Archive for the ‘Preview’ Category

2013 Miami Marlins: WE’RE HAVING A FIRE…sale

Posted by Travis Reitsma under Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins, Preview on Mar 26, 2013

Cincinnati Reds v Miami Marlins

2012 Record: 69-93, 5th NL East
2012 Pythagorean Record: 68-94
Impact Player: RF Giancarlo Stanton
Impact Pitcher: RHP Ricky Nolasco
Top Prospect: RHP Jose Fernandez 

Significant Acquisitions: RHP Henderson Alvarez, 3B Placido Polanco, LF Juan Pierre, SS Adeiny Hechavarria, RHP Jon Rauch, RHP Kevin Slowey, 1B Casey Kotchman, C Jeff Mathis, RHP Chad Qualls, RHP John Maine, IF Wilson Valdez, LHP Scott Maine, UT Matt Downs  

Significant Departures: SS Jose Reyes, RHP Josh Johnson, LHP Mark Buehrle, UT Emilio Bonifacio, 1B Carlos Lee, RHP Heath Bell, C John Buck, OF Scott Cousins, RHP Carlos Zambrano, RHP Chad Gaudin

With a brand new, publicly-funded stadium and a decent core of players like Giancarlo Stanton, Logan Morrison, Josh Johnson, Hanley Ramirez, and Anibal Sanchez, the Miami Marlins ownership—led by the detestable Jeffrey Loria—finally decided to spend some money on the Major League roster and committed $191-million to three free agents last winter. Those free agents—Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell—were supposed to turn an already decent up-and-coming team into a true contender.

Then everything went wrong. New manager Ozzie Guillen—whom the Marlins spend $10-million on and also sent to prospects to the White Sox to acquire—made some questionable decisions on and off the field and the stars of the team either got hurt or underperformed. Things went south quickly. In June, Miami sent Matt Dominguez and another prospect to Houston for first baseman Carlos Lee, thinking maybe it would turn around, but within a few weeks, they waved the white flag and began dismantling.

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2013 Atlanta Braves: Gettin’ Crazy Upton Here

Posted by Travis Reitsma under Atlanta Braves, Justin Upton, Preview on Mar 25, 2013

Detroit Tigers v Atlanta Braves

2012 Record: 94-68, 2nd NL East
2012 Pythagorean Record: 92-70
Impact Player: RF Jason Heyward
Impact Pitcher: RHP Tim Hudson
Top Prospect: RHP Julio Teheran 

Significant Acquisitions: LF Justin Upton, CF B.J. Upton, 3B Chris Johnson, RHP Jordan Walden, C Gerald Laird, IF Ramiro Pena, OF Jordan Schafer, RHP David Carpenter

Significant Departures: 3B Chipper Jones, LF Martin Prado, CF Michael Bourn, RHP Tommy Hanson, RHP Randall Delgado, C David Ross, RHP Chad Durbin, RHP Jair Jurrjens, CP Eric Hinske, OF Matt Diaz

In 1990, the Atlanta Braves recorded their sixth-straight losing season and had become known as one of the most futile franchises in baseball. Since then, in 21 seasons (1994 omitted because of the strike), Atlanta has posted fewer than 86 wins only thrice and has made the playoffs an astounding 16 times. In 2012, they recorded 94 wins—their highest total since 2004—but due to the awesomeness of the Washington Nationals, were forced to play in—and lose—the first ever National League wildcard play-in game to the St. Louis Cardinals.

With the retirement of third baseman Chipper Jones and the loss of centerfielder Michael Bourn to free agency, the Braves sought to make significant changes to their offense and did so by bringing in the brothers Upton—B.J. from Tampa via a five-year, $75-million contract and Justin via a trade with the Diamondbacks that saw leftfielder Martin Prado and others go the other way. With the current roster, Atlanta is poised to make another run at the playoffs, but how likely is it that they avoid the wildcard game this time around?

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How Will National League East Lineups Look In 2013?

Posted by Darren Kritzer under Analysis, Preview on Mar 22, 2013

Atlanta Braves v New York Yankees

The National League East is once again shaping up to be a two-horse race between the Braves and Nationals. The addition of the Upton brothers makes Atlanta a slight favorite in my mind, but you can’t underestimate the Nationals, who brought back many of their important pieces to their lineup, while finally adding a true centre fielder to the mix. The Phillies season depends on the health of Ryan Howard and Chase Utley once again, while the Mets and Marlins should be good one day, just not this year.

Over the next week, we will take a look at how each team’s lineups looked to start the season in 2012 compared to the projected look for 2013 (all ZiPS projections courtesy of Fangraphs.)

We covered the NL West and NL Central, now here’s a look at the NL East.

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2013 St. Louis Cardinals: No Ebbs, Only Flows

Posted by Travis Reitsma under Preview, St. Louis Cardinals on Mar 22, 2013

St. Louis Cardinals v Philadelphia Phillies

2012 Record: 88-74, 2nd NL Central
2012 Pythagorean Record: 93-69
Impact Player: C Yadier Molina
Impact Pitcher: RHP Adam Wainwright
Top Prospect: RF Oscar Taveras 

Significant Acquisitions: CP Ty Wigginton, LHP Randy Choate

Significant Departures: 1B Lance Berkman, RHP Kyle Lohse, 2B/OF Skip Schumaker, RHP Kyle McClellan

The St. Louis Cardinals have been arguably the most successful franchise in baseball over the last ten years or so. Two world titles and numerous playoff appearances have been the result of one of the most thoroughly homegrown rosters in baseball. With the help of former farm director and current Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow and an otherwise terrific scouting and development staff, GM John Mozeliak and his crew have assembled a team that should be contending year in, year out for the foreseeable future.

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2013 Pittsburgh Pirates: Awaking the Sleeping Everyman

Posted by Travis Reitsma under Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates, Preview on Mar 21, 2013

andrew mccutchen donger

2012 Record: 79-83, 4th NL Central
2012 Pythagorean Record: 78-84
Impact Player: CF Andrew McCutchen
Impact Pitcher: RHP A.J. Burnett
Top Prospect: RHP Gerrit Cole

Significant Acquisitions: C Russell Martin, RHP Mark Melancon, UT Brandon Inge, RHP Kyle Waldrop, LHP Jonathan Sanchez, RHP Mike Zagurski, IF Ivan DeJesus Jr.

Significant Departures: RHP Joel Hanrahan, RHP Chris Resop, C Rod Barajas, UT Drew Sutton

For the second straight year, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first half was much better than expected. On August 8 of last year, they beat the Diamondbacks and moved to 63-47 and sat just two-and-a-half games behind the eventual NL Central champion Reds. But their success, just as it was the year before, was unsustainable. Pittsburgh finished the year going 16-36 to finish with their 20th consecutive losing season, but still had their best record since 1997.

It finally appears, however, that the Pirates are on the right track. Center fielder Andrew McCutchen emerged as one of the game’s best players and there’s a decent core of young position players that seem to be coming into their own such as third baseman Pedro Alvarez and second baseman Neil Walker. With two of the best pitching prospects in baseball set to make their big league debuts sometime this season, things are looking brighter for Pittsburgh than they have in some time.

The organization took some flack last year after reports came out that Navy SEAL training drills were being run in the extended spring training, which led to some players getting hurt — including some top prospects. The ordeal ended in an investigation by owner Bob Nutting and a promise to stop the drills. The team also whiffed on signing first-round draft pick Mark Appel who was expected to go first-overall but slipped to the Pirates at number-eight. Appel decided to re-enter the draft next year when the team couldn’t offer him close to his asking price.

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How Will National League Central Lineups Look In 2013?

Posted by Darren Kritzer under Preview on Mar 20, 2013

Cincinnati Reds v Pittsburgh Pirates

The National League Central will likely be a two horse race in 2013, with the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals battling all season for the Central crown. The Reds offense, already a balanced attacked,  will benefit with the addition of Shin-Soo Choo, while the Cardinals don’t appear to be in panic mode after losing Rafael Furcal for the season with an elbow injury. The Pirates, Cubs and Brewers made minimal changes from their 2012 Opening Day lineup, and won’t likely have the offense to compete for a playoff position.

Over the next week, we will take a look at how each team’s lineups looked to start the season in 2012 compared to the projected look for 2013 (all ZiPS projections courtesy of Fangraphs.)

We covered the NL West, now here’s a look at the NL Central.

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2013 Milwaukee Brewers: Propping the Window Open on a Budget

Posted by Travis Reitsma under Milwaukee Brewers, Preview, Ryan Braun on Mar 20, 2013

Milwaukee Brewers v Arizona Diamondbacks

2012 Record: 83-79, 3rd NL Central
2012 Pythagorean Record: 85-77
Impact Player: LF Ryan Braun
Impact Pitcher: RHP Yovani Gallardo
Top Prospect: RHP Wily Peralta

Significant Acquisitions: LHP Mike Gonzalez, LHP Tom Gorzelanny, RHP Burke Badenhop

Significant Departures: RHP Shaun Marcum, RHP Francisco Rodriguez, OF Nyjer Morgan, IF Cody Ransom, 1B Travis Ishikawa

Over the last few years, the Milwaukee Brewers emptied their farm system in order to acquire quality Major League talent understanding that they had a window to win. During the 2010-11 off-season, they dealt Brett Lawrie to the Blue Jays to acquire starting pitcher Shaun Marcum and then dealt a package of prospects and established young players such as Alcides Escobar and Jake Odorizzi to acquire Zack Greinke. They decided to go all out in the final season of Prince Fielder’s tenure with the team and it worked. In 2011, they won 96 games and went to the playoffs for the second time in four years.

Coming in to last season, the Brewers still had high hopes even with the departure of Fielder to Detroit. A strong pitching staff anchored by Greinke, Marcum and Yovani Gallardo was coupled with a deep lineup consisting of the likes of Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks and newly minted Aramis Ramirez put the Brewers in good shape on paper. Then the season started and the wheels almost immediately fell off. By May 22, the Brewers were 17-26 and falling fast.

On July 28, with the team sitting 15 games out of the division, General Manager Doug Melvin waved the white flag and sent Greinke to the Angels for a package of prospects headed by shortstop Jean Segura trying to replenish a barren farm system. He had plans to trade Marcum and Randy Wolf as well, but ineffectiveness and injuries kept them on the team a little while longer. Then, because of course, the Brewers started winning.

In August and September, the Brewers went on an inspired 24-6 run that landed them with a 78-72 record and suddenly they were just a game-and-a-half behind the Cardinals for the second wild card spot in the NL. They would come back down to earth a little in the season’s final weeks, but they still finished with a winning record on a year that looked totally lost in early August.

Whether or not the late season run changed the strategy of Melvin and company heading into the winter is unknown, but the Brewers were not busy this offseason, adding little more than some useful pieces to their bullpen. If they are going to contend in 2013, they’ll be doing it with nearly the same roster that finished last season and therefore are counting on the continued good performance of some serious regression candidates.

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