Day 8: San Diego Padres

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: San Diego Padres

2007 Regular Season Record: 89-74

Cost per Win: $58,110,567 / 89 = $652,927 per win

2007 Season Recap: The Padres had an interesting season to say the least. Especially the way they ended it. When the season ended the Padres found themselves tied with the Rockies for the wild card spot. This all meant that they had to play one more game to earn their way into the playoffs. 11 innings and a controversial call at home plate later the Padres found themselves on the wrong side of the outcome and missed out on the playoffs. If it makes them feel better they lost to the team that made it to the World Series.

On the field the Padres got some very good performances. One of these was by starting pitcher Jake Peavy. Peavy finished the season with 19 wins and 6 losses and a 2.54 ERA. This earned Peavy the unanimous vote for the NL Cy Young award. The Padres also got quality performances from Trevor Hoffman who set the record for most saves in a career; he had 42 saves this season.

On the offensive side of the game the Padres had several quality performances but no one player stood out from the crowd. One person I want to note is Milton Bradley. I’m a big fan of Bradley even though he needs to find a way to control his attitude. His on the field performance has always been solid and he helps his teams a lot when he is playing. IN 2007 he batted .313 after being acquired from the A’s. After coming off an injury he split time for a portion of the year so he didn’t see as much action as he deserved, Bradley is a free agent though so hopefully a team will get better use out of him next year.

Key Free Agents: CF Milton Bradley, CF Mike Cameron, C Michael Barrett, 2B Marcus Giles; I find it very interesting that the Padres haven’t come to a deal with either Bradley or Cameron. They now go from having 2 great center fielders to having nothing at that position. Luckily for them there are several quality center fielders available but it will definitely cost them.

Offseason Needs: Their first need is definitely at center field. They are losing 2 good bats and need to find a way to replace them if they want to contend at all. Other than that they need to find another second baseman. The one thing they don’t need is pitching, something most team can’t say. Their rotation will include Peavy and Maddux and any time you can hand a lead over to Hoffman a victory is a pretty good chance. They just need to find the guys to score runs so they have those leads late in games.

Prediction for the 2008 season: If you are a Padres fan I would recommend you look away now. Things aren’t going to be good for them. The Dodgers look like they could be stronger and I don’t think they have the offensive talent to keep up with the D’Backs and the Rockies. What that all means is that I see the Padres finishing 4th in the division even though it will probably be a somewhat close margin from the top to the bottom of the division. A few key free agents and that could all change in such a close division.

Day 7: Philadelphia Phillies

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: Philadelphia Phillies

2007 Regular Season Record: 89-73

2007 Postseason Record: 0-3; lost in NLDS

Cost per Win: $89,428,213 / 89 = $1,004,811 per win

2007 Season Recap: The Phillies had a somewhat successful season. The fact that they ended up winning their division would signal that it was a success but the way that they got in takes away from it a bit. In a lot of people’s opinions they didn’t win the division the Mets lost it. In the long run though it doesn’t’ matter how you got in just the fact that you got in. Once the Phillies got to the playoffs they just didn’t have nearly enough momentum on their side because they were matched up against the Rockies who without argument were the hottest team going into the playoffs. The Phillies ended up quickly getting swept out of the playoffs without putting up much of a fight.

The Phillies got some very good offensive performances in the regular season. Leading the group was NL MVP Jimmy Rollins who batted .296 with 41 stolen bases and 21 triples. Ryan Howard didn’t bat for a high average and was one of the league leaders in strikeouts this year but he did add 47 homeruns so no one was complaining about his performance. Also Chase Utley batted .332 with 22 home runs this season so he was also a positive.

The Phillies also had a few weak spots during the season. The key weak spot was at third base. The regular started Abraham Nunez batted only .234 on the season and a team needs much better offensive numbers from that position. Third base backup Wes Helms batted .246 last season so he wasn’t a better option either. Needless to say that is a position that needs to be addressed next season.

Key Free Agents: RP Antonio Alfonseca, 2B Tadahito Iguchi, SP Freddy Garcia, SP John Lieber, SP Kyle Lohse, CF Aaron Rowand; Rowand is probably the biggest loss for the Phillies because he was both a great defensive player, a good offensive player, and a great sparkplug to the team with his take no prisoners playing style. The loss of Iguchi is also a little bit of a worry but not as much simply because he was a mid-season trade who was only expected to play in the 2007 season. The loss of 3 starting pitchers is alarming and a worrisome thing especially with an offseason where pitchers are in high demand and not many good ones available.

Offseason Needs: The biggest need is at pitcher without a question. If the Phillies can’t add some strong arms then they are in big trouble and won’t be very competitive next season. The hole at 3rd base is also big and someone needs to be added there. Howard, Rollins, and Utley have the rest of the infield under control and are great players to build a team around. I haven’t heard it mentioned or anything but I think the Phillies should take a lot at making a deal for Dontrele Willis, especially with his reduced value this off-season.

Prediction for the 2008 season: The Phillies will have some problems next season unless they open their wallets really wide in the offseason. They haven’t done that yet and a lot of the big name pitchers are already on the verge of getting picked up. The Mets most likely won’t fall apart at the end of the regular season like this year so the Phillies will need to perform real well to stay in contention. I predict that they will miss out on the playoffs this year and in my opinion they will end the season in 3rd place in the NL east with the Braves taking 2nd place.

Day 6: Colorado Rockies

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: Colorado Rockies

2007 Regular Season Record: 90-73

2007 Postseason Record: 7-4; lost in World Series

Cost per Win: $54,424,000 / 97 = $561,072 per win

2007 Season Recap: The Rockies season had some serious up and downs. It definitely finished on a high note. They ended the season by winning the NL Wild card but they had to beat the Padres in a tie-breaker game to do that, that game took 11 innings to decide the winner. The Rockies then went on to sweep both the Phillies and the Diamondbacks out of the playoffs to get to the World Series. They then had 9 days off to get ready for the World Series and their matchup with the Red Sox. The layoff proved to be too long and the Rockies came out rusty in the beginning and their amazing season ended on a sour note with a 4 game sweep by the Red Sox. However when you consider that this team wasn’t even much of a contender to even reach the playoffs a World Series loss is a great success.

On the field the Rockies had some great performances from several key guys. First of all was Troy Tulowitzki. The rookie shortstop batted .291 on the season and put on a very impressive defensive showing at one of the hardest positions in baseball. In the end he came up just short in Rookie of the Year voting, it was the closest vote in history though.

The veterans weren’t going to let the young Diamondbacks get all the attention though. Matt Holliday put together a season that saw him place second in NL MVP voting after batting .340 with 36 home runs in the regular season. Also putting in a good season was Todd Helton who has played his entire career for the Rockies and he definitely deserved to be on this great run with his team, he ended the season with a .320 batting average so he earned his spot on the team and his $16 million salary. The Rockies had several other good performances and it showed with the winning streak they ended the season with and the strong playoff run they made, they had won 21 of 22 games before the World Series sweep.

Key Free Agents: 2B Kazuo Matsui, C Yorvit Torrealba, SP Josh Fogg, 6 RP’s; Matsui is probably the biggest free agent this offseason for the Rockies mostly due to the fact of how well he performed in the playoffs, his backup Jamey Carrol has shown a lot of potential though so he may not be missed that much. Torrealba will also be missed if the Rockies don’t resign him but there are several quality free agent catchers out there for the Rockies to pick up. Other than those 2 players it becomes a simple depth issue. The loss of 6 relievers will definitely be a problem if they can’t find quality guys to fill their spots. Fogg is something of a loss since he did have 10 wins this season. With the thin number of quality starting pitchers on the market the Rockies could go to regret letting him get away.

Offseason Needs: Catcher is probably the biggest concern for the Rockies right now. This is simply because they lack anyone with experience to fill the position. Chris Iannetta played some this season at catcher but only hit .218 so it would be a stretch to consider him a good option for the position. Beyond that the Rockies simply need to find some quality relievers to support a starting pitching staff that isn’t historically good at going deep into games.

Prediction for the 2008 season: The Rockies definitely have the momentum going into next season. I think I could safely say that they have more momentum than even the Red Sox. With most of their key parts returning, especially Holliday, Tulowitzki, and Helton, things look good for them. They also have a low salary so they will have space to bring in another key performer. I predict that they will win the NL West next season after a close battle with the Padres and Diamondbacks. Once they reach the playoffs they should be able to get through their first round opponent but I don’t see the good vibes of last season carrying them all the way to the World Series so a NLCS exit is what I’m predicting.

I'm back

First off I want to apologize that I have failed miserably in getting a post up a day for the baseball thing. Thanksgiving got in the way and I couldn't really find a time to get it all done. I'll go ahead and tweak the overall schedule now and hope to get the 6th post up by tonight. I have some time now so I will probably do it now. It's the final week of classes for me so there is the possibility that I will miss a day or 2 again, just want to warn you.

Day 5: Arizona Diamondbacks

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: Arizona Diamondbacks

2007 Regular Season Record: 90-72

2007 Postseason Record: 3-4; lost in NLCS

Cost per Win: $52,067,546 / 93 = $559,866 per win

2007 Season Recap: The Diamondbacks had a better than expected season especially when you consider the age of their team. Add a young team with the fact that Randy Johnson missed nearly all of the season and you would expect the team to have a horrible season. The exact opposite happened though. They went out instead and won the NL West, arguably it was by a slim margin but still all things considered winning the division was probably more than they expected. First the Diamondbacks swept the Cubs in 3 games in the NLDS outscoring them 16-6. Then the D’Backs ran into the Colorado Rockies who they had barely edged out in the regular season. The Rockies were on an amazing roll and the Diamondbacks stood no change and got swept in 4 games.

One of the Diamondbacks biggest stories of the year was Brandon Webb’s consecutive scoreless inning streak. Webb threw 42 consecutive scoreless innings in the regular season and threatened to match Orel Hershiser’s record, he came up 12 innings short. In addition to that story was just the good story of the young Diamondback players playing consistent good baseball. While they did play consistent none of them put up amazing numbers. Only 1 player hit over .300 on the season and that was a pitcher. Rookie pitcher Micah Owings impressed with his bat as much with his arm. He went 4-4 two times in the regular season and ended with a batting average of .333.

The Diamondbacks did get one distinction that they may not be too proud of and that is that they were the first team to ever make the playoffs while getting outscored in the regular season by their opponents. The Diamondbacks scored 712 runs on the season and their opponents scored 732 runs. They still made the playoffs though so they probably weren’t complaining too much. In the end though that lack of offensive power proved to be their downfall in the postseason.

Key Free Agents: 1B Tony Clark, SP Livan Hernandez; Clark won’t prove to be too big of a loss but his experience could have helped a young team develop and grow together. Clark served as a fill in player for a large part of the season, starting in only 43 games, due to the rise of 25 year old Conner Jackson who will most likely keep his first base duties for several more years. Livan Hernandez may prove to be a bigger loss. This could severely hurt the pitching depth especially with the question mark of how healthy Randy Johnson is and if he will be able to come back and pitch. Hernandez will most likely sign a big contract somewhere due to the thin market of free agent pitchers and the Diamondbacks aren’t a team to lay down big money for players, especially considering the success they had this year with few big contracts on the payroll. It will be interesting to see exactly what the D’Backs do to assemble a solid 5 man pitching rotation.

Offseason Needs: The biggest need is at pitcher but I won’t go in depth into that because I already have. Besides pitcher they simply need to find some players that can hit for higher averages. I think they will all come from in house as the young talent develops into smarter more patient hitters. So really the D’Backs don’t need to be too aggressive in the offseason just simply need to work with the guys in the clubhouse.

Prediction for the 2008 season: I personally like the Diamondbacks so I would love to see them succeed but they have an uphill battle. They got lucky several times last season and if that luck changes at all they could be on the outside looking in next season. They will have another close battle in the division with the Rockies and Padres and in the end I think the Diamondbacks will end up out of the playoffs with the Rockies instead riding the good vibe from the World Series into the next season. I also don’t see the wild card coming out of the west again so all that leaves no place for the D’Backs in the playoffs. I do think they will be an improved team but a lot of other teams around them will improve too. I can’t say I would be surprised if they made it but my prediction is that they come up just short.

Day 4: New York Yankees

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: New York Yankees

2007 Regular Season Record: 94-68

2007 Postseason Record: 1-3; lost in ALDS

Cost per Win: $189,639,045 / 95 = $1,996,200 per win

2007 Season Recap: Another season and another year without a World Series championship. They’re starting to get desperate in the Bronx which is why they thought they needed to change managers, a mistake they will probably regret. I like Joe Girardi and all but I think Joe Torre is the best guy for the Yankees. The Yankees on the field had mixed success. They finished the season a lot better than they were doing in the middle. For a long time it looked like they wouldn’t have a chance of making the playoffs but in the end the world’s most overpriced players decided maybe they should earn their paychecks.

Once the Yankees did get to the playoffs though they didn’t rise to the occasion. They fell to the Cleveland Indians in 4 games in the ALDS. The pitching had mixed success in the playoffs much like the regular season. On the offensive side the Yankees bats fell asleep for the playoffs. This bad performance included a poor performance by Derek Jeter who finished the postseason with a .176 batting average. As a team they had a .228 batting average.

Overall the season just wasn’t what everyone expects from the Yankees. When you have a salary that is the largest in the majors by a long ways you expect a lot more success. Especially against a Cleveland team with a payroll that is a third of the Yankees. That is why they play the games and don’t just let you buy championships.

Key Free Agents: SP Roger Clemens & Andy Pettitte, RP Mariano Rivera, 3B Alex Rodriguez, C Jorge Posada, 1B Doug Mientkiewicz; The losses for the Yankees start on the pitching mound. It is starting to look like both Clemens and Pettitte are going to hang it up. On the other hand there is good news for Yankees fans and that is that both Rodriguez and Posada both are on the verge of signing new contracts it’s just a matter of making it official. In additional good news Rivera also looks like he is ready to sign a new deal with the Yankees, signing a 3 year $45 million deal. Mientkiewicz isn’t that major of a loss and the Yanks already have backup at that position.

Offseason Needs: As usual the Yankees don’t have any major needs going into the offseason. One of those advantages of having a nearly blank check to bring in every player you need. Center field is probably the spot with the most need because Johnny Damon is bad defensively and a risk at center and Melky Cabrera doesn’t put up the power numbers you would expect from a Yankees outfielder, he did however have a .327 average in 2007 so the Yanks will be fine if they are stuck with Cabrera. The other position with a question mark over it is first base. Shelly Duncan developed over that last season and Jason Giambi can also be used there. So if the Yankees want to add a new player because they can then expect it to be at first.

Prediction for the 2008 season: As far as names and talent go the Yankees should be contenders for the World Series but the question is what has really changed in the Bronx. The answer is nothing. All they have done is brought back everyone that they had before for even more money. This combined with the loss of 2 starting pitchers puts the Yankees in a bad position where they will have to trade off even more of their farm team just to be able to assemble a quality 5 man pitching rotation. From a name power standpoint the Yankees will go undefeated but to bad for their fans the name on the jersey isn’t what wins games, it’s the performance that those players put out. So my prediction for the Yankees is more of the same. They will win the Wild Card and probably finish about 10 games back of the Red Sox in the AL East. Then in the playoffs they will fall to a better managed and much less high profile team and the baseball world will be better because of it.

Day 3: Los Angeles Angels

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: Los Angeles Angels

2007 Regular Season Record: 94-68

2007 Postseason Record: 0-3; lost in ALDS

Cost per Win: $109,251,333 / 94 = $1,162,248 per win

2007 Season Recap: It was a good regular season for the Angles seeing them win the AL West by 6 games over the Mariners. They did this while posting a 54-27 record at home, the most wins at home of any team. That also means that they posted a sub .500 record on the road, something they surely want to improve. When they got to the playoffs however they ran into Red Sox who easily swept them out of town. In the 3 games in the playoffs they were outscored 19-4, this includes a 9-1 beating in game three to finish off the series.

A far as individual performances go the Angels had several quality performances. This was all led by Vladimir Guerrero who ended with a .324 average and 27 home runs. If not for Alex Rodriguez’s amazing season Guerrero would be an MVP favorite. Also contributing with a strong season was third baseman Chone Figgins with a .330 average and 41 stolen bases. Another player deserving of mention is second baseman Howie Kendrick. The 24 year old played in 88 games after being called up from AAA on May 23rd and ended with a .322 batting average.

The Angels also had some good performances from the pitching mound. Kelvim Escobar had a record of 18-7 on the season and John Lackey had a record of 19-9. In addition coming off of a great rookie season Jered Weaver had a record of 13-7 and certainly the Angles hope that he won’t has the rapid talent loss that his brother Jeff had.

Key Free Agents: SP Bartolo Colon; Colon is not actually that important of a loss but he is the only player they lose besides a relief pitcher who only appeared in 9 games. Colon had a 608 record this season with a 6.34 ERA so he won’t be missed too much.

Offseason Needs: The Angles are a team in a very good position going into the offseason. They could use a bit more depth but every team could use that and depth is something that should come from your player development and not from the free agent market. Their lack of free agents is a very good sign for them and should mean that they come back strong next season.

Prediction for the 2008 season: I have a mixed opinion on the future of the Angels. They have the talent and the experience on their team to make a run but their road record is disturbing. They also have stiff competition from the Mariners every year and this year won’t be any different. My prediction for them is that the Angels will be in a close battle for the AL West which will be their only route into the playoffs since I don’t think they will be able to post enough wins to get a wild card berth into the postseason. In the end they will be just a game or 2 behind the Mariners and miss out on the playoffs.

Day 2: Cleveland Indians

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be

Team: Cleveland Indians

2007 Regular Season Record: 96-66

2007 Postseason Record: 6-5; lost in ALCS

Cost per Win: $61,673,267 / 102 = $604,639 per win

2007 Season Recap: The regular season went a lot better than expected with the Indians tying for the best record in baseball and winning the AL Central division by 8 games. These results led to manager Eric Wedge being named AL Manager of the Year. They won 96 games in the regular season and lost to the Red Sox in the ALCS in 7 games after beating the Yankees 3-2 in a great ALDS. All of this was done with a payroll that ranked 23rd in the majors. In addition when the Indians do spend money they spend it in the right places. There highest paid player was C.C. Sabathia with a salary of a little under $9 million. All Sabathia did was win the AL Cy Young Award so you could definitely say that was well spent money.

As far as on the field batting performances the Indians didn’t have any one big time stand-out which is the way a lower salary team would like to perform. The pitching on the other hand had several standouts. They had 2 pitchers who had 19 wins, Sabathia and 24 year old Fausto Carmona. Paul Byrd also contributed 15 wins for the Indians. In addition closer Joe Borowski had 45 saves.

If there weren’t any outside batting performances you would probably assume that there where then some poor batting performances. This however is really not the case. The worst performer on the team was Josh Barfield who batted only .243 as the starting 2nd baseman, he also had 15 errors on the season which isn’t that high of a number especially when you consider his $400,000 salary. Overall the Indians played a good team game and were successful for it. They play baseball the way it should be played in my opinion.

Key Free Agents: CF Kenny Lofton an RF Trot Nixon; The Indian have already exercised club options to keep pitchers Paul Byrd, Joe Borowski, and Aaron Fultz so their offseason losses won’t be to severe. Lofton and Nixon are both seasoned veterans who put up good numbers but they are getting old and a well run team like the Indians should be able to find some young talent to fill their places. If they don’t turn to their own farm system then this is an off-season ripe with talented outfield free agents.

Offseason Needs: The Indians are another team that is on very solid footing going into the 2008 season. They do however need to have some more consistent bats in the lineup or to add a big bat. With players like Sizemore and Hafner on the team though the talent is already there it is just a matter of them getting in a groove and hitting the ball more consistently. When your team has the pitching that the Indians will have you can get away with a few less .300 hitters in the lineup. There biggest need in the offseason will be finding a new center fielder but there are many available on the market so they may be able to get one at a good value.

Prediction for the 2008 season: I definitely see the Indians contending for the AL Central again. The Tigers and White Sox have to do something to improve to be able to put runs on the Indian’s pitching staff. They will have a hard time affording a lot of the big name guys so the Indians have the advantage going into the start of the season. I however don’t think the Indians have the bats to get past the ALDS next year unless they make some roster moves to improve that lineup.

Day 1: Boston Red Sox

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: Boston Red Sox

2007 Regular Season Record: 96-66

2007 Postseason Record: 10-3; won World Series

Cost per win: $143,026,214 / 106 = $1,349,303 per win

2007 Season Recap: Well things really couldn’t have gone any better for the Red Sox this season. They won the World Championship and did it by leading their division for most of the regular season and tied for the best regular season record in baseball. They rolled over the Angles in the ALDS, won in 7 games over the Indians in the ALCS, and easily pulled off the sweep of the Rockies in the World Series. Their big name guys played like planned most of the season. Josh Beckett contended for the AL Cy Young award and high profile import Dice-K Matsuzaka came close to matching the hype that surrounded him from the time it was announced that he was signed.

While it’s hard to find problem spots with a team that had as good of a season as the Sox did it would have to be the overpaying of a couple players who had sub-par seasons. One spot of weakness in the Red Sox armor was at short stop in the form of Julio Lugo and his $8 million salary. Lugo batted .237 on the season and had 19 errors through the season, definitely not worth the money they spent on him. Another questionable pick-up for the Red Sox was J.D. Drew who they paid $14 million in 2007. Drew ended up with a .270 batting average and 64 RBIs definitely not the numbers to justify a salary higher than David Ortiz. Drew however made up for his bad regular season by shining in the postseason.

On the plus side the Red Sox got some surprise performances from low salary and very young players. Leading the pack was AL Rookie of the Year Justin Pedroia. Pedroia took the starting second baseman duties for the Sox and hit .317 and only had 6 errors in 137 games. Another young player stepping up this season for the Red Sox was Jonathon Papelbon. He built on his strong 2006 season and converted 37 of 40 save opportunities. There were several other big time performances for the red Sox this season but that is expected for a team with a $143 million payroll, the second highest in baseball.

Key Free Agents: 3B Mike Lowell and RP Mike Timlin; that’s really all for the Sox free agents, they have already resigned Julian Tavarez, Curt Schilling, and Tim Wakefield so they really won’t have any major losses to free agency. Eric Gagne is a free agent but I don’t think anyone in Boston will be upset to see him go after how little he performed for the Red Sox this season.

Offseason Needs: The Red Sox are in great shape this offseason. If they are able to resign Mike Lowell then they don’t have any glaring problems from top to bottom. I’m assuming that both Lugo and Drew will get out of the slumps that they were in this year and if they don’t the Sox are pretty much stuck with playing them because of their big long term contracts that will be hard to convince any team to take on. The Red Sox may need to bring in some pitching help to increase the depth of both the bullpen and the starting rotation but 3 or 4 of the 5 days they can be pretty sure they will get solid starts from Beckett, Dice-K, Schilling, and Wakefield. So any additions the Sox will make this offseason will be more for depth rather than to add an impact player.

Prediction for the 2008 season: Their isn’t going to be a whole lot holding the Red Sox back from putting up another very good season. The one thing that could slow them down is injuries to a roster that is aging. I could very easily see them making it to the NLCS or World Series once again. I’m not sure if I see them winning it all again but I will give that some thought and get back to you after I’ve looked at all the teams.

Baseball Postseason Team by Team

OK time for this blog to actually have some direction. I've been thinking for the past few days what I wanted to do with this thing and I'm come up with the idea look at all 30 MLB teams on a team by team basis. I will look at their 2007 season, their free agent losses, their off-season needs, and give my prediction on their 2008 season. I'm planing on doing a team a day and I will go by their regular season record from the previous season, going from best to worst. All of the fun will start tomorrow with the Red Sox and end 30 days later with the Devil Rays. Here is the schedule as it stands right now. If I miss a day I will try to revise it the best I can. School and life can get a little crazy on me at times so missing a day is a possibility. I'll also link the post with the individual team posts as I get them up so you can easily get back and forth.

Here is my proposed schedule:
November 15: Boston Red Sox
November 16: Cleveland Indians
November 17: Los Angeles Angels
November 18: New York Yankees
November 19: Arizona Diamondbacks
November 27: Colorado Rockies
November 28: Philadelphia Phillies
November 29: San Diego Padres
December 1: New York Mets
December 2: Detroit Tigers
December 6: Seattle Mariners
December 7: Chicago Cubs
December 13: Atlanta Braves
December 14: Milwaukee Brewers
December 15: Toronto Blue Jays
December 16: Los Angeles Dodgers
December 17: Minnesota Twins
December 18: St. Louis Cardinals
December 19: Oakland A's
December 20: Texas Rangers
December 21: Houston Astros
December 22: Washington Nationals
December 23: Chicago White Sox
December 24: Cincinnati Reds
December 25: Florida Marlins
December 26: San Francisco Giants
December 27: Baltimore Orioles
December 28: Kansas City Royals
December 29: Pittsburgh Pirates
December 30: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

There it all is. Check back tomorrow for the first edition. I'm glad I'm getting the Red Sox out of the way first so I don't have to talk about them anymore. Hope you all like this and please don't hesitate to invite your friends along to check it out. Also if you don't agree with my opinions please let me know, leave a comment and maybe we can get some good discussion about this going.

Goodbye for now loyal readers.

Biking to school

So finally the temperature here has dropped and the humidity has gone away. I have taken this opportunity to save some gas money and get some exercise and ride my bike to school. Now to understand a bit of the insanity of the idea you need to understand that I live about 3 and a half miles from school and my classes start at either 8 or 9:30 in the morning depending on the day. What that means to you is that I have to ride to school at the busiest of times for Miami traffic and if you have ever been to Miami then you know how crazy that is.

Anyways, besides the fact that I am seriously questioning my sanity I still do it and have for the past 2 days and will again tomorrow. I of course wear a helmet I wouldn't do it otherwise I'm not that stupid. Most of the rid is fairly pleasant with the occasional times of stress when I have to cross some busy intersections. I must say it is always a welcome sight to see the wonderful green campus that is the University of Miami.

Once on campus the bike is a great thing to have. When I go form class to work I have to cross virtually the entire campus. The walk used to take me about 15 minutes and now it takes 5 and is much more pleasant. Plus it makes me feel like I am being a lot more efficient with my time.

In total I think the whole idea of riding my bike is a very rewarding experience. The decreased need to visit a gas pump is definitely a plus and I like to feel like I am doing some good for the environment. For those of you that can ride a bike to work or school I recommend it. You get to your destination a lot more refreshed and you might not even need that morning coffee after riding through the crisp morning air. So all I say is give it a shot you never know you might like it.

HGH and professional baseball

Another day and yet another set of notable baseball players implicated with the purchase of steroids and HGH. This time the most notable of them was Jose Guillen. What a shock this story was broken by the San Fransisco Chronicle.

The first thing I wonder is why is it always the San Fransisco Chronicle reporting that baseball players used steroids. Especially considering that the labs that these players supposedly got the steroids from is in Florida. It is starting to seem like they have a bulletin board of players names and they just throw 3 darts at the board to identify players that supposedly purchased HGH. So far there is only one player that has admitted to using HGH and that is Paul Byrd. It also seems odd that there is always only a small set of players each time and it seems there is only 1 notable player in each group. To me this seems like it is just a bit to perfect of a scenario in terms of getting long term media attention.

Secondly there is also the fact that HGH was banned in 2005 and in every case these players are reported to have stopped ordering the stuff in 2005. So by the letter of the law they did nothing wrong. Baseball is a sport ruled by the letter of the law too. A homerun is decided by a yellow line on the wall and an centimeter difference can change everything. So if all of these claims are proven to be true, which I highly doubt will actually happen, then these players should not be punished for doing something that wasn't illegal at the time.

I am in no way saying it was a good thing that these guys used HGH but you can not punish these guys retroactively if they aren't doing it anymore. Instead these players should be used as the main advisors as the way to fight back against HGH. They could provide information that no clean player or non-baseball player could provide. Baseball will soon be provided with a very unique and difficult choice that could change sports forever. Getting all the players on board for a new clean baseball is the best bet or risk sending the sport into the realm of completely irrelevant.

This will be a Patriots free post

For those of you that don't have fantasy teams and aren't dedicated NFL watchers I have big news for you. There are 32 teams in the NFL and not just one like most media outlets seem to think. So I thought for today's post I highlight some of the NFL stories that have nothing to do with the team in New England that I will not name.

1) There are 3 teams currently with only 1 loss. I know this may be shocking to some of you. The Colts are not the only team that is 7 and 1 right now. The Cowboys and Packers are also having great seasons and have only one blemish on their record. Oh and Brett Favre is still playing quarterback for the Packers which makes their run even more impressive. Other than that their aren't a lot of big names on that team that would carry a whole lot of weight outside of only the purest of NFL fan circles.

2)The Lions, yes the ones from Detroit are 6 and 2. That means they have 6 wins and only 2 losses if you thought that maybe I typed that in the wrong order, I didn't. Journeyman John Kitna is leading them and rookie receiver Calvin Johnson is starting to look like he will live up to his much hyped potential. The Lions are another team that has a bunch of lesser known guys playing in key roles. Watch out or the NFL might become a team game here, better warn T.O. before he becomes dispensable.

3)Vinny Testaverde is back, has started, and won a game. He is now a member of the Carolina Panthers and 4 days after signing with the team started and won the game against Arizona. Now he isn't going to be their long term or anything but just the fact that this guy has stayed in shape for this long and can still play at this level is impressive.

OK those are all I will leave you with for tonight. Just thought I would shine the light on a few of the good stories that aren't getting a whole lot of attention even though we have 24/7 coverage of sports. Oh and as and added note I just turned on the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game and the Steelers look like they are wearing University of Iowa retro jerseys. This retro jersey craze needs to be stopped, now.

ACC Regular Season Wrap-Up

The regular season of ACC women's soccer has finally concluded. In Sunday action Miami lost to Wake Forest 0-2, Maryland beat NC State 2-0, and Virginia Tech defeated Boston College 3-0. Two of the games had an affect on the ACC standings. Here are the final standings:

1) North Carolina with 27pts. after 10 games
2) Florida State with 20 pts. after 10 games
3) Wake Forest with 20 pts. after 10 games
4) Virginia with 18 pts. after 10 games
5) Boston College with 14 pts. after 10 games
6) Miami with 14 pts. after 10 games
7) Duke with 13 pts. after 10 games
8) Virginia Tech with 11 pts. after 10 games
9) Clemson with 11 pts. after 10 games
10) Maryland with 4 pt. after 10 games
11) NC State with 1 pt. after 10 games

This is the order that the standings are in on the ACC website. There are several tie-breakers that will have to be done though and I don't know how those works. If it was professional soccer they would use goal differential but since that isn't shown on the standings I'm guessing they use something else for tie-breaks. If they use head-to-head matchup then Miami has the advantage over Boston College and Wake Forest has the advantage over Florida State. For the 8th seed however things aren't as simple because Clemson and Virginia Tech tied in their meeting this season. Like I said I don't really know how it works. The tournament starts on Wednesday so we will all know by then. Good Luck to the Canes in the tournament.

ACC standings before the final day of the season

The final day is almost upon us. Only one more day remaining in the ACC women's soccer regular season. Their are 3 games on Sunday; Miami @ Wake Forest, Boston College @ Virginia Tech, and NC State @ Maryland. All of the games are at 1 so expect an update sometime around 5 or when the Colts-Patriots game gets over, that will have my attention in the afternoon. Anyways, here are the ACC standings heading into Sunday.

1) North Carolina with 27pts. after 10 games
2) Florida State with 20 pts. after 10 games
3) Virginia with 18 pts. after 10 games
4) Wake Forest with 17 pts. after 9 games
5) Boston College with 14 pts. after 9 games
6) Miami with 14 pts. after 9 games
7) Duke with 13 pts. after 10 games
8) Clemson with 11 pts. after 10 games
9) Virginia Tech with 8 pts. after 9 games
10) NC State with 1 pt. after 9 games
11) Maryland with 1 pt. after 9 games

So now what do Sunday's games mean to everything. The NC State - Maryland match means nothing it will just decide the worst team in the conference. I'm hoping for a tie in that one just for the comedic aspect of it.

The Miami - Wake Forest game has a lot of importance to decide seeding. Miami can move up to 4th with a win and Wake could take 3rd with a win. The lowest Wake could end up would be a tie for 4th and Miami could fall into 6th place alone instead of the tie for 5th they are currently in.

The Boston College - Virginia Tech game has a lot of importance also. BC is looking to move into a tie for 4th and Virginia Tech needs to win to force a tie breaker for the final seed into the tournament. So that game will feature two teams playing their hardest. Would be a great one to watch. So it's going to be an interesting day and the final outcomes of the 2 games will be a major factor in the ACC tournament. Keep you eyes here for the final update going into the tournament.

The ACC standings after Thursday

Well one day of the final weekend for ACC soccer's regular season has concluded and the picture has gotten clearer. Miami lost at Duke 4-2, Florida State defeated Clemson 2-0, Wake Forest beat NC State 4-2, and Boston College won at Maryland 2-0. So you are probably wondering what this all means. Well I'm going to tell you but first here are the updated standings:

1) North Carolina with 24pts. after 9 games
2) Florida State with 20 pts. after 10 games
3) Virginia with 18 pts. after 9 games
4) Wake Forest with 17 pts. after 9 games
5) Boston College with 14 pts. after 9 games
6) Miami with 14 pts. after 9 games
7) Duke with 13 pts. after 9 games
8) Virginia Tech with 8 pts. after 9 games
9) Clemson with 8 pts. after 9 games
10) NC State with 1 pt. after 9 games
11) Maryland with 1 pt. after 9 games

OK so North Carolina has the #1 seed locked up. FSU has locked up a top 4 seed. Virginia can still take the #2 seed with a win against North Carolina tonight, they also have a top 4 seed locked up. Wake Forest could move into a tie for 2nd at the best and a tie for 4th at the worst. Both Boston College and Miami have ACC tournament bids locked up but the seed could be anywhere from 4th to 7th. Duke is also a lock and could rise as high as 5th. Virginia Tech and Clemson are fighting for that final spot in games against Boston College and Duke respectively. Finally NC State and Maryland are mathematically out of it by a long ways.

The best case scenario for Miami would be a win over Wake Forest and a loss by Boston College at the hands of Virginia Tech. This would put them in a tie for 4th and a rematch against Wake Forest who they play on Sunday in the final game of the season. I'm not sure how the tie breakers work but if Miami and Boston College both win then you would have a 3 way tie at 4th. That could make the seeding very interesting because the team on the short end of that would get matched up against Virginia or Florida State a challenge no team wants in the first round. All will be sorted out Sunday but expect another update on Saturday night after the UVA-UNC game and the Duke-Clemson games are completed. Those 2 games will clear up the picture a whole lot more.

See people women's soccer can be interesting.

A look at ACC women's soccer going into the final week

Alright it's the final week of the regular season for ACC women's soccer. I know this may not interest everybody but if you pay attention and keep track of it all it can be very exciting. I thought I would let you know what could possibly happen to the UM women's team after the conclusion of all the games on Sunday. Going into the final week here are the standings in the ACC:

1) North Carolina with 24pts. after 9 games
2) Virginia with 18 pts. after 9 games
3) Florida State with 17 pts. after 9 games
4) Miami with 14 pts. after 8 games
5) Wake Forest with 14 pts. after 8 games
6) Boston College with 11 pts. after 8 games
7) Duke with 10 pts. after 8 games
8) Virginia Tech with 8 pts. after 9 games
9) Clemson with 8 pts. after 8 games
10) NC State with 1 pt. after 8 games
11) Maryland with 1 pt. after 8 games

Ok so there that is. There are a total of 10 matches in the ACC conference season so that is the basis for everything. 8 teams make the ACC tournament and NC State and Maryland are out of the race. Miami is a lock to get in unless they lose both matches and Clemson wins both against Duke and FSU. The highest seed they can get is 2nd with a pair of wins and a lot of losses by the top teams which isn't a complete impossibility with FSU facing Clemson who needs to win and Virginia facing North Carolina who's only loss is to the Hurricanes. That leaves the 'Canes with the task of defeating Duke and Wake Forest. It is a close race except for the top seed which North Carolina has locked up.

Hopefully that isn't to confusing. Everything will be settled on Sunday but I will also provide an update after tonight's games which will be kicking off in about 4 minutes.

GO CANES!!!!!!