Prospects

This game is set up with a bunch of different leagues with hundreds of "Prospects". We see lots of kids coming and going through the minor league systems and independent leagues being scouted to see if they may be the next top prospect.

Today we find the Next big thing of a Prospect to be Mike Trout in the Angels orginization. This kid is full of heart and can flat out get it. Here is his scouting report: Scouting report:
Trout has pretty much every tool in the box. It starts with his plus, plus speed, which allowed him to swipe 56 bases in his first full season and to play an outstanding center field. His pure hitting ability is a plus as well, wise beyond his years in terms of plate discipline and pitch recognition. While he hit just 10 homers, he did slug .490 for the year and should add more power as he matures. He has a solid, albeit unspectacular throwing arm, though he's always on the money. His makeup and work ethic are off the charts.

Trout was Drafted 25th over all in 2009 by the Angels and is expected to make Full Time in the Majors by 2012 season. The way he is working he just may make the ball club this Season. hitting .338 avg., 3hr's, 16 rbi's and 9 steals in 34 games in Triple A. Trout is making a great showing in just a couple of weeks in spring training. I see him making 25 man roster this Season and being the starting Center Fielder of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

That is my take on the number one Prospect what is yours?

Who is number one?

Who is number one in your eyes?
I see Albert Pujols being number one, MLB Network had a list made up of a five day show "Who are the Top 100 in the game right now". Well they did a great list,but I can agree and disagree with lots of placement and names on the list. I see Top five in the game being Pujols, A- Rod, Halladay, Mariano Rivera, and Miguel Cabrera. Who are your Top 5 in the game?

NL Central

OH were do we start in this Division? Well what we have here is a Division in a Division. There has been for many years the top tier teams and the bottom feeders. This is the largest Division in all of Baseball with 6 teams Viding for the Division championship. The Division consists of particularly 3 top teams that compete and 3 lower teams that say they are competing. Heres how they play out.

The St. Louis Cardinals the team that is looking down on the Division year after year and is the only winner of the World Series in the past 20 years. The Pitching is spot on with the best Pitching coach in Dave Duncan. The rotation is solid and incorperating anyone in under Duncans eyes become Cy Young contenders. Oh did I forget to mention the best Player in Baseball is on this team in Albert Pujols. Oh yeah a game changer is you pitch to him. He has some protection around him so he can get some at bats with Holiday and Jay, Freese, and now Berkman. Yadier Molina is the best all around catcher in the game handles a Pitching staff like no other. I see them being there at the end for the Division once again. They may come up short with other clubs having upgraded their rosters.

Speaking of upgrades to rosters the Millwauke Brewers made some drastic upheaval to their roster. The Pitching rotation and Bullpen have been retooled to compete and sight of winning the Division. With the Trades and Free Agents this staff will do it. You really can't complain with Greinke, Marcum, Gallardo, and Wolf starting and Hawkins, Saito, and Axford finishing games. They have a tough middle relief pitchers also in Parra, Loe, and McClendon. The Bats do come alive with this Brew Crew. They have a Prince on fisrt and some Braun in the Outfield mix in Weeks, McGehee, Gamel, Gomez, and Betancourt you have pretty solid team and hard to beat in a Series. This team has it all and just may win it all in the end.

Moving down south a bit we have the oldest Professional ball club in the Cincinnati Reds. Yeah the Division Champs and that's it. These guys made giant leaps and bounds last year with a bunch of veterans helping the young guys get it together and win. And win they did, but they couldn't get over the hump out of the Division. The pitching is solid and have good young lively arms. With Votto, Phillips and Rolen and few up and comers in Bruce and Stubbs pounding the leather off the ball make a very good hitting team. Kind of reminds you of the old Red Machine from the 70's. I can't see them making the playoffs this season, but I do see them giving it a great shot at it. They do have all the potential of making the Division more tough and anything can happen. This Division is top loaded and The Reds have as good as any chance as any of the other top teams. The Pitching with this team is young and seasoned. Arroyo leading the rotation and having a career year helps these young arms. Volquez, Cueto, Bailey, Leake all have the skills and been through the rough patches of injuries and disappointment in games to now overcome and win. Winning is what this club did last year most one run games wins in all of MLB. The Bullpen is stacked with young lightning arms with some filthy stuff and with Coco Cordero closing it out makes the reds pretty tough to beat in a series. Watch out NL Central the Reds are contenders now.

Oh boy now here come the Cubbies, the longest drought World Series winners. They haven't seen the trophy since 1908 man that is a long time. The Chicago Cubs have as good a chance as the other three mentioned before with line up changes and Bullpen help added and oh Kerry Wood is a Cub once again. His veteran leadership out there makes everyone better even Carlos. Carlos who? well Carlos the nasty big stink'n filthy cheese of a slider Marmol, The closer. If this guy stays healthy and Woods in front of him they will win more games than they will lose. The starting rotation is pretty solid with the bull Zambrano leading the club with a nicer approach to pumping up his team. Dempster, Silva, Cashner and Wells ( who are fighting it out for the 5th spot) hold their own on the mound it's going to be a long season for the other clubs in the Division. Oh no I didn't forget the big acquisition of Matt Garza this is a great piece added to the starting rotation this guy is nasty and adds so much. the big question is is Wrigley going to jinx him and have the wind blow out with all his home starts. we'll see. The hitting and defense is solid and getting better from last season. They have Byrd and Fukodome catching and holding runners in place, and Soriano who is focused on returning to his numbers that got him that contract. The Outfield is going to be pretty good if one of them wants a day off they have one hell of a hitter in Tyler Colvin. This kid can hit and the ball goes very far, one has said to reach the south side of Chi-Town. With Blake Dewitt, Castro, Baker sealing up the middle makes it hard to hit and not hit into a double play. Anchoring the left at Third Base is Fan Favorite Aramis Ramirez, This guy is looking at a pain free season and helping out the club with his power and defense. I think with him a Soriano have their way the baseball needs to be very scared. getting back to his Rookie number is Soto this kid can bring the hits and on base percentage. Geovany Soto is no slouch to RBI's this guy can bring you home if your on, that is the premise of this club getting on base and rounding third. As far as finishing in the top three of the Division it is very debatable on who can hold it all together come October.

As for the remainder of the Division we have the Pittsburg Pirates and Houston Astros it is going to be a tough race on who is not coming in last. Both these teams are in rebuilding year and well the Pirates have been there since 1980. The Astros are in a better position to not to hold that title of finishing last. They have better talent and a good front office. With Hunter Pence and Wandy Rodriguez they can make a good run at it. This small lower Division is relatively home to the Pirates this clubs front office is horrible and ownership needs to sell to a owner that will put a great product on the field and keep it there for years to come. They now have Clint Hurdle managing on the field, but you can only do so much with a triple A club. There it is the NL Central and all its Historic Glory. This is my take on it, What is your?

NL West Forcast

The place were all baseball players want to be in the National League west. The weather is nice the grass is green and the surf is up and the fist pitch is on it's way to home plate. Crack sounds of a bat beating the laces off of the baseball as it soars over the right field fence. Aww yes true sounds of the game that I love, But there are lots of questions in the NL West. Who is the true team to take the Division this year? Well we are going to examine the ins and outs of this years NL West contenders and pretenders, or should we say teams that have it or not.

Let's start with the Champions the San Fransisco Giants. Oh they have the Pitching and Defense looks good. I have a problem with their hitting and power. Yes they do have the same team coming back with exceptions of MVP Renteria and Uribe both of which have signed deals with other clubs. Yes they may have one of the best young Catchers in the game with Buster Posey, but the Outfield is very suspect if a batter hits the ball. The out field consists of has beened prospects and average joes like Aaron Rowand, Pat Burrell, Cody Ross, and Andres Torres. They do Have versatile Mark Derosa coming back off of injury. I don't see speed nor consistant power or a just your plain scary big bat power hitter. Yeah these guys do play as one team and that is why they are the Champs. Like I said they have some nasty Pitching in the Freak Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, and Zito leading the rotation and the wild man with the magical beard Wilson closing the games. This is what baseball is about though with this team and the Bay area needs to be proud of what they got. I do not see tem winning the West again though unless they make a big move for a big bat to bring in the runs. Giants will make a run of it and most likely finish 2nd.

The San Diego Padres well they know how to make a run of things all season in 2010. This season will be a big difference of a story for them. The team has had a lot of changes and most for the better. They added speed and defense like no other. The corner outfield is very suspect, but they gained a very good center fielder in Cameron Maybin. As for Eric Patterson and Chris Denorfia they will likely rotate in and out of the out field corners and allow the youth movement to come in and make some noise to see what they can do. The likes of Venable, Cunnigham, and Baxter. We will see what Ludwick has left in the power tank. Now the infield has been much improved we see Bartlett and Hudson scooping up double plays all day. The corner infield is much inproved with another full season under Headley. We see a few choices at 1B with Cantu, Hawpe, and Hoffpauir lots of power from them and stable defensively. The pitching is yes young but have proven to be winners and very nasty. With Heath Bell on the back end of things they can compete and win a lot of games in the West. I for one am scared to say they may have made the right moves to take the Division this season.

The Arizona Diamondbacks well nothing to note except that they are retooling at the Major League level and will be a contender in a couple of years. I do hope that Kirk Gibson and staff can be around and develop these youthful prospects when fruition comes about.

The Colorado Rockies have made great runs in the past few years and with lots of star powered players on roster can make things very difficult for other West contenders. They have a spectacular fire baller in Jimenez and a good closer in Street. The youth movement has arrived in Gonzalez and Tulowitzki and Stewert. I see a bit of holes in the 25 man roster and the 3, 4, 5 starters, but they do over come adversity.

Now For Sunny Southern California's first team of the west the Los Angeles Dodgers. What we have here is a mess in the front office and with the ownership. With all that out in the open we still have a decent club with lots of youth and a few superstars. Pitching has been upgraded a bit. The Starters are being challenged like never before from them. We have opening day starter Kershaw who can be made into a number one starter for years to come. with the other for or five starters we see Billingsly (who is Platoed in his performance), Then followed by Kuroda, Garner, Ely or Padilla. Sounds pretty good. I think they need help there. The bullpen is upgraded and well they need a solid closer who can find the plate and deal. Cause Broxton needs to establish his dominance as a closer. Hitting and defense are suspect and solid at the same time. Let's just say they have there moments in the sun and other times when it rains it pours. Either way some days they hit and some days defense is a no hit day. They do have the young guns in Either, Kemp, and Loney. Who is playing left field and second base who knows. I can see Kuo closing out many more games than Broxton does. Count on it. I see a few trades made to improve those positions to make a run of things. Like usual the Dodgers are not going away. Them Bums don't know how.

Well there you have it may it be called how the west was won. That is my take on things in the West what is yours?

How much is Enough!!

In today's Baseball we see it being about money and more money and contract this and contract that. As of today Albert Pujols turned down a multi year deal worth millions from the St. Louis Cardinals. He is stating that isn't even close to being enough to keep me. As a fan of Baseball I say that is enough and should be a cap made so that this spending spree is stopped. It is getting so out of control that we as fans are paying the price at the gates and in our seats. the concessions are getting way out of control also to pay for these players making millions of dollars and only putting up marginal numbers for one season then next season have a below average one and still making a guaranteed contract. I say if you didn't give the same performance or better you don't get the money. This will alleviate some of the burden to the fans. I say we need to cap things to each position and a valued mark per season stats. This will give the game more competitive and better players for fans to see. I have seen the best baseball played when players didn't have the free agency. I am not saying they shouldn't get paid what they are worth, but what is that number. This is the greatest game ever invented and played in this great country of ours.I do not wish to see it go away just be regulated better with the spending of payroll to their players.

As of now we have several clubs in financial crisis. the New York Mets may need to get a new owner to survive and staying to be competitive. The Florida Marlins have not had a Million fans for the season since 2003 (their last World Series run)and are on the verge of being contracted. The club was made by MLB to raise their payroll so the Union would file grievances for under paying players. Yet they are building a new ball park costing the fans tax dollars to build it.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have no clue on how to build a winning team and lets all their players go when time to have to pay them Major League money. So they rely on the Yankees and Red Sox for luxury tax to have revenue. Not another good way of spending money and costing fans again.

This is way out of control and should be looked at again from the owners stand point and the union to see where the cut off needs to be. I see less and less fans at the ball parks in coming years if these salaries keep getting more out there. We as a nation are in a recession and can't afford thousands of dollars for a seat for a single game and on top of that hundreds of dollars for a hot dog and coke.

Please MLB bring back My Baseball game and bring me some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks at a reasonable price and to see my heroes on the field play.

AL West

Well it's going to turn out as How the West was Won episode. All clubs made some interesting moves to solidify their chances on a Division championship. The Most Improved Team is the Rangers who spent buckets loads of money on free agents and arbitration. The rest of the division made moderate moves to improve their chances.

Well since we started with the Texas Rangers let's dive into their moves and chances at where they may end up being when October comes. First off we mentioned that money turned out to being no object with this years expenses on free agents. They brought in a solid third baseman in Beltre. He is locked in for 5 yrs at a 96 million dollar deal. WOW money I see well spent 3 out of the 5 years. Other free agents signed were Arthur Rhodes who can be that left hand specialist out of the bullpen. Also Brandon Webb,Dave Bush,Yhency Brazoban, but The Main money spent were to keep their young stars there. In likes of Josh Hamilton 2 yrs 24 million dollars and other Arbitration of Napoli. I see the Pitching to be a bit suspect, but if you score more than the other team you win. That's were the Rangers are at. This club has some hitters and big boppers. They have the best chances of repeating as West Champions.

The Angels made a big move to get a Left Fielder and a big bat in Vernon Wells. The Angels have both great starting Pitching and bats with speed. They do have holes in their Closer and catching roles. I see Conger as being their everyday Catcher and Mathis being every fifth day. Closer role is who ever can get it done will be it for that day. With Morales coming off of that leg injury will Solidify First base and give power and contact hitting from both sides of the plate. Third Base is a little weak We will see if that trade for Callaspo turns out to good. If not the Angels have a few options in the Minors. The outfield is so interchangeable with so many options with Well, Willets, Trout, Bourjos, Hunter, Abreu all can hit and all have power. Ok so not all of them are in their youth with speed anymore, but if you hit the ball over the fence you can just jog on home. I predict them fighting hard till the end but coming up short for the Division unless a mid season acquisition's are made to push over Texas.

The Oakland Athletics have made strides and developments to becoming relevant again. Pitching isn't that strong, but can win some games. With all the youth on the field they have become one solid team to feed off one another. They will finish third.

Well here we go again with the Seattle Mariners. No folks their isn't Randy Johnson or Griffey Jr. coming out on the Field. They do have a great Pitcher in Hernandez. Ichiro and Olivo are not enough to help them get out of the cellar. This club needs lot's of help in a bad way. Yes they have a great Manager in Erik Wedge, but he needs to pray that they can win more than 81 games to have a winning season. It's not likely they have way too many questions to fix.

There you have it AL West in a nutshell What is your thoughts?

AL Central

Here's the AL Central report. Top team to be looking at will be the Twins. They have proven time and time again that you don't need all the pricey big name players to build a championship team. You need 9 baseball players on the field to play as hard and good as they can to achieve the goal. Win the Division and the World Series. Well they fall a bit short on the latter part. As we all know they do have the best catcher in the game and solid young pitching staff. This team does the best scouting and developing of any other franchise. That is why they are always at the end in contention of winning the Division. Every position player on this team have came up through their farm system. Mauer, Morneau, Valencia, Span, Kubal, Cuddyer, Casilla. This is how you build a Franchise and with a winning ways Manager in Gardenhire.

The White Sox and Tigers have made big money moves to bolster their clubs to capping the Division. The finish is going to with these three clubs.

The Tigers had made Free Agent moves with Victor Martinez and Benoit and Brad Penny. This team still does develop their talent through out the farm system with Porcello, Boesh, Wells, and Thomas. Yeah they made several trades to bring in youth with talent such as the best young fist baseman in Cabrera. With the youth trades of Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, Daniel Shlereth and Max Sherzer in making those great trades for the future and the future is now.

The White Sox on the other hand spent lots of dough to improve and solidify positions like Adam Dunn, and resigned hometown favorites like Konerko and pierzynski. With in season trades of Peavy and Rios and Edwin Jackson making this club a formidable team to capture the Division and World Series again after a 5 year absence. Manager Guillen with his fiery character to motivate this team of veterans and some youth to achieve every ounce of skills capable of winning that trophy.

As far as the Indians and Royals it is which team try's harder not to be picking up the bottom of the division. Both clubs are in a retooling or rebuilding modes and keeping payroll in line. I see the Royals having the edge here they have more talent in the bigs than the Indians.

That is my take on the AL Central Division What is yours? Can these clubs really compete out of the Division and making a real run at the World Series?
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AL East best moves

We are now just a week away from spring training. There was a monument of movements this winter season. We have seen players move to the AL east to compete against the best. This winter season winners are by far the Red Sox with acquisition's of Adrian Gonzales and Carl Crawford, with an all star cast around them already. The most improved team by far is the AL east bottom feeders the Baltimore Orioles with additions all around the infield and pitching. The major pieces of Derek Lee and Mark Reynolds and J.J. Hardy to go in sync with Brian Roberts. They also added a free swinging DH in Vladimir Guerrero. The outfield is no slouch either with Felix Pie manning left and Adam Jones covering every inch of grass in center, and hovering around in right is Nick Markakis. The Orioles have a real chance with Buck guiding them to being a contender this season and not finishing last in the tough AL east. So Yankees and Red Sox better watch their backs cause those birds from Maryland are heating up and coming for you. Oh if only Cal Jr. could be in the ball park when they clinch their first AL East division championship. I think Billy Ripkin just shed a tear and so did Hal Steinbrenner. What is your thought on who improved the most? Tweet

Same old Indian story

In 1989 a little movie about baseball came out called Major League. Featuring the Cleveland Indians. The movie centered around a few screw balled players. The team consisted of a bunch of no named players that the fans in the movie questioned "who are these guys". We have that same question today. The Indians Rotation goes like this to include Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson and Mitch Talbot, with Carlos Carrasco having the edge for a fourth spot on the staff. Candidates for the vacant fifth job include Jeanmar Gomez, Josh Tomlin, David Huff, Anthony Reyes, Zach McAllister and Alex White, among others. So who are these guys? We all know Carmona and Masterson but the rest are very suspect to the least. I see that evil bitchy lady that owns the team making moves to insure that the club finishes last. Yes they will finish last even behind the Kansas City Royals. As we talk about the Pitching the Tribe want a veteran leader (just like in the movie with Harris)they are looking at Jeremy Bonderman and Kevin Millwood both who have to use finesse and trickery to get hitters out (just like Harris). It is pretty much safe to say we are seeing the same old Indians.