AL West

Franklin Gutierrez stepped it up last year, hitting .283 with 85 runs, 18 HRs, 70 RBI, and 16 SBs.

He turned 27 yesterday, so continued progression is likely.

However, I’m not sure he has a 20/20 season in his future.

The bulk of his stolen bases—seven, to be exact—came when he was hitting out of the two-hole. Newly acquired Chone Figgins figures to occupy that spot in the order, meaning Gutierrez will hit fifth.

He hit nearly half (eight) of his HRs in the fifth slot (in 21.9 percent of his ABs). He only stole two bases there though.

There are few things I find more comical than when an athlete who has accomplished absolutely nothing in his profession tells everyone how great he is. We see this time and time again in sports.

The latest example of this would be C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers.

Wilson has been in the major leagues now for five seasons and yes, he has had a couple of good years, but the reality is he has been nothing more than set-up man/reliever in his career.

Stetson is currently a member of the Atlantic Sun conference and would look to join the Pioneer Football League, a non-scholarship league. A-Sun member Jacksonville is also a member and Mercer has expressed some football interest. If Stetson and another southeast school like Mercer were to join the Pioneer, you could potentially see (2) divisions formed such as:

East: Marist, Campbell, Davidson, Jacksonville, Stetson, Mercer
West: Morehead St, Dayton, Drake, Butler, Valpo, San Diego 

As the sun rose this morning, a new feeling came over the city of Sunrise, Ariz.

A feeling, an excitement, was in the air that hadn't been there in quite some time.

Today was the day that baseball returned to the spring training facilities all over the state of Arizona.

For the Texas Rangers that feeling was one of possibility. A feeling that they could possibly be the team to beat in the AL West after so many years of watching the Angels run away from everyone else.

In 2009, the Rangers hung in the race longer than anyone expected them to.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that no matter what Endy Chavez accomplishes in the major leagues from here on out, he will always be remembered for one spectacular catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS when he was with the New York Mets.

That catch, which robbed Scott Rolen of a home run, will be on MLB Network’s Prime Nine: Best Post Season Catches from now until that program goes off the air. It was that good.

Here is the catch from a fan’s prospective in case you want to see it again or missed it somehow the first time around:

Full Name
Darrell Wayne Evans

DOB
5/26/47

College
None (John Muir High School, Pasadena, CA)

Drafted
1967, 7th Round, Kansas City Athletics

MLB Seasons
1969-1989

Tiger Seasons
1984-1988

Career Stats
.248 Avg, 414 HR, 1354 RBI, .792 OPS, 119 OPS+, 1605 BB

Career Leaderboard
2 time All-Star (1973, 1983)
12th all time in walks (1605)
42nd all time in HR (414)

We took a glance at the 10 best outfielders to choose from, and the next 10 are an interesting bunch in that they offer a nice compliment in all categories (power, hits, speed).

While the following players won’t offer as much muscle, the trick is not to overload your team with massive power—despite some saying you should—rather adding a balance of homeruns, hits and speed; something that these guys do in fact offer.