Eye on the Ball Miguel

Ouch.

Sorry for the pun, but I simply could not resist. And that is right blog followers, it's a special "Two Blog Tuesday" in which I post two blogs about whatever I want! I debated talking about Joakim Soria's possible need for Tommy John surgery, Derek Holland's contract extension with the Rangers, but I feel as though Miguel Cabrera is a personal, and fan favorite. One of the best first/third baseman on the field right now will be taking a week off because of a non-displaced fracture of the orbital floor in his right eye. This came from a ground ball off hit by Hunter Pence in the Tigers loss against the Phillies on Monday. Apparently the ground was exceptionally hard that day because the hopper came up and struck Miguel Cabrera's sunglasses which possibly saved his eye. Cabrera was bleeding immediately because the ball hit his sunglasses which then cut into the area around his eye. His sunglasses even had an imprint of the ball's stitches on them. It must have been fate that Monday was the first day that Cabrera decided to wear sunglasses on the field. One could question whether or not that it was Cabrera's fault due to poor fielding, but he has only committed one error all Spring Training. The first person to come up to Miguel was pitcher Max Scherzer, who first made sure he could see, and then told him, "You're OK!" He said this to make sure that Cabrera didn't freak out because of the blood that was coming from his face. Cabrera was always on his feet, but was clearly dazed by the impact of the ball, and hopefully he will not have to start the season on the DL. Since Opening Day is two and a half weeks away for the Tigers, they hope Miguel will be ok and won't have any serious damage to his eye. Manager Jim Leyland stated that, "It was swelling up pretty quick. Basically, he looked like a fighter that needed a cut man and wasn't doing too good in the fight." Hopefully Miguel can keep up the good fight and have a speedy recovery.

Chase Utley you are the Man

Phillies fans are getting worried. Chase Utley is not doing as well as we would have hoped he would be at this point. With a chronic knee problem in both knees, Utley has left Phillies camp to go to an unknown specialist in an unknown location to have them looked at. With that being said, Utley will most likely start the season on the disabled list, just like last year. The Phillies are at a loss with Utley out of the lineup, the longterm 3-hole hitter, who is a .911 OPS hitter from 2005-2010. It's difficult to see Utley in a position where he was in 2011 where he only hit .259 with 11 homeruns. The 5 time All-Star had/has a Hall of Fame career behind him and he hopes to further that career after dealing with his knees. People have stated that Utley is possibly one of the best offensive second baseman of all time, but there are red flags rising. Chase has not appeared in one Grapefruit League game this Spring Training, and manager Charlie Manuel is worried. Many of the Phillies fear that Chase's problem is not going away and also fear that he may never be 100%. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has stated that Utley has his a plateau in his progress, and he is not where the team would like him to be. Phillies fans know that Chase Utley is not where he would like to be, mainly because Utley is one of the hardest working players out there, he has worked through this pain before. Surgery is one thing that has not really been discussed and it is hard to say because Utley has not discussed the matter publicly. In terms of temporarily replacing Utley, Freddy Galvis has been impressing the front office and coaching staff this Spring Training, and has been unofficially named the Opening Day second baseman. But looking at the lefthand side of the Phillies infield, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are now gone. Two All-Stars, two players who hit 3rd and 4th for the lineup since 2005/2006, the two players that have arguably contributed to the Phillies the most in the past 5 seasons, and key to their success in the National League East. Chase Utley is a fan favorite in Philadelphia, a player who gives 100% even when his body is only willing to give 50. He is a player who will never be booed by Phillies fans, which is saying something, because Chase Utley is a class act, and in the words of the late Harry Kalas, "Chase Utley, you are the man."

Those "Amazin" Mets

What happens when you are a team owner and you invest your money in a "legitimate business" to make a quick dollar? Well ask Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and they'll tell you that it costs approximately $162 million in payoffs to victims of Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme. 162? That's a number that sounds awfully familiar to a baseball fan, oh wait! It's the amount of baseball games in a season, which means that the Mets owners will being paying exactly One Million Dollars per baseball game. That's money that they could have invested into Jose Reyes' contract, or the future contract of David Wright. Maybe the Mets could have signed Prince Fielder, or Albert Pujols, but no, they have to pay off money which was issued by the United States Government. Wilpon, an owner since 1980, stated, "The first order of business and the first priority will be getting down to Florida tomorrow, getting to the Spring Training camp, and trying to bring the New York Mets back to the prominence that our fans deserve and the city of New York deserves." HAH! I will certainly laugh about that one later. If New York fans want to look a team that is successful and prominent, they should look 20 minutes across the city at Yankee Stadium to see a real team play. Or at least a team that fans and the city of New York deserves. Apparently Mets fans are supposed to "stick with us." But to be honest, if I were a Mets fan, I would have stopped being a Mets fan in 2007 when their "Amazin" collapse happened. I know that this blog post may be biased with me being a Phillies fan, but you have to look at this at a standpoint of a Mets fan. How dumb could your owner be to invest in something like Bernie Madoff's "Company" which MLB restrictions go against? That is money that could be spent towards free agents, towards new contracts for great players, and hopefully towards a World Series Championship! But meanwhile, ticket prices will most likely go up, players will not sign large contracts, and prospects will be traded away. Sorry Mets fans, but things are not looking too good for your team. Talk about a great 50th Anniversary...

Answering the Call of Duty: Jim Thome

For the first time since 2007, Jim Thome played first base on Monday's Minor League Spring Training Game. Thome played 4-innings at first for the first time since 2007 where he played a total of 8 innings at first for the Chicago White Sox. After the game he was questioned, "Just like riding a bike, right?" To which Thome replied, "Oh no. No, no." Many don't realize that Jim Thome is 41 years old, he's been in the Majors since 1991, which as of this season is 21 seasons ago. Plagued by back problems, old age (by baseball standards), and overall rust, Thome will have some trouble playing at first. In the Spring Training game, a ball went right by him, to which he replied, "The ball always finds you when you haven't been out there in a while." With Ryan Howard gone, who will play first? Or who will fill the void of RBIs and homeruns? Ty Wigginton, Laynce Nix, John Mayberry, Domonic Brown, and Jim Thome all can't play at once to fill the void. So what is Charlie Manuel to do while Howard out on injury? He hopes to have Thome there to play at first and is banking on around 200 at-bats. Unfortunately if Thome only pinch-hits and plays as the DH in Interleague Play, that means that he will still only have around 115 at-bats. (Most at bats of a pinch-hitter was Lenny Harris who had 83 in 2001 with the Mets). But Phillies fans aren't going to forget what Jim Thome has done for the city, hitting 47 homeruns in 2003 in the last season of Veterans Stadium. Thome is in the top 6 of homerun hitters in the past 10 years that isn't linked to steroids. He hit his 600th with the Indians in the 2011 season (finished with 604) and he hopes to have many more with the Phillies in 2012. There are some things that Thome has to re-learn at first, and he's hoping to get his mitt back into shape. I wish Thome luck in the 2012 season, and hope that he can play first at the best of his abilities. 

What Has Third Base Become?

A-Rod Steals Third on Adrian Beltre in Texas
(Ironic, I know)

The "Hot Corner" has become a position is looked at now almost more than any other position. Why you ask? Well I'll try to inform you. Third has now become a position where you have to field like a shortstop and hit like a first baseman. Before this off season (the year of the closer/first baseman), recent years have shown that third baseman are become more and more coveted by teams. Let's look at some of the recent trends at third. Who plays third base as of right now? Starting off the 2012 season, new third baseman, Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez will now take over third for the Miami Marlins thanks to Jose Reyes filling the shortstop position this off season. The defense on the left side of the field will not be as good as it was in '03 when they won the World Series, but it surely will be an improvement. But wait, who was that guy at third for the Marlins in 2003? Oh right, Miguel Cabrera. Since Prince Fielder has now taken over first for the Detroit Tigers, Cabrera is back to his original position in MLB at third. Want to know something remarkable about Cabrera? He's gained in the realm of 50 lbs from when he left the Marlins in '07. Playing third keeps you agile, and playing first, well look at Fielder. You can get big and still have great defense. So "Miggy" will certainly have to lose some weight to regain some agility and make sure he is able to field the ball well at third. Unfortunately for him, the 2012 Fielding Bible expects him to make plenty of errors throughout the season. So how does the average third baseman stack up to these power figures shifting to third? Unfortunately, he doesn't. How does the Chicago Cubs third baseman Ian Stewart stack up against A-Rod? He doesn't. How does Juan Uribe of the Dodgers compare to Ryan Zimmerman? He doesn't. The idea of a third baseman that can only field is out the door. Mark Reynolds of the Orioles does not have the greatest fielding percentage, but can hit 30 homers in a season. That's what the Orioles wanted, power! After signing Adrian Gonzalez to first base, the Red Sox were forced to move Kevin Youkilis back to third, which his defense lacked, but he still could drive in runs. Phillies fans can remember a time after Scott Rolen, when there was a platooning of David Bell (my favorite, seriously), Abraham Nunez, Wes Helms, and Greg Dobbs. In closing, I just hope that third base can become a position where baseball players can succeed, whether they are amazing fielders or power hitters, third base simply amazes me. In my opinion, there's almost nothing better than an "around the horn" double-play ball.

Brett Myers: A Closer Once More

For the first time since 2007, Brett Myers is once more a closer in the National League. The Houston Astros have formally announced Brett Myers as their new closer for the 2012 season after many delegations. This raises many questions of what will happen with the Astros rotation. In the past two seasons, Myers has started 67 games for the Astros with a record of 21-22, and ERA of 3.79, and 439 2/3 innings. In the National League Myers has the 5th most innings pitched as a starter, so how do the Astros easily move him only into the 9th inning? Well they have many young arms to take his place in the rotation, those arms being: Livan Hernandez, Zach Duke, J.A. Happ, Wandy Rodriguez, Bud Norris, Jordan Lyles, Lucas Harrell, Henry Sosa, and Kyle Weiland. Let's just say they have their fair share of minor league pitchers to choose from if one doesn't work out. So let's just say that the Astros are "set" in their rotation, but how does Myers stack up as a closer? In 2007, Myers went 5-5 with a 2.87 ERA with 21 saves. Not too bad, but compared to last year's closer Mark Melancon, who had 20 saves in the 2011 season, Myers could be a large improvement. But what do the Astros need to do to compete in the only division that has six teams? What do they need to do to win more than 56 games? My guess would be that they need to fix their team batting average of .258 and their team ERA of 4.51. While increasing one, and decreasing the other, there is no reason that the Astros should at least finish above the Cubs(?). Myers will have five weeks of Spring Training to get his arm ready to be a closer once more, I wish him luck in the 2012 season and hope he is a successful closer for the Astros.

Oh Those Crazy Nationals...

Screech!

By "popular demand" my resurgence of my blog is starting with the Washington Nationals and their silly antics in our nation's capital. Since the rebirth of a franchise in Washington D.C., the Nationals have had a goal of finishing at .500, which they did in their inaugural season of 2005, and almost completed this amazing feat at the end of this season, coming up one game short (80-81). Due to a rained out game with the Dodgers that they never made up, the Nats now think because they finished third, they are what we call "contenders." Now don't get me wrong, I never want to see anybody finish with 59 wins in a season, or constantly be in the cellar of a division, but I don't see it happening this season. As stated in previous blogs, the Miami Marlins are a new force not to be reckoned with, the Phillies are still dominant in pitching and are looking to reclaim the NL East for the 6th strait year, and the Braves are still trying to figure out what they did wrong at the end of last season (I purposely left out the Mets because they care more about rhinoplasty than baseball Nice Nose Niese). What exactly are the Nationals up to? For starters, the Nationals have recently signed a 6-year, $100 million contract extension with third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. The Nationals traded for Gio Gonzalez earlier this off season with the Athletics and make him a dominant pitcher in the rotation. Stephen Strasburg is coming back this season after surgery, and Bryce Harper is said to probably make the team this season. A personal favorite of mine, Tyler Clippard is still on the team, and the Nats added Brad Lidge to their arsenal of bullpen arms. On a side note, the Nationals are trying a new campaign this season called, "Take Back the Park," which is supposed to stop Phillies fans from going to Nationals Park. Good luck with that, because Citizens Bank Park South is certainly a Philly fan favorite. So what are the Nationals going to do this season? I don't know, but what I do know is that the NL East is the division to watch this upcoming 2012 season because there certainly will plenty of surprises.