Wise is the man in Center

Those of you who read UmpBump regularly are aware of my gripe with the Center Field situation in the South Side of Chicago. For the past four years, General Manager Kenny Williams has repeatedly tried to find a talented middle outfielder with little to show for it.

This season, the Sox have opted to give the job to Dewayne Wise, a career minor leaguer, who beat out perennial prospects Jerry Owens and Brian Anderson, as well as the young Chris Getz. How did Wise win the job? By flashing intangibles like energy level and desire.

Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times reports:

According to general manager Ken Williams, finally deciding on Wise had to do with desire. Considering the way the 31-year-old Wise has fought to stay in the game, it was a no-brainer at the end of the day.

“For a few years, we told Jerry what we expected in terms of the energy level and the attitude for the leadoff position,” Williams said. “When you’re at the top of the lineup in the order, you got to have some fight. I’m not saying Jerry doesn’t have it, but it’s not up to where we want it to be, obviously.

What’s most disappointing is the end of Owens’ career as a South Sider. I will include myself amongst those that thought he’d be able to turn the corner and become the leadoff/center fielder Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen have longed for. Alas, his being waived is a sad culmination to a tenure that never really purported greatness, but sure set expectations high for the Sox.

But “energy level”?! I’m as guilty as anyone for believing in the intangibles. Yes, desire is awesome! And energy level rocks! But you know what might be great? A center fielder with, oh, I don’t know, an ability to get on base! In over 900 minor league games Wise has an OBP of .310. That’s freakin’ terrible!

Here’s a move I never saw coming, if only because he is sitting on 499 homers and has a guaranteed $14 million contract this year, but the Tigers went ahead and released Gary Sheffield.

On one hand this is so strange, because teams never ever release guys on the eve of these kinds of milestones, do they?  Especially when they are going to have to cough up all that money either way, right?  But maybe it just speaks to how much some of these milestones have been tarnished by the steroid era. Even pitching ones, maybe, now that we have Roger Clemens. After all, the Diamondbacks just let Randy Johnson walk despite his desire to return and his being still good and only five wins away from 300.

I’m actually going to say that I think this deal is good for both the Tigers and Sheffield. Kudos to Detroit for recognizing that as a team with a legitimate shot at contention this year, they need to put the best team on the field from day one, regardless of milestones and any other sentimental garbage, and that that team no longer includes a 40-year old Sheffield who hit .247 in his two seasons with the Tigers and has been wracked by injuries.

At the same time, this is a great chance for Sheffield to hook on with a team that might actually give him some playing time. The Tigers’ trade for outfielder Josh Anderson this week really left Sheffield nowhere to go except riding the pine and occasionally DHing.

Although Sheffield has aged rapidly in the past two years, he still has some batspeed left when healthy, and at the major league minimum he represents a good gamble for some team in need of a right-handed stick.

Yesterday, Umpbump posted our predictions for the 2009 season. Some of these picks were easier than others – for instance, all five of us chose the Cubs as NL Central champs, and four of us picked the A’s and Dodgers to win their respective divisions. A slim three-person majority also favored the Mets to win the NL East and the Indians to take the AL Central.

But some of these picks were downright tricky. The AL East appears to be a total toss-up between the Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees, and our picks reflect that (2 chose Boston, 2 Tampa Bay, and 1 New York).

Similarly, it was hard to choose an AL Rookie of the Year because at least three candidates – David Price, Matt Wieters, and Travis Snider – all have a legitimate shot at vying for it. Should these three fail to live up to expectations, Elvis Andrus and Austin Jackson are waiting in the wings to claim their hardware. Then there’s always the chance that one of the AL’s younger, high-ceiling prospects – Neftali Feliz? – could force himself onto the big-league club sooner than expected and surprise us all.

But it was hard to pick the NL Rookie for the opposite reason: none of the NL’s most exciting talents are big-league ready. Atlanta’s Jayson Heyward is only 19, and topped out at high-A last year. The Giants’ Madison Bumgardner isn’t slated to make it to the bigs until 2010 at the soonest. And the Mets’ Fernando Martinez has already been rushed, and New York won’t want to hurry him further. So who will it be? In the end, four of us settled for Cameron Maybin, who seemed to figure things out a bit last September, while the fifth chose Colby Rasmus, another valid choice. Beyond that, Jordan Schafer’s torrid spring won him Atlanta’s starting CF gig, while Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen has been returned to Triple A – but probably not for long. But by far the most fun rumor is that the Nats would draft Stephen Strasburg and immediately bring the college pitcher to the majors. According to BP’s Kevin Goldstein, “every scout thinks he’d be fine.”

So, while our AL ROY picks came down to politicking – who’ll get more votes for being on a contender, who’ll get penalized for being a pitcher, who’ll get more support for starting the season with the big-league club – the NL picks all come down to who steps up and does the best job. And when it comes to preseason predictions, there’s nothing more boring than “well, it depends…”

Who did we miss, Umpbumpers? What rookies and prospects are you most excited about? What are your picks? Let us know in the comments!

The Umpbump writers have looked into their crystal balls and are predicting who will win big in 2009. This will save you the trouble of actually having to watch the games.

See any picks that you consider ballsy, or boring? Wanna make your own predictions? As usual, we’ll hear from you in the comments.

Coley’s Picks:

NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Card: Cardinals

AL East: Rays
AL Central: Twins
AL West: A’s
AL Wild Card: Red Sox

NL Rookie of the Year: Colby Rasmus
AL Rookie of the Year: Matt Wieters

NL CY Young: Tim Lincecum
AL CY Young: Josh Beckett

NL MVP: Albert Pujols
AL MVP: Mark Teixeira

Paul’s Picks:

NL East: Mets
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Diamondbacks
NL Wild Card: Dodgers

AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: Indians
AL West: A’s
AL Wild Card: Yankees

NL Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin
AL Rookie of the Year: Travis Snider

NL CY Young: Tim Lincecum (IF Rich Harden doesn’t make 30 starts, which at this point should be a given)
AL CY Young: C.C. Sabathia

NL MVP: Albert Pujols
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera

Sarah’s Picks

NL East: Mets
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Card: Phillies

AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: Indians
AL West: A’s
AL Wild Card: Yankees

NL Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin
AL Rookie of the Year: David Price

NL CY Young: Johan Santana
AL CY Young: CC Sabathia

NL MVP: Albert Pujols
AL MVP: Kevin Youkilis

Nick’s Picks

NL East: Mets
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Card: Phillies

AL East: Rays
AL Central: Indians
AL West: A’s
AL Wild Card: Red Sox

NL Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin
AL Rookie of the Year: Matt Wieters

NL CY Young: Johan Santana
AL CY Young: Daisuke Matsuzaka

NL MVP: Manny Ramirez
AL MVP: Matt Holliday

Alejandro’s Picks:

AL East: Yankees
AL Central: White Sox
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: Red Sox

NL East: Braves
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Card: Mets

NL Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin
AL Rookie of the Year: David Price

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia

NL MVP: Manny Ramirez
AL MVP: Mark Teixeira

Like giving kimchi to a man with stomach ulcers, cigarettes to a lung-cancer survivor, or Japanese cartoons to an eplileptic, giving experienced-veteran-loving Joe Torre to experienced-veteran-loving Ned Colletti was only bound to make Colletti’s notorious case of big-name-itis worse.

Exhibits A, B, C, and D of this phenomenon are Doug Mientkiewicz, Jeff Weaver, Juan Castro, and Tanyon Sturtze, four “experienced veterans” who look primed to make the Dodgers opening day roster, all four as non-roster invitees.

As anyone who reads this blog knows, Joe Torre likes to go with what he knows, and always prefers the devil he’s heard of to the devil he hasn’t.  And Torre’s fingerprints are all over these four guys.

Mientkiewicz, Weaver and Sturtze have all played under Torre in the past when he managed the Yankees, and who better to play the Luis Sojo/Miguel Cairo role of Torre’s Latino futility-infielder binkie than their stastistical triplet Juan Castro?

The one that makes the least sense of all here is Mientkiewicz, a first baseman who hits like a third-string middle infielder.  But he has certain qualities that Torre and Ned Colletti just can’t resist, so let’s quickly run through Mientkiewicz’s truly impressive “experienced veteran” credentials:

• He is a veteran (11 MLB seasons)
• He is known for his defense (gold glove, 2001)
• He is known for his experience (six teams in five years)
• He has won a World Series title (Red Sox, 2004)
• He provides subpar offense (100 career OPS+. At first base.)
• He is over 30 (age 35 in 2009)
• He is white (very much so)

What is there for Torre and Colletti not to love?

Look I realize that it is possible to find good bargains among non-roster invitees, but usually these are younger guys who still have even a shred of upside left. The problem with going with experienced veterans is that they is what they is, and if what they is is not all that much, then guess what you are going to end up with? Not all that much.

Or even worse if keeping a Doug Mientkiewicz means that you have to trade away an out-of-options, cost-controlled, still talented youngster like Delwyn Young just to make room for him.

Yu Darvish, the ace of the Japanese WBC team and star hurler for the Nippon Ham Fighters, is just about the biggest Japanese baseball star not currently playing in the Major Leagues. Tall, dark, and handsome, the half-Iranian, half-Japanese righty haunts the dreams of young women across Japan, so it surprised no one when he married one of the prettiest Japanese actresses around, 22-year-old idol Saeko.  The two were married in 2007 and had a son in the spring of 2008

More pictures after the jump…

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About a month ago, Umpbump HQ received a peculiar e-mail. It was from Rudy Gamble, the operator of the fantasy baseball site Razzball.com, challenging us to a duel…

Well, not really a duel per se since it involves ten combatants. It was more of a battle royale, a gauntlet, a “clusterf***”.  Our weapons? The crappiest baseball players you can imagine. Our sword is Jason Marquis, our shield is Cesar Izturis, and Nick Punto is our codpiece.

The idea behind fantasy Razzball is fairly simple. Instead of trying to win, you try your damndest to lose. Every time one of your players does something positive in a game, you have points deducted. However, these players have to play for you to accumulate points. (league scoring info on chart on right) You can’t hide behind the Nick Hundleys and Dane Sardhinas of the world. Instead, you rely on Dusty Baker to keep playing Willy Taveras beyond the point of any good sense. Brilliant.

But it was hard. Very, very, hard. You know that in a regular fantasy league, Hanley Ramirez ought to be atop your wishlist. But who’s the anti-Hanley? I went into the draft this past Saturday afternoon not having a clue as to the answer (Not to mention the fact that I had never used ESPN for fantasy purposes and thus didn’t know how to utilize their draft module. Plus, my laptop has a strategic crack on the screen which obscured key areas of the module. That’s no one’s fault but mine).

Then it hit me. Hey, you don’t lose points for stolen bases! AND you gain points every time someone strikes out! Perhaps this was obvious to the rest of my league mates, but it wasn’t until the clock was ticking down that I knew who I would make my first round selection. Mr. Carlos Gomez.

I still have no inkling as to whether or not we did right by Razzball on draft day. I’m sure that I made mistakes, I’m sure I relied too much on actual playing time over how crappy they would be.  But here’s what Team Umpbump (I hope we’re changing this name soon…) looks like at the moment (on the left).

Again, I have regrets. I think Casey Blake is a sub-par 3rd baseman, but in retrospect, he’s probably not bad enough. Same with Jorge Cantu. Andy Laroche could break out and I suppose Jeremy Hermida may have too much power for my own good.

On the pitching side, Ian Snell could go either way, but in the 4th round, he was way too much of a reach. I feel good about Jeff Suppan and Nick Blackburn (my darkhorse of crapitude), but Micah Owings could rebound, and Joe Saunders could make a fool out of me by proving that last year was not a fluke.

I’m sure than in a league like this, Umpbump will be messing with the roster quite a bit. After all, players who post terrible numbers get removed from the roster fairly quickly (unless you’re a Royal, for they have no choice).

But we are always open to suggestions. Who would be your first round pick in a league like this, Umpbump readers? Think long and hard…

Rob Neyer says yes. Jayson Stark says yes.

Three World Series rings. 214 career victories. 83 complete games. Three 300-strikeout seasons. The highest postseason winning percentage of all time (.846) for a starter with more than six postseason decisions. The best strikeout/walk ratio of any pitcher in the modern era.

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