May 2006

A-Rod Not Clutch?

–Alex Rodriguez is a phenomenal player.  However, due to his almost iconic status and the fact that he is on the Yankees, as well as his lack of World Series titles, he faces a LOT of criticism.  Is it fair?  I argue that it’s not.  Many people criticize him and say that he only hits home runs when the game is out of reach and that he never comes through in the clutch.  Starting with today’s game I will routinely look at every A-Rod at bat and see if he "never" comes through in the clutch like people say.

  • At bat #1: 2nd Inning, 0-0 tied, bases empty, 1 out, ground out (0-1)
  • At bat #2: 4th Inning, 2-0 lead, man on first, 0 out, double play (0-2)
  • At bat #3: 5th Inning, 2-0 lead, 1st and second, 2 outs, RBI single (1-3)
  • At bat #4: 8th Inning, 4-0 lead, bases empty, 0 out, strikeout (1-4)

–Rodriguez came up to the plate once with runners in scoring position and delivered.  In the fourth he did ground into a double play but made up for it an inning later with a 2 out single that drove in Sheffield to tack onto the lead and extend the inning.  The next batter (Posada) also singled and drove in another run to make it 4-0.  Despite being 1-4 with a GIDP, A-Rod passes today’s test with his hit in the only time with a runner at second.

–Speaking of passing a test, how about Prince Albert?  This guy passes every test and once again accounted for all three of the Cardinals runs.  Please someone explain to me why this guy is getting pitched to as much as he has been.  He as 40 walks (4th in AL) but he should have 60 by now.  With a 1-0 lead in the sevent inning, the Astros were dumb enough to once again let Pujols beat them.  While runners were on first and second and a walk would have loaded the bases and out the go-ahead run in scoring position, he still should have been walked.  I know hindsight is 20-20 but come on.  It was a 2-0 count to Albert and at that point don’t give in and just put him on base and take your chances with Rolen.  You can’t continue to let Albert beat you every single time.  His pace: 82 HR and 209 RBI. 

–I suppose with Bonds passing Babe Ruth I should chime in with my thoughts.  First of all, I think we need to give the guy a break.  With or without steroids he’s easily one of the premier hitters to ever play in this game.  Steroids can help you recover from injury and hit the ball further but they don’t help you to hit the ball.  And let’s be honest, a great deal of players are juicing and I don’t see other people hitting 73 HR’s in a season and slugging .863 in a season (or .799 or .812 for that matter).  Don’t forget that Barry has 8 career Gold Gloves and is the only member of the 400 HR/400 SB club.  Oh, by the way, he has 700/500.  Good luck touching that folks.  And you know what?  the Babe never had to face African-American players.  That is HUGE and overlooked. 

3-0 Count

–On May 7th I wrote about how big of an advantage home teams have in extra inning games.  At that point the home teams were at 16-8 in such games.  I thought I would just give a quick update on those stats:  Home teams are 11-6 in extra inning games since May 7th and are now at 27-14 on the season.  In the last 2+ weeks, three times the road team scored in extras only to succumb to the home team in the bottom of the inning. 

–Another little nugget has always piqued my interest.  Seemingly every single time the count is 3-0 on a batter the next pitch is a strike right down the middle.  I am curious to know the percentage of strikes thrown on 3-0 counts, so I went through all 13 games from Monday to see.  On 40 occasions the count ran to 3-0.  27 times the next pitch was a strike (67.5%).  Out of those 27 times, 5 of them were pitches in which the batter swung at.  Every once in a while I will go through a whole days games and see if this percentage is fairly consistent.

–Albert Pujols is an absolute machine.  He slugged his 23rd HR in the 1st inning last night and almost hit another one later on (warning track).  He also has 57 RBI’s which is just ridiculous.  He has 14 more RBI than second place in the Major Leagues (Jim Thome/Lance Berkman).  Pujols is on pace for an insane 84 HR and 207 RBI.  While that is essentially impossible one has to root for Albert to break the old RBI record of 191 by Hack Wilson in 1931.  Stop pitching to this guy people, he will BURN you every single time he steps to the plate.

–Did anyone see the home run hit by Jose Reyes last night to tie the game in the eighth inning?  Obviously Reyes doesn’t have a ton of power but he has got to be stronger than most people think for golfing that ball out of the park.  The beautiful home run extended the game into extra innings and the Mets took the game in the 16th on Carlos Beltran’s walk-off HR (another home team winning an extra innings game).

–The Royals dropped their 11th straight game (check out my blog entry from yesterday) and they are now 10-33.  They hit 4 homers and held a 5-3 lead in the eighth innings that was promptly blown by Elmer Dessens who gave up 4 runs in 1/3 of an inning. 

–The Angels are a somewhat surprising 18-28 but received some much-needed offensive help when they called up hitting extraordinaire Kendry Morales.  The 22 year old Cuban star promptly delivered with 3 hits including a homer in his major league debut.  The switch hitter also made a terrific play late in the game to help preserve the win he helped get with his hitting.  This team is absolutely loaded with young talent (SS Brandon Wood, 2B Howie Kendrick, 1B/DH Morales, 2B/SS Erick Aybar, C Jeff Mathis, P Jered Weaver, P Nick Adenhart) and will improve this season especially when ace Bartolo Colon comes back from injury.

New Mananger of the Royals…Me

–Before I begin explaining why I should be the manager of the Kansas City Royals, let’s first discuss just how bad they are.

  • Their record stands at a paltry 10-32; already 19 games back of the division-leading Tigers and 8 games back of fourth place Minnesota who isn’t exactly playing well either at 19-25.
  • They have had two 10+ game losing streaks within the first 50 games of the season, becoming only the second team in Major League History to do so.
  • They have scored only 154 runs while giving up 259.  That ranks them dead last in both runs scored per game and runs allowed per game.
  • Their starting rotation is 3-23 and averaging under five innings pitched per start
  • The Royals rank third to last in MLB in average attendance per game at 19,002 (almost 30,000 less than the Yankees draw per game)

Reasons why they SHOULD hire me as manager:

  1. Publicity: no one goes to their games and no one cares.  If they were to hire a 20 year old to manage the ball club that would be a huge media story and would bring fans out to the ballpark.
  2. Money: with more fans at the game, more money is brought in.  The massive media attention and greater attendance makes the owner more money and that’s what they want.  They could also choose to actually spend the money and improve their ball club, which in turn will make them even more money.  Not to mention I would ask for substantially less money than current manager Buddy Bell, hence saving even more dollars for owner David Glass.
  3. I have Experience:  Last season I coached a 13 year old little league team in my hometown and I led them to the championship game.  After that, I took the 13 year old traveling all star team and coached them to a win in districts and a berth in the state championship. That marked the first time in 10 years the 13 year old team made the state tournament.  This season I am coaching the 18 year old Sr. Babe team which i played for just two years ago.
  4. What do they have to lose?:  This team is 10-32.  They really can’t get much worse.  They will finish in last place this season no matter what.  Why not make some more money while doing it?  It’s a win-win situation.  Let’s say the team continues to struggle as I coach.  So what?  The team will save a lot of money on my contract and they will increase their revenue and attendance substantially.  And there also is a good chance that we increase that horrible winning percentage they currently have.  If they don’t like how I did then they can replace me at the end of the season with a veteran "free agent" manager.
  5. I know what it takes to win:  I played on a lot of winning teams.  My junior year in high school my team (Marlborough High) made it to the Division 1 State Championship Game (Massachusetts) against Malden Catholic High School.  We lost the game 3-0.  Had we tied the game in the ninth inning (we had bases loaded no outs) I was going to come into the game in the 10th.  The game was supposed to be played at Fenway Park but the Red Sox had a game that day. 
  6. Passion:  My love for the game of baseball is what keeps me alive.  The game is all I ever think about and I know the x’s and the o’s of the game.  I would be an aggressive manager a la Ozzie Guillen, setting the runners in motion and making things happen.  I would be tough on my players but also really encouraging

–It sounds silly, but really, what do they have to lose?  Give me a shot Kansas City.

Danny Almonte

Things on my mind:

–How about Danny Almonte back in the news?  For those who don’t recall, Almonte had a fake birth certificate which enabled him to play in the Little League World Series even though he was two years older than the kids he was playing with.  It was later discovered and the team h ad to forfeit the success they had in Williamsport.  Almonte, now 19, will almost certainly be drafted in June.  He is a left handed pitcher who throws in the low 90′s.  He was selected to participate in the McDonalds All American High School game.  Also making waves on the Almonte front is that he just got married to a thirty year old woman.  This guy has certainly led an interesting life.  He was a hero at age 14 (thought to be 12) and was in the middle of a national scandal.  Now he has prospects of being drafted by a Major League team and got married at the insanely young age of 19 and to a 30 year old woman no less.  This kid needs to relax and lay-low for a while.  Good luck Danny, in baseball and in marriage.  You’re going to need it.

–We all know what issues Albert Belle had when he was playing.  How could anyone forget the time he broke up a double play by absolutely PLOWING over the second baseman.  I forget who he ran over (Robbie Alomar maybe?) but my goodness what a collision.  He was up for the hall of fame earlier this year but he barely got any votes.  Clearly his character came into play with the voters because his stats are very impressive.  He was charged earlier this year for stalking a woman.  He allegedly put a tracking device on the car of an ex-girlfriend.  Talk about creepy.  Now, he got busted again for stalking because he ALLEGEDLY (aka he did it) made phone calls to this same woman.  When will the madness stop from Albert?

–I had one reaction to witnessing the Barry Bonds at-bat against Russ Springer on Tuesday…WOW.  It was one of the most blatant attempts to throw at a hitter you could ever see.  The first pitch went BEHIND Barry.  That pitch was followed by a warning from home plate umpire to Springer.  Each of the next three pitchers were extremely inside and one of them appeared as though it hit Barry but it actually hit has bat.  The fifth pitch of the at bat (3-1 count) hit Barry in the shoulder.  Springer has just been suspended for four games by the League office.  I would make the case he deserved more.  I don’t think Springer just wanted to hit him, he wanted to injure him.  I think Springer would have rather threw knives at Barry rather than a baseball.  I don’y know why Springer took so much exception to Bonds.  Barry did hit a home run off Springer a few years back but Bonds has hit homers off a million pitchers and you don’t see them trying to kill the guy do you?  Springer, get a clue.

–Are the Tigers ever going to lose?  They won again on Thursday to move to a Major League leading 27-13.  Manager Jim Leyland has them playing terrific.  I said this a week ago and I still stick by it…the White Sox will win that division.  Their entire staff is pitching above their heads right now and it’s simply IMPOSSIBLE for them to continue to sustain their ERA which is now at 3.19 as a team. 

–It was well-documented how poorly Atlanta Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur started the season.  However, he is on fire now.  He may only have one walk in 176 plate appearances (ouch) but he is on pace for 40 HR and 142 RBI.  In his last 12 games he has 8 HR and 20 RBI.  He is also on a 16 game hitting streak to boot.  He may not draw walks, but this guy can flat-out stroke the ball and play terrific defense.  You can’t complain about that.

Wood off DL

Sorry for the layoff these past few days but my computer in my dorm room just happened to crash.  Just in time for finals, how convenient.  Anyway, let’s discuss what’s going on in baseball right now.

Things on my mind:

–With Kerry Wood returning from the DL today to make a start the question remains; how long until he takes another trip to the disabled list?  Seriously, this guy simply can’t stay healthy.  And anyways, how effective will he be even if he is healthy for once?  This guy hasn’t pitched for a long stretch in years.  This Cubs team is in some serious trouble that I don’t think Kerry Wood can help them get out of it.  They need Prior back and they need Derrek Lee back as well.  This team can’t score runs and is falling dangerously far behind in the NL Central.  Not only are they eight games behind division leading Cardinals, but they are behind three additional teams (Reds, Brewers, Astros) as well.  Dusty Baker has his work cut out for him to say the least.

–What is wrong with the Young (Dmitri/Delmon) family?  First it was Delmon throwing a bat at an umpire and getting suspended 50 games.  Now his brother, Dmitri, supposedly a stand-up guy was charged with domestic violence after his former girlfriend accused him of choking her.  There are photos showing bruises and scratches on her neck, upper body, and leg.  What’s next?

–How about this stat…The Giants are 20-5 at Minute Maid Park since it opened a few years back when it was known as Enron Field.  That is simply incredible because the Astros have been a competitive team ever since they opened that new park.  To be 5-20 in your own park against any team over that span is more than surprising from the Astros standpoint.

–The White Sox are 26-13, good for the second best record in all of baseball, just a half game behind the Tigers.  The Pale Hose, in their last 55 games (including this year, last postseason, and the last five games of last regular season) are a stellar 41-14.  Perhaps more impressive, is their minor league affiliate Charlotte Knights of the International League (AAA).  They began the season 6-5 but have won 24 of their last 27 games to lead all of baseball (any level) at 30-8. 

–Speaking of hot, how about Jose Contreras?  The White Sox are 23-3 in his last 26 starts.  This team has been brilliant all season and he’ll be coming off the DL shortly. 

–The Minnesota Twins’ offensive woes continue.  Rising superstar Justin Verlander of the Tigers shut them down for eight innings as the Twins totally wasted Johan Santana’s brilliant start.  This team has got to score some runs when they actually get a solid performance from their rotation.  Their rotation has been horrendous all season long, as evidenced by Kyle Lohse’s demotion to AAA and Carlos Silva being put in the bullpen.  Scott Baker and Brad Radke haven’t impressed either.  The Twins are in a great division and they need to get righted and fast.  Finally the Twins put in Francisco Liriano into the rotation and this guy will be there for years to come.  With Santana and Liriano the Twins have perhaps the best 1-2 lefty punch in quite some time.

–How often do we see a game where both teams have an inning in which they score 8+ runs?  That’s precisely what happened between the Padres and the Diamondbacks.  San Diego scored 9 runs in the first inning of Juan Cruz (who only lasted 2/3 of an inning).  However, the Padres gave up 8 runs of their own in the sixth inning.  The Padres won the ugly game 14-10.

Twin Killing

Things on my Mind:

–Wow was all that I could say watching the Sunday Night Baseball game between the White Sox and the Twins. Here are some of the amazing things that happened

  • Jim Thome was robbed of a 3 run homer by Torii Hunter in the first inning. However, Thome’s blast in the third inning could not be caught by Hunter and it was Jim’s NL leading 15th HR. More on Hunter in a moment
  • Jermaine Dye hit a homer 2 batters later to counter-act Hunter’s great grab
  • Mark Buehrle gave up 7 runs in the first inning (only 1 earned)
  • Trailing 7-3 after one inning, the White Sox took the lead for good by the fourth inning 9-7
  • Mark Buehrle (despite giving up 7 runs in the first) recorded the win, pitching into the seventh inning. He did not give up a run after the first
  • The win by Buehrle marked the first time in 106 years that a starting pitcher allowed 7 runs in the first inning and recorded the win.
  • The White Sox turned a triple play in the sixth inning. With runners on first and second, the runners took off when Castillo squared to bunt. The bunt popped up and Paul Konerko made a shoestring catch. He tossed to Iguchi covering first to get the second out and he then threw to Uribe at second to record the rare triple play

–Today we are truly spoiled with the abundance of tremendous fielding center fielders in the game. We got the aforementioned Hunter, Jim Edmonds, Andruw Jones, Aaron Rowand, Vernon Wells, etc. While it’s hard to argue against Jones, I think Edmonds and Hunter are above everyone else on the planet. Hunter routinely robs guys of homeruns (remember the All-Star Game when he robbed Barry Bonds?) and I’m genuinely surprised when he fails to come up with the ball. His “Spiderman” moniker fits perfectly as he scales the wall as high as he needs to go to go grab the ball out of the air. He’s already got 5 Gold Gloves and I’m sure he’ll be adding to that total yet again.

–Here’s something that should be fun to follow.  The following pitchers have yet to give up an earned run this season (minimum 9 IP), let’s see who goes the longest… (Duaner Sanchez’ streak ended at 21.2 IP)

  1. Ramon Ramirez (COL)  15.1 IP
  2. Rheal Cormier (PHI) 12.1 IP
  3. Dave Borkowski (HOU) 9.1 IP

      

–My Picks for May 15th (winner in bold)

  1. Red Sox @ Orioles
  2. Royals @ Indians
  3. Rangers @ Yankees
  4. White Sox @ Twins
  5. Marlins @ Braves
  6. Giants @ Astros
  7. Dodgers @ Rockies
  8. Padres @ Diamondbacks

       –My Current Record: 323-235 (7-7 yesterday)

–My Selections for May 15th, 2006:

Beat the Streak: Grady Sizemore
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: Travis Hafner
Survivor: n/a

–My Current Status:

Beat the Streak: 1 game
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: 1 game
Survivor: Eliminated

“Rusty” Baker

Things on my Mind:

–While the South Siders are on a mini three game slide, the North Side Chicago Cubs are completely unraveling since the injury of Derrek Lee. In 14 games this month the Cubs are 2-12 and have scored only 30 runs; barely over two per game. Last night the Cubs led 3-1 in the final inning on the shoulders of another masterful performance from ace Greg Maddux. However the bullpen blew it in the ninth as Mike Piazza hit a three run homer to take the game 4-3. Even with Kerry Wood coming back soon and Mark Prior’s return on the horizon as well, it’s the hitting that is killing this team. If Prior and Wood pitch well it won’t be good enough with the 2+ runs a game they are scoring this month. The Cubs are now 7 games below .500 at 15-22 and they are in a real difficult NL Central. This team is in some SERIOUS trouble and I think it may be time to oust manager Dusty Baker who has never done a good job with this team. I know the injuries are not his fault, but he is simply not a very good manager. Look back at the 2003 NL Championship Series for evidence (and the 2002 World Series for that matter).

–Here’s something that should be fun to follow.  The following pitchers have yet to give up an earned run this season (minimum 9 IP), let’s see who goes the longest… (Duaner Sanchez’ streak ended at 21.2 IP)

  1. Ramon Ramirez (COL)  15.1 IP
  2. Rheal Cormier (PHI) 11.1 IP
  3. Dave Borkowski (HOU) 9.1 IP

      

–My Picks for May 14th (winner in bold)

  1. Mariners @ Angels
  2. Rangers @ Red Sox
  3. Tigers @ Indians
  4. A’s @ Yankees
  5. Royals @ Orioles
  6. Blue Jays @ Devil Rays
  7. White Sox @ Twins
  8. Dodgers @ Giants
  9. Padres @ Cubs
  10. Marlins @ Pirates
  11. Phillies @ Reds
  12. Nationals @ Braves
  13. Mets @ Brewers
  14. Rockies @ Astros
  15. Diamondbacks @ Cardinals

       –My Current Record: 316-228 (7-7 yesterday)

–My Selections for May 14th, 2006:

Beat the Streak: Ichiro Suzuki
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: Jim Thome
Survivor: n/a

–My Current Status:

Beat the Streak: 0 games
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: 0 games
Survivor: Eliminated

Worst Pitcher Ever?

Things on my Mind:

–Now that Jose Lima is back up to the bigs starting for the Mets, let me talk about just how absolutely horrendous he is.

  • Only 22 pitchers in history (before this season) have had a season with an ERA above 6.50 with at least 150 innings pitched. Of course Jose Lima was a member of that list when in 2000 his ERA was 6.65 after the season.
  • And what do you know? Last year with the mighty Royals he accomplished something that none of the other 21 players ever had. He did it AGAIN. In fact his ERA was so bad it almost swelled to 7.00. He finished the season at 6.99 after throwing 169.2 innings. He had 5 wins and 16 losses.

–Let’s go year by year and show how poor his career has really been…

Year         Games              Innings Pitched          ERA          Won/Loss Record

1994              3                             7.2                        13.50                     0-1

1995             15                           74.2                         6.11                      3-9

1996             39                           73.2                         5.70                      5-6

1997             52                            75                           5.28                      1-6

1998             33                          233.1                       3.70                      16-8

1999             35                          246.1                       3.58                     21-10

2000             33                          196.1                       6.65                      7-16

2001             32                          166.2                       5.54                      6-12

2002             20                           68.1                        7.77                       4-6

2003             14                           73.1                        4.91                       8-3

2004             36                          170.1                       4.07                     13-5

2005             32                          169.2                       6.99                     5-16

2006              2                            10.2                        9.31                      0-1

Totals        346 G                   1,560 IP                5.24 ERA           89 W- 99 L

Obviously Lima had a few good seasons.  But take out his two best seasons (1998,1999) and his career record is 52-81 and his ERA is a good deal worse than that already abysmal 5.24.  His seasons in 2000 and 2005 are so legendarily horrendous.  Seriously, how did this guy stay in the rotation for that long in each of those years?  Earlier this year I thought the Mets had a shot to win the World Series, but now that Jose Lima has made their rotation, I have officially ruled out the Mets from World Series Contention.  It’s not Lima Time in New York.

–Here’s something that should be fun to follow.  The following pitchers have yet to give up an earned run this season (minimum 9 IP), let’s see who goes the longest… (Duaner Sanchez’ streak ended at 21.2 IP)

  1. Ramon Ramirez (COL)  14 IP
  2. Rheal Cormier (PHI) 11.1 IP
  3. Dave Borkowski (HOU) 9.1 IP      

–My Picks for May 13th (winner in bold)

  1. Mariners @ Angels
  2. Rangers @ Red Sox
  3. Tigers @ Indians
  4. A’s @ Yankees
  5. Royals @ Orioles
  6. Blue Jays @ Devil Rays
  7. White Sox @ Twins
  8. Dodgers @ Giants
  9. Padres @ Cubs
  10. Marlins @ Pirates
  11. Phillies @ Reds
  12. Nationals @ Braves
  13. Mets @ Brewers
  14. Rockies @ Astros
  15. Diamondbacks @ Cardinals

       –My Current Record: 309-221 (11-4 yesterday)

–My Selections for May 13th, 2006:

Beat the Streak: Jim Thome
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: Jim Thome
Survivor: n/a

–My Current Status:

Beat the Streak: 1 game
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: 0 games
Survivor: Eliminated

Hustle

Things on my Mind:

–Phillies Centerfielder Aaron Rowand was placed on the DL with a broken nose. He sustained that broken nose going all-out on a deep fly ball. He rana mile to track the ball down, caught it, and slammed into the wall real hard. Some will say that it’s not wise to go full speed like that because you risk injury. But I applaud Rowand and he is one of the best fielding outfielders in all of baseball because of his great jumps, great instinct, and full blown hustle and determination. Get well soon Aaron.

–Here’s something that should be fun to follow.  The following pitchers have yet to give up an earned run this season (minimum 9 IP), let’s see who goes the longest… (Duaner Sanchez’ streak ended at 21.2 IP)

  1. Ramon Ramirez (COL)  14 IP
  2. Rheal Cormier (PHI) 11.1 IP
  3. Dave Borkowski (HOU) 9.1 IP

      

–My Picks for May 12th (winner in bold)

  1. Mariners @ Angels
  2. Rangers @ Red Sox
  3. Tigers @ Indians
  4. A’s @ Yankees
  5. Royals @ Orioles
  6. Blue Jays @ Devil Rays
  7. White Sox @ Twins
  8. Dodgers @ Giants
  9. Padres @ Cubs
  10. Marlins @ Pirates
  11. Phillies @ Reds
  12. Nationals @ Braves
  13. Mets @ Brewers
  14. Rockies @ Astros
  15. Diamondbacks @ Cardinals

       –My Current Record: 298-217 (6-2 yesterday)

–My Selections for May 12th, 2006:

Beat the Streak: Ichiro Suzuki
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: Barry Bonds
Survivor: n/a

–My Current Status:

Beat the Streak: 0 games
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: 0 games
Survivor: Eliminated

Projecting A-Rod/Prince Albert

Things on my Mind:

–Now that the White Sox called up their young knuckleballer (Charlie Haeger), I think I will discuss my feelings of these “pitchers.” While I think Tim Wakefield is a good player and all I don’t consider him a real pitcher. Pitching is so mental. It’s all about setting up hitters. It’s about climbing the ladder with two strikes to strike out the hitter. It’s about nibbling on those corners. It’s about pounding the hitter inside then going outside to get the out. Wakefield doesn’t do these things. He doesn’t even think out there. He just throws that 60 MPH knuckler and he has NO idea whatsoever where in the world the thins is going. Greg Maddux is the true embodiment of a pitcher. There is no pitcher out there that I have more respect for. That guy KNOWS how to pitch. Wake doesn’t pitch, he just floats a pitch out there without thinking or knowing what will happen. I am not saying I don’t respect what he does out there, because I do. I just don’t consider him a true pitcher. I am not taking anything away from him, because he’s had a very good career and is a very valuable guy to have on your staff. I applaud him for that great pitch that he has. I simply can’t view him as a real pitcher, that’s all.

–The last few days I’ve mentioned how incredible Albert Pujols is. So I thought it would be fun to predict Albert’s career statistics. But when you talk about Pujols you have to mention Alex Rodriguez in the same breath. Alex may not be having a great year yet by his standards, but this guy’s whole career has been absolutely astounding. So right here, right now, I am going to predict the career numbers for both A-Rod and Prince Albert. Let’s start with Rodriguez…

–Alex Rodriguez: Projected career stats after 2006 season:

  • 1,350 R
  • 2,080 H
  • 370 2B
  • 470 HR
  • 1,330 RBI
  • 810 BB
  • 1,390 K
  • 240 SB
  • .306 AVG
  • .387 OBP
  • .578 SLG

–Now, I must predict how many more seasons he will play, factoring in possible injuries and decline in production as he gets older. I figured he would play five more years after this season at relatively the same amount of production. He would be 36 years old after the 2011 season. I then say he will play 3-4 more years at a good level. Keep in mind I only took 30 minutes on this and it is a rough estimate. Here’s what I’ve come up with for career numbers…

–Alex Rodriguez: Projected career stats:

  • 2,244 R (3rd all time; 1 behind Ty Cobb)
  • 3,589 H (5th all time)
  • 614 2B (11th all time)
  • 802 HR (1st all time)
  • 2,135 RBI (3rd all time)
  • 1,448 BB (20th all time)
  • 2,217 K (2nd all time)
  • 338 SB (100th all time; tied with Willie Mays)
  • .302 AVG
  • .379 OBP (82nd all time)
  • .566 SLG (12th all time)

–Albert Pujols: Projected career stats after 2006 season:

  • 774 R
  • 1,182 H
  • 243 2B
  • 258 HR
  • 775 RBI
  • 516 BB
  • 402 K
  • 43 SB
  • .334 AVG
  • .420 OBP
  • .632 SLG

–Seriously, this guy is an absolute MONSTER. I don’t think he is human to be honest. This guy was drafted in the 13th round out of a community college from the state of Missouri. The Cardinals took him because he was a guy who went to college in the neighborhood and they saw him. He absolutely tore up the league the second he came up to the show. Why wasn’t this guy taken earlier? He MUST have done something well in college. Projections for Albert are MUCH MUCH more difficult to make the A-Rod’s were for a variety of reasons. First, we don’t know if Albert will play most of his career in the new Busch Stadium and we don’t know for sure how good of a hitters park it is yet. Second, A-Rod’s sample size is more than double Albert’s so we know what to expect from A-Rod more. And who knows what Albert is capable of seriously. I figured he’s good for eight more years of prime seasons which would make him 34 years old.  Then i gave him five years of solid production to round out his career.  Without further ado, here are my ridiculously early career projections…

–Albert Pujols: Projected career stats:

  • 2,249 R (2nd all time)
  • 3,556 H (5 all time)
  • 694 2B (5th all time)
  • 806 HR (1st all time)
  • 2,296 RBI (2nd all time; 1 behind Hank Aaron)
  • 1,898 BB (5th all time)
  • 1,239 K
  • 115 SB
  • .322 AVG (35th all time)
  • .402 OBP (23rd all time)
  • .611 SLG (4th all time)

–Here’s something that should be fun to follow.  The following pitchers have yet to give up an earned run this season (minimum 9 IP), let’s see who goes the longest… (Duaner Sanchez’ streak ended at 21.2 IP)

  1. Ramon Ramirez (COL)  14 IP
  2. Rheal Cormier (PHI) 11.1 IP
  3. Dave Borkowski (HOU) 9.1 IP

–My Picks for May 11th (winner in bold)

  1. Tigers @ Orioles
  2. Red Sox @ Yankees
  3. A’s @ Blue Jays
  4. Angels @ White Sox
  5. Mets @ Phillies
  6. Diamondbacks @ Pirates
  7. Braves @ Marlins
  8. Nationals @ Reds
  9. Brewers @ Padres
  10. Astros @ Dodgers
  11. Cubs @ Giants

       –My Current Record: 292-215 (9-6 yesterday)

–My Selections for May 11th, 2006:

Beat the Streak: No pick today
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: No pick today
Survivor: n/a

–My Current Status:

Beat the Streak: 2 games
Beat the Streak Home Run Edition: 0 games
Survivor: Eliminated

« older posts | back to blog home |
Theme: MLB “retro” | Get a free blog at WordPress.com
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.