Articles from April 2011

As I mentioned a couple of pieces ago, my 1B in the Denslow Cup this season is Billy Butler.  I currently am using the Towel’s account to watch MLB TV during afternoon and evening lab, so I have been watching a little bit of the middle of the Royals’ order, since Butler is hitting cleanup for KC currently with sparkling results.  The Royals have been hitting Alex Gordon third, and he too has been crushing, starting the season with a 1.000+ OPS in his first 30 or so AB’s of 2011 after a torrential spring in which he slashed .343/.459/.729 in around 90 PA’s.  I am a huge supporter of statistical analysis and its role within player evaluation in baseball, so obviously this month of success does little to help us forget the last few years of Gordon’s career.  Still, something tells me that Gordon might be getting close to reminding us what it was about him, before he was drafted second overall in the 2005 MLB Draft, that made us believe that he was the messiah for which Kansas City had prayed for 20 years.

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Carlos Quentin: Wow. Is Q locked in at the plate right now or what? The White Sox right fielder has started the season on an absolute tear, hitting the ball hard to all fields and driving in runs like it’s going out of style.  Of his 11 hits thus far, a whopping seven have gone for extra bases – five doubles and two yardballs.  Oh yeah, he’s also driven in 10 runs in five games and currently sports a 1.522 OPS. As a White Sox fan, I don’t want to get my hopes up, but the thought of Quentin having a full, 2008-type season is scary.  It suddenly reminds us of how great of a season he was having before breaking a bone in his wrist and missing the last month.  And considering the White Sox current lineup, Quentin could easily have another 100+ RBI season.  So, will the White Sox outfielder our favorite State Farm Insurance agent continue his torrid production? Or will his fragility once again shorten a promising season?

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Spring Training is a wonderful time of year.  It portends warmer weather, hope for the future and of course, the beginning of a brand new baseball season.  As someone whose spirits lift dramatically at the mere utterance of the words “pitchers and catchers report” each February, I truly believe that Spring Training conveys much more than simply “preseason baseball”, as an ignorant colleague of mine spoke of it a few days ago.  However, one very important aspect of Spring Training that is not often mentioned is its educational power.  While players learn offensive strategies, signs and new practice drills, managers and executives take a look at their teams and try to learn as much as possible about each player’s level of talent and where their skills would be best used to begin the upcoming season.

The educational process does not stop there, however.  To the contrary, even the average fan can pick up insights into the lives of those around the game, gain a better understanding of the motivations of Maricopa County’s aging population, and garner plenty of other valuable information simply by staying around the game they love in the middle of March.  In no particular order, here are some of the important life lessons my dad and I gleaned from our father-son trip to the Valley of the Sun.

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Recently we received a comment from a reader regarding our predictions, and I think the topic he brought up is probably worth its own piece.  The reader felt like I unfairly predicted that the Yankees would finish the year third in the AL East behind Boston and Tampa, who I predicted would both finish 2011 in the playoffs.  Before I continue, I would like to mention that I think the AL East will be a very tight division, particularly in the battle for second place.  The Yankees are one of the best offensive teams in baseball, and they certainly deserve a great deal of respect for that, but everything else they do is far from representative of a playoff-caliber team.

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After reading Dee’s write-up of his draft picks, I would like to add my own review of the Denslow Cup 2011 draft.  Before we get into my picks and reasoning, let me tell you this: the league is filled with nerds, and playing in an OBP league drastically changes the way our draft goes as compared to other 5×5 leagues.  The draft was highly competitive, and was fantastic.  As Dee mentioned in his article, he and I gathered with a couple friends of the league, shared some suds and BBQ, and had our spring Christmas.  Just as with Christmas, entering draft day you never know what you are going to get.  By the end of it, you got a ton of stuff (or guys) and now it is time to see how it all works out.  I am incredibly optimistic about this year’s squad, So Fresh ‘n So Sheen Sheen, and where we can finish.  Last year was a debacle, with me finishing 13^th out of 16 teams.  This year we shaved 4 teams, and the rosters are representative of that.  So, without further ado, I present to you a team flowing with tiger’s blood and bi-winning, and that is about to right all the wrongs of 2010: So Fresh ‘n So Sheen Sheen.

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