Upon the Fantasy Baseball Team

Last night, we held our annual draft in the fantasy league I have been playing in since 2001. Below are the members of Team Epileptic Dogs:

C- Brian McCann

1B- Pablo Sandoval

2B- Robinson Cano

3B- Kevin Youkilis

SS- Stephen Drew

OF- Josh Hamilton, Jay Bruce, Xavier Nady

Bench- Jhonny Peralta, Cameron Maybin, Jack Cust, Jeff Franceour, Kosuke Fukudome

SP- CC Sabbathia, Francisco Liriano, Rich Harden, Jered Weaver, Andrew Miller, Jair Jurrjens

RP- Mariano Rivera, Brian Fuentes, JJ Putz, Phil Coke

I think I need some more steals, and some more saves. Thoughts?

Upon the Yankee Preview- 2nd Base

2nd Base- Robinson Cano

In 2008,  fresh-off signing a new, lucrative contract, Robinson Cano disappointed. A miserable .151 April had Cano scrambling all year to match his average outputs from previous seasons. However, he seemed to rebound after a later-season benching by manager Joe Girardi. Besides his less-than-stellar batting, the knock on Robinson was that his effort and concentration frequently waned.  

A strong spring, in which he batted .348, has the Yankees and us fans hoping that 93 run, 19 HR, 97 RBI Cano of 2007. He does posess an excellent skill-set, and can rake with the bat when he is dialed in (.342 average in 2006). He has a strong arm, but his range and quickness are not the best.  However, I do think that Tex will have an impact on some of his concentration lapses, by grabbing some throws that are headed for error-city

Prediction- .312, 17 HR, 83 RBI, 86 runs, .898 OPS

Back-up- Cano has been durable, but we could see Miranda here, or Ransom when A-rod returns.

Upon the Yankee Preview- 1st Base

Its that time of year again. Winter has given way to spring, exhibition and spring training season are winding down, and its time for baseball season again. This little blog here has tried to give an annual season preview for the Yankees since its inception, and this year will be no different. If you are out there and reading, drop a note in the comments to let me know.

1st Base- Mark Teixeira  

One of the biggest additions in an off-season of big additions, Teixeira is the Yankees new first baseman.  The Yankees emerged from the back of the pack in the sweepstakes for the free-agent slugger, and swooped in to close the deal in front of rivals like the Red Sox.  Since he is new to the team, some quick bullets on Tex (as he will be known moving forward, since his name is long and hard to spell)

• He’s a switch-hitter who mashes. Since breaking into the big leagues, he has averaged 101 runs scored, 36 HR, 121 RBI, and a .919 OPS. While his numbers before arriving in NY mirror Giambi’s before his arrival, we have to hope he won’t experience the same slow decline. We live in an era where PED are always a concern, but they have not been attached to Tex anywhere.
• He’s good with the glove. Tex can really pick-it at first base, which is often something teams are forced to live without from a 1B slugger. He will not resemble Giambi at all in this facet of his game.
• He is, by all accounts, a great guy around the clubhouse. This will play into an overall change for the Yankees, where the stars can also be the teams best guys to be around. For a new mega-bucks star to also be gregarious is a major plus.
• He has thrived in different environments. Though it seems to defy logic for a player of his calibre, the Yankees will be the 4th team in 6 years. After stints in Texas and Atlanta, Tex settled with the LAA last season, before coming to the Bronx. In each ballpark, and against NL and AL pitching, Tex has been a stud. Fans should have little concern about his transition to a new team, ballpark, and city.

Prediction- .295, 30, 118, 98 runs, .922 OPS

Back-up- Nick Swisher is expected to be a super-utility man, and will see time at first on rest/DH days for Tex.

Upon the World Baseball Classic

With a 9-4 victory over the United States last night, Japan punched their ticket to the World Baseball Classic final against South Korea. You may not have noticed the elimination our “national team”, even though many MLB stars played for the USA, and the game was carried on ESPN. With baseball being ostensibly the national passtime, and national bragging rights on the line, why does it seem that so few people cared? Why does a good idea in theory seem like it will have a tough time staying relevant. I have a few theories.

March has long belonged to NCAA basketball, and likely always will. You can throw just about anything against the Big Dance, and chances are you are going to lose. Anyone catch the debut of the 2009 MLS season? Me neither. (not that many were checking for it).  By last night, many from the pool of sports fans who may have cared about the WBC had also seen 4 days of NCAA, a NASCAR race at Martinsville, and a golf tournament. Baseball draws from across demographics, and many of their potential eyes may have already been on sports overload.

Also, this is spring training time for baseball. Teams are sending some of their stars to go and play, but MLB is not an American league. I believe American MLB fans would prefer to see their teams American, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Japanese…etc, players with their MLB uniform on getting ready for the season. Perhaps there is some degree of nationalism for people, but I would contend that it exists largely among fans of the non-US teams.

It seems many MLB teams are not keen on having their stars playing hard, meaningful games, when they should be gradually easing into game shape. Several of the world’s best players are not in action at the WBC. This tournament is a far cry from the World Cup in soccer, or the rugby tournament, or the Olympics. What we do have is a curiosity, more than a nation vs nation battle for supremacy. Would this idea work better in November? Possibly, but then you have the worn out stars from playoff teams who may be out of commission.

USA basketball shook off several years of embarassment in the 2008 Olympics by preparing for several years to create “The Redeem Team”. We are convinced of our superiority on the world basketball stage, and worked to create a team that would put it on display. The best American players were selected to try out, and the best team was selected based on team-cohesion as much as individual ability. The result was a dominating gold medal performance. While the NBA does have a significant international presence, the game is still largely American, and its best players are still mostly produced in this country. Not so with baseball.

MLB teams have embraced the international player fully, and the best teams have a large mix of players. Take the Yankees for example:

1B- USA

2B- Dominican

SS-USA

3B- USA/Dominican

RF-USA or USA

CF- DR or USA

LF- USA or Japan

C-PR

SP- 4-USA 1-Taiwan

Closer- Panama

I don’t know anyone who likes a Yankee more or less because of his ethnicity, though I am sure there are some fans who hail from the same non-US countries as some of the Yankees who support their countrymen more.

The US is an immigrant nation by-and-large, and even those who have been here for generations have grown up around people from many nations. The USA is included in the WBC because we are credited as the nation who created the game, and our country is home to the biggest baseball league and the best players come here to play. Even the Japanese studs have begun making it over here more and more. However, we do not have a singular ethnocentrism to appeal to, which might make fans flock more to the WBC.

The USA is more state and city-centric, and in the case of baseball it makes more sense to root for our hometown than our home nation.

Upon Halls of Fame (Music & Sports)

As referenced in the below post, Country Universe recently addressed the issue of inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame, relative to their musical statistics. The author drew an analog between sports and music in this regard. I found the topic interesting, and decided to share my thoughts.

Hall of Fame debates have always been hotly contested. There are those individuals who are univerally considered to be Hall of Fame calibre, often referred to as “first-ballot Hall of Famers”, indicating that they either have been, or are sure to be, voted into the Hall of Fame as soon as they are eligible. In my view, these are individuals whose career accomplishments leave little room for debate as to their place among the greatest people ever to have done something (played a sport, recorded music…etc). While undeniably great, first-ballot Hall of Famers are also few and far between.

The inclusion of other individuals in the Hall of Fame is more subject to debate, which is where their statistics come into play. For athletes, their statistical accomplishments may lead to their popularity.  There is certainly a correlation between statistical production and popularity; players who put up big numbers tend to be popular among their fans.  However, there are also extremely popular players whose accomplishments are not as statistically impressive. Similarly, there are artists whose statistics (album sales, tour revenue, #1’s) are directly tied to their popularity among fans. However, there are also artists with a devoted following, who may never reach the statistical peaks of their peers.

So how is the call for the Hall of Fame made?  Which statistical benchmarks provide the line of demarcation?

Sandy Koufax and Patsy Klein? Walter Payton and Hank Williams Sr. All individuals who in a brief period of time (relative to their peers) made an indellible impact on their respective industries. All are in the Hall of Fame

Kenny Rogers and Bert Blyleven? Hank Williams Jr. and Pete Rose? Individuals whose career numbers stand among the best in history, but for some reason have not gotten the call to the Hall. 

I know that there is a musical equivalent to Joe Namath as well; someone famous for one spectacular accomplishment (in Namath’s case, the Super Bowl III guarantee), whose overall numbers don’t necessarily match those of other Hall of Famers.

Any thoughts on this side? What makes a Hall of Famer?

Upon Professional Courtesies

Yesterday, my good friend Kevin decided to link to my blog on his website Country Universe. I mention the distinction of blog vs website, because we both started from the same place. Kevin mentioned in 2004 that he had started a blogspot.com blog, and he suggested I might want to do the same. I did, and we both started posting semi-regularly. Fast forward to 2009. Kevin’s blog has now become a respected country music website, complete with an excellent staff of writers, which provides just about everything a country music fan could ask for online. I take pride in having witnessed the site’s inception, and in having been along for the whole ride. Currently, I am much more of a lurker than a member of the community, as I am not an avid country fan. However, I am able to keep current on many things in the genre just by reading the site and the comments.

The foregoing is a roundabout way of acknowledging Kevin’s shout-out to this humble little blog, as well as an opportunity for me to again link to a site which shows what I one day hope to turn “The Widening Geier” into; a legitimate website. At the risk of appearing to be a mutual admiration society, I am glad to provide an informative online destination for someone whose site is a good deal more so for me. If anyone from CU happens upon my blog as a result of Kevin’s link, please excuse the humble surroundings, but feel free to stay and look around, comment…etc.

Upon Under-reaction

As a sports fan in New York, I feel that one has to adopt a policy of under-reaction. New Yorkers live in a passionate sports city. We also live in one of the great media centers of the world. If it can pass for news, it will run. We experience all of our news media the way much of the US experiences the Internet. TV, talk radio, newspapers…etc, if its deals with New York sports we are on it, and in most cases people are overreacting. Some examples:

Joba Chamberlain had some shaky spring training outings…..in his first two starts of the spring. This got the NY media buzzing. The struggles didn’t come in game action, or even in a real spring session (6 innings or so). His velocity was down in the little BS 1-2 inning starts that all pitchers go through when they are working their arm back into shape. However, you wouldn’t know it from reading the media reports. The same goes for Johan Santana’s health with the Mets. It should raise people’s interest when a multi-million dollar pitcher who is the ace of the team has some arm trouble. However, the panic that set in among writers and pundits was unbelievable. People were writing the Mets off before first week of March.

I understand that we live in a city with a fiercely competitive media market; where the eyes and ears of millions of fans are up for grabs. Unfortunately, I believe that this competition is responsible for a good degree of sensationalism in our sports coverage, where small things are blown entirely out of proportion.

People may scoff at the notion in other parts of the country, but I am convinced that being an athlete in New York is entirely different than playing anywhere else. Sure there are other passionate cities, and sure there are teams that play in other media markets. However, I would contend that there is nowhere else in the sports world where such a perfect storm exists. That is why I have adopted a policy of under-reaction toward just about everything I read, hear, and view.

Upon Phil Coke

I want to get myself on record about Phil Coke. I have had my eye on this kid for a while now, and I really think he has a chance to be a good pitcher for the Yankees.  

People like to take credit for noticing a player before anyone else. Obviously, if a player makes the minor leagues, much less the majors,countless eyes have been on him for years. I am not claiming to be some crazy advanced scout who has discovered a 13 year old Venezuelan playing on a dirt field with a milk carton for a glove. What I am attempting to do by writing about Coke here is to have a written record to back up the fact that I was onto what I believe will be a special player before others in my circle (friends, fans, and the major coulmnists I read/sports outlets I view).

I barely registered Coke when he was a September call-up last season. Many times, guys will come and get thier cup of coffee in the bigs when the rosters expand, and then fade back into the ether. A call-up to the 40 man roster can be a reward for a good season in the minors, giving guys a chance at the big time, albeit briefly.  Coke was a lefty who came in and made a minor impression. Good fastball, good slider.  As the Yankees played out the string, and finally lost the game that put the playoffs out of reach, the closing of the Stadium began to dominate all the Yankee news.

During the offseason, a co-worker and I continued an arguement which began from a post on this site, regarding the value of ERA. One of us, I forget who, made the joke: “Well, if ERA is the sole factor, Phil Coke is better than Mariano Rivera.”  “He might be the best pitcher in baseball”, the other jokingly replied.

When the Yankees began their high-priced signings, we would always go over how stacked the roster was, and throw in at the end “Plus, we have quite possibly the best pitcher in baseball…Phil Coke”. An inside joke had gotten some legs.

Soon, I found myself wondering about this guy who I talked about regularly, but didn’t really know much about. In 2008, Coke got into 12 games with the Yankees, pitching 14.7 innings. He allowed 8 hits, 1 earned run, and struck out 14. He finished with a 0.61 ERA and .682 WHIP. It would be silly to get worked up over numbers like that, especially considering the sample size. I did like the number of strikeouts, and the strikeout to walk ratio.

So what about his numbers in the minors? In 2007 with Tampa, he went 7-3 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.3 WHIP. He struck out 76 and walked 37 in 99 IP. He allowed just 4 HR. In 2008, he went 9-4 at Trenton with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He struck out 115 and walked 39 in 118 innings. At Scranton he went 2-2 with a 4.67 ERA in only 17 innings of work. He struck out 22 and walked just 5.

At the age of 25 Coke had shown himself to be an improving lefty, with good strikeout ability. He won the Kevin Lawn award as the Yankees Minor League Pitcher of the Year. The Yankees included this paragraph about him in the article:

Coke, 26, combined at Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to go 11-6 with a 2.79 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 37 games (21 starts) in 2008. The lefthander ranked third among Yankees farmhands in strikeouts, fourth in wins and sixth in ERA. He was selected to the Eastern League’s postseason All-Star team as the league’s top left-handed pitcher after ranking second on the circuit in ERA (2.51). As a September callup by the Yankees, Coke went 1-0 and allowed only one earned run in 14.2 innings pitched (0.61 ERA), including 11.2 scoreless innings over his first 10 Major League outings. Following the season, he was ranked as the organization’s eighth-best prospect by Baseball America 

Watching him in the Spring, I think this kid looks like the real deal. So there you go, I’m on board the Phil Coke bandwagon, and I am driving it as far as anyone I regularly talk to about baseball.

Upon Recent Events

Bullet style today-

• The Knicks picked up some new players before the trading deadline. Malik Rose (or more specifically his expiring contract) was moved to Phoenix for Chris Wilcox. Not much of an impact expected from that move. Then, the Knicks moved Tim Thomas and seldom-used Anthony Roberson to Chicago for Larry Hughes. Hughes didn’t get much run with the Bulls, and will need to get his legs back, especially in D’Antoni’s system. However, he is expected to become the Knicks starting 2-guard. The Knicks gave up players who didn’t do much for them, and got back a big-banger and a a guy who hs a chance to fit in well. The most important part of these deals though was the re-emphasis of the disparity  between old GM Isiah Thomas and new GM Donnie Walsh. The commitment to cap space is admirable, and a pleasant change from the old days of dumping our tradeable contracts for overpaid guys who didn’t fit. One scary part about the fiscal focus of the Knicks is illuminated in this article.
• Spring training games have begun, and the Mets and Yankees are getting busy. Two early sources of concern have emerged (aside from, you know, that whole A-Rod thing). Jorge Posada, who has been playing largely as a DH, has missed the last two games with some soreness in his surgically repaired shoulder.  Posada had been hitting well, and the Yankees are looking for a return to form from their anticipated everyday backstop. On the other side of town (or the other side of Florida currently) Met fans can’t be happy with the trouble that ace Johan Santana has been showing.  Reports of soreness in his elbow have to be more troubling than Posada’s injury, for several reasons. 1) Santana is also coming off surgery, but his knee is not what is bothering him. An elbow injury is always a huge red flag  for a pitcher. 2) The Mets are highly dependent on Santana repeating or exceeding his 2008 performance. He has to be good-to-great for the Mets to entertain thoughts of the playoffs. Last year the bullpen of the Mets squandered mny games that Santana probably deserved to win. Without a healthy Santana, all the Putzs and K-Rods in the world won’t help the Mets replace his production.
•     Angel Presinal aka “Mau”, has extensively trained just about every major Dominican star over the past 10+ years. Pedro, Vlad, Papi…etc. Let’s turn the microscope on them, right? His association with A-Rod is mutually damning according to many.
• The Jets picked up free agent Bart Scott, formerly of the Ravens, and  disciple of new Jet head coach Rex Ryan. Good pick-up of a guy who doesn’t mug like Ray Lewis and Terrel Suggs, but gets the job done. The Jets also made a trade for Eagles CB Lito Sheppard, who is expected to slot in opposite Darelle Revis in the starting lineup. Ryan is known as a defensive specialist, and the Jets appear to be conducting a strong defensive team. On the offensive side of the ball, guard Brandon Moore, who was released earlier this week signed back up with the team. His signing means that the Jets will return their entire offensive line from last year, and it is worth noting that running back Thomas Jones led the AFC in rushing behind that line, and Leon Washington hit many homeruns.

More tomorrow.