Maine's MLB Power NINE, 5/23

[MaineDolFan]

Okay, maybe San Diego was a BIT of a stretch last week.  I had a real feeling about that team, although some of the play was fairly sloppy during their win streak.  Hey - even I get taken for a ride every now and again.  More changes as we've now officially past the quarter mark of the season...

#1.  Detroit Tigers 30-14
Stop rubbing your eyes, you are reading this correctly.  The Tigers, right this second, are the best team in baseball.  9-1 in their last ten, winners of 17 on the road with only 7 losses and one of the best young pitchers in the game with Jeremy Bonderman.  Don't be fooled by the 4.66 ERA, this kid is a gamer.  Of his 9 starts, 8 are quality and he is punching out almost one hitter per inning.

#2.  St. Louis Cardinals 29-16
Between Scott Rolen (.311), David Eckstein (.322), Albert Pujols (.315), and Scott Spiezio (.307) - who needs an outfield?  That is the starting infield for the Cards and I can't think of another team that boasts an infield that hits like that.  A young arm in that bullpen that I really like is Brad Thompson.  Keep your eyes on that guy.

#3.  Boston Red Sox 26-16
Boston looked sharp taking 2 out of 3 on the road against the Phillies and then last night coming home with a butt whipping of the Yankees.  Keith Foulke isn't doing anyone any favors with performances such as last night, letting the Yankees back into a game that they were way out of.  Problem is that you can't afford to burn out Papelbon (who is leading the AL in saves).  David Riske is back from the DL and looked sharp in his rehab.  Another rehabber is David Wells, he starts Friday against Tampa Bay.

#4.  Chicago White Sox 29-15
The White Sox strength of schedule is what puts them where they are.  While the ChiSox are playing Kansas City, teams above them are playing .500 or better squads.  I'm not losing faith in Chicago, however I want to see them play against teams better than the 22-22 Oakland A's.  Vazquez should be pitching better than he is, he's coming into a staff where he is well protected.  I think the Sox were hoping for an ERA better than 4.22 and a 4-3 record.

#5.  New York Mets 26-17
I don't believe that I have ever seen a worse manager move than the one I witnessed on Saturday when the Mets played the Yankees.  Pedro was pitching a brilliant game when lifted, although he was well below his pitch count.  Sanchez cruised through the 8th inning on 11 pitches.  With the game tied in the 9th, and a taxed bullpen needing a break, what did rookie manager Willie Randolph do?  He brought in an overworked Billy Wagner.  Wagner proceeded to give up four runs while only recording one out en route to a loss.  The Mets have talent this year, but boneheaded moves like this will cost them games.  I've been around Pedro after losses like that when the bullpen can't nail it down for him.  He isn't fun to hang with, and it rubs off on the whole team.

#6.  Cincinnati Reds 26-19
The Reds are suddenly struggling, which I called last week - however they righted the ship with the most unlikely stopper:  Bronson Arroyo spun a gem in the opener against the Brewers, improving his record to 6-2 and lowering his ERA to 2.29 for the season.  Bronson is a lifetime 4.34 guy, and I expect him to come back to earth as some point, but the Reds are riding that arm for now.  David Weathers has been okay in relief, but an ERA over 4.00 out of your closer won't bode well for the season.

#7.  Toronto Blue Jays 24-20
What is really impressing me about the Jays is how they are weathering the injury bug storm.  Every team goes through it, generally young teams without a lot of chemistry don't do well once it happens.  Good news for Blue Jays' fans - Chacin should be back in time for the Boston series.  Casey Janssen has stepped in and pitched well, going 3-3 with a respectable 3.46 ERA, his strikeouts could be a bit better.  Troy Glaus continues to power the offense, he was the perfect bat to protect Vernon Wells.

#8.  Houston Astros 25-20
Even with 12 saves under his belt, Brad Lidge is a mess.  It would appear that he hasn't recovered from giving up those home runs in the playoffs last year to St. Louis.  He seems a little lost on the mound and his 5.23 ERA supports that.  He is showing flashes of coming back, striking out well above one per inning.  Maybe moving him into more of a set up roll will help.  Houston needs power numbers out of their bats.  Outside of Lance Berkman this team doesn't have much pop in the bats.

#9.  Arizona Diamondbacks 25-19
I'm so weary of putting any team from the NL West in the PT, but the Diamondbacks get the call up from the minors into the bigs this week.  Winners of six of their last ten over quality teams like the Pirates, why not give them a shot?  Am I the only one that LOVES Brandon Webb?  Am I the only one that is sure that guy is going to wind up on the Yankees before the end of the season?  7-0, a sick 2.44 ERA and 73.2 innings pitched.  This kid is good.   Jose Valverde might be on the verge of losing his closer role to last year's closer Brandon Lyon.  Something for you fantasy guys to watch out for.

News and notes:
Okay - so last week I was grilled a little for not doing backflips over Cole Hamels's debut, a good start against a depleted Reds team.  Why didn't I mention Cole?  Well - his next outing is why:  versus the Brewers that kid pitched 6 and 2/3 innings and gave up 4 runs and 9 baserunners.  To the BREWERS.  Hamel will be a decent pitcher, but he isn't ready for this stage yet.  When I mention young players, I'm ready to mention them.  One good start means nothing.  Cassey Fossum started his Red Sox career 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA after back to back starts against the Yankees and Angels enroute to a 9.56 ERA and 0-6 path back to AAA.  These kids need time.

I'm not sure what is going on with the Yankees, but it isn't pretty.  Sheff should be back tonight and they need him for his defense more than his bat.  The Yankees defense is terrible of late and they have zero chemistry, which is to be expected.  Pavano, who was on the come back trail, is now out of the year.  That really stings, the Yankees were hoping to get him up and running and deal him to anyone that would take him.  The underground rumors are the Yankees are talking with Arizona about Webb, Arizona's price will be high.

That's about it this week...ramble on!

[Brian Fein]

A few thoughts...

- After debuting at number 2, the Padres don't even sniff the following week's PT.  Stroke's not gonna be pleased.
- The Tigers #1, huh?  I wonder if they suffer from Padres-itis next week.
- I'm happy to notice the RedSox above the WhiteSox.  I've been interested in watching the WhiteSox this season, and I'm forced to watch the RedSox.
- I'm also happy to see the Yank-me's OFF the list.  F them.

[Denver_Bronco]

The Marlins are on fire. I can see them top 5 next week.

Anyway, the Central is going to be a great race. Of course its the time of the year for bandwagon Yankee fans to jump off, which i see every year and enjoy because then i know who the real ones are. I would rather be 5 games over .500 then the 9 below .500 we were at last year. Of course last year we didn't have the injuries up and down the position players that we have this year, but i am actually enjoying seeing some of our youngsters get a shot.

Either way the Yankees will be there at the end of the season.

I heard about a possiblilty of both Willis & Cabrera coming to the Yankees. And supposedly the deal doesn't include Cano, who most teams would want in a deal of this magnitude. I hope it happens so i can really watch Brian's head explode.

[Sunstroke]

As far as the Padres go...they don't deserve to be on the PT this week. Pitching is only one part of the equation, and last night is a perfect example of why I worry about my Padres. Jake Peavy pitched perhaps the most masterful game of his career. I missed the entire first half of the Suns game to watch it. Jake struck out a franchise record 16 Braves last night. He made one mistake pitch the entire night, and it turned into a 2 run dinger by Langerhans. Jake has faced Atlanta twice this season. He's allowed 2 runs or less both times, has 24 strikeouts in 14 innings...and is 0-2 in those games.

He could legitimately sue his teammates for non-support...

On Cole Hamels...it isn't often that I disagree with Maine on a baseball issue... After all, a man's got to know his limitations.  But I do disagree on Hamels second start. If all you look at is the final stat line on that start, I can see the comment, but I watched that game all the way through, and for the first 5 innings, Cole was as brilliant as he was in his first start. He had extended his career-opening streak to 10.2 scoreless innings going into the 6th against the Brewers. He gave up a run in that 6th inning and was clearly getting tired...he was damned near at the 100 pitch count at the end of the 6th inning. No way should Charlie Manuel have sent Cole back out in the 7th inning, but he did. A single from Brady Clark and a 2 run dinger from Moeller and Cole was done.

Hamels isn't a bad pitcher...everything I've seen in his two starts argues against that. He needs to stay healthy and he needs to build up his endurance a little, but I think he'll be just fine. I can't imagine that with the Philly offense around him, he'll have any problems geting run support.

[MaineDolFan]

Stroke - you said it right in your own discourse:  In the 5th inning the kid was at the 100 pitch mark.  Think about that.  100 pitches.  Against the Brewers.  In the 5th inning. 

Cole needs more time at AAA.  I think he'll be good when the time comes, but he needs more success at a lower level.  This is a good time to fry the kid forever.  He tosses 100 pitches in 5 innings against a quality team like St. Louis?  He'll be toast.  You can get away with that against a weak hitting team like the Brewers.

Look no further than Papelbon - last year, in May, everyone was screaming "bring him up."  The Sox did the right thing and let him sit at AAA until the end of August with a start here and there in the bigs.  These young kids - it's VITAL that they taste that real success with a side order of MLB action to know what to expect.  He needs to pitch at the AAA level at least through August.

[Sunstroke]

Stroke - you said it right in your own discourse: In the 5th inning the kid was at the 100 pitch mark. Think about that. 100 pitches. Against the Brewers. In the 5th inning.

Actually, I said he was "damned near" at 100 pitches "at the end of the 6th inning." I understand the point you're making there, but I see established major league pitchers get to 100 pitches by the end of the 6th inning on a nightly basis. A bit high on pitches? Sure. Something to be overly concerned about? I just don't think so.

He needs to pitch at the AAA level at least through August.

Philly's plan was to leave him in AAA so they could see how he responded to adversity. The only problem was that there was no adversity, mainly because nobody at AAA was touching him. Nobody. His AAA numbers were ridiculously scary. The only real next step for him was to bring him up and see how he could handle the major league hitters. The fact that he didn't give up his first earned run until his 11th big league inning makes me think that his call-up wasn't a bad move at all.

Could Cole benefit from having a few more months playing cat and mouse with the International League's  not-quite-ready-for-primetime-hitters? Sure he could. I just don't think it is necessary.

Just my opinion...

[MaineDolFan]

Stroke - you do know that he only made three AAA starts, right?  He wasn't called up to Scranton until late April.  AA before that.  Three starts at AAA is enough?

[Philly Fin Fan]

Stroke - you do know that he only made three AAA starts, right?  He wasn't called up to Scranton until late April.  AA before that.  Three starts at AAA is enough?

I've always been under the impression that the level of play is better at AA than it is at AAA. It seems like AA is where the better prospects are and AAA is where most of the guys who can't cut it in the majors are.

[Sunstroke]

Stroke - you do know that he only made three AAA starts, right? He wasn't called up to Scranton until late April. AA before that. Three starts at AAA is enough?

Yessir, I did know how many AAA starts he had before his call-up. I actually watched a highlight reel of 2 of the 3 starts on fox sports philly prior to his first major league start. Maine, I swear it looked like a grownup pitching to a group of clueless 4th graders.  Again, I am not saying that he couldn't have benefited from some "more" seasoning at AAA. What I AM saying is that I believe Cole Hamels doesn't "really" need it.

Time will tell, of course...but like each of Cole's first two starts, I'll be watching his next one closely. As someone who really loves watching quality pitchers, how could I do anything else? 

On a side note about "other" quality young pitchers...did anyone else get to watch any of Justin Verlander's first career shutout last night? He looked much too poised to actually be a rookie.

[EDGECRUSHER]

It's Cashman's job to talk to every GM about their pitchers and outfielders, but dealing for Webb will never happen. Webb is a groundball pitcher, with a shaky defense that can lead to disaster....or Chien Meng Wang.

[Sunstroke]

Looks like Cole Hamels flew back to Philly in the middle of their road trip to have his sore shoulder examined.

Bummer deal... 

[raptorsfan29]

is it me or is there no #6

Brian, who is forcing you to watch the red sox, give me a name

[Brian Fein]

is it me or is there no #6

Holy crap, you're right.

Maine?!?

[Denver_Bronco]

Holy crap, you're right.

Maine?!?

I demand the Yankees in the top 10 !

[MaineDolFan]

Screw it's - it's the top 9 this week!