Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Gerardo Parra, Randal Grichuk and Why This Trade Deadline Has Huge Significance to the Playoffs

Two under-appreciated guys so far in 2015? Gerardo Parra and JD Martinez.


Both top 20 in the league in OPS and both not getting enough attention.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

3 Prospects To Watch in the 2nd Half

Come September 1, rosters around major league baseball expand from 25 to 40 slots and this gets fans gitty every year to see the next crop of talent that could be the next big star on their squad.

Unlike years past, it's been a frenzy when it comes to elite prospects getting the call. So far this year we’ve seen Byron Buxton, almost a unanimous choice as baseball’s top overall prospect, Francisco Lindor, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Joey Gallo, Noah Syndergaard, and the list goes on and on in 2015.

But don’t let that fact get you caught sleeping on the crop of talent that could get the call this September, if not before. Here’s five names to keep an eye that could help the contenders of baseball, as we hit the official start of the second half of the season.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

3 Hitters To Watch in the 2nd Half

As we look ahead to the second half of this baseball season, here’s some hitters you’ll want to keep an eye and ear out for as the summer and pennant races really start to heat up.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

All Star Game Notes: Lineups & Voting

The 2015 MLB All-Star game is once again behind us and the first year of exclusively online voting was an unmitigated disaster as several “starters” were, in my opinion, far from worthy. (I may or may not be looking at you Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain)


So before I unveil the lineups I think most reflect the truest all stars, let me just say I did not vote once I saw the joke it had become with almost 75% of the lineup was Kansas City Royals.


That said, here’s how I would have voted.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Biggest Hit of the 2015 Derby Was The New Format

A fitting end to the 2015 edition of the a Major League Baseball home run derby; Todd Frazier of the hometown Reds gets the walk off win.

Not only that, but from my perspective, the big winner of the night was the new format installed by Major League Baseball this year.

I preface this all by paraphrasing a conversation I had with my best friend tonight.

Basically, he says, "who would have ever thought a buzzer would become part of the game. "

To which I said, "I don't [like it]".

In my explanation, I stated my case that baseball was never about time constraints, and the traditionalists point of view, bla bla bla, a bunch of hogwash that basically I realized I was contradicting myself in years of complaints about the derby that it was too long, too many non swings, too many commercial breaks,  etc etc etc.

Boiling down to me realizing, this time formula baseball came up with was almost short of brilliant.

Yes you could give guys a "pitch limit" but then you put too much pressure on the guy throwing and all of a sudden the whole night becomes about him.

You could limit "takes" by the hitter but then guys are forcing swings and that's just no fun.

What the league did with a very generous amount of time, was basically to each player say, "ok, you get as many swings as you want, in this time frame."

"If you want to sit and be picky about your pitches, fine, but know, your opponent (which was another huge hit to the night) might just get more volume of swings than you."

It really left EVERYTHING up to the hitter to make the most of every swing or pitch.

I also loved the seeding matchups of the night.

While I don't think it really added that much to the competition, it was just fun to watch it all unfold and made it all more organized.

I attended the derby two years ago in New York at Citi Field, and I have to be honest, I was truly losing interest in the whole All Star week in general, and the Home Run derby then gave me no hope to enjoy it ever again.

The stadium atmosphere was awful. The fans, the stadium announcers and the derby was terrible.

I was leaning on this year to change my mind.

It did.

I love the new format and as I said on social media, the derby ending at 9:30 pm central time is something I can definitely get behind.

Ask a lot of my good friends, I'm very much a traditionalist when it comes to baseball.

And while it took me a little bit to get behind, I loved the new format of the derby.

Hats off to Rob Manfred and the MLB guess for this huge success.

Friday, July 10, 2015

3 Pitchers To Watch in the 2nd Half

With the All-Star break upon us, let’s take a look ahead at some names to watch as we head towards the second half of the season next weekend.

In this piece, I’m going to focus my attention on the pitchers.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

National League Observations

When you look at the landscape of the National League, it’s been kind of a ho-hum year.

None of the teams in first place are all that surprising, the divisional races are shaping up much like they should, and truthfully, the wild card race in the National League isn’t shaping up to be all that exciting.

Monday, July 6, 2015

American League Observations

With soccer in its rightful spot, the rear view mirror, let's start to shift our undivided attention to the world of baseball.

You know, that sport that is more American than apple pie and the hot dog?