Baseball

Excuse me, loyal reader, as I go on a bit of a rant this morning.

On Tuesday's addition of Around the Horn on ESPN, writer Jay Mariotti won the day's pseudo competition and was awarded his 30 seconds of face time.

He chose to use this time to exclaim how he didn't vote this year for Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame.

He said that none of the players up for the first time deserved to get in on the first ballot, and that was reserved for players like Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwen.

1. Will Hideki Matsui continue to produce? 
He will turn 36 years old this summer so expectations should be tempered. He’s also leaving the home run haven that is Yankee Stadium. Plus, the Angels’ lineup is not as formidable as the Yankees was. Given his injury risk and new home, he’s a player I would avoid in 2010.

This is a response to a very interesting article by Jordan Scwartz; The 50 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time .

In his article Jordan ranked all MLB players (not all players; neither players from the Japanese leagues nor the Negro League were included) based soley on statistics, mixing pitchers and hitters. The idea was good, but I, like others, thinks the method needs to be refined a little. I have made an attempt.

There are several interesting player comparisons we can look at in the first few rounds of 2010 fantasy drafts.  This season seems more muddled then normal, with very few clear-cut selections for fantasy owners to make due to injuries or epic struggles in 2009.  One of the interesting debates right now comes in the second, with David Wright (ADP 14.40) currently going a selection before Carl Crawford (ADP 15.17), on average.

"When he's hot there's no stopping him—he'll even hit a ball over his head." - Nolan Ryan in Nolan Ryan's Pitchers Bible.  (1991)

The man known as "The Hawk" has finally made it to Cooperstown.  Andre Dawson will soon have a plaque and a place in baseballs hall of fame.  My only question is, what took so long?  He should have been in years ago, and I think it's only fitting he will enter the hall alone.  No one will be able to steal his thunder or overshadow him in anyway.  It will be the Hawk's day.  A day that is well deserved and long overdue.

There is nothing quite so gratifying as a great big dump. Salary dump, that is. Just ask the Toronto Blue Jays GM, Alex Anthopoulos.

Over the past six or seven months, the Toronto Blue Jays have parted company with Roy Haladay, Scott Rolan, Alex Rios, Marco Scutaro and Rod Barajas. These moves represent a salary dump for the 2010 season of a little over $47 million.

The five players who will replace Halladay et al—John Buck, Alex Gonzalez, Travis Snider, Edwin Encarnacion, and one entry-level starting pitcher—will earn slightly more than $10 million for the coming season. 

Congratulations to Andre Dawson on his razor thin selection to the baseball Hall of Fame.

After 20 years of being on the ballot, Dawson finally found himself as the biggest name available outside of Mark McGwire, and the writers graciously punched his ticket for a trip to Cooperstown this summer.

But is this the best way to select baseball immortality?

In 1989 Dawson received just 14 percent of the vote in his second year of eligibility and the prospects of Hall of Fame admission were slim.

Matt Holliday has officially signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Let me steal a line from Jack Buck here: "Pardon me while I stand and applaud."

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Okay, I'm back. Despite what pessimists say, this is a great signing for the Cardinals. I'm not here, however, to talk about the contract itself. I'm going to answer some questions that, for a lack of a better word, stupid people continue to ask.

Q: With Holliday making $17 million per season now, Pujols will want to be paid more than that in his next contract.

Followers of the off-season Yankees are left thinking about a single bench position. Let's take a look at the roster. They will carry 12 pitchers. 

These are the nine position players (I note lefty, righty, and switch in parentheses):  C Posada (S); 1B Teixeira (S); 2B Cano (L); SS Jeter (R); 3B Rodriguez (R); LF Gardner (L); CF Granderson (L); RF Swisher (S); and DH Johnson (L).

For all intents and purposes, Francisco Cervelli and Jamie Hoffman have made the team: C Cervelli (R); OF Hoffman (R).  

This article was first reported at Boston Sox Journalism.

The Boston Red Sox certainly proved one thing this offseason: there is no such thing as a "bridge year" in Beantown.

The Red Sox opened their wallet, made investments, and acquired players either through trade or free agency that could be a huge help to the team in 2010 and for years to come. Today, I will be running down each acquisition and what it means for the Red Sox starting in April.