Looking Back At Derek Jeter’s Greatest Moments

This Derek Jeter guy has been pretty good.

Lets start from the beginning in 1996 (no its not actually the beginning but it’s the official beginning of the legacy of Derek Sanderson Jeter)…

 

It was October 9^th 1996 when the legend of “Captain Clutch” began. Jeter came up to bat in the 8^th inning with the Yankees down 4-3 to the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS when he drove an opposite field shot off of Armando Benitez over the right field wall to tie the score at 4 that led to a 5-4 victory in 11 innings.

 

(yeah I know Jeffrey Maier interfered but a homer is a homer. Eat that O’s fans.)

 

It led to the first World Series in his MLB career as the Yankees disposed of the Atlanta Braves 3 weeks later.

 

1998: after Jeter asserted himself as one of the league’s premier shortstops with a .324 average, 19 homeruns and 84 RBI, Jeter leads the Yankees to their second title in a 4 game sweep of the San Diego Padres where he batted .353.

 

1999: Jeter led the league in hits and was second in average and runs and also drove in a career high 102. He batted no less than .350 in any playoff series as he led the Yankees to their third title in four years by beating the Atlanta Braves once again.

 

2000: after another stellar season (.339/15/73) Jeter hit .409 with 2 homeruns in the World Series to lead the Yankees past the New York Mets in five games and earn World Series MVP honors. He also won All-Star game MVP honors as well.

 

Jeter's first clutch moment came with a big assist.

2001: no the Yankees didn’t win the World Series that year, but two plays added to his legacy and defined him as a player.

 

Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS: Terrance Long smacked a double into right field that was surely going to score Jeremy Giambi and lead the A’s to a sweep of the Yankees who had just lost two games at Yankee Stadium. Shane Spencer threw a terrible ball into the infield that missed every Yankee on the field and was headed for the A’s dugout.

 

All of a sudden out of nowhere Derek Jeter swoops in, scoops the ball up, tosses it to Jorge Posada who then tags out Giambi and the Yankees win the game and then the series.

 

(My buddy Scully said something funny about that play. He said that the thing people forget about that play is that Jeter was terribly out of position. If he had played in his natural spot then he doesn’t make that play. This is true. Jeter had no business being anywhere near that ball… but he was, and no one is complaining about it at all especially me.)

 

Game 4 of the 2001 World Series (or the Byung-Hyun Kim nightmare series): you couldn’t set this up any more perfect than it was. 9/11, the world watching as the Yankees lifted the city on its back and tried to win another title to uplift the entire city. The clock strikes 12 and for the first time in baseball history there was baseball in November. Derek Jeter has a 3-2 count and drills an opposite field homerun and beats the Diamondbacks to draw the series even at two and gains the nickname “Mr. November.”

 

(Side Note: I’m over the 2004 blowup against Boston, I got past Randy Johnson’s failures, the loss to Florida in 2003, and the fact that we couldn’t beat the Angels for 350 years.

 

Mr. November.

However, I will never, ever get over losing that series to the D’Backs. We had them reeling with the debacle that was BH Kim. The drop back was perfect, the world was finally cheering for the Yankees, we were supposed to win and bring a title home for the city to celebrate and drown out the horror that was 9/11.

 

Even after we lost 15-2 in game 6 I was sure that we would win game 7 especially after Alphonso Soriano drove a Curt Schilling fastball over the wall and gave us a 2-1 with Mariano Rivera coming in. Then all I can remember was a Luis Gonzalez bloop, Bob Brenly jumping up and down with his palms wide open and then 8 years of steroids, Carl Pavano and the follies of A-Rod.

 

Even after the 2009 title the one that got away in 2001 still stings.)

 

2003: Jeter is named the 11^th Captain in team history. This is after he dislocated his shoulder trying to stretch out a triple in a game on opening day. He doesn’t know the meaning of taking it easy. Maybe someone should explain that to Hanley Ramirez.

 

2004: you knew our fans were harsh… but we booed Derek Jeter in the midst of a 0-32 slump… come on buddy. This is the Captain, Captain Clutch, the man behind the flip, “Mr. November” and all of those monikers that made us gush over him for years and years… and we boo him because he has a slump?

 

Still cant believe this.

That’s another great thing about Jeter, he understood the fans frustrations. He didn’t mock them or bash them or run down his accomplishments, he went out there and worked it out. He knew Yankees fan expected and demanded a lot and instead of getting mad he fought through it… and did this…

 

Jeter tracks down a pop fly in the top of the 12^th inning in a game in May against the Red Sox… he makes the catch but his moment sends him crashing into the crowd leaving him with a bloody face. It was a game in May people… and it doesn’t matter, the legend continues.

 

2006: have I ever mentioned how ticked off I am that he didn’t win the AL MVP award that year? Led the AL in average and runs, had 214 hits, hit .381 with runners in scoring position… and finished second to Justin Morneau. Morneau had a nice year but didn’t finish in the top 5 of any statistical category except RBI where he finished second. He wasn’t as consistent as Jeter was for that entire season and still won MVP.

 

(did I mention that in the voting there were three Minnesota Twins in the top 6 of ? How can a guy win MVP when people think there are 3 guys that were MVP on the same team? Also I still want to pimp slap Joe Cowley for voting him 6^th in the MVP ballot because “you could plug another guy in that lineup and that guy would still have his numbers.”

 

Precisely… just like the Twins did last year when Michael Cuddyer batted in Morneau’s spot and had a monster year… idiot.)

 

2009: Jeter hits in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career and bats .334, leads the AL with a .406 on-base percentage  and is second in the majors with 212 hits. He also became the Yankees all-time hits leader with 2722 passing Lou Gehrig and leads the Yankees to their 27^th title and garners the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the year.

 

(This was the year when it hit me that Derek Jeter was slowly becoming the greatest Yankee of all-time. He was approaching the hit record, games played record, stolen bases record and there was a chance that he could be the only Yankee in the history of the franchise to collect 3000 hits…chew on that for a second.

 

World Series champion for the 4th time.

Not Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, not any of them had 3000 hits all with the Yankees… Jeter would be the only one.

 

By the end of this year Jeter will have played more games in Pinstripes than any other man in history. By the end of his career he may score more runs, have more doubles and total bases too.

 

That’s why the contract talks this offseason were so important and disheartening to Jeter. The Yankees knew how much he means to the organization, what his place in history is and where he stands in the fans eyes. He needed to finish his career here and if it took a few extra dollars then so be it. When it kept dragging on and sports talk radio and the ESPN talking heads put in their two cents about Jeter’s worth it became a question as to whether or not an aging shortstop coming off of his worst season in 2010 was worth $17 million per season.

 

Note, you didn’t hear the same talk about Jayson Werth receiving $126 million for two good seasons in Philadelphia but I digress.

 

Who cares that he will never bat .330 again, or be as good of a defender or any of that. Jeter personified the Yankees in each of his previous 16 years and he deserved what ever he wanted. If he would’ve gotten his 3000^th hit as a Kansas City Royal it wouldn’t have meant squat.

 

Jeter is a Yankee. He is the greatest Yankee of my time and possibly ever. Isn’t that worth $17 million a year?)

 

2010: Jeter wins his 4^th gold glove. Everyone whines and complains about zone efficiency, range, blah blah blah… sorry had to put that in for the haters.

 

2011: bottom of the third inning on a 3-2 count Derek Jeter takes a David Price slider and crushes it over the wall for his third homerun of the season and his 3000^th hit. As he rounded the bases I thought back to every great moment I’ve witnessed from him and smiled from ear to ear.

 

Jeter is probably my favorite athlete of all-time. He is the man’s man whether he’s hustle out a slow grounder, jumping off of his back foot to through a cross body dart to first base, diving in the stands for a foul ball, or picking up Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba or any other babe that he’s had in his dating circle.

 

Mr. 3000.

Throughout his career he’s been bashed in books for his defense, ridiculed by Gary Sheffield for not being black enough, and through it all he’s come through for the Yankees and their fans over and over again.

 

He’s been the quintessential leader, one of the game’s best winners, and has provided me with too many memories for me to even count. Today was more than just another day in the eyes of baseball insiders and announcers and television stations.

 

For us it was just another day in the amazing life of Derek Sanderson Jeter who has made the fans of New York happy as can be from the first time he took the field on May 29^th 1995. The best thing that we have three more years of great memories left.

 

And if any of them are like a 5 hit day with a game-winning hit on the same day as your 3000^th hit, then all of those $60 million dollars will be worth it.

Change The All-Star Format

C.C. Sabathia's 11 wins are staying home during the midsummer classic.

For years we’ve all said that the All-Star system is flawed. We’ve said that it needs fine tuning so that the right guys make the team instead of favorites or veterans that aren’t worthy of the honor.

Well for the first time in my life I actually agree with the critics, the All-Star system needs to be fixed and fixed now.

However, not in the way that you think.

You see the criticism from the powers that be are that the All-Star game is a popularity contest and that the fans make the wrong decisions sometimes… um, the All-Star Game is for the fans so of course it’s a popularity contest.

As fans we want to see a combination of the best players in the game as well as our favorites play in our game. Does Derek Jeter deserve to be an All-Star? Probably not from a numbers standpoint, but his image and mark on the game have made him a fan favorite so of course he should be there.

Is José Bautista the game’s best player? No, but the fans love him hence the reason why he was the number one vote getter.

Is Josh Hamilton an All-Star even though he missed half of the season? No, but fans remember the home run derby from years ago so of course they want to see him in the game and as often as possible.

It’s the fans game, let them vote for whoever they want to play the game and enjoy the action. Here’s my problem with the process of selecting the All-Stars; the league rule stating that there has to be an All-Star from each team (if that is a little league, everyone’s a happy camper rule then I don’t know what is), the fact that players and managers select the rest of the team outside of the starting 9, and the fact that they pick the pitchers, not the fans.

McCutchen was snubbed even though he has the Pirates thinking playoffs for the first time in years.

So let me get this straight, fans can pick every starter instead of the starting pitcher, or any pitcher for that matter and players pick the rest of the team based on their personal opinions (which is sometimes delegated by picking favorites themselves. Granted that’s what the fans do… BUT THEY’RE THE FANS!)? C’mon Son!

When I look at this All-Star team and the reserves and pitchers for each team It’s beyond silly.

Jose Valverde? A closer with a 3.09 ERA and 19 walks?

Howie Kendrick with 8 home runs and 26 RBI?

Matt Wieters at .261 with 7 home runs?

David Price at 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA?

Tim Lincecum at 6-6? Chipper Jones at .257?

So the players felt that Hunter Pence was a better option on last place Houston than Andrew McCutcheon who is leading a resurgence of baseball in Pittsburgh with the Pirates being only 3 games out of first at the beginning of Sunday.

So Michael Young, a powerless DH, was a better option than Jhonny Peralta who has belted more home runs has a higher slugging percentage and plays every day?

Ryan Vogelsong has had a better “Full Year” than Ian Kennedy (who by the way plays for Arizona, where the All-Star game is.)?

And the biggest one, Felix Hernandez at 8-7 with a 3.35 ERA, Price, Royals reliever Aaron Chow (who honestly has had a great year and relievers that aren’t closers need more pub in this game in my opinion) and C.J. Wilson all are having better years that AL wins leader C.C. Sabathia who is also 6^th in strikeouts, 3^rd in innings pitched and has been arguably the best pitcher in the AL in the last month not named Justin Verlander?

Yes, I am a Yankees fan so the Sabathia snub hurt more than any of the others. However, anyone… AND I MEAN ANYONE that has watched C.C. understands how important he is to the Yankees and knows his place among baseball’s elite pitchers.

He has only one start this year where he hasn’t gone into the seventh inning, one start with less than 100 pitches, a soon to be sub 3 ERA and a WHIP that borders the 1.1-1.2 range. In other words to the naked eye or on the stat sheet C.C. delivers.

He is one of baseball’s top 5 pitchers and the only pitcher in the league right now that has a chance to eclipse the 300 win plateau (if he doesn’t breakdown from his weight). Every time he goes on the mound he is a sure thing, and he’s not on the All-Star team?

Thanks to MLB's rule that every team gets an All-Star, Matt Wieters is one.

The worst is still this notion that every team needs an All-Star. The Twins are cool, but come on Michael Cuddyer over Paul Konerko? Wieters over Brennan Boesch? Heath Bell over Mike Morse? Those guys are having decent years (not Wieters, uh-uh, sorry) but there are other guys that are deserving of those spots due to their performance on the field not just because their team needs a star.

My advice is let the fans do all of the voting, pitchers included. Let them pick the starters, relievers and bench guys and if a player drops out due to injury or another reason then let the league pick the replacements.

And get rid of this stupid every team gets an All-Star rule (for that matter stop letting this game decide who gets home field advantage in the World Series, highly unnecessary.)

This is the fans game and whoever they want to see we should let them see. It’s worked for this long with the starters so why not go the extra mile and let them pick the whole damn team?

Because after today it’s clear the players or managers aren’t too good at it.

The Mets Need To Resign Reyes

If The Mets want to stay relevant they need to keep Reyes.

The Mets have done a lot of dumb things in the last ten years; they gave Carlos Beltran $119 million dollars, they traded Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano, and they gave up half of their farm system for Johan Santana who has been a shell of his former self.

The Mets have become a big joke in major league circles and their money woes have only been topped recently by the Los Angeles Dodgers who filed for bankruptcy. Things were so bad that majority owner Fred Wilpon decided to rip everyone from his star third baseman David Wright to his superstar shortstop Jose Reyes.

Wilpon in particular said about Reyes that “he’s crazy if he thinks he’s getting Carl Crawford money” this offseason… if Wilpon had any sense in that old and decrepit skull of his he may want to rethink that statement.

Even though they sit nine games out of first in the NL East, the Mets have a decent shot at the wildcard at 5 games back and its mostly due… no wait, it’s because of the out of this world play of Jose Reyes. Coming into Thursday’s play Reyes leads the national league in batting average, runs, triples, doubles and hits, is second in stolen bases and in the top 10 in slugging and OPS. In other words without Reyes the Mets would be swimming with Jimmy Hoffa rather than having an outside shot at the playoffs.

And this is the guy that Wilpon wouldn’t give $142 million to, yet gave Beltran $119 million after one good stretch in October?

Reyes has The Mets eyeing a wildcard spot in the National League.

Beyond what he does on the field Reyes is the face of the team off of it. I know a few years ago the Mets had Wright positioned as their man of the moment but Wright hasn’t been that guy. Reyes is electrifying, he’s currently one of a handful of players that you HAVE to see play when he comes into town. Reyes is a marketable figure that you can bank on bringing in large amounts of revenue for your team. Who wouldn’t like having Reyes at the top of their order creating havoc on the base pads and then having the charisma to sell watches afterwards? You’d be crazy to think he’s not worth that.

Where I would see an owner not wanting to pay Reyes is due to his spotty injury history. Reyes has missed 155 of 324 games in the last two years, which would be a concern for anyone that has money to burn. Also in the years before his injuries Reyes was faded down the stretch when the Mets needed him most.

During their historic collapse in 2007, Reyes batted .205 and had an OBP of .279 as the Mets eventually lost their grip on the NL East to the Philadelphia Phillies and the next year Reyes faded again. As electrifying as he is Reyes still needs to prove himself when it matters down the stretch to show that would be worthy of such a huge deal.

After the bomb contracts given to Beltran, Santana and Carlos Delgado you could understand why the Mets would be hesitant to give another deal like that to Reyes. However, with the current state of the Mets Fred Wilpon would be stupid to let Reyes walk away to sign with another team and give fans in Queens even less of a reason to watch the Mets.

The smart thing to do for the Mets would be to sign Reyes and build around him for the future. It would give the fans a reason for hope and keep the Mets relevant.

However, with the way that things have gone for the Mets in recent years they may do exactly the opposite. They’re not called “The Mess” for no reason you know.

Pujols Injury Leaves Cardinals Chances In Limbo

Losing Matt Holiday hurt, this hurts just a tad more.

This is so not cool if you're a Cards fan.

Albert Pujols will be out 4-6 weeks with a fractured left forearm. On a day where the St. Louis Cardinals had beat their instate rivals the Kansas City Royals to move into a tie for first place in the NL Central.

In the sixth inning Royals infielder Wilson Betemit hit a chopper to second baseman Pete Kozma who tried to make an over the shoulder throw to Pujols who stretched off of first base to keep the ball from going out of play. As he stretched, Betemit smashed into his left hand as he tried to beat the throw to, which caused Pujols to throw his glove down as he winced in pain.

Pujols left the game shortly after and missed a Skip Schumaker walk-off home run that put the Cardinals in first place. However, the loss of Pujols means a lot more at this point.

Pujols was starting to heat up after an abysmal start to the season. His .279 batting average is currently the worst of his professional career but it had risen from the .262 clip that he was at right at the beginning of June. His reemergence along with Holiday’s return and Lance Berkman’s surprise start had given the Cardinals the best 3-4-5 spot in the National League and were becoming a major force for pitching staffs to deal with.

With Pujols out, the Cardinals now have a huge hole missing in their lineup until at least August. With their pitching staff currently imploding with an ERA at 5 for the month of June the offense has had to do their fair share of heavy lifting to keep the Cards afloat. Now in order to stay atop of the Central things have to even out for the Cards to keep rolling.

Some options that the Cards have are moving Berkman to first and have John Jay move into right field. Jay is currently hitting .316 so the production batting wise will still be there.

However, there is no replacing Pujols. He has played in over 143 games in every season of his major league career and has not had one serious injury that has set him back. This injury will cost him that streak and do serious damage to the Cardinals playoff chances.

Not to mention it may hurt his market value in free agency. From all angles this injury could not have come at a worse time for Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Introducing Your First Place Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks are the biggest surprise this year in the majors.

They have one of the best bullpens in baseball and their closer has 16 saves in 16 chances.

In the last 17 games their starters are 12-2 with a 2.85 ERA.

Their offense has led the league in runs in the last 3 weeks; consider that statistic after they dealt their best power hitter in the offseason.

They’ve jumped from worst to first in their division with a blazing hot May.

Nope these aren’t the Boston Red Sox that I’m talking about, it’s the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After another slow start the D’Backs have come alive by stringing together a 19-9 month, which includes a 15-2 stretch in the last 17 games featuring a 2 game sweep of the Atlanta Braves and taking 3 out of 4 from the one-time division leading Colorado Rockies.

They’ve done it with ridiculous performances from their young starting rotation. 24 year-old Daniel Hudson has a  5-1 record with a 3.22 ERA this month, 25 year-old Josh Collmenter has allowed a total of 4 earned runs in spot start duty and 26 year-old Ian Kennedy has been lights out going 5-0 in his last 8 starts and lowering his ERA from 6.88 to 3.01. When you couple that with Putz and the bullpen and the D’Backs haven’t allowed much on the scoreboard at all this month.

What has been an even bigger surprise is their performance at the plate. Even after trading big hacker Mark Reynolds to the Orioles the D’Backs are still 4^thin the NL in strikeouts (although they’ve cut their average by 2 K’s a game), however they have a higher on base percentage as opposed to last season and lead the league in home runs and are third in total bases and RBI. Even with a slow May new third baseman Ryan Roberts has provided some much needed patience at the plate and is hitting .280 with a .388 OBP and is projected to hit 20+ home runs and only strikeout 81 times. Mark Reynolds would’ve had 81 by the end of this month.

Ian Kennedy and the rest of Arizona's staff have been lights out thus far.

(Funny stat: Mark Reynolds numbers in Baltimore: .198/7/24/.310/.384, Roberts’s stats in AZ as his replacement:  .288/7/22/.388/.476 and he has half of the strikeouts. Oh and the reliever that the D’Backs got for Reynolds named David Hernandez? He has a 1.85 ERA, 7 holds and a 1.40 WHIP as Putz’s setup man. That’s right Baltimore, you just got robbed. Thank you and please come again.)

With all of this youth taking charge and leading Arizona, it should have Kirk Gibson in the heat of the NL manager of the year race by season’s end. Gibson has turned around this team with a steady hand and lots of patience with his players at the plate.

Chris Young and Justin Upton still have very little discipline as you can tell by their high strikeout numbers and middle of the road averages. However, with those two and Stephen Drew in the 3, 4, 5 hole (not to mention a very stable Miguel Montero in the 6^th hole) they do drive in a lot of runs. They also mash out lots of home runs as well (except Drew who only has 3) as they have 5 players with six or more including Upton who has 10.

If you’re wondering if these kids in the desert can keep this hot streak going consider their schedule. Their toughest opponents in the next month are the Cleveland Indians and they get them at home at the end of June. They play six with the Marlins and have three with Divisional rival San Francisco; the rest of their schedule is easy when you look at win percentages as they don’t play a team above third place except the Indians in the entire month of June.

What is currently a ½ game lead in the west over San Fran could be even larger as the Giants face St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Colorado all in the next month with all of those teams in early pennant races. Things are lining up nicely in Arizona as we speak.

I must admit that it was weird to look up at the standings and see Arizona on top of a division that features the defending champs, three possible Cy Young candidates and two MVP contenders. However, what Arizona is doing is just plain old impressive.

They’re pitching better than anyone else and with the heat of summer turning up, Upton, Young and the rest of their free swinging lineup should do just fine in making those leads stand up.  Something tells me that it’s going to be hotter than usual in the desert this summer.

Baseball Preview Day 7: The Season Preview

The Giants begin their title defense.

The human arm was never meant to throw any object over 70 mph… it certainly wasn’t meant to do it over, and over, and over again 30-80 times a year for 10+ years.

Unfortunately for that theory grown men have been doing it for over 100 years in this little game we like to call baseball. And without pitching your chances of doing anything remotely impressive during the season will be as slim as Tim Lincecum.

Pitching is the most important part of the game of baseball. Teams with good pitching do better than teams without it. Sure you could score a lot of runs, win some games and it could be a bunch of fun. However, more than likely if you don’t have a decent two or three starters or a semi-decent bullpen then your season is over by the time the NFL heads into training camp (assuming of course that we have an NFL season this year.).

The old adage that good pitching beats good hitting is as solid as defense wins championships. Look at last year’s World Series for example; the Rangers for 11 years have been a team predicated on mashing the ball out of the yard and they do so at a great rate with Josh Hamilton and company. Yet after getting by Tampa Bay and the Yankees they had the pleasure of facing the best young staff in the Majors and they got smoked. Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner shut them down and brought home San Fran’s first baseball title and first pro sports title since Steve Young and the 95 49ers.

Before that the threesome of C.C. Sabathia, Andy Pettite and A.J. Burnett limited the Philadelphia Phillies potent offense in 2009, and the Phillies did it to Tampa before that.

The Rangers, Phillies and Rays were all teams that scored a lot of runs and did it at a great rate. However, once Cole Hamels, C.C. and Lincecum started to locate, their runs were over.

How important is pitching? Teams trade away the farm for it and stockpile it as if a nuclear strike were happening and the only supplies you could use were toilet paper, water and a left-handed flame thrower.

Without C.C. Sabathia they Yankees dont win the 2009 World Series

The Angels were so desperate to make a run at the AL West last year that they traded a young gun in Joe Saunders for a proven ace in Dan Haren. The Red Sox shelled out 80 million dollars for John Lackey who is at best a number 3 starter. The Mets gave up 4 major leaguers and cash for Johan Santana. The Yankees wouldn’t get Santana because it would’ve meant parting with Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. The pitching market is like the drug market, its risky and more times than not you’ll get burned, but you got something good you feel on top of the world.

Pitching means everything. If St. Louis would’ve lost Colby Rasmus for the season you figure that Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols could step up. But losing Adam Wainwright knocks you out of the race for NL Central because he’s an ace on most teams but he’s your number 2 guy.

How have the Giants been able to overcome their offensive deficiencies and Barry Zito’s horrendous 7 year/$126 million dollar signing? Because, their front four have been spectacular and their bullpen was just as good.

Why didn’t the Padres win the NL West last year? Because they rode Mat Latos and had no other pitchers to back him up (that and their offense was terrible but Latos and the pen covered their tails until the last month of the year.).

It’s all due to pitching. As great as Albert Pujols is, Carpenter and Wainwright won that title in 2006. Ryan Howard is a stud, but the 08 Series belonged to Hamels. You can go back to the 90’s and the Twins, Jays and Marlins. Do they win those titles without Jack Morris, Dave Stewart and Livan Hernandez pitching lights out? Nope.

Which brings us to 2011 of course. The perennial favorites to win this year’s title are the Phillies. Why? Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels (and Joe Blanton.). That front four might be the best looking rotation in the history of the game on paper. 3 Cy Young’s, 2 rings and a lot of heat.

Philly’s acquisition of Lee made them the favorites for this year even as the Giants were still getting their names etched into their World Series trophy. Never mind that Chase Utley is banged up, and Ryan Howard has no protection in the lineup, if they score 2-3 runs a game then they’re fine.

Same for San Francisco, Atlanta and Oakland, yes the Oakland A’s have one of baseball’s best staffs with Dallas

That's Trevor Cahill, he's an A, get to know him.

Braden, Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson at the top of the rotation. Combine them with a bullpen featuring Andrew Bailey and Brian Fuentes and the A’s could make a series run at the Rangers for the top spot out west.

So who really has the best staff in baseball this year and could go for it all in October? Well as always you have to start from the bottom and work your way up, so…

30. PITTSBURGH PIRATES (last year pitching rank 30^th)

ROTATION: Kevin Correia, Paul Maholm, Ross Ohlendorf, Charlie Morton, James McDonald

James McDonald has a lot of hype and rightfully so after a pretty impressive second half last year. Unfortunately he and the Pirates are staring at another year in the NL Central basement.

29. KANSAS CITY ROYALS (LY: 29^th)

ROTATION: Luke Hochevar, Jeff Francis, Kyle Davies, Bruce Chen

They traded away Zach Greinke and only have a 4-man rotation to start with. They have a boatload of talent in the minor leagues and they may be getting a lot of playing time this year.

28. CLEVELAND INDIANS (LY: 23^RD)

ROTATION: Fausto Carmona, Carlos Carrasco, Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin, Mitch Talbot

Carmona rebounded from a rough 2009 with a decent 2010. However he’s going to need to do a lot more with this young and very raw rotation.

27. BALTIMORE ORIOLES (LY: 27^TH)

If this is your ace, then your pitching needs work.

ROTATION: Jeremy Guthrie, Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Brad Bergesen, Chris Tillman.

The Orioles added Vladimir Guerrero and Mark Reynolds to their lineup, which means we’ll be seeing lots of 6,7 run games for the O’s. the downside is that they won’t be wins with a bad pen and an iffy rotation.

(side note: can we all be in agreement that Guthrie is not a number one starter? The O’s have been trotting him out there as such but he’s never won more than 11 games and has never finished over .500. just hand the reigns over to Brian Matusz and call it a day.

26. NEW YORK METS (LY: 7^TH)

ROTATION: Mike Pelfrey, Jonathan Niese, R.A. Dickey, Chris Young, Chris Capuano

So, who here thinks Pelfrey and Dickey can replicate there seasons from last year, Niese can become a decent two before Santana returns and that Chris Young is finally healthy? Yeah me neither.

25. SAN DIEGO PADRES (2^ND)

ROTATION: Mat Latos (DL), Tim Stauffer, Clayton Richard, Aaron Harang, Dustin Moseley.

Who steps up in this rotation in Latos’s absence. Matter of fact who steps up when he’s back? While you like Richard as a number two after a pretty good campaign last year you have to be concerned that Stauffer and Moseley started 11 games total last year and that Harang has always been an up and down pitcher.

24. TORONTO BLUE JAYS (LY: 23^RD)

ROTATION: Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow, Brett Cecil, Kyle Drabek, Jesse Litsch.

Youth, youth, youth. Drabek has been a hot commodity since he was first mentioned in the Halladay talks in 2009. Brett Cecil was a beast going 15-7 with a 4.22 ERA and Morrow and Romero have amazing stuff. If they can put it all together they’ll be really good, but an questionable bullpen with Octavio Dotel and Jon Rauch leaves room for improvement.

23. WASHINGTON NATIONALS (LY:19^TH)

ROTATION: LIVAN HERNANDEZ, JOHN LANNAN, JASON MARQUIS, JORDAN ZIMMERMAN, TOM GORZELANNY

I really like the arms in Washington even without Stephen Strasburg until next year. Zimmerman could be a stud and a viable number two and Livan is a consistent, innings eater who will fill in nicely as the ace of the staff until Strasburg heals from Tommy John surgery.

Also in case you haven’t noticed, the Nats have done some nice retooling in their lineup by adding Jayson Werth and I think this is the year that Ian Desmond breaks through at the top of the order. The Nats wont be in the playoff mix but they’ll be intriguing to watch.

22. HOUSTON ASTROS (LY:17^TH)

ROTATION: Brett Myers, Wandy Rodriguez, J.A. Happ, Bud Norris, Nelson Figueroa

What I like: the front 3 of Myers, Rodriguez and Happ will give teams fits. I always liked Happ when he was a Phillie and he has a chance to be a top of the rotation guy in Houston.

What I don’t like: everything else. Figueroa as a starter? Norris who only relies on one pitch? And don’t get me started on Carlos Lee… lets just move on.

Hopefully the Cubs knew what they were doing.

21. CHICAGO CUBS (LY:21)

ROTATION: Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza, Carlos Zambrano, Randy Wells, Andrew Cashner

Garza and Zambrano, two head cases in the same rotation… 103 and counting.

20. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (LY:5^TH)

ROTATION: Carpenter, Jake Westbrook, Jaime Garcia, Kyle Lohse, Kyle McClellan

With Wainwright this is a top 10 rotation, without him they fall out of the NL Central race. Sad to say but unless Westbrook has a career year this is a wait til next year scenario.

(also, who would’ve thought that with all of the Pujols banter this offseason that Wainwright’s injury would be the ultimate doom to their year? Internally Pujols has to love this, because lets say he goes .340/45/140 and the Cardinals make the playoffs with a shoddy pitching staff. How does he not get his 30 mil a year deal?)

19. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS (28^TH)

ROTATION: Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders, Daniel Hudson, Barry Enright, Armando Gallaraga

Have you noticed that in the last year the D’Backs have fleeced the Yankees for Kennedy, the Angels for Saunders, the White Sox for Hudson who all looked better in ‘Zona than they did in their previous locations, and were able to suck the Orioles into Mark Reynolds? If Gallaraga goes 14-9 with a sub 4 ERA the Tigers will be kicking themselves in the teeth.

18. DETROIT TIGERS (LY:25^TH)

ROTATION: Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello, Brad Penny, Phil Coke

The “Yeah, but…” rotation of the decade. Scherzer and Porcello are young arms with experience, but can they be top of the rotation guys? Brad Penny has shown flashes, but his struggles in the last two years have outshined those flashes. Phil Coke… look he’s an ex-Yankee and I like him, but a starter… no.

17. NEW YORK YANKEES (LY:15^TH)

ROTATION: Sabathia, Burnett, Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia, Ivan Nova

Burnett's our number 2... lord help us.

You didn’t misread that, I have my Yankees at the bottom half of the Majors for pitching and overall this year.

You may think I’m crazy, nuts, going overboard even. The fact is that this team aint making the playoffs. Starting rotation, too many questions. Jeter leading off… not gonna work. Mark Teixeira trying to have a fast start, not gonna happen.

There are too many grey areas with this team to have faith in them. Will they win close to 90 games? Sure, why not? But contend? No way. For the first time in 15 Yankees fans will have to settle for wait til next year.

(and you can erase that top paragraph if Nova pitches as well as I think he will and this Manny Banuelos kid comes up and starts lighting it up in June. I’m realistic about this team, but I have lots of hope.)

16. TEXAS RANGERS (LY: 10^TH)

ROTATION: C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Alexi Ogando

Their best starter is also their best reliever. Their biggest mistake for this season is not starting Neftali Perez out of the gate. If Holland can figure it out finally and Lewis and Wilson recapture that postseason magic then they’ll be fine. However, it’s going to be hard when you’re not sneaking up on anyone and you’re no longer the underdog.

15. FLORIDA MARLINS (LY: 16^TH)

ROTATION: Josh Johnson, Javier Vazquez, Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad, Anibal Sanchez

I’ve wanted to pick the Marlins to win this division for years. And right when they unload Uggla who hindered them defensively, pick up Vazquez who is a remarkably better National League pitcher than he is an American Leaguer, and have and awesome rotation that’s finally healthy, the Phillies get Lee and the Braves staff returns to its mid-90’s form. Good grief.

14. LOS ANGELES DODGERS (LY: 13^TH)

ROTATION: Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilli, Hiroki Kuroda, Jon Garland

Five innings eaters with good stuff takes you a long way. Except when Jonathan Broxton is your closer. If Broxton were Heath Bell then the Dodgers would be in the top 10 and contending for the World Series. But that’s not the case.

(by the way, this maybe Matt Kemp’s last season to get his head out of his rear and become the player he should become. Mr. Hollywood should be a .320/30/100 guy right now and should be the face of this team, but his bouts with laziness and love of the limelight are hindering him. One more year of this and its bye-bye la-la land for Kemp.)

13. SEATTLE MARINERS (LY: 9^TH)

ROTATION: Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Erik Bedard, Michael Pineda

King Felix meet Michael Pineda. Take him under your wing and lead him into good habits and guide him to his American League rookie of the year award. Then say bye to him when you’re traded after this season.

12. COLORADO ROCKIES (LY: 20^TH)

If the Rockies want to contend, this guy has to step up.

ROTATION: Ubaldo Jimenez, Jorge De La Rosa, Jason Hammel, Jhoulys Chacin, Esmil Rogers

Troy Tulowitzky could win MVP, Carlos Gonzalez could win the Triple Crown, the Rockies could make the World Series… and none of this will happen unless Jimenez slaps some consistency into De La Rosa and he becomes a reliable number two.

11. ANAHEIM ANGELS (LY: 14^TH)

ROTATION: Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana, Scott Kazmir, Joel Piniero (DL)

I couldn’t tell you why, but I am not particularly thrilled with this Angels team. They have a great rotation, decent closer and a lineup that can produce 800 runs. But I just feel that this team is missing a piece. Maybe a speedster, a great reliever, something. Stay tuned.

10. MILWAUKEE BREWERS (LY: 26^TH)

ROTATION: Yovani Gallardo, Zach Greinke (DL), Shaun Marcum, Randy Wolf, Chris Narveson

As long as Greinke stays away from a basketball court this team will be dangerous. Prince Fielder in a contract year with Ryan Braun and Corey Hart will score a ton of runs, and Gallardo is the happiest man in baseball that he finally has some help in the rotation.

9. MINNESOTA TWINS (LY: 11^TH)

ROTATION: Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Brian Duensing, Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker

More important for the Twins is that Joe Nathan returns after Tommy John surgery. More importantly Justin Morneau returns from a season ending concussion. As long as they don’t play the Yankees late in the year then they’re a AL contender.

(did you know the Yankees were taking a look at reacquiring Pavano this off-season? I want to know who smacked Cashman first after hearing that possibility a Steinbrenner or Jeter?)

8. CINCINNATI REDS (LY: 12^TH)

ROTATION: Edinson Volquez, Jonny Cueto (DL) Bronson Arroyo, Travis Wood, Mike Leake

Was last year a fluke? Hardly. They get Volquez at 100% and Aroldis Chapman for a whole year. Not to mention Joey Votto and Jay Bruce leading a highly potent offense. Only one question, who’s arm will Dusty blow out first? (I joke, I joke.)

7. BOSTON RED SOX (LY: 22^ND)

If Beckett and Lackey don't return to form, you guys are going to be more than winded.

ROTATION: Jon Lester, John Lackey, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Daisuke Matzsuzaka

The Red Sox can win the World Series if:

• Josh Beckett’s back holds up
• John Lackey proves he’s worth 80 million
• Clay Buchholz proves last year was a glimpse into a promising future
• They find someone to take Dice-K’s dead weight
• Adrian Gonzalez is the real deal
• Carl Crawford doesn’t descend into an oblivion
• And if Daniel Bard becomes their closer and Jonathan Papelbon becomes Kansas City’s closer

Got it?

6. CHICAGO WHITE SOX (LY: 18^TH)

ROTATION: Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, John Danks, Jake Peavy (DL), Edwin Jackson

I’m risking my sanity again on betting that the ChiSox wont blow up into a gelatinous mess and that Peavy regains his mojo along with Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko bopping home runs at will. I give it 3 months.

5. OAKLAND A’S (LY: 5^TH)

ROTATION: Trevor Cahill, Dallas Braden, Brett Anderson, Gio Gonzalez, Brandon McCarthy

I’d like to call this one the pick that will drive my buddy Scully up a wall. I’m putting a lot of faith into a team that will score like the Nashville Predators and is relying on Josh Willingham to do the offense’s heavy lifting.

But this rotation is a dream. Cahill was a dark horse Cy Young candidate last year, Braden is coming into his own after pitching a perfect game last year and Anderson is an innings eater with great stuff. It’s a less fragile version of the staff that they had in the early 90’s and one that can carry them to the ALCS. I really believe that.

4. TAMPA BAY RAYS (LY: 8^TH)

ROTATION: David Price, James Shields, Wade Davis, Jeremy Hellickson, Jeff Niemann

Risky pick that will drive Scully mad number two. But really, who’s going to hit that rotation? The Rays have more pitching than North Korea has nukes. One problem, their closer is Kyle Farnsworth…

And with that I’ll lead into this, I like the pickups of Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon. Why? Because this team needed plate discipline and guys that could take pitches. This team strikes out so much that it’s mind-boggling. For all of their talent none of these guys can practice any patience. Now with Damon and Ramirez they get guys that can work counts, draw walks and extend at bats that will wear down pitchers.

3. ATLANTA BRAVES (LY: 3^RD)

ROTATION: Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Brandon Beachy

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Braves are back to their stellar pitching ways with Hudson, Lowe and Hanson who might be a dark horse for the Cy Young.

What’s different is the guy in the dugout. For the first time since the 80’s Bobby Cox is not managing the Braves. Fredi Gonzalez takes over for one of the game’s winningest managers and the Braves most memorable personality.

What he leaves behind is a team that could be a World Series contender if things fall into place. Besides the starters the lineup gets a huge boost with the acquisition of Dan Uggla and Jason Heyward looks to improve on an impressive rookie season.

But the key is the rotation and bullpen, Jurrjens and Hanson are improving everyday and Hudson, though not an ace, is a quality start every time he goes out. However, if Lowe cant pitch consistently the Braves wont make it to September. Lowe is this staff’s most important cog because of his experience and ability to make enough pitches to extend his starts into the sixth and seventh innings. If he can’t do that then the bullpen will have a hard time closing games out even with Scott Linebrink and George Sherrill bringing the heat.

As Lowe goes, this team goes.

2. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (LY: 1^ST)

Sick of us yet?

ROTATION: Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Sanchez, Bumgarner, Zito

Best staff and bullpen in the game period. You cant, and wont score runs on them. Even with Brian Wilson on the shelf for a month Sergio Romo will be able to hold it down until he returns.

The concern is can they stand the heat being the defending champs? They have to deal with every team’s best shot all year long and have to consistently score runs, which is something that they struggled with last year.

However, the offense has more pop this year with Buster Posey playing a full season and Pablo Sandoval dropping 40 pounds. (plus Brandon Belt coming up sooner than later, write that down.).

Plus, this is the freaking Giants. They’re the most loose, free spirited team in the league. They got this.

1. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (LY: 6^TH)

ROTATION: Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt, Blanton

No Utley, no Lidge, no problem. The scariest rotation since the mid-90’s Braves. Have fun National League.

So with Philly as the number one pitching staff in the league then you’re thinking that I’m picking them to win the World Series… well not exactly.

They’ll make the Series, but Boston will win it. Why? Even with all of those concerns you feel like Boston will put it together. Beckett will be healthy, Buchholz will have a great follow up season and Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford will be spectacular. They tried the whole defense and pitching thing last year but decided to make their line up manlier and it will pay off.

The have enough pitching and their guys can pitch when it counts. I like the Phillies but I wonder if Hamels is all the way back mentally and how will Halladay pitch in big game situations because against the Giants last year it wasn’t well.

The Sox have those type of guys and they’re on a mission. After an abysmal 2010 the Sox are going for broke and don’t be surprised if they come up all roses.

Wow, I picked the Red Sox to win it all, I feel dirty.

You’re probably wondering, “wait a minute, if they don’t have the best pitchers how can they have the best team after your argument.” Because sometime it’s not how much pitching you have, but the right pitching. That’s baseball for ya.

AL EAST- RED SOX

AL CENTRAL- WHITE SOX

AL WEST- A’S

AL WILDCARD- RAYS

NL EAST- PHILLIES

NL CENTRAL- BREWERS

NL WEST- GIANTS

NL WILDCARD- BRAVES

ALCS- RED SOX- A’S

NLCS- PHILLIES- GIANTS

WORLD SERIES- RED SOX- PHILLIES

NL MVP- PRINCE FIELDER

NL CY YOUNG- ROY HALLADAY

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR- BRANDON BELT

NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR- RON ROENICKE

AL MVP- EVAN LONGORIA

AL CY YOUNG- JON LESTER

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR- MICHAEL PINEDA

AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR- BOB GEREN

Baseball Preview Day 6: The Philly Phab Phour

Everything is sunny in Philadelphia.

We in sports have become obsessed with cliques, crews, Big 3’s and things like that. We marveled at how Miami was able to bring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh together, we salivated over the possibility of Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson catching passes from Carson Palmer, and we marveled at how the Celtics brought Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce together.

 

This past winter, the Philadelphia Phillies trumped them all.

 

When Cliff Lee announced that he was signing with Philly Monday December 12^th it sent shockwaves throughout baseball.

 

Lee was the coveted prize of the free agent market and the two teams that had the inside track on him were the Yankees (of course), and the team that traded for him the Texas Rangers. But when it flashed across most TV screen that he was going back to Philly (who traded him to get Roy Halladay) people began placing their bets for the 2011 season.

 

It was clear that at that point the Philadelphia Phillies were the favorites to win the World Series in 2011.

 

Pitching wins championships, and if that’s the case then why not hand them the trophy right now. The Phillies rotation is a who’s who of the best in the game on the mound in any situation.

 

Roy Halladay is the ace. A two-time CY Young winner with amazing control who is coming off of his best season ever going 21-10 with a 2.19 ERA and two no-hitters. Following him is Lee, arguably the best lefty in the game with a penchant for coming up big in big situations (ask the Yankees about that). Following him is Roy Oswalt who was trapped in Houston letting his powerful fastball and pinpoint consistency be overshadowed by the team’s recent downturn before the Phillies added him before last year’s trade deadline. Lastly there sits Cole Hamels. Hamels was once thought to be the future ace of the Phillies and proved it with a 2008 postseason to remember when he led Philly to its first World Series title since 1980. Hamels was the World Series MVP and was primed to start a gigantic run as one of baseball’s best lefties before a lackluster 09 kept him down. Last year saw Hamels get back on track with a sub 3 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, not bad for your fourth starter. Oh yeah and there’s Joe Blanton… he’s got a ring too as the number 5 starter… no biggie.

In case you were wondering Joe Blanton is also in the Phillies rotation.

When looking at that rotation on paper its no wonder that everyone from the media, to the bloggers, to the casual fans began fawning over them even before pitchers and catchers reported.

 

This staff brings back memories of the mid-90’s Atlanta Braves with John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Steve Avery taking the hill and straight owning opponents.

 

However, its time to rain on Philly’s parade just a little.

 

As impressive as this staff is they might not even be the best staff in the National League, let alone baseball. Out west the San Francisco the Giants are the defending world champs with 4 of the best young arms in the game (and Barry Zito) and, oh by the way, they beat this same Philly team last October.

 

Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Bumgarner are just as good and just a talented as Philly’s Phab Phour and they’ve proven it. The Giants are lying very low as possible title contenders and they have as much claim to throne as anyone.

 

Also Philly might want to take a look in its own division for some competition. The Atlanta Braves have their most potent staff in years with Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens and Brandon Beachy. With that rotation and the addition of Dan Uggla to the lineup Philadelphia wont just run away with the division like everyone expects.

For the first time in years the Phillies wont need to rely on Ryan Howard and the offense to do the heavy lifting.

Speaking of offense, can Philly score enough runs to win ball games? I know, I know, that sentence sounds foolish when talking about the Phillies because over the last few years they’ve been one of baseball’s best run producing machines.

 

However, Chase Utley is still banged up, without him in the lineup or Jayson Werth for that matter, Ryan Howard might put up career low numbers and Jimmy Rollins is coming off of back-to-back poor seasons. It sounds weird to say but what may hold Philadelphia back is their inability to produce enough runs to get victories for Halladay and company.

 

Taking all of this into consideration, Philly is still the team to beat. I’m sorry but there is nothing scarier than seeing Philly on your schedule and seeing a former World Series MVP, two former CY Young winners and one of baseball’s best power righties coming at you at any point during a series. It’s a murderers row of arms that if healthy can with 100+ games without breaking a sweat.

 

Let me ask you this; going into a series if you’re Cincinnati, Atlanta, San Fran or anyone, do you really think you can go to Philly, play games 1 & 2 against Halladay and Lee and get a split before coming home and facing Hamels and Oswalt? If you said yes then you’re a liar.

 

This staff was put together to intimidate and to win. One look at them and you walk into a clubhouse thinking please God let us get one hit. No other staff does that; no other team is like that.

 

Ever since Philly won the title in 2008, Ruben Amaro has made it a priority to stay on top and get back as much as possible. With the Lee acquisition to coincide with Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt, Amaro may have out done himself.

 

No matter the questions about the offense or the concern of the health of Brad Lidge, the Philadelphia Phillies are the World Series favorite backed by the baddest rotation in baseball. Miami might’ve gotten a lot of attention with their Big 3 but they got nothing on the Philly Phab Phour.

Baseball Preview Day 5: Jeter At A Crossroad

Derek Jeter is now in the twilight of his career.

In my early years of watching baseball I fell in love with a bunch of players. I loved Andre Dawson and his power and defensive skills, I loved Ryne Sandberg because I always wanted to be a middle infielder, and I loved Mark McGwire and his unmatched power at the plate.

However, I’ve never loved a player like I do Derek Jeter.

Ever since his rookie year in 1996 I’ve followed Jeter closely, defended him in silly arguments against haters who downplay his importance to the Yankees. I’ve bought his Jordan brand sneakers, three screen-print jerseys, annoyed every one of my friends by stating his greatness (or overstating it depending on who you ask.).

To say that I’ve been a little obsessed with Jeter is an understatement. Jeter has been the quintessential Yankee. He has five rings, a World Series MVP, he’s made plays that have defied logic, he’s come through with clutch hits so many times that I’ve lost count. When he retires he will be remembered as possibly the greatest Yankee ever. And that day of retirement is slowly approaching.

Jeter is now 37 years old. He is coming off of the worst statistical season of Hall of Fame career. He set career lows in batting average and on-base percentage and had his lowest totals in home runs and RBI since 2003 when he missed the first two months with a separated shoulder. There were times when I remembered watching him at the plate and I said to myself “maybe he should move down in the lineup.” In fact I wrote a blog about it in anger. Yep I was angry at Derek Jeter for the first time in my life.

However, it’s not his fault that he’s no longer a top of the order guy. It’s called age and no one can escape it.

Jeter is at the point of his career where you can’t count on him to come through in the late innings like he did in the early 2000’s. He can’t sprint across the field and flip balls to Jorge Posada, cant range to his left and jump off of his back foot and throw a strike to first base from mid-air; it’s not feasible at this point.

Unfortunately plays like "The Flip" will no longer be feasable for Jeter to perform.

However, his demise in some ways has been greatly exaggerated. Last year after winning his 4^th gold glove, critics bashed Jeter’s selection saying that he was unworthy of the award due to his lack of range and how his saber metrics numbers just didn’t add up.

(Ok, listen. People hate Derek Jeter I get it. People have gone to great lengths to downplay his skills in the field whether it is in books on defense or with this saber metrics crap. But saber metrics is the most meaningless mathematical equation in sports. That’s right, more than RPI rating, passer rating and the BCS. Saber metrics is some stupid number that judges a players skill through objective views and people use it as a basis to prove that some players are better than others.

Last year people were saying that Alexei Ramirez deserved the Gold Glove because his saber metrics numbers were better than Jeter’s… Ramirez 20 errors and a .974 fielding percentage… Jeter led the league with the fewest errors (20) and the highest fielding percentage (.989). It’s like going car shopping; do you want the car loan with the highest interest rate or the lowest one? Exactly. Shut up.)

I understand to the eye that Jeter isn’t as good in the field as he was 10 years ago, but he’s not a liability like Manny Ramirez. He’s still a very capable shortstop and is able to make plays when they are needed.

What does scare me is that this year his regression could coincide with the simultaneous regression of Alex Rodriguez and that could spell trouble if the Yankees have two DH’s playing on the left side of the infield and Jorge Posada is already occupying that spot as we speak.

The fact is that Jeter isn’t the only player at a crossroads in an organization that is at one collectively. This Yankees team is by far the weakest one in years. There are questions about Jeter, A-Rod, the pitching, the youth, who’s going to hit, who’s on their way out and what’s next for the Yankees after this year?

Deals that need to get done, and soon, are for Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher. Jorge Posada is on his way to retirement and Jesus Montero is waiting in the wings to take his place. The Yankees farm system is one of the best in the Majors and Brian Cashman and company are wondering whether or not to let em rip, or keep spending money on free agents.

Jeter is essentially the least of the Yankees worries. However, he still represents a large part of this team.

He is still the face of the Yankees. He is 76 hits away from becoming the only Yankee to have 3,000 hits during his life time with the team. He is on the verge of owning 5 more Yankee records during the next 3-4 years in New York. He is still the main attraction of the team even in his final years.

That’s why this fall’s contract negotiation mess was so disheartening for all that were involved. Jeter was asking for too much money even with all of the possible approaching accolades and the Yankees front office let the talks drag on and become public. It left a sour taste in Jeter’s mouth as it did with the fans and the front office.

It made me wonder how the most famous player, and arguably the game’s most important one, could seemingly be undervalued by the team that he brought back to prominence.

Derek Jeter face has been that of the Yankees and other business ventures off of the field.

A deal did get done but not without more public anguish. How could they spend almost 60 million on a guy that is coming off of his worst season and aint getting younger? Here’s my counter, how did Mike Hampton, Carlos Beltran, Mo Vaughn and Albert Belle get gigantic deals when they never really proved their worth?

Jeter’s deal is for services rendered. He was the best shortstop in the league for years. He led the Yankees to 5 titles; the team has made the playoffs every year that he has been in the league except one. He’s an 11-time all-star, SI sportsman of the year, was one of the game’s most consistent players for over 11 consecutive years. If anyone deserves one last big pay day it’s him.

Am I biased? Of course I am I’m a Yankees fan. I’ve seen five parades in Manhattan; I have countless championship tees and hats since 1996. I’ve spent hours of my life in front of TV living and dying with this team in the last 15 years and it’s been due to their success thanks to Derek Jeter.

Was he as powerful as Miguel Tejada or Alex Rodriguez? No. was he better defensively than Omar Vizquel? No. was he a better hitter than Nomar Garciaparra? No. did he play at a higher level than any of those other guys from that era of shortstops, more consistently and with more success than any of them? Yes.

That’s who Jeter was and is. He’s not intimidating, he’s not going to leave you in awe of his raw talent and skill, but he will outwork you and leave it all on the field when it’s all said and done. That’s why Jeter ran into seats for a foul ball during a May game against the Red Sox, that’s why he became Mr. November versus the Diamondbacks, that’s time and time again in every situation people counted on Jeter to lead the Yankees to victory, and he did it more times than not.

But those days are unfortunately over. As Jeter inches closer to every conceivable Yankee record he also comes closer to the end of his brilliant career.

This Derek Jeter that we’ll see in the next 3-4 years won’t be as great as the one that we’ve seen in the previous 15, but it will be something to watch a guy I grew up with and loved every time I watched him play become possibly the greatest Yankee to ever put on a uniform.

No book on defense, over analysis with saber metrics or criticism from an outsider can ever take that away.

Baseball Preview Day 4: Concussions In Baseball

This was the play that ended Justin Morneau's season.

Justin Morneau was 0-10 in live baseball games this spring up until this week. He was hit by a few balls and took a few good cuts, but he just couldn’t seem to get going.

 

Recovering from a concussion in baseball may be harder than one would ever think.

 

Morneau hasn’t played since July 7^th of last year when his head met the knee of Blue Jays infielder John McDonald during his attempted breakup of a double play. At first it was supposed to be a mild concussion that was going to keep him out for one-maybe two games.

 

Then the All-Star game past… then August… September… the playoffs… and a month of spring training. Morneau had not had an at-bat in over 90 games of live ball due to that one seemingly harmless play that has hurt him in the short-term and possibly could effect him for the long haul.

 

It’s also raised awareness about the severity of concussions in Major League Baseball and what the future holds for players who could end up like Morneau.

 

Concussions as you know have become a hot topic in football and hockey circles recently. Head injuries have been moved to the forefront in light of devastating injuries that have occurred recently to Sidney Crosby, Austin Collie, Marc Savard and a slew of other players.

 

Crosby’s case is similar to Morneau’s in the sense that the hit he took he took in the Winter Classic seemed relatively harmless but has kept him out for nearly 4 months.

Concussions have been a major cause for concern in the NHL and NFL.

The difference in the cases of the NFL, NHL and now the MLB is that football and hockey are much more physical sports with a higher risk for injury. The NFL reported that this year had the number of recorded head injuries in the history of the league. The news has made the league more cautious of how to handle head injuries and it is going over guidelines on how to make the league safer for players.

 

You wouldn’t think that Major League Baseball would have the same cause for concern. Even in instances when we do see a player hit in the head by a pitch or by a line drive the severity of the injury is relatively low.

 

There have been instances where I’ve seen players hit in the head by wild pitches and the fall, get up, shake it off and act like nothing happened.

 

The dynamic changed four years ago when Mike Coolbaugh, a first-base coach of the Texas league’s Tulsa Drillers was killed by a line drive in the ninth inning of a game. Ever since then first and third-base coaches have to wear batting helmets as a mandatory guideline mandated by the league.

 

However, most batting helmets protect against a certain level of speed that a ball is thrown. Most Major League batting helmets to tend to protect against speeds that hit only up to 80 mph (even Barry Zito’s fastball hits 80… sometimes). But for the most part there’s no way that those helmets are going to be useful if a Justin Verlander fastball goes AWOL and knocks a guy out.

 

In recent years, helmets have been designed to protect against 90 mph and Rawlings introduced the S100 helmet, which can protect batters against 100 mph fastballs. The thing is that these helmets are not required to be worn by teams. Simply put, baseball’s motto is, wear a helmet, it doesn’t matter what kind it is as long as you got one on. The reality is that the S100 should be a mandatory piece of equipment worn by Major league Baseball teams.

 

Then there are other instances where head injuries can occur.

Jason Bay's season was also cut short after running into a wall.

 

Mets outfielder Jason Bay suffered a season ending concussion by running into a padded wall at Dodger Stadium on July 23^rd. Anyone who watches baseball knows that those walls have as much padding as the Mets have good luck. Very little.

 

Up until the Bay injury no one has ever really though of how to make those walls safer. Now they may want to. Padded walls have led to injuries suffered by Ken Griffey Jr. and Aaron Rowand amongst others. In Bay’s case losing a guy to a concussion by running into a cement wall with 3 inches of foam padding might be cause for greater concern.

 

We always see players give up their bodies to make plays to keep a game in their favor. Now those types of plays can knock a guy out for long periods of time. I’m not saying the MLB should make outfielders wear helmets incase something were to happen, but they have to view their options before someone gets seriously injured again

 

These are issues that should be made relevant by players in the CBA talks, which will be ongoing all season as it is set to expire in December.

 

Player safety in baseball should be just as equal of a concern as it is in the NFL and NHL. Before MLB starts having the same issues as the other two sports they need to act now. They can’t afford to have many more incidents like the Morneau and Bay cases before it becomes prevalent in the national.

 

The good news is that last night Justin Morneau smacked two doubles against Boston Red Sox last night and that his fielding has been superb all spring training.

 

The Twins need him to make a deep postseason run this fall. Let’s hope he’ll be healthy enough to be there.

Baseball Preview Day 3: Meet The Mess

Fred Wilpon and the Mets are baseball's biggest joke.

Growing up in New York there are lines crossed with which baseball teams you have to follow.

 

The Bronx and Staten Island are primarily Yankees fans, Brooklyn and Queens were partial to the Mets and Manhattan is always split in half.

 

Being that I am from Brooklyn I should have been a Mets fan growing up. My mom was a Mets fan, my Dad was a Mets fan, my uncles, aunts and cousins were all Mets fans. Yet somehow during the Steve Sax, Randy Velerde and Luis Polonia days I was always partial to the Yankees.

 

I couldn’t tell you why I was more partial to the Pinstripes, but I was. Both teams had great play-by-play guys, Phil Rizzuto for the Yanks, Ralph Kiner for the Mets, both teams were at the bottom of their divisions and going to Yankee and Shea stadium really wasn’t too different to me because both places were dumps.

 

Yet I liked the Yankees more. My first games was a Yankees game, my first hat was a Yankees hat, and my favorite player at the time was still Andre Dawson so I couldn’t like the Mets anyway because I would always want Dawson’s Cubs to go off on the Mets.

 

20 years later when I look back on those times and my subconscious decision-making I’m so happy that I became a Yankees fan, because the Mets stink.

 

Actually let me rephrase that…  the Mets are the biggest mess in baseball ever.

 

As a fan of this team there isn’t a single reason that you should look forward to this season. You’re team is bleeding money thanks to the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, your lineup cant produce runs in any way shape form or fashion, your star players can’t stay on the field and your pitching staff is horrendous.

 

Mets tried to talk themselves into Oliver Perez, fail. They gave Carlos Beltran 119 million 7 years ago in hopes that he would be the piece that put them over the top, fail. They traded for Johan Santana in hopes that he would carry their staff to the top of the division, fail. Jason Bay, Luis Castillo, K-rod, J.J. Putz, fail, fail, fail.

Oliver Perez... insert joke here.

 

There have a laundry list of deficiencies that have hindered this team on off of the field. Whether its Jose Reyes’s health or K-rod knocking out his girlfriends dad, Johan’s sex scandal or the Willie Randolph firing. The Mets have been baseballs best soap opera for years and the hits just keep on coming.

 

When you look at the Mets have some talent on paper. Ike Davis was a mid-season call-up last year that showed potential and, Mike Pelfrey could possibly be a top of the rotation guy and the face of the franchise, and David Wright, is one of the best third basemen in the game. Yet on the field they have no cohesiveness, no consistency, no nothing.

Watching the Mets is like a lesson in futility. They were 24^th in the league in runs scored, hits and home runs,  22^nd in batting average, 25^th in OBP. Their pitching was mediocre as well by being 18^th in the league in WHIP and BAA, and that was due in part to Pelfrey and Santana.

 

They made mistakes in crucial situations, they were a sideshow of errors that came with a blooper reel in the field that seemed to happen every other day. There were times where I think I saw Wright mutter to himself “two more years and I’m out of here,” and I wouldn’t blame him.

 

Would you want to play for this team? This is a team with no identity, a dark future, an owner who needs money, a fan base that’s embarrassed to come to the park and watch them and in their division they are an easy choice for 5^th.

 

The Mets bad decision from the Beltran and Santana deals, to the quick trigger release of Randolph, to the Madoff scandal, have crippled them to the point where they could easily be one of the worst teams in the league.

If you were David Wright, you'd be feeling like this too.

Entering this year they don’t have Santana until the summer time, the are still concerned about Beltran’s health as well as Reyes’, and their only hope in their rotation is Chris Young, who hasn’t been healthy in 3 years, Pelfrey, Jon Niese and the ageless wonder R.A. Dickey.

 

And you thought the Yankees had pitching problems.

 

If you want any good news, Beltran’s contract comes off of the books this year and there is optimism with Davis and David Murphy possibly playing everyday, and that’s about it.

 

The rest is one big snowball that hasn’t reached the bottom of the hill yet and seems to be rolling along at a steady pace.

 

The Yankees problems with pitching, age and deciding the future of the team would be welcomed in Queens. At least have some idea about what’s going on and on what to do about it. The Mets on the other hand are taking it day-to-day, not knowing what will happen next.

 

It’s a sad story of a team that 5 years ago was a World Series contender and three years ago was a front-runner in the NL East. Nowadays they would be thankful enough to have a day without something going wrong.