Al's Mid-Season Baseball Report

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

After some thought, I've decided to attempt to get my own baseball blog up and running. This had been in consideration and actually created in February, but I had not put much effort into it. In any case, check it out for my latest column, and hopefully, I will update every other day or so with new insights...

 

cultofabreu.blogspot.com

[Boon]

Good read.

[Guest Brian]

I'm starting a buerhle for cy young campaign.

[devo]

Christ, man. You know your baseball.

 

Consider me a regular reader.

[Mik]

Only team that can contend with the Nationals is the Braves? C'mon, Al. Get your head out of the statbook and realize that the Marlins have been playing WAY below their potential. Yes, their peripherals from the first half are terrible, but they are most certainly capable of playing much better.

 

Not saying they are going to charge back and take the division (although I wouldn't be surprised). But to dismiss them altogether is just foolish.

[the max]

Marlins can get to the WC, but I can't see them contending for the division. They've underachieved and shown HUGE weaknesses. Pierre hasn't been very good this year, Lowell is downright terrible, the starting pitching outside of the D-Train has been painfully average. Meanwhile, the Braves and Nationals have gotten production from people they weren't expecting it from and their pitching staffs have been very good.

 

I think the Marlins needed to get off to a hot start and build a lead. As it is, they haven't gotten on a roll yet and with Beckett missing time again, they need to depend on a lot of people to overachieve. At the same time, they have to hope that the Braves and Nationals fall apart. Well, if the Braves haven't fallen apart yet, it's unlikely that they will. Andruw Jones has been an MVP candidate since Chipper went down. Washington has a slew of weapons (although I think they're due for a slide soon. There's only so long that you can be outscored by your opponents and that pen can't hang on forever.)

 

With that said, if the Marlins rally and take the division, I'll congratulate you, but there are simply too many things that have to fall into place at the same time for that to happen. WC maybe.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Only team that can contend with the Nationals is the Braves? C'mon, Al. Get your head out of the statbook and realize that the Marlins have been playing WAY below their potential. Yes, their peripherals from the first half are terrible, but they are most certainly capable of playing much better.

 

Not saying they are going to charge back and take the division (although I wouldn't be surprised). But to dismiss them altogether is just foolish.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Quite frankly, they were overrated to start the season. Juan Encarnacion and Alex Gonzalez are hitting way better than I expected, so the underachievers are matched by the overachievers. The team lacks bench depth, bullpen depth, and starting depth. Scott Olsen is excellent, which merely makes up for the latest Josh Beckett injury. This team is another example of the talking heads mesmerized by the front-line talent and not noticing anything else.

[The Czech Republic]

This team is another example of the talking heads mesmerized by the front-line talent and not noticing anything else.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cubs too.

[Stephen Joseph]

Al,

 

Can you do a column on D. Lee? He's having an incredible run, and I'd love to see your take on it.

[Matt Young]

I second that motion.

 

The blog is great, Al. I always love reading your work. It's fun, yet incredibly informative.