Spring Break

With the recent bad news of Schilling's diagnosis and Kiner's passing, I think we are in order for a more optimistic post. This week a few friends and I finalized the plans for Spring Break this year: we're headed down to Lakeland to watch the Tigers play a handful of Spring Training games; 4 home, 1 away. We'll be seeing Tigers/Nationals three out of the five games, which is intriguing.

Before the 2013 season, MLB Network analysts (that word always looks like its spelled incorrectly, doesn't it? What a weird word) Tom Verducci and Larry Bowa picked the Nats to win it all, while Ken Rosenthal and Mitch Williams said the same for the Tigers (I can't let it go that Plesac picked the Blue Jays). Granted that was before the 2013 season began, but I feel that they both have put themselves in a position to face off in October of 2014. 

With the offseason trade of Doug Fister for Steve Lombardozzi, Ian Krol, and prospect Robbie Ray, which many say was a terrible trade for the Tigers, I can't wait to see Dougie in a Nats uniform. Red doesn't look as good as the old English D on that tall glass of water if you ask me, but I think he will succeed here. Most famous for his nasty 2-seam fastball, he does not allow a lot of home runs, only giving up 14 in 208 IP in 2013. Despite leading the league in hit batsmen last year, his HR/9 is phenomenal: the only time it was over 1 was his rookie year. But how much of that was due to his home park? His first three years were spent in Seattle at Safeco Field, one of the friendliest parks in the league to pitchers. Comerica Park in Detroit is the polar opposite. This past season, Comerica had a park factor of 1.139, 3rd in the league, meaning it was the 3rd friendliest park to hitters. Impressive work from Mr. Fister. Now that he's moving to the NL East, expect similar numbers - low home runs, high strike percentages, but also a lot of hits. Because Fister throws so many strikes, hitters are quick to jump on anything straight, hoping they won't see the sidewinding 2-seam. Last year, Fister's opponent BAbip was .333, allowing 229 hits, 3rd most in the league.

The addition of Matt Williams was a smart choice for the Nationals. Williams, who was around winning teams his whole player career including the champion Diamondbacks in 2001, knows what it takes to run a team, even though it is his first time. In an interview with ESPN, Williams shared that he would bring in old school baseball (slugging, defense), but also will bring in more sabermetrics to his position as well. Williams was an incredibly aggressive 3rd base coach for the Diamondbacks under Kirk Gibson, so I'm excited to see how that shows when we see them.  

The Nationals have a really young team, with an average age of 27.7. Their rotation is filthy; many call it the best in the league (I still think the Tigers has an edge). Flame throwing Stephen "China Doll" Strasburg, notoriously inconsistent Gio Gonzalez, silent NL wins leader Jordan Zimmermann, new Doug Fister, and a respectable back end in Ross Detwiler. Offensively, the Nats love to strikeout and hit the long ball. With a healthy Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman (who royally screwed my fantasy team last year by being hurt), their power numbers should go up just a little bit. In the....well, let's say 'rebuilding' NL East, the Nationals will be near the top. But not at the top. 

Fredi Gonzalez has the Braves running smoothly. Evan Gattis will be anchoring the field in a new role as starting catcher now that Brian McCann wanted some roughage and went to the Big Apple. Simmons, Freeman, and Heyward will continue to shine and be solid on both sides of the ball, and as we saw the greatest closer ever retire last year, the next best thing in Craig Kimbrel is right behind him. Even though they added Curtis Granderson, the Mets still will be below .500, especially with Matt Harvey missing year due to a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. Captain America should be healthy the whole year, but the Mets still have more questions than answers, namely what is going on with Ike Davis and will EYJ get on base enough to steal?  The Phillies are getting Ryan Howard back as well as free agent pick up Marlon Byrd (two animals, one man), but are not getting any younger (except for their new manager Ryne Sandberg). Chooch, Chutley, and J-Roll are all entering their age 35 season but are expected to play 150+ games. Howard is 34, as is Cliff Lee, and Byrd is 36. Talent is high in some corners of the field, but there is a huge question mark at third base. The Marlins future is bright, especially with Rookie of the Year phenom Jose Fernandez and Giancarlo Stanton. They had an awesome offseason, signing veteran leader and champion Rafael Furcal, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, slugger Garrett Jones, and an incredibly underrated outfielder Reed Johnson. All come from successful teams in 2013 and can offer great examples of leadership. Like the Nationals, the Marlins are a wicked young team, and studs like Adeiny Hechavarria, Christian Yelich (Baseball America's #15 prospect), and Marcell Ozuna (#75) can learn a lot from their new veterans. 

Sorry for the lengthy post, but sunshine and baseball gets me excited. I won't get into predictions just yet, but for now, expect the Braves to win the East. 

As always, thanks for reading. I'll leave you with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0H9VthNLh8. Enjoy.

Happy birthday to Vlad Guerrero and Moon Mullen!