Category: BASEBALL

By Dalton Del Don NL MVP – Albert Pujols: A no-brainer. Of the four main awards given out, this one is the clearest call. His BA (.357) and OBP (.462) trailed only Chipper Jones, but Pujols had nearly 100 more at-bats and his .653 slugging percentage led the league by a wide margin. He also…

By Dalton Del Don Quietly, Jose Lopez has been a very valuable middle infielder this year. He doesn’t offer great speed or power, but he’s batting .298 and is on pace to finish with 80 runs scored and 88 RBI. That’s sneaky production. Speaking of middle infield run producers, Jed Lowrie has been an excellent…

By Dalton Del Don Without looking, try to guess who leads the National League in complete games. If your answer was someone with seven starts (CC Sabathia), you’d be correct. Has there ever been a more valuable midseason addition to NL-only leagues? Chances are his 1.58 ERA and 0.91 WHIP are only going to lower…

CC Sabathia or Johan Santana?

Here’s an updated, midseason version of rankings. This isn’t based on how they’ve played so far, but rather, how I view them from this point going forward. I’m going to be out of town in a wedding this weekend, so I might not be able to defend myself when you bash/heap praise on these rankings…

By Dalton Del Don Watching the New York/Florida game Monday, the Mets announcers were comparing Jose Reyes to Hanley Ramirez. Both concluded they’d “easily” take Reyes over Ramirez. There’s homerism, and then there’s downright delusional. Sure, Ramirez may eventually need to switch positions, but it’s not like Reyes is some gold glover at shortstop. Ramirez…

By Dalton Del Don Facing a Rockies team batting .245 on the road this year (third worst in baseball), Homer Bailey allowed a ludicrous 15 hits over 4.2 innings Saturday. He now sports a 39:41 K:BB ratio over 74.1 big league innings. Depending on format, of course, Bailey might be worth cutting bait even in…

I wrote an article over at Baseball Prospectus on the topic, check it out.

By Dalton Del Don Howie Kendrick spits in the face of logic, as he currently sports a .347 batting average despite a 37:5 K:BB ratio. Of course, his .405 BABIP is the highest in baseball, but he’s got a career mark of .358 in that department, so this isn’t out of nowhere. His 22.4 LD%…

By Dalton Del Don I didn’t aggressively pursue Chad Billingsley in drafts this year because I felt his command left him still a ways off from dominance, but after another 3.5 months of seasoning, it’s time to start treating him as an elite starter. His control still comes and goes, but Billingsley’s 9.81 K/9 IP…

Here’s an updated, midseason version of rankings. This isn’t based on how they’ve played so far, but rather, how I view them from this point going forward. 1. Mariano Rivera 2. Jonathan Papelbon 3. Joe Nathan 4. Francisco Rodriguez 5. Joakim Soria 6. Jonathan Broxton 7. Brad Lidge 8. Billy Wagner 9. Kerry Wood 10.…

Here’s an updated, midseason version of rankings. This isn’t based on how they’ve played so far, but rather, how I view them from this point going forward. 1. Alex Rodriguez 2. David Wright 3. Ryan Braun 4. Miguel Cabrera 5. Aramis Ramirez 6. Chipper Jones 7. Evan Longoria 8. Chone Figgins 9. Garrett Atkins 10.…

Here’s an updated, midseason version of rankings. This isn’t based on how they’ve played so far, but rather, how I view them from this point going forward. 1. Hanley Ramirez 2. Jose Reyes 3. Jimmy Rollins 4. Carlos Guillen 5. Derek Jeter 6. Michael Young 7. Miguel Tejada 8. Troy Tulowitzki 9. Orlando Cabrera 10.…

Here’s an updated, midseason version of rankings. This isn’t based on how they’ve played so far, but rather, how I view them from this point going forward. On a side note, I’ll be in Vegas for the next few days and almost always away from a computer, so my responses to you heaping praise (or…

Here’s an updated, midseason version of rankings. This isn’t based on how they’ve played so far, but rather, how I view them from this point going forward. On a side note, I’ll be in Vegas for the next few days and almost always away from a computer, so my responses to you heaping praise (or…

Here’s an updated, midseason version of rankings. This isn’t based on how they’ve played so far, but rather, how I view them from this point going forward. On a side note, I’ll be in Vegas for the next few days and almost always away from a computer, so my responses to you heaping praise (or…

By Dalton Del Don How frustrating is David Bush? First his impressive component numbers never matched his ERA. Then he was just plain bad last year. And now he’s posted a ridiculous 20:0 K:BB ratio over his last two starts. It looks like he’s reverted back to his helpful WHIP/hurtful ERA ways, which can be…

By Dalton Del Don It doesn’t get much more impressive than Hiroki Kuroda’s performance Monday night. Facing just 28 batters, Kuroda needed only 91 pitches in the gem. And it’s always more satisfying when that first hit is legit, which Mark Teixeira’s certainly was. Kuroda was facing a Braves team that had flown across the…

By Dalton Del Don At worst, Grady Sizemore is a top-10 fantasy player and probably top-5. Since April ended, he has 19 home runs. While he’s not a big asset in batting average, he can take a walk, and his stolen base success rate has been fantastic (87 percent). Few leadoff/speed guys offer his kind…