Every Swingin’ Dick

Jose Offerman went CRAZY last night…

Offerman, playing for the Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League, homered in the first inning of Tuesday’s game. The next inning, he was hit by a pitch from Bridgeport Bluefish starter Matt Beech and charged the mound with his bat.

Catcher John Nathans was hit in the head and sustained a concussion. He tried to keep playing, but left the game with nausea and collapsed in the dugout, team spokesman Nick Razzette said.

Beech, a left-hander, sustained a broken middle finger on his right hand.

I assume the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been in touch so they can add him to their “murderer’s row” along with Elijah Dukes and Delmon Young.

From July 9 issue of The Sporting News, the mid-season analysis of the Washington Nationals:

The team’s hitting has been disappointing, and now SS Cristian Guzman will miss the rest of the season with a thumb injury.

They say that like it is a BAD thing. To be fair, he was having a good season (small sample size of 173 at bats mind you) with a line of .329/.382/.468 (BA/OBP/SLG.) However, he has career numbers of .263/.302/.378. That’s a career OPS of .680. .680! Yikes.

Now for the Atlanta Braves tidbit:

RHP Kyle Davies and LHP Chuck James have shown the potential to be reliable starters.

Davies is 4-7 with a 5.55 ERA. He has also given up 90 hits and 49 walks in 86 innings. Double yikes.

AL East:
Yankees
Red Sox
Orioles
Blue Jays
Devil Rays

I’m really not sold on either the Yanks or the Red Sox, but the sheer magnitude of their payrolls forces me to put them at the top. Both teams have flaws, but I fully expect them to address their issues during the season through waiver pickups and trades. The Yanks are old. I fully expect Posada to go through a serious decline one of these years, and I think Jeter is due for a decline as well. I’m also not wild about the idea of giving Mientkiewicz very many at bats, and don’t think he will really get them. I wonder if Melky Cabrera tried on a first basemens glove over the winter…The Red Sox are depending on JD Drew, who will be injured for a chunk of the season because that is what he does. They do have a little depth with Wily Mo Pena, but if Eric Hinske gets written in the lineup card too often they may be in trouble. I like the O’s pitching at the top of the rotation, and Markakis could be due for a breakout season which is why I’m sliding them above the Blue Jays. I just don’t trust Toronto for some reason, and I really can’t put my finger on why that is. I love their bargain basement signing of John Thomson for the back of the rotation, but I don’t trust Chacin to perform and I don’t trust Big Frank to stay healthy. Wait, I know why I don’t trust them–Royce Clayton is penciled in as their starting SS. ‘Nuff said. The DRays were my choice to surprise last year. That didn’t work so well. They still have young talent all over the place, except for the mound. Which means their pitching stinks. I wonder why they don’t try BJ Upton there since they can’t seem to find anywhere else on the field they will play him.

AL Central:
Indians
White Sox
Twins
Tigers
Royals

I think the Tigers are going to experience a return to mean. I love the Sheffield addition to the lineup–he can flat out rake. I don’t think Mags is going to play a full schedule again with his injury history. Pudge has got to show his age at some point, and I’m not a big Sean Casey guy. I have a feeling that all of their young pitching is going to struggle this year as the rest of the league catches up. Rogers is starting the year on the DL, and Todd Jones is like 407 years old. I don’t trust them. I like the Indians lineup with it’s nice mix of experience and youth. It looks like Peralta actually worked this winter to get better, so maybe he won’t be a huge useless lump this season. Their rotation is really good, and though the bullpen is unsettled, there is always opportunity to rent a closer at some point in the season. My darkhorse prediction is that they will tread water for a while, and then Eric Wedge will get the boot for a new manager which will fire up the team towards a nice finish. The White Sox are old, and plan on batting Podsednik and Erstad 1-2 in the batting order. That is a .342 and .341 OBP respectively, which doesn’t look too terrible on the surface, but both of them have a lot of .310′s and .320′s in the history mixed in with some really good years (which I feel are behind them.) The Twins have arguably the game’s best player in Joe Mauer, and the reigning AL MVP in Morneau, but they also have Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz in their rotation. Yuck. The Royals remain the Royals. They stink. Hopefully Alex Gorden will come up at some point this year and give their fans some reason to watch their games.

AL West:
A’s
Rangers
Angels
Mariners

I’m still on the A’s bandwagon. They still have a good solid rotation with some depth, and their bullpen is excellent. Piazza should thrive in the DH role and be an adequate substitute for Big Frank. Chavez should be over his tendinitis that contributed to his offensive problems last year, and my fingers are crossed that Bobby Crosby can stay on the field. I love Ron Washington, the new Rangers manager, and think they may thrive now that Buck Showalter’s foot is off their neck. The Angels have a chance to be really good and win the division, but I have some questions about their rotation. Lackey and Santana are great, but Colon is still suffering from injuries, and Weaver may hit the sophomore slump. Their bullpen is still pretty good, and they have Vlad. Kendrick and Brandon Wood (who I think will be up sooner rather than later) can both hit and are / will be instant improvements of the incumbents. Gary Mathews Jr. won’t have the season at the plate he did last year, but he is really good in CF. That contract he signed is going to be an albatross in a year or two though. The Mariners are a mess. Their bullpen (save Putz who has been experiencing some injuries this spring) stinks, their rotation is OK at best (though Hernandez may be a monster), and their lineup is “eh.”

NL East:
Mets
Braves
Marlins
Phillies
Nationals

Last year I said, “I will not pick the Braves any lower than first until they don’t actually finish first.” So this year I have them second. The Mets are still the best team in the NL East. Their lineup is quite good. I’m not sold on Shawn Green, but he’ll be OK. Jose Valentin will be hard pressed to repeat last year’s numbers as well. However, like the Yanks and Red Sox, the Mets have the resources to add pieces to the puzzle later this season. If the Braves can get their rotation back on track, they could be contenders again. They added two really nice bullpen guys in Soriano and Gonzalez, so that may help their rotation out. If Francoeur could learn to be slightly selective at the plate, he could have a “Sammy Sosa with the Cubs” type explosion in his offense. So long as he keeps swinging at the first pitch or at sliders in the dirt, he will simply be a mistake hitter who shows great talent but not enough success on the field. The Phills are OK, but I don’t think they scare anyone. Howard can’t possibly repeat last year’s success (can he?) and giving Wes Helms 500 ABs probably isn’t the best idea. The Marlins are still super young and have no payroll. They won’t be much of a treat. The Nats flat out stink. Ryan Zimmerman looks like a great player in the making. I feel sorry for him.

NL Central:
Brewers
Cardinals
Astros
Cubs
Pirates
Reds

I like the Brewers a lot. They are very A’s-like in that they don’t really have a big star, but they do have balance and talent in their lineup. Fielder and Weeks both look like nice players, and Hart could become one as well. Add Ryan Braun somewhere during the season and they have about the best collection of young hitters in the game. Their rotation lacks star-power, but they are all good pitchers and there is depth in AAA as well. The Cards really don’t look that good on paper, but they have Pujols and Carpenter. That may be enough. The Astros have an ace in Oswalt, and a pretty good lineup that plays in a matchbox sized stadium. They will score runs and pitch well enough. If Clemens is added at some point, they become instant contenders again. I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid on the Cubs. They spent a lot of money this offseason, but I’m not sure they spent it wisely. Soriono just isn’t as good a player as his big stats make him look. Last year he was really good, but it was also a contract year. I don’t believe he will approach those numbers again. The Pirates stink. The Reds stink.

NL West:
Diamondbacks
Dodgers
Padres
Rockies
Giants

I really like the Diamondback’s pitching, and they have a collection of nice young hitters in Chris Young and Carlos Quentin, Stephen Drew and Connor Jackson. The Dodgers did some good things this winter (Jason Schmidt) and some terrible things (Juan Pierre.) We’ll see. If the Padres get a return to form from the younger Giles, they could be a pretty good offensive club. The pitching looks to be pretty solid, and they could be in the mix. Continued improvement from guys like Atkins, Holliday and Hawpe will keep the Rockies out of the cellar. I don’t know how that team will ever win anything, it is just impossible to keep a pitching staff held together in that stadium of theirs. It just takes too much of a toll on their guys. The Giants just get older and older every year, and I feel this will be the year is finally kills them. Zito and Cain are a good start to a rotation, but Russ Ortiz is a terrible way to round it out. Bonds will hit when he plays, but will anyone be on base in front of him enough to make it matter?

I’m going to try and get a MLB preview up in the next couple of days. Cross your fingers…

Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame:

Cal Ripken Jr. – Cal could have hit .211 for his career, and the streak would have been enough to put him in the Hall. He was never as good an offensive player as his reputation would have you believe (career .340 OBP and .447 SLG) but was still great for a middle infielder. He didn’t have great range at SS, but positioned himself as well as just about anyone. Changed the way baseball people evaluated talent at SS.

Tony Gwynn – May be the best hitter I’ve ever seen. Unbelievable bat control. He could put the bat on the ball and fight off two strike pitches for what seemed an eternity. He is one of the few players I would have actually trusted to put the ball where he wanted too: right side, left side, bloop over the infield, etc. I can’t imagine what kind of player he would have been if he had kept his body in better shape, but his bad knees might have been a contributing factor there. Looking at him when he retired, it is hard to believe that he once stole 56 bases in a season.

I’d like to point out something completely ridiculous. Mark McGwire received only 23.5% of the votes, and is obviously being punished for his ALLEGED steroid use. Shawne Merriman tested positive for steroids, and he goes to the Pro Bowl. Someone explain that to me.

Baker interested in A’s, Giants, but doesn’t have plan

If the A’s hire Dusty Baker, I may have to dissolve my attachment to them for a little while. “Captain Tax Evasion” is one of the most clueless guys to ever sit in the dugout, and after watching him screw up the Cubs for the last few years I don’t want him anywhere near the A’s. He excels in being a “players” coach, protecting them from negative stuff and getting a little more out of guys, kind of like Bobby Cox does (though he is nowhere near as good as Bobby.) The A’s don’t need a guy to get them to play, they do that well enough on their own. They don’t need a “red ass” to come in there to fire them up either. I think both Art Howe and Ken Macha were fine guys to run the ship. Sometimes when you get to the playoffs, it just doesn’t work. That isn’t always the manager’s fault, even though they often get the axe for it.

What the A’s need is a guy who understands how that organization is run. There will be turnover every year. There will be young pitching. There will be growing pains with some young players. None of those things play to Dusty’s strengths. If Dusty got a hold of the A’s rotation, they’d be getting a volume discount on Tommy John surgeries from Dr. Andrews.

My choice would probably be Ron Washington, the A’s current 3rd base coach. The players all love him, and he is certainly familiar with how the organization is run. I’d at least like to see him get some consideration.

- Yay! The A’s made it past the first round of the playoffs. Aaaaaand promptly get swept. Bye-bye Ken Macha.

- Let’s all listen to Lamar Thomas make a complete ass of himself while talking about the criminal activities of Miami and FIU. “I say, why don’t they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ballgame and get it on some more.” Scuttlebutt is that he is going to be fired, and I say they cannot make that move fast enough. I was listening to the Dan Patrick show today, and even Michael Irvin, the biggest Miami apologist in history, said that Thomas should be fired.

Tigers get:
1B Sean Casey

Pirates get:
a 24-year-old AA middle reliever

Casey is no world beater, but he should be better than Chris Shelton has been. Shelton hit a ton in April, and has done nothing since. Casey gives the Tigers a left-handed hitter to balance out their lineup a bit and a guy who will get on base. I assume that he will hit down in the order (6th or later) and give them a little lineup depth.

The Pirates get Brian Rogers, a 24-year-old AA middle reliever. Like I said in an earlier post, Littlefield has a strategy of signing veteran players to one-year deals, and then trading them at the deadline. This would be an OK strategy if he were able to get more than 24-year-old AA middle relievers. Sorry Bowden, even without moving Soriano today, you are still the 2nd worst GM in MLB.

Reds get:
P Kyle Lohse

Twins get:
rid of Kyle Lohse (and some A ball pitcher)

—————-

Reds get:
RP Rheal Cormier

Phillies get:
P Justin Germano

The Reds get a couple of pitchers added to their mix. Lohse has been OK in the past, but has been terrible this year (2-5, 7.07 ERA) for the Twins. Cormier has been a good RP for a while now, but at 39 is nearing the end of the line. The Reds don’t care as they are playing for this year.

Yankees get:
1B/OF/C Craig Wilson

Pirates get:
P Shawn Chacon

The Yankees get a pretty good bat to add to their bench and the 1B mix. The Pirates get, well, Shawn Chacon. Sorry Pittsburgh.