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Top 5 American League Rookies

Jun 22, 2011 by truesports120 0 Comments

As we prepare to flip the calendar from June to July, we decided to put together a list of this year’s American League-Rookie of the Year front runners. We have comprised a list of 5-prime candidates that we strongly believe will remain on top until this November when the coveted award will be announced.

1. Michael Pineda, RHP, Seattle Mariners

Michael Pineda has exceeded expectations in 2011. Regarded as a top-prospect entering this season, Pineda has not only been a clear-cut Rookie of the Year favorite, but he has been seen as one of the most dominate pitchers in the Major Leagues this year, let alone the American League. He carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning in his latest start versus a solid-Philadelphia Phillies offense and has been on top of his game in essentially all of his starts. He has posted and maintained a 2.64 ERA over the course of this year and an astonishing K/9 rate of 8.63 compared to a much smaller BB/9 of 2.64-a K/9 to BB/9 ratio of nearly 4:1. Although he sports an FIP (fielding independent pitching) of 3.08 and an xFIP (expected FIP) of 3.52 suggesting regression, only time will tell with this future surefire ace.

2. Zach Britton, LHP, Baltimore Orioles

Zach Britton, known to be a contact-to-contact pitcher, has been a pleasant surprise for the Orioles in 2011. He has taken the reigns in a rather weak Baltimore rotation that has lost former top-prospect Brian Matusz and right-hander Jeremy Guthrie to a brief DL-stint early on. Although he has a mediocre K/9 rate of 5.28, he has located the ball well, posting a legit 0.72 HR/9 rate to this day. If the 23-year-old left-hander can keep up with a 3.10 ERA that is due for regression, he will have strong consideration when the voting day comes.

3. Jordan Walden, RHP, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

When Fernando Rodney was announced as the closer for opening day and failed to comply, Walden was the man who got the nod for the ninth inning from there on-and he has taken advantage of that opportunity. Walden has posted 1.3 WAR (wins above replacement), top amongst AL-relievers and has posted more WAR then fellow teammate Ervin Santana in 1/3 of the innings pitched. That’s just a glimpse of how spectacular he’s been. Walden has converted 17 of 20 save opportunities and has posted an unhumanly-high K/9 rate of 10.91. His FIP suggests that he can only get better from this point as he makes his case to become the third AL West-closer in as many years to win the award.

4. Mark Trumbo, 1B, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

When it was announced that All-Star first-basemen Kendrys Morales would miss one more season due to a leg injury, Trumbo was called on to fill rather big shoes, and so far he has succeeded. With the re-assurance that he is here-to-stay, Trumbo has hit 12 big-flys as head announcer Victor Rojas calls them, to go along with 30 RBIs and a solid OPS+ of 114. Not only has Trumbo done big things with the stick, he has stolen six bases and has played above average defense and is sure to be a candidate for this year’s Rookie of the Year award.

5. Eric Hosmer, 1B, Kansas City Royals

Seemingly a top prospect on every prospect list available, Hosmer wasn’t in Omaha long before he was recalled to Kansas City to take over as the full-time first basemen in 2011. With the disadvantage of playing in just 41 games, Hosmer has answered pretty well, hitting .276 with 5 HRs and 22 RBIs and a 108 OPS+ to this date. Guaranteed the future at first base, Hosmer should only get better with time and could skyrocket up these Rookie of the Year lists by year’s end.

Just missed the cut: J.P. Arencibia, C, TOR, Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, TB, Tyler Chatwood, RHP, LAA

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More MLB Realignment Talk

Jun 14, 2011 by truesports120 0 Comments , , , , ,

So I wake up in the morning and one of the first things I see when check the daily news is that ESPN has two separate articles posted up about realignment. You can check those out here and here. One of which is exactly what I planned on writing about today. I’ve gotten a few comments about the post I wrote earlier where I laid out my plan for realignment. Obviously that was a sort of, “fresh start” plan and will never come to existence.

Today I chose to comment on a more realistic plan which includes the Houston Astros moving to the AL West to join the Rangers. This would even out the divisions (five teams per) as well as the leagues (15 teams per) in one swift move.

A move I like just a bit more but is probably a bit less likely is the Arizona Diamondbacks moving to the AL West and the Astros then moving to the NL West. The only reason I say this is less likely is because it would affect two teams rather than one.

Either way, regardless of what the final decisions will be, baseball should make a change as far as divisions. They are somewhat nice when your team is in a weak division. However too many teams with better records than teams that actually make the playoffs are sent home because they played in a tougher division. Lets just throw away the divisions and have all 15 teams play against each other evenly and the top four to six team reach the playoffs.

Let us know what you think of the proposed plan in the comments section below or in the True Sports Legacy forum where you can find the best sports discussions on the Internet.

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Will McCourt Make Payroll?

Jun 14, 2011 by truesports120 0 Comments

So now there is big talk throughout the MLB as to the worsening financial situation of the Los Angeles Dodgers and growing speculation that owner Frank McCourt’s grip on the once storied franchise could be coming to it’s ultimate demise sooner than later. As many know already, Major League Baseball stepped in a few months ago to…

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MLB Realignment | The TSL Way

Jun 14, 2011 by truesports120 0 Comments , , , ,

Over the last few days the talk of realignment in MLB has become a hot topic. The commissioner, Bud Selig, commented that he would like to see something done. There have been many experts and analysts that have speculated as to what the best way to go about this would be.

Here at TSL, we also think that baseball needs a revision in the way the divisions are currently laid out. There are four divisions that have five teams, one that has six, and another that has four. The National League has 16 teams while the American League has 14. Under the TSL plan each league would have an even amount, 15. This means one NL team would have to switch over to the AL and adopt the designated hitter rule. We’ll get back to that later.

A major obstacle in figuring out the “perfect” plan is geography. When a team that plays in Arlington, Texas is playing in the AL West and another team in Houston, Texas plays in the NL Central, it just makes us realize so much more that things need to be altered. We’ll try and make the new setup as geographically friendly as we can while keeping rivalries and history in place. Here we go…

 

The TSL American League

 

AL East

New York Yankees

New York Mets

Boston Red Sox

Baltimore Orioles

Washington Nationals

 

 

The AL East gains two additional rivalries with the arrival of the Mets and the Nationals. The Yankees and Red Sox get to continue their traditional hatred and the Mets provide some more fuel for the Yankee hate fire. The Orioles and Nationals have an opportunity to begin what could eventually be a great capitol area rivalry. Map wise, it fits very well.

 

 

AL Central

 

Minnesota Twins

Detroit Tigers

Milwaukee Brewers

Cleveland Indians

Cincinnati Reds

 

 

I was hesitant to move the Reds, a historic NL team over to the AL but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Ohio now has their own rivalry and with the Indians recent winning, any one of these teams could win the division. Every team could wind up over .500.

 

 

AL West

 

Seattle Mariners

Colorado Rockies

Arizona Diamondbacks

Houston Astros

Texas Rangers

 

 

The new AL West would probably become my favorite division. Four of these parks are taylor made for hitters. Colorado, Houston, Texas and Arizona in the same division would make this the launching pad of MLB. Seattle offers a nice contrast by being one of the most pitcher friendly parks in baseball. Unfortunately we had to keep both Texas teams in the West, it does however offer another great state rivalry. This was unavoidable with the lack of many true west coast teams. If you’re thinking about all of the teams located in California, just hold your horses.

 

 

The TSL National League

 

NL East

 

Philadelphia Phillies

Tampa Bay Rays

Florida Marlins

Atlanta Braves

Toronto Blue Jays

 

 

Two new additions include the Rays who could possibly induce an attendance boost for not only themselves but their in state competitors the Marlins, and the sole team in Canada, the Blue Jays. The Rays, Marlins and Braves have a solid young corps that could fight with the favorite Phillies for NL East supremacy.

 

 

NL Central

 

Chicago Cubs

Chicago White Sox

St. Louis Cardinals

Kansas City Royals

Pittsburgh Pirates

 

 

The Cubs welcome (not likely) the White Sox and the Cardinals are happy to see the Royals join their divisions producing one of the shortest flight, or bus trip divisions in MLB. The Pirates were the choice to stay in division after the Reds moved to the AL. My only hesitation was having perennial worst teams in the Royals and Pirates in the same division. Not often do the teams picking #1 and #2 in the draft come from the same division.

 

 

NL West

 

San Francisco Giants

Oakland Athletics

Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

 

 

Finally we have the new California… er… NL West division. Composed of teams that play in the great state of California, the rivalries should grow almost as much as the attendance and fan beatings outside of Dodger Stadium!

In all we had to move 13 teams into a new league but in the end we came up with a plan that should not only produce a slew of great new rivalries, but should also increase attendance across both leagues.

Let us know what you think of the proposed plan in the comments section below or in the True Sports Legacy forum where you can find the best sports discussions on the Internet.