Devil Doggs

OK, so baseball season is really creeping up on us. I have been trying to think of what I should to prepare for this on the bliggity blog. What i have come up with for starters is to preview every team in the AL and NL East. While not everyone would find previews of the Cardinals and Rangers interesting, since most of the readers are Sox, Yanks or Mets fans I assume that this will work. I am going to start today with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The Devil Rays are probably the most interesting of the "have-nots" on baseball. While they have never won and baring a major miracle won't win again this season, they have a bunch of young talent in their system. The problem for them is that much of the major league ready talent is is best suited for the outfield. Besides that though, they have a young and innovative manager, plus a 23 year old potential Cy Young winner. They also have the number one ranked minor league system according to Keith Law of ESPN.com. Here is an evaluation of their fortunes for the season...

The Good:
They have five tremendously talented players that will be 25 or younger on opening day in Rocco Baldelli, Carl Crawford, Delmon Young, Elijah Duke and BJ Upton. The problem is that all five players appear to be best suited as an outfielder. It seems like the Rays would like to find a way to get each of these players 450 at-bats. They would like to start Young, Baldelli, and Crawford in the outfield, with Upton playing all over including DH and Duke being the fourth outfielder and platoon at DH. The Devil Rays are in a prime position to trade one of these players for pitching. A perfect solution in my mind would be to trade Baldelli and start Upton in center. Duke has had numerous disciplinary problems in the minors, so I would give him a chance to play and then trade him as his value peaks if possible. They would then have three outfielders left and their two top hitting prospects in the minors are a third baseman and a shortstop.

Scott Kazmir is the ace of the Devil Ray staff. He had his season shortened by injury last year, but is an electric talent. He is only 23 years old and after Johan Santana, could be the best left-handed pitcher in the American League. The Devil Rays also had their first significant fee agent signing in a few years. They signed Akinori Iwamura from the Japanese League. He will start at third base for them and is only 28 years old. Their top hitting prospect definitely starting the season in the minors is third baseman Evan Longoria so Iwamura may just be keeping the position warm for him. Manager Joe Madden is in his second year with the Rays, but he was a major managerial prospect after his years as bench coach under Mike Scioscia in Anaheim. He has job security for at least this season, which is probably the best thing you can ask for as a Devil Ray manager.

The Bad

Pitching. I am not saying that is the only bad part of the Devil Ray organization, but it definitely is the most glaring. Going up and down the Devil Ray pitching roster, Kazmir is the only guy I would want on my team. They have stocked their minor league system with pitching, but the word is that it won't be ready for at least another season. No matter how many talented hitters the Rays have, it will mean nothing without the pitching, especially in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox. I like the philosophy of their young GM (Andrew Freidman) in stocking the minors with pitching, but the major league roster is still very bare on the front. Besides pitching they have some holes in their line-up, but their main problem is their stadium/fan support. Baseball has not electrified Tampa they way MLB hoped when they award that city a franchise in 1998. They stadium is horrendous as well.

The Confusing

A couple players stick out in this regard, namely Jorge Cantu and Johnny Gomes. Gomes is 26 and Cantu is 25, but they have had inconsistent beginnings to their respective careers. Two years ago they both had breakthrough seasons and last year they both took considerable steps back. They each have always had trouble fielding, and could be standing in the way of their potentially more productive younger players. The beginning of the season for these two players will be key to their future with the Rays. If they don't produce, as I have noted, the Rays have a few young hitters that they would be more than happy to give extra at-bats to.

Probable Line-Up
C: Dioneer Navaro
1B: Ty Wigginton
2B: Jorge Cantu
3B: Akinori Iwamura
SS: Ben Zobrist
LF: Carl Crawford
CF: Rocco Baldelli
RF: Delmon Young
DH: BJ Upton

Starting Pitching
1. Scott Kazmir
2. Jae Seo
3. Casey Fossum
4. Edwin Jackson
5. Seth McClung

Closer: Chad Orvella

As you can tell, their line-up is very young and their pitching is very bad. I struggle to project them anything other than last place once again. They have a ton of young talent though coming through their system. It is up to the GM to project which hitting talent he should keep and which should be shipped out for more pitching. They may never be able to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox financially, but they (at the moment) set up to compete talent wise for the next five to seven years. This year that is far from the case though.

Randoms

• So the Chargers fire Schottenheimer (200 career wins) and Hire Norv Turner (.420 career winning %)? I just don't get it. I know that this point they did not have a great amount of options, but I just do not see how they feel that they can make the next step with Turner as coach.
• I will save my AROD feelings for a full post, but again HOW DID THEY KEEP THIS GUY??? I understand that you will never get the value in talent that this guy deserves, and if he was traded he would most like put up 50 HRs and 140 RBIs where ever else he went. The constant drama with him is too much though. Plus, all season long his opt out clause in his contract is going to be a story. He just is not worth the distraction to me. Grab some more pitching for him and then trade for a Joe Crede, or sign the Japanese thrid baseman that the D'Rays got. He obviously has a rift with Jeter, and is not on great terms with Torre. He puts his foot in his mouth on a daily basis and has a poor relationship with the fans. The media eats him alive, and his playoff faults are well known.
• I am sure Vegas was crazy for the NBA All Star weekend, but the festivities we saw on TV were as weak as I could remember. I was bored by Saturday night and the game itself was less interesting than usual.
• Looks like Jason Kidd and/or Vince Carter will get traded. I think that the Nets are making the right move, and Rod Thorn will make sure that they have young players/draft picks to build around.

STKAFI

It Gives You Wings!!

So I was getting off of the PATH (yes, I work in Jersey...) this morning and all of the sudden I got a rush of excitement. While I definitely think it had something to do with the cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts I had just finished (I don't remember the last time I drank coffee in the morning), I know that it also had to do with the first week of Spring Training. I love this time of year. The end of last season does not really seem that long ago. Every day though, each newspaper has a couple articles about my team. Unless I root for the Yankees of course, who have like 10 articles since they have about 20 different storylines at the moment that have almost nothing to do with them winning the World Series. In any event, I am pumped. The Yankees are once again reinventing the "Bronx Zoo" and the Mets are quietly going about Spring Training. The Mets have more than enough issues of their own, but their problems are on the field, while the Yankees have stuff going on all over the map. This is not a criticism of them, it is just the facts. I think I will list the Yankee storylines and then talk about the two most important Spring Training developments for the Mets. I would go into more detail on the Yanks, but there is just soo much to say that I would be neglecting something.

The Bombers
1. Joe Torres' lame duck status
2. ARODs' daily emotional stability
3. Carl Pavanos' balls (or lack thereof)
4. Missing Bernie Williams
5. Any soundbite/quote from The Boss
6. The Jeter/AROD relationship
7. The Torre/AROD relationship
8. Mariano Rivera contract situation
9. Kei Igawas' adjustment to the Majors
10. The development of Phil Hughes
11. The return of Andy Pettitte
12. Oh...and the neverending pursuit to end those "Year 2000" chants coming out of the bleachers in Fenway

There is a lot going on in Yankeeland, and this is without Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson. Bottom line in my mind is that there is going to be a ton of off the field stuff go on this season, but as usual the Yanks will make the playoffs. Whether they get Clemens or not, I do not see them winning it all, but I think that Cashman is slowly but surely getting this franchise on the right track with young, power arms and staying committed to the development of prospects.

The Amazins

There are two main things that I am keeping an eye on at Mets camp. The starting pitching and the corner outfield spots.

1. Starting Pitching: In my perfect world the starting rotation at the beginning of the year will be Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez, Oliver Perez, Mike Pelfrey, John Maine/Jason Vargas. I can not say that this rotations resembles anything dominant, but I do think that Glavine can be consistent, El Duke can pitch well in big spots, and Oliver Perez can regain some of his composure and win 15 games. I would love Pelfrey to develop, but I can not count on that. I honestly do believe that Perez will have a good year though. I believe that Pedro will be back by the beginning of August and will pitch well down the stretch. I could also see the Mets making a big trade for a starter. They have a ton of young starting arms (Pelfrey, Maine, Perez, Vargas, Phil Humber, Alay Soler, Aaron Heilman) to go along with a Lasting Milledge or a younger prospect. In addition, since the Mets did not commit to any more long term contracts this offseason the word is that they have some money to spend. I am excited to see how this plays out. I will be keeping an eye on Pelfrey and Humber the most for sure...

2. Corner Outfielders: Going into the season the Mets have Moises Alou and Shawn Green penciled in as their starters. Combined these guys are about 100 years old. Alou definitely still has some juice left in his bat, but will almost definitely experience a month (at least) on the DL. Green can stay on the field, but he moves as quickly as my dead Grandmother in right, and has the batspeed looks like hes swinging through peanut butter. Then you have Milledge, Ben Johnson, David Newhan and Endy Chavez fighting for bench spots. I think that Green will not last the year with the Mets. Milledge (if hes not traded) or Johnson will end up starting in right by June and they will piece together left field when Alou gets injured. The Mets have a couple highly touted outfield prospects in the minors, but they are too young to likely have an impact this season. Again, we will see how this develops, but I would like to see Milledge get another chance to start before looking to deal him.

Postscript from the MVP Talk...

I made a mistake on Dirk. The bottom line is that he is without a doubt the best player on the best team in the league. Based on the premise alone, he has to be a top contender for MVP. That was my screw-up. If I had a vote, I would put him in the top five, possibly top three, but I do not think he would be my top choice. I would honestly give it to McGrady at this point. Its gunna be interesting the second half though. A lot depends on the injuries to Nash and Yao, as well as if the Mavs run away with the #1 seed.

This is just a taste of baseball for the moment. I am sure we will get into a lot more in the next month and a half before the season starts. Also, I'm working on customizing the page better. Hope you enjoy...



STKAFI