Initial AL West

I have been reading some interesting reads by columnist Tim Brown whose work is posted on Yahoo Sports. He is doing a quick around the league and I am basing much of my comments on his work. The following are the highlights and my added opinion.

Also I would love to point out that once again Yahoo Sports is my preferred internet venue for sports news because of its clean layout. I have tired greatly of the extreme broadband requirements of other sites and love the fact that I can enjoy the site on dial-up or a T1 line.

FYI, I will be making my official predictions about records/playoffs and all before the season begins, but after Spring Training ends.

• The Orioles look to be stuck in neutral again this year. They might make some early noise in May, but a weak rotation with Bedard as its high point will eat away at the win column. Combine that with an overpaid closer in Baez and the birds will have trouble holding a lead.


• Here is the scary part: "Devil Rays starters had a better ERA in 2006 than Red Sox starters." So what did Boston do but go out and sign a big name in the offseason. Now their rotation looks like Schilling, Beckett, Dice-K, and Wakefield. If Papelbon is allowed to join them then they look scary. Their bullpen will prove to be either the savior or the Achilles heal for this team.


• The Bronx Bombers are back once again and a healthy Matsui should prove to be vital. And yes, here we are again discussing whether or not they can outhit the other team. This team is like the Phoenix Suns in their approach to the season. Simply outscore the other team and hope that the defense (pitching) does enough.


• Tampa Bay is going to be hard to take seriously again because of their general lack of talent. Kazmir and Wiggington will hopefully provide some inspiration to this otherwise AAA team.


• Toronto is once again going to be bearing the brunt of the AL East haterade. They have a solid rotation in Halladay, Burnett, and Chacin. Their outfield should outhit the world again (unless Vernon Wells had a contract season). Watch for them to take 2nd in the division.


• The White Sox have a 'great on paper' rotation again that can take them to the top if they regain their form. Dye, Thome, and Konerko need to step up once again though to keep them in contention.


• The Indians seem to be stuck in neutral and their lineup and rotation seem ok i guess. They seemed destined to be either 3rd or 4th in the division.


• Detroit looks really scary. They added Gary Sheffield for some extra power and retained their elite pitching staff. The key will be whether or not the staff is worn down or overused. Having 4 starters hover around 200 innings last year was mighty nice, but let's make sure that they don't wear out late in the season.


• The Royals.... yup.


• The Twins are going to have to turn into a Yankees-esque team and muscle their way into the postseason. Their pitching is going to be quite down with the loss of Liriano. Even with Santana doing his usual changeup magic, the rest of the rotation is mediocre at best. Having Mauer and Morneau leaves them open to some pop as that could bring them hope. I have them slated comfortably in 3rd.


• The Angels of 'whatever city they pick this year' look to be stacked to take the division. If Vlad comes back strong and Colon starts blowing people away, their team will do well.


• Oakland keeps losing good pitchers and so it is hard for me to believe that they will maintain a high level of performance. I am uncertain about the Piazza for Thomas DH swap and think it will be quite hard for Mike to equal Frank's output from last year.


• Seattle has spent a lot of money chasing contract year players and are getting hit with the brunt of those bad decisions. They look destined to be bottom feeders this year.


• The Rangers seem to be quite a wild card this year. They have built their team around a lot cheap what ifs that could pay huge dividends. If Sammy starts slammin again and Gagne is lights out with Otsuka in front and Brandon McCarthy steps it up and Hank Blalock decides to play again, they win the division. As it is, it is hard to bet on higher than a 2nd place finish in the division.

It's That Time Again

Now that football is over I can officially bask in the attention that Baseball is now given by the media. Now I can start formulating my opinions on all of the teams since I have more information. Therefore I will start posting my thoughts on the upcoming season and my favorite team.

• Some poor shmuck up in New York decided to sign Chan Ho.


• The Rangers lost Gary Matthews Jr. to the Angels this offseason. He had a steller year last season, but I am thinking that it may be short lived. He played several years for us and only had this one good season to speak of. Matthews is 32 years old and his lifetime average is not that good (.263 including his breakout year). His contract year play has payed off for him, but I am glad to see the Rangers not chase his escalating salary. And as always, I will probably eat these words.


• Bud Selig is not really sure if he is going to follow the breaking of Hank Aaron's home run record. It is quite interesting how shunned the bombers have become in recent years.


• The Rangers this year are all about second chances, or third chances. Eric Gagne would be huge if he works out. However, I am hearing talk of dumping Otsuka if he turns out to be good. Even though we could upgrade the outfield in a trade, Otsuka is the most stable part of our sometimes shaky bullpen. Sammy Sosa is worth an extra 2000 tickets a game at least in my book, so I am happy to give him a shot. Kenny Lofton just seems to be too old though for his speed to still be great.


• For years Rangers fans have been hearing that the future lies with our 3 perfect pitching prospects (Danks, Diamond, and Volquez). We have refused all trades for them. The only one to actually pitch in the majors in Edison Volquez who has a steller 1-10 record with a 9.20 ERA. Danks and Diamond have never even pitched in the majors. So we finally dumped Danks this offseason for Brandon McCarthy who at least had a 1.25 whip last year. The Rangers betting all their pitching future on these 3 minor league prospects has not payed off.


• The major loss for the Rangers in the offseason was Mark DeRosa. He was a solid .296 utility player who reminds me of Michael Young. I think the Cubs will really like this pick-up.

Hipster Cool Dude

I have long been wanting new gadgets. And I have also been fashionably late in buying those gadgets. I talk myself out of them saying that in 4 months I will be able to get something twice as good for half the price. I am usually right, but when you never buy it makes no sense. So after spending 3 and a half years drooling over MP3 players, I received this one for Christmas:



Boy am I in heaven. This thing lets me listen to the radio, view pictures, and listen to my music on the go. So now that I am ultra cool and all, I have the right to wear this thing around. I mean I have seen people with earbuds in for a long time and it is socially acceptable. So the first thing that I did after receiving the gift and putting the Weezer Blue album on it was of course go out in public. "Hey honey, can you go get a couple items from the grocery store," was my cue. I threaded the earbuds through the jacket, hit play, put the player in my pocket and was off. Of course I did not make it out the door without my wife hanging her head in shame. Am I off or is that not still cool? I told her it was, but I don't think she believes that I am on the cusp of a culteral revolution or anything.

20,000 Reasons Not To Write About The Sea

I have been enjoying reading books once again. The past year has seen me read more books for pleasure than the past 10 years combined. I started out strong with Asimov's Foundation series. I explored many different aspects of Michael Crichton's imagination. I even gave Carl Sagan's Contact a try. Currently I am reading a book about heroic American figures that are not widely publicized.

So my current dilemma is to find a new book to read. I started thinking about different ideas and I could not come up with just one. A lot of authors I enjoy write thousand page novels that take 300 pages to introduce the characters. I don't think I have time for that. I enjoyed the quick fun pace of the Foundation series, so a sci-fi book sounded appealing. I pondered what genre of this crazy dorky world to explore and finally came up with a topic I was interested in. The following is the premise that I wish to explore in a book:

In the near future (50-400) years humans discover that exploring the solar system is very costly and not producing enough benefits. It still is only an elite few who can go up and small outposts are on the Moon / Mars etc. But the expected space boom just did not happen like the Jetsons promised. Somewhere in this time frame someone thought, "What about the 70% of the world that we can't live on?" At this point a new exploration / settlement occurs in which humans migrate / expand to the oceans and find new ways of living. It is much cheaper and easier than shipping people 100,000 times the distance to a nearby rock. Therefore this story is set with the expansion to the ocean as its backdrop. Now this does not include any people mutating into gilled creatures or anything. Just finding expansion room on Earth rather than elsewhere.

So I have searched for such a book. It sounds not only interesting to me, but also plausible. However, finding such a book has been anything but easy. I searched at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, the local library, and even Google. The only possible solution that I have found is located in an annoyingly green background site titled If You Like This. Beware going to that site if your eyes are not steady.

So my wife casually laughed at my subject of search and said, "Why don't you just write the book if you can't find it?" So the more frustrated I get with my search, the more I consider the idea. I do like the scenario at least. Lend me your thoughts.

Am I Outdated?

I am coming up on my 25th birthday soon and the question above is in my mind. I have crossed over into geezer status it seems in many ways. I remember how things were better back in the day and miss the old days. I was going to put links to things in my post, but then was daunted by the task.

My wife and I were in the car coming back from our Thanksgiving trip and both started belting out a song and suddenly realized that it came out when we were in junior high. We both have pretty much stopped liking new music. A month ago I was seriously considering an offer from an infomercial for a CD featuring Best of the 90s rock. I still think of grunge as a new movement, of Weezer as great band, and Nirvana as the rockin rebels of the age. Bands like Creed and STP that don't exist anymore are still in the new section of my media library.



It was 10 years ago that movie blockbusters such as Independence Day, Mission Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Space Jam, and Happy Gilmore debuted. Jurassic Park was a 1993 product while Home Alone kicked serious tail in 1990. I watched The Santa Clause 3 this past weekend with my in-laws and in the movie they did a flashback to the first film... 12 years ago! Tim Allen is still the coolest... isn't he?



I guess I know what my kids will be thinking some day. Why do we always watch Home Improvement seasons on DVD and then have mom put in her Law & Order shows. Why does he listen to the oldies station that plays Mariah Carey, Green Day, Boys II Men, Pearl Jam, Coolio, Savage Garden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Backstreet Boys, and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Oh brother am I ever locked in.