February 10, 2012
Now Available for 2012 THT Essentials: Now Available The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012, an annual "must buy" for all baseball fans, is now shipping. Read this article to learn more about it.
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Friday, September 11, 2009One man’s take on the 2010 MetsI headed to the new Citi Field Stadium this past Tuesday, where I took in a Mets-Marlins game. (Sorry, no pictures -- I somehow managed to lose the camera-computer cord.) I had to suffer through Tim Redding, but it was an enjoyable game all around with Hanley Ramirez conking a home run and Cameron Maybin depositing a ball in the Home Run Apple. Carlos Beltran almost made a stunning Mets rally happen before his ball was snuffed out on the warning track. Citi Field reminds me a lot of Shea Stadium in several ways, particularly the dimensions of the field. I also got a Citizen Bank Park (Phillies) vibe, though -- I sat up in the nosebleed seats and the view of home plate and the rest of the field was a spitting image of similar nosebleed seats I had at CBP. As I watched the game meander through, I couldn't help but think of what the Mets have ahead of them: they're caught with several superstars and minimal complementary players with what seems to be a poisonous clubhouse. That's what you get when you bring in Gary Sheffield to run unchecked, folks. All is not lost: the Mets have a solid core that can compete in 2010. But what should they do? The Mets don't have a lot of money to play with, despite roughly $30 million to play with. Here's one man's guess, position by position. An asterisk denotes the player would be new to the club. Click for more... About the AnnualWe are hard at work on this year's Hardball Times Baseball Annual. It looks like we'll have about 35 articles this year, a little less than last year. We pulled back because some reviewers seemed overwhelmed by how much content there was in last year's book. 35 articles is still pretty lengthy. Before last year, we published about 30 articles per book. Most THT writers will be contributing to the Annual, as will several guest writers. Bill James, Craig Wright, Rob Neyer and Tom Tango, some of the biggest names in baseball, have all said they'll contribute. We'll also have a Pitchf/x section led by Harry Pavlidis, Mike Fast and Dave Allen. Sky Andrecheck will contribute his Postseason Probability Added for 2009 to the Annual (an exclusive). Baseball America's Ben Badler will discuss the situation in Latin America and Corey Dawkins will provide exclusive analysis and commentary of baseball injuries. David Gassko will use his analytic skills to develop a prediction model for MVP and Cy Young voting. Greg Rybarczyk will present his exclusive Hit Tracker findings and Sean Smith will contribute insights from his cutting-edge Wins Above Replacement stat. And that's just some of the 35 articles. We'll also have our usual component of 2010 reviews, stats, graphs and downloads. Plus, we are going to push hard to distribute the Annual in early November, which means it will hopefully be in bookstores before Thanksgiving. If you pre-order it now from ACTA Publications, you will get sooner than anyone else, early November. Amazon and the bookstores will receive it a week or two later and then they'll have to send it to you. Plus, ACTA provides excellent customer service and a broad selection of terrific baseball books. Even more importantly (at least to us), THT will benefit the most when you order from ACTA. You know that we're not a subscription site, and we depend on Internet advertising and books sales to cover our costs. Pretty much the entire price difference between Amazon and ACTA goes to THT, so you'd be contributing to a good cause if you do purchase from ACTA. If you decide to order through Amazon anyway, please consider making a small donation to THT in addition to your purchase. Thanks very much for your consideration. I know money is short everywhere, and we'll work hard to ensure the Annual is the best baseball value you'll find. Free Allen Craig!Before this year, one of the Cardinals greatest strengths was considered to be their excellent depth at third base. The incumbent, Troy Glaus, had put up a 5 WAR season in his first year with the club and most thought that he would able to produce similar results this year if healthy. In addition to that, prospects David Freese and Joe Mather were coming off great years in AAA and were expected to provide quality depth, and uber-prospect Brett Wallace was waiting in the wings. Unfortunately, things haven't exactly worked out like expected. Troy Glaus initially went down with a shoulder injury and was expected to miss the first 2 weeks of the season. However, the Cardinals wonderful medical staff got their hands on him, and it was later announced that hit would miss most of the year. Joe Mather had the flu and failed to make the team out of ST, then struggled mightily in AAA. David Freese played poorly in limited time in the majors before getting injured as well, and Brett Wallace had a "meh" season in AA before getting traded to the A's for Matt Holliday. And just like that, the once vaunted depth evaporated, and 29 year old rookie Joe Thurston essentially became the everyday starter. He subsequently batted .223/.317/.331, "good" for a wOBA of .285. Brian Barden, and his .292 wOBA, also made a cameo. With the Cardinals in the middle of the playoff race as the trade deadline approached, the hot corner was the obvious place to make an upgrade. Understandably, they made a trade for Mark DeRosa; and while the gave up a lot to get him, it was generally hailed as a solid move. But of course, as soon as DeRosa donned a Cardinals uniform, he fell victim to the Curse of the Cardinals Third Basemen and injured his wrist. Since he's returned, he hasn't quite played as well as expected, with a wOBA of just .325. Interestingly enough, the forgotten man Troy Glaus, has recently returned, but he hasn't looked great in limited playing time. With the contracts of both Glaus and DeRosa expiring after the season ends, and their health and performance going forward in question, neither appears to be a lock to return next year. With the inhouse options in Mather and Freese also bringing a large degree of injury related uncertainty with them as well, the hot corner is certainly up for grabs next year. That brings us to Allen Craig (finally!). After struggling somewhat in his initial season in Single A, he's spent the better part of 3 years dominating the minor leagues, wiping out Single A, Double A and Triple A in succession. He's wOBA over those 3 levels (first to last) have been .400, .386 and .400 in a combined 1557 plate appearances. This year at Triple A has been his strongest, as he batted .322/.374/.547, and was absolutely on fire in the second half after a pretty mellow first half. And hey, he also plays 3rd base! His defense has never been regarded as good; however, I have yet to hear anyone disparage it so much that it negates his bat, which obviously looks to be pretty strong. Furthermore, according to the limited sample of Total Zone data that we have, he's been roughly average at 3B over the course of his career thus far: http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?pl=501800 Craig is 25 years old, and all evidence suggests that he's outgrown the minor leagues. The Cardinals are without a set third basemen next year, or even a strong favorite; and as Chris Jaffe illuminated so nicely the other day, they seem like a lock to win the division and are basically playing meaningless games from here on out. It seems like a perfect opportunity to call up Craig, and see what he has to offer at the major league level. C'mon... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||