2010 MLB Awards

Well it's officially MLB awards week. So that means it's time for theSportStew to dive into the award naming process also. The 2010 baseball season was awesome with what seemed like nightly remarkable occurrences. It started with Mark Buehrle's incredible web gem and ended with two long shots, the Giants and Rangers, playing in the World Series. The Twins moved outside. Squeeze in six no hitters, really should be seven, which included two perfect games. Pujols clubbed his 400th home run. A-Rod joined the 600 home run club. Trevor Hoffman become the inaugural climber of the 600 save mountain and Billy Wagner notched his 400th career save. Ichiro extended his own record of consecutive 200-hit seasons to ten and collected his 10th gold glove. By the way, Ichiro has only played in the States 10 years. Jamie Moyer, present day proof there is a fountain of youth somewhere, had a record breaking year. He became the oldest player to toss a complete game at the ripe age of 47 and also allowed the 506th gopher ball of his career. We got to see the magic of Strasburg captivate the baseball world, briefly, and a plethora of rookie talent invaded the bigs. It was just a great year to be a baseball fan.

And to get to the point. Here are theSportStew MLB Award winners presented with Topps baseball cards.


AL MVP

Josh Hamilton, TEX (2)....93
Miguel Cabrera, DET (1).....69
Jose Bautista, TOR..........34
Robinson Cano, NYY.........12








NL MVP

Joey Votto, CIN (3)..............105
Albert Pujols, STL.........69
Carlos Gonzales, COL.......24
Ryan Braun, MIL.............11









AL CY YOUNG

Felix Hernandez, SEA (2)...81
CC Sabathia, NYY..................57
David Price, TB (1)...................35
Justin Verlander, DET.............23
John Lester, BOS..................11







NL CY YOUNG

Roy Halladay, PHI (3)..........105
Adam Wainwright, STL....57
Ubaldo Jimenez, COL...........45









AL ROY

Neftali Filez, TEX (3).........105
Austin Jackson, DET.............34
Brennan Boesch, DET...........34
Wade Davis, TB.....................11
Brian Matusz, BALT..............11







NL ROY

Jason Heyward, ATL (1)........53
Buster Posey, SF (1).............53
Jaime Garcia, STL (1)........35
Mike Stanton, FLA................34
Gabby Sanchez, FLA.............11
Stephen Strasburg, WAS....11


















AL MANAGER

Ron Gardenhire, MIN (2)........93
Ron Washington, TEX (1)....69
Joe Madden, TB.......................45









NL MANAGER

Dusty Baker, CIN (2)................93
Bobby Cox, ATL (1)................81
Bud Black, SD.......................23
Kirk Gibson, ARI......10

Home Run Derby Chat

MLB Front Office Manager Year 2

We just wrapped up Season 2 of MLB Front Office Manager – Kansas City Royals. Coming into the season the goal was to improve the organizations .348 winning percentage from the first season. I’m already on the hot seat so if this goal isn’t reached, I might be GM of a different team. Maybe the Pirates would be fun. Because of payroll limits, free agent Prince Fielder was lost to the Yankees. The Evil Empire signed Matt Holliday also. I implemented a new plan and signed tons of minor leaguers with high potential. The Single A and Rookie League teams almost had a complete personnel turnover. The extra prospects were then used to sweeten some trade offers and the results were good. The Royals added Geo Soto from the Cubs, the Orioles’ Adam Jones, Justin Upton from the D-Backs, Carlos Gonzales from Oakland, and Milwaukee’s promising shortstop Alcides Escobar. The Rule 5 Draft also netted some young guns to put in the Royals bullpen. I’m excited for the new season.

The season begins and the Royals are actually better. After the first two months of the season, we’re only four games out of the wildcard hunt. This might get interesting. Fast forward… KC has already won more games than last season’s squad and is sitting at 64-64 for the season. Post season play is out of reach unfortunately. Apparently the pressure from the media is too much for the young team as the Royals lose 28 of their final 36 games and finish with 70 wins and 92 defeats. Did I mention I’m on the hot seat again? That last stretch was a killer. On a good note, The Burlington Bees made the playoffs in the Class A Midwest League and advanced to the second round before bowing out. The season was a success in my eyes as most teams in the organization improved their win totals from last year.

Sorry, but I’m a stats guy, so here are some winners and losers. Alcides Escobar was named the team MVP for Season 2. He finished the season with some nice numbers. Escobar led the team with a .303 avg., 214 hits, 96 runs, 60 doubles, and 81 RBI. Centerfielder Hector Giraldo of the Burlington Bees was named the Minor League Player of the Year. Giraldo had a monster season as he racked up a .346 avg., 33 HR, 133 RBI, and an OPS of 1.064. Luke Hochevar was the letdown of the season. He went 0-9 as a starter, followed up with a short 0-2 stint as setup man, and ended the season on the bench. It’s a good thing he’s cheap. A final note, the Cincinnati Reds beat the Minnesota Twins in the World Series.

Organization records:
Kansas City Royals..........70-92
Omaha Royals.................66-78
NW Arkansas Naturals....46-94
Wilmington Blue Rocks...47-93
Burlington Bees...............93-47
Burlington Royals............32-36
Idaho Falls Chukars.........40-36

Bucs Bring up Alvarez

The Pittsburgh Pirates have promoted the 2nd overall pick in the 2008 MLB draft to the bigs. Alvarez has some lofty potential. How will the Pirates handle him?

Buster Posey Joins the Giants

The much heralded top prospect of the Giants got called up. Buster Posey made his season debut May 29th and hasn't disappointed. Posey is hitting 6-12 and has 4 RBIs in his first three games. Here is what the MLB Network had to say about Posey before the season started...

Halladay Steals the Day

What a day in baseball. It starts with Indian's pitcher David Huff getting hit in the head by a line drive. Carlos Silva becomes the first Cub pitcher since 1967 to start a season 7-0. Kendry Morales hits a walk off grand slam to give the Angels the win, then breaks his leg in the House of Pain "Jump Around" celebration at home plate. But Roy Halladay stole the headlines as he pitched the 20th perfect game in Major League history...

Framing Hanley - Lollipop

He’s been one of the top shortstops since being promoted to the big leagues in 2006. A two-time NL All-Star, the winner of the 2006 NL Rookie of the Year, and the NL leader in batting average last season. The guy swings a monster stick, as evidence by his Silver Slugger awards, and puts up huge numbers from what is typically seen as a weak hitting position. I almost forgot to mention he’s a super stud in the video games. Apparently, he also thinks he is more important than his teammates. Who is this? It’s Hanley Ramirez, my friends.

What the baseball fans witnessed Ramirez do earlier this week was pathetic. The Marlins have made him the cornerstone of their franchise and he gets paid pretty descent money to perform. There isn’t any excuse for not hustling to first base or the dreaded kick save jog after the ball thing that we’re seen hundreds of times by now. Ramirez stated that his shin was sore but it wasn’t bothering him during the play. That throws out the only understandable reason. Not to be outdone, Ramirez accused some of his teammates of dogging it and ripped his manager’s decision the bench him. Ramirez wasn’t going to apologize. Then he did and said all the right words. Now he’s back in the lineup.

I have to say I totally agree with Gonzales’s decision to bench him. In fact he should have let Ramirez “rest” his ailing shin a couple of more games. The fans will surely forget about this incident quickly, especially if he has another great season, but don’t expect his teammates to be so nice. Ramirez is surely going to get the cold shoulder for awhile. Not to mention the whispers and talk behind his back. Hell, his pitchers probably won’t protect him at the plate anymore. Bring on the brushbacks. Unfortunately for Ramirez, it’s all well deserved, but he isn’t the first player to be lazy during a play and he won’t be the last. It reminds me of the locker room scene from Bull Durham. “Bunch of lollygaggers, lollygagging around.” My advise...grow up! Here's a lollipop.

Happy Mothers Day

The Oakland A's Dallas Braden threw the 19th perfect game in MLB history. What made this even sweeter? It's Mother's Day. Congrats.

Tasered!

Wow, what is going on with those Phillies’ fans this year? First, you have a drunken guy make himself vomit on a little girl and her cop dad. Then a fan runs on the field in back to back games, which the second guy did even though the culprit got nailed with a stun gun the night before. Philadelphia has always been know for having obnoxious fans, even the show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” had an episode were the fans were crazy. By the way, that is a damn funny show with Danny DeVito added to the cast. Well, anyway, there has been a huge amount of scrutiny towards the peace officer that used the stun gun. Most people believe the officer used excessive force to stop what everyone perceives as a cute non threatening teenager. Being a full fledged member of the Field Runners Club, I inadvertently ran onto the field at a Northern Iowa football game against Morehead St. back in 1993; I have to say I agree with what the officer did. These irresponsible fans need to be subdued as quickly as possible. The fan is knowingly breaking the law by trespassing and it’s unpredictable what they will do in the heat of the moment. In my experience, as soon as I hit the playing field, my original plan vanished in a rush of adrenaline, and survival mode kicked in. Very rarely is there intent to hurt anyone, but we shouldn’t forget when Royals coach Tom Gamboa got attacked by two fans in 2002. Plus the footage of the guy getting tasered and doing a face plant was pretty funny.

MLB Front Office Manager

I recently upgraded to the PS3 and got the game MLB Front Office Manager by 2KSports. If you’re not familiar with the game, the premise is that you run a baseball organization from the Major Leagues all the way down through the farm system. If you need any other information, visit Google. I picked the Kansas City Royals as my first General Manager job. It seems a small market team would present more of a challenge because of payroll restrictions. As we rolled thru the arbitration and free agent periods the Royals scored a couple of big stars for the roster. We added Prince Fielder, Ben Sheets, and Chad Billingsly from the free agent market. Things looks good, the pitching rotation is stacked with Sheets and Billingsly joining Greinke, Meche, and Hochevar. That’s tough. I’m excited.

The season begins and then reality sits in. The Royals suck. Injuries added insult and decimated the team. As the season came to a close, the Royals have a strong hold on last place in the AL Central. We finished 61-101. I think the funny part was that I received an email from the owner that said my performance was very poor. Ha ha. I’m on the hot seat. Things can only get better.

Since I’m a stats guy, we named Prince Fielder the team MVP. He finished the season with some nice numbers; .303 avg., 32 HR, 109 RBI, .958 OPS; even though he missed almost of month. The Minor League Player of the Year was Ronnie Hansen. Hansen played shortstop for the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals and racked up a .309 avg., 20 HR, 65 RBI, and an OPS of .944. Billingsly was a massive free agent bust and was demoted to setup man towards the end of the season. His 5.39 ERA led to a 6-18 record. Pathetic. He’s on the trading block over the offseason. One final note, the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.

Organization records:
Kansas City Royals..........61-101
Omaha Royals.................48-96
NW Arkansas Naturals....48-92
Wilmington Blue Rocks...47-93
Burlington Bees...............53-87
Burlington Royals............17-51
Idaho Falls Chukars.........29-47

Dale Sveum: You What?

We were watching the Cubs-Brewers game on WGN last night and I heard the name Dale Sveum. The last thing I remember about Sveum, he broke his leg in a collision with another player and it pretty much ended any impact on the game that he might have. What’s Dale up to now? I’m sorry I asked. He is entering his second season as the hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers. Let me repeat that. Sveum is the hitting coach for the Brewers. He is supposed to teach the art of hitting to others. He is responsible for helping players make adjustments so they become better hitters. Why am I so astonished? Over a career that lasted 12 seasons, Sveum had a batting average of .236. That’s not very good. Let’s add another whooping fact; Sveum has more career strikeouts (656) than hits (597). So the Brewers are paying Dale Sveum to mold their young nucleus of potential superstars, namely Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. All things aren’t looking down, though; Sveum’s nickname is “Nuts” and apparently he knows what he’s doing. Through the opening 16 games of the season the Brewers are third in the Major Leagues in batting average at .285 and forth in on base percentage at .366.

Jimenez No Hitter

Ubaldo Jimenez tosses the 1st no-hitter in Rockies franchise history...

Cantu in the Record Book

Jorge Cantu's record breaking streak has ended. The Marlins' Cantu set a Major League record for consecutive games to start a season with a hit and an RBI. The Phillies and Doc Halladay put an end to the streak at 10 games. Cantu did have a chance to extend the streak in both the 8th and 9th innings but instead left 5 runners on base for the game. Cantu racked up 15 RBIs during the streak and is tied for the Major League lead. Hey, you can't do that. Wait, yes you Cantu.

What we know....What we think

Just a couple weeks in, but it's always fun to see who gets off to a fast start and manges to hang around and get all the fans excited for a pennant race. Even more fun to laugh at the experts, and even more fun to out guess and predict them. So around the league we go.

AL WEST - Rangers and A's are off to good starts. This is the division where everyone took the sleeper pick Seattle Mariners. At what point does it quit being a "sleeper" pick, when everyone is picking them. If Seattle ends up sucking, it's going to throw all the people on the defensive stats bandwagon right over a cliff. Actually the whole division is off to a pathetic offensive start. It's all pitching out west, and yes even the Rangers are pitching well. The A's would be a huge story and our personal favorite. We are rooting for them big time. Something to hold on to to make you think it's possible...The A's and Rangers have the 2 best ERA's in the AL so far. And the A's are supposed to have a lot of young stud pitching on the way up in June or July. Could get interesting if they continue to hang around. Plus the A's are always a 2nd half of season team.

AL CENTRAL - The White Sox got a lot of love in the preseason. Not from us. Not sure what everyone sees with these misfits. They're in it early though. Just a game back behind Twins and Tigers. Right where they left off. Nothing would be better than another pennant race between Tigers and Twins (with Twins winning again). So far pitching is ruling this division also. Here is a thought....good pitching beats good hitting. That's as old as baseball. Why are we always trying to reinvent the wheel? The Royals are actually out hitting the division easily right now. They are also playing the Tigers every day it seems. Could this be the season the Royals stay in late into the season? Nothing could be better for baseball. By the way...Cleveland sucks.

AL EAST - Blah, blah, blah...Red Sox and Yankees are leading...wait...Toronto and Tamp Bay are tied for division lead? Shhhh...maybe nobody will notice and the east coast will realize the baseball world does not revolve around New York and Boston. Maybe.

NL EAST - Phillies are trying to run away early and hide. The pitching in Philadelphia is awesome!! Not just Doc Halladay, but Cole Hamels looks good (BTW my great war room call during fantasy draft). Everyone likes the Braves, but I just don't see it. Would make a great story for Bobby Cox and his last season, but it will take more than that monster Jason Heyward to out last the Phillies. I'm secretly shocked the Mets are as bad as everyone thought. Have we let Omar the GM dick this up long enough in New York yet?

NL CENTRAL - Snobby St Louis fans are convinced they will runaway with the season, but it looks like a team ready for a breakdown to us. Injuries plus the 50 game suspension for Pujols is surely going to slow them down and let the Cubs keep it close. Cheering for the Reds though. Would be great to see 'The Big Red Machine" back in contention. RIP Astros.

NL WEST - No way in Hell can the Giants keep their hot start alive. The Dodgers are hitting the shit out of the ball and when the pitching comes around...and you have to assume it will...they look to streak back to the top of the standings. Manny for MVP??? I would love to be forced to have that conversation. It could happen...really....it could!

Rangers Tab New Closer

The Texas Rangers had seen enough. Frank Francisco was dropped from his closer role after some ridiculously bad outings and 2 blown saves. Francisco's ERA did drop down to 18.00 but it was too late. Coach Ron Washington stated he wants Francisco to pitch in situations that don't matter. Thanks coach. Next up, a 21 year old fireballer that routinely hits triple digits on the radar gun. Neftali Feliz was originally signed by the Atlanta Braves in 2005 and the Rangers picked up this gem in the 2007 Mark Teixeira trade. Feliz quickly climbed the teams minor league ladder and earned a late season call up last year. Feliz made 20 appearances for the Rangers and made a lasting impression by striking out 4 batters in 2 innings on his Major League debut. Team brass think Feliz can be a starter in the future but he'll get a great chance to mature now as the closer while Francisco regains his form. MLB Network had him as the #7 ranked prospect for 2010, and here is what they had to say...

Fantasy Baseball Week 1

The first week of the baseball season is in the books, and so the SportStew domination begins, hopefully. We have two teams, one in an auction league and the other in a draft league. In the draft league, which we are the North Iowa SportStew, we built a pitching heavy team. On the offensive side of the plate we wanted stolen bases and runs. The plan worked great. The SportStew won their matchup 6-4 behind some great offensive performances and actually lost ground on the pitching side. Our auction team, Baron von Awesome, is filled with players we liked and wanted to route for but picked with no strategy in mind. Baron von Awesome tied 5-5 and without any plan the results were all over the board. But fantasy keeps you watching bad games and teams because you have a vested interest. We love it. Our Fantasy MVP of the Week was Roy Halladay on the SportStew. He made two starts during the week and picked up 2 wins. He also had 17 strikeouts and only allowed 1 earned run.

Hello, Jon Rauch

The Minnesota Twins were marching into the 2010 season and excitement was at a high level. The Twins were coming off a Central Division title and had signed home town hero, Joe Mauer, to an extension that should have Mauer retiring as a Twinkie. The new outdoors stadium, Target Field, is set to open. Expectations were out the roof. Get that one? Baseball was good in the Twin Cities.

KABOOM. That sound was Joe Nathan’s right arm. Nathan announced that he will undergo “Tommy John” surgery to replace the ligament in his elbow. The Twins will be without one of the best closers in the game and now have a gaping hole in the bullpen.

Fret not Twin fans; meet your new closer, Jon Rauch. Rauch is the 6 foot, 11 inch tall monster that Minnesota picked up in a trade with the Diamondbacks last August and he just happens to be the tallest player in MLB history. He’s a journeyman reliever that was originally drafted in 1999 out of Morehead St and won a Gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games. The guy has so many tattoos, they all have special meaning by the way, that Sports Illustrated did a story on him in 2007. Here is the link. Rauch has turned a question mark into a major strength this first week of the season. With some scruffy facial hair and his visible neck tattoo, which happens to be two wedding rings intertwined that symbolize his marriage, Rauch has turned up the intimidation factor. Great results have followed. Rauch leads the Major Leagues with 4 saves in 4 chances, has allowed only one run, and has no walks in 4 innings of work. If Rauch can keep this up, Joe Nathan might be looking for a new home.

Beat The Streak....

In less than 24 hours, the Baseball Gods giveth...and then taketh away. Wednesday night I had Miguel Cabrera in my Beat The Streak game. He starts the game 0 for 3 against the Royals. The Royals! Where did they find pitching all of a sudden? Anyway...bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, and up comes Cabrera. By the way, I'm following all this on my Blackberry. Did I mention I really believe I will win the $3 million this year. So now Cabrera goes down 0-2 in the count. Then fouls off about 8 pitches. Then suddenly....WHAMMY....HOME RUN!!! The streak is alive in exciting fashion. Then the other voice in my head....SHIT!!! I like the Royals, and they just pissed away another one. Luckily KC came back to get their 1st win. Everything is right with the world. I look to see who I have tomorrow in the streak. Just a decent hitter named Albert Pujols. That's a lock. I'll be at 5 in the streak, and mentally I start spending some of the $3 million. I wonder how much you get after taxes? Could I just take out $50,000 and invest the rest and retire....and really not spend the savings? Yes....yes, I could.

Flash forward to the next day. Pujols playing against the Reds, and some chick is pitching (Bronson Arroyo). Money in the bank baby! Needless to say, Pujols goes 0-3 and gets walked in the 8th of a close game. Obviously the best game that chick will pitch all year. Suddenly she's Dotty from a League Of Their Own. Son of a bitch!!! $3 Million down the tubes. Time to put some serious thought into this. I need spreadsheets, split screens, and a staff of people researching who will get a hit. I think I also have a theory that you shouldn't take the best hitters (Pujols, Mauer, etc..) in the Beat The Streak game. I believe they actually get less at bats. There has to be a middle ground of quality hitters, but not so good that pitchers pitch around them....It's just a theory.

Buehrle's Opening Day WebGem

Incredible play by the White Sox Mark Buehrle. Might be WebGem of the Year.

And we're off...

Baseball is finally here, and not a moment too soon. Not only is it great just to hear the sounds of baseball on radio or TV around the house, but you can start following teams and players you care nothing about thanks to Fantasy Baseball. We got ourselves into 2 leagues this year. Both live drafts. One auction and one straight forward draft. Nothing compares to the fun of a room full of guys with laptops and beers, but the online draft is pretty close. We went with a pitching heavy strategy in one of our Head 2 Head leagues. There are 5 categories for pitching and 5 for hitting, yet everyone drafts hitting for several rounds. So we hope to dominate pitching and pick up a point or 2 on offense and hence....dominate.

Also involved in the MLB.com Beat The Streak. It's 3 million dollars to the first person to break Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. I consider it my retirement plan.

So grab a cold beer, a bag of peanuts, and let's play ball!