Commentary
AL East by Position: Right Field
by Stacey on Mar 4, 2010 9:00 PM EST
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31 comments
The last of the outfield positions to be ranked, manned in Baltimore by one of the key pieces to the future. Is it weird to anyone else that Nick Markakis is going into his fifth season? And that he's considered a team veteran? Didn't he just get here?
1. Nick Markakis (Orioles) - Yeah, Nick Markakis had a down year in 2009, but I don't think that will affect him long term. Markakis went through a lot of personal changes just prior to the 2009 season. He got married, had a baby, and signed a long term contract. Who knows if and how much any of those things affected him, but I thought I'd throw them out there. Nick's biggest issue in 2009 was a lack of walks (something that Camden Crazies has been examining in detail the past couple days). If Nick's 2010 looks less like his 2008 and more than his 2009 then we might have reason to worry. Until then I think we can rest easy knowing that Nick, who is going into his fifth full season at the age of 26, is tops in RF in the AL East both offensively and defensively (not to mention he's reliable as hell, never playing less than 157 games in a season in the last three years). I personally look for Nick to have a monster year in 2010.
2. J.D. Drew (Red Sox) - J.D. Drew is a very good baseball player. Very good. Unfortunately for J.D. Drew, he just can't stay in the field for an entire season. This will be his fourth year in Boston and in his first three he averaged 128 games played per season. Over his 11 year career he's averaged 121 games per season (this doesn't include his first year when he played in just 14 games). Drew will play 2010 at 34 years of age, the oldest on this list, and who knows what injuries will keep him out of the lineup for 30 or so games this year.
31 comments | 0 recs |
Pondering the Fans
by Stacey on Mar 2, 2010 5:12 PM EST
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62 comments
I was listening to some talk radio on the way into work yesterday and a caller was lamenting the emptiness of Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the season. Believe me, I know how he feels. It doesn't matter how many times I go to a mid-week game at Camden Yards at see a crowd of just 10,000, it never stops surprising me. Not surprised in the sense that I expected it to be a full house, but I always have that initial reaction of "holy crap I cannot BELIEVE how few people are here." It's always strange to me and always sad.
One thing that the caller said that got me thinking was that the line of thinking is that the fans will return when the team starts playing better, but he thinks that the team will start playing better if the fans return. My initial reaction was something along the lines of, "pshaw," but the more I thought about it, I kind of started to agree with him. Specifically I thought of Matt Wieters' debut last May.
62 comments | 0 recs |
AL East by Position: Center Field
by Stacey on Mar 1, 2010 3:35 PM EST
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50 comments
As depressing as comparing the AL East infielders was, that's how fun comparing the outfielders is. I had a hard time deciding between Adam Jones and B.J. Upton for the top spot, but when I saw that Joe Posnanski thinks Adam Jones is the best CF in the AL East I figured what the hell. I think that it'll be fun debating which is better over the next five plus years even with Upton's disappointing 2009.
1. Adam Jones (Orioles) - Jonesy started 2009 like a man possessed, hitting .344/.398/.607 with 13 2B and 11 HR over the first two months of the season. It earned him a place on the All Star team and had all of Birdland giddy over his performance. He dropped off significantly in the second half as he slumped offensively and struggled with injury, being shut down for the season at the beginning of September. If Adam Jones can stay healthy for the entire season and work on that little problem he has with chasing awful pitches, the sky is the limit for our guy.
2. B.J. Upton (Rays) - After an amazing 2007 where he hit .300/.386/.508 with 24 HR, Upton looked like a superstar in the making. His numbers came back to earth in 2008 as he hit .273/.383/.401 with just 9 HR, but those numbers combined with his outstanding defense still made him one of the most valuable outfielders in baseball that year. After the 2008 season, though, Upton underwent shoulder surgery and spent most of 2009 getting himself back up to full strength. He was never able to get himself together offensively and finished the year with a disappointing .686 OPS. It's hard to say how Upton will do in 2010 but personally I think he'll be just fine. If he gets himself back to even his 2008 offensive numbers he'll on the list of elite outfielders.
50 comments | 0 recs |
AL East by Position: Left Field
by Stacey on Feb 23, 2010 4:00 PM EST
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35 comments
Left field in the AL East is a pretty exciting position. Other than established star Carl Crawford and washed up Randy Winn, the position showcases several young players with potential. It's hard to say what they'll do but it'll be a lot of fun to find out (unless, of course, Nolan Reimold ends up sucking and Brett Gardner becomes a star or something). I'm quite comfortable with my rankings although given the lack of experience of Reimold, Snider, Gardner, and to a lesser extent, Ellsbury, this list certainly has the chance to change quite a bit over the course of the season.
1. Carl Crawford (Rays) - Crawford will be entering his ninth year in the MLB, all of which have been played with the Tampa Bay Rays. Crawford isn't a power hitter and while he had a good OBP in 2009 of .365, historically he gets on base a respectable but not overly impressive amount of times. He's an very good base stealer, however, with 362 stolen bases in 1081 career games. His success rate for stealing is just about 82% (just don't ask him to steal on Matt Wieters) and he's led the league in steals in 4 of the last 7 years. Crawford is also defensive marvel and the fact that he hasn't won a gold glove in his career is ridiculous. It's not absurd to say that at this point in time Crawford is the best player in Tampa Bay's history.
35 comments | 0 recs |
The Verducci Effect and the Orioles
by duck on Feb 16, 2010 4:21 PM EST
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51 comments
Tom Verducci has posted his annual Watch List for pitchers thought to be at heightened risk for injury or poor performance due to overuse. He calls it the Year After Effect, most everyone else calls it the Verducci Effect. Here's Verducci's explanation:
More than a decade ago, with the help of then-Oakland pitching coach Rick Peterson, I began tracking one element of overuse which seemed entirely avoidable: working young pitchers too much too soon. Pitchers not yet fully conditioned and physically matured were at risk if clubs asked them to pitch far more innings than they did the previous season -- like asking a 10K runner to crank out a marathon. The task wasn't impossible, but the after-effects were debilitating. I defined an at-risk pitcher as any 25-and-under pitcher who increased his innings log by more than 30 in a year in which he pitched in the big leagues. Each year the breakdown rate of such red-flagged pitchers -- either by injury or drop in performance -- was staggering.
After the jump, I'll take a look at why no Orioles pitchers are on the list, and why that's the case.
51 comments | 0 recs |
AL East by Position: Shortstop
by Stacey on Feb 16, 2010 3:30 PM EST
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23 comments
The AL East position run down continues with shortstop. The Orioles rank pretty low on the list but the difference between numbers 3 and 5 are really not much at all. This is the last position to be covered in the infield and I'm really looking forward to moving on to the outfield.
1. Derek Jeter (Yankees) - Here's the thing about Derek Jeter: he's probably not a bad dude. It's easy to hate him, I grant you this. But I think most of it stems from the way others treat Jeter more than anything he actually does. It's not really his fault that his every move causes a collective orgasm from the media. Jeter is a hell of a hitter, the kind you really don't want to see come to the plate with runners in scoring position. We joke about Jeter-esque hits all the time but fact is the dude has built a hall of fame career on them. Jeter will be 36 in 2010 and has to start slowing down sometime, but until he does he's head and shoulders above the rest of the SS in the AL East. Finally, just because it's awesome: Derek Jeter Honored For Having Fewer Hits Than Harold Baines.
2. Jason Bartlett (Rays)- Prior to coming to the Rays in the same trade that brought them potential ace Matt Garza, Bartlett was known as slick fielder with a slightly below average bat. Then suddenly in 2009, Bartlett became a beast at the plate. He hit 14 home runs to bring his career total to 25. He hit .320/.389/.490 in '09 and while those numbers will most certainly regress in 2010 it's hard to say how much. Even if he splits the difference between his 2008 and 2009 numbers he'll still be a serviceable bat with a great glove. Bartlett will be 30 years old for the 2010 season.
23 comments | 0 recs |
AL East by Position: Third Base
by Stacey on Feb 13, 2010 3:00 PM EST
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29 comments
1. Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) - Let's get it out of the way: Alex Rodriguez is a formerly roided up douche bag who annoys people pretty much every time he opens up his mouth. He wears Wet-n-Wild Razzle Dazzle lip gloss and slaps the ball out of people's gloves like some kind of namby-pamby and yells behind players when they're trying to catch a pop up. He's an undeniable fame whore who is desperate for the attention and approval of everyone around him. I'd take him on my team even with all of that ridiculousness, though, because he is one of the most talented baseball players in the history of the game and possibly the best I've ever seen. He'll be 34 in 2010 and thus in the supposed decline of his career, but even a declined A-Rod is better than most other things you're going to see.
2. Evan Longoria (Rays) - If the baseball fairy came to me and said, "You can pick one position player from any other team to add to the already existing players on the Orioles," Longoria is the player I would take. He's obviously not the best position player in baseball right now, but for being just 23 years old his numbers are phenomenal. In just less than two seasons he has 60 HR and 75 2B and he's only going to get better. He does strike out a ton but I subscribe to the Adam Dunn philosophy of hitting: when you OPS >.900 (which I'm certain Longoria will do this year and beyond) who gives a darn how many times you strike out? He increased his walks from 2008 to 2009 and if he can stay up around 75 BB he'll be good to go. Oh, and of course it doesn't hurt that he plays great defense.
29 comments | 0 recs |
AL East by Position: Second Base
by Stacey on Feb 8, 2010 4:10 PM EST
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32 comments
Ranking the AL East second basemen is actually very tough. It's certainly harder than ranking the catchers and first basemen, although I got some hilarious hate mail from a Yankee fan for daring to suggest that Kevin Youkilis is a better defensive 1B than Mark Teixeira. My favorite part is where he wrote underneath his name "Bergen County, NJ: Yankee Country USA." My condolences to Dave and any other Camden Chatters who have to be surrounded by that nonsense constantly.
But back to second basemen. Ben Zobrist had a monster year in 2009 but it was his first full time year and he was 28 years old so it's hard to predict what he'll do in 2010. To a lesser extent the same issue applies to Aaron Hill. Brian Roberts, as good as I think he is, also makes for a tricky decision. I honestly think there isn't a bad 2B in the AL East and I think most of these guys would be at the top of the list in most other divisions (please note that's being said without any analysis, just off the top of my head).
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