Close, but no cigar...

For a team two games over .500, the Arizona Diamondbacks were awfully close to winning the division; a fact that belies competitiveness, and rather is evidence of how awfully mediocre those teams that play in the NL West were in 2008.

It actually comes as a surprise, since this same Arizona team had captured the division in 2007, winning 90 games in the process. Looking back at what I wrote before the start of the 2008 season, they were poised to repeat as NL West champs barring, oh, I don’t know, a lapse in pitching, or a below average offense. Or the emergence of worthy contender.

How about two outta three? Though the D-backs featured two of the better pitchers in Brandon Webb and Danny Haren, and a venerable, but solid, Randy Johnson, they eventually missed the playoffs due to great pitching from Dodgers (Who led the league in ERA). Sure the rotation didn’t exactly collapse (fifth best ERA in the league), but it wasn’t good enough to stave off a Dodger resurgence.

If we were to point the finger, however, I’d start with the offense. Their numbers were plain average, hovering near the middle in nearly all offensive categories; and while its true that their 2007 numbers weren’t that much better, even in the mediocre NL West, merely league average won’t do. (If it’s any consolation, the Rockies had a much better offensive season and missed out on the playoffs too).

As far as the pitching is concerned, their 2008 numbers were slightly better compared to a year before. In 2007, they were fourth in ERA (4.13), as opposed to fifth last year (albeit, with a 3.98 ERA); but again, that wasn’t enough to get them over the playoff hump.

I’d hate to attribute a D-back demise solely to the fact that the Dodgers improved a bit, but the evidence seems to suggest that Arizona sat back, waiting for a better offensive performance, and didn’t quite expect the Dodgers to lead the league in pitching.

The major need this offseason, then, was solidifying the rotation. The D-Backs do have a young Max Scherzer waiting in the wings, but GM Josh Byrnes wanted to ease him into his first full season by signing a third or fourth-slot starter.

OM NOM NOM ... Mr. Innings-eater

Given the economic situation most teams find themselves in this offseason, however, Byrnes had limited room to operate. After being unable to resign Randy Johnson, Byrnes sought out Randy Wolf and Jon Garland , both of whom initially turned him down. Money was evidently so tight that while the D-backs resigned Tony Clark, they declined to even offer arbitration to Adam Dunn, fearing he’d accept.

But nowhere was the money issue more at evident than with the Randy Johnson situation. They couldn’t even take up the Big Unit on his offer of a home-town discount late last year. But then they eventually signed Jon Garland to a one-year $6.25MM deal, with a mutual, $10MM option for 2010. So what changed?

Some context, as Nick Piecoro explains: In mid-November, the Diamondbacks were confident that they would get draft picks for Adam Dunn, Orlando Hudson, Juan Cruz and Brandon Lyon. By the time December rolled in, the financial landscape was bleak, thus the decision not to offer Dunn arbitration, while thinking their other draft pick cost obligations would be at or around $10MM.

The D-Backs originally offered Johnson a deal thought to be between $3MM and $5MM, though the Big Unit was seeking around $10MM. Johnson was willing to sign for $5MM less, and waited until the very last day he could to file for free agency, before finally giving up and singing with the Giants for $8MM.

Fast forward to this past week and with Hudson and Cruz still unsigned, the draft pick situation is yet to be resolved. They might get a higher round pick depending on where either veteran signs.

Since Byrnes already addressed some of the other needs, trading for reliever Scott Schoeneweis and replacing a departing Hudson with Felipe Lopez, it made sense to use the money that would’ve been used on Johnson and on the pending draft-picks, and sign Garland.

D-Backs fans are taking the Garland singing with some optimism, setting nostalgic attachments to the Big Unit aside, and realizing that the younger, more durable pitcher is a better option at the back of the rotation.

And yet, I’m not sure if its enough to get back into the playoffs.

Offseason grade: C+

Additions: Jon Garland, Felipe Lopez, Scott Schoeneweis, Travis Blackley

Losses: Adam Dunn, Orlando Hudson, Randy Johnson, David Eckstein, Brandon Lyon, Chris Burke, Jeff Salazar, Wil Ledezma, Jamie D’Antona, Robby Hammock

Projected lineup, rotation and closer:

C Chris Snyder
1B Connor Jackson
2B Felipe Lopez
SS Stephen Drew
3B Mark Reynolds
LF Eric Byrnes
CF Chris Young
RF Justin Upton

RH Brandon Webb
RH Dan Haren
RH Jon Garland
LH Doug Davis
RH Max Scherzer

CL Chad Qualls

Though the Garland signing was a good move, I think the the whole Randy Johnson affair was mis-managed. I know, I know, a mere two months ago, the D-Backs weren’t expecting the economy to hit them so hard. Which probably also prevented them from making any better/more offensive acquisitions, hence the plus in the grade.

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K-Rod the builder?

It hasn’t been a good couple of days for Citigroup. After being publicly chastised by President Obama for seeking to buy a $50 million private jet after receiving a $45 billion bailout from the government, the ugly controversy surrounding its deal for the naming rights to the new Mets stadium has reared its head once again.

This time, it’s everybody’s favorite inquisitor, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), along with representative Ted Poe (R-Texas), both of whom sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner requesting that the deal between the Mets and Citigroup be “dissolved.”

From Newsday:

In an interview yesterday, Kucinich said the financial behemoth is in no position to lay out cash to have its name on the Queens stadium. “It’s just totally unacceptable that Citigroup should be able to spend $400 million in naming rights when they’re the recipients of a massive federal bailout,” he said.

Kucinich and Poe wrote that Citigroup’s financial footing “has changed drastically” since the naming rights deal was struck in 2006. The agreement calls for Citigroup to pay $400 million over 20 years for the naming rights.

The Mets “are fully committed to our contract with Citigroup,” said Jay Horowitz, the team’s spokesman.

UmpBump readers were put to a vote as to what Citigroup and the Mets should do last time this little pickle was tickled, and the feeling (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) was that the stadium name ought to in some way reflect the fact that it was subsidized with public funds.

The sticky part about this whole mess is the inconvenient truth that Citigroup has yet to pay the bulk of the agreed upon amount. So while it continues to operate heaviy sedated with tax-payer money, it will be under contractual obligation to pay the Mets for naming rights for the next 20 years.

Given the recent, uhm, lapse in judgment about its ability to manage its financial priorities, however, Citigroup is in less of a position to just brush this PR fiasco away (much like the Mets did), and the truth of the matter is that as public outcry continues to grow, the Mets would rather have a packed nameless stadium, than an empty Citifield.

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley may or may not get that MVP everyone is always predicting for him, but he is already the MVP of Jen Utley’s heart, so he’s not doing too badly.

Chase married the former Jennifer Cooper, a San Francisco native with family ties to the Philadelphia area, back in January of 2007, but the two actually met when they were both students at UCLA. In an ironic twist, given Utley’s later career in Philadelphia, they were actually introduced by former Eagles wide receiver and lightning rod Freddie Mitchell, who was friends with Chase and freshman-year dormmates with Jen.

A noted animal lover, Jennifer helps sponsor drives to adopt homeless Pets each year at Citizen’s Bank Park with the other Phillies wives, and indeed you can hardly find a picture on the internet of Chase and Jen where they aren’t holding dogs or puppies.

(More pictures after the jump)

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The 2008 Rockies led the NL West in runs scored.

They led the NL West in home runs.

They led the NL West in SLG.

They led the NL West in OBP.

But they finished a distant third in the NL West.

Anyone want to guess why?

If you said pitching, or lack thereof, you’re correct!

The 2008 Rockies were next to last in the NL in ERA, ahead of only the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. To address their pitching woes, the Rockies traded for Cubs SP Jason Marquis, who is the dictionary definition of average. The Cubs are expected to eat around $1 million on Marquis’ contract, leaving the Rockies to pay approximately $5 million for one season of the right-hander. And while it’s hard to get excited about a league average pitcher, Rockies fans should know that they’re getting a pretty good deal on Marquis.

More good news for the Rockies pitching staff: the team recently signed SP Ubaldo Jimenez to a contract extension that covers his arbitration years and one free agent year. Ubaldo also came cheap.

Rounding out the Rockies staff is Aaron Cook, who somehow managed to win 16 games last season and keep his ERA under 4.00 despite striking out fewer than one batter every two innings. How’d he do it? A lot of ground balls, that’s how. Only Derek Lowe and Brandon Webb had a better GB/FB ratio.

There’s also Greg Smith, who came over to the Rockies in the Matt Holliday trade (more on that later) and was among the AL ERA leaders in the first half of 2008, before coming back down to earth in the second half. Smith has limited power but good control and uses four pitches to retire batters. He probably isn’t the dominant pitcher he looked like in the first half of 2008, but it’ll probably take NL batters a few months to figure him out, just as it took AL batters a few months last season.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news for Rockies fans. Jeff Francis’ shoulder still hurts and he says rehab is “slow going at best.” Not what you want to hear. During the first week of January, Francis underwent a magnetic resonance imaging exam, which revealed nothing in the way of damage to his shoulder. But clearly something is wrong. As insurance, the Rockies recently offered a minor league contract to Josh Fogg. He’s mulling the offer.

How about the offense? Colorado traded Holliday to Oakland for Smith, Carlos Gonzalez, and Huston Street. Gonzalez will compete for a roster spot in spring training but making the team is far from certain. He hit just .242 with four homers and 26 RBI in 302 at-bats as a rookie. He wasn’t that impressive in Triple-A either, hitting .283 with four home runs and a .760 OPS. Gonzalez needs to walk more and strikeout less.

Another leftfield possibility is Seth Smith, who OBP’d .350 in limited action in 2008. Meanwhile, Scott Podsednik will battle Ryan Spilborghs for the CF job, but Spilborghs has the inside track after hitting .313 in 2008, albeit in on 233 at bats. Right field surely will go to Brad Hawpe.

The Rockies tried and failed to trade Garrett Atkins this offseason, so he’ll return to play third base, where he’s pretty atrocious with the glove. Or, if Todd Helton’s back problems aren’t cleared up, Atkins can play first. If both Atkins and Helton are healthy, stud prospect Ian Stewart could play second base. Or he’s another left field option.

Additions: Huston Street, Greg Smith, Carlos Gonzalez, Jason Marquis, Alan Embree.

Losses: Matt Holliday, Brian Fuentes, Willy Taveras, Luis Vizcaino.

Projected Lineup, Rotation, and Closer:

CF Ryan Spilborghs
2B Ian Stewart
1B Todd Helton
3B Garrett Atkins
RF Brad Hawpe
LF Carlos Gonzalez
C Craig Iannetta
SS Troy Tulowitzki

SP1 Aaron Cook
SP2 Ubaldo Jimenez
SP2 Jeff Francis
SP4 Greg Smith
SP5 Jason Marquis

CL Huston Street/Manny Corpas

It’s hard to imagine the Rockies can win the NL West with a pitching staff that at best can be described as average. Then again, the NL West is a below-average division. Colorado will need a lot to go right in 2009: Helton will need to be healthy, Stewart will need to be a quick study at second base, and Jimenez will need to take another leap forward in his maturation process. But even if the Rockies don’t win the division in 2009, they’ve at least put themselves in a position to be competitive while focusing on getting younger.

Offseason Grade: B

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Back in early December, UmpBump’s Coley argued that the Brewers needed to go all in to try and win now before the current window of opportunity closed.

And the Brewers answered his call.

By signing Jorge Julio. Ba-zing.

All right, fine. Their acquisition of Trevor Hoffman was certainly newsworthy. And despite posting his worst ERA (3.77) since 1995, Hoffman’s still a decent pitcher who should be an asset to a Brew Pen that lost Salomon Torres to retirement.

But he ain’t C.C. Sabathia. And he ain’t Ben Sheets either.

Milwaukee lost their #1 pitcher to some team in New York for some amount of money that I can’t even fathom. And while Ben Sheets is yet to sign anywhere on the market, GM Bob Melvin has stated that it’s unlikely Sheets will be back.

So as of this writing, the Brewers have a rotation headed by 22-year old Yovani Gallardo – who is yet to even pitch 140 innings in a big league uniform – followed by Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan,  Manny Parra, and Seth McClung. That doesn’t sound like a playoff rotation to me.

Parra certainly has upside and could take another step forward in 2009. But we know what we’re going to get from Bush, Suppan, and McClung and it won’t be enough.

Plus, you might be surprised to know that a lineup featuring guys like Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, J.J. Hardy, and All-Star Corey Hart only scored 750 runs in 2008 – 17th out the 30 teams. How could this have happened? Two words. O.B.P.

The Brew Crew finished 21st in MLB with a .325 team OBP, which resulted in only 2359 ABs as a team with a runner on base, which was 22nd out of 30. If your big boppers don’t get the chances to drive them in, they ain’t going to. And thus far this off-season, the Brewers haven’t done anything to address this. They signed Trot Nixon and Chris Duffy to minor league deals, and that’s it.

However, it’s very much possible that the Brewers offense will be better in 2009. For one, I still believe that Rickie Weeks is better than his numbers have shown. He still strikes out far more than a player with his power level should, but he’s shown us that he has the patience to be a good lead-off option. Corey Hart had a dismal second half (and I mean dismal) that I believe was a fluke (and if he realizes that walking from time to time is a good thing, even better). J.J. Hardy needs to be recognized as a shortstop who’s not far behind the Hanley-Reyes-Rollins group of the NL elite. Not to mention the fact that Prince and Braun are still 25-and-under. This is a team that can hit – and they’ll have to because their starting pitching will be serving them up.

Off-season Transactions:

Added: Trevor Hoffman, Jorge Julio, Trot Nixon, Chris Duffy, Scott Thorman

Lost: C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, Ray Durham, Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota, Russell Branyan, Gabe Kapler, Brian Shouse, Laynce Nix

Projected Lineup:

C: Jason Kendall
1B: Prince Fielder
2B: Rickie Weeks
3B: Bill Hall
SS: J.J. Hardy
LF: Ryan Braun
CF: Mike Cameron
RF: Corey Hart

Pitching:

SP1: Yovani Gallardo
SP2: Dave Bush
SP3: Jeff Suppan
SP4: Manny Parra
SP5: Seth McClung

CL: Trevor Hoffman

IF Chris Capuano comes back healthy in July, he should help the depleted rotation. But there were two things that Doug Melvin should have done to ensure contention – add to the rotation and improve the team’s OBP. He was able to do neither, regardless of who or what’s to blame. And although there’s still time between now and Spring Training, Melvin’s already said that he’s done with notable acquisitions. I like this team enough to want to be more positive about what they’ve done but it wouldn’t be honest. The Brewers are taking a step back in 2009. And the service time for their young, cheap, talent is ticking away…

Grade: D

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This is one of a series of posts in which we call out all 30 teams for their off-season blunders, and award credit where due for their crafty off-season maneuvers.

At least compared to expectations, the Cleveland Indians had a dismal 2008 season.

The team that a little more than a year ago was knocking on the door of the World Series before being dragged back at the last moment by the Red Sox, and then returned with the entire team intact, stumbled out of the gate and fell to an 81-81 record, and large contract demands forced them to trade away possibly the best starting pitcher in the game today, C.C. Sabathia.

Can Pronk recover his stroke?

Among other problems, the heart of the lineup, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner, went down with injuries and generalized suckage, respectively, and the bullpen imploded, vomiting up the second worst ERA in baseball at 5.13, second only to the perennially execrable Texas pen, once again proving the well-known danger of standing pat with any bullpen headlined by Joe Borowski.

The good news for Indians fans is that the team’s outlook has improved dramatically in recent months.  Part of this improvement actually got underway last season, and it was widely understood that the Indians were actually playing the best baseball of any AL central team last September, while the Twins and White Sox were backing their way into a one-game playoff.

Borowski finally pitched his way out of town, earning a richly deserved release, and the struggles of the rest of the pen forced the front office to locate some younger, more talented arms.  Meanwhile, Cliff Lee sold his soul to the Devil for pinpoint control, Shin-Soo Choo woke up one day and realized he was a ferocious slugger, and Kelly Shoppach burst onto the scene with 21 homers, proving himself to be Theo Epstein’s worst mistake so far – a catcher who hits homers and also gets on base.  Rounding it all out, Martinez and Hafner worked their way back into the lineup, and look ready to go for the start of this season.

A second part of the Indians improvement will come from some positional realignments.  Jhonny Peralta and his ballooning belly shift from short to third base for 2009, allowing natural-born shortstop Asdrubal Cabrerra to slide over from second.  This signals the end of the Andy Marte experiment, I suppose, since the once highly-touted mega-prospect is completely out of minor league options and likely to be cut loose by the end of spring training. But oh well, live and learn.

DeRosa can play every position.

Meanwhile, the emergence of Shoppach as a viable starting catcher will allow Martinez to spend more time at first base and DH, where he can hopefully avoid injury and keep his potent bat in the lineup for more games.  He’s probably a better defender at first than the iron-gloved Ryan Garko anyway.

Finally, the Indians went out and made some solid moves in the offseason, somehow prying hard-hitting jack-of all-trades Mark DeRosa away from the Cubs via trade to play second base, and addressing their primary woe last season – the bullpen – by bringing in flame-throwing closer Kerry Wood via free agency and under-appreciated middleman Joe Smith via trade from the Mets.  For the first time in recent memory, the Indians will actually have a closer that inspires any kind of fear at all from the enemy, and combined with the new faces in the pen from the end of last season, the unit as a whole should be greatly improved.

All told it was a pretty good off-season for the Tribe. Standing pat after 2007 was probably a mistake, but the team’s main weakness in the bullpen has now been addressed.  Most people agree that the 6-year deal given to Travis Hafner in 2006 was probably too long, but he may have another year or two of decent production left in him yet, now that a weak shoulder was finally addressed with off-season surgery, and even if the suckage continues, the centerpiece of the Sabathia trade, Matt LaPorta, is a Ryan-Braun-like beast at the plate whose only real position is DH anyway.  With the return from injury of Fausto Carmona and Victor Martinez, the additions of Wood and Smith to the pen, and a much improved defense up the middle in De Rosa and Cabrera, and with the White Sox retrenching while the Twins stand pat and the Tigers try to claw out of the division cellar, the Indians should have as good a chance as any team of taking the AL Central title and perhaps more.

Offseason Grade: B+

Additions: Kerry Wood, Mark DeRosa, Joe Smith, Carl Pavano, Tomo Ohka, Kirk Sarloos

Losses: Franklin Gutierrez

Projected Lineup, Rotation, and Closer:

CF Grady Sizemore
2B Mark DeRosa
1B Victor Martinez
DH Travis Hafner
3B Jhonny Peralta
C Kelly Shoppach
RF Shin-Soo Choo
LF Ben Francisco
SS Asdrubal Cabrera

SP1 Cliff Lee
SP2 Fausto Carmona
SP2 Aaron Laffey
SP4 Anthony Reyes
SP5 Jeremy Sowers/Scott Lewis/Zach Jackson/David Huff/Carl Pavano

CL Kerry Wood

- Hot Offseason Action Index -

Red Sox setup man Hideki Okajima not only has that awesome song.  He’s also got a legitimately hot baseball wife.

Yuka Kurihara is a noted Japanese television personality, who most recently hosted her own morning radio show in Japan before coming over to America with her husband in 2007.  Okajima first met Kurihara, then an NHK sports announcer, during the champaign/beer spraying celebration after his Yomiuri Giants won the 2000 Japan Series.

Kurihara combines brains with beauty, having graduated from the prestigious Sophia University in Tokyo, with a major in French literature.  She was also named “Miss Sophia” in a campus beauty contest.

(More pictures after the jump) Read the rest of this entry »

This is one of a series of posts in which we excoriate each team for their offseason blunders and grudgingly praise them for their occasion crafty stratagems.

There are rumbles around baseball that the Giants might be able to contend this season.

ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick calls them “dark-horse candidates to make a run in the NL West.” Tim Lincecum is coming off a Cy Young award. The signings of shortstop Edgar Renteria and pitchers Randy Johnson, Jeremy Affeldt, and Bob Howry have been generally well regarded by the media. Fans are optimistic about young position players like Pablo Sandoval, Manny Burriss, Eugenio Velez, and Fred Lewis. And the Giants’ farm system, derided as barren in recent years, was just ranked 5th in all of baseball by Baseball America and 9th overall by Keith Law.

So are the Giants about return to relevance after four straight losing seasons?  Well, don’t hold your breath.

After all, this is a team that was a woeful 72-90 last season, and by rights and run differential, should have been even worse, at 67-95.  That is a long hill to climb.  Despite the strong rotation and bullpen, the Giants were 29th in the majors in runs last year, and it is uncertain how exactly Edgar Renteria and his .699 OPS last season are going to improve this situation.

Meanwhile, their purchasing power is still hugely hampered by stadium debt and the ridiculously unwise mega-contracts handed out to Barry Zito and then Aaron Rowand.  And just how soon will the Giants’ much-touted youth movement be able to offer any assistance? They have two superb positional prospects in catcher Buster Posey and first baseman Angel Villalona, but both seem at least two years away.  Meanwhile, their lone bright spot from last season, third baseman Pablo Sandoval, is all batting average – a swing-at-everything contact hitter kind of like a Vlad Guerrero with no power.  His .345 average in limited plate appearances was thanks to BABIP and sample size, and is not at all sustainable.

So basically the Giants are heading into the 2009 season with solid pitching, but barely league average or worse hitters at every position on the diamond except catcher Bengie Molina.  And it is the traditional slugging positions where the Giants are worst of all – all three outfielders OPS’d in the .700s, and first base has been a black hole for years now.  Molina led the entire team with a mere 16 home runs.

Which is why, with about a 20-win mountain to climb from last year to reach contention, the Giant’s offseason moves make no sense at all.  Since the Giants have no chance to content for at least another two years, any free agent veterans they sign are nothing more than place-holders.  So why give Renteria $19 million over two years, or Randy Johnson $8 million for this season?

The answer, of course, is that Brian Sabean is also convinced, like the fans and a sizable contingent of the media, that the Giants are in it this year.  In fact, he guarantees Jerry Crasnick that they will be over .500 this year.  But then again, that’s what he said last season too. Not to mention that guys like Renteria and Johnson are big-name players, and Sabean has the biggest case of big-name-itis in baseball (yes, even bigger than Ned Colletti, who learned from the master).

A lot of people are giving Brian Sabean credit this year for making short term, low-risk signings, I suppose because it contrasts so glaringly with his recent past behavior of long-term, high-risk signings. But the other side of the coin with short-term signings is that if you actually have no realistic chance of winning within that time frame, then you’ve just thrown more money down the drain, and you might as well have just let some guys give you the same result for the major league minimum.  Heck, maybe you even might find your next shortstop of the future, rather than letting Edger Renteria play out the string for $9 million per.

Offseason Grade: D

Acquisitions: Edgar Renteria, Randy Johnson, Jeremy Affeldt, Bob Howry

Losses: Rich Aurelia, Omar Vizquel

Projected Lineup, Rotation, and Closer:

LF Fred Lewis
RF Randy Winn
3B Pablo Sandoval
C Bengie Molina
1B Travis Ishikawa
CF Aaron Rowand
SS Edgar Renteria
2B Manny Burriss/Kevin Frandsen/Eugenio Velez

SP1 Tim Lincecum
SP2 Matt Cain
SP3 Randy Johnson
SP4 Jonathan Sanchez
SP5 Barry Zito

CL Brian Wilson

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