Friday, June 7, 2013

MLB Power Rankings: Red Sox rising

Photo by USA Today
By Steve Roney
CSNwashington.com

After taking two of three from the Rangers thanks to David Ortiz's walk-off home run last night, the Red Sox move back into the top three as the top-ranked team in the American League.

Here's how Nationals Insider Mark Zuckerman, Nats writer Chase Hughes, and I see the rest of the league shaking out:

1. St. Louis Cardinals (39-21; LW: 1) - Roney: After a stellar debut, Michael Wacha was roughed up a bit in his second start. If he can shake it off their rotation is even scarier.

2. Atlanta Braves (37-23; LW: 3) - Zuckerman: They've done a better job overcoming bullpen injuries than most expected.

3. Boston Red Sox (37-24; LW: 6) - Zuckerman: Clay Buchholz still undefeated, Boston still defying the odds after last year's disaster.

4. Cincinnati Reds (36-24; LW: 2) - Roney: Joey Votto's power has finally started to match his impressive average and on-base totals.

5. Texas Rangers (36-23; LW: 4) - Hughes: Texas has the best rotation in the American League and a top ten offense, no wonder they're winning.

6. Baltimore Orioles (34-26; LW: 12) - Zuckerman: Chris Davis is on pace for 97 homers, 246 RBI and a .734 batting average. Approximately.

7. Oakland Athletics (37-25; LW: 10) - Hughes: Josh Reddick is back and boosting an already dangerous lineup.

8. Pittsburgh Pirates (35-25; LW: 5) - Roney: They're in the middle of a 1-5 skid, but the shine still hasn't come off of their season -- a big departure from years past.

9. New York Yankees (35-25; LW: 8) - Zuckerman: If they can play this well while hurt, imagine what they might do once healthy?

10. Detroit Tigers (32-26; LW: 7) - Roney: At 29, Anibal Sanchez is having by far the best season of his career, striking out 11.3 batters per nine innings.

11. Arizona Diamondbacks (34-26; LW: 9) - Hughes: Arizona is starting to string together wins with two young stars in Paul Goldschmidt and Patrick Corbin leading the way.

12. Tampa Bay Rays (32-27; LW: 16) - Zuckerman: If they can get David Price healthy and right again, they can make their move in AL East.

13. San Francisco Giants (31-28; LW: 11) - Hughes: It looks like their starting pitching issues are starting to catch up with them.

14. Colorado Rockies (32-29; LW: 15) - Hughes: Colorado has predictably fallen back after their hot start with major troubles in the pitching department. Jorge De La Rosa (7-3, 3.10 ERA), however, is having a solid season.

15. Cleveland Indians (30-29; LW: 13) - Roney: Carlos Santana has cooled considerably, but is still on pace for a career season.

16. Philadelphia Phillies (31-30; LW: 17) - Zuckerman: 100 bucks to anyone who correctly predicted Domonic Brown would carry this lineup.

17. Washington Nationals (29-30; LW: 14) - Zuckerman: If they're going to make a move, they better do it soon.

18. Minnesota Twins (26-31; LW: 22) - Roney: Did anybody realize that Aaron Hicks, the fleet, .177-hitting center fielder, is second on the team with six home runs -- ahead of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau? Me neither.

19. San Diego Padres (28-32; LW: 19) - Hughes: Jedd Gyorko is starting to justify the preseason Rookie of the Year predictions.

20. Los Angeles Angels (26-34; LW: 20) - Hughes: They win eight straight and then lose four in a row. Both Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols look nothing like the stars they were just a year or two ago.

21. Seattle Mariners (26-35; LW: 25) - Hughes: King Felix and Hisashi Iwakuma are two legitimate studs at the top of their rotation. They alone aren't enough to offset Seattle's terrible offense, though.

22. Los Angeles Dodgers (26-33; LW: 21) - Hughes: Yasiel Puig sure looks good and could be the spark the Dodgers desperately need.

23. Chicago White Sox (25-33; LW: 18) - Roney: Chis Sale has been spectacular, but I worry about the innings on his young arm. He slowed in the second half last year, and it'll be telling if that happens again.

24. Kansas City Royals (25-32; LW: 23) - Roney: The Royals have gotten slightly more out of the plethora of blue-chip talent that they have, but both they and the Mariners seem to be filled with top prospects who can't turn the corner.

25. Toronto Blue Jays (25-34; LW: 24) - Zuckerman: You know it's bad when they're upset they had to place Ramon Ortiz on the DL.

26. Chicago Cubs (24-33; LW: 26) - Roney: After taking monster masher Kris Bryant No. 2 overall last night, they could have one extremely powerful infield (Castro, Rizzo) for years to come.

27. New York Mets (23-33; LW: 27) - Zuckerman: Matt Harvey is fun to watch pitch. The other four nights? Change the channel.

28. Milwaukee Brewers (22-37; LW: 28) - Roney: Should Ryan Braun be hit with an extended suspension as a result of the Biogenesis case, it'll be interesting to see if he bothers to appeal amid a pretty lost Brewers season.

29. Astros (22-39; LW: 29) - Hughes: Now out of their rotation, Brad Peacock is still struggling as a relief pitcher with a 8.77 total ERA on the year. Not the prospect we thought he was.


30. Marlins (16-44; LW: 30) - Zuckerman: If they weren't allowed to play the Mets, they'd be on pace for 32 wins this season.

102 comments:

Don said...

Roney is a bit nutso on that Braun suspension prediction -- Bruan might just decide to walk away from 100 games worth of pay and just take the smear of his legacy, after having beaten MLB once laready in arb? No chance.

Secret wasian man said...

Nats ranked 17th. October 2012 seems ooooooooooh so far away. Thanks Rizzo.

David Proctor said...

Mark DeRosa was on Intentional Talk. Had good things to say about us. Said he had a great relationship with Desi, hopes we make it to the World Series but "Washington never came calling so I'm a Blue Jay now." Great guy.

Don said...

NatsJack -- easy there big fella.

Thsi is what Roney said:

"Roney: Should Ryan Braun be hit with an extended suspension as a result of the Biogenesis case, it'll be interesting to see if he bothers to appeal amid a pretty lost Brewers season."

He predicted that Braun might consider accepting the suspension. It won't be interesting to see if Braun would do so, because the chances of him doing that are zilch.


NatsLady said...

Well, that was fast.
Nationals PR ‏@NationalsPR 2m
The #Nationals have agreed to terms with RHP Jake Johansen, their top selection (68th overall) in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft.

Get Your Re(n)d On said...

Johansen signed already? No surprise there. Once Rizzo saw his act, he had no hand left.

Get Your Re(n)d On said...

Rainouts two nights in a row? When does that ever happen? It's like God heard Johnny Holliday doing PBP and he wept.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Johansen is the mystery starter on Wednesday. LOL

David Proctor said...

Jeez, already signed. Remember the days of waiting until the last minute (literally)?

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Smart agent. Get your clients career started sooner than later.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

NatsJack, lines Ohlendorf up perfectly for Wednesday. Hmmmm

NatsLady said...

Bet Ohlendorf is busting his butt to get out of there.

NatsLady said...

He has an odd delivery. I wonder if it's deceptive.

Scooter said...

Wait, is Ohlendorf the guy who does that old-fashioned double-swing of the arms in the full windup? I remember someone did that in spring training, but can't recall who.

NatsLady said...

Apparently Eckstein is also the hitting coach at Syracuse. Runners on 1st and 3rd, none out. Corey Brown, Micah Owings and Mike Costanzo all strike out.

NatsLady said...

Scooter, yes, that is what he does.

NatsLady said...

Easy 1-2-3 inning with another K. I didn't see the inning where he gave up a double, I am always suspicious of minor-league fielding.

baseballswami said...

Watching Reds / Cardinals. Cardinals are hitting 330 with risp. Commentators talking about how they have a good two strike approach and use the whole field. Nothing huge or fancy and - boom, up by three. Smart and amazing to watch. Absolutely no reason why our professional baseball players cannot do that. Guy just went 11 pitches and singled. Runner on first ran it out to second every single pitch and ended up on third. Singled in. 1,2,3-- just like that. It's not rocket science.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Approach and execution.

NatsLady said...

Ohlendorf out after 5. I don't think there was anything wrong with him, they just wanted the original starter to pitch because their rotation got messed up. Ohlendorf 1 hit, 3 walks, 2 earned runs, bunch of Ks.

NatsLady said...

Boy, if there is anything that will motivate Danny, it's playing in that dreary place. I also had the Cards-Cin game on, what a contrast.

SCNatsFan said...

NatsLady, lets hope so. Be a great thing for the team if a change in scenery snapped him into a change.

NatsLady said...

Braun horrible misplays a ball in LF and the Brewers' announcers talk about "how much ground he covers."

Unknown said...

I breezed through their respective schedules but by my count the Cardinals have scored 9 or more runs 10 times already (including tonight) compared to our 2...I hear way too much about the Cards from my in-laws being from there but man oh man, they are a fun team to watch offensively...excellent AB's, situational hitting, moving runners over, you name it. Just an observation...miss my Nats of last year but it has to get better, doesn't it?

NatsLady said...

On May 16, Oakland was 20-22 and 7.5 games behind Texas. Today they are 37-25 and tied for the lead. If they beat Chicago, they will be in the lead. Don't give up, people!!

NatsLady said...

I only counted 9. However, they have gone 14-6 in blowouts. Nats have gone 6-9.

Nats are 10-5 in one-run games. Cards are 7-6.

Nats

Cards

Unknown said...

NL, nice, reason for optimism. As Dr. Leo Marvin said: baby steps...what a classic & a must watch...cut & paste into your browser, sorry not real tech savy but how fitting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JPa2mvSQ4

NatsLady said...

Yeah, I remember thinking that Texas was running away with it (yawn)--and now they aren't.

Starting when Desi got back, Davey filled out the same lineout day after day, the rotation functioned. This year, VERY different. A test of the creativity and resolve of Davey and Rizzo, no room for error, no room for slacking, no room for nursing "projects."

NatsLady said...

Baby steps--right. Play each game as it comes and dig ourselves out of the hole on shovel-full at a time. The talent is there--or it will be when it gets healthy.

NatsLady said...

Er, one shovel-full. My typing stinks.

Unknown said...

NL, i was counting both wins & losses for total runs of 9 or more/game but may have messed up. I was bored with no Nats for 2 days...haha.

NatsLady said...

If you click on the link I gave it's easier because the games are all lined up and you don't have to page through the schedule. Yeah, no game for us is boring, but good for the boys to have rest and healing.

Unknown said...

thanks, that site is much better than how i was doing it via schedule...yikes...newbie!!

Scooter said...

I went away for a bit, but thanks for the Ohlen-dope, NatsLady. Seeing him was like watching a tape from the 1940s. My dad spotted it, and it took him a few minutes to figure out what he was seeing -- nobody really does that anymore.

NatsLady said...

I'm learning a lot about the different sites from doing my blog. One thing I learned especially is respect for the job Mark does. There are some days I just don't feel like doing a game report... but once you start you have to keep going I guess.

NatsLady said...

Scooter, it was the first thing I noticed. He does that thing behind his head like CMW but he also does that arm-swinging lean thing. Wasn't around in the 1940s and I guess I didn't put 2 and 2 together from old newsreels.

sjm308 said...

In old nats news. Just saw that CM Wang opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees and was scooped up by the Blue Jays and is scheduled to start in the next few days. Man, I thought we had problems!

sjm308 said...

Totally off topic and I probably should reply on her own blog but I just went over and read a few of the other blogs Mark lists on the left hand side and I really enjoy reading Natslady. How do you have time to post on here and still produce your own column? Great job!

baseballswami said...

This has been the craziest week- the purge, the walk off. The thumping, followed by two rainouts in a row, while the draft is going on. So off kilter. Earlier I was talking about the Cardinals-- it is very instructive to watch other teams in general. Their hitters are very professional about what their job is in each at bat. Maybe it's a lack of maturity with some of the Nats? The difference is glaring. I think in anything you do you have to use the correct process or form. You won't always get the results you want, but over time you probably will more times than not. I think they call it playing the game the right way. Can't get good results without it. I would like to see better fundamentals whatever the score.

NatsLady said...

Well, I have a sort of template with the daily posts and the summaries (like injuries and weekly stats). Then I have the ongoing series of the Opening Day Starters. I try to do one other topical post per week (this week it was on the draft). The most time-consuming thing is the formatting because what you see is NOT what you get! The software is very frustrating.

Wednesdays and Saturdays and days that I go to games in person are the hardest to find the time. I try to set it up in advance and just plug in the data. So the daily posts only take about 1/2 hour.

NatsLady said...

Brewers walked off. Cholly didn't use Papelbon because it was a tie game away--so Horst gave up three singles and that was the ball game.

David Proctor said...

It'd be nice if the Braves lose again tonight.

NatsLady said...

Puig!!!!!!!!!

David Proctor said...

Hey, if the Dodgers beat the Braves tonight, we'll have gained a game on them without playing the last two nights.

NatsLady said...

Dodgers PR ‏@DodgersPR 3m
WIth 10, Yasiel Puig ties the @MLB record for most RBI through five career games (Danny Espinosa (2010) and Merson (1951)).

Danny was great those first few months...

David Proctor said...

Yasiel Puig ties MLB record for most RBI in 1st 5 games of career (10). He shares the mark with Jack Merson/Danny Espinosa


Who in the world would've had Danny Espinosa on that list?

NatsLady said...

The Giants kept Pagan out of the lineup 11 days before they finally put him on the DL with a hamstring. So it's retroactive 10 days (the max). See, really, it's not just the Nats,

jeeves said...

I'll say it again. Bring up Souza. Lightning in a bottle, folks. Lightning in a bottle.

baseballswami said...

This gaining ground while not playing thing is very cool.

MicheleS said...

From his tweet.. Looks like Mark is out of service for a few days... Get Well Mark!!!


Mark Zuckerman‏@ZuckermanCSN
Can't think of a better way to spend my Saturday than having a completely useless body part removed. #Appendicitis

original Nats Fan said...

oh, no, Mark tweeting he has appendicitis.
Get well soon, Mark

mick said...

the reality is this

1) Nats are having one of these seasons where they are cursed by injuries, some self inflicted (Bryce and Mattheus stupidity), poor medical staff and of course bad luck

2) When healthy they can contend, but the margin for error is almost zero

3) last season other teams did not have a book on prospects like Tyler Moore, now they do and it shows, the kid is just not that good like many of their prospects.

4) granted, Rizzo has improved the farm system that could have only gone up after 2007, but, he clearly over hyped many of these players and pundits and sports writers really did not fine tooth comb these players because the assumption was that if a team wins 98 games, then the talent base must be good. This is why I never have respect SI and most other publications, they do not know shit about this game

5) Of course all the players are going to say the season can be saved because the Lerners would murder them if they did not, they need to hood wink us fans as long as possible to keep coming out of the park...that will end after Nats drop 10 under 500

Nats need to be smart and play the young healthy guys as much as possible and re group in 2014

mick said...

get well soon Mark

baseballswami said...

Well, Mick- you and Tracee Hamilton sure have killed my nice Saturday morning. And it's not even raining, and we gained ground in the standings by doing nothing. So there is that. Best wishes to Mark!!!!!!

mick said...

sorry about that swami, did not mean to do that... but i do not think any of my points can be refuted, remember, i am very up beat about the future meaning 2014

NatsLady said...

From ESPN, ranking JZ No.5 in their Cy Young analysis (early, I grant).

Jordan Zimmermann
With an honorable mention to Patrick Corbin (9-0, 2.06 ERA) and Cliff Lee (7-2, 2.45, but could be traded to an AL team), it is Zimmermann who rounds out my top five. This success is nothing new for the Nationals right-hander, who posted a 3.18 ERA in 2011, 2.94 last year, and is currently at 2.16. In that time, he has the eighth-lowest walk rate among qualified starters at 4.7 percent, just a few ticks shy of leader Lee at 3.9 percent.

Zimmermann doesn't have overpowering stuff, but succeeds by keeping runners off the bases by limiting walks and inducing weak contact. His 17.3 percent infield popup rate is the best in baseball at the moment, and his 51.5 percent ground-ball rate is the 12th highest. One might think that relying on success on balls in play is a recipe for disaster, but Zimmermann has been doing this for nearly 500 innings and has shown no signs of slowing down.


NL Cy Young Race

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot

mick said...

great Tracee Hamilton quote

"Now Dr. James Andrews has been summoned. The parallels between
Harper and Robert Griffin III are growing eerier by the minute. (You know, Lincoln’s secretary was Kennedy; Kennedy’s secretary was Lincoln.)"

Any time I here the name Dr Andrews, I'm thinking of the 3 Stooges "Calling Dr Howard, Dr Fine, Dr Howard"

lol

natsfan1a said...

Feel better, Mark.

mick said...

Davey is Moe, Dr A is Larry and Rizzo is Curly..nuk,nuk. nuk nuk. nuk LOL

"Davey, Jim, the cheese!"

Joe Seamhead said...

David Proctor, I wasn't too shocked to see Espy on the list. He had 6 RBI's in his first game at Nats Stadium!

In my bordom this morning, after defending the Morse/ ALR move for seemingly the 100th time yesterday, I did a comparison of their mostly conventional stats. It was somewhat surprising to see the totals so far.

PA BA Runs Hits HR RBI BB K's OBP OPS
Morse 198 .249 21 45 11 21 15 50 .313 .772
ALR 218 .246 27 47 10 28 26 57 .335 .785


I was surprised by how close they are in plate appearances. But all things considered including injuries to both, and ALR's painfully slow April and Micky's torridly hot April, it's amazing how close that they are at this point.

Joe Seamhead said...

Wow, I lined all that up perfectly before I posted it, but that's how it appeared. Oh, well, you can figure it out, if you're interested.

baseballswami said...

Can we officially name this the weirdest week as a Nats fan?? With honorable mention to the week where we had a great win streak( remember those?) and then Riggs did not get on the plane?

Joe Seamhead said...

xxxx PA BA Runs Hits HR RBI BB K's OBP OPS
Morse 198 .249 21 45 11 21 15 50 .313 .772
AdLR 218 .246 27 47 10 28 26 57 .335 .785


This might be a little easier to read.

Get Your Re(n)d On said...

great Tracee Hamilton quote

The only thing more oxymoronic than that would be a great Tracee Hamilton diet tip.

natsfan1a said...

I don't know, swami. This week was rather memorable.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Get well soon Mark. You should join in the discussion here! ;)

NatsLady said...

Ditto on the "Get Well Soon, Mark."

baseballswami said...

Caps fan and nats fan1a-- you are definitely saving my morning! Seriously, you can rant and rage if you want, but I just don't have the energy to keep that up for the next four months. To me, summer has an ebb and flow, tropical storm? Sunny day. Baseball's ups and downs. I have enough stress and drama in my life as it is, I am not going to make baseball something that ruins my day. I am going with whatever happens, good and bad. I enjoy reading posts that have humor and wisdom. I will be skipping any that spew venom, especially personal attacks. It's summer and we have our team. We have the voices of Charlie and Dave and we have long, humid nights at the park. Beats the off season any day. That being said-- now our beat writer is on the DL?? Crazy.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

NatsLady said...
From ESPN, ranking JZ No.5 in their Cy Young analysis (early, I grant).

it is Zimmermann who rounds out my top five.

Zimmermann doesn't have overpowering stuff, but succeeds by keeping runners off the bases by limiting walks and inducing weak contact. His 17.3 percent infield popup rate is the best in baseball at the moment, and his 51.5 percent ground-ball rate is the 12th highest. One might think that relying on success on balls in play is a recipe for disaster, but Zimmermann has been doing this for nearly 500 innings and has shown no signs of slowing down.


Great to the #5 rating as that is nice to be considered the 5th best starter in baseball.

Certainly I like the "weak contact" comment since that's how I explained his great BABIP numbers but I dislike this label "doesn't have overpowering stuff" as that is absolutely false.

JZim certainly has overpowering stuff with fastballs that go 95 to 97 this season. That's overpowering but that label comes from the K/9 stat and that's where you have to know JZim's game plan isn't to nibble on corners. Strikeouts are great but quick outs are his goal. The ESPN writers need to understand that.

He learned how to pitch to contact to induce weak contact and that is what I have said about him dozens of times. This has lowered his pitch counts and allowed him to throw 3 complete games which leads the Majors.

jeffwx said...

on September 19, 1964, the cards were 6 1/2 games behind the phillies with 12 games remaining. The cards won the pennant on the last day of the season. Having Gibson helped of course.

baseballswami said...

You have overpowering stuff when hitters know what is coming and they cannot barrel up. It must be so frustrating to face him. You have to swing because you know it will be a strike, but it's just not going anywhere. Fastball seems to explode at the end, curve is sharp, change up complicates life. That is overpowering. I agree that swing and miss has become the indicator-- falsely. Strike outs are fascist.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

baseballswami said...
That is overpowering. I agree that swing and miss has become the indicator-- falsely. Strike outs are fascist.


I think the Cardinals in Game 4 would say JZim can be overpowering plus he has the immaculate inning in his résumé.

It's that K/9 that is 5.44 where analysts bring up the "overpowering" label. He has a BB/K that is almost 5!

At least this season they aren't bashing him for his W/L record.

baseballswami said...

I think he enjoys being ignored-- in the press. I am sure that the NL batters and hitting coaches don't ignore him. And the more strikes he throws, the more over eager they get to swing. I think he psychologically uses that. Seems to have an inner need to mentally dominate the hitter. So glad he and Zuke have mind melded this season.

jeffwx said...

Game 4 ??? Jim Bouton pitched
never mind, wrong season

Holden Baroque said...

Get better soon, Mark. You have a big comeback to chronicle.

jeffwx said...

Hey Mark, I had appendix removed at age 4 in 1965...
I hope the techniques are better. Have a successful comeback too.

Nats 128 said...

I guess if you like that swing and miss stuff you can try to get Ubaldo Jimenez. His K rate per 9 is 9.05. Then you have his Ks per Walk of 2.10 and the ERA of 5.03 and you know why he's back of the rotation.

This goes to soft tossers too like Haren. The most meaningful stat has to be ERA even though its not perfect as no stat is becuz of park effects. This game is about Runs, any ways you can achieve it. Runs given up and runs scored.

NatsLady said...

Six games start at 4:05 or 4:10. That means (in theory) twelve teams dealing with the Sun Monster and treacherous shadows creeping... Could be fun--or not.

DWS said...

I don't know why I bother but it has to be said.
Pretty sure SI and other publications have relatively knowledgeable folks working for them.
Did you apply mick?

Faraz Shaikh said...

We have gained what, one game on Braves past two days without having played any? I cannot believe we are in third place this late in the season. anyways, of the people we drafted last couple of days, anyone interesting our insiders know of personally?

Faraz Shaikh said...

is anyone else enjoying another young prospect tearing it up in majors (puig)? exciting, isn't it?

jeffwx said...

hopefully, the blues will be travelling fast with a Nice Nats win

Holden Baroque said...

Now, now, DWS, don't pick fights. That job is filled, too.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Faraz, a lot of raw talent drafted. I made comments yesterday with stats. The Nats were looking for kids who are diamonds in the rough. Mostly kids who haven't grown into their bodies and kids that need mechanics tweaks. As you dig inside some of the numbers on Johansen and a few others you can see what the Nats covet in pitchers which is the velo and the position players on the corners with the raw power and up the middle the athleticism and speed which are all things you can't teach.

Start with the good raw building blocks and work on the tweaks.

baseballswami said...

We need to make sure we maintain a unified clubhouse from here out. Let the veterans lead, show the rookies we don't need to panic, take the games one at a time. That's the only way to keep this blog fun.

Eugene in Oregon said...

jeffwx @ 9:43 a.m.,

If I recall the story correctly, one of biggest issues was the Phillies' manager completely mismanaging his pitching staff in those last two weeks of the season. Starting pitchers on short rest, leaving them in too long, etc. Is it David Halberstam -- not a home, can't check -- who describes that collapse in painful detail in his book about the 1964 World Series?

Faraz Shaikh said...

GoSM, saw your post on JJ. good to know.

http://pac-12.com/Sports/Baseball/Statistics.aspx
I see Voth's name third on the list but yesterday someone said he was second behind Appel only.

I want to know more about this Voth guy. Gonna keep looking.

TexNat said...

Get better, MZ!

baseballswami said...

Hope Chase is on deck right now because he needs to pinch hit.

DWS said...

Sorry Sofa. Not picking, just pointing out. Let's try to be reasonable and not be outrageous.

Anonymous said...

Suns are apparently moving to Fredericksburg to a new yet-to-be-built stadium. FB is putting up bucks and Suns want out of H-town.
That Dodger rookie making Braves look bad. They won on a wild pitch. Announcer: "He is their Trout" (or Harper.)

natsfan1a said...

Eugene, were you thinking of this book?

baseballswami said...

That will be so sweet when we have a new stadium for the PNats in Woodbridge and the the Suns are just a hop south. NoVa is Nats country, Hagerstown is more O's land. Now if we could just get AAA. to move to Richmond that would be sweet. Harrisburg really embraces that team, they have history and it's a nice park so they should stay there.

mick said...

DWS said...
I don't know why I bother but it has to be said.
Pretty sure SI and other publications have relatively knowledgeable folks working for them.
Did you apply mick?

maybe you should apply pal...

over the last 10 seasons, baseball, basketball both college and professional, hockey and football, both college and professional SI is a JOKE, in fact, they have predicted one WS champ in the past 24 years!!! not onlyt that, there were back to back season where not a single prediction made posts season

So, before you spew a stupid response...think, do a little research. I know its hard for someone of your ilk.

mick said...

one more thing junior.... simply look at this team... everything posted is FACT...your only response is to criticize me behind a computer...

so typical...so cowardly

mick said...

SI has great stories o on sports and social commentary... but their predictions and a analysis of players in all sports is more wrong than it has been correct...just look at the archives, do not take my word for it

baseballswami said...

SI and ESPN can be a mile wide and an inch deep. They seem to do more NFL, and less on other sports. Occasionally one of their better reporters does a stunning in- depth story. That us where SI can shine. Everyday coverage not so much. Just spread very thin. I will read a good SI story , but ESPN on TV is just dreadful. Speaking of dreadful coverage-- Fox today for us.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Faraz, I am intrigued by Voth but never saw him pitch. His base stats beat Johansens but the evaluators see Johansen better. We shall see.

DWS said...

It's a crap shoot Junior. There are a lot of assumptions (nobody is injured eg.). If one could predict we wouldn't be spending time on this blog.
Predictions are what they are.
Not reliable.

natsfan1a said...

New post.

Holden Baroque said...

And not a moment too soon. We were beginning to act our ages.

Holden Baroque said...

But seriously, folks ...
Mark's in the hospital getting cut open, and Chase, bless him, has a hard enough time posting the correct teams. Please don't post stuff you know is going to get nominated for a deep six.

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