs last year and made a handful of decent starts. He currently sits about 8th on the Depth Chart of A's starters behind fifth-starter candidates Brandon McCarthy, Rich Harden, and Tyson Ross. In other words, he's not a viable rotation candidate in any sense of the term. So when it became apparent the game would turn into a blowout, the regulars were out of there pretty quick.

Of said regulars, only Daric Barton had a decent game with a modest 20 swp on the strength of 2 hits in his 2 PA. Nobody else in the lineup did anything remotely interesting. We saw two of the three candidates for the A's fourth outfielder spot (Conor Jackson (who's also eligible at first base) and Matt Carson... Ryan Sweeney was doing some side work in a batting cage somewhere). As for prospects, we caught a glimpse of slugger and natural first baseman Chris Carter trying his hand in left field. Potential outfield star Michael Taylor got a couple of at bats. And glasses-wearing shortstop prospect Eric Sogard showed up in the field.

If there was one glimmer of hope for the A's in this whole affair, it would be that former starter Josh Outman threw 3 1/3 good innings in relief. If the prize of the Joe Blanton trade can prove again that he's decent starting material, the A's could have one of the deepest staff in the majors.

Well, that's pretty much it. No performances that solidified a spot on the roster, no one played themselves out of a chance to break camp with the team. A by-the-book blowout. However, the excitement of watching and writing about baseball after a long winter will give me the strength and motivation to continue with these stories!

Fear and Loathing at Spring Training '11, Chapter 1: Stories of the Game and Position Battles

A lot sure happens in the course of Spring Training. Teams play a lot of "meaningless" games as far as the standings are concerned, but those games certainly have meaning to the players, some of whom are playing to earn their spot on the team, or fighting for the privilege of playing another year in the majors. There are a lot of stories to keep track of, even over the course of just a handful of games. And these stories are even harder to keep track of without a computer with Internet capability and a full-powered O.S.

That was my situation when I visited Arizona for a long weekend at the Cactus League of Spring Training Baseball. My computer had died the night before departure, so I wasn't able to live-blog my adventures as I planned. My backup plan is to retroactively post-date the stories in as timely a fashion as I can muster while operating without a working computer to call my own.

These stories will focus on the Baseball matters of our trip: which games we saw, the outcome, who played in them, how they played, and what the game means for each team and each player in the context of the upcoming season. These stories will hopefully be both informative and entertaining. They'll contain a lot of information, but hopefully it's information you'll enjoy reading about. I hope that because it's information I enjoy writing about. When those two things mesh up, it leads to more viewers of the blog.

The first game occurred on the evening of Friday, 3/18. My colleague and I had just finished the drive into the sun from Los Angeles to Phoenix, and we were hurtin' for some Baseball. Apparently all the interesting afternoon games (at 1pm) were already sold out, so we headed to Camelback Ranch in Glendale (Spring home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox) to 1) buy tickets to the 4pm White Sox home game against the Oakland Athletics and 2) watch the Dodgers minor leaguers practice beforehand.

The minor league practice fields were little better equipped than a pretty basic high school or college setup. Not even a full complement of bleachers - the one set of risers were occupied by other High Class A ballers leisurely watching the current game against a Texas Rangers minor league squad. Among the sea of unrecognizability, we did happen to run into a current Dodgers major league starter (Ted Lilly) doing some side work (he allowed 6 hits, including a 2-run homer), and a past/present/immortal Dodgers great (Tommy Lasorda) watching said starter do his thing.

By the time we wandered over to the main stadium, the A's were warming up and signing autographs. I didn't want to offer up my A's cap to the cause, so I had the team members I could catch up with sign on the team's page of the 2011 Hardball Times Annual. The names of some of  the players escape me now, but I think I live-tweeted them at some point.

After the autograph sesh, that's when the game started up. And that's where this intro ends. Tune in later for the technical stuff.


NEXT TIME:


Chapter 2: OAK @ CHW: 3/18/11!!!

30 Prospective Lineups in 30 Days

With Spring Training in full swing, veterans and youngsters alike are working out the kinks that come from  long and lonely off-season, prospects are getting their first AB's against big league pitchers, and marginal talents are fighting for roster spots. As more and more key questions become answered by the application of logical thought and analysis based on each player's spring performance, General Managers across the league are getting ready to formulate their rosters for the start of the season. And in response, our favorite sources of baseball information are getting ready to publish prospective lineups.

I've written before in this space how much I enjoy the art of prospective lineups, especially where pitching rotations are concerned. After spending months during the season watching the players and observing their performances, then spending months over the off-season analyzing their stats, it's nice to see how those players will fit into next year's teams.

This year, I'm planning on going all-out. As soon as Sports Illustrated's Baseball Preview issue comes out, I will buy it and begin this new project: I will spend one day per team listing and analyzing all 30 projected lineups. The list will include 2010 statistics (in swp form, of course) and major additions from last year. I will also cross-reference these lineups with the depth charts offered by two of the most reliable sources of baseball info online: ESPN.com and MLB.com (the depth charts will be retroactive to the publication date of SI's issue).

This project will not only keep me occupied, but will leave me (and any readers) more prepared to watch and enjoy the upcoming season by providing a wealth of useful information (even if it takes a whole month of the season to complete...).

Despite how excited I am for this project, I won't be able to commence work on it for a while. For one thing, the SI preview issue isn't slated to hit shelves for a couple more weeks. And on top of that, I still have plenty of baseball-related issues to focus on this very weekend. There's my fantasy draft, which I may actually have to leave to the computer this year... because it takes place when I will be bodily attending SPRING TRAINING at the Cactus League in Arizona! I don't know if our grueling schedule of 2 games per day will allow me time for sitting in front of the computer, agonizing over each pick, but there's always a chance, if there's nothing interesting going on Sunday morning, and the hotel has free WiFi that I'll be able to be present for the proceedings.

Either way, there's a lot of baseball going on, with the promise of more baseball to come. And everybody had better darn well get ready for a whole crapload of baseball!

Competing Fantasy Metrics and the Perfect Fantasy Team

As you may know, if you are even at all aware of Major League Baseball, Fantasy season is coming up. Every devoted fantasy player takes some steps to prepare their team for the next season, and one of those steps, for me, is studying lists of fantasy rankings.

My travels over the Internet have brought me within striking distance of two competing ranking systems: that used by MLB.com and that used by ESPN.com. We know that each of these two sites must use different metrics to determine the value of the same players, for the simple fact that their lists are different. But how different are they, exactly, on the surface?

For this post, I've compiled two fantasy baseball lineups - one for each ranking system. Each lineup consists of the highest-ranked players in each position, according to each system. Looking at these two lineups side by side, you might be surprised at the results. Then again, you might not be.

What we see is complete agreement on all 8 starting position players (yes, only 8... if your league includes a spot for a dedicated DH, you're doing something wrong). While the actual ranking numbers don't match up (except in Joe Mauer's case, which I'm sure is nothing more than coincidence), there's no doubt in either system's "mind" who the best player is at each position.

Same goes for 4 of the top 5 pitchers. And all 4 of the top closers. I guess whatever metric you use, evaluating which players will turn in impressive fantasy performances isn't hard to do. Now if only it were as easy to convince all those guys to play for my fantasy team...