Kuzul

Rawlings announced their American League Gold Glove winners on Tuesday. Let’s take a look at who won a Gold Glove in the AL in 2010.

P – Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox

C – Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

1B – Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees

2B – Robinson Cano, New York Yankees

SS – Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

3B – Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

OF – Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays

OF – Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle Mariners

OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners

I have a couple of thoughts on the award winners.

Ichiro won another Gold Glove in 2010

I think for the most part Rawlings got it right. Crawford, Gutierrez, and Ichiro were all deserving in the outfield and nobody can argue with Teixeira and Longoria at third.  Cano and Mauer were both deserving as well.

Cano, in particular, has really improved defensively. When he first came up with the Yankees, he had the arm, but the other aspects of playing the position weren’t there. Most importantly, the mental aspect.

Cano would take plays off from time to time and go after balls in a lackluster manner. Not anymore.

I think Larry Bowa deserves a lot of credit for that. He worked with Cano on a daily basis when he was a member of Joe Torre’s coaching staff and made Cano a much better fielder.

Now comes the part where we talk about the undeserving. The fact that Jeter would win a Gold Glove for his play in 2010 is an embarrassment to fielders everywhere.

By any advanced statistic you want to slice it by, Jeter had a terrible defensive year. Even if you didn’t go off advanced statistics, and watched Jeter on a daily basis, you saw the decline. Lack of range, lack of arm strength, you name it, it was there.

I shouldn’t be surprised by Jeter winning the Gold Glove. This has been going on for years. The Gold Glove award is now an overall achievement award rather than a defensive player award.

If a player has a great season offensively, there is a good chance he will be up for the Gold Glove award. I also think the award has become a lazy award. It seems as if a player wins the award one year, he will will continue to win the award just based on reputation.

The National League Gold Glove award winners will be announced on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see who wins that award at each position.

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Less than a week after the Detroit Tigers declined Jhonny Peralta‘s $7.25 million option, they have decided to bring him back.

According to the Associated Press, the Tigers have signed Peralta to a two-year, $11.25 million contract. Peralta hit .253/.314/.396 with eight home runs in 57 games for the Tigers last season after being acquired from the Cleveland Indians in July.

$5.6 million for Peralta is a fair deal. It’s not terrible, but its not great either.

After hitting .276/.331/.473 with 23 HR in 2008, Peralta has really fallen flat on his face the last two years. In the last two years, Peralta has hit .252/.313/.383 with 26 HR total.

It will be interesting to see what the Tigers do with Peralta. Remember, he played third last year for the Indians and Tigers, and the Tigers just resigned Brandon Inge to a two-year deal similar to the one Peralta just signed a couple of weeks ago.

The most likely scenario is that the Tigers will leave Inge at third and move Peralta back to short where he played on a full time basis from 2003–2008. My concern with this scenario is that Peralta really isn’t a shortstop anymore.

He has very limited range, and usually once a guy moves off of SS, he doesn’t get moved back. With Inge at third (two bad knees), Peralta at short (limited range) and Miguel Cabrera at first (below average defensively), the Tigers don’t look like they will be sporting the best defensive infield in 2011.

The Tigers have a boatload of money to spend this offseason and so far, they have used it, for better or worse, to secure their left side of their infield. I think their next targets will be C Victor Martinez, LF Carl Crawford, and I think they will be a sleeper for LHP Cliff Lee.

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What would an offseason be without the San Diego Padres at least entertaining the thought of trading one of their better players? In an interview with XX1090 Sports Radio, Padres’ GM Jed Hoyer said he would listen to offers for star players Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell. No shock there.

I could certainly see why he would listen to offers for both players. There is very little chance the Padres will lock up Gonzalez long term, so why not get something for him before he walks. With Bell the Padres have two potential closers in Luke Gregerson and Mike Adams, so why pay Bell when they can spend that money elsewhere?

If the Padres are going to listen to offers for someone like Bell, let’s take a gander at his trade market. Here are the pros, cons and potential landing spots for the guy who won’t be sending pitching coach Rick Peterson a Christmas card anytime soon.

Pros

There are a lot of good things you can say about Bell, who can stake a claim at being the premier closer in the National League.

Over the last three years, Bell has seen his:

• ERA decrease each year (3.58 to 2.71 to 1.93).
• HR/9 decrease each year (0.58 to 0.39 to 0.13).
• K/9 increase each year (8.2/9 to 10.2/9 to 11/9).
• WAR increase each year (0.9 to 2.0 to 2.4)

That’s a pretty lethal combination for any pitcher to have. Bell has gotten better by the year, and at the age of 33, doesn’t appear to be slowing down at all.

Now a lot of people will point to pitching at Petco Park as the reason for Bell’s success. While the large dimensions certainly help, Bell’s success is not entirely tied to pitching at Petco.

As a matter of fact, Bell had better numbers on the road in 2010 than he did at home. Bell’s ERA was lower on the road (1.59 to 2.25), his batting average against was lower on the road (.213 to .229) and his OPS against was lower on the road as well (.576 to .594).

Bell is also extremely durable and has never been on the DL in his career. That is a pretty impressive track record for any pitcher.

Cons

There aren’t a lot of negative things to say about Bell. If we are going to nitpick, Bell saw his BB/9 rise to 3.6 in 2010, which was the highest of his career.

Bell also has had the luxury of pitching in the offensively challenged NL West for the past four years. Pitching against those lineups is a lot easier than pitching against American League lineups on a consistent basis.

The last con is Bell’s contract. Bell is a third-time arbitration eligible player. He made $4 million in 2010 and figures to make between $7-$8 million in 2011.

While $7-$8 million isn’t an exorbitant amount for a top flight closer considering some of the contracts we have seen recently, that type of contract eliminates a lot of teams as potential trade partners for the Padres.

Now that we have seen the pros and cons of Bell, let’s see who might be interested in the Oceanside, CA native.

Atlanta Braves

Billy Wagner has retired and now the Braves have an opening at the closer position. I personally think Craig Kimbrel is ready for the job, but if the Braves don’t think so, Bell could be a possibility.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks desperately need bullpen help and there is a connection there now that former Padres GM Kevin Towers is now in Arizona. However, I am not sure the Padres will trade Bell within the division.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays realized the value of having a top flight closer with Rafael Soriano this past season. Soriano is a free agent and the Rays could replace him with Bell.

Chicago White Sox

It’s no secret that the White Sox’s patience with Bobby Jenks is thin and there is a possibility that he might not be tendered a contract for 2011. The White Sox do have Matt Thornton waiting in the wings, but Bell could be a possibility if they don’t bring Jenks back.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Angels sent Brian Fuentes to the Minnesota Twins at the end of the 2010 season and now have Fernando Rodney penciled in to be the closer in 2011. I can’t take a team seriously that has Rodney as their closer. Bell would be a massive upgrade for the Angels.

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Thursday was a sad day for Major League Baseball, as they lost a Hall of Fame manager.

George “Sparky” Anderson passed away on Thursday at the age of 76 due to complications from dementia. According to his family, he had been placed in a hospice a day earlier.

Anderson managed in the Major Leagues for 26 years with the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers. He won World Series titles with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and with the Tigers in 1984.

His Reds teams were considered some of the best of all time. Ironically, I believe his ’84 Tigers team is the most underrated of all time. That team steamrolled through the regular season and won 104 games, but is never talked about as an all time team.

In terms of personal memories, I really don’t have too many regarding to Anderson, so I am not going to pretend to have any. I didn’t grow up in Detroit and I was born in 1977, so I don’t have any memories of his Big Red Machine teams.

Anderson will go down, and will always be remembered as, one of the greatest managers of all time. A lot of people will say he just had some great players. While that may be true, not everyone can manage talent.

He had the respect of everyone he managed. When you have great players who want to play for their manager, that’s a lethal combination.

Anderson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000 and ranks fifth all time in wins by a manager.

In another sad note, I would also like to take this time to say goodbye to Shelly Rosenberg. Shelly passed away Thursday night and was a major part of not only the Ocean Beach, NY softball community, but the entire Ocean Beach community as well.

Shelly was a great guy and a big loss to everyone who is associated with Ocean Beach softball.

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At least for one more year, the Boston Red will bring back one of the most popular players in franchise history.

The Red Sox picked up David Ortiz’s $12.5 million option for the 2011 season, which will be his ninth in a Red Sox uniform.

Ortiz is all smiles after Boston picked up his 2011 option

For both parties, this deal was a no brainer.

For the Red Sox, they bring back a guy who hit .270/.370/.529 with 32 HR’s in 145 games in 2010. Ortiz, even at 35, is still an integral part of the Red Sox offense. Ortiz led the Red Sox in HR’s and was third on the team in OPS (.899).

I think what gave Boston GM Theo Epstein the confidence to bring Ortiz back was the fact that Big Papi got better as the season progressed. After hitting a pathetic .143 with one HR in April, it looked as if Big Papi was a Post Toastie.

But then, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes (dramatic pause), Ortiz turned into a monster. He hit .363 with 10 HR’s in May and ended the season hitting .306 with five HR’s in September and October.

I think if he started off fast and then faded in the second half, Ortiz wouldn’t be returning to the Red Sox in 2011.

This deal also makes sense for the Red Sox because it’s a one-year deal. Giving a 35-year-old DH a two- or three-year deal wouldn’t have made much sense at all.

For Ortiz, he gets to return to the place that made him a superstar for one more season at a very good salary. Ortiz wanted a multi-year deal, but A) No team was going to give him that and B) No team would come close to giving him the $12.5 million he is going to earn in 2011.

Odds are if Ortiz hit the open market this offseason, he was looking at a $5–$6 million deal. At the end of the day, Ortiz lucked out by having the Red Sox pick up his option.

The Red Sox settled on their DH position on Thursday. Now if they can settle on their third base and catcher situation, they will really be in business in 2011.

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Two days after the Texas Rangers lost in the World Series to the San Francisco Giants, they were busy making plans for the 2011 season.

On Wednesday, the Rangers declined their $9 million option on DH Vladimir Guerrero. Big Vlad hit .300/.345/.496 with 29 HRs in 152 games in 2010 for the Rangers.

I think there are a couple of reasons the Rangers declined Guerrero’s option.

First, Guerrero really tailed off in the second half. After hitting .319/.364/.554 with 20 HRs in the first half, Vlad hit only .278/.322/.426 with nine HRs in the second half. On top of that, Vlad didn’t hit a HR in the postseason, and outside of one big hit against Phil Hughes, he didn’t hit at all in the postseason.

At 35, the Rangers are probably wondering if Vlad can make it through the entire season at a high level.

Second and the most important, paying an aging DH $9 million doesn’t make much sense. Even with Vlad’s great 2010 season, he only produced like a $10 million player, according to Fangraphs.

The odds are that Guerrero won’t put up the same numbers in 2011 as he did in 2010. So at $9 million, there is a very good chance that he won’t outperform his contract. Now at $4 to $5 million, however, there is a very good chance Vlad will outperform his contract.

And that’s why I think the Rangers will bring him back for around that amount.

Bringing back Vlad for $4 to $5 million makes sense, as he can still hit around 20 HRs if he can stay healthy. He also can still pound lefties, as he hit over .330 against southpaws in 2010.

Guerrero is now a free agent and free to sign with any team. But I fully expect him to be back in a Rangers’ uniform in 2011.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Now that the Major League Baseball season is officially over, we need to start thinking about the offseason. Here are some important dates that you may want to mark off on your calendar.

Nov. 7, 2010: Free-agent filing period and exclusive negotiating window ends at 12:01 a.m. ET. Free agents can sign with any team.

Nov. 9, 2010: AL Rawlings Gold Glove Awards

Nov. 10, 2010: NL Rawlings Gold Glove Awards

Nov. 15, 2010: AL, NL Rookie of the Year Awards

Nov. 16, 2010: NL Cy Young

Nov. 16, 2010: AL & NL Manager of the Year

Nov. 16-17, 2010: General Managers Meetings, Orlando, Fla.

Nov. 18, 2010: AL Cy Young

Nov. 22, 2010: NL Most Valuable Player

Nov. 23, 2010: AL Most Valuable Player

Nov. 23, 2010: Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to free agents in order to preserve their right to draft-pick compensation.

Nov. 30, 2010: Last day for free agents to accept salary-arbitration offers.

Dec. 2, 2010: Last day for teams to tender 2011 contracts to players under reserve.

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A couple of weeks ago, we took a look at some of the managerial happenings across baseball. Since then, we have had some new news concerning Major League managers.

Let’s take a look at what is going on across the Major Leagues.

Milwaukee Brewers Hire Ron Roenicke

This is a bit of a surprise as many thought, including myself, that the Brewers would hire Bobby Valentine. Instead, the Brewers hired one of my all-time favorite 80′s scrubs in Roenicke.

Roenicke has spent the last 11 years in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim organization, and the Mike Scioscia managerial tree just grows and grows. First it was Joe Maddon, then it was Bud Black and now it’s Roenicke.

Roenicke will inherit a team that finished 77-85 in 2010 and is kind of caught in the middle. Their offense is not great, but not bad, and the same can be said for their pitching staff as well. They really don’t do anything particularly well, but aren’t awful at any aspect of the game.

If Roenicke is a chip off the Scioscia block, then he will certainly bring a structure and organizational philosophy that will be used throughout the entire Brewer organization.

I would like to make a comment on Valentine if I may. When did he become the Messiah of managing that every team and their mother is interested in him?

What exactly has Valentine accomplished in his life that makes him the most wanted manager in baseball? His teams have never finished in first place and he has never won a World Series.

I still can’t figure out what all the fuss is about Valentine.

New York Yankees Extend Joe Girardi

The Yankees gave their manager a three-year extension worth roughly $9 million. The deal also includes $400,000-$500,000 in ALCS and World Series bonuses.

I am not surprised by the extension as I am about the timing of it. The Yankees wouldn’t give Girardi an extension after winning the World Series in 2009, but they give him one after he got pasted in the 2010 ALCS by the Texas Rangers? Seems odd to me.

It’s also odd that the Yankees would pay their managers anything. Managing the Yankees is like getting a job in the sports industry right out of college (fellow Sports Management majors in college will know what I am talking about).

Everyone wants a job in sports as a post graduate, so those jobs don’t pay anything. The Yankee job holds the same theory. Everyone wants it.

If Girardi wanted more money, the Yankees can tell him to go screw himself and manage the Pittsburgh Pirates. Let’s see how many wins Girardi gets with that team.

Toronto Blue Jays Hire John Farrell

The Blue Jays took the pitching coach from the division rival Boston Red Sox and made him the 12th manager of their franchise.

Managing in the AL East is a tough task, but Farrell is inheriting a team that could be a sleeper in 2011. The Blue Jays have a deep, young rotation that Farrell can take to the next level. Farrell worked well with Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester and could take Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Kyle Drabek to the next level.

He also will have a nice offense to work with as well. Aaron Hill and Adam Lind should have bounceback seasons and the Blue Jay offense is coming off a season where they led the majors in home runs.

We have a Part III of this series when the rest of the managerial positions get filled.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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I was floating around the Internet over the weekend, and I came across an interesting rumor. According to ESPNChicago.com’s Bruce Levine, the Arizona Diamondbacks will pursue free agent 1B Paul Konerko this offseason.

Now, of course this is what it is—a rumor. And rumors usually don’t lead to much, but if this is correct, and there is no reason to doubt Levine’s sources, I just have one question to the Diamondbacks.

Why?

Yes, I understand that Konerko is from Scottsdale, AZ. Yes, I understand Konerko still has a home in Scottsdale, AZ. And yes, I also understand that Konerko is coming off an MVP caliber season in which he hit .312/.393/.584 with 39 HR.

However, I don’t understand how Konerko would fit into the Diamondbacks immediate future. Konerko will be 35 in March, and the Diamondbacks don’t figure to challenge for a playoff spot for at least two or three years. The Diamondbacks have lost 189 games over the last two years, and things don’t figure to turn around quickly in the Valley of the Sun.

What’s the point of signing Konerko to a three or four-year deal when by the time the Diamondbacks turn into contenders, Konerko will be on his last legs. Plus, is Konerko that much of an improvement over current first baseman Adam LaRoche?

If both play to their 2010 stats, Konerko is about a two win improvement over LaRoche. Plus, I am 100 percent confident in saying Konerko won’t come anywhere close to repeating his 2010 season in 2011. I will venture to say he resembles more of his 2008 and 2009 seasons in which he averaged .260/.349/.466 with 25 HR.

Is that two win improvement worth not picking up the $7.5 million mutual option on LaRoche, investing $20–$30 million on a guy who is at the end of his career and retarding the progress of Brandon Allen? I don’t think it is.

The reason I say between $20–$30 million is because I can’t see Konerko signing anything less than a three-year deal. Maybe he signs a two-year deal with an option for a third, but three seems to be a likely scenario.

Also, do the Diamondbacks not believe Allen is the answer at first? Allen will be 25 at the start of spring training next year, and at some point the kids are going to need to be on their own.

The Diamondbacks are a young team, and they need to find out if Allen can play sooner rather than later. Another year at Triple A doesn’t help the Diamondbacks find that out.

So take this for what it’s worth, a rumor. But in my opinion, I think the Diamondbacks have two options: Either re-sign LaRoche, or let LaRoche go and see what Allen can do.

Option three doesn’t involve Konerko. They should let him re-sign with the Chicago White Sox, which is where I think he will be playing ball in 2011.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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As the old adage goes, “Good pitching will always beat good hitting.” In the case of the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers in the World Series, great pitching completely dismantled good hitting.

Giant pitchers completely dismantled the Rangers lineup in Games 1 through 4, and in Game 5 Tim Lincecum finished the deal. Lincecum tossed one of the more dominant games not only of the postseason but of the entire year, as the Giants beat the Rangers, 3-1, to win the 2010 World Series.

For six innings this game was flat out pitching porn. Lincecum and Cliff Lee were beautiful to watch. Both pitchers were on top of their game. Both pitchers were making hitters look extremely foolish.

Lincecum’s change-up, slider and fastball were almost unhittable. Even when the Rangers did mount any semblance of a rally, like when Mitch Moreland singled to lead off the inning in the bottom of the sixth, Lincecum just squashed it.

Moreland singled, and Lincecum then retired Elvis Andrus, Michael Young and Josh Hamilton on four pitches. It was as if Lincecum went from a 10 to a 15 on the “there is no way I am going to lose this game” scale.

Lee was equal to the task for six innings. In the first two-thirds of the game, Lee allowed three hits and struck out six. Then the top of the seventh happened.

If the first six innings were pitching porn, then the top of the seventh was the equivalent of the director cutting to the dude’s face in the middle of the scene—it just ruins everything.

Lee had Cody Ross and Juan Uribe down 0-2 in the count, and he lost them both. And if you think about it, he made the same mistake against both batters. Instead of throwing something off-speed to set up the fastball, Lee just came at them with fastballs—and paid for it.

The Giants were set up at first and second with nobody out and Aubrey Huff coming to the plate. The next sequence will tell you everything you need to know about why the Giants are World Series champs.

Huff has never had a sacrifice bunt in his Major League career. That is a fact. However, in this situation, a bunt was called for.

Huff proceeded to lay down a bunt that Juan Pierre couldn’t have done better himself. It was a bunt that went between Lee and Moreland, and Lee’s only play was to first. It was such a good bunt that Huff almost beat it out.

That’s how things went for the Giants this postseason. Bruce Bochy asked his players to do things—and not only did they do them, they executed to perfection.

Coincidentally, the Rangers and Ron Washington couldn’t do anything right. Moreland singled in the sixth, Washington called for a hit and run and Andrus flew out to center. Mission unaccomplished.

And just when things couldn’t get any worse for the Rangers and Ron Washington, they hit the mother load.

After a Pat Burrell strike out (shocker there), Lee had to deal with Edgar Renteria. Lee fell behind 2-0, and the consensus was to walk Renteria and face Aaron Roward, who is pretty much an automatic out these days.

Lee decided to pitch to Renteria—that was a huge mistake. Lee threw a fastball right over the middle, and Mr. Clutch hit one into the left-centerfield stands.

Game over. Series over.

Here are some other observations from Game 5.

Washington brought in Neftali Feliz in the eighth inning this game. Congratulations to Washington for finally realizing he wasn’t playing in August. It only took him 16 games into the postseason to realize this.

If Jennifer Aniston knocked on my door and said she wanted to sleep with me, it would be less surprising than a Burrell strike out. Burrell struck out 11 times in 13 World Series at-bats.

Congratulations to Renteria on winning the World Series MVP. For all the sabermatricians that believe “Clutch” doesn’t exist, I will introduce you to Mr. Renteria. The guy is money when it counts.

Brian Wilson didn’t allow a run the entire postseason. Simply amazing.

105 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Just saying.

The team that won the World Series had Cody Ross and Juan Uribe batting fourth and fifth. Again, simply amazing.

Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Jonathan Sanchez—best home grown rotation since ________? You fill in the blank. I will say the Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Rich Harden foursome of the early-2000 Oakland A’s.

Once again, congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning the World Series, and in turn pissing all over Moneyball and everything it preaches. Statistical analysis is important, but character and heart are even more so.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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