Cardinals Miss Chance to Tie Wildcard.



Playoff baseball is near and the chase is on for a spot in the NL Wildcard. With time running out for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Houston Astros delivered a near fatal blow to the team's playoff hopes yesterday with a 5-4 win.  Can the Cardinals rally the troops and pull off a last minute streak of wins and knot up the NL Wildcard race? Jake Westbrook takes the mound  tonight with a 12-9 record this season and an era of 4.48. Cardinal offense will need to strike early and fast to keep the momentum up. Astros will start pitcher Henry Sosa tonight who hasn't seen nearly the same amount of games as Westbrook with a 3-5 record and a 4.68 era. St. Louis will close out the season against the Houston Astros with the next two games in Houston. Tonight's game kick's off at 7:05pm CDT and should be an exciting one to watch!  Click the link for more.

Rookie Watch Pt.2

Every year when the snow melts and MLB camps begin to open up, there is always a buzz about who will take home the ROY hardware, who's the next 'can't miss' prospect coming through the ranks? While this year didn't boast a Strasburg, Posey or Feliz, it definitely has had it's share of deserving candidates. For the record, it's worth noting that in the AL, 4 of the previous 6 ROY winners have been pitchers and some good ones at that (Verlander and Feliz to name a couple). In the NL a pitcher hasn't won since 2003 when Dontrelle Willis won and we all know how that turned out. Coincidentally the previous year 2002 a pitcher also took home the NL ROY, Jason Jennings... who? The NL track record hasn't been the greatest for ROY pitchers. However I believe that is all changing.

A Case for MVP

Living in Canada and watching the Blue Jays and, formerly, the Expos we have been given a chance to see some truly great feats and fantastic players that may be lost on our American counterparts. Whether it was Carlos Delgado’s amazing 2000 (.344/.470/.664/1.134, 41 HR, 137RBI), Bill Stoneman’s two no-hitters (’69 and ’72) or something as small as watching John Macdonald show his range and start a double play. Well, for the past season and a half us ‘Nuckers have been privy to catch first hand the evolution of Jose Bautista. Every season there are numerous players in the league that are deserving of the most valuable player award and this year is no exception. We currently have 8 players who are batting over .320; we have 3 players with a legitimate shot at 30/30, 2 that may catch fire and go for 40/40; 18 players with an ERA below 3! And one with an ERA below 2! (for the record there have only been 20 pitchers who have won the MVP award since 1931 in the American and National league combined; most recent was Dennis Ecklersley in ’92 for Oakland).

Minor Watch

As the 2011 season began MLB listed there top 50 prospects - http://t.co/KKJ9V59, and some of the top prospects have been called up or started in the show this year (Chapman, Drabek, Brown, Hosmer) However, there are many prospects still either just starting their career in the minors or knocking on the door to the bigs. Cans is taking a quick look at 10 of the top 20 remaining on MLB's pre-season list.

Endangered Species: Should The Rays Stay in Tampa?

Over the past 8 years I've had the chance to go to St. Petersburg three times to see the Rays play. Eight years ago on my honeymoon I saw the, then Devil Rays, just starting out with their young up and coming core of players. Led by rookie, Rocco Baldelli, they were perennial AL East doormats, stockpiled with young talent. The stands were half full at best, with the Yankees in town to boot. Last year again I went to a game to see the new Rays, now an unlikely AL East power, against all odds led by all-world 3B Evan Longoria. They were an exciting team loaded with young, incredibly talented players competing against (and beating) teams with 4 times their payroll. A real compelling story. Again, fans in the stands were sparse. This year I had the chance to take in a game in late April, fresh off the Manny Ramirez fallout. The Rays had been playing poorly, Manny was gone, Longo was on the DL, but still they were a pretty decent team with some exciting new players (Sam Fuld anyone?). Again the fans in the stands were sparse.

MLB Draft Pt. 2

Last week Cans of Corn highlighted 6 of the top names looking to go in the first round of this years MLB Draft held in June. If you missed them, please check back and give it a gander. This week we'll be focusing on 5 more talented players that will more than likely be chosen in the first round. In case you're wondering what the draft order is I have listed it below and you can also check out http://riveraveblues.com/2011-draft-order/ for an excellent break down on when and why.

2011 MLB Draft Pt. 1

As the 2011 MLB draft approaches (June), Cans of Corn is bringing some scouting reports on a number of the top prospects expected to go in the draft. This is part 1 of the series and before we get started we should check out some of the teams positions in the draft.

Teams now more than ever are placing higher value on drafting and grooming prospects from within, less likely to let them go through trades or off season signings. This puts a lot of weight on the draft in June and it should be noted that some teams are in better positions than others for sure.

Tampa Bay has an excellent position, drafting 10 times throughout the first 60 picks.
Toronto Blue Jays will select 5 players through the first 60 picks.
Pittsburgh Pirates have 1 pick in the top 60, the first overall, so it best be a good one.
Seattle Mariners will select 2nd overall, their only pick through the first 60.
San Diego Padres have 5 picks in through the first 60, beginning with 10th overall.
Boston Red Sox have 4 picks through the first 60, beginning with 19th overall.
New York Yankees have just one selection and it's the 51 overall.

Rookie Watch

With the 2011 season a month in, it's time to check in on the rookies and see what the ROY race looks like. It is early and this list doesn't have any relievers on it yet, however one certainly can't overlook Kimbrel (ATL) or Chapman (CIN)and next months list will incorporate them for sure. This column focuses on starters and hitters, I've included hitters that have at least over 50 AB's and the starters with at least 4 starts.

Is the Power for Real?

A lot of analysts are "shocked" and "aren't buying" Howie Kendrick's power display so far this year, but why not? Is it that far fetched? Definitely not, the writing was on the wall.

10 Crazy Things so Far in a Young 2011

With the season roughly 8 games in, it's tough to put too much stock in anything just yet. However there are some things that cannot be overlooked no matter how early you are in the season. So feel free to share your thoughts on the following list and even add some if I've missed any. I will say that there is no sign of Manny on this list. I'm done talking about this guy and glad he has decided to call it a career. A great career for sure but became a distraction too often and he's probably happy to be finished. Alright here we go...

What's in a Record Really?

With all the dust being kicked up in Boston throughout opening week about their 0-5 start, I was curious as to how bad an 0-5 start really was? Turns out, it's not that bad at all. There has been plenty of cases where teams that have decent (at best) records still go on to win the World Series. The crazy thing is that it happens more than you think.

Morning Poles: 30 Up and 30 Down

Opening weekend can be emotional. It is where five months of anticipation and speculation finally come together and reach new heights or come crashing down. Although baseball can be known as a marathon rather than a sprint, opening weekend represents the shooting out of the blocks before the long haul of the season sets in.

Rather than doing power rankings, every Monday I will be highlighting the prior week in baseball by going through all 30 teams and seeing who has reason to feel up or down after the previous seven days. Consider this some kind of bipolar lens to the heart of a baseball team, so let's get to it...

What's Going On With Tex?

Mark Teixeira is a slow starter and everyone, by now, knows it. He's a fantasy baseball killer in April and he certainly does no favors for the big league clubs he's played for in April either. So what's the deal with big Tex this year, why the hot start and should we expect this to continue?

An "Ace" in the Hole

One of the recurring themes I had to deal with in evaluating rosters for our season previews was how to define an ace. Additionally, as I was watching Justin Verlander pitch last night I was struck with the notion that while Verlander isn't a poor pitcher by any means, he might not be one of the true 'shut-em-down' aces that teams rely on. Obviously, Verlander is the ace of the Tigers rotation. That being said, being tabbed as a number one starter doesn't necessarily mean you are a good pitcher (Luke Hochevar) or even the best on your team (Ian Kennedy, Mark Buerhle).

If wins were the measure of an ace then Verlander would be in the discussion as he has won 17 or more games in four of his five seasons. Indeed, only Roy Halladay (90) and C.C. Sabathia (88) have won more games since Verlander entered the league. However, if you look at adjusted ERA (ERA+) over that same span for pitchers with more than 600 innings pitched during that period then Verlander slides to 20th in baseball.

Vulture Wins

As per Cam's comment in the Wilbur Wood post, here is a list of last years leaders in pitchers who blow a save but earn a win. It's kind of like convincing your best friend to break up with his girlfriend only to snake in there and starting dating her yourself. I like to refer to this phenomenon as a "snake win" but alas I am not the first person to go down this road. Thanks to folks over at the now defunct Recondite Baseball blog this situation is commonly referred to as a vulture win.

Morning Poles: Opening Day Edition

There literally is nothing better than watching baseball all day long. Just ask these guys. So let's do it one more time today.

Yesterday's highlight was obviously the Reds-Brewers game that ended in dramatic fashion after a 3-run walk off HR by Ramon Hernandez. Similar to last year, the Reds offense looks capable of having a big inning at just about any moment, which means the last minute heroics that typified last season's Cinderella run may become the norm once again.

The Wilbur Wood Start

Watching the Dodgers-Giants game tonight and it appears as though Tim Lincecum is in line for the loss despite going 7 innings and giving up no earned runs. Of course, he qualifies for the loss because Matt Kemp scored on a throwing error during the sixth inning. Now I don't want to get into the ridiculousness of wins and losses, and what they really represent in regards to pitching performance, but I wanted to see how often pitchers take losses under similar circumstances.

Enter the Baseball-Reference.com play index. Since 1970, there have been 389 games where a pitcher has tossed 7 innings while giving up zero earned runs and being tagged with the loss. Five pitchers have actually been hung with the loss four different times during this period; here they are with total career starts in parentheses:

Wilbur Wood (297), Fernando Valenzuela (424), Charlie Hough (440), Nolan Ryan (773), and Tim Belcher (373).

Wilbur Wood appears to be the pitcher with the hardest luck out of this group, by virtue of doing it in the least amount of starts, and has thus earned the title for this manner of start. From now on when a pitcher goes 7 innings without giving up an earned run and takes the loss I will be dubbing it a Wilbur Wood start. Or WW start. Or W squared. You get it.

*Side notes: Yes, this does indeed add further to the mysteries behind knuckle-ballers as both Hough and Wood mastered the pitch. Wood was also the last pitcher in baseball history to both win and lose 20 games in a season (24-20 in 1973).

Happy Opening Day!!

It's Christmas morning for baseball fans and all of us here at Cans of Corn would like to wish everyone a very happy Opening Day!

We've had a busy month here at CoC since launching the site 29 days ago and I would personally like to thank Curtis, Cam, and Matt for all their help. Against all odds we managed to get all 30 team previews up and it looks like everyone here is geared for the upcoming season. If you are new to site please check out the follow predictions and previews for a primer on what each of us are expecting for the next six months.

Enjoy!!

Curtis Cleveland's 2011 Predictions

Musty's 2011 Predictions

Cornhole Jones' 2011 Predictions

Rod Ruff's 2011 Predictions

As a bonus, be sure to also check out Curt's more in-depth thoughts, predictions and surprises for the season here.

Finally, you can check out all of our 2011 team previews by using the right sidebar.

2011 Staff Season Predictions - Rod Ruff

AL East: New York Yankees
AL Central: Minnesota Twins
AL West: Oakland Athletics
AL Wildcard: Boston Red Sox

NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
NL West: San Francisco Giants
NL Wildcard: Colorado Rockies

AL MVP: Joe Mauer
AL CY Young: Jon Lester
AL ROY: Zach Britton

NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki
NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum
NL ROY: Aroldis Chapman

One big surprise of the season: Philadelphia doesn't make the playoffs. After all the hoopla, injuries derail both the offense and the dream rotation as the Phillies fight, and ultimately lose, the wild card race.

2011 Staff Predictions - Curtis Cleveland

AL East: Boston Red Sox

AL Central: Chicago White Sox

AL West: Oakland Athletics

AL Wildcard: Tampa Bay Rays

NL East: Atlanta Braves

NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers

NL West: San Francisco Giants

NL Wildcard: Philadelphia Phillies

AL MVP: Evan Longoria

AL CY Young: Jon Lester

AL ROY: Jeremy Hellickson

NL MVP: Prince Fielder

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay

NL ROY: Freddie Freeman

One big surprise of the season: Texas doesn't make the post-season. Injuries bite again and the solid progression of Oakland's rotation combined with superb defense gives them the AL West Division.

2011 Staff Predictions - Cornhole Jones

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL West: Texas Rangers
AL Wildcard: Oakland Athletics

NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Central: Cincinnati Reds
NL West: Colorado Rockies
NL Wildcard: Philadelphia Phillies

AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez
AL CY Young: Jon Lester
AL ROY: Jeremy Hellickson

NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzski
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay
NL ROY: Brandon Belt

One big surprise of the season: We'll have a Triple Crown Winner. For the first time since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 someone will capture baseball's elusive prize. Will it be Votto, Pujols, Car-Go, A-Gonz? I don't know. Isn't it bold enough to just predict a Triple Crown?

2011 Staff Season Predictions - Musty

AL East - New York Yankees
AL West - Texas Rangers
AL Central - Detroit Tigers
AL Wild Card - Tampa Bay Devil Rays

NL East - Atlanta Braves
NL West - San Diego Padres
NL Central - St. Louis Cardinals
NL Wild Card - San Fransisco Giants

AL MVP - Adrian Gonzalez (Boston Red Sox)
AL Cy Young - David Price (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
AL ROY - Desmond Jennings (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)

NL MVP - Albert Pujols (St. Louis Cardinals)
NL Cy Young - Tim Lincecum (San Fransisco Giants)
NL ROY - Freddie Freeman (Atlanta Braves)

One big suprise of the season: San Fransisco repeats as World Series Champions, although this time it will be by the grace of a Wild Card berth. Other surprises: more big name players come clean about using PED's, but that's becoming less of a surprise these days.

CTOD: Arizona Diamondbacks

Similar to their divisional neighbours, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the sun seems to be setting on what was one of the brightest young cores of talent in all of baseball for the Arizona Diamondbacks. 2010 marked the second straight year the D-backs finished in the gutter of the NL West and a lack of depth on both the big league and minors roster seems to destine them to be there for some time.

Last season, pitching was the problem. Arizona allowed 836 runs, good for third worst in baseball, and they featured one of the worst bullpens in recent memory. Not just bad, epically bad. The Diamondbacks bullpen finished the season with an almost unfathomable 5.74 ERA, which was a full run more than the next highest bullpen. Combine that with a rotation that only had two starters (Ian Kennedy, Rodrigo Lopez) pitch more than 142 innings and it was a recipe for disaster.

CTOD: Houston Astros

The Houston Astros finished with a 76-86 record in 2010 and I really don't see them getting any better this year, however no worse either. With no major additions to bolster their sub par offense, the only thing that will save them from losing more than last year will be the starting rotation.

CTOD: Cincinnati Reds

The major's oldest franchise enters the 2011 season as defending NL Central Champs after an improbable 2010. Breakout young stars and steady veterans paced them to a 91 win season under Dusty Baker, good enough for a 5 game win over the favored St. Louis Cardinals. Of course they didn't make much noise in the playoffs, the victim of a first round sweep at the hand of the eventual champs (and Roy Halladay's amazing post-season no hitter). Now what can they do for an encore?

CTOD: Seattle Mariners

We definitely haven't been saving the best for last in making our way towards completing our Countdown To Opening Day season previews. Yesterday we previewed the Pirates and Indians and today we will be looking at the Mariners and Diamondbacks. All four of whom are probably favorites to sweep out the basements of their respective divisions. So let's get to the Mariners..

I don't know where to start with 2010 Mariners. Has there even been a team with playoff aspirations that tanked so gloriously? Last year at this time the M's featured the best 1-2 pitching punch in all of baseball, Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, and had high hopes for riding this duo all the way to the postseason. What a difference six months makes. When it was all said and done Seattle had probably put together the worst offensive season in MLB history, putting a meager 513 runs on the board, and finishing at a lowly 61-101.

CTOD: Milwaukee Brewers

For an offense that was pretty decent last year and had a few surprises, the emergence of Hart, Weeks and McGehee, the Brewers still finished below .500 at 76-86, good for 3rd in the NL Central. The pitching is what really struggled for the Brew Crew last year. They had a team combined 4.58 ERA and only managed 75 quality starts, not good enough for a team looking to compete and win a division. What did Milwaukee do? They went out and found some pitching, it came at a price but they certainly bolstered their arsenal.

CTOD Pittsburgh Pirates

19 losing seasons in a row, had the second fewest runs scored, (587) a team worst since 1985. That's not even the worst stat, they allowed a league leading 866 runs giving the Pirates an atrocious -279 run differential (no wonder you can't win games). So why would anyone want to be a Pirates fan? I'll tell you why...

CTOD: Cleveland Indians

Times are tough in Cleveland. Although the Tribe has tried to stay relevant in recent years by flipping big league stars for young talent, the unpredictability and difficult of developing prospects has thwarted their best efforts. Last year the Indians struggled offensively, scoring only 646 runs, as they battled injuries and poor performance from their young players.

CTOD: Detroit Tigers

Glancing at the PECOTA projections for 2011 and it looks like a three team dogsled race between the Twins, White Sox, and Tigers. Indeed, all three are projected to win 82-83 wins. This may seem counterintuitive upon looking at last years final standings, the Tigers finished 13 games behind the Twins, but still demonstrates how close the talent pool is between these three teams.

Last season, Detroit mainly fell behind its divisional rivals in run prevention. They allowed 39 more runs the ChiSox and 72 more runs than the Twins despite scoring runs at a very similar rate to both teams. Interestingly, most of the questions about the Tigers going into the 2011 season are about offense as the pitching looks to be the most predictable part of this team.

CTOD: Chicago White Sox

If recent history is any indicator of future performance then the 2011 White Sox might be a team to avoid. Since their championship season in 2005, the Sox have alternated between good and bad seasons which may be an indicator of taking on the bipolar tendencies of their quirky manager. Last season the White Sox led the division for most of the first half but couldn't keep pace with the torrid Twins as they went on to post a respectable 88-74 record.

CTOD: Baltimore Orioles

For the first time in years, possibly a decade, there is tempered enthusiasm in Baltimore. The enthusiasm stems from an amazing finish under new manager Buck Showalter last season, a solid group of young players, and an active offseason that filled some large holes in the roster. Temperance for the enthusiasm comes from the mountain of a challenge that is involved in climbing the AL East, where all four teams in the division won more than 85 games last year.

CTOD: New York Yankees

Although the expectation is for a World Series championship every year, it is hard to see 2010 as anything by a success for the Yanks. They lead the league in scoring and received enough pitching to post the best run differential in baseball on their way to the second best record in the AL.

All in all, 2010 was a year of pleasant surprises for the Yanks. Offsetting the declining performance of their aging premier players - A-Rod, Jeter, Teixeira, and Posada - was the emergence of Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Nick Swisher, and Curtis Granderson. All four of whom posted WARs of 3.6 or higher and thus ranking them in the top 5 in the Yankees lineup. The rotation struggled, both Javier Vazquez and A.J. Burnett posted ERAs north of 5.00, but the American League's third best bullpen was able to pick up the slack.

CTOD: Colorado Rockies

Although the Rockies finished at 83-79, and nine games back of the Giants, the NL West was largely a three team horserace for all of 2010. Indeed, things were incredibly tight until the Troy Tulowitzki show (15 September HRs) ended with the Rockies losing 8 straight to finish the season. Going into the 2011 season the Rockies made few adjustments to their roster and expect to compete in a difficult NL West once again.

Colorado definitely has all the pieces you need to field a competitive team year in and year out. They have a shutdown pitcher in Ubaldo Jimenez, two bonafide superstarts in the heart of their order in Tulo and Carlos Gonzalez, and a lockdown closer with Huston Street. Qualifying for the playoffs thus becomes a matter of maximizing production from the rest of the order and pitching staff while allowing the superstars to carry the team.

CTOD: Los Angeles Dodgers

Time is slowly ticking away for the Los Angeles Dodgers. 2 years ago the Dodgers seemed poised to dominate the NL West for years to come with a young core of Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andre Ethier. Russell Martin, Clayton Kershaw, and Chad Billingsley. Last season saw the unraveling of that dream. On the mound, Kershaw has developed into the number one starter he was always projected to be and Billingsley fits right in behind him as reliable number two. However, the young nucleus of hitters that seemed destined for stardom have seemingly peaked in their progression as hitters and struggled mightily last season. For that reason, the Dodgers scored 100 runs less than the previous year, in fact they only scored two more runs than the Padres, despite an almost identical lineup. Here's why:

CTOD: San Diego Padres

Last year was a cinderella season for the Padres, the kind of season all fans hope for during the spring, and they will be hoping for lightning to strike twice once again come April. I like to always refer to PECOTA rankings in these countdown to opening day previews as it gives a good look at what a team looks like on paper. That being said, the margin of error for PECOTA projections is usually plus or minus 8 wins, and thus as a purely predictive tool they aren't overly reliable. Critics of such projection systems would love to point to the fact that in 2010 the Padres were projected to win 74 games and instead won 90 while being in the pennant race all the way into the last weekend.

CTOD: Washington Nationals

Upon reviewing the outlook for the Washington Nationals for the upcoming season I was instantly filled with regret for saying the Mets could compete with them for the bottom of the NL East this year. Perhaps it is the prospect hype, with Strasburg last year and then Harper this year, or else the high profile signing of Jayson Werth in the offseason, or Ryan Zimmerman emerging as one of the games best players, but I seem to give the Nats more credit then they deserve.

Getting Typecast: Neftali Feliz

After a back and forth spring, it was announced today that Neftali Feliz would be returning to the back end of the bullpen as the Ranger's closer. I don't need to state or explain why a starter is more valuable than a closer. That horse has been beaten to death. As for Feliz.. He was excellent as a starter during his limited minor league career, and has been just as good as a reliever since reaching the show in late 2009.  I am unaware of any scout or talent evaluator who doesn't think he can succeed at the top of a rotation at this point in his career.

Regardless, he is closing, and so what does this mean for a player with his track record?

Rob Deer: Player of the Future

Growing up during the 1980's, and growing to love baseball, there was always one player that mystified me: Rob Deer. I'll admit that in my youth I loved high batting average hitters, guys like Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, Paul Molitor, Edgar Martinez, etc.  I can still remember John Olerud's flirtation with .400 for a couple months in 1993 like it was yesterday and how exciting it seemed at the time. Only in my later years have I learned the limitations of batting average as a statistic and moved on to better measurements of player performance. However, back to Rob Deer.

CTOD: Philadelphia Phillies

Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels. I think we have all heard enough of the hype and are ready to see what this rotation is capable of on a daily basis. For those of you who can't get enough of the Phillies super-rotation, then I highly recommend Curtis Cleveland's best rotation of all time article found here.

There were few surprises on the hill last season for the Phils. Halladay mowed through NL hitters for a spectacular 250 innings. Hamels pitched almost exactly the same way he has for the past 3 years, with #1 stuff, and his ERA came back down to near 3.00 after an unlucky 2009. Oswalt wasn't just lights out for his second half stint with Philadelphia, he was as good as he has ever been, posting his best K rate since his rookie year. Add Cliff Lee and things are looking mighty difficult for NL lineups this year. However, with the exception of Hamels, no one on this super-staff is a spring chicken. Doc-Lee-Roy are all north of 33 and it wouldn't be unreasonable to except any of them to start to decline or miss time with those nagging injuries that afflict older pitchers.

CTOD: Atlanta Braves

If the Mets are the most tumultuous team in MLB then the Atlanta Braves may be their bizarro world counterpart. Although every team faces questions and concerns going into the regular season, the Braves, like in years past, seem like beacons of consistency.

On offense, it is difficult to find players whose performance is more consistent over the past few years than Brian McCann, Dan Uggla, and the under-appreciated Martin Prado. Jason Heyward was as amazing as advertised, aside from an injured thumb in June and July, and showed he is capable of MVP caliber play. Add a healthy Chipper Jones, who is absolutely raking this spring, and the Braves lineup looks as balanced as any in the NL.

CTOD: New York Mets

In the course of one year the New York Mets have gone from perennial playoff contender, slash September choke-show, to a team drowning in a sea of turmoil. 2010 was an entirely forgettable year for the Metropolitans and an off-season where ownership was paralyzed by personal financial troubles does little to raise the hopes of their embattled fans.

Indeed, very little went right in 2010.  Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran, and Johan Santana all suffered significant injuries and missed time. Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, and Jose Reyes continued to perform far under expectations. K-Rod beat up his girlfriends father. David Wright rediscovered his power stroke but saved his whining for the umps as he watched his OBP plummet to a career low. On the positive side, off-setting this mammoth list of disappointments were the emergences of Ike Davis and R.A. Dickey; the latter featuring an insane knuckleball and thus becoming one of the few must watch pitchers in the league on a start-to-start basis.

CTOD Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers were the AL Champs last year, yet lost to the Giants in the World Series. Will they repeat as AL Champs again? Do they have the stuff to take home the title of 2011 World Series Champs? Everyone knows they have the bats to get them there, no doubt about that. However is there pitching going to be able to hold up and give them what they need to win?

2011 Thoughts and Predictions

I realize that there are numerous "what if's" out there and everything can be "up for debate" but c'mon it wouldn't be baseball without some good ol' fashion predictions right? Reading many other bloggers and writers predictions I felt the need to come up with my own, that's the best part of baseball anything can happen and everyone has an opinion, so here we go...

CTOD: Boston Red Sox

Last year was a difficult one for Red Sox fans (myself included) as an injury plagued campaign had them finish the season in third place, behind the still surprising Rays and the always tough Yankees. Without key players like Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Josh Beckett and Kevin Youkilis for much of the year, new additions Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre picked up much of the slack but it wasn't enough to reach October. This year those two players are lost to free agency, but that long list of walking wounded has returned - alongside a few marquee additions.

CTOD: Tampa Bay Rays

They will always be the Devil Rays to me. Although I have no emotional attachment to the Tampa Bay area the Rays have been one of my favorite teams over the past few years because of their collection of young talent. Unfortunately for the Rays, despite an incredibly successful season for the franchise, there still exists little to no fanbase for them in Florida. This lack of fan attachment may have made it easier on management to revamp their roster to meet payroll demands and thus the 2011 Rays look much different than last years.

St. Louis Cardinals Preview

Finally some good news from the St. Louis Cardinals can be reported. Pitcher Chris Carpenter is ready to return to the roster after being sidelined two starts with a hamstring injury. The 2005 Cy Young winner will return on Wednesday and continue to be a critical piece of a struggling Cardinal bullpen this year. The most notable cause of struggle will be the loss of Adam Wainwright as he will miss the entire 2011 season after suffering an elbow injury that required surgery to repair. Last year, Wainwright finished second in N.L. Cy Young balloting next to Philadelphia's Roy Halliday.

Another noteworthy contest facing the Cards this year is not agreeing to a contract with club superstar Albert Pujols. Despite not agreeing to a contract, Pujols and the Cardinals have one year left to decide if he is worth the $300 Million price tag he is asking for. From a franchising and branding perspective, he is worth every penny. Statistically, he is Hall of Fame bound. That being said, he is also one injury away from being worth fractions of that price. How this will play into the kind of season we can expect from the team is to be determined. Pujols will continue to show up and do what he does best regardless and he made that clear on Day #1 of spring training. When questioned by reporters as to why he would even show up without a contract in place Pujols responded, " I respect my team too much". It looks like business as usual this year in the Cardinal clubhouse, but they are going to have to make adjustments to the line-up and avoid the contract/trade speculation that will surface all season.

CTOD: Chicago Cubs

Is there a more wide open division than the NL Central? The reigning division champs, the Cincinnati Reds, are hardly favorites going into the upcoming season. Perennial Central favorites - the Cards - have lost their ace for the season, whereas the Brewers and Cubbies both revamped their rosters to get into "win now" mode.

A King's Ransom?

Earlier this morning Ken Rosenthal made a compelling case for the Mariners to trade Felix Hernandez to the Yankees:

The Mariners need players. Lots of players. The prospects they would get for Hernandez would join Pineda, second baseman Dustin Ackley and first baseman Justin Smoak to form an impressive young core.

There aren't words for how bad the 2010 Mariners were. Furthermore, despite a few promising prospects there is very little reason for optimism for the next few seasons. So what to do? There is no urgent need to trade Hernandez as he is under contract until 2014 and although he will make more than $20 million a year for the final 3 years of his contract the Mariners aren't in dire need of cash or payroll strapped.  So the pressing question is whether or not the Mariners are better with or without Hernandez?

CTOD: Minnesota Twins

2010 was a good year for the Twinkies. If you believe that what separates playoff teams from non-playoff teams are a series of fortunate bounces over the course of a long season then last years Twins are your team. Jim Thome replaced an unimaginably hot Justin Morneau and entered the MVP discussion despite only 340 plate appearances. Other "breaks" included  Francisco Liriano returning to his pre-injury dominance, Carl Pavano being healthy for a second consecutive year, Matt Capps filling in admirably for Joe Nathan, and Delmon Young playing like a corner outfielder for the first time in his career. Overall, the pitching, defense, and offense all clicked together and the Twins racked up 94 wins and ran away with the AL Central.

CTOD: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

In 2010 the Angels finished 80-82, 10 games back of the AL West winning Texas Rangers. Obviously that was due in part to the loss of Kendry Morales. However some losses are others gain's, Morales gave us a ridiculous highlight reel home run then trumped it with the craziest accident since Randy Johnson plucked a bird in mid flight. The Angels averaged 4.2 runs per game in 2010, well below the 5.5 they averaged in 2009, so yeah the loss of Morales was a blow for sure.

CTOD: Chicago White Sox

In 2010 the White Sox finished 2nd in the AL Central, 7 GB of the Wild Card. Going into 2011 I believe the biggest enemy for the White Sox is mediocrity. Here you have a team that finished in the top 10 in most offensive categories last season (runs, hits, home runs, and batting average) yet couldn't get over the hump, why? lets take a look...

CTOD: Kansas City Royals

In 2006 Dayton Moore took over a team that was in shambles yet showed promise and had people in Kansas hoping to see success like some of the previous great Royals teams. Moore promised to be build a team through drafting and scouting and he has done just that, the Royals have the best farm system in baseball according to Baseball America. The flip side is that the Royals have had only one winning season since 2000, which is how they built the best system in baseball, giving them 8 top 10 selections over the past ten years.

CTOD: Florida Marlins

Many felt the Marlins were primed for contention last season after a surprising 2009 in which they won 87 games. Others pointed to their lack-luster run differential and figured that those 09 Marlins received a few too many breaks. Regardless, the 2010 Marlins looked eerily similar to their predecessors throughout last season. Every year feels like the Marlins are going through the same process: hope the young pitchers - who are very good - can log enough innings, hope a few star players can carry the offense, and hope that the awful defense doesn't completely implode. Last year was no different. Johnson, Nolasco, and Sanchez once again proved that they are the real deal, but also proved that they struggle to get out there every 5 days as the Marlins didn't have a starter go over 200 IP. Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez provided most of the offense, yet again, but also provided some seriously ugly defense up the middle.

Finish Strong, Start Strong?

Despite that fact that he was remarkably consistent for the entire 2010 season, Jose Bautista's performance last year was generally regarded with suspicion and as somewhat flukey. Fans reminisced of forgotten fluke seasons,  like the 50 homer campaigns of Brady Anderson and Luis Gonzalez, and wondered where Bautista's power surge was coming from. Both Bautista, and Jays hitting instructors, credited a change in his hitting approach that he made the previous September as the difference maker - a month in which Bautista clubbed 9 HRs.