My All-Star Team (AL)

Ladies and gentlemen, the season is upon us for the greatest All-Star spectacle in all of sports: The MLB All-Star Game. The first round of voting updates came out this past week, and my one complaint with the MLB ASG is that it mostly becomes a popularity contest - so I'll share who I think should be starting around the horn. (Voting as of May 28)

Designated Hitter
Who's winning: David Ortiz (.270/.372/.503, 12 HR, 31 RBI, 51 hits)
Who should be winning: Nelson Cruz (.308/.376/.652, league leading 19 home runs, 49 RBI, 62 hits)
Though Edwin Encarnacion has had a May for the history books with 16 home runs (still has tonight to collect more), he is only hitting .265 and slugging .600 (still amazing but not compared to Cruz). He has been a key part of the Blue Jays success thus far, but Cruz is having a slightly better, more consistent season. Victor Martinez also comes to mind, considering he leads the AL in hitting at .347 and has 13 home runs thus far. But again, his slugging is not quite to the point of Cruz and when I think DH, I think slugger. Hence my choice of Big Nelly.

First Base
Who's winning: Miguel Cabrera (.328/.374/.556, 9 HR, 48 RBI, 65 hits)
Who should be winning: Cabrera
The back-to-back MVP winner is having a bad year. Hard to believe given the stats you see above but by his standards, 2nd in RBI and 7th in hits is a bad year (so far). He started off ice cold but has been on a tear recently, hitting .375 with 7 home runs this month. Other candidates that come to mind are Brandon Moss (13 home runs, 46 RBI, .276), Jose Abreu (15 home runs, 42 RBI, .260 average, currently on the DL), and Albert Pujols (14 home runs, .257 average). Cabrera has shown a little more consistency out of this group, as shown by the highest average by more than 50 points.

Second Base
Who's winning: Ian Kinsler (.316, 19 doubles, 68 hits)
Who should be winning: Jose Altuve (.324, 77 hits, 20 steals, 56 games played)
Altuve hasn't missed a game for the Astros as he cements his role as a leader for this rebuilding team. He still manages to play at an incredibly high level without missing games, he leads the league in hits and steals (20/23 completions) and is a great defender, too. He also has only struck out 19 times thus far. Others that came to mind: Robinson Cano is hitting .327 but with no power in a much larger Safeco Field. Howie Kendrick is also quietly having a good season, hitting .291 with 62 hits. 

Third Base
Who's winning: Josh Donaldson (.285, 15 home runs, 45 RBI, .579 slugging)
Who should be winning: Donaldson
Beltre is hitting .305 in 41 games with little power, so I think Donaldson deserves the start here. His average is a little lower than last year (finished at .301) but he is hitting for more power and slugging .561 - and leading the league in runs. His defense is subpar considering he has a .958 fielding percentage but I'll look past that for how hard he hits the ball. 

Shortstop 
Who's winning: Derek Jeter (.273/.339/.326)
Who should be winning: Jeter. One of the greatest leaders of our generation - he could be hitting .100 and I would still say he deserves to start. Because it's Derek Jeter. 

Courtesy of the hilarious movie The Other Guys

Outfield
Who's winning: Mike Trout (.294/.380/.549), Jose Bautista (.305/.438/.555), Jacoby Ellsbury (.268/.338/.387)
Who should be winning: Bautista, Melky Cabrera (.309/.353/.483), Alex Rios (.317/.349/.472)
Trout is having a down year by his standards by only hitting .294 but the real shocker is that he leads the AL in strikeouts and only has 5 steals so far this year, on pace to about 20 fewer than average. His OBP is slightly down but still good - but not starter worthy if you ask me. Ellsbury's high number of votes is strictly based on popularity, because right now he is only batting .268 with 52 hits. Again, not starting caliber.

Joey Bats is off to an incredibly hot start (as are the Jays, holy cow) - he leads the league in OBP and walks and still has 14 home runs and 39 RBIs, on pace for approximately a 40/120 season, home runs right around where he's been in the past, but more RBIs (mostly because he can be injury prone). He's also scored 41 runs. Playing in the same uniform as he, Melky Cabrera deserves to start because of not only his .309 average but also is second in hits in the AL with 73 and is slugging just under .500. As a former All-Star Game MVP, I think its time he gets back into the lineup. Last but not least, Rios is quietly having a stellar season in Texas. He has been one of very few Rangers to avoid the injury bug, and he is stepping up. He's hitting .317 and leads the league in triples and has 10 steals. 

Pitcher
The starting pitcher is not a fan vote, so this one I just have to throw out there. I'd give it to Jays starter Mark Buehrle, who is leading the league in wins with 9, has an ERA of 2.33 and a WHIP of 1.23, all very good numbers. Rookie Masahiro Tanaka is also in the mix, leading the league in ERA (2.06) and WHIP (.95), is 2nd in the league with 8 wins, and is 3rd with 88 K's. Actually maybe I'd give Tanaka the nod. 

I have no idea. 

Time will tell, and I do not envy manager John Farrell to have to make a decision between Buehrle and Tanaka - 2 bitter division rivals. If he picks a Yankee to start the ASG, they'll have his head in Boston. But you can't refuse this guy's numbers!

I'll do the NL a little later - today was my day off so I had time to think about it. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday, folks. As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to shoot down my choices. I'm a blogger, not a manager. 

The Mets' Big Week

Hi again, everyone. I just finished a 13 hour shift at the Caps and had $9 worth of McDonald's, so you guys are in for a treat  of a post tonight. My computer has been on the fritz as well so I'm writing this from my phone. The topic: the New York Mets. 

Earlier this week, Mets starter Bartolo Colon collected his 2,000th career strikeout, making him the 70th pitcher in history to do so, and 69th overall in career strikeouts. I think it is safe to say that Colon won't challenge Nolan Ryan for first all time, but he can move up a few more spots. At this point in the season, he has 52 strikeouts in 10 starts, for a 7.2 K/9 - not bad for a 41-year old. Last year, Colon pitched 190 innings, which puts him on pace to get exactly 100 more strikeouts for the rest of the year, which would put him at 2,102 K's in his career, good enough for 61st all-time between Roy Halladay and Kevin Millwood (anyone else surprised that Kevin Millwood was that high on the list?). Colon's shining year came in an Angels uniform in 2005, when he won the Cy Young going 21-8 with an ERA and hurling 222.2 innings. Pretty underwhelming numbers for an MVP year considering some of the stats we have seen from pitchers in the past. Not to downgrade his success - winning a Cy Young is still no easy task. Colon is a good pitcher, but because of injuries, inconsistency, and a run-in with PEDs, I don't think he'll be a Hall of Famer. Just a handful of All Star selections and a Cy Young, though he does have 193 wins and an outside shot at 200. He may get some votes...but given the PED thing and most balloters stance on PEDs, he might not stay on the ballot. 

He's an interesting case. So much goodness at the beginning of the career, then he kinda disappeared for a bit and now he's back. When he came back with the A's last year people started to laugh...but after an 18-6 season with an All-Star selection and 6th in Cy Young voting, I think he's the one left laughing. Congrats, big fella.

Then tonight, only a few days later, equally aging Met Bobby Abreu stole his 400th base of his career, a very impressive stat given Abreu's size and how steals are becoming a commodity rather than an expectation from players. In 2004 with the Phillies, he stole 40 bases, hit .301 (.428 OBP!) with 3" home runs and 105 RBIs. He also had 11 more walks than strikeouts (gotta love that). He was an All-Star that year as well as Silver Slugger, but was only 23rd in MVP voting - but this was in the height of the Hall of Fame Era (yes I am coining a new era - big things happening at the Billpen), with Bonds, Edmonds, Beltre, Clemens, AND Pujols in the Top 10. WOW. Sorry Bobby. But congrats on tonight's big achievement! Abreu is now tied for 73rd all-time with Bill Lange at 400 even. 

What I'll remember him most for is the 2005 Home Run Derby, which was held at Comerica Park in Detroit. On his way to winning the Derby,

Abreu hit a 517 foot home run that left the entire park. I have never seen anything that monstrous again in my life, Derby or not. Though Giancarlo Stanton comes close. 

Thanks for reading, as always, and if you see Abreu or Colon or any other of the Mets, congratulate them and offer them a glass of Joint Juice - they might need it. 

Have a great weekend!

Unhittable

First of all, I want to congratulate Josh Beckett on throwing his first career no-hitter against the Phillies yesterday. His no-no yesterday was the first of 2014 and the first in the Dodgers organization since Hideo Nomo did in late September of 1996 against the Rockies (sidenote, if a no-hitter were to happen to anyone this year, it would be the Phillies/Dodgers - the Dodgers are first in baseball history with 21 no-hitters and the Phillies have been no-hit a record 18 times). Beckett is now 3-1 on the year with a 2.43 ERA and a WHIP of 1.024.

I heard a stat though talking about Josh Beckett and how at age 34 he was the oldest pitcher since the Big Unit (Randy Johnson) to throw a no-hitter. Randy Johnson did it when he was 40. And it wasn't just a no-no, it was a perfect game. 

Randy Johnson is already one of the greatest pitchers ever and arguably the best post-integration pitcher to ever play the game. He's got 5 Cy Young Awards (four came consecutively), 300 wins, the best K/9 ratio in the world, ever, and has thrown two no-hitters (one perfect game). Fun fact: he has the largest gap between no-hitters in history; he threw one in 1990 and one in 2004. Many pitchers aren't even good for 14 years in a row let alone book end a career with perfection. 

May 18, 2004: Diamondbacks (15-23) at Braves (17-20). The Diamondbacks were on the backslide of their 2001 World Series run and had aged heavily. The Braves, meanwhile, were in the midst of their historic run of dominance in the NL East. Despite being a few games under .500 going in, they would finish the season at 96-66. This lineup was not a joke but Randy Johnson left the game laughing. 

This was a Tuesday night game and unfortunately a lot of the Braves regulars were out of the lineup. Rafael Furcal was out of the lineup and replaced with Jesse Garcia. 45-year old Julio Franco played first instead of Adam Laroche. Nick Green replaced Marcus Giles who would hit .311 for the year. While the Braves lineup was normally pretty fierce, it wasn't as much this particular night. But either way, Johnson was perfect. 

I want to reiterate that Johnson was 40 years old when he did this. In today's game, very few players can still play at a high level at this age. Torii Hunter and Joe Nathan for the Tigers are 39 years old and having respectable seasons. The Captain over in New York is turning 40 soon and hitting .275; again, respectable. But perfect games? Not very close. 

Braves catcher Johnny Estrada had the longest at-bat of the night, seeing 11 pitches and a 3-ball count (the only 3-ball count any of the Braves would see) and Estrada eventually struck out as did so many other Braves. Johnson went on to strike out 13 total, 11 of which were swinging strikeouts. Chipper Jones struck out 3 times; Andruw Jones and Mark DeRosa were the only players not to strike out. Even Eddie Perez, the pinch hitter for Braves starter Mike Hampton, who came on in the 9th with the pressure of stopping perfection struck out. Wow. 

He threw 117 pitches (more than most pitchers do in 6 innings these days) and 87 of those pitches were strikes. That's nearly 75%. I tweeted yesterday that Verlander is down to throwing 62% strikes this year and could pertain to his struggles - he could learn from the Big Unit. 75% strike throwing is ridiculous but at least 65%. 

Let's not overlook the start from Mike Hampton either. The Diamondbacks pushed across 2 runs, one in the 2nd and one in the 7th, and they did not take great at-bats. Hampton threw 9 innings, walked 3, allowed 2 earned runs, and struck out 5, all on 107 pitches (71 strikes). That's how baseball goes though, and unfortunately he picked up his 5th loss of the year to drop to 0-5. He would finish 13-9. 

It was a small crowd at Turner Field to witness history. I sure wish I was there, or at least was old enough to recognize how amazing this is. I just turned 22 and can barely run a mile let alone pitch a perfect game. Way to go, Randy. If he isn't a first ballot Hall of Famer, I don't know who is.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to the brave men and women who protect the USA so I can write this post. Happy Memorial Day. 

The All-Michigan Team

Last summer when I was at the Hall of Fame, I met a ton of amazing people. Interns and fans alike, I met folks from California, New York, Florida, even Australia - fans of all different teams, leagues and just the game alike. One of the more intangible things I learned from last summer was how proud I was to say I was from Michigan. One of guys in my department was from Maryland and did an Maryland All-State team, and I did the same from Michigan. I went through the archives and through Baseball Reference to field the best roster of Michiganders. 

Michigan has had a good number of players reach the Major Leagues. Nowhere near as many as California (wonder why), but 424 Mittens have played professional baseball (according to BBR). The Midwest states churn out a surprising number of players; New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois have all produced more than 1,000 Major Leaguers, which I found to be surprising, they were all more than Florida or Texas. Crazy right? Anyway, let's get to seeing the All-Time Michigan Starting 9. 

Catcher: 2004 Jason Varitek (Captain, World Series winner, .296/.390/.482, 18 home runs, 73 RBI)
Varitek, a Rochester native, was never an offensive force to be reckoned with, but was a defensive machine and a leader. One of only three players in the last twenty years or so to be named officially "captain," Varitek played his entire career with Boston, winning 2 titles in 2004 and 2007. He was a career .256 hitter, respectable for catching, was selected to 3 All-Star teams, and won a Golden Glove in 2005. He also holds the record for most no-hitters caught, showing how well he can handle a pitching staff - which is pretty great as you'll see soon.

First Base: 1969 Jim Northrup (.295/.358/.506, 25 home runs, 66 RBI, 31 doubles)
Northrup was a hometown boy nearly his whole career. Born in Breckenridge and an Alma Scot, he played for the Tigers from 1964 to 1974 and then went on to play for Montreal and Baltimore. Northrup, a member of the 1968 Tigers title team, was a career .267 hitter but always was a good batter (note the difference between hitting and batting), with a .333 career OBP. He kept his strikeouts low and walked frequently, making him a good middle of the lineup hitter.

Second Base: 1937 Charlie Gehringer (Hall of Fame, MVP, .371/.458/.520, 40 doubles, 209 hits, 90 walks, 133 runs)
Really no arguing with this one. Gehringer was born in Fowlerville and attended U of M and played for the Tigers his whole career, from 1924 to 1942, winning a World Series in 1935. Gehringer was a career .320 hitter with an MVP award and 6 All-Star selections (would likely have had more if the All-Star Game had began earlier than 1920). Gehringer only struck out 372 times in his whole career, and compared to 1,186 walks (career OBP of .404), this makes him a perfect 2-hitter. 

Shortstop: 1992 Mike Bordick (.300/.358/.371, .987 fielding %)
Bordick was born in the snow all the way up in Marquette in the UP. He played for a number of teams in his career, beginning the A's and bouncing around to Baltimore, New York Mets, and Toronto. What made him famous was that he was the man who took Cal Ripken, Jr.'s place after the Ironman ended his consecutive games streak. What made him even more impressive is that Bordick set the record for shortstop fielding percentage in a single season in 2002 with a .998%. With one All-Star selection, Bordick will supply excellent defense up the middle.

Third Base: 1991 Chris Sabo (.301/.354/.505, 26 home runs, 88 RBI, 175 hits, All-Star)
Sabo, like Gehringer, is a University of Michigan product and continued to play in the Majors for 9 years for the Reds, Orioles, White Sox, and Cardinals. Sabo won the Rookie of the Year in 1988 and had high expectations on his shoulders for the rest of his career. He couldn't quite deliver on those promises past 3 All-Star selections, but for our purpose, Chris Sabo in his hey-day will be an excellent slugging third basemen and three-hitter.

Left field: 1988 Kirk Gibson (MVP, World Series, .290/.377/.483, 25 home runs, 150 games)
Detroit fans love Kirk Gibson. Born in Pontiac and graduate of Michigan State, Gibson also played for his hometown and won the 1984 World Series with the Tigers. (everyone knows the heroic home run with him running the bases pumping his fists). Gibson won the MVP for the Dodgers in 1988, hitting .290 with 25 home runs. He was never selected to an All-Star team, but will play left field for the Michigan team.

Centerfield: 1978 Ron LeFlore (126 runs, 68 steals, .297/.361/.405, 198 hits)
What's a team without speed? LeFlore, a Detroit native, played 6 years with the Tigers, 2 with the White Sox, and another with the Expos, and stole 455 bases in 9 years in the bigs. He was selected to one All-Star team, was a career .288 hitter, and managed to steal 97 bases in one year. Impressive. With a career OBP of .342, he'll be an excellent leadoff hitter and speed threat. 

Right field: 1925 Kiki Cuyler (World Series, MVP runner up, 144 runs, 220 hits, 26 triples, .357/.423/.598, 102 RBI, 42 steals)
Hall of Famer Cuyler was born up north in the little coastal town of Harrisville, just off of Lake Huron. He was a career .321 hitter while playing for the Pirates, Cubs, Reds, and one year with the Dodgers. He also has some decent speed, stealing 328 bases over his career . His high RBIs and large number of sac hits will make him a great 5 hitter. 

Starting Rotation: 1945 Hal Newhouser, 1966 Jim Kaat, 1976 Frank Tanana, 1919 Eddie Cicotte (minus the Black Sox scandal)
Newhouser is a Hall of Famer with 207 wins, back to back MVPs, and a World Series. Kaat has 283 wins, making him the all-time winningest Michigan pitcher - and he went to Hope for a year! Tanana is a strikeout machine with 2,773 all time and 240 wins. Eddie Cicotte, borderline Hall of Famer, has 209 wins and a lifetime ERA of 2.38. Not a bad rotation.

Bullpen: 2007 JJ Putz, 1982 Dave Rozema, 1955 Billy Pierce

Closer: 2003 John Smoltz - one of very few to win 150 games as a starter and collect 150 saves. One Cy Young award, 3,000 strikeouts, career 3.33 ERA (2.65 as a closer). 

Manager: Clint Hurdle 

So here's the order that I would pick:
1 - LeFlore, 8
2 - Gehringer, 4
3 - Sabo, 5
4 - Cuyler, 9
5 - Gibson, 7
6 - Northrup, 3
7 - Varitek, 2
8 - Bordick, 6
9 - Newhouser, 1

There you have it. For sake of Michigan culture, we'll be called the Michigan Sleeping Bears, after the Sleeping Bear Dunes in northwest Michigan - beautiful area. 

Thanks for reading - this one was fun to do. 

The Unsung Hero

After the Indians beat the Tigers on a walk-off balk, I couldn't help but notice the one guy throughout the series that was the thorn in the Tigers' side: Michael Brantley. Brantley, who just turned 27 6 days ago, is known as Dr. Smooth to the Cleveland faithful, and though a lot of people don't know it yet, I think Brantley has the tools to win an MVP in his career. 

Brantley was born out in Washington state and was drafted originally by the Brewers in the 2005 draft right out of high school. As a young 18-year old in rookie ball

, Brantley hit .343 in 54 games (2 teams) with 28 walks and 16 steals. Each following year, Brantley found himself at a higher level of the game, and still hitting well. In 2006, he hit .300. In 2007, he hit .296. In 2008, he hit .319. It was getting better and better for Brantley, and then came a change of scenery.

Brantley's Brewers finished 83-79 in 2007, good enough for 2nd in the NL Central.  Deciding that the team needed more pitching to make that final push to the playoffs, they made a deal with Cleveland to bring ace CC Sabathia to Milwaukee in return for Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson, and a player to be named later - which would eventually be Brantley. Indians GM Mark Shapiro was quoted in 2008 saying why he liked Brantley: "We like him because he gives us a combination of plate discipline, speed and athleticism."

Well, that's exactly what they got. 

Brantley has continued to hit at the Major League level, though not as torrid as he was in the minors - but keep in mind, he's only 27 and has been getting better ever since. Since 2010, his batting average has increased every single year, with the exception of '12-'13 when it dipped 4 points from .288 to .284 (still not bad). Currently, he is hitting .291 with 9 home runs and 33 RBI (as of May 20) and is slugging .515 - in a park that is routinely in the top 5 for pitcher friendliness (Progressive Field).

But let's look at the bigger picture. I said earlier that he has MVP capability - I don't mean by talent but by actual value. He's not as talented of a hitter as Pujols or Cabrera, there is no getting around that, but in terms of his actual value, he is right up there. Before play began today, the Indians were 21-25 and last in the AL Central. They are missing Jason Kipnis, Jason Giambi (trainer must not like dudes named Jason), their ace (Justin Masterson) is putting up aggressively average numbers and their new closer (John Axford) is replicating the exact behavior the Indians hated in their last closer (Chris Perez). Nick Swisher, a catalyst and leader, is hitting .211. Carlos Santana, another leader, is hitting .151. Shockingly low at this point in the season for hitters of this caliber. Michael Bourn, their best base stealer and leadoff hitter, has been suffering from a nagging hamstring injury and cannot steal bases nor play an effective centerfield. The wheels are falling off the bus in Cleveland.

Brantley is doing all he can to make that bus run again. 

This series against the Tigers, Brantley brought the thunder. There is no other way to put it. On Monday night, he walked off the Tigers in the bottom of the tenth. Last night, he went 1-4, and today was another dagger, going 4-7 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs on the way to beating the Tigers in 13 innings. According to my MLB At Bat app, Brantley is now hitting .302 on the season, the highest on the Indians. In wins, Brantley is hitting 98 points higher than in losses (.342 vs. 244).

If that isn't value, I don't know what is.

In other news, Don Kelly drew two walks and scored a run.

Thanks for reading. 

Cespedes or Abreu?

If you haven't already realized, I love MLB Network. Not just because it's baseball all the time and that I've said hello personally (caution, name drop coming) to Greg Amsinger,

Amsinger, you dog.

but their programming is actually really good for the same sport 24 hours a day. On MLB Tonight, the question was posed: "would you rather have Yoenis Cespedes or Jose Abreu?" That was like a week ago and I'm still questioning which one I would take.

Well, as of this moment, Abreu is on the DL so I'd take Cespedes, but hypothetically, which Cuban stud would you rather take? 

Me, you ask? Oh, aren't you kind. I'll take Abreu. 

Both are in their athletic and physical prime right now; Cespedes (5'10", 210) is 28 and Abreu (6'3", 255) is 27, so they will be mainstays in the Major Leagues for another 10 years or so (that's exciting for baseball fans). Cespedes has had some minor injury issues; around this time his rookie year (2012) he went on the DL for a hand problem and this year has had a nagging hamstring issue. Like I said, both minor. For Abreu, same story; he just went on the DL earlier today for ankle tendinitis, which will be fixed with rest. In terms of durability and physical prowess, I think its a push. Abreu is much bigger, but you don't want a 255 pound left fielder - for their positions, they are both big. Cespedes is the biggest left fielder in the AL West, and Abreu is the biggest first basemen (tied with Miguel Cabrera) in the AL Central.

Defensively, again, I think it may be a push. Cespedes has a pretty good arm out in left, but being next to Coco Crisp most of the time he doesn't get to flash a lot of his range. He has a career fielding percentage of .985 (respectable) but has only turned one double play in his career, which shows that his footwork/positioning could use some work. A lot of it is coincidental, that is true, but as a rule of thumb, that could be why. Similarly, Abreu has a fielding percentage of .992 with 3 errors in 299 innings while Cespedes has made 8 career errors in just over 2,100 innings. All things considered, outfield is a lower stress than first base, and first base is the lowest stress of all the infield positions, but I'm giving the edge to Cespedes here. 

But you don't pay these dudes to field. You pay them to rake. And this is why I would take Abreu. Not just because he's leading the league in home runs and RBI's (well, that's quite nice) but he is a better situational hitter. Abreu has more strike outs and fewer walks than Cespedes, but he has also hit into fewer double plays - in 5 more games. Cespedes has more sac flies, but a lot of that can be contributed to Oakland's high powered offense (especially this year, sweet mercy) and Chicago's, well, offense. In the past, Cespedes's offensive numbers have been in impressive, but nowhere near Abreu's.

Average:
YC: .264, JA: .260
Home runs: YC: 24 (average career), JA on pace for 55 this year
RBI: YC: 81, JA on pace for 155
Slugging %: YC: .472, JA .595

I'm taking Abreu. 

Thanks for reading. 

The Top 10 Under 25

First off, let me say that the Jose Fernandez injury is devastating. To the Marlins, to fans, to young pitchers, and to my fantasy team, it is a heartbreaker to see one of the games most promising young arms (and clear heads) go down in flames so early into his career. Well not down in flames, but at least for the season. I saw a tweet (apologies, I do not remember who tweeted it) the other day saying if Fernandez has his surgery within the month, he will be back before his 23rd birthday, so comparatively he will still be in great shape, but with the beginning of his season, he could have been in the Cy Young conversation. Anyway, between that and my birthday coming up, I've decided to rank the top 10 players under 25. I was going to do the top 5 but there is no way I could narrow it down. 

This is not a list of players or prospects with the most upside, it is just the top 5 best players that have not reached their 25th birthday yet. 

1. Mike Trout, Angels, age 22, born 8/7/1991
Is there really any debating this? Rookie of the Year, back-to-back runner up MVP, 40-40 capability, Silver Slugger. Lethal weapon, almost 23 years old. Numbers are a little down this year compared to first few years (leads AL in K's), but he'll come around.

2. Jose Fernandez, Marlins, age 21, born 7/31/1992
Arguably could be above Trout, but he does only have one year, and I don't want to be the bad guy - could be beginner's luck. I certainly don't think that's the case given his hot start this year (just ask the Braves), leading the league in K's and FIP. As I mentioned earlier, the sky is the limit for this kid and its a shame he has to miss the rest of 2014. 

3. Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins, age 23, born 11/8/1989
So you know in baseball video games when you create a player and ratchet his power ALL the way up? That's Stanton. His home runs are absolute moonshots (at least 3 home runs 450+ feet; 12 of that distance the past 4 years) and this year has been a huge improvement for contact in general. He leads the NL in RBI and total bases and is batting .325/.411/.611. If the season were to end today, they would be career highs. 

4. Yasiel Puig, Dodgers, age 23, born 12/7/1990
A very impressive physical specimen. If Puig can keep his attitude in check, he could rule the league. A lot of his game is similar to Trout's, but maybe a little more power and a little less speed. He'll be an All-Star staple for the next 10-15 years. He also has a cannon for an arm from right field. 

5. Freddie Freeman, Braves, age 24, born 12/12/1989
Shocked when I found out that Freeman is only 24. Rookie of the Year runner up, 5th in MVP last year, already off to .307/.379/.520 start this year for an underperforming Atlanta. I'm so excited to see this pretty lefty swing for the next few years as he develops into his prime. 

6. Nolan Arenado, Rockies, age 23, born 4/16/1991
Last year's Gold Glove third baseman, I though Arenado would be a defensive-only guy. This year has proven me wrong; he is off to a .315 start and boasted a smooth 28-game hitting streak earlier this year, where he hit .360 through that stretch. The game in which he lost his streak was also very impressive, when he took a walk in the top of the 9th and came around to score a run. That selflessness will come in handy. 

7. Chris Sale, White Sox, age 25, born 3/30/1989
My jaw hit the floor when I found out that Sale is only 25 (technically this list is for the under-25s but he hasn't pitched enough to count his age 25 season...that works, right?). Back to back All-Star seasons, top 5 CYA voting last year, 6th place in CYA voting in 2012. Strikeout machine and ERA wizard, he deserves to be on a better team than the White Sox. Only thrown 27 innings so far.

8. Manny Machado, Orioles, age 21, born 7/6/1992
Can you say Brooks Robinson? The Orioles third baseman of the 60s/70s won 16 straight Gold Gloves and an MVP season while hitting a career .322. Machado could be the same (defensively for sure) making highlight plays every time he steps on the diamond. Doubles machine (led the league last year) and great fit for the juggernaut O's offense. 

9. Eric Hosmer, Royals, age 24, born 10/24/1989
Has been a little inconsistent throughout his career. Burst onto the scene his rookie year, fell off in 2012, and reestablished his presence last year hitting .302 and 34 doubles. Off to another good start, hitting .304 and more power to the gaps this year with 15 doubles so far. Only one home run though. Defending Gold Glover at first base. 

10. Salvador Perez, Royals, age 24, born 5/10/1990
Look out. One of the best young catchers out there. Defending Gold Glover, 2013 All-Star, but only hitting .275 so far this year. Not bad, but given his past few years, you can expect a little more out of him. High quality contact hitter, low strikeouts/walks. 

Honorable Mentions
Danny Salazar, Indians (24) - would have been higher but off to a slow start this year (1-3, 5.65 ERA). Good stuff, needs to work in a little more effective offspeed pitches with a heavy fastball that doesn't move.

Wil Myers, Rays (23) - defending AL ROY, also off to a very slow start (.252, .314 OBP, 4 home runs). Still has a very high ceiling. 

Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays (24) - injury prone, plays the game with reckless abandon (sometimes good, sometimes bad). Average has declined so far every year he's been in the league, but hasn't played consistently enough to get a rhythm.

There you have it. I'm shocked I'm not on this list though, I do think I'm right up there with Trout. Seriously though, you'll see I didn't include Bryce Harper, that's because I think Bryce Harper is not as good as any of these guys you see here. He just gets the most publicity. He hit .270 and won the ROY. Come on. 

I know the media will hate me for not including him, but I think he has a lot of growing up to do. 

I'm going to bed. I worked like 12 hours today or something and I am drained. Thank you for reading and go young guns!

The Birthday Extravangaza!

May is a very busy birthday month in my life. First of all, I'd like to wish my beautiful grandmother the happiest of birthdays. Brandon Inge and I are next week, and a few other notable folks born on this particular date include Lou Whitaker and Yogi Berra.

Whitaker, a career Tiger, played from the young age of 20 in 1977 to age 38 in 1995. He was always a durable second baseman, averaging 138 games played from '78 to '93. He was also known for incredibly slick defense, winning three consecutive Gold Gloves in 1983, World Series winning 1984, and 1985. Whitaker is one of 19 second basemen of all time to win 3 or more Gold Gloves - he's no Alomar (10) or Mazeroski (9) but he was always dependable, finishing his career with a .984 fielding percentage, good for 50th all-time. In fact, Bleacher Report named Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker the best double play combination in history. Matt Snyder, author for CBS Sports, declares that though the stats wouldn't rank them at the top, Tram and Whitaker were organizational strongholds for more than a decade and both churned out defensive durability on the regular. 

The greatest double play combination of all time. 

Whitaker was never an offensive weapon, but he was dependable. Finishing his career with a .276 average and 2,342 hits in his career, Lou spent most of his time as either the leadoff (4,268 plate appearances) or second hitter (3,461 plate appearances), where he hit .283 for his career, so when he shifted down, things went south. Also very interesting, he hit .313 in Tigers' wins and only .235 in Tigers' losses, which goes to show how important he was to the Tigers' wellbeing. 

Is Whitaker a Hall of Famer? Defensively and intangibly, I think so. He was an amazing leader and great leadoff hitter (career .363 on-base percentage), and a top-of-the-line defender. He only received 2.9% of the vote in his first year on the ballot for the Hall, which means that he had to be removed from the ballot, and now his only hope is the Era Based Committee. If I had a vote, I don't think I'd give it to him, unfortunately. Great player, but not one of the top 1% of all time. 

I'm just realizing how bad of a birthday present that is. Sorry Lou. 

Yogi can eat his birthday cake in the Hall of Fame for all he cares, but only if he can get his hardware out of the way. Yogi may be the most decorated player of all time, with 10 World Series rings (yes, TEN), 3 MVPs, and All-Star selections from 1947 to 1962.

Yogi Berra and his hardware.

I don't really think anything I say will do justice to his illustrious career, but to have played for the Bronx Bombers for so long and still be so successful I think is absolutely incredible. What an amazing career, and remember, if there's a fork in the road, take it (words from Yogi himself). 

Happy birthday one and all and thank you for reading. 

Joe Torre's Big Day

Today, the Yankees retired Joe Torre's jersey #6 after his service to the Bronx Bombers as a manager for 12 seasons. Torre is also being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year as a manager, along with Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa. He is certainly one of the greatest managers of our generation, winning 4 World Series and another 2 pennants with the Yankees. What I think is pretty cool is that with his number 6 retired now, the Yankees are one number away from having every number 1-10 retired. The only one missing: #2. In a few years when Jeter is away from the game, his will be retired and that will be a day of joy in my heart. No Yankees player will ever to wear a single-digit uniform number again. Wow.

But back to Torre. Sure, he was a great manager and continued the Yankees dynasty through the heights of the Steinbrenner era. But he was also a fantastic player, and if you ask me, could have gotten into the Hall of Fame as a player as well. He was a career .297 hitter with 2,342 hits, an MVP, and runner up in Rookie of the Year. But that's an argument for a later day. 

I think Torre is the greatest player and manager combination of the post-integration era. After players no longer managed and managing was a specific, tailored skill, it took a special baseball mind to excel at both. A couple other names that come to mind are Ozzie Guillen, Don Mattingly, and Lou Piniella. Guillen won Rookie of the Year in 1985 for the Sox but after that didn't really amount to much. He was a 3-time All-Star and a career .264 hitter. As a manager, he won the 2005 World Series but was more known for his colorful outbursts and rants that resulted in massive fines and suspensions. Mattingly was an incredible hitter in his day, collecting a career .307 average and winning the 1985 MVP.

He was a total bases and doubles machine and was always in the Silver Slugger/MVP conversation. His managerial career is off to a decent start with the Dodgers; they've gone above .500 in his 3 years and are currently 19-16 in the NL West. Many picked the Dodgers to win it all this year, and if he can somehow juggle the loud personalities of Puig and Hanley Ramirez, then he could follow Torre's footsteps and be an excellent baseball personality. As for Sweet Lou, he had long careers in both managing and playing, but was not really great at either. He won 1 World Series with the Reds in 1990 and was barely over .500 for the rest of his managing career. He led the Mariners to AL record 116 wins - but didn't do anything with it. He won Manager of the Year 3 times, the three years in which he compiled the most wins. He is similar to Ozzie Guillen in the fact that he won the Rookie of the Year award, but after that didn't do much. One All-Star game, no silver sluggers, no gold gloves. He was a career .291 hitter, but only averaged playing in 103 games a year. 

Mattingly is still new, but for the most part, Torre is the best player and manager combination. Greatest player? Not at all. Greatest manager? Maybe, there's a talk about it. Both? No question.

Congrats, Joe.

Courtesy of MLB on Instagram.

Thanks for reading. 

The Longest Game Ever

Hello, hello again. I'm sorry I have been absent, I began my job with the West Michigan Whitecaps (Single-A affiliate of the Tigers) last week and have been pretty busy with that. On Monday, the Whitecaps didn't just go into extra innings against the Indians' youngsters Lake County Captains, but they essentially played two games - an 18-inning affair in which the Whitecaps snuck out a win in the bottom of the 18th. That led me to believe that a fun post to write would be about the longest game ever played. 

The longest professional game ever took place in April of 1981 between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox, a AAA matchup between International League East teams. It took 8 hours and 25 minutes and when all was said and done, it was Pawtucket 3, Rochester 2 in 33 innings. 

It was so long in fact that it took two days to finish up. The game began at 7 o'clock, the normal start time for baseball games. It began on a chilly April night and continued so deep into the night that the 33rd inning had to be played in June. I think it's pretty funny that the two teams managed to play that long and then only played one inning at the later date. It's the baseball gods way of saying they should have stuck it out. 

Dan Barry's book Bottom of the 33rd does an amazing job recounting the game and its feats. Not only does he give a great play-by-play of the marathon game, but also delves into the personal careers of some of the individual players. It makes for a great read and I learned a lot about a number of the players involved.

Speaking of which, this game had a number of household (well, at least baseball) names in it, namely Cal Ripken, Jr. and Wade Boggs. Batting 2nd and playing third, Ripken went 2-13 for the Red Wings while Boggs had a better game, collecting 4 hits in 12 at-bats and an RBI. Other notable names: Chris Bourjos, father of Cardinals outfielder Peter Bourjos, started in left field and went 2-4 with an RBI for Rochester; Steve Grilli, losing pitcher and father of Pirates closer Jason Grilli; and Bruce Hurst, a 145 game winner for the Red Sox and Padres. 

Other notes from that game:

• Dave Koza, who never got a Major League appearance, led the game with 5 hits. He was a .263 career minor league hitter.
• No runs were scored from the 22-top the the 33rd. 
• Dennis Cregg, the home plate umpire, squatted back there for every single pitch. The umpires' only break was to use the restroom. No sitting like the players. 
• Russ Laribee, Pawtucket DH, went 0-11. 1981 was his last season in professional baseball and he too never saw Major League play. 

Things you can do in 8 hours and 25 minutes: 

• Drive from Detroit to Philadelphia.
• Watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy (no director's cut, sorry).
• Watch an entire season of The Office (as long as the Christmas special isn't too long).
• Cook a mean chili.
• Read nearly my entire blog.

The longest Major League (MiLB is still considered professional) game was in 1920 between the then Boston Braves and then Brooklyn Dodgers. The game ended in a 1-1 tie after 26 innings, taking only 3 hours and 50 minutes.

The longest 9-inning Major League game was between the Yankees and Red Sox in August of 2006. The final score was 14-11 Yankees, and the game lasted 4 hours and 45 minutes. What's worse is that that was the second game of a double-header, the first of which took 3:55. 

Thanks for reading.