Top Stories from this Past Winter

When the Padres and James Shields inked a 4 year 75 million dollar deal this past week that pretty much put an end to the big off-season signings. With teams reporting to spring training less than a week away it's time to look back at the top stories from this past Winter.

St. Louis and Atlanta deal on November 17th
No doubt that this deal was a shocker that came out of nowhere. No one in Atlanta expected them to trade away one of the youngest stars in the game. But this trade definitely made sense for both teams as Atlanta improved their pitching as they acquired Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins. St. Louis also filled the hole in right field as they got Jason Heyward in return. St. Louis also acquired Jordan Walden a right handed reliever that has a posted a career 3.10 ERA in 5 seasons. Walden could be a surprise as he has been a very solid reliever throughout his career.

Cubs sign Lester at the Winter Meetings
There is no doubt the Cubs got a lot better this past off-season. But they wouldn't even be close to a contender without signing the 31 year old lefty, Jon Lester. Lester was probably the best free agent pitcher on the market and cubs shocked everyone as the signed Lester to a six year 155 million dollar deal. Chicago made a huge splash at the winter meetings and then continued to add to their team. As they acquired Miguel Montero, Jason Motte, Tommy La Stella, David Ross, and Dexter Fowler. All of which should improve the Cubs in 2015.

Athletics Trading Spree
After losing a heartbreaking AL Wild Card Game to Kansas City the A's knew they had a tough off-season ahead of them. As Oakland was losing major guys to free agency. The players who stood out the most were Jon Lester, Jason Hammel, Jonny Gomes, Luke Gregerson, and Alberto Callaspo. Even with all of these free agents leaving Oakland managed to sign Billy Butler. This was a very good signing by the A's as Butler has been a solid DH in his career. Later in November Oakland acquired Ike Davis from Pittsburgh. Davis, who had a rough 2014 will also be a decent addition as he has had a couple of solid seasons before his tough 2014. Less than a week later the A's made a blockbuster deal sending All-Star Josh Donaldson to Toronto. In return they received Brett Lawrie, Sean Nolin, Kendall Graveman, and Franklin Barreto. Considering who Oakland got in return the trade didn't look too bad. But if Oakland wanted to win this year then they decreased their chances greatly by trading Donaldson. Not long after that the A's traded away Brandon Moss to Cleveland for Joe Wendle. This move created a lot of controversy as from the looks of it Oakland was starting to try a rebuilding process. The next day they traded Jeff Smardzija to the south side of Chicago in return for multiple prospects. In a matter of two weeks Oakland had traded away most off their star players in return for mostly prospects. The rest of 2014 was quiet for Oakland as they only made one other deal sending catcher Derek Norris to San Diego. In January it looked as if Oakland wanted to compete again. As on January 10th they acquired Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar from Tampa Bay. Just 4 days later they sent away Escobar to Washington in return for Tyler Clippard. After looking back at the A's busy off-season they basically freed up money and also gained multiple prospects. Oakland could contend once again this year even after sending away their all star players.

San Diego is Ready to Compete
We all know the story of the Padres this off-season. To sum it all up they rebuilt their team and had one of the best off-seasons in MLB history. They added Justin Upton, Will Myers, Matt Kemp, Will Middlebrooks, Derek Norris, James Shields, and Clint Barmes. In acquiring most of these players they did take away a lot of highly ranked prospects. This just shows that San Diego wants to win now and I'd look for them to make a couple of more moves before this upcoming season is done. There's no question about it that San Diego is a serious contender but will they be able to keep up with Los Angeles and San Francisco in that division? It will be interesting to watch in 2015.

Red Sox Sign Ramirez and Sandoval
After capturing their 8th World Series title in 2013, Boston had a disappointing 2014 that saw them go 71-91. But this past Winter they signed two key free agents. As on November 25th they inked deals with Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. Each of them were the top free agents in this past off-season and will definitely improve Boston as they are now once again ready to be the team they were in 2013. Can the Red Sox go from worst to first two times in two years? They are also another team to watch upon this upcoming season.
-Chris Suddeth    

How will the Angels do without Hamilton?

On Wednesday February 4th Josh Hamilton underwent surgery on his right shoulder. He had surgery to repair the AC joint in his shoulder, a procedure that will take at least six weeks to recover. This has him doubtful to be ready for the Angels opening day. This now brings in the question of who will replace Hamilton in the outfield? No matter who replaces him the Angels have faced a tough blow without Hamilton. But now that trade for Matt Joyce in December looks even better than it originally did. When the trade first happened Joyce was probably going to split the time being the DH along with C.J. Cron. Now Joyce could be starting in Left Field on Opening Day. That still doesn't say how well the Angels will do without Hamilton. Well since Hamilton joined the Angels in 2013 he has hit only .254 with a total of 31 homeruns and 123 RBI's. He has decreased a tremendous amount since when he was in Texas. As in his five years in Texas he hit .305 with 142 homeruns and 506 RBI's. Now his years with Texas is 3 years more than with Los Angeles but even in his last two seasons with Texas he hit .290 with 68 homeruns and 222 RBI's. That drop from hitting .285 (his last year in Texas) to hitting .250 (first year in LA) is terrible. Hamilton hasn't been consistent since 2012 and probably wasn't going to be in 2015. But will Joyce be a good part time replacement? Joyce has a career average of .250 which isn't the best but his on base percentage is .342 only 10 points lower than Hamilton's. They are also both very solid defenders and Joyce even has a higher fielding percentage. The Angels will miss those homeruns though as Joyce averages 13 homeruns a year and Hamilton averages 24. Hamilton also only had a WAR of 1.2 in 2014 which can be overcome by Joyce. All in all the Angels will be just fine without Hamilton for the first month of the season.
-Chris Suddeth

My Top 25 Moments From The 2014 MLB Season

The 2014 MLB season once again once again brought enjoyment and entertainment to everyone. Here are my top 25 moments from the 2014 season.
#25. Madison Bumgarner's Grand Slam vs. the Colorado Rockies on April 11.
#24. Marcell Ozuna caught a fly ball in left field and then threw a laser ball to home plate for a game ending double play to help the Miami Marlins defeat the New York Mets 3-2 on June 20.
#23. The Milwaukee Brewers score three runs on a wild pitch vs. the Colorado Rockies on June 21. #22. Jose Abreu hits a walk off grand slam to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-6 on April 25.
#21. Nick Swisher hits a walk off grand slam for the Cleveland Indians vs. the Los Angeles Angels on June 19.
#20. Miguel Cabrera homers for his 2,000th hit.
#19. Josh Beckett throws a no hitter vs. the Philadelphia Phillies on May 25.
#18. Clayton Kershaw's no hitter vs. the Colorado Rockies on June 18.
#17. Tim Lincecum throws his second career no hitter vs. the San Diego Padres on June 25.
#16. Derek Jeter passes Paul Molitor for 9th on the alltime hits list on April 6.
#15. Albert Pujols hits career homerun no. 500 vs. the Washington Nationals on April 22.
#14. Yoenis Cespedes throws out a Los Angeles Angels baserunner from 300 feet away.
#13. Oscar Taveras hits a homerun in his first big league at bat vs. the San Fransisco Giants on June 30.
#12. Giancarlos Stanton gets hit in the head by a ball vs. the Milwaukee Brewers.
#11. NLDS Game 2 18th inning thriller between the Giants and Nationals
#10. Brandon Crawford Grand slam in the NL Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh.
#9. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras dies in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.
#8.  Derek Jeter delivers a walk off hit vs. the Baltimore Orioles in his final career home game.
#7. The Kansas City Royals walk off vs. the Oakland A's for the organization's first postseason win in 25 years.
#6. The St. Louis Cardinals come back from being down 6-1 to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-9 in game 1 of the NLDS.
#5. Matt Adams go ahead homer vs. the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS.
#4. Kolton Wong's walk off homer vs. the Giants in Game 2 of the NLCS.
#3. The Kansas City Royals advance to the World Series for the first time in 25 years.
#2. The San Fransisco Giants win their third World Series Championship in five years.
#1. Travis Ishikawa hits walk off homerun in NLCS Game 5 to send San Francisco to the World Series.            -Jared Pate

Remembering Oscar Taveras

When St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras was tragically killed along with his girlfriend in a car accident on October 26, 2014, it shook the baseball world. I remember when the Cardinals first signed Taveras back in 2009 as a seventeen year old teenager who could hit a baseball a long way. I remember him charging his way through the Cardinals minor league system with his numerous homeruns and his great ability to drive in runs. I remember analysts and experts saying his swing was more polished and better at the early stages of his career than Albert Pujols, who in my mind was the Cardinals best slugger since Stan the Man Musial himself. I remember Taveras homering off of San Francisco's Yosmiro Petit in only his second at bat on May 31, 2014. Taveras did struggle in his first promotion to the Majors, ultimately having to be sent back down to the minors in late June. But an injury to first baseman Matt Adams brought Taveras back to the Majors in mid July. The Cardinals opened up a spot in the starting lineup by trading outfielder Allen Craig to the Boston Red Sox. Taveras continued to be inconsistent throughout the second half of the season, ultimately leading the Cardinals starting Randal Grichuk in RF in the playoffs. But Taveras would have his last moment of glory by homering in Game 2 of the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants to give the Cardinals the lead. I was shocked and stunned by Taveras' passing. None of us baseball fans will truly ever get over Oscar's death, but we will just have to learn to move on and keep watching the game we all love. Oscar would want it that way.     -Jared Pate

Did the Cubs make the right move in signing Lester?

On December 15 when the Chicago Cubs signed Jon Lester to a 6 year 155 million dollar deal it certainly improved their playoff chances. The Cubs also made minor moves with trades such as acquiring Miguel Montero and Tommy La Stella. They also signed new manager Joe Maddon who turned around Tampa Bay in a short period of time. Chicago had improved their playoff chances tremendously epically with the signing of Lester. The Cubs called Lester the best pitcher they have had in the past ten years. But after doing some small research did the Cubs actually do the right thing in signing Lester?

Last year they traded Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to Oakland. At the time they were probably the Cubs two best starters they had but overall the trade made sense given the Cubs position. Since the Cubs resigned Jason Hammel they didn't lose anything in trading him. But in trading Samardzija they lost one of the best pitchers in the league. In losing Samardzija, the Cubs then obviously signed Lester but was it the right move?  Since 2011 the starters each have similar numbers.

Jon Lester
3.61 ERA
3.56 FIP
1.257 WHIP
2.89 K/BB

Jeff Samardzija
3.61 ERA
3.52 FIP
1.220 WHIP
3.01 K/BB

As you can see these stats are practically identical. Samardzija even has better numbers in three of the four categories. Now I'm not saying that the trade with Oakland last summer was useless because the Cubs did receive three top prospects from Oakland. What I'm pointing out is that instead of spending big money on Jon Lester the Cubs could have bought a couple decent starters as well as other position players. In the Cubs point of view they do have a lot of top prospects now that should produce in the majors very soon. In my opinion the Cubs haven't changed all that much because even with the addition of Lester they still don't have a top offense. Lester could turn out exactly like Samardzija did, a pitcher with a great ERA but no wins to prove himself. In the next couple years, it will be very interesting to see how this Chicago team will turn out. If they don't produce as they are projected to, there could be big problems going forward for the franchise. Even after all the moves they still haven't improved greatly and in their division wins are very though to get. The Cubs are a team to watch over the next few years. Will this new Cub team compete or will they be a total bust? -Christopher Suddeth

What Will The San Francisco Giants Do?

The San Francisco Giants won yet another World Series in 2014 after sneeking in with the second wild card berth, but their offseason following the Championship season hasn't really gone as planned. First, they lost their Face of the Franchise in Allstar third baseman Pablo Sandoval to the Boston Red Sox. Then the Giants lost out in the bidding for ace pitcher Jon Lester. And most recently they lost out for the services of veteran third baseman Chase Headley. The Giants are now in a wait and see mode as the MLB offseason heads toward the Holidays. A source who works in the Giants front office told me this twitter messaging,"We are taking a patient approach now in filling our needs. We lost out on some very important targets, but we have others under our radar." The Giants' most glaring needs at this point are a third baseman and a starting pitcher. The Giants have discussed internally bringing in veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera to play third base. They have also toyed with the idea of signing veteran second baseman Rickie Weeks and teaching him third base. The Giants could get involved in the bidding for starting pitchers Max Scherzer and James Shields. The Giants met with Shields' agent at the winter meetings last week. The Giants have also had discussions with the Atlanta Braves for a blockbuster trade that would bring veteran third baseman Chris Johnson and allstar outfielder Justin Upton to San Francisco. They do have the prospects and resources to go after a starter like Cole Hamels or Cliff Lee. There are a number of options and routes the Giants could go to get their needs met and filled and get the team ready to defend their world championship in 2015, but whatever they do they will be patient in how they do it.                    Jared Pate               

Los Angeles Dodgers 2014 Winter Meetings

Los Angeles Dodgers 2014 Winter Meetings Moves

Theres no question about it the Dodgers have made the most moves at this years Winter Meetings. Here is a list of both additions and subtractions for Los Angeles.

Additions

Howie Kendrick   

Chris Hatcher                   

Jimmy Rollins                   

Brandon McCarthy               

Yasmani Grandal              

Joe Wieland                    

Zach Eflin

Enrique Hernandez

Austin Barnes

Subtractions

Matt Kemp

Dee Gordon

Dan Haren

Miguel Rojas

Tom Windle

Tim Federowicz

Cash was also exchanged both ways in different deals.

Heading into the offseason we all expected the Dodgers to deal one of their outfielders because of the loaded outfield and big contract they have. None of us including me expected to see this. After having an outstanding year in 2014, the dodgers made top headlines at the Winter Meetings. They sent Dee Gordon, Matt Kemp, and Dan Haren away as they added guys such as Howie Kendrick, Jimmy Rollins, Yasmani Grandal, and more. These deals all happening in 24 hours and shocked the entire baseball world. Now that the dust is starting to settle the Dodger roster starts to take shape. The dodgers also added a free agent pitcher in Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy has already been out west in Arizona so he knows the feel of how hard it is to win in that division. After all of these trades and signings my personal thoughts are the Dodgers are an improved team that wants to win now. As of after this year Uribe, Rollins, and Kendrick are all free agents for the Dodgers. With that being said it wouldn’t surprise me if the Dodgers get another pitcher such as a Cole Hamels. Los Angeles wants to win now and if they add another top pitcher they might win it all. After all this lineup is now one of baseball’s best. Not to forget about their stellar pitching staff. The one problem for the Dodgers is their bullpen. As we saw in the Division Series against St. Louis their bullpen couldn't get the job done. Chris Hatcher will help as he was acquired in the deal with Miami. One guy can’t fix their bullpen though that is why I believe the Dodgers aren’t done yet. Maybe another outfielder will go for a couple bullpen guys? In Hollywood anything is possible.

Chris Suddeth