2010 Hot Prospect: Jose Iglesias SS Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have been struggling to find a long-term solution at shortstop since they traded away Nomar Garciaparra. They won a World Series for the first time in a hundred and something years but Orlando Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, Alex Gonzalez, Julio Lugo, Jed Lowrie, and a few others have failed to make the Red Sox happy for various reasons. The answer may have finally arrived in the form of Cuban defector and shortstop, Jose Iglesias.

The Red Sox signed Iglesias to a four-year, $8.2 million contract. He has been placed on the 40-man roster and invited to big league Spring Training. Iglesias is not expected to begin the season in the majors but could move very quickly. His glove is ready. He has already drawn comparisons to Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel. The question (especially for fantasy owners) is will he be able to hit. The Red Sox seem to think so. They expect him to make good contact and eventually develop into a gap to gap hitter with speed on the bases.

From the Boston Herald:

“What jumps out are his raw athleticism and the instincts for the game,” Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen said. “He’s maybe not polished yet. I don’t know what his coaching was like (in Cuba), and there probably were some nuances -- basestealing, selectivity at the plate -- that need work. But his natural instincts are incredible.”

“His tools are really impressive,” said Brandon Hyde, a minor league manager for the Florida Marlins who is serving as Mesa’s manager. “For as young as he is, he has unbelievable upside. He’s raw, but really talented. He’s an incredible defender. (At shortstop), it’s really about fine-tuning. He has amazing quickness. His hands are great and his footwork is excellent. For him, it’s all in there. It’s really about making the routine play consistently.”

Iglesias should not be high on the radar of Fantasy Owners even in long term keeper leagues at this point. His offense (despite a nice start in the AFL) is still way behind his defense. He will need a few months (at least) in the minors and it may be a few years before his bat becomes fantasy worthy. The hype is going to be huge especially if he does well. You need to know that he is not ready to be a fantasy option just yet.

CBS Sports 2010 Mock Draft

CBS Sports posted a 2010 Mock Draft last week that has some interesting results. The drafters are a good solid group of guys, not our favorite experts but all respected in the field (except the regular guy who we don't know from the millions of other regular guys). Here's the list:

1. Eric Mack, CBSSports.com, Memorial Magazine Mock Draft
2. Alex Riethmiller, CBSSports.com, B.I.G.S. (dueling AL/NL-only H2H league)
3. Matthew Pouliot, Rotoworld.com, Krause Publications mock II
4. Lawr Michaels, CreativeSports.com, Tout Wars (AL-only)
5. Jeff Boggis, FantasySportsEmpires.com, Krause Publications mock I
6. Christopher Liss, Rotowire.com, Tout Wars (mixed)
7. Charlie Wiegert, Fanball.com, Defending champ and CBSSports.com NL-only
8. Scott White, CBSSports.com, CBSSports.com Earliest Roto Mock
9. Casey R. Fivecoat, Reader Entry and No. 1 podcast e-mailer
10. Brian Walton, CreativeSports.com, Tout Wars (NL-only)
11. Mike Gianella, Patton & Co, CBSSports.com AL-only
12. Sergio Gonzalez, CBSSports.com, CBSSports.com Early H2H Mock

My Round by Round thoughts...

Round One: With two large exceptions this is basically what you might expect to see in the first round. Matthew Pouliot of Rotoworld makes a bold pick of Tim Lincecum with the third pick of the draft. It is a fine pick just not typical of most leagues that just will not draft pitchers that early. I might like a few of the second round guys more than Chris Liss of RotoWire who selected Joe Mauer with the sixth pick. I haven't decided yet if I have faith that Mauer will continue to hit like the second best bat in the sport. I probably would have let that doubt push Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford into the first round.

Round Two: The regular guy selects Matt Holliday in the second round and I think he was right to do so. I may have some quibbles with the order but assuming Holliday stays in St. Louis or finds a nice hitters park to call home he should be a solid value here. This is also where we find several players whose value will be much debated in the next few months -- Mark Reynolds, David Wright, and Jose Reyes. Reyes falls due to health concerns but the second round means that at least Pouliot has no fear. Pouliot is really blazing his own trail with his first two picks. Reynolds begs the question -- can he repeat his great 2009 season, especially the stolen bases? David Wright is a victim of both Citifield Park and his own perhaps pre-mature reaction to it. If Wright goes back to his old swing and style of hitting he should be a first round value again.

Round Three: If Adrian Gonzalez finds himself hitting in Fenway Park, I'll be bumping him up to Mark Teixeira/Prince Fielder status. Aaron Hill is going to be overdrafted in every league this season. I do not believe that he is a 35 homer guy. I think he'll swing back to being a 20-25 homer guy which is still giving him a lot of credit for his great 2009 season in my mind. This is also where we find Grady Sizemore. I have taken quite a bit of grief by readers who think I've downgraded his keeper status too much. But until I see that he is healthy I consider this a very high pick for a guy coming into the season off a mostly lost season and elbow surgery.

Round Four: Eric Mack shows us some serious balls by taking BJ Upton in this round. Upton may steal a bunch of bases but there is no reason beyond blind faith to believe he'll hit for average or power. And if he doesn't he could start to lose at-bats with Tampa needing offense oomph to go with their pitching and defense.

Round Five: Ben Zobrist is here and Aaron Hill is in the third round? Zobrist seems like much less of a fluke to me. We saw his development as a hitter coming. At least his HR/FB was virtually identical to his 2008 season. If we had known he would get an extra 300 at-bats we might have predicted a great season for him. I always liked Hill as a hitter but the homer totals are a fluke.

Round Six: Poor, poor Josh Hamilton who I had so much faith in last season falls to the sixth round. In retrospect perhaps I should have worried more about his chronic injuries and the pressure being put on such an inexperienced player to lead the young Rangers to contention. All that said, I still like him a lot. Most of his lack of production can be blamed on injuries and despite the hyped up stories I think Hamilton is still on solid ground as far as his addictions go. I would be very happy to draft him here were I in Liss's shoes.

Round Seven: Jake Peavy and Josh Johnson are two pitchers I see headed in opposite directions. Peavy goes from the best park for pitchers on the planet to an American League hitters haven in Chicago. Johnson meanwhile is getting further and further away from his arm troubles and with experience should be able to handle more innings which should lead to greater win totals (hopefully) and a larger impact on fantasy teams.

Round Eight: Nelson Cruz was the favored sleeper of many last season and for the most part he made them happy. Until manager Ron Washington decided he had seen enough production from Cruz and let him sit on the bench half the time. This has spurred lots of trade rumors with the Atlanta Braves being high on the list of potential suitors.

Round Nine: Russell Martin??? I suppose there is nothing in his numbers to suggest he can't return to being as productive as he was before 2009. But how productive was that really? There certainly is enough lot of iron left in the draft that picking up this tin can seems very early.

Round Ten: Huston Street is living proof for J.J. Hardy that just because you've been rumored on the trade market for months and months, it doesn't mean you'll actually be traded. In fact you might perform so well as to earn a contract extension. But you'll want to avoid being demoted back to the minors or you might find yourself on the Seattle Mariners.

Round Eleven: How stupid are the Phillies? They develop an effective left-handed starter who rocks for you the entire season and then you toss him in the bullpen for the playoffs in favor of ancient Pedro Martinez and Joe Blanton. Even if it ultimately doesn't prove to be a fatal mistake, there is no question that it was the bone-headed thing to do. J. A. Happ deserved more respect.

Round Twelve: This round features a bunch of players I like a lot but whose value is sort of up in the air. David Price, Phil Hughes, Miguel Montero, Alex Rios, and two surprise closers David Aardsma and Ryan Franklin. Can anyone display any real confidence in what these players are likely to offer in 2010? Nah, you can't, but I bet you wouldn't mind one or two of them making their way to your roster in 2010.

We'll post the end of the Mock Draft Saturday Night...

Wishing Mark McGwire Luck

I just wanted to wish Mark McGwire good luck in his new position as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. I have read much praise from the players that he has worked with individually. I think he will do very well in this position and the Cardinals will benefit from what he has to offer. I used to love the A's back in the days of the Bash Brothers, with Ricky Henderson and Dave Stewart. They were incredibly fun to watch play. In those days the A's were one of the best teams in the game and had league-leading payrolls. McGwire was the true star of that bunch, when he was healthy anyway. You should watch the video attached to this article about Tony LaRussa returning to the Cardinals to hear LaRussa discuss McGwire's transformation as a hitter.

Below this great photo I discuss the reaction to McGwire's return by the dumber members of the mainstream media and their parroting groupies.


There is no proof that Mark McGwire ever used any illegal drugs before, during or after his baseball career ended. We know that he used Andro, because he never hid it. My old roommate was using it too before most of us even knew what it was. Most of the people commenting about this still do not know what Andro was. And it is because he did not hide it that much of this PED controversy exists today around the game of baseball. Androstendione was not illegal or even considered an anabolic steroid at the time McGwire was using it. You could have bought some yourself from many different legal sources. It was reclassified in 2004 when the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 was introduced into the United States Senate.***

***If people in this country were assigned jobs based on their intelligence and focus on what actually matters most of the Senators speaking out in what I call the Steroid Trials (and their media lackeys) would find themselves working for Burger King.

I have read many different articles in the last week or so and hundreds of comments by the readers of those articles that make claims that are just not true or fair. Today I read an article that basically claimed that McGwire was responsible for the suicide of two kids who used steroids. No. No he is not. If a kid is using steroids that responsibility lies with the kid himself, his parents and the people of responsibility around him. I have read the McGwire ruined baseball despite the fact that when he was hitting all those homeruns for the St. Louis Cardinals he was being labeled the savior of baseball. I have read that Mark McGwire now hides from the public scrutiny he deserves because he is so ashamed of his steroid use, and his lies. First, what lies? Can someone please show me when McGwire was proved a liar about anything to do with baseball or him using any form of PED? Second, when has Mark McGwire ever sought out media attention? Remember how when McGwire was hitting all those homeruns and everyone loved him and was anxious to hear his every waking thought, that he avoided the media like the plague. Seems like the kind of guy who avoids public speaking whenever possible.

You do not have to like Mark McGwire. I am certain he has habits that may annoy people. Maybe he clips his nails at the kitchen table or he leaves hair on the bar of soap in the shower. But I think it is wrong to punish the man over something that probably had little impact (if any at all, if he even did anything wrong which is not so certain as it is usually made out to be) on his career as a whole and most certainly did not hurt anybody or cause anybody to hurt themselves.

2010 Sleeper: James Loney

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.

So, what do you think?

Season	Team	BB%	K%	BB/K	OBP	SLG	ISO	Spd	BABIP	wOBA
2006	Dodgers (AAA)	8.00%	9.30%	0.94	0.426	0.546	0.167	4.6	0.404	0.422
2006	Dodgers	7.30%	9.80%	0.80	0.342	0.559	0.275	6.2	0.284	0.377
2006	Dodgers	20.00%	0.00%	1.00	0.800	0.750	0.000	0.1	0.750	0.675
2006	Average	8.70%	18.90%	0.50	0.337	0.432	0.163	5	0.305	0.332
2007	Dodgers (AAA)	9.70%	20.60%	0.52	0.345	0.382	0.103	3.3	0.348	0.322
2007	Dodgers	7.50%	14.00%	0.58	0.381	0.538	0.206	2.8	0.352	0.389
2008	Dodgers	7.00%	14.30%	0.53	0.338	0.434	0.145	4.2	0.320	0.333
2008	Dodgers	9.10%	23.30%	0.43	0.394	0.533	0.200	0.1	0.409	0.393
2009	Dodgers	10.80%	11.80%	1.03	0.357	0.399	0.118	3.6	0.301	0.332

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance MVPs are...

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.

You can check out all the details of the voting on the Baseball Bloggers Alliance Site.

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.

Empire State of Mind

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)

2010 Free Agents: Starting Pitchers

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 Randy Wolf. Sure, there is a bunch of risk there, but the upside is incredible and the discounts should be substantial.

Key Sleepers: Justin Duchscherer, Kelvim Escobar

Starting Pitchers
Brandon Backe HOU
Josh Beckett * BOS
Erik Bedard SEA (B)
Daniel Cabrera ARZ
Bartolo Colon CWS
Jose Contreras COL
Doug Davis ARZ (B)
Justin Duchscherer OAK (B)
Adam Eaton COL
Kelvim Escobar LAA
Jon Garland * LAD (B)
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton HOU
Rich Harden CHC (B)
Livan Hernandez WAS
Tim Hudson * ATL - got his wish Thursday after completing a three-year, $28 million extension that includes a fourth-year option for 2013.
Randy Johnson SF (B)
John Lackey LAA (A)
Cliff Lee * PHI (A)
Braden Looper * MIL (B)
Jason Marquis COL (B)
Kevin Millwood * TEX
Brett Myers PHI
Vicente Padilla * LAD (B)
Carl Pavano MIN (B)
Brad Penny SF - Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports the Cardinals have agreed to terms with Brad Penny on a one-year, $7.5 million.
Odalis Perez WAS
Andy Pettitte NYY (B) - Veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees have agreed to terms on a one-year contract worth $11.75 million, major league sources tell ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.
Joel Pineiro STL (B)
Sidney Ponson KC
Jason Schmidt LAD
John Smoltz STL
Tim Wakefield * BOS (B)
Jarrod Washburn DET
Todd Wellemeyer STL
Randy Wolf (A) - The Brewers on Wednesday succeeded in luring free agent left-hander Randy Wolf with a three-year contract that reportedly includes a club option for a fourth year. Other reports followed, including one in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, saying Wolf is guaranteed about $29 million. Other reports on the value of the contract's first three years ranged from $27 million to $30 million.

The Dodgers signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal worth $700K in the Majors, according to the AP.