HarleyQuinn

Nice to see Ellsbury at #33 and Bucholz at #51. Bard (81) and Bowden (83) round out the Sox contributions. Kevin Slowey slots in at #71. Been following this guy since his senior year in college.

I was making that statement more because Ozzie has stated repeatedly that he wants this club to return to bunts and smallball (He even had Joey Cora set up a little "station" devoted to just bunting). It'll no doubt be a regular season factor but I'm curious to see if certain players bunt more, etc. during ST games.

So, how's that bunting and small ball working for the White Sox? Also the Red Sox are playin' tonight but I only get to catch the first hour sadly... here's hoping Dustin Pedroia produces though 'cause I mark for the guy.

Oooh... A "historically great offense" enters the dead ball era. Should be fun.

Here's my "quickie" review of "Two Of A Kind" that introduced Harley Quinn into The Batman. Paul Dini is the writer of the episode and does a good job with what he has to work with. The episode is up on YouTube for those curious (I managed to catch it this way 'cause I had no idea when it would air date wise). Overall: It's Paul Dini writing a Harley related episode, so it's good. A few minor annoyances aside, a good episode, with Hynden Walch proving to be more than ready in filling the shoes of Arleen Sorkin. Many times during the episode, I almost forgot it wasn't Sorkin doing the voice acting, which is impressive.

Holy Cow... 5 games decided by 1 run and the Athletics wins the series thanks to back to back 1-0 shutouts! *gives champagne to the members of my squad* Upside: My team averaged 3.28 RPG including three with 5+ runs. Downside: All those 1 run games are gonna drive me crazy.

Kahran... you are so going down in our matchup!

Wow... 15 SO innings is nothing to sneeze at. I liked how the first 2 games combined for 24 runs and the final 4 games mainly became pitcher duels.

The Arizona Diamondbacks should be a fun team to watch and I'm hoping GM Josh Byrnes has success there after being a part of the Sox brass. Carlos Quentin, Stephen Drew, Conor Jackson, and Chris Young are all very good prospects who should start and this club could surprise in the NL West IMO.

He has no home run power either in the past 2 years. Loretta also had a road split of .261/.313/.309 last year in 342 PA. Not exactly encouraging as he hit .258/.341/.313 in 250 PA in 2005 as well. He'll be 35 years old and he was the definition of league average (park adjusted) in OBP and well under league average in SLG and OPS in 2006. Biggio on the road in 2006 = .178/.253/.288 but at home he hit .298/.346/.522. Biggio on the road in 2005 = .235/.296/.386 but at home he hit .291/.350/.540. You're basically replacing Biggio in Loretta with a Biggio without the ability to slug the ball at home. Loretta slugged .411 at home in 2006 (in Fenway!) and .385 at home in 2005.

I mentioned Gordon later, but you're right. German did much better at 2B defensively so I could see him replacing Grudz at 2B with Grudz coming off the bench, leaving Gordon at 3B. It's a shame that Gordon couldn't move to SS to replace Berroa (yes, I hate Berroa). I just really hope that Hudson gets a rotation spot given his solid numbers last year w/o the 1 game shelling. Next possible SS replacement for Berroa... - Jeff Bianchi (2nd round, 2005) who has hit .414/.500/.721 in 140 AB in rookie ball at ages 18 and 19. 39.6% of his hits have gone for extra bases and he has a 25 BB vs. 25 K rate. In 2005 he had 4 errors and a .972% fielding. The Royals do have the potential to have a really good rotation down the line with Luke Hochevar, Billy Buckner, and Chris Nicoll coming up the ladder with Brent Fisher a few years away. As for the bullpen guys like Ryan Braun and Joe Nelson should be making impacts this year (Nelson) and the next couple (Braun). Also of note, Dayton Moore took over the Royals GM duties last year. Given that they have the #2 pick this year, it will be curious to see how they fare in this year's draft class too.

I'm only doing this because I'm bored... 2007 Kansas City Royals C: Their options are John Buck and Jason LaRue. Buck had a .702 OPS (and improving his OBP, although shitty, every season for the past 3 seasons) along with 33 XBH (36.2% of his hits). Jason LaRue plummeted off the face of the earth last season in limited time with Cincinnati, going .196/.317/.346 but he did have 8 HR in 191 AB (.041 HR/AB). LaRue put up a .720 OPS last year in 51 AB vs. Lefties and Buck managed a .787 OPS vs. Lefties last year in 114 AB. LaRue has shown in 2004 and 2005 that he can put up solid OPS' (.765 and .806) so it wouldn't shock me if Buck starts out as starter but gives way to LaRue eventually during the season. 1B: Ryan Shealy and Justin Huber will be battling here, with Ross Gload having an outside shot. Shealy really did well upon arriving in Kansas City (.789 OPS in 193 AB) along with 18 XBH (33.3%). He had a dreadful 7.7% BB rate however and needs to improve that to help his cause. Justin Huber is another highly regarded, or was a highly regarded prospect in the Royals system however in 88 MLB AB he has struggled with a .216/.271/.261 line with only 6 BB (6.8%) and should be the backup to Shealy to start the season. 2B: Mark Grudzielanek is a solid option here for the Royals. He put up a .740 OPS and, as seems to be the trend with the hitters, didn't walk as much as he should have (28 BB in 548 AB). He is a good doubles hitter and makes for a solid #2 or #6 hitter. 3B: Esteban German should have the job locked up here after a very good, if "unknown" season of .326/.422/.459 in a respectable 279 AB. He had a great 40 BB/49 K rate and showed power with 26 XBH, including 18 doubles. Mark Teahen could back him up if he doesn't land a starting role in the outfield. SS: Angel Berroa fell off a cliff last year and the options of Blanco and Sanchez behind him are even less appealing. Berroa did improve his XBH per AB rate (5.8%) however his BB are declining every season, which certainly isn't encouraging. A prototypical #9 hitter here. LF: The Royals have a glut of outfielders, which is good and bad. Emil Brown put up a very solid .815 OPS along with 41 doubles and 15 HR and has the inside track here. Mark Teahen can be the backup LF and backup 3B, having had an .874 OPS, one of the best on the team. Teahen displayed good HR power with 18 but only had 21 doubles. CF: David Dejesus gets the job and will be keeping it after another .800+ OPS season last year with .810. He showed good doubles power with 36 and also had a solid BB/K rate of 40 to 73. Shane Costa should be the backup here after a .709 OPS and 20 doubles in 237 AB. RF: Mark Teahen could be the starter here however Reggie Sanders may be battling him. Ideally, Teahen would be the starter with Sanders backing him up in RF with his .729 OPS from last season. A possible platoon situation could be formed as Sanders had an .828 OPS against lefties while Teahen had an .895 OPS against righties. DH: Mike Sweeney will be slotted here despite an injury plagued season last year where he still put up a solid .787 OPS and had 41% of his hits go for extra bases. Offense: Outside of a couple positions like SS and C, the Royals have a surprisingly good offense. Their outfield alone could comprise of three players with .800+ OPS' along with their 3B. 1B and Mike Sweeney at DH should also contribute to the OPS rise. They also have 3B Alex Gordon quickly rising, although a question is raised as to where he goes given how well German did last season. SP: Their rotation isn't that great if they have Scott Elarton as an option. He had a 5.34 ERA and threw more BB than K last season along with given up 26 HR. Odalis Perez had a very good 4.32 FIP despite his sucky real ERA with the Royals. Opponents managed to hit .295 off him however he also allowed 9 HR in 67 IP (13.4%). The good news is that he had a 2.66 K/BB rate. Zack Greinke should be a solid rotation member if he can get back to his 2004 numbers however given his mental struggles last year, that remains to be seen. Luke Hochevar may have an outside shot at getting a rotation spot and could be a very useful member, however concern arises if he would be called up too early. Gil Meche should be the team's #1 and did very well last year, including a surge in K at 156 in 186.2 IP however since the Royals tend to suck... Luke Hudson managed to go 6-3 in 15 starts down the stretch last season upon being put into the starting rotation. Hudson put up a 4.80 ERA in his 15 starts but take out his 10 ER game and he went 88 IP with 37 ER (3.78 ERA). Ideally, my rotation would be the following: Gil Meche, Odalis Perez, Luke Hudson, Zack Greinke, and Luke Hochevar. This rotation should be decent but it sucks and that can be somewhat attributed to the Royals defense behind them. Angel Berroa had a .969% fielding and 18 errors at SS and Esteban German had 5 errors and a .929% fielding at 3B. RP: Their bullpen isn't spectacular however Joel Peralta (57 K vs. 17 BB in 73.2 IP) is solid despite the 10 HRA. David Riske was solid for the Soxes with a 3.83 ERA in 44 IP. He should help add depth to the Royals pen. Todd Wellemeyer put up a 3.63 ERA despite a 37 BB vs. 37 K rate in 57 IP. If he can lower his BB a bit, he should put together another good season ERA wise. Joe Nelson walked a lot of batters (24 in 44.2 IP) but he also had 44 K, which is encouraging along with allowing 5 HR. Octavio Dotel should be an adequate closer if he can stay healthy, which he has been unable to do the past 2 seasons. Jimmy Gobble put up a really good FIP of 4.19 (incl. 6 starts in 60 games) comparable to Peralta's 4.11 FIP. As a reliever only, Gobble managed a 4.15 FIP despite a 4.50 ERA in the role. He had a very solid 57 K vs. 18 BB in 60 IP however he did allow 9 HR. Overall: This Royals team really should be better than it is. Offensively, they have a solid enough lineup and rotation wise, they're bad, but not the worst ever. If they had any semblance of defense (and they desperately need to get rid of Angel Berroa) their rotation would probably put up better numbers, as evidenced by what Luke Hudson was able to do without the 1 horrible outing. Bullpen wise, again a bad but not worst ever group. They could improve a lot like the rotation with a better defense.

That game 3 sounded like it would have been a lot of fun too...

As far as the Cubs rotation... Zambrano = Oswalt. Just a stud. Wade Miller has struggled with injuries since 2004 and when he did pitch for the Cubs, he still had a 4.57 ERA and had 18 BB in 21.2 IP (with only 20 K). That can't be too promising as a #5. Ted Lilly can be a solid #4 however he has struggled ERA wise for whatever reason the past few seasons. He gave up his fair share of HRs with 28 last year and walks a lot of batters (89 in 2004, 81 last year). He should see his strikeouts tick up to 175-180 though in the NL. As for Marquis, his HRs allowed has climbed the past 3 seasons while his K rate has dropped rather dramatically, culminating in a very "off" season last year. I think he'll wind up back around 4.20-4.40 ERA however he consistently allows a lot of HRs and hits (likely bad defense although are the Cubs considered a great defensive club?) Mark Prior has issues staying healthy but is an extremely good #2 when he does. Rich Hill put up a decent 4.17 ERA despite a 4.66 FIP (Marquis had a 4.78 last year) and it remains questionable whether he can handle the #5 role if he gets it. Overall: I like the Cubs a bit more than the Astros overall and they seem to be more "grounded" in terms of expectations offensively and rotation wise. My question is whether their bullpen can hold up with Kerry Wood's transition and the health of a couple of their starters (as well as the decline? of Marquis in terms of K's and rise in HR's).

I'm really curious to see how the '10, '12, and '19 teams "handle" the modern day style of playing given they all played in larger stadiums during the 'deadball' era.

I'm surprised at the lack of love for the Astros as well. Carlos Lee put up 25 WS last year between Milwaukee and Texas (in-line with 2004 and 2005 with 24 each). In 695 PA, the guy managed 37 HR and had 58 BB vs. 65 K. To say he is not a game changer/world beater just because he played on Milwaukee and Texas is wrong. Here's a comparison to other National League players last year... - Aramis Ramirez: 23 WS (660 PA with 38 HR and 50 BB vs. 63 K) - Jason Bay: 24 WS (689 PA with 35 HR and 102 BB vs. 156 K) - Carlos Delgado: 24 WS (618 PA with 38 HR and 74 BB vs. 120 K) - Ryan Zimmerman: 25 WS (682 PA with 20 HR and 61 BB vs. 120 K) - Scott Rolen: 22 WS (594 PA with 22 HR and 56 BB vs. 69 K) Lee will help the Astros offense immensely. Berkman, Ensberg, and Lee combine for 76WS (from last year) and if the rest of the offense can step it up some, their offense can still be dangerous. Burke should improve a little on his .276/.347/.418 line if he can walk more and Lane struggled at the plate however his BB rate improved. If he can get back to a .260-.275 BA, he'll be on a similar level to Chris Burke next season. As for the starting pitching... Roy Oswalt is still a stud, period. Jason Jennings pitched really well last year and has been improving in FIP each season in a tough park in Colorado (5.13, 4.67, and 4.11). He should do well in Houston, although he may revert back to a 4.20-4.40 ERA if the defense doesn't do well. The same can be said for Woody Williams, who radically exceeded his FIP last year (4.81) however he can do well if he can get his K rate back up to 2004 levels. Wandy Rodriguez is not a good pitcher and ideally would be stuck in AAA or assigned to the #5 role (He's had a FIP of 5.12 and 4.78 the past 2 seasons). Doubtful but could make a Jason Jennings like jump in Year 3. The ideal pitcher for the #5 would be Brandon Backe although he's similar to Wandy Rodriguez. Okay... the starting pitching will be really hit or miss after Oswalt and will largely be predicated on how well the defense does behind them. If Clemens comes back, that gives the Astros a strong #1-#5 and lets Wandy shuttle to the bullpen or get sent to AAA where he should be. The Bullpen: This bullpen is really good and one of the better ones in baseball, let alone the National League. Dan Wheeler (3.21 FIP), Brad Lidge (3.60 FIP and should bounce back big time), and Trever Miller (3.56 FIP) are all extremely solid and Chad Qualls seems to consistently outdo his FIP a lot for whatever reason. Lidge, despite the off year, still racked up 104 K in 75 IP and if he can lower the HRs, should return to dominance. Overall: I would not be sleeping on the Astros this season. Their only downfall is the rotation and even then, Jason Jennings and Woody Williams are decent if unspectacular #2/#3 guys who can easily get their own 12-16 W with that bullpen to help. The offense should be much improved with the addition of Lee and Burke/Lane having better seasons (If Lane repeats 2005, the Astros will have a great 2/3/4/5 heart of the order). The bullpen is stout and Lidge will return to form. He still only allowed 69 H in 75 IP so mainly, it seemed that he was just allowing more HR than in past seasons.

Uh... *blinks* ... *blinks again* Wow *blinks* 7 Games??

Credit Rotoworld and the Chicago Sun-Times (Wood story) as usual... - The IMMORTAL "El Guapo!" aka Rich Garces has signed with the Nashua Pride of the Can-Am League at age 35. - Kerry Wood plans to stay away from those dangerous curves as he makes his move to the Cubs' bullpen this season. The former staff ace, who threw an encouraging bullpen session Monday, plans to stick primarily with a fastball-slider repertoire as a reliever, sprinkling in the occasional changeup. - White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen confirmed Monday that Nick Masset (4.81 ERA in 67.1 IP mainly as a MR in AAA. 4.15 ERA in 8.2 IP with the Texas Rangers last year) would get a chance to contend for a rotation spot this spring. - Greg Miller (0.79 ERA in 22.2 IP at AA and 4.38 ERA in 37 IP in AAA as a MR last year) feels healthy enough to go back to his old delivery this spring and might ask the Dodgers if he can return to the rotation in the minors.

Hmm... every series has ended in 4-2 victories...

Yahoo has an article up on the new rule changes for the MLB. Click here Changes of note - Under the change, when a game is tied in the bottom of the fifth inning or later and is called because of weather, it will be suspended and resumed before the next scheduled game between the teams at the same ballpark. If no more games remain between the teams at the same ballpark, it will be resumed when the teams meet at the visitor's ballpark. - Under another change, a player may no longer step into a dugout to catch a foul ball. He still will be allowed to reach into a dugout. - Another change allows pitchers to wear a multicolored glove if the umpire determines it isn't distracting. And a pitcher in the stretch position instead of a windup with no runners on base no longer will have to come to a complete stop. - With no runners on, a pitcher will be required to pitch within 12 seconds, the timing starting when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the batter's box, alert to the pitcher.

Oh, right... Well, at least you have Pete Harnisch Your bullpen will likely have to carry you in some games but having Gregg Olson should help a ton.

I'm so gonna beat down those Blue Jays... Mike Boddicker could get the O's a W but I call the Twins in a 4-1 thrashing.

Some lineup and rotation news credit to Rotoworld... - Jays manager John Gibbons said he's considered batting Vernon Wells second and Lyle Overbay third, but he's leaning toward keeping Wells in the third spot, making Alex Rios the favorite to bat second. - Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Friday that Adam Wainwright is likely to have a spot in this year's rotation. "He’s in the rotation until somebody is better than he is because we think (Jason Isringhausen) is going to be OK," La Russa said. - A's manager Bob Geren said Friday that he plans to make Mike Piazza his cleanup hitter this year. - New MLB Rule in Effect New rule by the MLB regarding a 10 game suspension for anybody caught defacing or applying a foreign substance to the ball. - Pirates prospect C Neil Walker will be moving to 3B fulltime defensively.

Wow... that Game 2 would be an instant classic. What's more amazing? The Rangers tied it up by scoring 3 runs on back to back triples with 2 out. Here's hoping the other series can reach that level of craziness. Hey, Al. Can you do a "series" MVP for each series as a fun aside?

Note: This was harder than it should have been... and yes, I'm aware I'm only carrying 8 pitchers. Boston Red Sox C: Carlton Fisk (1969 - 1980) 1B: Jimmie Foxx (1936 - 1942) 2B: Bobby Doerr (1937 - 1951) SS: Joe Cronin (1935 - 1945) 3B: Wade Boggs (1982 - 1992) LF: Ted Williams (1939 - 1960) CF: Tris Speaker (1907 - 1915) RF: Manny Ramirez (2001 - 2006) DH: Carl Yastrzemski (1961 - 1983) Bench: Duffy Lewis (1910 - 1917) LF Bench: David Ortiz (2003 - 2006) 1B Bench: Jason Varitek (1997 - 2006) C Bench: Dom DiMaggio (1940 - 1953) CF Bench: Nomar Garciaparra (1996 - 2004) SS Bench: Johnny Pesky (1942 - 1952) 3B Bench: Dwight Evans (1972 - 1990) RF Bench: Harry Hooper (1909 - 1920) DH SP #1: Pedro Martinez (1998 - 2004) SP #2: Roger Clemens (1984 - 1996) SP #3: Lefty Grove (1934 - 1941) SP #4: Cy Young (1901 - 1908) SP #5: Luis Tiant (1971 - 1978) RP: Bob Stanley (1977 - 1989) RP: Ellis Kinder (1948 - 1955) CL: "Smokey" Joe Wood (1908 - 1915)