Baseball

Drafted No. 38 overall by the Mets in 2001, third baseman David Wright has seen his skill, and popularity, rise more and more each year in the organization.

Raised in Chesapeake, VA (20 minutes away from the old Mets' AAA-affiliate Norfolk Tides), Wright grew up a Mets fan and dreamed of playing for his favorite team one day.

Never in a million years did he imagine it would come true.

The son of a retired police chief, Wright was raised in a very disciplined household.

It's time for another editorial shift before I finish up my fantasy approach to the 2009 Major League Baseball season. Having assessed the infielders, attention now moves to the outfielders and pitchers—two groups that I tend to dismiss to a degree, so my analysis will be a tad superficial.

I'll deal with the pitchers separately. Here, I'll focus on the guys roaming the big real estate.

I haven't been this excited about an upcoming Mariner's season in a very long time. In my last article, I begged the Mariner's brass to hire Dave & DMZ* as the new Co-GM's before it became far too depressing to write about the M's flailing on a daily, weekly or any other basis.

Well, I don't know how to put this, but apparently I'm kind of a big deal because they did the next best thing. They ended the draconian rule of Bavasi and now the shining light reflecting off of the dome of our new GM Jack Zduriencik (or Z for the tongue-tied or drunk) has begun thawing my heart.

Most of the New York Mets off season predicated on fixing the leaky bullpen responsible for pulling the plug on their season in 2008. 

They went out signed K-Rod and traded for J.J Putz.  Bullpen—check.

After that, the Mets stabilized the middle of their rotation by signing Oliver Perez, after being spurned by Derek Lowe. 

Middle of the rotation—check.

If you live in Tampa Bay and you are headed to a Rays game in April, David Price won't be there.

On Wednesday, in a move that really shocked me, David Price and four others were optioned to Triple-A Durham.

While the move didn't shock Price and others, I still wasn't expecting it, not after what he accomplished in the playoffs last year to help the Rays win the AL Championship.

Price said he "absolutely" believes Rays intended to send him down no matter how he pitched this spring and he wasn't surprised to be cut.

So I was sitting in Science Class today and decided to do something different than what I usually do when I'm bored (Normally I sleep), I decided to start on my next B/R article.

Of course I had to first come up with a topic, but now you obviously know what I came up with: What team has the best pitching one-two punch in the majors?

I set up a "tournament" if you want to call it that and was eliminating the teams while all the other members at my table just kept on sleeping.

I posted the All-time teams for each Major League Baseball franchise in 2006 on my Sporting News blog.  Enough time has passed that there will be some changes. 

Since we’re dealing with over a century and thousands of players, I will assume the DH role for both leagues.  I will limit the teams to 25 players.  I’ll carry 13 batters and 12 pitchers for each team. 

With baseball season around the corner, what better time to take this journey?

Here's a suggestion.

To make room for players who truly belong in the Hall of Fame, like Bert Blyleven, Tommy John, and Andre Dawson, let's toss out the members who, unaccountably, inexplicably, mysteriously, achieved "immortality."

How's that for a neat piece of revisionist history?

No need for comparisons between players from different eras.

No need to adjust earned runs averages or batting averages.

No need to employ a laundry list of sabermetrics to quantify a player's worthiness.

Just employ a little common sense.

Please.