A Reunion of Old Friends

  I have my high school reunion this weekend. I’ll get a chance to see all the folks that I haven’t talked to in years. Will the gals from high school who weren’t that attractive have blossomed into beauties? Luckily I was nice to everyone so that scenario would work out great for me – in theory at least. Will I find out that someone had a crush on me but never told me? Will I learn that I made someone’s day at some point by doing something nice that I’ve completely forgotten about? I’d love to hear how your reunions have gone, so feel free to share in the COMMENTS section below. About all I’m certain of is that there will be much alcohol consumed, and chances are pretty good that someone, hopefully not me, will make a scene… just like in high school.

Oh wait this is supposed to be a baseball blog isn’t it? Guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to throw a few baseball anecdotes up there. Let’s see…

C.J. Wilson will be a free agent this offseason, and rumors are already swirling that the two big boys – the Red Sox and the Yankees – will be interested in bidding for his services. Given the fact that thet Sox were trying the entire last week of the season to add a hurler for game 162 you know all you need to about the state of their rotation. As for the Yankees – Freddy Garcia (25 starts) and Bartolon Colon (26) made 51 starts for the club. Do you think they could use another arm? Wilson, in just his sescond season as a starter, had an elite level effort in 2011 for the Rangers. Wilson won 16 games, one more than Jon Lester and Ricky Romero. His 2.94 ERA was seventh in the AL and better than guys like CC Sabathia (3.00) and Dan Haren (3.17). Wilson posted a total of 206 punchouts, the sixth best mark in the AL and third best amongst lefties (Sabathia had 230, David Prive 218). Wilson was also stingy in base runners allowed with a WHIP of 1.19 better than the marks of Felix Hernandez (1.22), Sabathia (1.23) and Lester (1.26). Add in that Wilson also threw 223.1 innings and the guy has proven that his transition to the rotation is complete. He’ll make a ton of money this offseason.

I’ve been prepping for Halloween by watching old episodes of the TV show Supernatural. Pretty darn good series for those of you who have never watched (I can totally see my brother and I in the two leads, and if you are wondering, I would be Dean). I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it here, but I really enjoy Halloween. In fact, I’m planning out how to lay out my front yard this weekend. Yeah, I’m that guy who decorates his house for the neighborhood. Wait, that had nothing to do with baseball again did it? I’m stuck in a weird loop today.

Eric Chavez might retire, and while some of you might be saying to yourself who cares, it would be a shame. Just 33 years old, his career has been destroyed by injury as he’s appeared in a total of 123 games the past four years. I’m gonna make a bold statement. Chavez was on his way to the Hall of Fame before injuries hit. You might think that I’ve eaten too much of my candy stash while playing how I’m going to decorate for Halloween, but hear me out.

From 2001-06 Chavez won a Gold Glove every season.

From 2000-06 Chavez hit at least 22 homers every year.
From 2000-06 Chavez knocked in at least 72 runs.
From 2000-06 Chavez scored at least 74 runs every season.

Add that all up and this is what we get.

From 2000-06 Chavez was second at the third base position in homers, first in RBI and first in runs scored. Toss in six Gold Gloves in the seven years and there is no way around the fact that, for seven years, Chavez was the best all-around third baseman in the game. A couple more years like that and he would have had a shot at Cooperstown.

By Ray Flowers

 

 

Slippers, Spirits & Success

'St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Lance Berkman (12)' photo (c) 2011, Keith Allison - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
No real preamble today, I’m just going to get to giving some of my thoughts on the world o’ baseball.

Jason Bay was finally hitting with a .317 mark, a .969 OPS and 13 RBI through 18 games in September. Of course, he’s now missed three games in a row with the flu. He’s no Justin Morneau, but it looks like Bay’s skills just disappeared, despite his nice three week run.

Lance Berkman has hit only seven homers with 28 RBI over his last 56 games, but on the year he is batting .300 with 31 homers, 91 RBI a .412 OBP and a .967 OPS, a rather phenomenal campaign from a guy who pretty much everyone thought was washed up. It’s being reported that he’s agreed to a one year deal worth $12 million to play with the Cardinals next season. I think it’s a fair deal for both sides, the Cardinals can’t risk losing Albert Pujols next year and not having someone who can hit in the middle of the lineup, but I think they’d be fooling themselves if their expectations were for Berkman to repeat this years effort next season.

Am I the only one that thinks that working a job that you can wear slippers to is about as good as it gets?

Vladimir Guerrero has long been on of my favorite players (perhaps it goes back to the days that he was on my minor league taxi squad). I even have a Vlad G. Montreal Expos jersey in my closet (you’re jealous aren’t you?). This season hasn’t gone as planned for Vlad, but that doesn’t mean that he is ready to hang up his cleats. In fact, he wants to play a couple of more seasons. “I feel I can play two or three more years,” he said. “And I just need to work a little harder this offseason when I go to the Dominican and see what happens.” Guerrero is three hits behind Julio Franco for the most hits every by a Dominican born player, he has 2,583. He’s also on quite a tear right now hitting .400 over his last 16 games to push his average up to .292. If he can get it to .300 it would be the 14th time in 15 seasons he hit that mark. However, with only 13 homers, this will be the first time in his career that he’s had 400 at-bats and failed to go deep 27 times.

The Marlins have placed closer Leo Nunez on the restricted list for “undisclosed reasons” (he has already  headed back to the Dominican Republic, so his 2011 season is over). Nunez will finish the year with middling ratios (4.06 ERA, 1.21 WHIP), but he did produce 36 saves in 42 chances. Edward Mujica might get a look in the ninth, after all he’s been great this year with a 0.97 WHIP and 4.69 K/BB ratio, but I would pick up Steve Cishek if I was looking for a few cheap saves.

I was watching Supernatural the other night and I noticed that Genevieve Courtese had a recurring role (OK, I’m a bit behind with the series – I’m only working on season IV right now). I admit it, I’m such a sucker for brunettes.

Ben Revere is hitting .263, has no homer,s sports a terrible .310 OBP and has a sickly .297 SLG (how awful is that?). So why am I wasting any time writing about him? His recent play of course. Over the last eight games Ben has produced 15 hits, including one in each outing, while he’s also swiped seven bags. That’s the type of a waiver-wire pickup that can win you your league. Reverse certainly has a lot of limitations on offense, but his late season push will certainly have him in the mix for a substantial role with the Twins next season.

Iwasn’t a big believer when the Rangers decided to move C.J. Wilson from the pen to the rotation. Consider my opinion to be in error. Wilson went 15-8 with a 3.35 ERA last year, and he’s been slightly better this year going 16-7 with a 2.97 ERA. He’s also upped his K mark this season to 8.38 per nine which has resulted in 206 punchouts. That dude is gonna get straight paid in the free agent market this offseason.

By Ray Flowers