The Blue Jays Acquire an Ace a Number 3 and a cornerstone shortstop-
I'm not going to lie to ya'll, it cuts deep as a Sox fan when a division rival pulls off a blockbuster for what would seem to amount to pennies, but I'm glad the Red Sox, whom were in discussions for the same deal, passed on this one, because according to sources the Marlins asked for Middlebrooks, Bogaerts and Doubront which is absolutely not a good deal for Boston.
This move, with the teams currently constituted as they are, doesn't put the Blue Jays at the forefront of the AL EAST but what it does is add more parity to a very competitive division. What I mean by this is that it is widely-known that it usually takes 95 wins to win the division. With the additions that Toronto has made it should allow for them not to be a punching bag and could allow for as much as 3 less wins for whichever team wins the AL East.
As of right now my standings look like this:
Tampa Bay Rays
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles
Whoa, what did he just say? Yes I put the Orioles in last place in the division because as of right now, I believe that they were a fluke and the slapstick pitching staff they had was more of an anomaly than the start of something big. The Orioles were a staggering 29-9 in one run games last year and I believe that their accomplishments are going to be hard to duplicate and unless the obtain at least one premium starter that they will regress significantly.
Buck Showalter did a masterful job with his bullpen but knowing the volatility of relievers from year to year I am not willing to put them ahead of a healthy Red Sox team that is going to be far better with the right manager. This is not to say that the Orioles will not compete. The AL East might be the most balanced and competitive division when the off season is all said and done.
I still like the Red Sox pitching despite a down year more than the Orioles staff and the impact of a healthy Ortiz, Middlebrooks and (possibly?) motivated Ellsbury going into his walk year. I am calling the Sox and Orioles offense equal as of right now, but I still give the edge on the bump to Boston.
The Red Sox lack of a Hitting Coach
The Red Sox are still in the process of hiring a hitting coach and until he signed with the Marlins, Tino Martinez was rumored to be in the running for that post which in my opinion would have been a very good outside the box hire.
However, it's time to get a body in here, and my vote is for Rudy Jaramillo. He was the hitting coach for all of those powerful lineups in Texas for the last decade and a half. He has the pedigree to handle any ego that is still left in Boston and the experience to command respect that a man at that post deserves.
A Pre-Emptive Extension for Dustin Pedroia
This is a spectacular development for Boston from every standpoint. Pedroia despite a little bump in the road mostly attributed to an inept manager is everything that embodies what you want in a baseball player and it makes business sense. He has two years left on his deal and Robinson Cano is due to hit the market in 2013, so by signing him now to your price, you don't have to use Cano as a barometer for Pedroia's contract.
So right now the benchmark for Pedroia is Ian Kinsler's 5 year 75 million dollar deal. I think a five year pact is a good place to start and 80 million dollars which would make him the highest paid 2B in terms of AAV at the time of the contract which will for sure drive Cano's contract up and hopefully financially tie the hands of the Yankees with the new luxury tax rules.
Miguel Cabrera over Mike Trout is a Travesty
Miguel Cabrera had a spectacular offensive season and I will not take that from him. However, Miguel Cabrera winning the Most RBI Award, I mean the MVP Award is the most irresponsible vote of all time. If you want to talk about the value of a player there are three facets of baseball, there is hitting, fielding, and base running.
Here's the breakdown:
(Sidenote: You will notice that RBI is not on this chart because RBI is a pointless statistic that has more to do with ancillary team accomplishments compared to individual performance.)
Mike Trout had an unparallelled season in the history of baseball. No player in baseball history has ever hit 30 HR, scored more than 120 runs and stolen more than 45 bases in one season. He had the highest WAR over the course of a season since a guy named Barry Bonds in 2004 but if you want to go with someone without a PED past than you're looking at Albert Pujols in 2003 and before that Griffey Jr. in 1996. You're talking about one of the Top 10 non-steroid seasons in the last 30 years in terms of WAR
If you want to talk about Cabrera "carrying his team to the playoffs" you are completely ignoring the fact that the Angels had one, a better record than Detroit with 89 and 88 wins respectively. Two, the fact that the Tigers got to play the Royals and Twins to end their season along with almost twenty times a piece throughout the year. Three, saying that Cabrera did it alone is to completely degrade the contributions of Austin Jackson, Prince Fielder, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer who all had great seasons as well. The Angels by and large faced a lot stiffer competition throughout the year which certainly can't be overlooked.
The real advantage that Cabrera had is that he played about 3 weeks more games than Trout did. That is not to go unnoticed, however, despite that 3 week discrepancy Trout had one more walk in three weeks less time at the plate. When talking about value at the plate the worst thing you can do at the plate is not strike out, the worst thing you can do is ground into a double play, because the name of the game is not making outs and making two outs in one at bat is worse than one. With that knowledge Cabrera grounded into 28 double plays to Trout's 7. If my math is correct that is a 300% increase in double plays grounded into thus creating two outs with one swing instead of one.
Anyone that says Cabrera was "OK" at third base has never watched a baseball game plain and simple. Moving to third base for the sake of the team is admirable, but that has no bearing on an MVP vote and his defense, or lack there of was atrocious. If the ball was hit right at him, and not to either the left or right he would make the play, he has a good arm, but his lack of range severely hurt the Detroit pitching staff throughout the course of the year. Mike Trout played a more difficult defensive position but let's let the numbers speak for themselves:
Both players played different positions for their team so this doesn't take into account Cabrera at 1B or Trout in LF or RF but both of their primary positions. The other caveat is that CF is the more difficult position, not by a lot, but you have more ground to cover and many more angles to play than thrid base. As you can clearly see, Mike Trout in the DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) saved 23 runs as opposed to Cabrera who essentially let 4 runs in defensively over the course of the season.
RZR is defined by Fangraphs as:
Revised Zone Rating (RZR) measures, “the proportion of balls hit into a fielder’s zone that he successfully converted into an out”
Think of these as a percentage like a grade in high school Mike Trout got a 95 which is an A while Miguel Cabrera got either a D- or an F.
The Out of Zone rating had Mike Trout make more than double the amount of plays outside of his "zone" on defense in three weeks less time mind you. As far as all of the other zone ratings he is literally double the defensive player that Cabrera is, so I'll just let you continue to digest the landslide that took place while standing in the field.
Value is something that should be looked at thoroughly for the three aspects of the game of baseball and the archaic Baseball Writers Association of America members need a refresher course to get a better understanding of the game. Ultimately had Mike Trout hit one percentage point higher than Miguel Cabrera he would have been a landslide victory so for him to lose in a landslide is a travesty.
Stay Tuned
Norton
