MLB's Hot Stove program - What are these guys smoking?

Huff and burrell. Buster maybe. Brian wilson.

Vlads 115 ribeyes too assuming he departs. Don’t think Colby Lewis will duplicate those numbers either. CJ Wilson is one of my favorite non-Giants too, but I dont see him winning 15 games next year…Hope he does, but unlikely

Get a l33t pitcher before the July deadline, get into the playoffs.
And then the next year, the pitcher is lost and the rotation consists of something sort of resembling an ace and a load of marginal starters and swingmen. Doesn’t matter how much Hamilton can rake if the pitching staff is walking about 80 guys an inning.

Zito’s contract is terrible, but having a league average starter as your 5th (as in 5th best, since apparently this was a point of contention before) starter is a luxury maybe 2 other teams in baseball have

Whats ESPN? I thought that network was deleted from my directv guide from April thru early November

That is so true.

There is nothing wrong with watching MLBNetwork when the alternative is ESPN.

Yeah, people need to stop saying that. The Giants were the better team going into that series and it’s not incredible that they won it.

Unless you think he’ll unseat Huff, Ross, or Burrell.

What? The NL Central isn’t going to be a powerhouse?
\removes monocle

Pirates and Astros aren’t anywhere near good enough, Reds don’t pitch, Cardinals rely too heavily on five players (Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia, Holliday, Pujols) which makes them risky. The Central is the worst division in baseball, and the Brewers are a good team, so they will probably take it.

I’m not criticizing the guy for not liking Bochy. Sherman predicted that he’d be the first manager fired, and that turned out to be just a little off base, made even more ridiculous by the fact that he had just received an extension.

I get a whole chubby whenever I remember the San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series.

I should have added “assuming they trade a starter for a 1B bat”. They’d be a good match with the Reds having Yonder Alonso blocked and needing starting pitching.

But I have a lot of faith in Andrew Friedman to rebuild that ‘pen, and the Bartlett trade was a great deal for Tampa which accomplishes a lot of that task already. Their starting pitching depth is huge too; there are few, probably zero teams that can replace a great starter lost to injury, and the depth and balance of their offense and overall youth offers further protection. If the Red Sox lose a starter, Wakefield is starting. If the Phillies lose one, they’re still great, but not #1. If the Giants lose a starter, they’re shit out of luck. Same goes on the offensive side; Zobrist the Super-Utility Hydra is huge, and while Jennings won’t replace Crawford, he’ll come close. Upton hasn’t produced for two years, so anything they get there is gravy. Pena was decent last year, but not irreplaceable. Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac provide a couple solid MI players, and a full year of John Jaso will be good.

But if Hellickson shows up and dominates like he can, their rotation just got that much better, or if Upton starts to hit again, or if Zobrist puts up some power numbers, or if Johnson proves a solid 1B option, or if Jennings is better than we thought, etc. the Rays are just as good as the team that won the toughest division in baseball last year. The only reason they’re not #1 (because while the Phillies won one more game, they did play in an easier division and an easier league) is because of the significant improvements Boston and Philly made.

It’s probably an aggressive ranking, and the Rays could do some more to improve themselves to justify it a little more, but at this point I can’t really claim anyone else to be better. The Rangers beat up a weak AL West and lost Cliff Lee, the Angels will be getting Morales back but their rotation is weak and injury-prone and their offense is aging and just not all that nice.

The Twins are a good sleeper pick and having a full season of Morneau will be good, but I don’t trust their rotation (Baker and Slowey are just good, and Pavano is looming on the edge of hurt and bad) or their lack of offensive depth; I’m just not sure they’re going to get much out of 2B/SS/CF/RF, and with the question marks of Young and Valencia manning LF/3B those spots aren’t exactly set in stone either. They got three wins or more out of only five players last year; the Diamondbacks did that on the offensive side alone. And they play in a weak AL Central. Still, they’re probably #6 or #7 just because they are a well-rounded team that performs well. The White Sox made a nice addition in Dunn and could get bounceback years from Peavy, Pierre, and/or Rios, but that’s a longshot, and they still only made it to 88 wins last year even with Konerko’s huge season. Dunn will provide value, but best-case scenario they’re a 92 win team factoring in Konerko’s regression. That’s the Giants’ record from last year, but again, AL Central, and the Giants are a better team this year than last year in a tougher division.

The Yankees are of course the other big possibility, but they’re largely old and have no pitching beyond Sabathia and Pettitte if he comes back. This will be their undoing; an injury-prone, aging offense and mediocre pitching against the Sox new offense, the Rays’ young arms, and the Jays’ surprising competence spells a third place finish, which is still good in that division, but not better than the playoff-bound NL teams.

The NL Central is horrible, and while the Brewers are the best, that’s not saying all that much.

The NL West is the 2nd or 3rd best division in baseball; the Rockies, Padres, Dodgers, and Giants are all at least good, and the Diamondbacks are really underrated. They keep finishing with lousy records but can surprise with offense-led attacks and lucky pitching. The Giants should win it, which puts them among the best in baseball.

The NL East is 2nd or 3rd depending on where the West falls, and the Braves’ all-around impressive team warrants a spot over the Twins and Yankees. They’re a mix of young and old, pitching and offense, bullpen and bench, a solid defensive team, and if Freddie Freeman shows up to take Glaus’ spot and hits like he can, then with the addition of Uggla they don’t need their good rotation and fabulous bullpen to win games, but they have them anyway. Escobar to Gonzalez is a downgrade, and they need to sort out CF/LF, but they’re generally better than Minnesota or New York.

That’s the rub for me; the Giants are better than the Braves, the Braves better than the Twins or Yankees, and the Rays better than both of them. I just can’t see the Rays, Giants, and Braves shaking out with any team other than Tampa on top (Braves could be better than the Giants) considering how good they were last year and how they can replace Crawford’s production. And the Twins and Yankees aren’t better than any of those teams, and there’s no other team in baseball (MAYBE the White Sox) that can really hang with those guys; the A’s are getting there but need offense and bullpen additions, and the Rangers played in a weak division, lost their second biggest asset and good/great DH, and need Lewis to not turn back into a pumpkin. They’re probably hanging with the Twins and Yankees, but have too many holes.

So I guess the big question that this stupidly long post should be asking is: how would you rank them, and why?

A really old offense that keeps getting hurt and possibly not only losing out on Crawford and Lee but also having Pettitte retire. Look at the pitching here; that is just ugly.

It is possible to be a good, reliable reporter and a crappy analyst at the same time.