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Will Albert Pujols Be King in 2006? I’m Thinking No.
Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Athletes, Editorial, MLB,
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Albert Pujols’ game and character. I think if Barry Bonds wasn’t around, Pujols would have three or four MVP’s and not just the one he received last season. We all know the improvments he’s made over the past several seasons in every aspect regarding his hitting and even his defense… can you imagine having someone who rakes at the rate he does AND plays Gold Glove caliber defense? The former is why I’m absolutely ecstatic that I have him on most of my fantasy baseball teams!
In any case, I’m lauding Pujols a lot here, but I just don’t think he’ll break the single season homerun record of 73 set by the aforementioned Bonds.
Click to continue reading Will Albert Pujols Be King in 2006? I’m Thinking No.
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New York Yankees Outfielder Hideki Matsui Out For At Least Three Months
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Editorial, Injuries, MLB, Scoreboard,
Hideki Matsui broke his left wrist while trying to make a sliding catch last night. With right fielder Gary Sheffield already out with an injury the Yankees may look to a trade possibility for help in the outfield. The Yankees ended up losing the game 5-3, being undone by a throwing error by Derek Jeter which brought home the winning run. Boston took two out of three in the series at Yankee stadium. The Yankees threatened in the bottom of the eighth inning by a lead-off double by Bernie Williams, but Jorge Posada couldn’t advance the runner by popping out, followed by a grounder by Cano and a strike out by Cairo to end the inning. This is what really lost the game, the Yankees inability to play small ball and the reliance on the three-run blast. Perhaps with Bernie Williams and Bubba Crosby in the lineup, the Yankees will start to play a little bit more “small ball”, or National league style baseball, with the emphasis on advancing the runners, more sacrifice bunts and hit and run plays. This injury could actually be a silver lining and can actually help the Yankees in the long run.
We’re back again this week for another dose of point/counter-point and this week, Dennis and I are going to argue whether Albert Pujols has what it takes to be the new single season HR champ. I say yes, 73 is a realistic goal, because believe it or not, we haven’t even seen the best of Albert Pujols. Pujols who still is only 26 has yet to reach his prime. Some may say, Pujols’ previous career high was only 46 HR’s, how can he make such a huge jump for a new career high? Barry Bonds had a career high of 49 in 2000 before hitting 73 in 2001. If you need any more proof of astronomical career highs, Brady Anderson went nuts one year hitting 50 home runs with a previous career high of 21 HR’s four seasons earlier.
Pujols has been a career work-horse, hardly missing a game. His career low is 154 games in 2004. Bonds accomplished hitting 73 home runs in 153 games and an amazing 177 walks. Pujols is not going to miss as many opportunities at bat, because pitchers will throw more aggressively towards Pujols than they used to towards Bonds. Pujols has been on such a tear this season, even better than previous years and is partially due to the return of Scott Rolen in the line-up. The St. Louis Cardinals once again have an even more potent line-up this season than they did last year. The guys behind Pujols in the batting order are Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen and Juan Encarnacion. One of if not the best middle of the order line-up in the major leagues. There is no sense of walking Pujols in front of the batters behind him. What would be a more harmful situation to their opponents, a solo blast by Pujols or putting men on base and creating a potentially long inning? With their lead-off and number two hitter, a much lesser threat, Pujols is normally batting in the first inning with two outs and no runners on. This is the best opportunity to go ahead and pitch to Pujols without endangering your team to too much damage. The worst that can happen is a solo shot, and being down 1-0.
On the technical side of Pujols’ greatness we look at the lefty/righty match-ups. This point is moot as well from 2003-2005; Pujols is batting .353 versus lefties and .336 towards righties. All other variables make no difference, the man is a machine. His home average is .343, away is .337, during the day ball games he hits.333, night he hits .340. There is no way getting around the guy, he is going to get his pitches and put his mark into the record books.
Okay, folks, we’ve been HORRIBLE in having this work. So, I’m giving this one last chance before I modify it… so COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT!!!
Gonna bring some focus here and talk homeruns. To copy from the fine people at Deadspin.com, which pitcher(s) will Barry Bonds hit his 714 and 715 homeruns?
And how many dingers do you think Albert Pujols will hit for the season?
Want to talk about anything else… go ahead and comment!
New York Mets Victor Zambrano Out For the Season: Is Barry Zito Coming to Town?
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Editorial, Front Office, Injuries, MLB,
You can never please Mets fans. The average Mets fan always thinks he can do a better job in the front office than the guys in charge. They always think they can do better than the current managers, always second-quessing pitcher use, the rotation set-up, pinch hitter use, etc. Now Mets fans need to lay off Victor Zambrano. It has finally been revealed that Zambrano has been pitching hurt since the day he got here. That’s why he’s been stinking up the joint, the blame should go to the General Manager who was in charge of the deal, Jim Duquette. Duquette traded prospect Scott Kazmir for damaged goods. Now looking back at the last few years, you have to admire Zambrano’s guts for pitching while injured. Mets fans should stop complaining and instead pool their resources and buid a time machine to prevent the trade from happening. For now, we can countdown the days until Lasting Milledge trades his Mets uniform for an Oakland A’s jersey. What are your thoughts on what the Met front office should do? Hold on to Milledge? Who looks like a future star. Give Jose Lima another shot? Put Aaron Heilman in the rotation? Clone Pedro Martinez through stem-cell research? Or go for broke an shop for another starter?
Baseball Mogul PC Game Has Me Hooked
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Editorial, Fantasy, MLB, Video Games,
So, are you a Kansas City Royals fan, or Tampa Bay Devil Rays fan with no hope to win your division? Baseball Mogul is the game for you. You don’t play as the players swinging at pitches or throwing pitches to the mound - instead, you take on the role of the manager and general manager. You control the line-ups, trades, finances (including TV revenue, building new stadiums, concessions and ticket revenue) and your minor league franchises. You keep track of the progress of your minor league prospects and you decide when to call him up to the big leagues. This game even has historical rookies who you can draft. All in all a fun game, especially for fans to re-create history - your team winning the pennant and build a dynasty.
Read More 
| Baseball Mogul 2007
Cory Lidle isn’t playa-hatin’ - seriously. Lidle is just concerned about high school players and college players having the temptation of taking steroids, thinking they don’t have a shot in making the big leagues.
It’s sad,” Lidle told the Philadelphia Daily News. “I’m not a player-hater. I like to see players get paid as much as they can. But without friggin’ cheating. What he could have done without performance-enhancing drugs—which he hasn’t been proven guilty of [using], which I’m not buying—you can maybe take what he had done in his prime, before his head started growing at an enormous rate, and just make those projections. Say that, ‘This is what he could have done.’ Maybe it’s 550 home runs. I don’t know. It definitely wouldn’t have been anything close to 700.”
Expect Barry to knock a homer against Cory Lidle, the next time the Giants play the Phillies. Or maybe his line-up protection mate Moises “Pee on my hands” Alou will take offense to these comments.
Read More | SI.com
Chad Carroll, a fan of the Kansas City Royals for 25 years, sold off his entire life’s worth of Royals memorabilia on eBay for $278.47. Carroll, who originally lived in Iowa, used to listen to Royals games on the radio and is now living in Baltimore. The winner of the auction would also choose which team Carroll would cheer for. Even Yahoo Sports baseball columnist Jeff Passan got into the act and bided for Carroll’s new allegiance. Passan wanted readers to provide the answer of what team Carroll would root for. Carroll has hinted he may become a Cleveland Indians fan. Well my thoughts, I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a Royals fan, but it makes me wonder why Carroll hasn’t become an Oriole, or Nationals fan living in the area. Kansas City Royals management should take notice, if they keep planning on the never-ending rebuilding phase they may lose all their fans.
Read More | Sports Illustrated
Long Ass Thread Thursday: Let’s Do It Again
Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Athletes, Drafts, Editorial, Kudos, MLB, NBA, NFL,
EndScore Nation, welcome to the second edition of this particular… I don’t know what to call it… feature? Column? How about YOUR chance to actively participate here at EndScore. Let’s make this, whatever you want to call it, a pandemic!!! Spread the word of EndScore to the world!!! Remember, this only works when you comment about anything and everything that is sports (or not sports).
Last week, we got to 35 comments… this week, let’s get to 50. That’s our goal here people. Start a comment yourself or respond to one… just play nice.
So, what can we all talk about?
How about Barry Bonds taking a BP ball off his head? Anyone catch this performance by Bonds? The histrionics equaled that of a dying character in a high school play!!! It was almost goofy. I mean, let’s be real, you know that didn’t hurt Bonds, the owner of a cast-iron forehead. I swear for a brief moment it looked like Bonds didn’t notice he got hit, but then remembered he had to make belive he was human and just went down. The ultimate would have been if Wiliam Shatner could have done a voiceover making belive he was Bonds:
“Ouch. I’ve… been… hit… yes. Help.”
What else? How about some blatant self-promotion on my part. Check out my latest column on SI.com and tell me how awesome I am!!!
OR how long it’s taking me to post all the NFL Draft Grades, having only finished 25% of the teams in the NFL, and tell me how much I actually stink! But, speaking of the NFL Draft, how do you guys think the teams did?
Albert Pujols… would you pitch to him?
Am I the only one that thinks LeBron James can be BETTER than Michael Jordan?
Let’s discuss…
I had the opportunity to talk with Francis Connolly, a MLB scout in Baseball Info Solutions’ Advanced Scouting Department, and he told me a bit about the company and what he does for it. Some of it had me impressed and amazed. If you’re a baseball fan, this is one interview you can’t afford to miss as you’ll get some inside info on how player’s performances are scouted.
EndScore: Can you tell me about Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) and what they do?
Connolly: Baseball Info Solutions is located in Bethlehem, PA. It is a company that functions essentially as a consulting agent for about ten Major League Baseball teams. We collect information through in-depth game scoring and pitch charting and provide the teams with daily stat/info packages.
EndScore: Can you give me some MLB teams that you work for? And how you do your work – video, in-person? And do you personally work for any specific team?
Connolly: I’m not 100% sure that I can name the teams that we provide info for, due to confidentiality concerns, but we do most of our work through the computer and video. We score games the day they are played, and usually pitch chart them the next day. We have some elaborate computer programs that help us track everything, and I mean absolutely everything. The computer guys then do their magic and bundle/synthesize the data for the individual teams. I would say that our clients are an interesting blend of perennial contenders and traditionally weaker teams. And I do not work for a specific MLB team, just BIS.
Click to continue reading EndScore Interview: MLB Scout Francis Connolly
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