Arrested Development: Stuck in Spring Training

I had a great time at Spring Training in Phoenix. It was great to see some preseason action and to be right next to the players and to be immersed in baseball action for a whole weekend. Then the following week, in Phoenix again, I enjoyed the exhibition game that took me into a new Major League ballpark. But as fun as it was watching the D-Backs beat up on a team from the Mexican League, it's now the first week of April, and I'm ready for some regular season action. The Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview is finally out, and I'm ready for the games to count.

So when my latest travels took me to south Florida and the cab driver said we were close to where the Marlins played, I got extra excited. Could this be two new stadiums for me in as many weeks? We were on a tight schedule, so I had the cabbie swing by the stadium, just to pay my respects. As it turns out, it was where the Marlins play... but only during the Spring. That's right, we were actually close to Roger Dean Stadium, the facility shared by the Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals. Still cool to see the outside of the facility, but again it's not exactly Major League grade. No matter where I turn, it's back to Spring Training!

Other occurrences might signal that I'm not quite ready - emotionally and spiritually - for the season to start. Remember that big "30 Projected Lineups in 30 Days" project that was due to start as soon as the SI baseball preview came out? Well, I picked up the preview issue this Monday, and I have some not insignificant issues with it. First of all, there's that cover story about the Phillies' rotation. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally enamored of the Phillies' rotation, and I think it's cool that Roy Halladay is on the cover two years in a row. But who's idea was it to give them all dumb superhero names and contrived origin stories? I've read Gary Smith's work before, and enjoyed it very much, but Tunnelman? Loose Laser? I couldn't get through all six densely packed pages of it....

Then there's the projected lineups, of which SI is the gold standard, in my opinion. Looking forward to these 30 lists is basically what gets me through the off-season. (Well, that and friends, family, loved ones, and Arkham Asylum.) This year's lineups are well-organized (although they've replaced the one-page story on each team with a broad, sweeping article about each division) and accurate (that's what happens when the issue is released a few days after the start of the season), but I'm a little confused with some of the personnel decisions on who to include.

Many teams are slated to begin the year with one or several key starters on the disabled list for one reason or another. Whether it's Chase Utley's tendinitis or Matt Holliday's appendectomy, some players don't enter the year 100%. I'm confused, though, how SI decides whether to leave the injured player in the projected lineups or remove them in favor of a replacement. In the Sporting News' preview issue, players expected to start the season on the DL were marked with an asterisk. No such luck for SI. Here are some of the contradictions I've found:


INJURED, BUT IN LINEUP

Aforementioned Phillies 2B Chase Utley (knee tendinitis) and RF Domonic Howard (broken hand) still show up in the issue.

Brewers SP Zack Greinke injured his ribs playing basketball.

Athletics CL Andrew Bailey strained his forearm during Spring Training.

Indians CF Grady Sizemore is having knee surgery and is always a question mark to stay healthy.

Dodgers 3B Casey Blake started the season on the DL for a back strain, but he was just activated today.

As stated above, Matt Holliday is having his appendix removed.

Mets LF Jason Bay is out with a muscle strain, Astros SS Clint Barmes broke his left hand, and White Sox DH Adam Dunn is also having his appendix out, but those injuries/procedures occurred after press time.


INJURED, NOT IN LINEUP

Cardinals ace SP Adam Wainwright underwent Tommy John surgery and isn't in the magazine, although he doesn't project to play at all in 2011.

Mets ace SP Johan Santana doesn't show up either although he's only on the 15 day DL. (UPDATE: Looks like he's actually having another left shoulder surgery and is out indefinitely. Yikes...)

Blue Jays SP Brandon Morrow is replaced in the mag's rotation by Jo-Jo Reyes, although the projected starter is only out with a forearm strain (see Andrew Bailey).

Tigers veteran 2B Carlos Guillen is out  and replaced in the lineup by Will Rhymes. To name another washed up veteran, Royals C Jason Kendall won't start the season, and is replaced by new acquisition Matt Treanor.

Rangers playoff-worth SP Tommy Hunter has a strained groin and should pitch for most of the season, and yet erstwhile RP Alexi Ogando has his spot in the rotation.

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Due to the inconsistencies in this year's issue, it might be a while before I can start my project, if I don't abandon it altogether in favor of more flexible, far-reaching, and altogether shorter endeavors. One will definitely be an All-Acquired team for each league (followed by a piece about how that team plays on MLB 11: The Show, which I've been itching to buy ever since I learned it came out almost a month ago...) and something chronicling the game's top 50 prospects.

Until then, the silver lining is that my flight back to LA has seat-back TVs, so I'll be able to catch most of the Twins/Yankees game on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball. Maybe that will be enough to launch me into the throes of regular season awesomeness.

More Baseball...

...Is on TV today! Don't you just love this time of year, when everyone is so excited about the baseball season starting that there are random games on TV all the time? I personally wish it was like that all the time; and with MLB Network in full swing, I don't see why it shouldn't be the case.

Today's evening broadcast featured the contest between the AL Champion Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox, the team that most pundits agree had the most productive off-season. It was 1-0, on the strength of an Ian Kinsler homer (his second to lead off the game in as many games), but Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz quickly made it 2-1 on the strength of a bloop and a blast, respectively.

Watching Colby Lewis throw his 87 MPH fastball and 80 MPH curve/slider combo, I'm wondering if he'll have any trouble repeating his very effective '010 comeback season. He came back to the states last year, fully rejuvenated by a full year of domination in Japan, and he must have brought some of that confidence with him to the mound. I know he just finished pitching in a grueling post-season, but will the pressures of playing back in the majors full-time balance out his competitive fire, and expose his weakish stuff? We'll see.

Oh, I also noticed that Mitch Moreland is up at first today for the Rangers. Ahh, maybe there's going to be a platoon setup going on here - Napoli will play 1B against lefties while Moreland will man first sack when a righty's on the mound. Factor in some extensive backup for Yorvit Torrealba behind the plate, and you've got a situation where Napoli gets some significant at-bats. Cuz, seeing as he's on your team, you might as well let him contribute all he can.

But, what's this!? We've switched over to the Orioles Rays game for Manny's at-bat. Wow, a pitcher's duel here, 0-0 in the 7th. Chris Tillman pitched a gem for the birds, but he surrendered the ball to a reliever after his 6 innings. Aaaand, now that B.J. Upton just singled up the middle, the Orioles are no longer pitching a team no-hitter. Can you believe it? That was the first Rays hit of the game, and it came with two outs in the 7th inning.

It's strange that manager Buck Showalter opted to make it a "team no-hitter" rather than give his youngster who just barely made the team a chance at history. Tillman is only 23, smack in the middle of those formative years I keep talking about, so his workload is being closely monitored. And although he had logged a very manageable amount of innings in his past career, they opted to pull him at 6 innings and 101 pitches - right at the exact point where Craig Wright says it's foolish to set a fixed pitch count limit.

Oh well, I hope Tillman rewards the Orioles' care by having his arm hold up for years and years without injury. Or rather I hope chance rewards the Orioles' care by not bestowing injuries on Chris Tillman's arm.

But what's this? The hitters at the top of the Rangers order are mounting a comeback with a double by Kinsler and a triple by new 2-place hitter Elvis Andrus. I like the Rangers' choice to go with power at the top of the order and speed/contact as number 2. Then the rest of the lineup can mash it with the best of them. Again, it all comes down to the pitching.

I'm going to try, this year, to write more about the games, live and televised, I happen to catch, with a special emphasis on the A's, Dodgers, and players on my fantasy team. I think this will make the whole blog thing more manageable than trying to cover everything that happens in the sport - I don't have the time or the manpower for that task. Knowing about everything that happens in the sport - my unstated goal - will hopefully give some more meaning to my coverage, limited though it may be.

But if the plan is to report on what you watch, than the road to moderation leads through knowing when to stop watching. So I'm going to give the blog and post length a rest before the Red Sox somehow manage to put a rally together and take back the lead...

The A's First Game of the Season...

...And it's on TV, no less! I didn't catch the beginning - I was en route from the airport when I read a tweet about Josh Willingham hitting a homer in his first at-bat as an Athletic (the first player to accomplish that feat since Frank Thomas in 2006, according to @OaklandAs). Thus I missed some first inning fireworks, just like I did in the Diamondbacks exhibition game a few nights ago. But unlike the Diamondbacks game, there weren't any more fireworks for me to see.

Those two runs that came on the Willingham homer were the only two the A's would score all night. Fortunately, though, A's starter Trevor Cahill allowed fewer runs than that (his only ER came on a bases-loaded walk)... but unfortunately, he only lasted 4.2 innings. However, In un-typical Cahill fashion, he finally lived up to his name and struck out 8 batters in that span. But after an A's bullpen meltdown - led by former elite lefty Craig Breslow - and a King Felix Hernandez complete game effort, the Athletics extend their opening day losing streak to 7 games.

I don't particularly agree with Manager Bob Geren's style of handling the A's pitchers in last night's loss - but then again I haven't agreed with much Geren has done since his tenure as skipper. First, pulling Cahill with a close lead after 105 pitches in the 5th. As I wrote about before, I am now a full convert to Craig Wright's school of handling young pitchers, which states you should limit their workloads during their formative years (age 18-24). But he measures workloads in innings pitched per year and batters faced per start - nowhere does he condone the use of a fixed pitch count per game. And, if his system is followed correctly, an occasional start consisting of 120 - 140 pitches shouldn't be uncommon, even for a youngster like Cahill.

Trevor Cahill enters the 2011 season just having turned 23. Here's how his formative years have stacked up so far (including minors and majors):

2006 (age 18): 9 IP
2007 (age 19): 105.1 IP
2008 (age 20): 124.1 IP
2009 (age 21): 178.2 IP
2010 (age 22): 205.1 IP

Not overworked by any means - he's averaging 124.1 innings over his formative years so far. Especially compared to former young flameout Frank Tanana (mentioned in Wright's article in the Hardball Times Annual), who averaged 238.2 innings in his age 18-24 seasons. Given his relatively stable progression through his young years, why don't you let the kid pitch a little deeper into his first opening day start?

Then, Geren relieved Cahill with lanky lefty Jerry Blevins (whose signature rests proudly in that same Hardball Times Annual), who pitched to two batters before he was lifted from the game for... another lefty, Craig Breslow. If you read the box score, you'll see Breslow got saddled with the BS and the L, and he deserved them both. But, to be fair, he wasn't put in a position where he could thrive. Breslow's what I could classify as a "lefty setup man." He's good enough to pitch to lefties and righties (i.e. not a LOOGY), so he can work a whole inning. Plus, he's experienced and gritty enough to pitch in high leverage situations. And while I'm fully in support of stretching relief pitchers in terms of innings pitched, why would you replace Blevins, who profiles as more of a "long reliever," with Breslow, a short reliever, and then expect the short reliever to pitch multiple innings. It's the little things and arbitrary classifications of bullpen roles that win and lose ball games.

Well, at least my Fantasy team is off to a good start, with King Felix's performance. Now it's time to finally throw out my bad luck A's batting practice jersey, and turn my head forward to the next 161 games.

Projected Lineups in Action

The other day, while traveling, I got my first taste of projected lineups for the 2011 season. With the Sports Illustrated baseball preview not yet on the shelves and the ESPN Magazine preview issue waiting for me at home, I decided to take a new, unexplored route: The Sporting News.

There were two baseball-related issues on the shelves, so I got them both: one was the weekly issue, including a two-page spread for each division, and the other was a fantasy baseball yearbook. The former is up to date, the latter was published before the new year, thus before many of the lineup-shaping trades occurred. It's interesting to see the two different takes and how things have changed, but it's obvious which one is more informative.

With the Phillies/Astros game on TV right now, I have the chance to see how the projections measure up against reality. Cuz in baseball, the lineup is a team's lifeblood, and it's important to see how good the pundits are at predicting reality.

For the Astros, only one notable change, and that's due to injury. Former Rockies prospect Clint Barmes was replaced in the field at SS and at the 2-hole in the lineup by Angel Sanchez, who was acquired last year and actually played the lion's share of time at shortstop for the 'Stros. Only one other change in the batting order: veteran 2B/super utility Bill Hall hits 5th, in front of young 3B Chris Johnson, but otherwise it was a pretty good job by the folks at TSN.

The big change for the Phillies was actually predicted by TSN, but not reflected on the page. They list 2B Chase Utley as the 3rd place hitter, but they amend that choice with an asterisk, denoting that he was expected to start the season on the DL, this time with knee troubles. This move bumps Shane Victorino to leadoff and Jimmy Rollins to 3rd place. Wilson Valdez fills in at 2B and bats 8th.

I don't know why TSN assumed Ben Francisco (filling in for injured prospect Domonic Howard in RF) would hit 5th behind Ryan Howard instead of the actual choice of LF Raul Ibanez. Probably because they thought splitting up the LH batters was important enough to put the weaker foot forward. In any case, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel decided to go with the more traditional choice.


ALSO, this just in from the crawl at the bottom of ESPN: Mike Napoli will start at 1B for the Rangers. A fantasy darling, what with the ability to post power numbers at catcher, but also with first base eligibility, Napoli was acquired over the off-season from the Angels, by way of the Blue Jays. I always thought he would be a better choice than Mitch Moreland, and now I've been somewhat vindicated. We'll see how he hits against Jon Lester and the Red Sox.

Wow, you guys, aren't lineups fun!?

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...