A's, Giants Off to Strong Starts

The 2010 Major League Baseball season isn't quite a week old yet, but there is plenty to be excited about if your a Bay Area baseball fan. Both the Giants and the A's are off to tremendous starts as the Giants site atop the NL West and sport the best record in baseball at 4-0 and the A's are atop the AL West with a record of 4-1.

We've gotten into a bunch of Giants stuff over @ The Giants Baseball Blog so we're going to stick with mostly A's talk here but will sprinkle in a little Giants at the bottom of the post. There is plenty to talk about with the Green and Gold as they've gotten brilliant starting pitching and just enough offense through their first 5 ballgames. Daric Barton, Mark Ellis and Rajai Davis have stuck out on offense and really have carried the A's through the first week. Barton is leading the team with a .438 average and 7 RBI in just 17 at-bats. Ellis is hitting .400 with 6 runs scored and Davis is hitting .370 with a homer, 4 RBI and 6 runs scored as well. Young shortstop Cliff Pennington has been better than expected at the plate, as he's contributed one of the A's 3 total home runs, and is hitting .353. After that though, things drop off as most of the rest of the bunch isn't hitting so well. Kurt Suzuki's at .250 with a homer and 4 RBI, while Kevin Kouzmanoff and Eric Chavez are both below .250. It is only the first week of the season, so it's tough to really judge what the A's offense will do throughout the year, but it's pretty clear that they'll be getting strong pitching no matter what.

The A's starters have started off the year in impressive fashion. All five starters have had a start, and only Justin Duchsherer, who should be just fine once he gets going, failed to turn in a solid outing. Dallas Braden was perhaps the most impressive, going 7 strong vs. the Angels, allowing 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 10 batters. Brett Anderson was pretty stingy in his outing as well, throwing 6 innings of 3 hit, shutout baseball vs. Seattle. The most recent strong outing was Gio Gonzalez's performance on Friday night in Southern California, as the 24 year-old lefty went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs while striking out 6. The rotation turns back over Saturday night as Ben Sheets will try and improve upon his first outing as an Athletic and sets out for his first win of the season in Los Angeles. The Angels will counter with their ace, Jered Weaver, who beat the Twins on Opening Day. It should be a classic pitchers duel, and whatever team can get the lead first will probably win the game.

Speaking of strong pitching, over across the Bay, the Giants have gotten terrific starting pitching themselves, as well as solid relief work, as they've cruised to an undefeated 4-0 to start the year. Things looked a little iffy for them in the home opener Friday, but the Giants pulled off a come from behind victory to beat the Atlanta Braves. That win showed me that the Giants are going to be for real this year. Last season, I don't think they would have come back and won that game off a closer like Billy Wagner, but this year, they seem to have even more swagger and confidence. The lineup looks like it's sorting itself out, as Edgar Renteria has started off extremely hot to stabilize the top of the order, and John Bowker has established himself in right field and has had a few big hits at the bottom of the lineup. The Giants are doing this without their perennial all-star second basemen Freddy Sanchez too. I can't help but think of what this team will be capable of once they get him back and increase their depth even further.

2010 NL West Preview

With Major League Baseball's opening day upon us, and seeing that I've already done an A's preview here, I thought I'd go ahead and post our NL West Preview for 2010.

1st Place, Colorado Rockies

Lineup:
CF Dexter Fowler
LF Carlos Gonzalez
1B Todd Helton
SS Troy Tulowitzki
RF Brad Hawpe
C Chris Ianetta
3B Ian Stewart
2B Clint Barmes

Pitching:
RH Ubaldo Jimenez
LH Jeff Francis
RH Aaron Cook
LH Jorge De La Rosa
RH Jason Hammel
SU: Franklin Morales
CL: Huston Street (DL'd until May)

The Rockies are an overall young team who knows how to win. They were one of the best teams in baseball during the second half of last season, and they did that without one of their best starting pitchers (Jeff Francis). A big key to their success was young outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who came over from the A's in the Matt Holliday trade and immediately made an impact (.286, 13 hr, 29 RBI, 16 SB, .878 OPS in 276 at-bats) upon his arrival in Colorado in June. Gonzalez, Tulowitzki, Fowler, Hawpe and Stewart give the Rockies a young core of solid ballplayers who they can build around. They also have veteran first basemen Todd Helton, who continues to be a model of consistency and productivity for the Rocks. The pitching staff is always the area in question for the Rockies, but it looks like they may have finally answered those questions as all starters (besides the injured Francis) finished 2009 with winning records and all of them can pitch at Coors Field. The bullpen is a bit of a question though, where closer Huston Street is out indefinitely, and may not return until mid-season.

2nd Place, San Francisco Giants

Lineup:
CF Aaron Rowand
2B Freddy Sanchez*
3B Pablo Sandoval
1B Aubrey Huff
LF Mark DeRosa
C Bengie Molina
RF John Bowker
SS Edgar Renteria

Pitching:
RH Tim Lincecum
RH Matt Cain
LH Barry Zito
LH Jonathan Sanchez
RH Todd Wellemeyer
LH Madison Bumgarner*
SU: Jeremy Affeldt
CL: Brian Wilson
*Bumgarner starts year in AAA
*Sanchez out until May

The Giants definitely improved their offense with the additions of DeRosa and Huff, but it's not like those guys are going to push them over the top. Overall, they have a better team entering 2010 than they had entering 2009, and that team managed to win 87 games, so this team should be right around that total too. The pitching staff is their strength, as Cain and Lincecum can match up with any duo in baseball, Sanchez is coming off a solid second half last year that started with a no-hitter in mid-July, and Barry Zito looks like he's finally hit his comfort zone in San Francisco. Their young, hard-throwing bullpen is led by closer Brian Wilson (2.74 era, 38 sv in '09), set-up man Jeremy Affeldt (1.73 era in '09) and a couple of youngsters who are nearly as effective as those two and they are lefty Dan Runzler and righty Sergio Romo. The Giants don't have much team speed, although they have smart base runners, and their defense isn't great, but I don't think those two areas will keep the Giants back. If Huff and DeRosa have good years and the Giants offense can average 4+ runs per night, then they'll be right in the thick of the playoff race.

3rd Place, Los Angeles Dodgers

Lineup:
SS Rafael Furcal
C Russell Martin
CF Matt Kemp
LF Manny Ramirez
RF Andre Eithier
3B Casey Blake
1B James Loney
2B Blake DeWitt

Pitching:
RH Vicente Padilla
LH Clayton Kershaw
RH Chad Billingsley
RH Hiroki Kuroda
RH Charlie Haeger
SU: George Sherrill
CL: Jonathan Broxton

The Dodgers went through a lot of turmoil with their front office and ownership situation this winter, and the didn't achieve very much during the offseason due largely to that. They had some holes in their starting rotation that didn't really get fixed. Billingsley and Kershaw are very good young arms, but besides those two, I don't like their rotation too much. The bullpen should be solid though, led by all-star closer Jonathan Broxton and another guy who's been a successful closer in recent years, George Sherrill. The lineup has some studs. Matt Kemp, Andre Eithier and Manny Ramirez make up the best offensive outfield in baseball, and I'm expecting rebound seasons out of Furcal and Martin. The Dodgers are just hoping Manny has another burst left in him to lead their offense. If Manny plays like he did after being sent to LA in '08 (.396, 17 hr, 53 RBI in just 187 ab's) then he'll win MVP and the Dodgers will win the West. If he plays like he did in '09 after coming back from his suspension, then the Dodgers will likely miss the playoffs for the first time in a few years.

4th Place, Arizona Diamondbacks

Lineup:
LF Connor Jackson
SS Stephen Drew
RF Justin Upton
1B Adam LaRoche
3B Mark Reynolds
C Miguel Montero
CF Chris Young
2B Kelly Johnson

Pitching:
RH Dan Haren
RH Edwin Jackson
RH Brandon Webb*
RH Ian Kennedy
RH Rodrigo Lopez
RH Billy Buckner
SU: Juan Guttierez
CL: Chad Qualls
*Webb will be out until at least June

The D-Backs have a young lineup that is ready to do their part to get AZ to the playoffs, but their pitching staff is another story. If only Brandon Webb were healthy, but he's not. He's probably going to be out until June, if not later, and the D-Backs will once again sorely miss him. They added Edwin Jackson which is a very nice add and Dan Haren is constantly in the mix for the CY Young award, so the top half of the rotation is still strong. The bullpen is OK, but they're relying on a lot of younger arms to get Chad Qualls the ball. Justin Upton is ready to start entering the MVP mix, and everybody else in that lineup (besides 1 year free agent add Adam LaRoche) is 28 or younger and all are primed for breakout seasons. If that happens, the D-Backs could be scary, because Webb will be back at some point, and that lineup has the ability to keep them in it until he does.

5th Place, San Diego Padres

Lineup:
CF Tony Gwynn Jr.
2B David Eckstein
1B Adrian Gonzalez
LF Kyle Blanks
3B Chase Headley
RF Will Venable
SS Everth Cabrera
C Yorvit Torrealba

Pitching:
RH Jon Garland
RH Chris Young
RH Kevin Corriea
LH Clayton Richard
RH Mat Latos
SU: Mike Adams
CL: Heath Bell

The Padres are the only team in the division that really have no shot at competing for a playoff spot. They do have some decent starters with Young, Corriea and youngsters Richard and Latos, but they don't really have an ace (as evident by Jon Garland getting the opening day nod). Their lineup has a few boppers in Gonzalez and Blanks, and a couple of possible future stars in Cabrera, Gwynn and Headley, but they just don't have enough offense right now to keep up with most other teams. Their bullpen is probably their strength, with closer Heath Bell (2.71 era, 42 sv in '09) and set-up man Mike Adams (0.73 era, 0.59 WHIP in '09).

Originally Posted @ The Giants Baseball Blog

2010 Oakland A's Team Preview and Predictions

With Major League Baseball's opening day officially one week away, I wanted to do an Oakland A's 2010 team preview. We've already gotten in our San Francisco Giants Team Preview over at The Giants Baseball Blog, so today we'll take a look at how the 2010 A's Roster projects to look and how I expect each player to perform in 2010:

2010 Oakland A's

Lineup:

1. Coco Crisp CF - .278 avg, 8 hr, 54 RBI, 76 runs, 21 sb
2. Rajai Davis LF - .290, 4 hr, 43 RBI, 80 r, 54 sb
3. Kurt Suzuki C - .298, 17 hr, 72 RBI, 75 r, 14 sb
4. Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B - .258, 22 hr, 85 RBI, 62 r, 0 sb
5. Jack Cust DH - .250, 23 hr, 79 RBI, 68 r, 5 sb
6. Eric Chavez 1B - .286, 16 hr, 57 RBI, 59 r, 1 sb
7. Ryan Sweeney RF - .303, 10 hr, 62 RBI, 71 r, 11 sb
8. Mark Ellis 2B - .267, 15 hr, 70 RBI, 63 r, 12 sb
9. Cliff Pennington SS - .262, 7 hr, 45 RBI, 49 r, 13 sb

Bench:

C Landon Powell - .237, 9 hr, 37 RBI, 21 r, 0 sb
IF Eric Patterson - .259, 1 hr, 14 RBI, 22 r, 11 sb
OF Gabe Gross - .246, 10 hr, 34 RBI, 36 r, 5 sb
OF/IF Jake Fox - .272, 19 hr, 71 RBI, 43 r, 0 sb

The A's don't have a bunch of power in their lineup, and they aren't going to throw out the best scoring bunch in the AL, but they do have some strengths. Crisp and Davis bring huge speed to the top of the order, and Kurt Suzuki is one of the better young catchers in the league, in my opinion the A's best all-around ballplayer. The A's are also hoping for a nice comeback year from Eric Chavez. I'm looking for Ryan Sweeney to kind of break out this year and hit over.300 with 10+ homers while providing solid defense in the outfield. I was anticipating Jake Fox to play his way into the starting lineup this spring, but he's had a bad one. Still, he's got 30 homer pop and should be in the lineup more often than not.

Pitching:

1. Ben Sheets RHP - 11-8, 4.02 era, 157 IP, 131 K's
2. Brett Anderson LHP - 13-8, 3.65 era, 192 IP, 176 K's
3. Justin Duchscherer RHP - 10-7, 3.92 era, 141 IP, 109 K's
4. Dallas Braden LHP - 10-12, 4.26 era, 178 IP, 126 K's
5. Trevor Cahill RHP - 13-10, 4.10 era, 203 IP, 149 K's

Bullpen:

CL Andrew Bailey - 5-2, 2.72 era, 36 saves, 76 games
SU Joey Devine - 3-1, 2.89 era, 23 holds, 60 games
RH Michael Wuertz - 3-4, 3.23 era, 25 holds, 83 games
RH Brad Zieglar - 3-5, 4.14 era, 6 saves, 78 games
LH Josh Outman - 4-6, 4.46 era, 11 starts, 52 games
RH Jason Jennings - 2-2, 5.10 era, 63 games
LH Craig Breslow - 2-3, 3.99 era, 68 games

The A's pitching staff should be a strength if they can stay healthy. Ben Sheets is a legit ace when he's right, but he hasn't thrown a pitching since 2008. Also, Duchscherer has shown ace-like capabilities when he's been right, but he's been battling some physical and mental obstacles over the last 12-15 months. Right now, it looks like both vets will be ready to start the year in the rotation and join up-and-coming youngsters Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden and Trevor Cahill. Their bullpen also is facing some injury issues at the start of the year as their top-3 relievers (Bailey, Wuertz and Devine) could miss the first couple weeks of the regular season. All in all though, I think the A's pitching staff should be just fine and should help make up for there mediocre at best offense. I say they finish the year at 80 wins and 82 losses, in third place behind the Angels and Mariners but in front of Texas.

Giants Surprises/Disappointments of the Spring

Our Giants Blog over @ http://giantsbaseballblog.blogspot.com
has been a big contributor to a very popular baseball site, http://www.hotstove.com/. Since we haven't gotten a chance to get into much of the Giants news here during spring training, I wanted to share one of the Q&A's we recently provided them. It's a brief breakdown on the Giants top two prospects and how they've fared thus far.

Q: Bearing in mind that Spring Training stats are essentially meaningless, who among the Giants' players have helped or hurt themselves the most with their performances this spring?

TC: The guy who has quietly helped himself a ton in regards to possibly making the Giants opening day roster has been their top prospect, Buster Posey. With the Giants' pressing need for all the offense they can get, and with Buster Posey putting up the spring he has (12-28, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1.055 OPS), it's going to be extremely tough for the Giants to keep him off their opening day roster. They're stuck between a rock in a hard place because they would like Posey to refine his catching skills by playing everyday in Fresno instead of starting off on the bench in San Francisco.

Madison Bumgarner, on the other hand, has disappointed this spring and could lose his grip on the fifth starters spot because of it. As a matter of fact, on Tuesday, the Giants officially demoted the 21 year-old lefty to AAA Fresno, and it's almost certain that he'll begin the season with the Grizzlies. The big concern with Bumgarner is his diminished velocity, down from 92-94 mph last year, to 87-88 mph this spring, and he's been very hittable. It's going to be interesting to see how these situations transpire as the regular season begins.

A's Trying to Get Healthy

The A's haven't been too impressive as a team thus far in the spring, as they sit at 2-4 and are in route to losing their 5th game of the spring Friday. They have, however, gotten some very good news on the injury front this spring.

Former star third basemen, Eric Chavez, has regained his stroke and looks the best and healthiest I've seen him since 2005. Chavey's appeared in just 3 games so far, but his bat looks very quick with plenty of pop. He went deep twice in one game vs. the White Sox on Wednesday, and is hitting .500 with a triple in addition to his 2 homers and 3 RBI. He's also looked very good at first base, making a few nice plays and looking very comfortable in the process. The solid play from Chavez has caused a ripple effect at first base. It's lit a fire under Daric Barton, who has underachieved in his brief big league career so far. Barton's hitting an even .400 (6-15) with an RBI and a double. The A's are hoping the 25 year old will take reigns of first base this year and make himself the unquestionable starter there going forward, but he'll have plenty of competition. Besides the thriving Chavez, the A's have newly acquired Jake Fox in the mix at first base as well. I'm expecting big things out of Fox, and do still believe he'll force his way into the starting lineup somewhere because of his bat, but he has looked pretty bad so far this spring. Fox is hitting just .071 (1-14) with 0 RBI and may be playing himself out of starting lineup consideration.

Ben Sheets, who like Chavez is coming off a year missed by injury, has also had a pain-free spring thus far, although he hasn't yielded the positive results Chavey has quite yet. Sheets didn't have the best start in his first start of the spring against his former team (Brewers) in which he allowed 1 earned run in 1 2/3 innings while allowing 4 hits and striking out 1 batter. He got hit even harder in his most recent outing vs. the White Sox on Wednesday. In that game, Sheets allowed 5 earned runs on 5 hits and a walk and 0 strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. The good news though, is that he is healthy, and is throwing the ball without pain. There's little doubt in my mind that Ben Sheets will be just fine by opening day as long as he stays healthy and progresses. He may never again be the Ben Sheets of 2004 (2.70 era, 264 strikeouts, 0.97 WHIP) , but as long as he does stay healthy, a repeat of his last healthy year (2008) wouldn't be a bad year by any means. In 2008, Sheets went 13-9 with a 3.09 era and 1.15 WHIP and the A's would take those numbers in a heartbeat.

Another A's arm that's on his way back after missing 2009 is Joey Devine. The 26 year-old flame-throwing right handed reliever is just a couple of weeks away from making his return from Tommy John Surgery. In 2008 with the A's, Devine showed why the A's at that time considered him a closer of the future candidate (6-1, 0.59 era, 0.85 WHIP, 49 K's in 45 IP). Devine's return will further strengthen an already dominant bullpen... Coco Crisp, who's also been bitten hard by the injury bug in recent years, is currently day-to-day with his bum hamstring, but is expected back sooner than later... So, it looks like the A's may indeed have their full-squad ready to go by the end of the spring, and that would be huge for them and their chances in getting off to a good start.

Niners Sign David Carr

In a somewhat surprising move Monday, the Niners inked former #1 draft pick from the 2002 draft, quarterback David Carr, to a 2 year contract worth over $6 million in guaranteed money.

This move kind of came out of nowhere, as the Niners appeared set to role with Alex Smith at QB1 and use Shaun Hill and youngster Nate Davis to back him up. However, the Niners have apparently seen all they care to from Shaun Hill, and aren't confident enough in Nate Davis to use him if Alex Smith struggles or goes down with injury at some point in 2010. So, the Niners went out and grabbed David Carr, who they're hoping will provide them with some stability after Alex Smith. They really like Carr's arm and his ability to get the ball down field, which is an area that Shaun Hill doesn't excel at. In 2008-09, Carr served as Eli Manning's back-up in New York and threw pretty well in his short stints behind center for the Giants. Carr's last year as a starter was in 2006 when he threw for 2767 yards and 11 touchdowns with 12 picks with the Texans, good for a QB rate of 82.1. His best season as a starter came in 2004-'05 when he threw for 3531 yards and 16 TD's. The Niners viewed Carr as one of the better options available as far as veteran QB's who could come in and start if Alex Smith goes down. A few of the other veteran back-up QB's on the free agent market were Patrick Ramsey, Rex Grossman, Jeff Garcia and Chad Pennington.

The move kind of took a few of the Niners players by surprise as well. One player in particular, Patrick Willis, actually voiced dis-pleasure with the Niners signing of Carr. Willis used Twitter as an outlet to sort of throw Niners management under the bus, saying he didn't understand why the Niners would add a quarterback that wasn't as good as their current top-2, and would have rather seen them go after someone like Michael Vick or Donovan McNabb rather than signing David Carr. I was kind of thrown back by Willis' comments, as he's always been a soft-spoken, let my play do my talking for me type of guy, and the last thing I would have expected would be to see Willis lash-out over the signing of a back-up QB. Now, I do understand where Willis is coming from, I don't really love this move either. I would have liked to see Nate Davis get a shot if Alex Smith proves not to be the answer next year, but it looks like David Carr is going to get consideration as a potential QB of the future instead. Hopefully Alex Smith really arrives next year, and this is a moot point, but even so, Carr isn't coming very cheaply. The Niners have apparently expressed some interest in former Jets running back Leon Washington as a back-up running back, but mostly as a kick/punt returner. I don't think I'd look into him too much though, because he'd cost the Niners their 2nd rounder if they do end up signing him, plus I'd much rather spend the money on Joshua Cribbs, who I see as a perfect fit for San Francisco.

A's Add Depth to Their Pitching Staff

The A's made a couple of additions to their roster on Monday, re-signing Brett Tomko and they're also bringing former Rockies' starter, Jason Jennings.

Tomko threw very well for the A's after coming over from the Yankees towards the end of last season, posting a 4-1 mark over 6 starts, with a 2.95 in 36 innings. Unfortunately, he got hurt in one of his last scheduled starts of the season, and it his arm problem will keep him out until May at the earliest. Jennings, I believe, was brought in as insurance for Justin Duchsherer and possibly could fill a void in the A's rotation if need be, or can serve as a long reliever. Jennings had a decent year with Texas as a full-time reliever in 2009, sporting a 4.13 era in 61 innings of work. Neither of these guys will be expected to be full-time contributors to the A's rotation or bullpen, but both can fill a variety of roles and are coming of respectable campaigns, so I do see the logic in adding the depth.

The A's get their Cactus League schedule underway on Thursday as they take on the Chicago Cubs in Peroia. Here's how I expect their lineup to shape up for the ballgame (remember, no DH in NL park):

LF Rajai Davis
CF Coco Crisp
1B Jake Fox
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
C Kurt Suzuki
RF Ryan Sweeney
2B Mark Ellis
SS Cliff Pennington
P Brett Anderson