Courtesy of Family Guy
Hello All,
Apologies for the non-new posts so far this week. My day job has me traveling for the week, and is making it tough to post anything new or substantial about Latin American baseball. In the meantime, I invite anyone to send in news or interesting factoids to cover the dearth of information on this blog. Rest assured, I will be back at it next week when I am back in Miami. Thanks for checking in!
Saludos,
Andy
At least Felix Hernandez, the young phenom from Valencia, Venezuela, doesn’t have a losing record this season…yet, which is incredible given that the Mariners could still lose 100 games. It’s a real shame Felix doesn’t pitch for a better team, as he’d probably be on the verge of winning his second Cy Young by now. Instead, he’s located way up in the Pacific Northwest, on a crappy team, and thus far away from any national exposure.
I had the chance to watch Felix come up and pitch for 4 seasons when we lived in Seattle, and it was a pleasure to watch him regularly make good hitting teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels look mortal. What was difficult was watching him consistently get little run support.
As far as this season, here’s his line (leads the league in bold italics): 12-12, 2.31 ERA, 241.2 IP, 68 BB, 227 K, 971 BF, 1.063 WHIP.
So, why is Felix only 12-12 this season? Because in the 12 games Felix lost, the Mariners scored a TOTAL of 14 runs. That simply isn’t going to get it done no matter how good Felix pitches.
Other than the W-L column, stack Felix up against any other Cy Young contender, in either league, and he’s got most of them beat in the important categories, like WHIP and K’s.
Felix will become a free agent at the end of 2011, and he’ll still only be 25. My guess is the Mariners trade him before then.
Courtesy of the San Diego Union Tribune
Miguel Tejada has been a valuable component to the Padres offense (or lack thereof) since coming over from the Orioles this season. Last night, Dodger pitcher Ted Lilly grooved a meatball right over the plate that Tejada hit to near dead center field for his 300th career home run. The two-run homer put the Padres up 3-1, and they hung on to beat the Dodgers by the same score and re-take the division lead from the Giants.
Tejada has been in the league now for a long time, and despite some of the negative issues that have dogged him (like not knowing his real age and being named in the Mitchell Report), he’s always been considered a great teammate and competitor.
“The Bus” from Bani, Dominican Republic still seems to some gas left in the tank, even though he’s already 6 years removed from having that 150 RBI season with the Orioles.
You be the judge: 72 plate appearances with the White Sox since coming over from the Dodgers, 1 HR, 1 RBI. At this rate, Chicago has paid $3.8 million per home run…or per RBI. Plus, the Twins just clinched the AL Central division last night.
Courtesy of CBBSU website
As part of a deal along with New Era, a leading global provider of baseball caps, Major League Baseball has come on board as a sponsor for the 2nd Annual Brazilian University Baseball & Softball Championships.
According to the press release on the Confederaçâo Brasileira de Beisebol e Softebol (CBBS) website, this is the first time MLB has sponsored an event in Brazil.
More information on the tournament (in Portuguese) can be found at the Campeonato Brasileiro de Beisebol e Softebol Universitario website at: http://www.cbbsu.blogspot.com/ and on the CBBS website at: http://www.cbbs.com.br/noticias.php?id=4925
Though the press release came out yesterday on the CBBS site, the 2nd round of the tournament actually started last weekend, with the third round to be played the weekend of October 16th and 17th at the Yakult Baseball Stadium in Ibiuna, and the final round to be played on November 7th at the famed Mie Nishe Stadium in São Paulo.
This is an unprecedented and pretty huge deal for both New Era and MLB to start sponsoring events in Brazil. No doubt, more interest in baseball and softball in Brazil is sure to follow these efforts.
Just saw this on the Baseball Mexico blog, which is a great resource for all things baseball in Mexico:
http://baseballmexico.blogspot.com/2010/09/rodriguez-to-audition-for-rockies_20.html
The left handed Rodriguez is only 25 years old and went 5-0 with an 0.66 ERA for Saltillo this past Mexican Baseball League playoffs. Apparently other teams are interested in Rodriguez as well, so hopefully we’ll see the Padres giving him a tryout too…hint, hint;-).
This week’s print edition of Sports Illustrated has an article by Joe Sheehan on the Colorado Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez, of Maracaibo, Venezuela, who is absolutely killing it with the bat this season and is making a serious run for the Triple Crown and NL MVP consideration.
SI article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1174417/
I like how Joe points out the usual bump in numbers a Rockies slugger gets from playing at Coors Field, versus when he’s on the road. Once again, Colorado’s home field advantage is huge when the team has good power hitters (see Larry Walker or Dante Bichette). Not that Gonzalez couldn’t do well anywhere else, and he does play in a division where most of the other stadiums are considered pitcher’s parks, but the difference between his home and away numbers this season are almost comical:
Home: .392 BA/25 HR/72 RBI/1.205 OPS in 66 games
Away: .288 BA/7 HR/34 RBI/.760 OPS in 34 games
Granted, “CarGo” has played much fewer games on the road than at home, and his road numbers aren’t necessarily bad, but they do pale in comparison to his Coors Field numbers.
The scary thing for the rest of the NL West is that Gonzalez is only 24 years old. As far as this season is concerned, he has been a huge factor in the Rockies climbing back into the division race. Now that the Padres have given up the division lead to the Giants, and as long as Colorado continues to win both at home and on the road, they have as good a shot as anyone to take the NL West in 2010.
I’m not focusing on the Yankees – Rays series because I necessarily care about either team, but you could safely assume that one of these teams from the AL East is probably going to end up in the World Series this year. These two teams are simply better than anyone else in baseball.
The night before, the Yankees came back to win in extra innings. Last night, the Rays returned the favor and retook the division lead. Watching Rafael Soriano strikeout A Rod on three pitches to finish the game was impressive. I didn’t realize Soriano was leading the league in saves this season with 43. Up until this point, Soriano had been a journeyman relief pitcher, always putting up decent numbers but having freak injuries (including a Vladimir Guerrero line drive to the head) derail his career. Then, last season with Atlanta, he assumed the closer’s role and did a great job, logging 27 saves along the way. This season, Soriano is rolling with a .806 WHIP in 60 appearances. Soriano’s definitely a piece of the puzzle that the Rays need to make the playoffs, especially with last year’s closer, J.P. Howell, having had season ending surgery earlier this year.
Simply put, Mariano Rivera is awesome. I hate to say it, but Rivera is probably more awesome than Trevor Hoffman. Although Hoffman’s been in the Majors a couple years longer and has 43 more saves (600 to 557) than Rivera, Rivera is still really good whereas Trevor Time is probably on his last legs. How else do you explain a 40 year old man who’s currently 3-3 with 30 saves, an ERA of 1.33 and a WHIP of 0.815 this season?
Granted, Rivera has pitched on much better teams throughout his career than Hoffman has, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Rivera shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.
Rivera’s stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/riverma01.shtml
Hoffman’s stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hoffmtr01.shtml
Not sure if you caught the Tampa Bay Rays – Yankees game last night, but the game was tied 7-7 going into the 10th inning. All of the Rays fans were standing, cheering, thinking their team had a chance, then another ageless veteran, Puerto Rican Jorge Posada, jacked a homer to deep center field, and Rivera came in at the bottom of the 10th to slam the door shut. Game over.
I’m not a fan of the Yankees, but I am a fan of the veteran base that includes Rivera, Posada, and Jeter. Those guys have been making the game look so simple for 15 years, it’s ridiculous.
Thank you Scott Boras! photo by seattletimes.com
One thing is for certain: it seems that if you put Adrian Beltre in a contract or option year, at least 2 out of 3 times he turns into Eddie Matthews for a season. Any other year, and the right handed power hitter from Santo Domingo, DR is a high-strikeout bundle of frustration at the plate. The Dodgers and Mariners found that out the long and expensive way, but if you’re the Boston Red Sox you have to like the $9 million “bargain” you got by bringing Beltre in for 2010. Beltre is absolutely tearing it up this season with the bat. So far in 2010, Beltre is hitting .325 with 27 HRs, 97 RBIs, and a .929 OPS.
Beltre’s glove has never been a question. He has always been a good defensive player, and he has a couple of Gold Gloves to prove it. Beltre’s performance with the bat, however, has been much more hit or miss (pun intended) over his career.
Do you remember 2004? That was the breakout season Beltre had with the Dodgers, where he led the NL with 48 home runs , drove in 121 runs, and had an OPS of 1.017. Beltre was otherworldly that season after a previous six years of being considered unrealized potential by the Dodgers. In fact, in those previous six seasons, Beltre never had a season with more than 23 home runs, 85 RBIs or an OPS over .835.
As a result (and with a little help from super agent Scott Boras), Beltre was rewarded with a fat $63 million pay day from the Seattle Mariners, where he proceeded to spend 5 seasons averaging a little over 20 HRs per season, and never had more than an .802 OPS. Don’t get me wrong, Beltre’s numbers weren’t bad, but they didn’t reflect the $13 million per year he was getting paid.
Last offseason the Mariners let him go in to free agency, where he took a one-year deal (with a mutual second year option) with the Red Sox. This season in Boston, Beltre seems to be re-channeling his 2004 performance. Too bad for the Red Sox that Beltre’s effort has been wasted by Boston’s inability to gain any ground in their division.
One wonders if both sides will pick up the option for 2011. Beltre does like the Green Monsta: 11 of Beltre’s 13 home runs at Fenway this season have gone over the left field wall, and 12 of his 15 doubles there have been hit off the wall or close enough to it to leg out a double.
To be fair, both Dodger Stadium and Safeco Field are considered pitcher’s parks, so it’s not a total shocker that Beltre’s offensive numbers went up when he moved to Boston. I can only imagine what he would be like if he played for the Yankees in that new wiffle ball field they built in the Bronx.
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