Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Top 5 Moments In Baseball From 2013

As we close out 2013 and have our eyes already on spring training, I would like to take one more look back and rate the top 5 moments from 2013. While it is impossible to get this list totally right, I believe that these are the biggest moments of the year. Take a look and enjoy 2013!

5. The Pittsburgh Pirates Make the Playoffs.

The Pirates made the playoffs for the first time since 1992. The Pirate fans have suffered for a long time and the baseball god's finally came through for them After a few recent second half collapses the time held it together and even won the wild card game. With a super star in Andrew McCutchen and young arms like Gerrit Cole and Jeff Locke, this team should be set for a few more playoff runs over the next 3-5 years.


4. More PED Scandals

After MLB dropped the hammer on players a few years ago I was naive enough to think that players would have learned their lesson. I was wrong. The actions of Ryan Braun in particular really castes a shadow on the integrity of the game. It was more understandable for marginal players to cheat, but when top tier players are suspended it kills the game. By the way, I will not even give A-rod more than this mention.

3. Max Scherzer Wins The Cy Young

I honestly thought that Max Scherzer was going to win 30 games this year. Absolutely amazing season for a team that most people thought would win the world series. He finished with an insane 21-3 record while going 2-1 in the playoffs. He tailed off a bit at the end of the regular season, but he was solid for the Tigers as they ran into a team of destiny in the Red Sox.


2. Yasiel Puig Mania

What a fun player to watch. The best thing you can say about Puig (from a fans perspective) is that you never know what he is going to do. This drives managers and coaches crazy, but his go for broke on every play attitude is something that is missing from the game these days. Baseball needs a human highlight film like this and I can not think of a better place than L.A. for this type of player. It's gonna be a fun 2014 for him and the Dodgers.

1. The Boston Red Sox

What a likable team (if you do not live in New York). They have personality, they hustle and they all have nicknames. Big Papi and the bearded bunch will go down in history as one of the most unlikely world series winners ever. In spring training this team looked like it was starting a long rebuilding process. This shows that there is more to the game of baseball than big payrolls and big names. It is a team sport and even more than that. The way the team and organization rallied around the Boston community after the bombing truly showed their connection to Boston is the strongest in professional sports.




Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Race To Get Masahiro Tanaka

Well, it looks like the Yankees have already jumped into the race to get Masahiro Tanaka. I have always found these bidding wars for foreign players very interesting. There have been some big payoffs and there have been a few Jose Contreras's. But with the success Yu Darvish has had, teams are now very eager to give these guys a chance. From what I've seen Tanaka looks like he could jump in and dominate right now. On film it is quite clear that he has a great splitter and slider. he also possesses a deceptive delivery like most Japanese pitchers. I have included a few links below so you can get other takes on this guy.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/richard-justice-masahiro-tanaka-may-yield-big-returns-on-investment?ymd=20131226&content_id=66197088&vkey=news_mlb

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/nyy/yankees-among-first-clubs-to-contact-tanaka?ymd=20131228&content_id=66220090&vkey=news_nyy

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/68159/tanakas-gift-to-baseball

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20131227/masahiro-tanaka-major-league-baseball-value/

Monday, December 23, 2013

BaseballCardSpot.com

After a few weeks of hard work I have launched the website BaseballCardSpot.com. This website is designed with the average collector in mind. There are easy links to purchase baseball cards and informative stories (soon to come) about collecting. I hope to make this an online resource for collectors.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Curtis Granderson and Bartolo Colon

These were two very good signings for the Met's. After years of sitting out of the free agent market they jumped back in and made a few smart moves. Sandy Alderson knew that the team need to make some big changes in the outfield. While both Chris Young and Curtis Granderson were not coming off of good years in 2013, they have major talent and a high upside. Adding Bartolo Colon for only 2 years is a smart stop gap in their young pitching staff. I'm sure the young arms can learn something from this crafty veteran as well. The team also stayed away from long term contracts that could come back to haunt them. No 8 year $100 million plus contracts to have to unload. I'm still not convinced this team will make the playoffs, but if they are able to get a first baseman I might change my mind. They also need a another arm in the bullpen, but doesn't every team.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Robinson Cano To The Mariners

When a team wants to over pay like this it's very hard to compete with them. While the Mariners are making other moves to try and build a winner, it is going to be very hard to just throw together expensive pieces and win a pennant. I believe the Yankees did the right thing in not re-signing Robinson Cano. He's nor Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera or Andy Pettitte. He is a solid second baseman and maybe a future hall of famer if he puts up some big numbers, but he is not a brand like the others I mentioned. The Yankees will surely waste some of the money that they saved. The Carlos Beltran deal might not work out. The Jacoby Ellsbury deal might go south as well. The thing is, is that the $240 million they saved can go a long way at making many small mistakes, and this is the Yankee way. By small mistakes I mean $50-$100 million dollar deals, since it's New York We are talking about. I'm sure the Mariners and their fans are happy, so for now both sides are content. The winner in the end once again is the players union.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Will K.C. Bring Carlos Beltran Back?

Is it possible that after years of being a developmental team for the Yankees and other contending teams that the Royals will now do the right thing? By bringing Carlos Beltran back they can make a real run at the post season, create fan excitement and possibly have a class act retire and go into the hall of fame as a Royal. In my opinion the Royals need to spend whatever they need to spend to bring Beltran back at this point. The idea of this homecoming has already created more buzz for Royal fans who were already expecting big things next year. The recent articles make it look like a very real possibility that the deal could be done soon. I also think the team could keep Billy Butler  for two more years as Beltran was an everyday play in right last season. He seems to have rebounded from his injury plagued time with the Met's. By having both of these bats plus the other hitters in that lineup, this team could go very far. Guess we will see what happens.

Update: Here are a few articles that are going both ways on the Royals obtaining Beltran. Things don't seem to be changing even though the Royals picked up Norichika Aoki.

Carlos Beltran May Not Be a Good Deal for the Royals