It's late, very late...and I sit here thinking what it's going to be like when I say to my kid..."Man, Lou Piniella was too funny when he argued a call..."
He will probably say, "Who is that?" I will sigh and explain to him who this guy is.
Lou Piniella was an OF for 18 years in the big leagues. He spent most of his career as a Yankee, lucky him. However, that is not even close to what he will be remembered for. "Sweet Lou" will be remembered for the 23 years he spent as a manager.
He got his start with...none other than the New York Yankees. He didn't last long, and left after his third season. Piniella was hired by the Reds and won the World Series in his first season as manager. He became well-known for the fits he had when arguing; primarily kicking dirt, throwing his hat, and throwing a base.
Piniella only lasted three seasons in Cincinnati as well. He was then hired by Seattle where he last for 10 seasons, including: two Manager of the Year awards, tied the record for most wins in a single season (116), only manager to take Seattle to the playoffs.
Piniella was traded to the Rays in 2003 and spent another three seasons in Tampa Bay before heading to the "Windy City". He spent approximately three and a half seasons there, retiring in the middle of the 2010 season.
"Sweet Lou" will undoubtedly be remembered for his temper, as well as the shows he put on when arguing a call. However, we will definitely miss him.
Texas Rangers:Behind Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, this team was always going to score runs.The offensive addition of Vlad Guerrero has been a surprise, as he’s absolutely lit it up in Arlington this year.But what no one expected was the pitching to help out.Cliff Lee makes this team an instant World Series contender, with much thanks to the Angels for selling away the core of their team this past year and making way for a new face to emerge from the west.Welcome to the foray, Rangers.
Los Angeles Angels: Speaking of those Angels, Jered Weaver has given this club a chance to remain competitive for a lot longer than some (me) expected them to be this season.Mike Napoli is a stud behind the plate and with him leading up future young pitchers this will be a club that can still make threats even when in a rebuilding year.The loss of core players has definitely made an impact on the season, but this is a gritty club that has a bright future.Just not this season.
Oakland Athletics:At the start of the season I wrote that a healthy Ben Sheets made this an average team.Well, at their current record, I’d like to toot my own horn and say this is one of the few predictions I got right.They have a top order pitching staff, not that anyone who knows Billy Beane would expect any different.The team is still well of being strong, and the constant revolving door of characters that seem to take over this lineup makes it hard to get a feel for the direction of the club.This lineup needs pop, but with a few bats in the lineup they could make noise and play the spoiler role in this division.
Seattle Mariners:I hoped in this bandwagon and jumped off almost immediately.The Ken Griffey show was an awkward farewell, and was probably the most memorable part of the season for Seattle as well.The Cliff Lee trade was meant for a club looking to break through.All the Mariners did was break down.They couldn’t get Lee the run support, let alone any of their other starters, and have one of the worst records in the league because of it.King Felix and Ichiro haven’t gotten much mention this season, and this isn’t a fault of their own.Ichiro is still the best pure hitter of our generation, and will break 200 hits yet again this season.The lone bright spot in what’s otherwise a wash of a season.
George Kenneth Griffey, Jr. is hanging up his very historic cleats. "The Kid" or "Junior", whichever you prefer, didn't show up to the ballpark today and informed the Mariners that he has decided to retire.
Griffey, one of the greatest players ever, could have held the all-time home run lead if not for devastating injuries in the middle to the end of his career. He played 22 seasons, however, 11 of those seasons he played less than 130 games and five with less than 100 games.
Even though Griffey had multiple hamstring and knee injuries which severely hurt his career numbers, his 630 home runs puts him in fifth on the all-time list. Many speculate that if he hadn't been injured so often players would be chasing him and not Barry Bonds for the all-time lead in home runs.
Griffey spent most of his career, 13 seasons, with the Seattle Mariners; the team that drafted him number one overall in the 1987 draft. He also spent eight and a half seasons with his father's old team, the Cincinnati Reds. The other half of the 2008 season he spent with the Chicago White Sox. Griffey was then brought back to Seattle for the 2009 season and then resigned for 2010.
He was a 13-time all-star and a 10-time gold glove recipient. He was also awarded the 1997 AL MVP (56 HR 147 RBI).
One of the greatest players that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing, and one of the all-time greats is calling it quits. I had the pleasure of seeing him play once because I was in Arizona and my father and I decided to go to a Diamondbacks game before we left. They happen to be playing the Reds that night, and I was given the great opportunity to witness one of his many home runs. This guy was awesome and I hope he stays in the game some way or another.
A weekly feature on the good, the bad, and the ugly happening around the diamond
Single: Good for you Barry Zito.You get a single.Do you deserve this single after your past three years?No, you don’t “deserve it”.You were paid to do it, and for the first time in a long time you’re producing.But now that you are, it’s at an elite level again: 5-0, 1.49 ERA, curveball once again one of the strongest in the bigs.This is the Barry Zito we knew and loved.And while that $126 mill will forever be regretted by the Giants, you and Timmy have put together another set of absolutely vicious top of the order starters in the division.
Double: As in the ones coming off the bat of the middle of the Tigers order.If Verlander can get his act together and Dontrelle Willis or anyone else in that mess of a pitching staff get their act together, this is a potent lineup.Between Miguel Cabrerra, Austin Jackson, and Brandon Inge, this team has enough solid pieces to be able to give the Twins a run if they can get the help on top of the rotation.Until then, the middle of this tiger lineup will find itself clawing to stay in contention as the season wears on.
Triple:To the lead leader in the category, and a pleasantly not-awful team this season, Nyjer Morgan.The Nat’s have a winning record after the first month, a solid man in the leadoff order, and Stephen Strasburg is inching closer and closer to the rotation.With Livan Hernandez throwing like a 50 year old with a record of a man still in his prime, all’s unexpectedly well in the nation’s capital.
Home Run: On a team with Matt Kemp and Man-Ram patrolling the outfield, you’d think it would be easy to overlook Andre Ethier.But he’s making that quite difficult.In addition to leading the Dodgers in all three triple crown categories, he’s also either tied for the league lead or leading in the same for the entire National League.Ethier had a very respectable sluggers year last time around, but with 32 RBI’s through 31 games, the kid is playing out of his mind.
Strikin’ them out: With no offense to Will Ferrell, Francisco Liriano is on an absolute tear in the American League.An afterthought in the Twins organization after releasing Johan Santana, Liriano is having a bounce back year so far in an incredibly winnable division.As though the 4-1 record and 1.19 WHIP aren’t impressive enough on their own, Liriano also treated us to a dazzling 23 straight scoreless innings for a three week span to chop in with a sub 2.50 ERA.If Liriano keeps this pace up the Twins can be a real threat with him starting a series come playoff time.Johan who?
Popping Up: The Seattle Mariners went from being a trendy pick to take the division to the makings of another disappointing season.Cliff Lee is looking at a Zack Greinke scenario, all the stats but no W’s.King Felix and Lee are being absolutely robbed.As the Red Sox have demonstrated this season as well, the pitching and defense is swell, but not at the cost of no offensive production.There is no pop in that lineup, and in a year where the division looks to be one of the worst in baseball, there is no excuse for them not to turn this around soon.
Caught Looking:It was going to be the Rays, as they’ve absolutely torn through the first month of the season so far.But now they’re the ones looking, at a spot in the record books and at a whole bunch o’ pitches.Just a few months short of a year after being shown perfection by Mark Buehrle, they replicated the feat with a far less renown pitches, Dallas Braden of the Oakland A’s.His season split isn’t that fantastic, but you have to take a note of perfection when the opportunity arises.The A’s have plenty of pitchers capable in the future of putting together these sorts of records, and it’s always a nice reminder to watch Moneyball at its best.Congrats Braden.
Ah, spring training.A time of high hopes and dreams, where everyone in the Major Leagues is convinced that this could just be the year.After a five month hiatus, baseball is ready to get back in full swing.The sight of the bright lights in the stadium, the scent of freshly trimmed grass, and the sound of Ozzie Guillen enhancing the Spanish to English vocabulary of every boy and girl.
But most importantly, a time for looking into crystal balls and knowing exactly how this season will unfold.Just a quick side bit, order of appearance is order of division standing.So, without further ado:
AL EAST
The Yankees consistently find ways to upgrade what is consistently the most talented roster in baseball, and barring a slew of freak injuries look to be playing postseason baseball once again.Upgrading with Curtis Granderson and letting a struggling Johnny Damon walk.Letting Wang walk after this past season may come back to hurt the Yankees on pitching depth, but let’s be honest, as long as Mariano Rivera is closing things out, there won’t be much to fear.
The Red Sox bring arguably the strongest starting rotation in the majors to the mound, with an All-Star ageless wonder in Tim Wakefield even battling it out for a roster spot.But the hits on David Ortiz over the past two seasons have to make you wonder if a team in such a strong offensive ballpark is going to be able to keep pace with the Bombers.
The Tampa Bay Rays are one of those teams you just consistently feel sorry for.With one of the youngest and most talented teams in the league, it’s got to be frustrating being consistently stuck behind big spenders in Boston and New York.Look for Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford to go off, as well as David Price to have a great season.But in this division, you need to be stacked top to bottom.Heart says they deserve a shot at the division, crystal ball says they fade all but out of the wildcard by August.
Things in Baltimore haven’t been this hopeful since Ripken Jr. retired, but unless Matt Weiters can pitch and bat for all nine roster spots, this team is still a year or two from being in contention.
As for the Blue Jays, at least they still have Roy Halladay… er, I mean hockey.Yeah, they still have hockey…
AL Central
Apart from Minnesota, there really isn’t a terribly strong team in this division.And by Minnesota, I mean assuming Joe Nathan is either able to go or they find someone else (John Smoltz anyone?) to solidify the back end of the bullpen.You can’t go against the League MVP in a division this week.Unless of course…
Detroit can find someone, ANYONE, in that lineup to hit.The Tigers have a pretty solid front side of their rotation between Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, and Max Scherzer, but they’re a bat or two short.
Chicago sits in a similar boat as Detroit, and both will be paddling upstream without a decent set of batting gloves.
Meanwhile, Zack Greinke mops in more sympathy votes after the Royals fail to put together anything impressive over the offseason.Alex Gordon isn’t ready to carry this team to anything other than a third place finish in the division at best.
Which leaves Cleveland staring up at everyone.With all of their pitching traded away, this is looking like a clear cut rebuild.
AL West
Folks in Seattle are about to see the best team this city has put together since the 2001, 116 win team.Ignoring the additions of Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchman, putting Cliff Lee at the top of the order with King Felix Hernandez is a lethal one-two punch in this suddenly lackluster division.
The fact that the Rangers look to finish second in this division is more a testament to the bleeding out of their California rivals than anything remarkable that they’ve done.
And on the topic of those Angels, so long Chone, Vlad, and Johny Lackey.Staples from this team’s success have all departed the golden state, and the man to replace them?Hideki Matsui. Yeah, good luck with that.The saddest part is that with enough injuries to Seattle’s pitching staff, they could still make a push for the division.
Money Ball hasn’t been worth a dime in quite a few years, and it still looks to be another solid year for coming to fruition.A healthy Ben Sheets makes this an average team, but without him they could be looking at one of the poorer records in the league.
The Philadelphia Phillies have said they have reached an agreement on a 3-year deal worth upwards of $60 million. Oh, I forgot to mention that the deal is with Toronto Blue Jays all-star Roy Halladay. The deal would send Halladay to the Phillies for prospects and in the process the Phillies would send could-have-been World Series MVP Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners for prospects.
This is the kind of deal that baseball fanatics, such as myself, love to see in the offseason because baseball disappears for a few months. So it is nice to see the MLB making headlines in the middle of December. However, it is even better to see that a divisional foe of my Yankees got rid of its ace/Yankee killer. Halladay was always spectacular but especially against the Yankees so I am glad to see him cross over to the NL. However, it is not nice to see that the Phils dealt Cliff Lee, who was phenomenal against the Yanks in the World Series, to the Mariners who are in the AL. Now Seattle has King Felix to go along with Lee and if you as me, that is one of the best one-two punches in the majors.
The Phillies are also looking to sign outfielder-first baseman Ross Gload to add some depth to the team. However, a more notable action is their pursuit of Fernando Rodney or John Smoltz to bolster up their bullpen.
won the World Series in his first season as manager. He became well-known for the fits he had when arguing; primarily kicking dirt, throwing his hat, and throwing a base.
