Greetings baseball fans!

Houston Astros' right fielder, Josh Reddick is up next. He is really consistent, a rare quality for this day and age, but he is not really the best, he doesn’t really get starts, only pinch-hitting. He had 13 homeruns and 82 RBIs in 2017, and still has speed for a 31-year-old with 7 stolen bases. When I mean consistent, I mean he has a .314 average and has 150 hits, 34 doubles and 4 triples as a plus 30 year old. He could really dig when he tries and cuts first. He could also slug a lot with a .484 slugging percentage. As he is getting older, his stats and starts are sliding away from him and he got ranked flaw fully because to be at 66^th, you gotta have some starts (and I’m not saying that he doesn’t) and some at-bats under your belt. He has six dingers.

Evan “Longo” Longoria of the San Francisco Giants is 67^th and he has 20 home runs, 86 RBIs and a .261 average which is really low for third-basemen except for the RBIs, he’s sixth in that. He won Rookie of The Year in his first year and I gotta hand it to him, he’s really good with his glove, winning three Gold Gloves in 10 years, mustering three All-Star appearances and somehow powering one Silver Slugger and that came in 2009 when he was still good (and “good” is pushing it a little too far). With 33 dingers and 113 RBIs, I would put him closer to the best…. but there are other players and not only third basemen that are better than him.

The Twins have been looking for a player like Byron Buxton for a long time and got Aaron Hicks, but he’s not as good as Buxton. Hicks only had the limited power due to not playing at various injuries with only 20 homers and 26 stolen bases. They had Pedro Florimon for two sad years, with only 10 home runs and 18 stolen bases playing in 177 games posting a .220 average with 119 hits and 596 plate appearances, but the only characteristic both of them have that Byron has is speed and both of them got traded and are now playing somewhere else, not really needed there either. Byron Buxton even has more-than-limited power, with 117 hits, 6 triples, 16 home runs, 51 RBIs, .253 average and going back to the speed 29 stolen bases, as a rookie. He was 18^th in MVP voting last year and won the Gold Glove. You really don’t need glasses or a genius to figure out that he is going to the cornerstone phenom that the Twins should build on in the future.

Next is another rookie talent in Alex Bregman, he really took the spotlight last year in the hitting and fielding column in an already great Houston Astros’ lineup up and down. He took the full-time position of third baseman and gave Marwin Gonzalez some lee-way to play other positions. Last season, he was expected to play better than he did with maybe 26 HRs, 94 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, 40 doubles and a .291 BA, he played exceptionally well by hitting 19 homers, 71 RBIs, 17 stolen bases, 39 doubles and a .284 average. But the ‘Stros and MLB expected much better from him in his first full season and he didn’t give it, he did slug a lot and field very well, but he should move back a few spots, he tries, the Astros need a third-baseman, they don’t need the power, but there is no such thing as too much power.

Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs is the next up. He could really pitch, even now when he’s old, but his stats are fading away. Take for example last season, when he had 180.2 innings and 180 strikeouts and gave up 101 runs, the second-highest it’s been in his whole career, though he had 8.97 SOs per 9 IP and he pitched the least he ever had which will create more time for him to pitch his Cy Young caliber way, he has some good spots, but not all, he should be moved back, maybe to 75^th.

Around the baseball diamond … 

Sorry, Phillies fans, I didn’t talk about your phenom, Odubel Herrera, he had a 45 game on-base streak going until on 5/20 his streak got stopped by the Braves and he went on-base less. So, unlike really any team in the Expansion era doesn’t have a whole list of absolutely GREAT leadoff hitters like the Phillies do: Pete Rose, Lenny Dykstra, Jimmy Rollins and now Odubel Herrera, who has pop, speed hitting for average, XBH power, and he could sprint for balls in the gap that even Kevin Pillar wouldn’t and when I say that Kevin Pillar won’t go for them, no one will except Odubel Herrera. Can Herrera help the Phils get better and possibly beat out the Braves for first place in the NL East, will he? He can help them a lot, but not as much as young studs as Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Mike Soroka and Dansby Swanson can help the Braves be the best in the NL East. Can the Phils win the Wild Card and who will win the Wild Card? The Phillies have a more than perfect shot at winning the Wild Card or at least making it to that level, who will win it? I honestly don’t know but right now it looks something like the Cubs playing the Phillies in a game where both teams have been in existence for over 135 years. Pretty interesting, right?

Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are the sluggers in the American League, no sarcasm there, really big and powerful guys. Betts in a third-year baby while Martinez is a veteran. What is really crazy is that they’re on the same team, the Boston Red Sox, the super team of 2018. That makes them even more unstoppable.

So the Mets are out of their funk, at least for the time being. They just swept one of the best teams in the NL, the Diamondbacks. Amed Rosario, not one of the Mets’ boppers, would you say, no round-trippers yet this year, no four-baggers in 200 straight at-bats going back to late last year, then, he hits two, on two consecutive pitches and the second one came right after Asdrubal Cabrera came out of the bench warming job for the day with Jose Reyes and Philip Evans helping him and Callaway summoned him and he rocketed one over the fence with Tomas Nido on first, back-to-back home runs. Sad news for the day, Sandy Alderson designated Jose Lobaton for Assignment, sad to see him go, but the Mets need more players so hopefully the Mets will dig up a trade. To tell you the truth, Tomas Nido is NOT ready for the big leagues in my opinion, and even if Alderson calls him up, it really never hurts to have a backup catcher just in case, even though I think he is not ready for the majors. This is what I think, Devin Mesaraco in the starting role and Lobaton backing him up with Nido is they need him. Now it’s going to be tight, Mesaraco starting with Nido backing him up with no one to follow, in history, the Mets are injury-stricken over the past few years, so they shouldn’t designate him for assignment. It’s really good for Nido because he’s getting full-time now in with the Mets in the big leagues.

One of the best bullpens in the game, the Arizona Diamondbacks and high and mighty, so they were, until the Mets squeezed the juice out of them two days in a row, crushing them, so will they be so big, strong and scary in their next series against The Brewers on 5/20/18? I dunno. So, Sergio Romo actually started a game, no, two consecutive games in 11 seasons, 2.1 IP in all, six punch-outs, pretty good if I was a coach, I’d put him in a starting role. Jordan Hicks is the new, right-handed Aroldis Chapman, he threw 105, 103,104,105,104 mph to poor Odubel Herrera, poor, poor, Herrera, and it was like someone shooting at him, with legit bullets. I still don’t know what really happened, but after Amir Garret struck out Javier Baez. Baez got heated and then the two of them exchanged some words and then the benches cleared and they were at it, maybe it was some history from 2014, when Anthony Rizzo had some words to Aroldis Chapman and the benches cleared, maybe it wasn’t that history, maybe something else, no one knows.

This is going to make your mind explode; baseball has royal connections, Meghan Markle had a great-great uncle that actually played in the Show, Happy Evans. He was in the Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1937, and he was pretty good. Kendrys Morales actually pitched an inning and he got Jonathan Lucroy to fly out to end the inning, not to be mean, but he’s a little too big to be on a mound, you’re statement is as good as ours. I know it’s not even August but I still want Sandy Alderson to get a good jump on getting great players this offseason, on the trading block are players like Bryce Harper to Manny Machado, just wishes, just wishes. You fans could answer this one just in your head or leave a comment. In his career, how many times did Jimmy Rollins steal over 40 bases?

Page views of my blog have topped 700 in two months. Thanks for your support. Glad to enjoy my blog. Have a hot dog on me.

Welcome back, baseball fans!

J.D Martinez of the Boston Red Sox had topsy-turvy seasons the past few years going from Houston to Detroit to Arizona and now finally to Boston to join the Red Sox and try to have more success in the position of LF or DHing almost every day. He really reinvented himself to be a slugger with 45 homers, 104 RBIs and a .303 average to rank himself among the best in the AL East. Coming into 2018, he will have to partly carry the team and with help from Jackie Bradley Jr. (A veteran), Rafael Devers, veteran-to-veteran help from Eduardo Nunez and Dustin Pedroia, he is a big upgrade for the already great Red Sox lineup. As I see the Red Sox fight through the tough conditions of contending for the playoffs, the cornerstones of the club are veterans, well, most of them. He should get a better spot because a lot of players that are 30+ can’t hit even 25+ HRs.

I know what made the LA Dodgers lose the World Series, their bullpen, with only superstar Kenley Jansen as the closer, they need middle relievers, with a 3.1 WAR and 5 wins (pretty high for closers these days), 1.32 ERA and 41 saves. He has a combined 124 saves the last three full seasons. With 109 K’s and 293 the past three seasons – this is remarkably high for closers these days. He was an All-Star and was 5th in the Cy Young voting, only him, Zach Britton, Shawn Tolleson and Andrew Miller were in the Cy Young voting the past three years, mostly starters. I don’t know what the quartet of people writing this thought say; but he is one of the best, if not the best closer in the game though Greg Holland is good. He and Jansen were tied for second most saves in 2017.

Next up is also one of the elite closers in the game, Craig Kimbrel – Red Sox relief pitcher, who can close out a game no matter how hard it is to do it. He does it in my mind as the 2nd toughest division to do it in (The first is the NL West), he has the Bronx Bombers on one hand and Manny Machado on the other. He has other small power hitters like Hanley Ramirez, J.D Martinez, Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaegarts, Josh Donaldson, Kendrys Morales, Justin Smoak and Justin Schoop. He has 126 SOs, 35 saves, 5 wins (high for relief pitchers (The 126 SOs are the most out of any closer in the game (Again!!) and a 1.43 ERA. He is not trying to be a power pitcher with heat and lots of breaking balls. Kimbrel just is, and he looks for strikeouts opposed to groundouts or fly outs. He is not as good and consistent as Jansen but is certainly getting a spot in the 40s in my book.

Chris Taylor was meant to be the back outfielder that would only pinch-hit and play when someone was injured badly with the Dodgers, when he was with Seattle, no one even knew he was there, just playing 86 games there with no injuries in 2 and a half seasons there, only playing shortstop with no home runs, if he ever played. When he came to the Dodgers as a mid-season trade, he jumped right into the spotlight playing almost every game in the short time the season had left. Last season, he had 140 games, 148 hits, 21 HRs, 72 RBIs, 17 SBs and a .288 average, even racking up NLCS MVP for 2017. I don’t know what is in store for 2018 with five home runs already, but we don’t know him that well, he earns his spot well this year.

Ian Kinsler who has always tried to be a superstar at second base and it’s working and it’s going to work, because of his trade to Los Angeles. Now he could be the leadoff hitter for them and really produce. He isn’t really the consistent power guy a team like the Angels need but has some pop with 22 homers and the Angels really don’t need speed, and he and Mike Trout are the only 5-tool players (Ian Kinsler is kind of a 5-tool but when he leaps or steps on the gas, he’s really good.) that they have, he also has stolen base power in him and moderate doubles with 14 SBs and 25 doubles. He has 130 hits and the Angels are looking for a dependable lead-off hitter and finally they found one, for the Angels, he is really, really, really good, but for SI’s Top 100 baseball players, he doesn’t go that close to one, so he should get a spot a few spots before him.

And on to this season’s baseball diamond. 

The Dark Knight is in Gotham City and pitching woefully. Oh, wait, not any longer, he got traded to Porkopolis, Cincinnati, to meet the Reds. So he pitches four innings, allows one hit and got two strikeouts. Wow, now the trade is looking really bad, but not for the Mets, they got veteran catcher Devin Mesaraco, who is really overlooked. He might look a little heavy but he could save a lot of passed balls and has a huge swing for a 6-1 guy. He mostly has an upward swing that causes him to miss a lot of good pitches instead of driving them for base hits. When he finally hits one, he drives one either out of here or a pop out to the left fielder. Sorry, I’m a little late on this one, Albert Pujols joins an exclusive club, 3,000 hits, 600 home runs, with three other members: Alex Rodriguez (On route to Hall of Fame), Willie Mays (In the Hall of Fame) and Hank Aaron (In the Hall of Fame). What does that tell me? Well, Albert is going to Cooperstown.

The Amazin’ Mets actually batted out of order. You think this is a joke, or I misstated the real Mets for some Little League team? No, the New York Mets actually batted out of order, Wilmer Flores and Asdrubal Cabrera flip-flopped and Jay Bruce got called out, weird-but true. So the myth that Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge will hit more than 115 homers. They’re off to a slow start, 21 four-baggers in a little more than a month, will they? They already had 27 last season at this time.

When announcers or people on SportsCenter say that baseball is played a lot with young talent lately, they’re mostly focusing on the Braves, who have seven players age 25 and under, and four of them are in the lineup almost every day and three of them are pitchers. Robinson Cano is on the disabled list with a broken hand when he got hit with a pitch, hard, I saw it, it hurt when I saw it. Fransisco Lindor actually put on the wrong gear when he went up to bat, the wrong helmet so that his ear was prone to get hit.

Charlie Morton and the Astros’ pitchers are just really good, 14 strikeouts, Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers Jr., well, now I understand why they won the World Series and what is really crazy is that Carlos Correa is only 23 years old. Sean Newcomb is pitching great for the Braves and they were dead last in that crazy division two years ago, and the second place team: the Philadelphia Phillies were dead last year.

This division is crazy, but what is really crazy is that Miami, was second last year and now is last, hopefully, the Mets or the Nationals win the division because this division WILL get sent to the psychiatric hospital.

One last thing before I go, I know that home runs win ball games, but strikeouts and HRs have gone up, way up, not because of juicing, because of launch angle and a more upward swing, causing the hitters to miss really good pitches to drive for doubles and maybe triples. Now all players are focusing on home runs and even the new trend has got to me, I'm repairing my swing to be more base hits, and drive into the alleys like my coach says. This is exactly what Devin Mesaraco does to his swing and he makes contact either a round tripper or a routine flyout to left field.

Thanks for reading. Visits have reached 645. Have another hot dog on the way out.

Welcome back baseball fans!

Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees is one of baseball’s shortest players, but he can really hit for a little guy like him. In that case so can Jose Altuve. Gardner is also really fast, so is Jose Altuve, but I see something in Gardner, I see real potential, and that potential is mustering career years when he’s getting older. He stole 16+ bases in all of his years (125 games+) – one of the fastest players in the AL East. Gardner has a heck of a lot of pop and I stress that his skill makes career impressions late in his career and could lay out in his short frame to save the Yankees a win as John Sterling would say, “Yankees win, the Yankees win.”

Next is according to a lot of sources (Including me!!!) is the strongest man in the world, Yoenis Cespedes of the New York Mets. He is 32 this year (still really good) and can still hit absolute bombs and by bombs I mean things that went over satellites and almost hit the moon. He can hit to all fields (mostly to the left) and has a lot of RBIs and can run for the catches that he usually never makes and could walk moderately. Cespedes is one of the only players that age who does not make the stats lesson. Last year, he had an injury-stricken season, playing only 81 games and still pulled off 17 HRs, 42 RBIs, 17 doubles and a .292 average. He really deserves a spot in the 30s to 40s, at most 45, and his throws are just crazy, better than Parra.

Ender Inciarte of the Atlanta Braves is a really good outburst and a centerfielder that the Braves need and have been looking for. They have 3 other rookies that keep on stunning the fans. He started in 2014 as the centerfielder in Arizona and no one was sure of really not getting the coaxing power to coaches to pick him up or start him, going on and off the bench. But last season Brian Snitker was so trusting that he made Inciarte the starting centerfielder. He is one of the fastest in the NL East and he has one of the best averages in the NL East and MLB, and a few fix-it-up spots here and there. He deserves his spot well. Also in 2018, he picked up his second Gold Glove and his first All-Star appearance.

Next is the Yankees flame-throwing rookie pitcher, Luis Severino, with his fastball that Aaron Boone adores – his 2.98 ERA, 33 games and 230 SOs, which are really good for AL rookies and players his age. He is still getting 14 wins and 31 games and in his first full season he gave up 150 hits which is less than Chris Sale last season. He still has low innings through 31 games and is allowing too many runs but his ERA is good. He deserves his spot even though he was the Opening Day starters.

In 2009, the Texas Rangers had stars in Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, and Marlon Byrd, they needed a reliable shortstop so they called up Elvis Andrus, and he really made a difference in the lineup and in the team’s fielding, then the team’s 3 stars got traded. So now with the position of the best player, Elvis Andrus had to carry the team through the tough AL West. Playing the part of the Lone Ranger for two years, Adrian Beltre shot up and helped out and then all of a sudden, Beltre was the Lone Ranger and Andrus was Tonto, and then they got Mike Napoli with power that any normal pitcher would be scared of. In 2013, with the sudden pop-up of Kinsler and with Cruz still on the team and with the acquisition of Leonys Martin, Andrus was left in the dust despite his 168 hits, 42 stolen bases, and .271 BA. Then in 2013 they fell down, the strong Texas team, went down, Andrus was not as good as he was and Kinsler and Cruz traded but now they were hopeful with Robinson Chirinos and Adam Rosales. The 2015 season came along and Andrus prospered with 7 homers, .258 average and 25 SBs the Rangers were in first place. Last season Elvis had 20 homers, 88 RBIs, 25 stolen bases and a .297 average, after the comeback he’s made, he is more than worthy of a better spot.

As for news from this season’s diamond, here’s a breaking one: Matt Harvey too good at his role (at least in his mind) so he gets designated for an assignment. Wait, that’s not what it said, it said, “Harvey got designated for assignments after refusing to go to the minors.” Mets GM Sandy Alderson and Mickey Callaway decided that because it was to help him, to make him better if he ever could. The Dark Knight era is over, sad, but now a new era is coming on for the Amazins’, lots of young and new prosperous prospects and the MLB Draft coming up on June 4. Jose Bautista got his first at-bat for the Braves and he doubles. Gleyber Torres hit his first career home run as the Yankees are routing or routed the Indians. Nomar Mazara doesn’t homer a lot but when he does or gets on a streak, he’s almost as good as Bryce Harper. He hit the longest home run of 2017 and he homered for 4 consecutive games this year. Davey Martinez helped his team more than anything, putting Bryce “Big Kid” Harper batting leadoff and that really, really helped the Nationals. He has been leading off since May 1 and slugged 4 homers so far in 4 games. Really killing it. Mookie Betts is a sneaky MVP candidate with 13 home runs already and 2 3-homerun games so far. MLB and three home run games have been crazy with 5 already. There weren’t even 5 last year, only 2 all season. Ichiro Suzuki is being moved to a front office instead of the front field, he was a baseball icon and he will be remembered as a true hero. Wilson Contreras got married on his off-day, good luck to the couple. Hopefully, the Mets get their groove on against the Colorado Rockies as it’s a slugfest there right now, 3 home runs already.

News flash: Page views of my blog have topped 605 in just over one month. I’m glad you’re enjoying my stories. Thanks for your support. Have a couple of hot dogs with fries on me!