SB Nation - Ichiro Suzuki

A Brief History Of Mariners With Clubhouse Concerns

Jeff — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:06:39 -0000

Ken Griffey Jr.: Remember the stories going around back before he was traded a decade ago? Junior, from the sounds of things, got to be a real pain. Then time passed, he aged by ten years, his career aged by fifty, and he became arguably one of the best clubhouse influences in the world.

Miguel Batista: Issues developed as a Mariner, and he never quite fit in, particularly with the 2009 team. Had no negative impact, at least off the field.

Carlos Silva: Issues developed shortly before becoming a Mariner and carried over into 2008. Appeared to have been a factor in the clubhouse mess that year, but he wasn't the biggest one, and once the team got a complete overhaul, it seemed like he didn't do anything but kiss people.

Ichiro: Ichiro kind of always did his own thing and never quite fit in from the beginning. Like everything else, his habits because a source of some resentment and frustration in 2008, but the team has been able to win with him, and 2009 saw him become a different person around his teammates through Griffey's influence.

Carl Everett: Brought in more for his fire than for his bat, Everett provided little fire, less bat, and was gone by July with nary a whimper.

Jose Guillen: Perhaps the most batshit player the Mariners have ever had, Guillen's influence on the 2007 clubhouse was considered by most parties involved to be nothing but positive, and he was very nearly brought back. Biggest controversy was his support of playing veterans over young guys down the stretch, but that was not a sentiment unique to Guillen.

-----

To be sure, the Mariners have never had a guy quite like Milton Bradley. His personality seems to be among the most volatile in the league. But what we've been able to observe in the past is that, sure enough, clubhouse issues tend to be at their most negative when you're losing and at their most positive when you're winning, and the 2010 Seattle Mariners are being built to win, and win a lot. That's what Bradley wants. He wants to play on a good team. One should note that he has been on playoff teams before, so it's not like his acquisition precludes success. He just needs to be watched, and we have the support system in place to take care of him. He says it's "surreal" that he gets to play with Junior. That can only work to our benefit.

Bradley is, of course, a constant risk to get ejected if something goes against him on the field. A Google search for '"Milton Bradley" ejected' turns up more than 10,000 results, and everyone remembers what happened to him in San Diego. But Ichiro got ejected too, and the occasional early exit from a game isn't that big of a deal. Being argumentative on the field isn't the same as being difficult off of it, and besides, given Wak's whole spiel about trying to go a whole year without getting a player or coach kicked out, that may be a thing of the past anyway. What really matters here is that, even with Bradley's history, there's no guarantee that his personality is going to be a problem in 2010. We don't have Lou Piniella and dumbass alcoholics in the bleachers. We have Don Wakamatsu and soccer moms. I mean it when I say that this is literally the best place for a player like Bradley to land, and that's why this makes me so excited.

Hideki Matsui Signing a Goal of Angels President John Carpino

Rev Halofan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:09:09 -0000

More photos » by Koji Sasahara - AP

about 1 month ago: People watch a live broadcast on TV at Yamada Denki discount store in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, showing New York Yankees' MVP Hideki Matsui being interviewed after winning the Major League Baseball World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, in New York. Matsui became the first Japanese-born player to be named World Series Most Valuable Player after hitting a record six RBIs in the deciding game to lead the Yankees over the Phillies 7-3. Japanese on the screen reads: World Series MVP goes to Yankees' Hideki Matsui. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Browse more photos »

Multiple reports have the Angels close to signing Hideki Matsui for a one year $6.5 Million contract.

The reason the Angels have been pursuing Hideki Matsui to basically fill the Vladimir Guerrero role can be summed up with one word: BILLBOARDS.

There are two players in baseball who sells billboards, and they aren't John Lackey and Vladimir Guerrero. They are Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. The Angels could recoup almost all of our soon-to-be new DH's salary in a few deals that will put them on the radar of advertising partners that the divorcing Dodgers can only dream of...

The new Angels President, John Carpino, was a giant in the billboard industry and understands them like Bill James understands baseball. He was Arte Moreno's Alma-Mater approved capo at Outdoor Systems and is the person besides Moreno most responsible for making Arte a billionaire. Our new team president is obviously putting his stamp on the Angels. That and the fact that he was the 2nd biggest Yankee fan (to Angels Chairman Dennis Kuhl) on Earth before joining Arte with the team ties him to this move.

This signing is a goodbye to Vladimir Guerrero. We love you Vladdy, but you don't move teevee sets in Tokyo. It is an unsentimental move to bring in revenue from other streams besides ticket sales and at least the Angels have an expert in the outdoor advertising field operating behind the scenes.

Hideki Matsui will sell more billboards in the stadium and introduce Angels management to partnerships with corporate advertisers that were off limits to anyone besides the top tier of international markets only last week. Welcome to the future, Angels fans... expect red pinstripes by 2012.

Poll

Matsui Billboard You Most Eagerly Await

SB Nation Awards: 2009 American League MVP

Jesse — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:50:09 -0000

Scioscia...Andrus...Greinke...and looky looky who completes the puzzle!

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

YES! Clearly there were five people who weren't watching the same baseball season as everyone else, but look at that point differential between first and second place. And nobody voted Joe lower than third place, so kudos to all voting parties for that.

Having to vote for ten candidates means this is a pretty large chart with a lot of stragglers, and after Mauer I can't honestly remember who I voted for. I know I voted for one of Cuddyer and Kubel, although I can't promise full homerism by saying I voted for both. Still, I'm positive that Longoria, Cabrera, Zobrist, Jeter and Youkilis were in there somewhere.

The only two AL teams not represented on this list? Oakland and Chicago.

Poll

Who gets your vote for American League MVP?

Joe Mauer

370 votes

370 votes | Poll has closed

Prince Fielder finishes fourth in SBN NL MVP Voting

KLSnow — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:00:38 -0000

The SB Nation Most Valuable Player voting was unveiled today. Here are the NL results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Here was my ballot:
1. Albert Pujols
2. Prince Fielder
3. Tim Lincecum
4. Chase Utley
5. Hanley Ramirez
6. Ryan Zimmerman
7. Troy Tulowitzki
8. Matt Kemp
9. Javier Vazquez
10. Adrian Gonzalez

Follow the jump for the AL results.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

2009 SBNation Awards: MVP

Al — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:27 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

Mike Fontenot after a forceout of Albert Pujols in April at Wrigley Field.

Browse more photos »

No surprises here, at least not for me. I expected Albert Pujols to be the unanimous MVP among SBN voters, and he was.

The AL winner is the guy I would have chosen; you may be a bit surprised at the second-place finisher.

Points for MVP are awarded as follows: 14 points for a first-place vote, then 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for 2nd through 10th place.

BCB ballots:

Al: 1) Albert Pujols 2) Ryan Howard 3) Prince Fielder 4) Chase Utley 
5) Pablo Sandoval 6) Adrian Gonzalez 7) Hanley Ramirez 
8) Troy Tulowitzki 9) Derrek Lee 10) Adam Dunn

Mike: 1) Albert Pujols 2) Ryan Howard 3) Hanley Ramirez 4) Troy Tulowitzki 
5) Prince Fielder 6) Tim Lincecum 7) Chase Utley 
8) Adam Wainwright 9) Raul Ibanez 10) Mark Reynolds

National League

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

American League

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

A boatload of postseason awards

KLSnow — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:41:50 -0000

Because I've been away for a few days I've fallen behind on a couple of things, including the unveiling of the SBN and IBWAA postseason awards. My apologies. Let's start with the SBN Awards:

If you read any of the other SBN baseball sites, you may have seen some of these, but if you don't, they're new to you. Two BCB writers contributed to each of the NL awards: I had one vote, and TheJay had the other. I'll publish my ballot below the results, and leave it up to TheJay to decide if he wants to post his.

SBN NL Manager of the Year:

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Jim Tracy	Colorado Rockies	24	1	2	125
2	Tony LaRussa	St. Louis Cardinals	3	7	10	46
3	Fredi Gonzalez	Florida Marlins	2	6	5	33
4	Joe Torre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	9	2	29
5	Charlie Manuel	Philadelphia Phillies	-	3	5	14
6	Bruce Bochy	San Francisco Giants	1	1	1	9
7	Bobby Cox	Atlanta Braves	-	1	4	7
8	Bud Black	San Diego Padres	-	1	1	4
9	John Russell	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	1	-	3

My ballot:
1. Jim Tracy
2. Fredi Gonzalez
3. Joe Torre

I have no other comment on this award, except this side note: Nine of sixteen NL Managers received at least one vote, meaning more NL managers were acknowledged than not, and yet Ken Macha didn't appear on a single ballot.

SBN NL Rookie of the Year:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tommy Hanson	Atlanta Braves	9	9	6	78
2	J.A. Happ	Philadelphia Phillies	6	9	7	64
3	Andrew McCutchen	Pittsburgh Pirates	8	3	5	54
4	Chris Coghlan	Florida Marlins	7	5	4	54
5	Dexter Fowler	Colorado Rockies	-	3	1	10
6	Randy Wells	Chicago Cubs	-	-	6	6
7	Garrett Jones	Pittsburgh Pirates	1	-	-	5
8	Casey McGehee	Milwaukee Brewers	-	1	2	5
9	Seth Smith	Colorado Rockies	-	1	-	3

My ballot:
1. Tommy Hanson
2. J.A. Happ
3. Casey McGehee

It was a tough year to be an NL Rookie - McGehee's performance might have rated higher in other years, but this season he was overshadowed by a bunch of high-impact players.

SBN NL Cy Young:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	18	13	-	129
2	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	9	4	7	64
3	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	4	4	10	42
4	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	5	7	22
5	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	3	4	13
6	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	1	1	4
7	Cliff Lee	Philadephia Phillies	-	-	1	1
8	Jair Jurrjens	Atlanta Braves	-	-	1	1

My ballot:
1. Tim Lincecum
2. Javier Vazquez
3. Adam Wainwright
4. Chris Carpenter
5. Dan Haren

The SBN ballot only asked for three pitchers, but I also voted in the IBWAA awards, which required five. The IBWAA completed their slate of awards today, naming their MVP and Cy Young Award winners for both leagues. Here are their results:

IBWAA NL Manager of the Year:

1. Jim Tracy, Colorado Rockies
2. Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers
3 (tie). Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants
3 (tie). Fredi Gonzalez, Florida Marlins

IBWAA NL Rookie of the Year:

1. Tommy Hanson, Atlanta Braves
2. Chris Coghlan, Florida Marlins
3. J.A. Happ, Philadelphia Phillies

IBWAA NL Comeback Player of the Year:

1. Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
2. Troy Tulowitzski, Colorado Rockies
3. Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles Dodgers

IBWAA NL Executive of the Year:

1. Dan O'Dowd, Colorado Rockies
2. John Mozeliak, St. Louis Cardinals
3. Ned Colletti, Los Angeles Dodgers

IBWAA NL Cy Young:

1. Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
2. Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
3. Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
4. Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins
5. Javier Vazquez, Atlanta Braves

IBWAA NL Most Valuable Player:

1. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
2. Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies
3. Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
4. (tie) Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers
4. (tie) Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
6. Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
7. Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
8. Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
9. Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
10. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

The SBN MVP award balloting will be unveiled tomorrow. Follow the jump for the AL awards for both SBN and the IBWAA.

IBWAA Cy Young and MVP Awards have yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, in the AL:

SBN AL Manager of the Year:

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Mike Scioscia	Los Angeles Angels	9	8	3	72
2	Ron Gardenhire	Minnesota Twins	9	5	1	61
3	Don Wakamatsu	Seattle Mariners	6	3	8	47
4	Joe Girardi	New York Yankees	2	4	2	24
5	Ron Washington	Texas Rangers	1	4	4	21
6	Terry Francona	Boston Red Sox	1	1	3	11
7	Jim Leyland	Detroit Tigers	-	2	4	10
8	Joe Maddon	Tampa Bay Rays	-	1	1	4
9	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago White Sox	-	-	1	1
10	Trey Hillman	Kansas City Royals	-	-	1	1

SBN AL Rookie of the Year:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Elvis Andrus	Texas Rangers	6	9	6	63
2	Andrew Bailey	Oakland Athletics	11	1	3	61
3	Jeff Niemann	Tampa Bay Rays	3	5	3	33
4	Rick Porcello	Detroit Tigers	2	7	2	33
5	Brett Anderson	Oakland Athletics	5	1	3	31
6	Gordon Beckham	Chicago White Sox	1	2	8	19
7	Nolan Reimold	Baltimore Orioles	1	-	1	6
8	Matt Wieters	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	3	6
9	Brad Bergesen	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	-	3
10	Ricky Romero	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3
11	Travis Snider	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3

SBN AL Cy Young:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	28	1	-	143
2	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	17	6	57
3	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	8	9	33
4	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	1	2	11	22
5	C.C. Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	1	2	5
6	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	1	1

IBWAA AL Manager of the Year:
1. Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins
2. Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
3. Joe Girardi (New York Yankees)

IBWAA AL Rookie of the Year:
1. Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers
2. Andrew Bailey, Oakland Athletics
3. Jeff Niemann, Tampa Bay Rays

IBWAA AL Comeback Player of the Year:
1. Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays
2. Russell Branyan, Seattle Mariners
3. Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

IBWAA AL Executive of the Year:
1. Brian Cashman, New York Yankees
2. Tony Reagins, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
3. Jon Daniels, Texas Rangers

IBWAA AL Cy Young:
1. Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals
2. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
3. CC Sabathia, New York Yankees
4. Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
5. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays

IBWAA AL Most Valuable Player:
1. Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
2. Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
3. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
4. Kendry Morales, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
5. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
6. Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals
7. Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
8. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
9. (tie) Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays
9. (tie) Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox

Gold Gloves vs. UZR: The Laziest Article I've Ever Written (AL Edition)

SFiercex4 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:20:29 -0000

More photos » by Ted S. Warren - AP

During a pitching change in the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres in a baseball game Tuesday, June 23, 2009, center fielder Franklin Gutierrez (center) ponders aloud "You think I'll get a Gold Glove this year?" Left fielder Wladimir Balentien assures him while right fielder Ichiro Suzuki (kneeling right) snickers. "Gold Gloves?" he thinks as he stares off into the diamond. "I have a million of those." (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Browse more photos »

So, today we got to see the American League Gold Glove awards as voted on by coaches and managers. The following is the list of players who won for the American League

Player	Team	Position
Mark Buehrle	CHA	P
Joe Mauer	MIN	C
Mark Teixeira	NYA	1B
Placido Polanco	DET	2B
Evan Longoria	TBR	3B
Derek Jeter	NYA	SS
Adam Jones	BAL	OF
Torii Hunter	LAA	OF
Ichiro Suzuki	SEA	OF

If you are reading this site, I do not think you need to be told that the Gold Glove awards reward players for their name, good looks, reputation, lack of errors, and degree of difficulty, whether real or fabricated by a player's skill. What it does not generally reward is actual defense, though that occasionally gets thrown into the mix as well.

In what will undoubtedly appear as a lazy article (after all, it's so easy to pick on these things, why even bother?), I am going to pit the Gold Glove awards with UZR to see how much agreement there may be. Of course, so as to not raise the ire of one MGL, I will not be quoting single-season UZR totals. Rather, I'll do something simple: a 3-year pseudo-Marcels projection of defensive worth based on both UZR and the Fans Scouting Report. I'll take the single-season UZR leader (yes, I know, but this allows me to not have to do too many projections) and the 2009 GG winner and run a weighted Marcels, weighting UZR at 75% and the Fans at 25%. I'll then regress each total by 75 games of average defense for infielders and 100 games of average for outfielders.

For outfielders, I'll look at the players with the best UZR + positional adjustments, so as to account for the fact that you can pick any three outfielders. For catchers, I'll use the defensive estimates done by devil_fingers in this post, and TotalZone data available at B-Ref courtesy of Sean Smith. Catcher defense is regressed 125 games; I do not have a basis for this, but I figured it should be regressed the most because we know the least about it. I won't be looking at the pitchers, though it is worth mentioning that Buerhle also won the Fielding Bible Award for pitchers this season, so that probably goes down as an agreement. Finally, because the 2009 FSR is still in the voting format, 2009 data will only include UZR. Sorry.

Let's find out how the voters did against the numbers (why do we always have to fight?).

First off, here are the players the Gold Glove voters selected.

Player	Position	Defense
Joe Mauer	C	+7
Mark Teixiera	1B	+2
Placido Polanco	2B	+9
Evan Longoria	3B	+15
Derek Jeter	SS	+0
Adam Jones	OF	+2
Torii Hunter	OF	-2
Ichiro Suzuki	OF	+9

As you can see, the list is not all that bad. Among the players listed here, the Fans Scouting Report agreed a whole lot more than UZR did with the GG voters. Teixeira has come out as around the second best first baseman in baseball over the last few years, behind only Albert Pujols, but UZR has had him with two seasons of below average play and one very strong 2008 campaign; overall, he ended up at around +2 runs. Torii Hunter ends up as the only player in the negative side; here the Fans and UZR disagree heavily, with UZR rating Hunter as solidly below average while the Fans have still have him as one of the best center fielders in the game.

I was rather surprised to see Derek Jeter rate as an even shortstop under this methodology. The Fans have him as slightly above average (+2 and +1 runs in 2007 and 2008 respectively), while UZR has him over the three-year span as a -4 run defender per 150 games. it is worth noting that in the 2009 FSR, Jeter ranks in the middle of the pack as well at shortstop, around the likes of Juan Castro, Tyler Greene, and Miguel Tejada.

Ichiro was an interesting case as well. Each of the three years, UZR rated him well, even with his move to center field in 2007. The Fans, however, were off the charts in favor of Ichiro, labeling him likely the best defender in baseball. The Fans had Ichiro at +27 and +22 runs in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Taking the conglomerate, Ichiro ended up at +9 runs, still the second best total listed here.

There were still places where UZR, the Fans, and even the GG voters agreed. Everyone came to terms on how ridiculous Evan Longoria is at third base, and no one should be surprised there. Similarly, Placido Polanco received reviews from the Fans that were very similar to his UZR numbers, at least in 2008. And Adam Jones received high marks in '08, in concordance with his solid UZR. Jones however was hurt in that his second season in 2009 weighed in more than half of his rating and he happened to receive poor marks from UZR; the Fans still rank him very highly among center fielders, and his numbers would have looked better had I used this season's FSR data.

The Numbers Tally

In comparison, let's take a look at the leaders in terms of UZR or catcher defense this season. Note that in the case of third base, Longoria was the UZR leader and the award recipient, so I went to the second-ranked player for the comparison. Also, in the case of second base, the leader was Ben Zobrist, but I felt with such little data at our disposal in terms of his second base play, his skewed 2009 UZR would have a significant hold on his projection, so I went with the next available player, Dustin Pedroia. Finally, I added four outfielders, three of them center fielders, for comparison. Only one corner outfielder, Carl Crawford, would have approached the amount needed when combining both UZR and positional adjustment.

Player	Team	Position	Defense
Gerald Laird	DET	C	+7
Kevin Youkilis	BOS	1B	+3
Dustin Pedroia	BOS	2B	+8
Chone Figgins	LAA	3B	+9
Cesar Izturis	BAL	SS	+7
Franklin Gutierrez	SEA	OF	+21
B.J. Upton	TBR	OF	+8
Rajai Davis	OAK	OF	+7
Carl Crawford	TBR	OF	+10

As mentioned, the GG voters nabbed two of the UZR leaders (at third base and at second base, if you don't count Zobrist). It would appear as if they did a very good job in that department, as this methodology shows Longoria as absolutely dominant defensively and Polanco a very defensible choice given the difference between him and Pedroia. Mauer and "One Man, Five Tools" Laird came out fairly even in the projection, so there should be no quibble in handing the award to the future AL MVP. Likewise, the Youkilis vs. Teixeira debate came fairly even, so deeming Teixeira the winner is certainly a decent choice.

The shortstop position was a very interesting find. I was quite surprised to see that Cesar Izturis came out on top this season, though he carries a very good reputation. I was also quite happy to see strong agreement between the Fans and UZR on Izturis' year-to-year performances. Overall, he would have been a solid choice. I recognize also that I left Elvis Andrus out of the picture for similar reasons to the Zobrist argument. He did end ever-so-slightly behind Izturis on the leaderboard, so I do have that to back me up. With the type of regression Andrus probably would have received for not having played a whole lot, I imagine Izturis would still have come out on top.

It is perhaps in the outfield where the voters missed the mark. Two of the three winners of the Fielding Bible awards, center fielder Franklin Gutierrez and left fielder Carl Crawford, came up missing in the final awards, while a player that, according to this projection, actually hurt the team's defense when compared to the average was awarded (another) Gold Glove. The decision to take Hunter in this case seems very poor when in comparison to the options available. Gutierrez's exclusion was expected but still heinous in light of how good he was this year and how good he has been the past three seasons.

Any of the above choices, between Crawford, Upton, Davis, and Gutierrez, would have been much better than Hunter in this case. Replacing either Jones or Ichiro would be more questionable, and admittedly I did not factor in positional adjustments into these, so Ichiro's numbers as a center fielder and right fielder are counting the same, as are Gutierrez's.

Conclusion

The voters actually did a decent job overall, minus the one giant oversight of Gutierrez and the awarding of yet another Gold Glove that Derek Jeter likely did not earn. Compared to recent results over the last few years though, this year's ballot was a nice change of pace, even though it included a lot of the "old guard" in terms of defense. I hope that in a few years, we can expect to see less of Jeter and Hunter and more of Gutierrez, Andrus, and Crawford on these ballots, reflecting a changing of the guard in defense, a changing of the system and how it is run, or maybe even a more open view on defensive metrics, at least in the context of rewarding good defense.

Expect the National League version tomorrow, or later still, depending on how infuriating it looks. I'm a pessimist.

Fantasy Baseball: It's Time for You to Love Bobby Abreu

Ian, yo — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:16:49 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Browse more photos »

Yesterday Bobby Abreu signed a two-year, 19 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. If we were to draft for 2010 today, my guess is that Abreu would be taken around 50th overall which is right about where he was drafted in the 2009 preseason. In 2009, Abreu put up his seventh consecutive season ( eight of his last nine) with at least 100 RBI's and his eleventh season in a row with more than 95 runs where only three of which he scored less than 100 runs.

Abreu will probably be drafted around the likes of Carlos Lee, Shane Victorino and Curtis Granderson. Each one of these players can contribute in a few categories but Abreu puts up good numbers in four categories (three at a high level) and can still give you some power.

Abreu staying in LAA should make him just as valuable as he was in 2009 since the Angel's are an aggressive team on the base paths. In 2009, he had a small drop in his LD% and if that can raise back up, we could be seeing more RBI's and maybe see some of those turn into home runs. Over the last few years, he hasn't been known for his power, but he can still give you double digit home runs while putting up excellent numbers across the board. If you're in the third or fourth round and you're enticed by Ichiro Suzuki, you may want to grab that shortstop or second baseman and wait a few more rounds and likely get equal or greater value in Bobby Abreu.

Poll

Which one would you prefer in 2010?

Bobby Abreu

18 votes

Ichiro Suzuki

13 votes

Nelson Cruz

21 votes

Adam Jones

16 votes

68 votes | Poll has closed

2010 Watchdogs: Ichiro and Making Contact

Matthew — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:21:38 -0000

Ichiro Suzuki's walk total this past season, 32, marked his lowest total since his inaugural 2001 campaign. Granted, he had fewer plate appearances this season than he's ever had in America, but even as a rate, his walk numbers were down.

Using rates, Ichiro drew a walk in 4.7% of plate appearances, (2.2% intentional and 2.5% unintentional). It was the highest rate of intentional free passes since his 2005 season, which is no big surprise there. Ichiro was great this year. It is somewhat of a surprise when you consider who was batting behind him though. Franklin Gutierrez and Russell Branyan both had 55 starts apiece in the second lineup slot and neither of them would be considered offensive slouches.

Still, Ichiro's 2.5% unintentional walk rate was by far the lowest mark of his career, even lower than that 2001 season (2.7%). Is that a cause for concern going forward? After all, we don't expect Ichiro to post a .384 BABIP each year, so we would all rest a little easier if he didn't need to bat in the mid .300s just to have an above average OBP.

On the surface, this would have seemed a good year for Ichiro to post a banner year in the walks department. Afterall, he was thrown first pitch strikes at the lowest rate since 2001 and was thrown strikes overall at the lowest rate of his career, continuing a three year trends that has seen pitchers suddenly shift away from throwing him more strikes than average.

Unfortunately, Ichiro responded to these extra out of zone pitches with more swings. His 48.9% swing rate is back up to his 2001-5 level after a three year hiatus. Interestingly, it appears to be a roughly equal jump in swings at both strikes and balls as you see his Z (strike) Swing% jump 3% and his O (ball) Swing% rise 3.4%. Coupled with a decrease in contact rate (mostly on pitches in the strike zone curiously), and you have a recipe for both more strikeouts and fewer walks. Ichiro posted his worst-ever contact rate when swinging at pitches in the strike zone and he also posted his worst-ever swinging strikeout rate.

There was a slight dip in his contact rate on pitches outside the zone as well, but I am not concerned about that as the drop was small and it still leaves Ichiro at a super high level. In fact, I wonder if Ichiro's prowess at making contact at pitches outside the zone has given him more confidence to swing in general. Compare 2004 to 2009, Ichiro swings at almost twice as many non-strike pitches as he did back then and at fewer strike pitches. It would be nice to see him go back to those levels.

Regressing his 2009 BABIP to his career level costs him 14 hits and 20 points of batting average and that represents a sizable slice of his OPS gone. Now I don't want to come across as saying Ichiro needs to draw more walks in 2010. He could hit for more power. He could maintain his high BABIP. He could steal more bases. There are lots of things Ichiro, or anyone, can do to improve their game in the face of a declining isolated discipline. It's just... it would probably be a lot easier to just draw a few more walks. We know you can avoid swinging at those non-strike pitches, Ichiro and it didn't seem to hurt your offense any.

I wonder if his missed time at the beginning of the season caused him to press a bit to collect base hits in order to ensure that he got to 200 on the season. If so, then perhaps he'd relax a bit next year and we'll see the walks go back up. Who knows, really? I learned years ago to stop actively worrying about Ichiro. One of these years, probably, we'll be able to look back and be able to point at some moment in time and say, "there, that's when he started to actually decline." That hasn't happened yet, but Ichiro's plate discipline numbers are going to be something that I will pay attention to in 2010.

10/19 - There May Not Be Stupid Questions, But There Sure Are Some Stupid Answers

bs.uf15bosox9bears23 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:00:27 -0000

Debuting the header today, folks - still a work in progress, probably always will be. Any suggestions would be great.

Well, since that's the balloon boy of the post, let's move on to ACTUAL news.

Miguel Tejada Is Right Answer, But Not to Biggest Question - NESN.com

Put down the bottle, Mr. Beattie. Seriously, Tejada is probably plan G for Theo at the SS position, right before a 4 man outfield.

Big-Name Free Agents on Menu for Red Sox This Offseason - NESN.com

So many issues with this link - a few big ones:

Marco Scutaro: Along with Figgins, he's one of the best possible solutions to the Red Sox' shortstop dilemma. No one's paying attention, but Scutaro had a season to remember in 2009 -- with 35 doubles, 90 walks and an OBP of .379, he quickly vaulted to the top of the heap among the AL's best offensive shortstops. If the Red Sox can get Scutaro to scoot into Boston this winter, he'd be a huge boost to their offense.

1) They never mentioned Figgins helping the SS situation at all in his little blurb, most likely because he doesn't. 2) He's not one of the best possible solutions - he had a huge outlier of a career year, is getting close to NG's age cut-off, and he's not going to be cheap either. 3) I love when the Mainstream Media accuses us of ignorance, when they're the ones who decide what the majority of people hear and see. Besides, Scutaro's gotten quite a bit of recognition around the blogosphere.

Continuing the breakdown after the break, along with some more links.

Orlando Cabrera: If nothing else, there's sentimental value.

Johnny Damon: Perhaps he's Cabrera's opposite sentimentally, but the 24 homers and 36 doubles in 2009 are hard to ignore. If Jason Bay doesn't end up back in Boston, maybe Damon should.

Matt Holliday, Vladimir Guerrero, Carl Crawford, Magglio Ordonez, Jermaine Dye, Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu: All of a sudden, heavy-hitting corner outfielders are a dime a dozen. The Sox would love to have Bay back in Boston, but if they can't get a deal done, there are many contingency plans in the works. Any one of these guys would be a serviceable, if not ideal, replacement for Bay next season.

OCab - no "if."

Damon - get off the bottle.

Holliday - sure, if he's cheaper than Bay.

Vlad - MAYBE.

Crawford - if the Rays let him go, sign him immediately and then call up Friedman and laugh your asses off.

Maggs - hell no, we weren't going to take him in exchange for getting rid of Lugo, fool.

Dye - again, MAYBE, but only if there's no one else decent left.

Godzilla - short LF =/= no need for knees.

Abreu - sure, if he's WAY cheaper than Bay or Holliday and they're both gone.

NESN's reporters are really disappointing me of late - let's see if the independent press is less dumb.

The Blue Sox: Why Boston's Boys Are the Democrats Of Baseball Bleacher Report
Oh...kay... Umm... I'm going to move on, because I'd really rather not start up a flame war (although, I will say that it is weird to be a conservative* and like the Sox). The article is well-written, and describes the parallel better than most could. It also shows the weird connection that baseball and politics has always had.

*Yes, conservative. Not Republican. Right now, I need that difference to exist, because the GOP is being way too stupid for me to support them.

Looking back, looking forward - Chad Finn's Touching All The Bases

Mattingly may be ready to step up to the plate in managerial position - The Boston Globe

2. Stephen Drew, SS, Diamondbacks - He is expected to be shopped by the Diamondbacks, and there should be discussions with the Red Sox. Stephen is not the OPS machine that big brother J.D. is (.748 this season) but his other numbers weren’t bad for a shortstop: .261, 12 homers, 65 RBIs (only three fewer than J.D.). He also made only 11 errors. Who knows if hitting in a more patient lineup will help his OPS?

3. Victor Martinez, C, Red Sox - If he is the full-time, 100- to 110-game catcher next season, scouts believe he needs to shorten his release to be better at throwing out runners. Martinez, according to one scout, "long-arms his throws. It just takes him too long to get the ball down to second base. In order to combat that, you either have to have pitchers who can hold runners on base, which the Red Sox don’t, or have them do slide-steps and things of that nature, which they don’t like to do, either.’’ Gary Tuck supposedly is one of the best catching instructors in the game, so one would think he’d improve this with Martinez.

5. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, Padres - This is the fellow I suspect the Sox will go after. They would then move Kevin Youkilis to third, with Ortiz and Mike Lowell sharing DH duties. Gonzalez came very close to getting traded to the Mariners at the deadline in a five-for-one (Seattle wouldn’t give up a certain fifth minor leaguer). Only question is, do the Sox have enough players to give San Diego?

6. Ron Mahay, LHP, Twins - He would love to re-sign with the Twins but wouldn’t rule out a return to Boston, where he was a replacement outfielder in 1995 (.200 AB in 20 at-bats) and a pitcher in the late ’90s. "It was a long time ago, but I loved that place,’’ said Mahay. "I’ve played a lot of places in my career and lasted a long time, but I’ll never forget Boston.’’ Mahay appeared in 16 games for the Twins after being released by the Royals and had a 2.00 ERA. Among the hitters he dominates: Eric Chavez (0 for 17), Raul Ibanez (3 for 18, 9 K’s), Ichiro Suzuki (3 for 13), Joe Mauer (2 for 13), Justin Morneau (2 for 12), Alex Rodriguez (1 for 7), Jorge Posada (1 for 8), Ramirez (0 for 6).

Too tired to give this link the same service as the NESN one. Anyone else want to give it a shot?