Kuzul

Last years regular season began with high hopes and great expectations for the Seattle Mariners.  They had had a very busy offseason as they acquired such players as Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley, and Casey Kotchman.

Unfortunately, the team fell way short of expectations and ended up with the worst record in the American League.  They were dead last in hitting in the major leagues and hit the fewest home runs in all of baseball as well.

The season was chaotic and treacherous as their new players were busts (except for Lee) and the clubhouse morale was bad.  Don Wakamatsu got the guillotine and the Mariners finished at a god awful 61-101 mark.

Once again, the AL West looks weak and if Seattle makes the right moves they can maybe compete once again.  The right moves you may ask?  Are the ones I am about to suggest.

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Picture a young kid, no older than 12, hitting hundreds of baseballs into a ragged net, or throwing them at a makeshift backstop. They grow up with huge dreams, living in an impoverished nation of less than 10 million people.

Aside from the location, their dream sounds none to different than the one we all had, right? Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two out. The pennant on the line. With one swing, you win a ring, the love of a city, and secure financial stability for your family.

Of course, these two things aren’t really alike at all.

Picture that young kid again. Except this time he’s the target of a scout, or as they’re called locally: a buscon. The kid can run like the wind. He’s tall and strong. His parents, like so many here, are poor. Or, perhaps his parents aren’t around at all.

So, instead of being in school like we were when having these dreams, the kids are at a makeshift academy, ran by buscones. They live here, eat here and learn baseball here all under poor conditions. They’re sometimes honing their baseball skills under the direction of former prospects who went through the same situation.

There are lots of stories to be found about buscones. The large chunks of the signing bonus some take in return for the training. The way some of them help the kids lie about their ages and pump them with drugs: often of the performance enhancing variety.

Like anything, this isn’t always the case. One report from MLB identified Dominican imports committing identity fraud at a clip of 60 percent in 2002, but had that number reduced to 25 percent by 2009. So, progress has been made.

And, there are some success stories. From David Ortiz to Hanley Ramirez. Miguel Tejada to Vladimir Guerrero. Considering the size of the country, some big name players have emerged. Big money is going to players who are unpolished and untested, but have real athletic ability.

Like the steroid problem in the ’90s, when bad PR comes out, MLB moves fast and hard with corrective actions. Sandy Alderson was tasked with cleaning up some of the mess. Drug testing, identity verification, better facilities for training, English lessons and other steps have been taken within the academies ran by MLB clubs. Twenty-eight of the 30 clubs now have an academy in the DR.

There are less and less instances of exploited prospects being trust into American culture with added pressure to perform well at their craft. The kids are being taken care of better now. So, are the risks lower for teams?

Word came out on Monday that the Seattle Mariners have signed 17-year-old shortstop Esteilon Peguero, with a signing bonus of $4.9 million. Only three players in Mariners history have received bigger bonuses: Dustin Ackley, Ichiro Suzuki and Jeff Clement.

I asked Dave Cameron, co-founder of USSMariner.com and editor at FanGraphs.com if Mariners fans should be even a little stoked, regardless of how little we can possible know about Peguero, considering the size of the bonus. “These kids are lottery tickets,” he said, “but when they hit, they can be a big deal.”

It seems there is still quite a bit of risk involved. Peguero could be the next diamond in the rough, or he could be a sunk cost that returns home to poverty after several years of performing below expectations.

The good news is that regardless of the outcome, they’re being better taken care of during the process. They aren’t being told to lie about who they are. They’re living and training better. They’re even being offered an education outside of baseball by some teams. They aren’t just being treated as a future payday anymore.

The system still isn’t perfect. Neither for the teams or the players. There’s still some corruption and millions of dollars might still be sunk on a kid who never makes it to the show. But if they’re not just glorified slaves sold off to the highest bidder anymore, it’s a gamble much easier to live with.

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Typically, I am not one to preach the use of stopgap players to make a bad team slightly better. It’s a waste of money and almost always doesn’t work.

But for the 2011 Baltimore Orioles, stopgap players are the way to go.

Considering this offseason’s free agent market is so thin, that’s almost the only option. That, or unloading the farm system for a big-name player, something we all know isn’t likely to happen.

Therefore, the Orioles will need to get creative, assuming Paul Konerko doesn’t want to sign here without being overpaid, which is practically a given.

There are ways to make a more competitive Baltimore Orioles team for 2011 without landing Konerko and Cliff Lee. And that’s what the 2011 season should be about: Making a more competitive team so that the free agents of next year’s class will be more apt to come to Baltimore, or at least hold the position until a prospect is ready to take it over.

Let’s take a look at some ideas:

Vladimir Guerrero

The slugger is coming off a great comeback year in which he hit .300 with 29 homers and 115 RBI’s. Stick that stat line in the 2010 Orioles and they would lead in all three categories. Vlad is getting up there in age for a ballplayer (will be 36 before the start of the 2011 season), but the guy can hit. 

He’s batted .300 or better in every season of his 15-year major league career except for his first, which consisted of 27 AB, and 2009, a season where he had just short of 400 AB due to injury, which surely took a toll on how he performed offensively.

And yet, the man was still able to hit .295 that year. Not to mention that in 10 of his 15 years, he’s driven in over 100 RBI.

Vlad will be much cheaper than many options out there, like Konerko or Adam Dunn, and serve the need of a big, intimidating right-handed bat to slot between Nick Markakis and Luke Scott.

Obviously, Buck Showalter would want to DH Vlad, as his outfield playing days are behind him and the O’s already have an awesome defensive right fielder in Markakis, which would push Luke Scott onto the field.

Or, an even crazier idea, Showalter could try Vlad at first. With Vlad’s knee problems, it probably wouldn’t work out well, but hey, it’s a thought, right?

Luke Scott

This is one of the more obvious ideas, putting Luke Scott at first for the 2011 season and seeing how he fares. Many people believe he can’t play there, but who really knows what Scott is able to do defensively until given a legitimate shot?

Showalter could call up Scott today and tell him to either get with one of the Orioles’ new coaches during the offseason, or hire a personal infield coach himself to work with him at the position and get him ready for spring training.

I wouldn’t expect Scott to become a Gold Glover, but I personally feel that given a chance, he could prove to be a very competent first baseman, at least until a better option rolls along.

Scott certainly has the bat for the position as well, if he can maintain what he was doing from last May on and erase the “streaky” label from himself completely. He wouldn’t be a top-hitting first baseman, but he would certainly do the job offensively, being a very nice complimentary piece if given the right people hitting in front of him.

Putting Luke Scott at first would open up the DH slot, which Vlad could fill. That would give the Orioles a 3-4-5 spot of Markakis, Guerrero and Scott, a line that could drive in a lot of runs if leadoff man Brian Roberts stays healthy.

Adam LaRoche

LaRoche is a guy who many people tend to forget about. Since 2005, he has hit at least 20 home runs and driven in at least 78 RBI every season, last year putting up a line of .261/25/100, all while hitting in spacious Chase Field in Arizona for a Diamondbacks team that had trouble doing pretty much everything offensively.

Now, LaRoche is obviously not the big cleanup hitter the O’s so desperately need, but he’d be a very, very good complementary bat if the O’s can get their big hitter, or at the very least, provide more pop and spark for a lineup lacking it.

He also has a solid glove, sporting a career .995 fielding percentage. LaRoche is a better player than many people realize, and he’d be pretty cheap.

If the Orioles could sign both Vlad Guerrero and Adam LaRoche, they could then move Luke Scott back into left field and have a offensive lineup that would be very much like the 2008 Orioles, with solid hitters up and down and the veterans helping the young guys get better pitches to hit.

Substitute the signing of LaRoche with, maybe, Carlos Pena, and there is yet another option, albeit one not as appealing. But these three free agents would all be cheaper, one-year solutions that would turn out productivity pretty close to what the top guys out there would.

I understand that playing Scott in left over Felix Pie and/or Nolan Reimold may not be very appealing, with the upside of both of the younger players, but these are just options I’m throwing around.

More than likely, the O’s won’t sign any of the three players I’ve mentioned in this article, but it’s always fun to throw fantasy lineups together and think about the options and possibilities. One thing is for sure, though: The Orioles need to do something with their offense before the 2011 season.

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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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Twas the night after Halloween and all through the stands

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Well, now it’s a series. Returning home to Arlington served to be precisely the remedy to cure the Texas Rangers’ woes on the road through the first two games of the World Series.

With a well-played 4-2 victory at home over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, Texas showed their mettle and fought their way back into the series, and now only trail two games to one.

In Game 1, the Rangers scored seven runs, but couldn’t pitch, and in Game 2, C.J. Wilson pitched a fantastic game but the Rangers couldn’t hit Matt Cain.

Game 3 saw the Rangers put all facets of their game together to earn the first ever World Series victory in franchise history.

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was a virtual sea of red as the hometown fans vociferously cheered on their team throughout the evening.

The Texas fans have been craving a taste of success for quite some time, and in the franchise’s 50th year, finally have reason to hope.

Texas had multiple heroes in Game 3, from the 31-year-old journeyman starting pitcher living a dream after two years of pitching in Japan to a 25-year-old rookie first-baseman with only 47 Major League games on his resume prior to this postseason.

Josh Hamilton, the team’s star center-fielder, continues his dramatic road to redemption after several years out of the game due to his own harrowing battles with addiction.

The Rangers were able to get to Giants’ starter Jonathan Sanchez for four runs after getting utterly dominated by Matt Cain in Game 3. Colby Lewis, suddenly the Rangers’ ace, continued his brilliant run of performances in the postseason, earning his third win in four starts. 

Perhaps most satisfying, two Rangers’ relievers threw 1.1 shut-down innings after the bullpen had failed spectacularly in the first two games of the series.

With Games 4 and 5 scheduled to take place in Arlington on Halloween and Monday, Nov. 1, the Rangers now have good reason to expect to travel back to San Francisco for a potential Game 6, or even a possible Game 7.

Let’s grade the Rangers’ performances in several key aspects of World Series Game 3.

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Game three of the World Series is tonight on Fox. The San Francisco Giants and Jonathan Sanchez will look to bounce up three games to none against the Texas Rangers and Colby Lewis.

The Rangers are in a must-win situation. Yes, if they lose they’re not yet eliminated, but you can count on one hand how many times a team has come back from a three games to none deficit in any playoffs (none come to mind beyond Boston‘s 2004 ALCS victory).

Colby Lewis has two wins against no losses coming into this game, so if anyone can pull it out, it should be him. Granted, the Giants have already shelled Lee. Jonathan Sanchez is 0-1, but nonetheless he has a sub-3.00 ERA, so on the surface this looks to be a pitcher’s duel.

We all know to expect the unexpected in this series though, and this proves to be no exception. I’ll make continuous updates as I watch, complete with immediate reactions, noting anything of major importance that may happen.

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Someone once said that a playoff series hasn’t begun until a road team wins.

Based on that idea, the matchup between the Giants and Rangers is still at the starting line. The next three games of the 2010 World Series will be played in Arlington, and that suits Ron Washington and his ball club just fine.

Down 2-0, the Rangers need a win to reverse the momentum that the Giants established in the pair of games at AT&T Park.

Here are three keys for a Game 3 victory for the Rangers:

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The 2010 World Series is not over yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to talk about players who could be changing teams this offseason.

Notable playoff players such as Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee, Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth and Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford all could start with different teams next April on opening day 2011.

Free agency and trades make the hot stove season very exciting, and this winter is sure to see major players switch cities.

Next, we will look at 10 significant players who are free agents or may likely be traded this winter.

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Apparently the pitchers duel that everyone was expecting to occur Wednesday night caught a late flight to San Francisco and arrived Thursday evening. With Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee facing off in Game 1, no one could have predicted the 11-7 slug-fest that took place in the World Series opener.

In Game 2, the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants sent their secondary aces to the hill to hopefully do the job that neither of their respective No. 1 pitchers could accomplish. With C.J. Wilson of the Rangers and Matt Cain of the Giants taking the hill Thursday evening, the promise of a superbly-pitched game was well within reach.

Through six innings, that scenario unfolded beautifully as each starter had his best stuff working and had command of all his pitches. Cain had the upper-hand, as he continued his amazing run of scoreless postseason innings, extending it to 21.1 innings. However, Wilson nearly matched his effectiveness through six, until he was forced by a blister on his finger to turn the 2-0 game over to the Texas bullpen.

That’s when things began to get interesting—primarily if you’re a Giants’ fan. Texas’ bullpen, normally highly effective, imploded in spectacular fashion, helping the Giants to an eventual  9-0 victory in front of an ecstatic home crowd in AT&T Park.

The Rangers were comprehensively shut down by Matt Cain and two San Francisco relievers with barely a whimper. For a team that was only shut out five times all year, Texas was stifled all game by a dominant Giants’ pitching performance.

San Francisco continued its trend of finding a different unlikely hero each night, as tonight Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe led the way with both their bats and gloves. New-found folk hero Cody Ross had another great game as he continued to ride his hot streak following his NLCS MVP performance. Technically, the Rangers’ bullpen played a massive role in the Giants success as well, gifting several runs to their NL foes to put the once-close game out of reach.

Join me as we examine the key facets of Texas’ game and find out where it all went wrong for the visiting Rangers in World Series Game 2.   

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