Monday, March 30, 2009
Ready, set, GO
Well, another baseball season is upon us. This off-season we saw some big moves in the Big Apple. The Yanks flexed their payroll muscle in signing starters C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. The Mets also went out to improve their pitching, but for the bullpen. They had a struggling bullpen last year, but this year they add the best active closer out there, K-Rod Francisco Rodriguez. Now the Mets strong point is declared their bullpen, and now their starting rotation is said to be their weakest part. A major switch over. We also saw a desperate stab by the Chicago Cubs, signing Milton Bradley, a outfielder who last season came back and had a all-star season with the Rangers after having a history of arguing and throwing tantrums. Now the cubs try to fill the hole in center, or their trying to replace Fukudome, I can't tell, but we will soon find out. How about Pat Burrell, moving from the world champion Phillies to their World Series opponent the Tampa Bay Rays. As a Philadelphian, I know that people here are not happy with "Pat the Bat". Another big move that was early in the off-season was the trade of Matt Holliday from the Rockies to the A's. Not much improvement team wise for the big time LF, but a change of scenery for sure.
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Well, I saw Milton Bradley this weekend at a spring training game... and he wasn't too bad! What WAS bad for the Cubbies was DeRosa hitting two homeruns...FOR THE INDIANS!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to comment about a couple of the points you brought up:
ReplyDelete-The Yankees will have a ridiculous rotation this year: Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Joba, and Petite, with Hughes ready to step up.
-The Mets spent a lot of money and capital this off-season acquiring K-Rod and JJ Putz, but the rest of their bullpen is full of holes. They don't have a reliable long man; the guy they have, Stokes is decent, but gives up a lot of hits. Starting pitching was a problem throughout last year for the Mets with Pedro injured for pretty much all of last year, John Maine was also hurt for a large portion of the season.
-Milton Bradley was not the Cubs first pick, they wanted Raul Ibanez who ended up going to the Phillies. That is part of the reason why the Phils had to pay so much for Ibanez eventhough this year was a down year for free agents---the Cubs wanted him that badly. But Bradley is a hitter and can be a real asset to a team if he can control his anger and just play. What remains to be seen is if the pressure of being on a contending team in Chicago will temper his emotions or if he will crack under the heat.
-Pat Burrell. I think most Phillies fans love the years Pat the Bat gave to the Phillies and his leadership along the way. Pat was there in the many years that the Phillies were horrid and stuck it out until the championship last year. The only bit of contention was the fact that he wanted as much or even more money this year than he made last year (14.25M) and at least two years. Phillies management was smart not to cave in and in the end both parties worked out.
-What I wonder as the season is about to start is if the Phillies will ride the momentum from last season and get off to a good start for once. They have be slow starters the last few years and that meant they've had to play catch-up and this year with everyone gunning after the Champ, they will need to step-it-up.
Well, Mike, if the Cubs wanted Ibanez so bad and the Phillies realized how high the charge was becoming, why wouldn't the Phillies just back out and go for Milton or another solid OF?
ReplyDeleteRaul Ibanez was the best corner outfield available this off-season that fit the Phillies need. I mean Manny would've been a great addition, but the Phillies could not pay what Manny wanted. Ibanez has good production over his career 25HR, 100+ RBI and has okay numbers career against LHP, but he is definitely an improvement over Burrell on the base-paths and in the outfield. The questions are whether he will work in that clubhouse and was last year the peak of his career?
ReplyDeleteBradley has this habit of getting injured (or sometimes at the hands of a coach!) so if he's healthy like he was last year, he's great, but if not then it's a scramble to find a replacement.
The other good OF's in the market:
Adam Dunn- lefty and wanted too much money
Garret Anderson- Lefty and not enough power
Willy Tavarez- no power
Bobby Abreu- HA
Then there are washed up old dudes like Jim Edmonds or Griffey