James Loney is on the verge of becoming an extremely good hitter. He already walks more than he strikes out. He hits for a solid batting average and because he hits in the solid Dodgers lineup he collects a solid number of Runs and RBI. However, he has no real power especially for a first baseman. Loney will be 25-years old when the 2010 season begins. He is still young enough to be developing the power that fantasy owners want to see from their corner infielders. The vast majority of his scouting reports (remember he was a first round pick) saw him developing 20-25 homerun power someday. To the doubters out there (who we love because they keep Loney’s auction price down) I can only say that you also probably doubted that Joe Mauer would ever develop power.
Loney is precisely the kind of player that savvy owners can collect at bargain rates. It seems like he has been around forever and his surface stats seem to reflect a player that has reached his level and has nothing else to offer. But he's young, he has tools, and best of all he has the skills to do almost anything with a bat in his hands. James Loney will be on quite a few of my fantasy squads this season. We have not seen the best of Loney yet.
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance has just released the winners of the American League and National League MVP awards. As a proud new member of the Alliance it gives me great pride to say that we got it exactly right.
The American League MVP is Joe Mauer. The National League MVP is Albert Pujols.
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 90 blogs spanning 28 of the 30 major league squads as well as those that focus on general baseball writing.
The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. Those blogs that are not dedicated to a specific team are allowed to vote on either the American League or National League award, but not both.
I have to work tonight. That means I will not get to see the World Series tonight which bothers me more than you might think possible. I never miss the World Series, especially when the New York Yankees are involved. Yes, I am a Yankees fan. Alex Rodriguez has really shown his stuff the last few weeks. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are the old and steady hands. Andy Pettitte is just plain clutch. I'll have the game on in some silent form tonight. Damn the rules. But the nature of my job means that even then I won't see much of it.
I love that the Yankees are facing this Philadelphia Phillies team. It has so many great players on it. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino are just awesome, I'd love to have any of these guys in New York. The pitching should be great for both teams as well. I expect this to be a tight, well fought series. It may not go seven games but both teams will know they were in a battle.
And now the new anthem of New York City... (there is a video, for you RSS types, come check it out)
Josh Beckett will definitely have his option picked up by the Boston Red Sox. But this list is a lot stronger than we've been led to believe by the bigger media guys. If I ran a team like the Washington Nationals I'd be all over Ben Sheets, Brandon Webb (if the D'Backs are actually dumb enough to let him go), Rich Harden, John Smoltz, Justin Duchscherer, and RandyWolf. Sure, there is a bunch of risk there, but the upside is incredible and the discounts should be substantial.
Obviously, some of these guys won't actually become available. I think Magglio Ordonez, for example, has earned his option by hitting his target at-bat total. It seems unlikely that would opt out of the deal after his not so hot season but i suppose stranger things have happened. The big market teams will all be chasing Matt Holliday and to a slightly lesser extent Jason Bay. But there are a bunch of very solid players on this list. Bobby Abreu is aging but still a very effective player. Rick Ankiel has monster power potential. Marlon Byrd finally looks like that star player he could have been years ago. Johnny Damon isn't much on defense any longer but he's still a nice leadoff hitter. I bet Brian Giles has some years left in him if he can only escape from Petco Hell. Vlad. Manny. You could add some serious runs to your lineup picking from this collection.
Key Sleepers: Rick Ankiel, Brian Giles, Austin Kearns
More on Aroldis Chapman, a hat tip to Drunken Jays Fans for posting this video for me to steal. Aroldis is in New York waiting to meet with the Yankees Brass. As much as I'd love to see him on the Yanks I think it would be even cooler to see him sign with the Washington Nationals. They could sign El Duque to a minor league contract and try to acquire Jose Contreras and they'd be nice filler as the team waited for its prospects to develop. It would also give the Nats two of the best pitching prospects in the sport.
Albertin Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz Bats: Left Throws: Left Height: 6' 4" Weight: 185 lb. Born: February, 28, 1988 in Cayo Mambí, Frank País, Holguín, Cuba
* Has a wife and young daughter as well as parents and two sisters still living in Cuba * Holds the Cuban National Series record for fastest pitch thrown in a game at 102 mph. * Has a fastball (two seam or four seam), sinking fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and a forkball * Led the Cuban National Series twice in strikeouts in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009. * Was recognized as the top left handed pitcher in Baseball World Cup in 2007. * Defected from the Cuban National Team on July 1, 2009 while participating in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands * Signed a representation agreement with Athletes Premier International (API) for contract negotiation and marketing on July 13, 2009 * Obtained provisional passive residency status in the country of Andorra on September 21, 2009 * On September 25, 2009 was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball following their investigation and the United States Department of the Treasury licensed Chapman as an unblocked National of Cuba
2007 Baseball World Cup - Silver Medalist Game G JP IP R ER H SO BB HR WP VS. SO KOREA 1 0 7 2 2 6 9 1 0 0 VS. JAPAN 1 0 8 1 1 3 11 2 0 1 TOTALS 2 15 3 3 9 20 3 0 1
2009 World Baseball Classic G GS CG W L SHO SV IP H R ER ERA HR HB BB SO WHIP HLD GF 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 6.1 6 4 4 5.68 0 0 4 8 1.58 0 0
While I don't like to rely on them, I enjoy looking at the numbers various projection systems from Dan Szymborski's ZIPs, Bill James'The Bill James Handbook 2010, and Chone Projections tend to release before most fantasy books come out. I'll keep updating this post as I find more.
, and