My World Series picks look shaky… but I am standing by them

I picked the Angels and Marlins to face off in the 2012 World Series.
And no doubt if that prediction came true, it would be music to the ears of the Fox TV stars who are placed strategically around the ball park during the World Series, promoting their shows.

A trip to Disneyland and Miami would be favorable to sitting in Philadelphia or Detroit on a cold October night.

But right now neither the Angels nor the Marlins look like champions.
The Angels offense is dysfunctional with the team eating Bobby Abreu’s contract to make room for Mike Trout. That’s ONE way to solve the log jam of outfielders.

Meanwhile Albert Pujols looks like Jimmie Foxx at the plate and has his home run production. Keep in mind Foxx has been dead since 1967.

And the bullpen is in total disarray. When Torii Hunter starts calling out everyone including the management, you know things are bad.

Meanwhile the Marlins are as bizarre the statue in center field.

Ozzie Guillen is pissing off Miami Cubans, neither Jose Reyes nor Hanley Ramirez are hitting worth a lick, the pitching is uneven and Heath Bell has stunk.

And to pile on, they were swept by the Mets of all teams.
It is not yet May and both teams are in need of a slap in the face.

That being said, neither team should panic.
It is only accentuated because it is the beginning of the year.

If Albert Pujols had a homerless June, people would say “Man, he needs to snap out of it.”
If Heath Bell blew a few saves in August, Miami fans would say “Who is Heath Bell? Is he on the Dolphins?”

There is too much talent on the team to have them not be contenders.
In fact it might be better for them to get their lousy month out of the way NOW.

Get the moments where you try to correct problems and adjust early.

Don’t get swayed by early standings. Unless you think the season will end with the Nationals as the best team in the National League.

I’m happy for the Red Sox… but let’s not go crazy

It is great that the Red Sox are winning.
As Nuke LaLoosh said, “I love winning. It’s better than losing.”
And I like games where the offense goes nuts and pitchers like Felix Doubront and Daniel Bard look solid.

They SHOULD beat the Twins and White Sox and they did, taking the wind out of Phillip Humber and his desire to no hit in back to back games.

The Red Sox haven’t lost since the massacre in Fenway (which coincidentally happened the same day as Humber’s el pefecto.)

But as good as this feels, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The Red Sox are beating bad teams. The Red Sox aren’t a bad team. They are a mediocre team. Which means they will go on bad losing streaks and good winning streaks.

Let’s have fun this year, Red Sox fans. Let’s not get too high and too low. With no realistic World Series hopes this year, let’s enjoy it day to day. A good win is a good win. No need to check magic numbers or the loss columns.

These wins are a good thing… just not a great thing.

From a Daily News article in 2011

While looking up some facts for a post I am writing about Brian Cashman, I stumbled across this gem in the New York Daily News from John Harper.

He wrote it on September 7th, 2011 after Jesus Montero homered for the Yankees.

I’ll cut and paste the whole thing here.

It will always be fair to wonder if Brian Cashman was right or wrong not to give in to the Mariners’ demands for Cliff Lee 14 months ago and include either Ivan Nova or Eduardo Nuez along with Jesus Montero, the centerpiece of the proposed deal.

But one thing for sure: After Montero flashed the opposite-field power that has had scouts comparing him to Mike Piazza for years, hitting his first two big-league home runs at Yankee Stadium on Monday, it’s starting to look like the Mariners were the real losers in that rather famous near-deal.

 Oh what an ironic ending!
A player that scouts compared to Mike Piazza could have been dealt for Cliff Lee, who was the difference between the Yankees going to the 2010 World Series or the Rangers going to the 2010 World Series.

Instead of a Cy Young winning post season stud (up to that point) they traded him for a guy with one good first half and will miss all of 2012 and part of 2013 before he throws a single pitch for the Yankees.

Meanwhile the Mariners wound up getting him anyway AND was able to deal Lee for prospects. Yeah, Justin Smoak has been a disappointment. But pitcher Blake Beavan has shown promise.

In a way, Montero’s production this season is almost irrelevant in evaluating this trade in the short term.
Listening to the Yankee broadcast yesterday, Suzyn Waldman stuck to the company talking points saying that Montero hasn’t been tearing up Seattle, creating a false equivalency that the trade might be equally bad for both teams. (This was before Montero crushed a Piazza like homer last night.)

Even if Montero finishes with a .100 OPS and winds up vomiting into Ichiro’s cap during a game, this trade is still disastrous in the short term. Montero’s Yankee role and position was “Prime Trade Chip.”

He was the bait to fill the inevitable pitching holes and needed to be spent wisely.

And he wasn’t.

And I think the Mariners no longer feel like the loser of that deal.