Sport Chit Chat

Disclaimer: I suck at MLB playoff predictions. I just don’t have a good handle for whatever reason. So you may do better betting against my picks.

Milwaukee Brewers (+155) vs Philadelphia Phillies (-175)
Pick: Milwaukee Brewers in 5
Why: Pitching counts. Let’s compare rotations. Milwaukee has Gollardo, Sabathia, Suppan, Bush and Sheets who can pitch if the latter two suck. I don’t see a major upgrade between the Phillies, sure they have Utley, Rollins and Howard but the Brew crew have their fair share of talent on the field in Fielder, Braun, Hardy etc. Their role players are just better imo. I say the Phillies are the slightly better team but they don’t impress me and I’ll take the odds at +155.

Los Angeles Dodgers (+170) vs Chicago Cubs (-200)
Pick: Chicago Cubs in 4
I think the stuff about LA’s pitching staff being better is a pile of crap. Zambrano, Lilly, Harden and Dempster is pretty formidable. The Dodger’s staff is backed by the pitcher park friendly so stats wise they benefit. I just think it’s the Cubs year and people just will root as hard as they can for the Cubs. 100 years…
The Dodgers do have momentum on their side but they played in a mediocre division.

Boston Red Sox (+125) vs LAAoA (-145)
Pick: Toss up. Angels in 5?
This one is too close to call, the Sox have more post season experience having just won but they are a lot of injury question marks. I personally don’t like the Angels all that much but I think they could get it done. The Sox have good value here as a slight underdog.

Tampa Bay Rays (-170) vs Chicago White Sox (+150)
Pick: Rays in 3 or 4.
The White Sox tired out their pitchers trying to win the central division and offensively they can’t bring it to the Rays solid corps. I’m not too high on the Sox pitching either. Shields, Kazmir, Garza are as good as a top 3 as you are going to get.

Everyone now knows the news but do they really know? Yeah I got nothing left to introduce this trade. Manny Ramirez was traded away to the LA Dodgers Heyman first reported. I actually called Heyman a dick to “The Shark” for not providing us any details but that’s besides the point.

Here’s the trade:

LA Dodgers get Manny Ramirez for the rest of 2008, his team options were declined and he has agreed to decline arbitration when he is offered it. Talk about being nice.

Boston Red Sox get: My Canadian hero Jason Bay.

Pittsburgh gets Andy LaRoche (LA), Bobby Morris (LA), Brandon Moss (BOS) and Craig Hansen (BOS)

With LA, Manny Ramirez joins an underachieving Dodger team. He’s a great hitter and considered a poor defender. Not much else to say. I’m going to say he’s an underrated left fielder. People seem to think he’s the absolute worst defender out there. He’s just slow and makes some questionable plays every now and then. The monster makes everyone look bad. True Blue LA thinks they now have one of the worst defenses in the league. Blue Heaven hates it. I have to agree with them though, I don’t hate acquiring Manny as he’s a great player. The rest of the roster kind of sucks. Who’s the odd man out? They have an unhealthy glut of outfielders right now. Andy LaRoche will probably bite them in the bum.

The Red Sox get the best Canadian player in the league (arguable with Morneau but Bay has done his job for a floundering Pirates team). What doesn’t he have? No real upgrade, no experience on a winning team and therefore no playoff experience. The Red Sox gave up 7 million and two prospects for him. Still he’s a great player and I wish him the best. It’s still early but 35% of Sox fans hate the trade. I can see why they hate it, giving up money and two prospects for at best an equal player who is worth more due to his contract but notsomuch for the Sox.

The big winners of this deal, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Here’s a breakdown of the ’spects if you need more information.
Andy LaRoche: joins his brother Adam as the LaRoche Bros. are not servicing the corner infields. He was the Dodgers 2nd best prospect heading into the season and is still highly ranked. The problem? Dodgers management. He never got an opportunity to stick at 3rd where he’s expected to be a great player. He was the top 5th hitting prospect heading into this season. He has a near elite batting eye with a 1:1 walk to K ratio. He hits for some decent power, around 25 he projects but could hit 30 occasionally. Can be an all-star. Great great prospect despite his struggle in the majors. Scott Rolen type hitter?

Bryan Morris would be a great prospect but with pitchers and that dumb saying TINSTAPP, a pitcher is like risky stock, valuable one second, and worthless when he injured his arm. Morris had TJ surgery after his 2006 season missing all of 2007 and basically forgotten until this year. He would’ve been a top 5 prospect had the injury not taken place. He’s still 21 and is pitching well in A-ball. He needs to stay healthy (obviously). Control is an issue but he’s basically un-hittable in A-ball. I’d expect him to move up and he can be an excellent pitcher.

Craig Hansen may be their future closer. Out of all the players, I think he’s the best acquisition. People are low on him due to just not recovering from a failed major league opportunity. The Pirates bullpen are in need of a guy like Hansen who has unbelievable stuff and just needs a chance to put it together. No pressure and he should THRIVE. He’s still just 24 and expect him to see him in a closers role very soon. Expect Hansen to be a hot commodity in the next few years at the trade deadline. He was sold low and has struggled but if he puts it back together…

Brandon Moss: Was a hot commodity and was waiting for Coco Crisp to be traded. He can play CF/LF and will likely suit up in left. He has 20+ home run power and can take a walk and hits for average. Strikes out too much to my liking. Major league ready and he’ll easily replace Bay (well not easily…). Bucs Dugout likes it, calls it quantity and quality.

Overall analysis: Great, great trade for the Bucs. 3 major leaguers for Bay who are no slouches and will start or have vital roles. Morris won’t need to pan out but he’s a good looking prospect with good stuff and just needs to move up. The Red Sox are the losers, they don’t realistically gain any ground but gave up two prospects that might’ve been useful (Moss more so) and 7 million bucks. The Dodgers slightly get better but at the cost of a great prospect and for just a few months.

As first reported by si.com’s Jon Heyman, a very late 3-team trade has been completed, involving Jason Bay and Manny Ramirez. Ramirez will go to the LA Dodgers, with Jason Bay headed to Boston from Pittsburgh to replace him, while the Pirates will receive four prospects. Ken Rosenthal of Foxsports.com has the four prospects going to Pittsburgh as follows: third baseman Andy Laroche and right-handed pitcher Bryan Morris from the Dodgers, and outfielder Brandon Moss and reliever Craig Hansen from the Red Sox. Both sources also report that Ramirez has consented to the trade and will also waive his two $20 million club options for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, meaning Manny will hit the free agent market this winter. The Red Sox will also pay the final $7 million of Ramirez’s contract. Stay tuned for more information shortly, as a news conference appears to be scheduled within the hour.

The Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Casey Blake by giving up Jonathan Meloan and Carlos Santana (not the musician). Baseball Digest Daily has the best write up.

This trade is a rip-off without even analyzing it in-depth.

Casey Blake isn’t a great player by any means. He doesn’t have that much power, strikes a bit and his only asset is the utility factor, playing 1st base, RF and LF. Other then that, he’s not really a flashy player by any means. The Dodgers also have LaRoche who should be playing at 3rd and with Blake likely stealing time from him, it only makes this trade worse.

Jonathan Meloan is a very good prospect. He was rated #5 by Sickels and many believe he’ll be a future closer (a glaring hole for the Indians). His numbers this season suck but take it with a grain of salt as the Dodgers converted him to starter late in the season and had control problems (the stamina issue is also there). Expect to see him back in the bullpen and contributing in September. Great, great pick up.

Meloan for Blake is just a huge rip-off in itself.

Is Carlos Santana any good? He’s not on the prospect radar as a 22-year old in A-ball. He’s definitely a wild card since his minor league background is more then interesting. Santana was doing fine in High-A but the Dodgers brass decided to switch him to catcher (always a risky move, a lot of prospects have failed due to this switch). He went back a level and struggled and has broke out on ALL levels this season back to high A. He’s showing off GREAT power for a catcher and an elite eye at the plate 66 walks to 59 Ks.

He was showing some of the flashes of his elite eye and some power before but as a catcher that is HUGE. Catching prospects are at a premium and many catchers don’t possess the power anyway. The Indians will probably move him up to AA as he’s bashing High A with 14 home runs. The only thing he needs to work on is being behind the plate but if he can keep up the power and the discipline, positioning won’t matter.

What are the Dodgers thinking? Casey Blake is a below average 3rd basemen and they gave up two very intriguing prospects, Santana could have some great value if he repeats his statistics in AA and Meloan is a very useful major league ready prospect. Andrew’s True Blue LA says to Shoot Him upon hearing about this trade.

Hello all. Maxmillien here with your MLB fantasy pick up for this week. This will be a weekly thing so check back every Monday for a possible pick up. Clearly, if something happens during the week I’ll let you know but going into each week I’ll give you a guy who I think can help your squad as well as one or two more possible pick ups.

This past week Padres Dodgers RP Takashi Saito went down with a shoulder injury. Saito has already racked up 17 Saves this season and with him down Jonathan Broxton is now in line to receive the bulk if not ALL of the save opportunities for the Dodgers. Although Broxton has a somewhat suspect ERA at 3.40 I still think this gamble is worth it. If you have the roster space for an extra RP and need saves this pick up is a NO BRAINER! With the Dodgers only 1 game back in their division , the Dodgers will be making all attempts to win and Broxton’s save count could directly benefit from that!

Also, as an extra tidbit, Colorado Rockies RP, Brian Fuentes is currently on the trading block and if Broxton has already been grabbed in your league consider RP Manny Corpas who will - without a doubt - get the save opportunities if and when Fuentes is traded.

-Sincerely, your fantasy guru, Maxmillien