SB Nation User Blog: stusviews

Team of the Decade

stusviews — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:28:42 -0000

At times like this I like to reflect on recent history and how great the Yankees are. In my mind there is no doubt that the Yankees are the franchise of the decade. Two World Series as bookends and nine playoff appearances in ten years makes it a no-brainer. The Yankees take the title as franchise of the decade for the seventh time (1920s-1960s, 1990s, and 2000s).

More interesting is whether the 2009 Yankees are the best team this decade

I see three criteria for the best team of a decade.

1. Did they win the World Series? The 2001 Mariners and the 2002 A's were great but they couldn't get a world championship so they are out.

2. Their performance in the postseason. The 2001 Diamondbacks had a nice run but a few bounces and either the Cardinals or the Yankees would have knocked them out.

3. Their performance in the regular season. The 2000 Yankees, 2003 Marlins, 2005 White Sox, 2008 Phillies, and 2006 Cardinals were good teams that got hot at the right time (or "knew how to win)" They were far from great teams.

This leaves four contenders:

2009 Yankees 103-59 (Pythagorean record 95-67). 11-4 postseason.

2007 Red Sox 96-66 (101-61 Pythagorean) 11-3 postseason

2004 Red Sox (wild card) 98-64 (96-66 Pythagorean) 11-3 postseason.

2002 Angels (wild card) 99-63 (101-61 Pythagorean) 11-5 postseason.

I'm inclined to downgrade the two wild card teams leaving the '09 Yanks and '07 Sox as the top two. Your thoughts?

Olberman on Gehrig

stusviews — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:17:11 -0000

Olberman on Gehrig

Jonah Keri ranks the top 10 Yankees of all time

stusviews — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:37:40 -0000

Jonah Keri ranks the top 10 Yankees of all time

Not a bad list.

Idiotic Harold Reynolds remark

stusviews — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:04:51 -0000

I was trapped in the car this morning listening to Boomer and Cartman on the Fan. They had Harold Reynolds on and he said the Yankees were making a huge mistake by moving Joba to the rotation. His logic was jaw-dropping. He said that since the Yankees were 37-9 (or something like that) in games in which Joba appears as a reliever, and since Joba could appear in 50 more games this season as a reliever, the Yankees were essentially giving up 40 wins by moving him to the rotation. In the rotation he might only help win 15 more games.

The erudite Boomer and Cartman complimented Reynolds on putting numbers to their gut feeling about the decision. All agreed it was a historic blunder.

I'm sure Mike and the Mad Dog aren't much better. Just because somebody has numbers, doesn't mean those numbers are right. When oh when are intelligent voices going to appear on sports radio? When oh when am I going to stop listening and just put on NPR?

Major League Predictions

stusviews — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:40:28 -0000

Not that anyone would care but here is my take on this season.

American League East

Yankees

Red Sox (wild card)

Blue Jays

Rays

Orioles

Why not? The Yankees and Red Sox are both championship caliber teams. As someone on the front page pointed out, the Red Sox were injury free last year while the Yanks were plagued with injuries. Cano will be an MVP candidate and the trinity will be good for 40 wins. The Sox will be formidable but if Beckett breaks down, their rotation is worse than the Yankees. The Blue Jays should consider petitioning for a second wild card because their chances of making the playoffs under the current format are limited. The Rays will improve but we are talking 75 wins, not 85. The Orioles are awful but at last seem to be rebuilding and I love their new outfield (Makarkis, Jones, Scott).

American League Central

Indians

Tigers

Royals

Twins

Chisox

Everyone loves Detroit but their bullpen is a disaster. They will score runs and Verlander will win the Cy Young but they will lose a lot of 8-7 heartbreakers on nights he is not starting. Cleveland will see improvement from Sizemore and Hafner and has a deep staff and should sneak another division win. KC will be improved but will finish in third more because of Chicago and Minnesota 's declines. The Twins are going to miss Santanna and the Chisox are going to miss winning 70 games.

American League West

Angels

Oakland

Seattle

Texas

I came very close to picking Oakland in an upset here because of the injuries to Lackey and Escobar. The A's will be better then expected but the big question is whether it will keep them from dealing Harden, Blanton and Street. Meanwhile the Angels amble along and win the division with 86-88 wins. Seattle will regress to their Pythagorean norms which will negate the pickup of Bedard. Texas will give up a lot of runs . . . like maybe 1000.

National League East

Mets

Phillies

Braves

Marlins

Nationals

The Mets will push 100 wins with the best rotation in the NL. Their lineup has weak spots though and top pitchers will give them headaches. This won't be an issue until the postseason when they see Arizona. The Phillies have no 4th and 5th starters and the Braves have finally lost their mystique. The number of starting pitchers on Florida and Washington who could start for the Mets is approximately zero. At least the Marlins have Hanley Ramirez and a future with Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin.

National League Central

Cubs

Milwaukee

Everyone else (Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Houston in that order).

Ugh. The Cubs will be decent. The Brewers will be ok if their pitchers stay healthy. Everyone else will stink. The Blue Jays would be favorites in this division. The Mariners would contend. You get the point.

National League West

Arizona

Dodgers (wild card)

Rockies

Padres

Giants

Arizona won this division with mirrors but now has Dan Haren to help Brandon Webb. No more mirrors needed. The Dodgers have too much talent to miss the playoffs again. Besides it means Joe Torre gets to come back to New York for the first round. The Rockies and Padres will be decent and contend all year. The Giants may be worse than even the teams in the Central.

Hall of Fame inductees announced tomorrow

stusviews — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:40:31 -0000

By all accounts, the Goose should get in. No question in my mind that it is deserved as I think he was clearly better than Sutter, inducted last year, and is in the ballpark with Rollie Fingers.

He may be the only inductee but I would like to see Raines and Blyleven in as well. Raines is arguably the second best leadoff man of all time and certainly since 1950. A very high OBP, a phenomenal stolen base success rate, and even some power should make the case a simple one. As Blyleven shows however, the writers aren't convinced by numbers so my guess is that both will remain on the outside.

I'd also vote for McGwire but that obviously raises a whole other set of issues beyond performance. My short take is that we will never sort out whose numbers were helped by steroids and how much so I prefer to vote based strictly on accomplishments on the field. I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt a bit conflicted however.

Don't go changing . . .

stusviews — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:55:26 -0000

First, let me say that Cleveland is a very good baseball team. They are not a fluke and if the Yankees played them 1000 times we'd probably win a little over 50% of the games. So no one should be surprised that Cleveland won a 5 game series.

Second, in one way I am more depressed this year than the previous few seasons since I think the Yankees were better this year than any time since 2003. On the other hand, I am less depressed since moving forward the Yankees are (potentially) in better shape than since early in the Torre era.

With that in mind, here are my thoughts regarding changes during the offseason.

1. I think Torre should go but it has to be handled very carefully. The team is moving to a new generation and it is a good time for a change. His in-game skills are weak. However, if he is unceremoniously dumped then, Mo, Posada, and Pettitte may follow (and it would be a dishonor to a man who has contributed a great deal to the Yankees). He should be given a generous paycheck to become a senior adviser and encouraged to give a farewell speech about how great it is to be a Yankee and how this team is on the verge of something special.

2. Keep Mo, Posada, and Pettitte. This isn't sentiment speaking as all three still make huge contributions at positions where they would be very difficult to replace.

3. Give A-rod a generous extension but if he opts out then wave goodbye. As a commenter in another thread mentioned this may hurt the 2012-2013 Yankees but his contributions right now are too big to forgo at the current price (with Texas holding some of the tab).

4. Offer Giambi to Billy Beane and pay most of his salary.

5. Keep the rest of the lineup as is. Carve a first baseman out of Minky, Duncan and Betemit. Put Damon in left field. Pick up Abreu's option. This lineup will still score north of 900 runs.

6. Keep a Hughes, Pettitte, Chamberlain Wang, Mussina/Kennedy rotation (this the order I expect them to start in next year's playoff series).

7. Get bullpen help for Mo. I think Britton will eventually be a very good 8th inning guy but start him in middle relief. Ohlendorf can be a contributor as well. Farnsworth probably is untradeable. Sign two more quality relievers as the major off season acquisition. I don't know the market well enough yet to make suggestions. Then make sure Torre's successor doesn't destroy any arms.

8. Make reservations for the 2008 playoffs.

Prediction Thread:Yanks and Sox, Cubs and Rox

stusviews — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:33:02 -0000

The Red Sox did the Yankees a big favor by choosing the Wednesday starting series. Now the Yankees only have to win one of the three games started by C.C. or Carmona as long as they pound Byrd and Westbrook. I think they'll pull out one of the first two and win in four. I expect a big start from Clemens on Sunday but the other of the Yankee Stadium game could be tense if Moose starts and a slugfest ensues. Hopefully Joba and Mo can get us through it.

I'm not sure why the Red Sox chose to face Lackey and Escobar twice particularly when the dropoff between the second and third pitcher is sharper for the Angels than the Sox. Still, I think the Sox will pull it out as the rest will help their tired bullpen. I expect this to be a very tight series unlike when these teams met in 2004.

In the NL, aka the AAAA league, the Tigers would be the favorite if they were there. I think the Dbacks need to win both of Webb's starts to even have a chance and since he will be going against Zambrano that's not a given. The Cubs lineup is peaking and the heart of the order, Soriano, Lee, and Ramirez is the best in the NL. Cubs in 4.

The Rockies-Phillies is the hardest one to call. Both teams are hot, have strong lineups and questionable pitching. I like the 2-4 starters for the Rockies better so I'll go with Colorado in 5.

Should be a blast!

Watch Detroit, not Seattle

stusviews — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:54:48 -0000

While both Seattle and Detroit trail the Yanks by three games, they are worlds apart. I think Seattle's season effectively ended this week as they needed to take at least two of three from the Yankees. The Tigers meanwhile got Rogers back last night and are playing better of late. I don't think they will catch the Yanks but it wouldn't surprise me to see them make us sweat.

Predictions

stusviews — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 01:17:46 -0000

Feel free to post your own here:

AL East:

Yankees
Red Sox (wild card)
Blue Jays
Orioles
Devil Rays

Boring. The way the division has gone 7 of the last nine years. While I am a bit nervous about the Yankee rotation, I like the bullpen as the best since the Nelson/Stanton peak and the lineup as a potentially great one. Boston may be the second best team in the league, particualrly if Dice K lives up to the hype. Toronto will regress and Baltimore and Tampa will improve but not by enough to pass Toronto.

AL Central

Cleveland
Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City

With Sizemore, Hafner, Martinez, the Cleveland lineup rivals NY and Boston. The injury to Lee is worrisome but the bullpen is improved as should be their luck. Detroit will fight Boston/NY for the wild card but the Rogers injury kills them. Minnesota is committing hari kiri (sp?) starting Silva, Ponson, and Ortiz over the kids.

AL West

LA
Texas
Oakland
Seattle

When was the last time this division was so weak. I pick the Angels by default but dread them in a division series in October. The Rangers will surprise but the post-Showalter benefit goes only so far. This is the weakest A's team of the Beane era.

NL East

Atlanta
Mets (wild card)
Phillies
Marlins
Nationals

Non-east coasters will hate this but I wouldn't be surprised by Boston-Yankee and Braves-Mets championship series. Hudson is back and Chuck James will be a solid third starter behind a strong lineup. The Mets need another starter or two or three but their hitters are the best in the NL. Philly's rotation strikes me as a mile wide and an inch deep. The Nationals have the potential to be historically bad.

NL Central

Milwaukee
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Chicago
Houston
Cincinnati

Is it possible for an entire division to finish at 81-81 (ok except Cincinnati). This division is a crapshoot so might as well pick a team that hasn't sniffed the postseason in a generation. The Brewers kids grow up and the pitchers are solid. The Cards just got too lucky last October. Pittsburgh will surprise

NL West

Los Angeles
San Diego
Arizona
Colorado
San Francisco

The Dodgers just have too much talent to make up for their stupid offseason signings (Garciaparra and Gonzales, not Schmidt). San Diego will fight for the division and the wild card but their lineup has too many holes. I like Arizona a lot but too many kids have to do well. It could happen.