Thoughts About Baseball 2012 Schedule

Pop quiz, astrology buff: If your birthday falls on Opening Day of the baseball season, what's your astrological sign?  Give up?  It's Aries, the Ram, which is coincidentally (or not) also the first astrological sign of the Zodiac.  That means that roughly half the MLB players on the "Aries Rams" Fantasy Roster (so to speak) should have celebrated their birthday since the start of the season.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could analyze their statistical performances to compare with last year's to determine their fantasy value? Well, we can, but more on that later.

Last night, I watched MLB Network's broadcast of the Sox Rivalry: the Red variety from Boston roundly trounced the White variety from the south side of Chicago 10-3.  This game is notable because it features Phil Humber (whose name everyone will soon know to pronounce with a silent "H") in his first start after pitching a no-hitter last week.  It's also notable because this game happened concurrently to the Red Sox' announcement that Carl Crawford has a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow and will be shut down for at least 3 months.

This is bad news for the Red Sox, who recently tried to bolster their outfield with a trade for struggling Cubs CF Marlon Byrd.  Less practically, it's bad news for fantasy owners who were counting on 2012's 59th ranked player for a bounceback year.  And altogether fantastically, it's bad news for the purely theoretical Leo Lions, for whom Crawford represents the third-highest ranked player on the team (behind Crawford's teammate Dustin Pedroia and their Yankee rival Alex Rodriguez).

The only reason I'm paying such close attention to this game is, quite frankly, that it was on TV.  While this might seem an arbitrary reason to care about a particular matchup on a particular day, I had the idea that using the tried and tested method of following the broadcast schedule might be a good way to further narrow down the scope of this blog, since it's naive to think an amateur enthusiast such as myself could adequately cover the enitrety of the sport I love so well.

I say "further" narrow the scope, because I've recently performed some soul-searching and determined that of all 30 major league teams, I'm only really personally connected (through friends and relatives and whatnot) to about half of them.  And it's to those 15 teams I will limit my in-depth analysis, of which a correspondingly in-depth post will occur roughly once weekly.  To those 15 - the identities of which will be revealed during their special week - add another 6, representing the astrological signs that celebrate their birthdays during the baseball season (or post-season), and I've got myself a nice little schedule to keep myself occupied through the rest of the season.

This week's team will be the aforementioned Aries Rams, who have their very own fantasy baseball team this year.  Actually, this "week" (week ending 4/28) is retroactive to the week we're currently in, which encompasses the week after Aries transitioned into Taurus.  Expect this post sometime over the weekend.

Next week's team was selected in conjunction with some programming (television and cultural) that is taking place at the end of this week.  For those of you not up on your snacking news, Wednesday 4/26 was National Pretzel Day!  For those of you who can't see which team this is pointing to, tonight's episode of Undercover Boss (CBS, 8pm) features the CEO of Philly Pretzel Factory going undercover in his regional snack shop.  Then on Saturday 4/28, MLB Network is broadcasting a game featuring (you guessed it) the Philadelphia Phillies!

So that's what's coming up next week, for those of who could care less about the fantasy baseball ramifications of different players' astrological signs.  But if you want to follow me down the rabbit hole of the stars, stay tuned for my next post!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: 4/21/12

The week-ending Saturday 4/21 featured the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park in Boston, and also the opening of All-Star Voting (on Friday 4/20).  Seems a little early to me, considering the season started less than a month ago, even taking into account the early start in Japan.  I know the All-Star Game is essentially a popularity contest, but popularity among athletes has a tendency to rise and fall with their statistical performance, and I think you need a little more time than 3+ weeks to judge who deserves to be honored with a midsummer trip to Kansas City to represent their teams/leagues.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: 4/15/12

This cake, based on the Miami Marlins' new park, features a working roof and 3,600 Swarovski crystals making up the logo.  This is the same team (albeit with a new name) that came under a lot of flack a couple years ago when their leaked financial reports revealed that they weren't putting quite as much of their revenue-sharing dollars towards their team's payroll as the commissioner would have liked...

Relievers turned Starter

When compiling my 40-man roster project, I used ESPN.com's fantasy baseball positional eligibility as of opening day to sort the players.  I thought this would be a better estimation of the roles people would actually play on their teams during 2012 as opposed to just a summary of where they played in 2011.  But as I checked the eligibility requirements (which I admittedly should have done before embarking on this pursuit) I learned that those two factors will be one and the same until players have spent at least 10 days at their 2012 positions.  As of now, a player is eligible for any position at which he played at least 20 games in 2011.  Thus new position changes - Miguel Cabrera to 3B from 1B, Yonder Alonso to 1B from LF, Marco Scutaro to 2B from SS, etc. - have not yet taken effect.

But perhaps the most telling discrepancies I'm noticing now have to do with which reliever-eligible pitchers will be spending 2012 in the starting rotations.  Most fantasy leagues have several "P" spots, into which owners can slot either type of pitcher, so these changes generally shouldn't have too much impact on how people manage their teams.  But seeing as it will take these starters 10 starts (or roughly 50 days) to be properly recognized, I thought I'd give a shout to a pitching staff made of some of the more notable ones.

Neftali Feliz, TEX - After saving 72 games over the previous two regular seasons (plus 7 more in the playoffs during that span), he's going to have to work on commanding his secondary pitches.  As a closer he was basically fastball/slider, throwing his changeup only 2.6% of the time, but he's already started to reverse that trend: in his one start this year (a 7-inning scoreless gem) he pulled the string on 23% of his pitches.

Daniel Bard, BOS - Bard acted as a setup man for his previous three seasons, but a Boston pitching staff rife with injuries and uncertainty forced him to make the transition to the rotation at age 27.  He can reach 100mph, but to make it as a starter, you have to know how to pitch rather than just throw hard.  Bard was knocked around by Toronto in his first start of the year, but he might just be keeping with the slow starting tradition of his team.

Chris Sale, CHW - I think it was always assumed that Sale would end up in the White Sox rotation, but he was called on to cut his teeth in the bullpen last year.  According to scouting reports, the 6'6" lefty still pitches on adrenaline like a reliever rather than establishing all of his pitches early, but he's got a win in his first start this year and has a commanding presence on the mound.

Jeff Samardzija, CHC - Across the city of Chicago, another setup man who had a dominant season pitching in the 7th and the 8th innings last year will try to pitch into the 7th and 8th innings this year.  The Sports Illustrated scout who covers the Cubs this year thinks Samardzija's better suited for the bullpen, but if he can maintain the performance from his first two starts (both wins) for the rest of the season, he'll enjoy proving that scout wrong.

For the fifth starter spot, we have three guys who relieved primarily in the majors but who haven't had enough time to really establish themselves as relievers.  Felix Doubront will fill in as the Red Sox's fifth starter after starting 3 out of 23 games in his two-year major league career.  Hector Noesi, who came over to Seattle from the Yankees in the trade for Michael Pineda has 2 starts in 30 appearances in his only season last year.  Rookie Joel Carreno cracked the Blue Jays rotation after throwing 15.2 innings in relief last year, but he was primarily a starter in his 6 minor league seasons.

On the other side of the equation, Brett Myers of the Astros will make the transition from the team's number 1 starter to its closer this year, returning to the role he filled with the Phillies in 2007 when he compiled 21 saves, the only ones of his career.  A similar shift occurred in Texas's other team, where Alexi Ogando moves back to the bullpen to join Mike Adams in setting up Joe Nathan, after spending 2011 as a pretty effective starter.

Opening Day Rosters

A Major League Roster is a living, breathing thing.  Roles are constantly shifting, players are being moved between the active roster, the disabled list, and the minor leagues.  With these changes happening daily across all 30 teams, only the stalwart folks in the Commissioner's Office (and to a lesser extent the hard workers at MLB Advanced Media, L.P.) can truly keep up with it all.

But a team's Opening Day Roster has an air of somewhat more permanence to it.  It serves as a snapshot that encapsulates all the tireless work put in by the front offices of each team during the winter months to get their squads ready for the long-awaited and much-heralded start of the season.  These are the rosters that are approximated in videogames, fantasy baseball projections, and pre-season predictions everywhere. Which is why I've spent the better part of the last week analyzing each team's roster, as it appeared on each team's official website as of 4/6/12 (the day after each team had played at least one game).

I offer here an example of all the hard work I did (although I didn't consider it work) in the form of a 40-man roster especially close to my heart, that of the Oakland Athletics.  The roster first, then some explanation to follow:

First, let's go through the columns.  Rank is from MLB.com's Fantasy Baseball page, also from 4/6.  Prospect (the name is cut off to save room) refers to MLB.com's Prospect Watch page, captured slightly earlier than 4/6, but these numbers are less mutable.  Player's positions are listed based on their fantasy eligibility according to ESPN.com's system.  (In the cases where a batter has eligibility for multiple positions, the one at which the player logged more innings is listed.  Any pitcher with starter eligibility is listed as such.)

If the name in the Team column is in italics, the player didn't have enough at bats (100) or innings pitched (20.0) to qualify for relevance.  SWP stands for Small World Points, named for the now-defunct site where I first saw this system implemented, nearly 10 years ago.  This system of fantasy scoring reduces each player's performance to a single number taking into account a broad range of statistical categories, and then calculates the player's average point output per game (SWP/G).

The next three columns are the same as the previous three except with statistics from the minor leagues (all levels) or foreign leagues (I think Japan and Cuba are the only ones that come into play here).  The most informative thing to do with this column is to compare a player's minor league points per game with their major league points per game to see how likely they are to maintain that level of performance in the majors.

Now a word about the color-coding system.  Any player whose position column is highlighted green is listed as a rookie.  According to MLB's 2012 Prospect Watch,

To qualify for rookie status, a player must not have exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues, or accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the 25-player limit period, excluding time on the disabled list or in military service.

This column shows an approximation, because while AB and IP is easy enough to figure out, I don't feel the need to scrub through every young player's game log and transaction history.  If a player's name is highlighted in yellow, that player was acquired during the off-season.  For a deeper look into these players, please see my previous two posts.

A player's Bat/Throw column indicates his status on the various roster types.  No fill means the player is on the active roster, aka 25-man roster.  These are the players who suit up every day and who you can expect to see in games.  A blue highlight means the player is on the expanded roster and can be called up to the majors at any time.  (Each major leaguer has three "option years" during which they can be sent up and down between the minors and the active roster without going through waivers, where they can be claimed by any of the other 30 clubs.)

A red highlight means that the player is on the 15-day disabled list.  These players remain on the 40-man roster, but are ineligible to play until they've served their time and gotten all healed.  An orange highlight indicates a player on the 60-day disabled list, which means they are not on the 40-man roster.  Last but not least, if a player's swp column is shaded gray, that player missed all of 2011 and the stats are from 2010.

The A's have a lot of yellow on their 2012 roster - trading away all your highest profile talent should net a fair amount in return, after all.  Add to that a couple uncharacteristic free agent signings (not to mention re-signings, which don't have a color associated with them) and you've got a team that looks very different from its 2011 version.  Looking at the blue-highlighted players, it's interesting to see that 2 of the A's top 5 starting pitchers (both included on MLB's list of top 100 prospects) aren't on the active roster.  Billy Beane is subsisting on four starters for as long as humanly possible before deciding which top prospect to officially anoint with a rotation spot.

In the What a Difference a Week Makes category, Daric Barton has already been reinstated from the DL and Brandon Allen has been designated for assignment, all but assuring that the main prize in last year's trade of Brad Ziegler will be plucked off the waiver wire by some other team willing to take a shot on a promising slugger whose best seasons came in the minors.  Also, get ready to see Joey Devine transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day DL following the recent announcement that he will be undergoing his second Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery in four years.  This will put the A's in uncontested second place for most uses of the 60-day DL behind only the Boston Red Sox with a whopping five players out for two months or more.

So now you all know what I've been doing with my time during the start of the season.  You might see some rosters for select other teams up here, depending on how newsworthy these next few weeks prove.  But now that I've learned how to make ESPN's fantasy baseball system compute real-time swp - which is so much easier than keeping track of 20 different statistical categories - there's a whole new world of analytics open to me in 2012.

NL All-Acquired Team 2012

To pick off where I left off, the sum total of the MLB.com fantasy rankings of the NL All-Acquired team's projected lineup comes out to 3078.  That's nearly 460 points lower (i.e. better) than the AL team, despite the fact that the AL gained the number 2 ranked player overall.  In examining this roster, it'll be fun to keep in mind whether a team built around a few great players is better poised to win than a more well-rounded club.

The best impact bat on this squad is easily Jose Reyes, who signed as a free agent with the new look Miami Marlins.  He is set to score a lot of runs batting atop a lineup that also features Hanley Ramirez and Giancarlo Stanton.  Behind him in my projected lineup are two of Reyes's former teammates with the Mets: Angel Pagan and Carlos Beltran, in CF and RF respectively.  Pagan will hit leadoff for the Giants, but is ideally suited to bat second since he makes a lot of contact (he puts 78% of balls in play, nearly 10 points higher than the MLB average) and he won't be blocked on the basepaths by the speedy Reyes.  Beltran is slated to hit second in the Cardinals lineup despite showing a resurgence of his power stroke last season - 11.2% of his hits went for extra bases - but I guess rookie manager Mike Matheny likes how Beltran's line drive swing fits in front of Holliday, Berkman, and Freese.

The next highest-ranking hitter is Brewers new cleanup hitter, Aramis Ramirez.  The Sports Illustrated scout thinks he's too far past his prime to protect Ryan Braun in the lineup... but if you've got enough testosterone in your system, who needs protection?  The versatile Michael Cuddyer will play 1B for this team, even though he'll start in RF for the Rockies.  the next best 1B on the roster - Yonder Alonso, the NL West's "Rookie to Watch" after being traded to the Padres from the Reds - is ranked almost 100 places lower.  Melky Cabrera will bat 6th, in the "second leadoff" spot, but Cuddyer's former teammate and new division-mate Jason Kubel will be ready to step in if the Melk Man's uncharacteristically strong 2011 season turns out to be a fluke.  A pair of Cuddyer's new teammates (and former teammates on the Moneyball-era A's) Marco Scutaro and Ramon Hernandez round out the lineup.

The top pitcher on this roster was the main prize the Reds got for trading Alonso: Mat Latos.  He has shown good stuff in San Diego, but who knows how the transition from the league's most extreme pitcher's park to one that strongly favors hitters will impact his production.  The next two hurlers on the staff were supposed to be members of the A's Big Three - and indeed they suffered much the same fate as their predecessors.  Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez both made All-Star teams playing in Oakland, but at least they netted Billy Beane three rotation-ready starters and a top catching prospect in trades.  It's interesting that 2 of the top 5 starters on the NL team came from the A's, and 3 of the top 10 starters on the AL team came to the A's.

A.J. Burnett would have made the starting rotation if he hadn't taken a foul bunt off his eye early in camp.  Instead his new teammate on the Pirates, Erik Bedard, will take his place.  Travis Wood is ranked fairly high for someone who was just reassigned to minor league camp - I think a professional veteran lefty like Mark Buehrle would contribute more to this staff.  The bullpen is a big strength for this club with Jonathan Papelbon moving 300 miles down the I-84 from Boston to Philadelphia, and Heath Bell moving 2,600 miles east on the I-10 from San Diego to Miami.  Their average rank of 77 is a big reason why the NL club has supremacy in the rankings: the AL's two relief pitchers average out to 119.

So there you have it: All-Acquired teams for each league in 2012.  I didn't purchase the newest version of MLB: The Show, so I can't set up a simulation like I did last year.  But it will be interesting to keep these depth charts in mind as the season progresses to see how the top players are adapting to their new surroundings.

AL All-Acquired Team 2012

With the end of another off-season comes the opportunity to evaluate another off-season.  And I'd like to start by looking at some of the best players who will be suiting up for different teams next season.  So with the help of MLB.com's fantasy player rankings and the Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview issue here is a graphical representation of the AL All-Acquired Team for 2012.

The top-ranked player to be moved (in fact, the second-top-ranked player anywhere, according to MLB.com) is Albert Pujols, who became the Angels' new first baseman.  He's predicted to be the AL West's MVP by SI, even though he had career lows in 3 of the 4 major rate stats last year.  The scout that covers the Angels in the magazine seems to think signing Pujols assures them a spot in the playoffs, even giving them the chance to "win a World Series or two."  His new teammate C.J. Wilson is the third highest-ranked player on this roster at 51.  The left-handed converted closer was the Rangers' ace last season, but he'll pitch third in a strong Angels rotation led by Jered Weaver and Dan Haren.  (The SI scout pegs Wilson as the 4th best pitcher on the team, but I can't imagine either Ervin Santana or Jordan Walden ranked above him.)

The player ranked between the two best newest Angels will be the AL's DH: Prince Fielder (the AL Central's projected MVP).  Acquired by the Tigers when it became apparent that Victor Martinez would miss the whole season, he's primed to continue his upward trend hitting behind Miguel Cabrera, and also based on how good his bat speed has looked this spring.  Another DH candidate is the AL West's "Rookie to Watch" Jesus Montero.  Ideally Montero would catch for this squad, cuz he has no other spot in the lineup, but he apparently has big problems with his footwork behind the plate.  The AL's next-best hitter, 1B Carlos Pena, who returns to the Rays, also has no spot in the lineup, and will have to be content with sitting at third on the depth chart.

The AL's next-best pitcher was the centerpiece of the Montero trade, sophomore Michael Pineda.  For the sake of my fantasy team, I'm hoping he'll pick up where his dominant rookie campaign left off, but there's doubts as to whether his 260 lb. frame and inconsistent delivery can support his 96 mph fastball and nasty breaking ball.  His new teammate, Hiroki Kuroda, joins him in this All-Acquired rotation.  According to SI's scout, Kuroda has 5 strong pitches: a fastball at 92-93, a good hard cutter, a split, a curve, and a slider - in other words, if you're pitching as him in a PS3 videogame, you'd better be prepared to get familiar with the R1 button.

Between that set of teammates in the rotation is Japanese import - and the AL West's "Star on the Rise" - Rangers new ace Yu Darvish.  He's 6'5" and 215, but he throws an assortment of pitches in addition to throwing hard.  The guy who should be closing out a fair amount of victories for Darvish, Joe Nathan, joins him in this pitching staff, but the former Twin will play second fiddle in the bullpen to former Athletic Andrew Bailey.  The SI scout predicts that Bailey and new setup man Mark Melancon will do a good job replacing Jonathan Papelbon and Daniel Bard (who moves to the rotation) for the Red Sox, but you can never be sure how playing in Boston's pressure-cooker of an environment will affect any player's performance.  Their third closer in the bullpen will be Sergio Santos, the second-year closer who moved from the White Sox to the Blue Jays, and who will hopefully rack up a few saves for my fantasy team.

The AL's entire starting outfield is linked to the Athletics in one way or another.  Josh Willingham signed with the Twins after proving he can hit a lot of home runs in the pitcher friendly Oakland Coliseum in 2011.  The A's traded with the Rockies for Seth Smith and signed Yoenis Cespedes out of Cuba (who has already contributed to the A's first win (and my first Fantasy home run) a couple days ago in Japan).  Guys like Jamey Carroll and Nick Punto have a chance to spend a lot of time all over this infield, especially given that their starting 3B is slated to spend 2012 DH'ing with the Orioles (although I have a feeling he might spend some significant time at the hot corner due to Mark Reynolds's shaky defense).

Overall, the rankings of the entire projected lineup as it might appear in the pages of SI's preview issue (9 position players including DH, 2 bench, 5 starting pitchers, and 2 relief pitchers) add up to 3537.  Lower numbers are better, since we're dealing with rankings, but I'll have no idea how this number compares to the NL team until I crunch some more numbers.  Until then, try to enjoy the next 4 baseball-less days that we have to endure after we got our first brief, sweet taste of MLB 2012.

Astrology Baseball: Earth Signs Bracket

Here it is, the final bracket!  If you recall the intro post, you'll know that this bracket contains the strongest team in the skies - the very last team on the list.  It's always good to save the best for last...

Capricorn Goats

Although Capricorn has the second-fewest points of all the teams, those points are so top-heavy that they actually have one of the stronger lineups we've seen.  Albert Pujols can anchor any offense, Michael Bourn is sure to score a lot of runs batting in front of him, and he's got some protection in his real-life former teammate Matt Holliday and power/speed threat Jeff Francoeur.  Victor Martinez would have solidified the lineup if he weren't in line to miss all of 2012, but Hanley Ramirez could easily replace that production if he can mount a successful bounceback season.  Cole Hamels leads a pitching staff that also includes Red Sox ace Jon Lester, Astros ace Wandy Rodriguez, Angels stalwart Ervin Santana, and young phenom Michael Pineda.  Francisco Rodriguez still presumably has talent to close games, despite the fact that he'll be spending 2012 racking up holds rather than saves.

Taurus Bulls

At first glance, you would think Taurus's strength is their pitching, what with Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett, and Chris Carpenter filling the 1-2-3 spots in the rotation.  But when you look at a lineup that includes Adrian Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, Josh Hamilton, Carlos Beltran, and Jayson Werth, you may be forced to change your tune.  After bounceback candidate Joakim Soria, the bullpen features a couple of former closers: Neftali Feliz, who's moving to the rotation, and Francisco Cordero, who will be setting up for the Blue Jays, despite his strong 2011.  They've also got a couple of breakout candidates in Matt Wieters and David Freese, and a very talented super-utility type in Emilio Bonifacio.  I'll cap off this Taurus profile with Weird Al's faux-roscope from his song "Your Horoscope For Today"

Taurus: You will never find true happiness - whatcha gonna do, cry about it?
The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.

Virgo Maidens

It's no surprise that the sign with the most players also has the most total points scored.  Their outfield is absolutely sick, with two MVP runners-up in Matt Kemp and Jacoby Ellsbury, and Justin Upton who finished 4th in the NL voting.  They've also got a fair amount of power and speed in their 4th and 5th outfielders Chris Young and Brett Gardner.  1B Joey Votto could go toe-to-toe with any of the other three All-Star first basemen in the bracket, and having Gaby Sanchez backing him up isn't too shabby at all.  The middle infield has two solid starters and two solid backups: Neil Walker and Rickie Weeks at 2B, and Elvis Andrus and Alexei Ramirez at SS.  Weaknesses do exist at C and 3B where Rod Barajas /Nick Hundley and Ryan Roberts are the best choices, but overall there's more than enough offense to go around.

Cliff Lee is the staff ace, which means each of the three Earth Bracket starting staffs are led by a Phillies pitcher.  Dan Haren could be an ace on most clubs and David Price started the All-Star game just one year ago.  Gio Gonzalez's presence means the rotation will have more lefties than righties - a rare advantage indeed.  They do have a slight weakness in the back-end of the bullpen with untested closer Ryan Madson, but he'll have plenty of support in lefties Antonio Bastardo and Sean Marshall, and Matt Capps, the Twins closer, will also be in the reliever mix.  To close out this esteemed project of mine, I once again leave you with what Weird Al has to say about the Virgo sign:

All Virgos are extremely friendly and intelligent - except for you.
Expect a big surprise today, when you wind up with your head impaled upon a stick.

Tape-Delay Blogging Spring Training: A's vs. Brewers

Obviously live-blogging is the gold standard of our business here, but sometimes circumstances conspire against us and we can't be present for the actual event. In this case, the circumstances of having to be at work all day and the tendency of Spring Training games to occur in the middle of the afternoon conspired to force me to watch the A's first televised game of the year from the safety and comfort of my DVR.  But no matter - watching the proceedings a few hours after they actually happened won't affect my ability to analyze what they might mean for the outlook on the A's regular season.

Top 1st Inning

Except, even if I had sat down with the MLB Network to watch the broadcast, I still wouldn't have been watching the game live.  When we started getting a feed of the game - 17 minutes past the scheduled broadcast time - I looked down at the lower crawl during Jemile Weeks's leadoff at-bat, and saw that the A's led the Brewers 1-0... in the bottom of the 5th inning!  Well, this isn't right... and what's more, I'll probably miss the end of the game due to the delay.  I know the the outcomes of Spring Training games aren't that important, but I'm gonna have to do something to avoid watching the game in the future.

Bottom 1st Inning

OK, I've obscured the crawl by stacking up all my videogames in front of the TV and leaning the box of my newly-acquired LEGO Batcave (the 2012 version - no they did not release the Lost Sets of 2006) in front of the screen.  And how funny is this: the brother of the A's leadoff hitter is now leading off for the Brewers!  Rickie Weeks recently missed a lot of time due to an ankle injury, which the announcers described as, "About as bad of a sprain as you can get without breaking the bone in your ankle."  Ouch.  I've had more than a few ankle sprains in my career, and I know how that feels.  What I don't need, though, is to SEE how it feels - so I have to duck for cover as we're shown brutal replay after replay.  I couldn't watch.  I felt like Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man: "WHY IS IT SPRAINED!? WHY IS IT SPRAINED WHY IS IT SPRAINED!!!?!??!?!"  I'm glad I didn't look.  Here's what I heard though:

"It looked bad, and it was bad."

Ouch.  But after Weeks the Elder gets on base, he's picked off, gets into a rundown, and is tagged out in a spectacular diving play by his younger brother.  Classic.

Top 2nd Inning

Manny did not appear wearing the
Green & Gold in this afternoon's game.

Naturally, neither Manny Ramirez nor Yoenis Cespedes are in the lineup.  We do get to see Chris Carter at first, who looks like he can hit.  He's hit in a lot in the minors, and he just cranked a double down the line, but overall he's still at least 3rd on the depth chart, dependent on Daric Barton's cortisone status.  Josh Donaldson however, who just struck out against Yovani Gallardo, dosen't look like he can hit.  Part of that is that he still has to adapt to being a third baseman as opposed to a catcher - now that he's the A's only hope at 3B after Scott Sizemore's barf-o-rific injury. INFIELD MELTDOWN!

Bottom 3rd Inning

But Tommy Milone (née Tom Milone, acquired from the Nationals in the deal for All-Star Gio Gonzalez) sure looks like he can pitch!  Just wrung up Rickie Weeks on a great inside pitch.  He's just gone three innings, and if he keeps it up at this pace, he'll be a lock for the rotation (not that he wasn't already, due to the A's trading away all their major league pitchers during the off-season).

Top 4th Inning

And Seth Smith looks like he can hit!  He just stroked a double, breaking up the monotony of the interview with Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez.  The former closer's eyes are as red as the devil's rear end... which he claims is due to wearing "orange contacts"... I'd like to see if he can make the Vampire-Setup-Man-look work.

Bottom 5th Inning

Well, here we are, bottom of the 5th, and sure enough the A's lead the Brewers 1-0.  Jemile Weeks has the only RBI in the game, once again outdoing his brother.  Another thing about listening to the Brewers broadcast is that it's hard to tell who's who on the A's, as the announcers usually focus on the players and storylines of the home team.

Top 6th Inning

Eric Sogard, sporting the regular, non-sports glasses, just got a nice hit, maybe instilling a backup hope at 3B for Donaldson (who hasn't looked good today, despite reaching on an error that extended the inning, allowing Sogard to hit).  A's pack on some more runs the cheap way...

Top 7th Inning

Watching the interview with former-prospect Mat Gamel was not as fun as watching Interview with the Vampire-Setup-Man.  I've seen people be camera-shy before, but I'd be worried that he might be a victim of sunstroke the way he was just seemingly unable to string a sentence together.  A man of few words should be able to hit though, so we'll see how he does taking over as the Brewers new first baseman.  Even though there's clearly no replacing Prince Fielder, the youngest player to hit 50 home runs.

Top 8th Inning

With the Milwaukee broadcast, you also get the announcers doing their best Michigan J. Frog impressions.  And here I was thinking I couldn't possibly find a more irritating announcer than Hawk Harrelson.

Top 9th Inning

Wes Simmons, another possible third string hope at 3B, picks up another hit.  He was a sub, and I have no idea where we are in the batting order.  So I have no idea who just got the two base-hits following Timmons, cuz the damn Milwaukee broadcasters won't interrupt their damn Interview with Ed Sedar, whoever that is.  And he's not even dressed like a Vampire, although he is wearing sunglasses, presumably to protect against the sparkle.  It's fun to see the A's score runs, but it would be even more fun to know who's scoring them.

Bottom 9th Inning

Someone who for sure isn't scoring any runs is Josh Donaldson, who played the whole game and just struck out for the multipleth time.  He hit decently in the minors as a catcher, so I see no reason why he shouldn't hit well in the majors as a third baseman...

Aaand that's the end of our broadcast, with lefty Jerry Blevins completing the shutout of the Brewers.  I've always had a nice feeling about Blevins, ever since I got his autograph in my copy of the Hardball Times 2011.  He laughed that he wouldn't like to have to look at all those numbers.  Well, that's fine, as long as he keeps doin stuff on the field that we nerds can turn into numbers.  The more numbers, the better you are at Fantasy Baseball, of all types.  Which promises to be an upcoming subject of this blog, as fun as Astrology might have been...

Astrology Baseball: Fire Signs Bracket

Due to the excitement surrounding the recent Academy Awards (congratulations to The Artist, a well-deserved choice for Best Picture), I wasn't able to finish this project before the start of Spring Training.   But between the excitement of sorting through season-ending injuries and competitions for all 30 5th starter spots, there should be plenty of time to check out the final two Astrology Baseball brackets, the first of which appears below.

ARIES RAMS

Aries as a team has the second-highest total swp; what else would you expect from a group of headstrong, impulsive, forward-thinking pioneers of advanced thought?  Most of these points come from the offense, which is led by 1B powerhouses Miguel Cabrera and Mark Teixeira.  Cabrera, the less defensively talented of the two, will serve as the DH, despite his potential move back to 3B in 2012 - there's absolutely no way anyone is pushing Adrian Beltre off the hot corner for any reason.  Their corner outfield consists of Hunter Pence and Jay Bruce, which creates a logjam for such talented hitters as Michael Morse, Billy Butler, Corey Hart, and Michael Cuddyer.  Carlos Santana, 2011's highest-scoring catcher, is behind the plate, but his supremacy will likely be challenged in years to come by superstars-when-healthy Joe Mauer and Buster Posey.  They've also got Starlin Castro, Aaron Hill, and Cameron Maybin up the middle.

Felix Hernandez is a legitimate ace, Justin Masterson enjoyed very good success in Cleveland last year, and Jeremy Hellickson won the AL Rookie of the Year award.  A pair of innings-eaters who changed teams in the off-season round out the rotation: Mark Buehrle and Jeremy Guthrie.  While the rotation does not quite match the brilliance of the starting lineup, the bullpen is quite possibly the best of any team throughout the constellations.  They've got a pair of 2,000 point closers in John Axford and Jose Valverde, plus veteran stalwart Kyle Farsworth, All-Star setup man David Robertson, and a lefty with closer potential Chris Sale.  Excellence in two out of three positional tiers ain't bad...

LEO LIONS

The Leo team has potential to be good, but very few players reached that potential in 2011 (I'm looking at you Dustin Pedroia, one of the game's premiere second baseman, and Drew Storen, who thankfully for my fantasy team blossomed into an elite closer last year).  I'm firmly convinced that Melky Cabrera's breakout season was a fluke, but he's got two great centerfielders backing him up in B.J. Upton and Adam Jones (with Colby Rasmus hoping to come into his own).  Jones is joined by two of his fellow Orioles teammates J.J. Hardy and Mark Reynolds, who will move over to 1B a) where his iron glove will do less damage and b) to open up a spot for 3B Pablo Sandoval, who had a nice season despite missing some time due to injuries.  In a perfectly healthy world, Sandoval would be at 1B and superstar Alex Rodriguez would man the hot corner, but unlike Big Panda, A-Rod's injury-plagued season was not so nice.

Joining Rodriguez on the list of players who didn't live up to their past greatness are Todd Helton (getting old), Carl Crawford (first year of a huge contract meltdown), Juan Pierre (although he'd be good to provide some speed on the bench, and Grady Sizemore (chronically injured).  Players who have yet to live up to promised future greatness include Jason Heyward (terrible sophomore slump), Mike Trout (last year's #1 prospect), and Madison Bumgarner - who was pretty darn good last year, but I've heard the term "Cy Young contender" bandied about in reference to him, and he's gonna need to live up to those predictions if he's going to headline this Leo pitching staff.  In this world with only 12 teams of around 80 players each, Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison profile as more 4-5 starters rather than 2-3, and the rest of the starting crop consists of promising pitchers yet to make their mark (Max Scherzer, Chad Billingsley) and fading veterans (Randy Wolf, Brett Myers).

SAGITTARIUS ARCHERS

Sagittarius has the least total swp of any team in this project... and that's even with a couple of the best starters in the game right now: a resurgent James Shields and breakout ace Ian Kennedy.  On the back end they're anchored by future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera.  (Despite his legendary status, he is actually the 4th highest-scoring closer in the bracket... even with 2,001 swp!)  Just like the Leo team, Sagittarius features a triplet of teammates anchoring their offense: Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, and Chase Utley of the Phillies.  Both Utley and 3B David Wright are superstars when healthy, but both had ridiculously subpar seasons in 2011.  Other notable players include another future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez behind the plate, and member of the Oscar-nominated "Moneyball Draft" Nick Swisher in RF (even though the film skipped over that entire aspect of the A's 2002 season...).

Seven of the nine players in the starting lineup were the worst in the bracket in terms of swp - Rollins and Victorino finished second at SS and CF respectively.  By contrast, four out of the five pitchers in the starting rotation were best in the bracket: the aforementioned Shields and Kennedy are joined at the top by the Shaun Marcum (acquired by the Brewers last off-season) and Mat Latos (acquired by the Reds this offseason).  The surprisingly competent Philip Humber, who finished second, rounds out the rotation.  Backing up Rivera in the bullpen is new Phillies star closer Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox reliever attempting to make the jump to the rotation Alfredo Aceves, and a couple of veterans with a combined 30 seasons under their belts (Octavio Dotel and LaTroy Hawkins).


Only one more bracket to go: the Earth Signs.  Then it'll be time to focus on Spring Training and the upcoming season!