by Nick Underhill on August 10, 2008
Apparently BJ Upton just works in Tampa Bay. To him, stepping out on the diamond everyday to play a child’s game is a job. Evan Longoria, Scott Kazmir, Carlos Pena: Co-workers, not teammates. He isn’t part of something bigger, like -say- a team.
Apparently asking him to hustle once in a while is a major insult to his talents. Because, you know, hitting .266 grants you that luxury when you’re from the most over hyped family in baseball. After being benched for failing to run out a bobbled comebacker against Cleveland on Wednesday, he responded to questions by stating, “I just work here.”
Excuse me for a second while I consult my father, a 50-year old man that began laboring before he got his hands on a driver’s license. The same man that has been playing in evening baseball leagues for as long as I can remember to get away from the stresses of work, and to find a few minutes to relax. If anyone can distinguish between real work and play, it’s him. I’m pretty sure that he could tell Upton a thing or two about the definition of work. [click to continue...]
by Nick Underhill on August 9, 2008
We present to you the 2008 edition of the Top 25, 25 and under. For clarification’s sake, all players on the list had to be 25 or younger as of August 3rd.
Let’s just get right into it.
Catcher: Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves, 24
It looked like McCann took a major step backwards in his development last season after putting up stellar numbers his rookie season, effectively placing him at the bottom of the McCann-Russell-Mauer Trinity of great, young catchers. Suddenly that has all changed. After hitting .303 with 20 homers and 65 RBI through the first four months of the season, McCann has forced himself to the top of the mountain. With all three of these guys qualifying for this list it may not stay in this order for long, but, at least for a day, McCann is king. [click to continue...]
by Nick Underhill on August 7, 2008
MVP ballots were sent out earlier this week, so keeping with yesterday’s theme, let’s shift our focus and take an early look at the National League race. We all know how murky things are in the AL, and it’s not any more lucid over here, but this time it’s not due to a lack of candidates.
Chase Utley
Utley seemed like a lock for this award on June 2, when he was hitting .320/.403/.680 with 21 homers and 57 RBI. Unfortunately his numbers (.261/.338/.452, 7 HR, 25 RBI) have been rather pedestrian since then, which has given the rest of the pack adequate time to catch up. Although, even with his sagging slash stats, the rest of his numbers could be good enough to make him the third Phillies player in as many years to capture the award, but he’s going to have to pick it up over the last two months of the season to get there. Not only do his MVP hopes reside on it, so do the Phillies playoff bid. [click to continue...]
by Nick Underhill on August 6, 2008
As Jim Caple kindly pointed out in his column on ESPN.com today, the save is the most overrated statistic in baseball. This is no secret, and we certainly didn’t need a ten page document to tell us why. Simply put, saves can be cheap. It’s rather easy to pad a closers total, which over the years has manipulated the way we view closers.
At least that’s the way it used to be. If anything, I believe that we devalue the save. If this statistic was as grossly overrated as Caple suggests, wouldn’t Lee Smith, who retired as the all-time saves leader, be in the Hall-of-Fame? Would it have taken Bruce Sutter, who revolutionized the game by inventing the splitter, 19-years to get in? I don’t think so.
No matter how we value closers of the past, it shouldn’t distort the way we perceive Francisco Rodriguez’s current assault on the record books, and certainly not his MVP candidacy. [click to continue...]
by Nick Underhill on August 4, 2008
The Hype surrounding David Price, the Ray’s number one pick last year, has grown so loud that they have little choice but to promote him. There’s no doubting his ability, he’s absolutely dominated hitters in his brief minor league career (10-0, 2.08 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 86.2 IP) and could be the difference maker that the Rays failed to land at the trading deadline. It just may not be in the capacity that everyone expects.
The Rays didn’t get to where they are by making rash decisions. No, they spent the last decade trolling in the lowest depths of the league, patiently plotting and perfecting a plan for future prosperity. Now that they have finally reached their destination, it’s very unlikely that they’ll abandon their blueprint for one shot at glory. Remember, no one expected this club to take the American League East under siege until at least 2009, and with the average age of their team being 26.9, it looks like they’ll be sticking around for awhile. [click to continue...]
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