Tag: Torii Hunter

MLB Teams That Will Be in Best Spot to Win 2013 World Series

The San Francisco Giants’ Cinderella-like postseason run that was capped by their second World Series championship in three seasons will forever be cemented in franchise history.

The Giants proved they could compete and be successful with far inferior talent than their opposition. The Giants were the best team during the 2012 playoffs for one reason; they had a solid nucleus of veteran leadership that never weakened.

The 2013 season could be much different.

A number of teams went all-in during free agency, looking to reload and better themselves for the season to come, while other teams leaned on the conservative side.  

Teams that had an active offseason in terms of upgrading their rosters included, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Washington, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Angels and the Detroit Tigers.

It’s certainly premature to say which teams will make it to the Fall Classic in October. But it’s fair to point out that the aforementioned clubs are in the best position to do so based on how active they were this offseason. 

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Evaluating the Detroit Tigers Outfield for 2013

The Tigers upgraded their outfield defense and offense by signing Torii Hunter this offseason. However, they now have a glut of outfielders on their roster. The Tigers have to decide if they want to carry one or two extra outfielders.

This decision will shape the roster over the weeks leading up to spring training. It’s a safe bet that at least one if not two of last year’s outfielders will not be with the big-league team when they break spring training. 

I want to take a preliminary look at what we can expect from the Tigers outfield in 2013 and where the battles will take place. 

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Thought Provoking Tim McCarver Comment Highlights HOF Awards Presentation

On October 10, 1964, the late Mickey Mantle led off in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 3 of the World Series. The score was tied at 1-1, and the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals were tied at one game each. Barney Schultz was pitching for the Redbirds. Tim McCarver was calling signals behind the plate.

A knuckleball specialist pitching in his first ever World Series, Schultz had just been summoned into the game by St. Louis manager Johnny Keane.

Mantle deposited Schultz’s first pitch into the third tier of the old Yankee Stadium.

In accepting the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting during the Second Annual Hall of Fame Awards Presentation this afternoon in Cooperstown, New York, McCarver, the longtime Fox Baseball analyst, got off the line of the day when he told the crowd at Doubleday Field what he remembered about that homerun.

Watching Mantle round the bases McCarver was reflective. “As a catcher,” he said, ” I have never been prouder than seeing a pitch that I called travel that far a distance,”

The crowd at Doubleday roared with delight. But it was another McCarver observation that really got the audience’s attention.

According to McCarver, three decades ago the number of African-Americans in the major leagues was at an all-time high. Twenty-eight percent of the players in The Show were African-Americans. Today, he indicated, only eight percent of all the men playing in the big leagues are African-Americans.

“We need to increase African-American participation in baseball,” McCarver contended.

McCarver doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk too. He recently made a significant monetary donation to help build a new baseball facility in his native Tennessee so that inner-city youth and disadvantaged children will be afforded the opportunity to play baseball. While that certainly is commendable, I doubt that it will be successful.

The Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Program has been attempting to remedy this since 1989.

Torii Hunter, of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, has been vocal about this issue for years. So has Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. So have a lot of columnists.

And yet, the numbers are what they are. What can be done over and above what has already been done since the inception of RBI 23 years ago?

Seems to me that basketball and football have long been acknowledged as an African-American teenager’s ticket out of poverty. Frankly, I just don’t see that changing anytime soon. No matter how well intended cerebral thinkers such as Tim McCarver may be.

Bob Elliott, the first Canadian to ever win the Baseball Writers Association of America’s JG. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing, was also honored at today’s ceremonies.

 

 (Doug Gladstone is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.)

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MLB All-Old Team: Roster of the Best Active Players 35 or Older

More than other team sports, baseball grants its players longevity.

Being on the wrong side of 35 isn’t such an awful thing. I could muster a formidable 25-man roster comprised strictly of MLB players who are of that age or older.

Time eventually reduces all athletes, but elite baseball players often sustain their level of play as their hair grays.

Veterans of the game adjust to adversity. They continue to contribute even when agility, bat speed and arm strength deserts them.

It is a sport unintentionally engineered to preserve its athletes.

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Major League Baseball: Opening Day Observations

Also known as ODOs.

Well, I call them ODOs and some day, you will too. Until then, see if you noticed what I noticed:

 

Albert Pujols goes 0-for-5

He also grounded into three double plays—cue the overreaction random radio show sports talk guy.

That’s right, Pujols is washed up; can’t handle the contract-year pressure; forgot how to hit; only tips 10 percent.

Actually, he’ll be fine.

What the Cardinals, their fans and anybody else interested should be worried about is that rotation.

With Adam Wainwright down for the count, Chris Carpenter has to carry the load. Carrying the load puts a lot of pressure on your hamstrings. Considering he strained his in spring training, Carpenter is longing for someone to be close to him in the rotation.

Reliever-turned-starter Kyle McClellan has been the most buzzworthy candidate so far, but even with Dave Duncan’s guidance, C.J. Wilson he ain’t.

Save the Birds, Pujols! Good slogan for the Cardinals and/or tree huggers everywhere.

 

Matt Kemp walks three times

He’s on pace for 486 bases on balls—that would be a record. It probably won’t happen.

But considering he only walked 53 times last year, which was his career high, it’s a good sign, nonetheless; considering he accomplished this feat against Tim Lincecum, even more nonetheless.

If I owned him in a fantasy league (huh, I do, how about that?) I’d be excited: An improved batting eye means fewer strikeouts (170 last year), which positively correlates to more balls in play (.295 BABIP last year, .344 career), which screams a stat correction is on the way. 

 

Pitch selection

If you watched the Reds/Brewers game you might have noticed Thomas Edinson Volquez pitching to contact.

That’s a good pitching strategy, except when the contact results in a 445-foot home run.

Volquez has a ton of talent, but it seems he challenges hitters too often and studs like Ryan Braun, along with lesser studs like Rickie Weeks and wannabe studs like Carlos Gomez, make him pay.

Kevin Millar brought up this point on MLB Tonight today, which I would like to vehemently agree with and elaborate on for those that have no idea what I’m babbling about.

In the fifth inning, down 4-2, Volquez got Braun to chase his first pitch, a nasty breaking ball in the dirt.

So why in the world would he try to fool him with a fastball in on the next pitch?

Braun wasn’t fooled and he crushed his first of many home runs this year.

These guys are professional hitters. Meaning, they are looking fastball in.

Throw the same pitch you just schooled them on until they adjust to it—don’t try to outsmart a professional hitter. Millar said Greg Maddux would throw a changeup five, six times in a row during an at-bat.

Keep the hitter guessing.

Until Volquez can do that, he won’t be consistent and he can’t be relied on. 

 

Center fielders in the outfield

The Anaheim Angels are flying a little under the radar this year. Does anybody appreciate the Angels/flying connection?

No? Well, I do and the Angels are flying under the radar.

Through one game (I know, huge sample size), the Hunter/Wells/Bourjos outfield triumvirate seems like a good idea. They have all played center field at some point in their careers (Peter Bourjos now, Torii Hunter last year, Vernon Wells for Toronto).

Traditionally, the center fielder is the most athletic player on the field, can cover the most ground and is the best fielder. Having three guys that fit that mold bodes well for the Angels’ defense and their pitchers.

The focus of the AL West this year seems to be on the A’s and Rangers, deservedly, but the Angels could surprise some folks.

Especially if their offense struggles to score runs, they are going to need strong defense to win those 2-1, 4-3 games.

Three center fielders should do just that.

 

Alex Gordon

That was your chance, dude. Opening Day, down 4-2, two on, two out, hit the home run, be the hero everyone wants you to be. Don’t strike out.

Against Fernando Rodney? After you just hit a mammoth foul just left of the pole? Don’t go 0-for-5. At least you hit six spring training homers.

Jake Fox would be proud.

 

Six games down, 2,424 to go. Should be fun. Make sure to take advantage of the free week of MLB Extra Innings.

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L.A. Angels: Can Kendry Morales Bounce Back From His Broken Leg?

 The next time Kendrys Morales takes the field in a game, his teammates and coaches aren’t likely to tell him to “break a leg.”

The L.A. Angels first baseman did just that late last May and hasn’t made a single appearance in a game since. Nearly a year removed from the injury that effectively killed his and the Angels’ season, Morales still isn’t quite ready for game time.

In fact, it’s only in the last couple of weeks that Morales has been allowed to perform baseball activities of any kind out on the diamond, but even that has proven too strenuous.

Last week, the Angels announced that Morales will start the season on the 15-day disabled list. The move didn’t come as a complete surprise to fans, but it was unwelcome all the same.

On Tuesday, Morales was sidelined with soreness in his foot, which the team attributed to his recent workout efforts as he continues to ease his way back into playing form.

Apparently those leaps and bounds by which he was improving were just a little too long.

But don’t let these little setbacks cloud the reality: when this guy gets healthy, he will be a monster again.

The fear, of course, is that Morales will never again frighten teams the way he did during his breakout campaign in 2009, when he slugged 34 home runs and finished fifth in the AL MVP voting.

Without his big bat anchoring the middle of the order for the majority of last season, the Angels struggled like mad to generate offense.

However, this is not the same club that took the field on Opening Day last year.

Sure, aging players like Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu failed to step up before, and table-setters like Erick Aybar and Alberto Callaspo found it difficult to work their way on base without a significant power threat behind them.

But now, having gone through all of that, the Angels are a little older, perhaps a bit wiser, and certainly a whole lot stronger.

Their offseason acquisition of outfielder Vernon Wells, however controversial it may have been, will do wonders for a disturbingly anemic ball club sans Morales. Wells showed he can still strike fear in the hearts of pitchers, jacking 31 big flies, driving in 88 runs, and earning his third All-Star selection.

Back in the infield, with Morales still on the mend, the Angels will turn to power-hitting rookie Mark Trumbo to man first base.

Trumbo has been lighting up scoreboards and scouting reports this spring, with nearly as many homers as the rest of the Angels starters combined. Although his major league experience is limited, he is the ideal temporary solution to the team’s Cuban missile crisis.

The Angels still need Morales back as quickly as possible, he is their star after all. But until he is fully ready to go, there is no need to rush and no need to panic. The Angels don’t need to trade for Albert Pujols, clear salary room for Prince Fielder, or declare the 2011 season over just yet.

Baseball seasons are not won or lost in the first month. Things aren’t nearly as bleak as they were last May. This time around, the Angels have enough in their revamped arsenal to hold on until Morales gets back.

And when he does, the heavens will smile on Anaheim once more.

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Oakland Athletics CF Coco Crisp Names His Top 3 Favorite Center Fielders

Oakland Athletics center fielder Coco Crisp has established himself as a top outfielder in the game of baseball. His tremendous speed and awareness makes him a perfect player to patrol the outfield.

On top of his defense, Crisp has established himself as a top leadoff man in the big leagues. His quick hands help him get on base and quick feet make him a threat to steal every time he reaches base.

When asked to name his top five favorite center fielders to watch, Crisp had a tough time coming up with a list.

“That’s kind of a loaded question,” he said. “You put a guy in centerfield and he’s supposed to be the best guy in the outfield. Going through all 30 teams — they all have solid outfielders.”

Despite having a little difficulty coming up with a Top 5 list, Crisp did name three that stood out to him.

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Power Ranking the 20 Biggest Questions Facing the AL West Heading Into 2011

The AL West was one of the worst divisions in baseball in 2010.

Entering the season, projections were all over. Each team was picked to both win the division or finish in the cellar, depending on which prediction you read.

The shape of each club is a bit easier to tell going into 2011, but there are still several questions for each club and the players signed to them.

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Minnesota Twins: The 10 Best Outfield Combinations

As the Twins head into the winter there are some questions that need to be answered.

Among them, who will be the starting outfield for the second season in Target Field?

Will Michael Cuddyer return to right field, pushing Jason Kubel to a backup role?

Perhaps Joe Mauer will move to left field in order to save the wear tear of catching an entire season, and Delmon Young would move to right.

Is Denard Span better suited as a platoon player? As the everyday center fielder this past season he had the lowest batting average and slugging percentage in his short three year career. 

I compared the outfield for every Twins team since they moved to Bloomington in 1961.

Here are the top 10 outfields in Minnesota history.

The ranking is based on fielding percent, total errors, and assists.

Home runs and RBI were included because, especially for corner outfielders, these are typically considered power positions.

The total wins for each team was included to break any ties.

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L.A. Angels Bullpen Fails Dan Haren, Seattle Mariners Even Series, 3-1

In a much publicized battle of the aces, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Dan Haren matched Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez pitch for pitch. Neither backed down.

After the two aces hit the showers, Seattle capitalized, scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Angels, 3-1.

For seven innings, Haren and Hernandez gave the crowd at Safeco Field an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel, tossing goose eggs until both tired after seven innings. Haren scattered seven hits and struck out eight, throwing 110 pitches, while Hernandez threw a gem of his own, giving up just three hits and striking out eight, throwing 103 pitches.

In the top of the eighth, the Angels scratched across a run. After Peter Bourjos struck out swinging, Alberto Callaspo doubled to left. Howie Kendrick then laced a double to left field, the ball bouncing into the stands for a ground-rule double, plating Callaspo with the game’s first run.

Bobby Abreu was then intentionally walked, putting runners on first and second. Torii Hunter ended the threat, grounding into a double play to end the inning.

Seattle answered in the bottom of the frame, and then some. Kevin Jepsen (2-4) replaced Haren on the mound. After Franklin Guitierrez struck out swinging, Russell Branyan walked. Matt Tuiasosopo pinch ran for Branyan, and was moved to third on a Jose Lopez single to center.

Casey Kotchman then walked, loading the bases for Michael Saunders. Saunders delivered with a single to center, scoring Tuiasosopo and evening the game at 1-1. Adam Moore followed with a broken bat single just over the reach of Howie Kendrick, scoring Lopez, and Josh Wilson followed suit, singling to center to score Kotchman.

Mariners closer David Aardsma came on to put down the Angels in the top of the ninth, earning his 26th save of the season.

Brandon League (9-6) got the win, despite giving up the first and only run to the Angels.

The Angels will look to take the rubber match of the three-game series on Wednesday night, sending Trevor Bell (1-4, 5.07 ERA) to the hill versus the Mariners’ Jason Vargas (9-7, 3.53 ERA).

You can contact Doug on Twitter, @desertdesperado.

 

 

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