BBA Link Fest - Many General Returns

Well hello boys and girls. It's time for another buggy whip around the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. It may be the holiday season, but our writers have kept themselves busy with fine writing from around the country and indeed, around the world.  Please give our folks a visit with a click and leave a comment. To be sure, our members will enjoy your company and your thoughts.

Here we go!

The post of the week easily goes to The Common Man over at The Platoon Advantage. The Man gives what this Fan thinks is the ultimate Hall of Fame take on the PED issue. Awesome.

A close second and easily the most entertaining post of the week goes to Old Time Family Baseball for their romp through the best moments of 2011. And the cool thing is, this is just Part One! Cool!

Off Base Percentage doesn't get Boxing Day. This Fan doesn't either. heh. Oh! And a birthday is celebrated.

MLB Reports features a guest post by Doug Booth this week (among their other great content) who thinks a great DH is an overlooked asset.

Jonathan Mitchell wrote about Jon Olerud this week over at MLB Dirt and this Fan couldn't be happier. Loved that guy.

The Fan's bro over at Left Field continues to show that we generalists are well rounded people with Part Four of his series on the best music of 2011. Read the entire series. Terrific.

We've had to wait four months for Theo's next edition of his retired numbers series. It was well worth the wait as Theo covers the Dodgers over at Hot Corner Harbor.

The Fan doesn't know how to categorize The Hall of Very Good's year end post other than to say that it is fantastic. It presents its own series of links to click, but all very well worth the investment of time. Enjoy this one with a nice steaming cup of coffee.

This Fan is a sucker for historical pieces. How could you not be? That said, they never get many hits on the Fan's site. Oh well. Perhaps if the Fan did them as well as Grubby Glove does them, they would do better. Great post on Duke Snider!

If you haven't been reading along at Golden Sombrero's terrific series on the top fifty prospects, you should really do that. But this Fan this week wanted to feature a Mike Rosenbaum piece on a name you might hear a lot about in the future.

The Baseball Index wonders who is going to close games in Oakland now that they have dealt Andrew Bailey. Freakin' good question! You have to feel terribly for those A's fans, don't you?

Our German entry, Dugout 24, features the nine weirdest injuries ever in baseball. How much fun is that!?

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please. thinks Carlos Beltran will brighten things up in the Cardinal birdbath. Agreed.

Mario Salvini of our Italian entry, Che Palle! doesn't think that any Italians make the list of the ugliest athletes in pro sports. Being half Italian, this Fan couldn't agree more.

The prolific and terrific Call to the Pen features a post by Joe Soriano on the new Red Sox closer.

Another take on the Red Sox - A's trade is provided by the always entertaining Sooze over at Babes Love Baseball.

It appears that this Fan blew the link last week to Ryan Sendek's terrific Analysis Around the Horn. Many apologies for that. This site is a must read so it is hoped you went anyway. If not, check out this terrific wish list Sendek sent Santa.

Not to be outdone, Russ Blatt of 85% Sports gives us another wish list. Love it.

And what would this links page be without The Sports Banter Monday Mullet? Nowhere, man, nowhere.

Sully over at Sully Baseball is saddened by one of Washington baseball's starkest facts.

Through the Fence Baseball always has a ton of terrific content. Check out this scouting report on Oscar Taveras written by Eric Longenhagen.

Our French entry, MajorBaseball.fr, gives their take on the Bailey deal for the Red Sox. Check it out.

Curley Bender over at Crum-Bum Beat (isn't that fun to say!) gives us a delightful 33 things we learned in 2011.

Those are the links. May you all have a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Kind of Bullish on Ryan Sweeney

The trade between the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox yesterday should engender solid research and statistical analysis. You won't find that in this post. Keith Law has already done it and so has Andrew Martin over at MLBDirt.com. This is more of a hunch based on little more than watching baseball's ebb and flow for decades. Ryan Sweeney is going to be a nice piece for the Boston Red Sox.

It's fun to watch the minds of those in the Red Sox front office work. Most people know that the renowned Bill James roams those back offices along with several of his proteges. To see that the Red Sox liked Ryan Sweeney is obvious. All you have to do is look at the Bill James' projections for Sweeney on Sweeney's Fangraphs page. But if this Fan may make the observation: the projection could be pessimistic.

There are a couple of solid statistical facts that back up this hunch. First, in his career, Ryan Sweeney has hit the ball to the opposite field more often than he's pulled the ball (306 to 239 times). As a left-handed batter, that's a nice thing to do in Fenway Park with it's enticing Green Monster. Secondly, when Sweeney does hit the ball to the opposite field, his slash line doing so is: .384/.379/.485. That will play well in Fenway. Lastly, Sweeney has never hit less than 20 percent of his ball in play as line drives. That means he squares the ball up nicely.

Add to the hunch is Sweeney's defense. Back in 2009, Fangraphs gave Sweeney 20.9 runs saved playing the outfield. The last two years have been in slightly negative territory. But if this Fan isn't mistaken, Sweeney hasn't been overly healthy in the last two seasons. Fix that and you should get the solid defending found in 2009 and the years before. Sweeney is still only 26 years old. He should be able to rebound health-wise. Right field is an important position in Fenway. It's has odd angles and there is a lot of room out there. It's a much more important field than left with the big wall out there half way past the infield it seems.

The scouting reports indicate that Sweeney has excellent instincts in the outfield with a strong and accurate arm. All pluses in right field for the Red Sox. But the thing this observer really likes is kind of a pooh-poohed statistic nowadays. Ryan Sweeney has played 444 games in the outfield and has only made four errors total for his career. Four. And three of those were in 2009. So take away those three errors in 2009, and Sweeney has made one error in all the rest of his big league seasons. That's pretty impressive.

Of course, there are a few concerns. First, Sweeney swings from the left side of the plate. The Boston Red Sox are already overloaded with lefty swingers. It would have been nice to pick up a right-handed bat. Secondly, the Red Sox have been high on Ryan Kalish for a long time and had hoped that the young slugger could be the next Red Sox star. He'll probably get his shot in right in Spring Training. If Kalish is legitimate, Sweeney could take away his playing time. But it's a nice insurance policy to have, no? Plus, Sweeney can play all outfield positions so he is a hedge in case (God forbid) Jacoby Ellsbury goes down or Carl Crawford continues to struggle as the Red Sox left fielder.

This deal reminds this Fan of the Carney Lansford deal years ago when the Red Sox picked up Lansford as an extra piece from the Angels in a trade in 1981. Lansford wasn't highly touted before his arrival. He had more power than Sweeney does, but, otherwise, Lansford's numbers were similar to what Sweeney has done with the A's. Once he became the Red Sox third baseman, Lansford had two terrific seasons for the Red Sox. Sweeney--and remember, this is all just a hunch--feels like that same kind of player except he plays the outfield.

Sweeney will hit .280 or higher. His OBP will be .350 or higher. And perhaps he'll slug a little more. This observer simply has a hunch that Sweeney could be a three and a half to four WAR player for the Red Sox. Again, those Red Sox are no dummies. This writer will throw his hat in with that crew any day.

Garza and Nolasco are Interesting Comps

Charlie Saponara had a great post yesterday on his Fantasy Baseball 365 site about his love/hate relationship with Ricky Nolasco of the Miami Marlins. The read itself spurred some curiosity from this Fan about Nolasco, who has always seemed like a bit of an underachiever. It was great to have a little chat about Nolasco on Twitter with Saponara after reading his post. The post, the chat and looking at Nolasco's numbers reminded the Fan about another seeming underachiever, Matt Garza. So his numbers were checked as well. Amazingly, the two pitchers, both of whom threw for Florida-based clubs, have very similar comps.

Before getting into the similarities, we should get their differences out of the way. Garza is a full year younger than Nolasco. Garza has a bigger fastball that's three MPH faster than Nolasco. Garza was the more touted prospect and was a former first round draft pick. Nolasco was drafted in the fourth round. Garza was drafted out of college and Nolasco right after high school. Nolasco toiled in the minors for several years before getting the call to the majors. Garza was pitching in the bigs the year after his draft. Garza is slightly taller and thinner. Those are the differences.

There are far more similarities. Both are California dudes. Garza was born in Selma, a western-California city in central California. Nolasco is from Corona, with is also a western-California community, though much further south. Nolasco has thrown 922.1 innings in the big leagues. Garza has pitched 923.1. Nolasco has struck out 7.67 batters per nine innings, Garza, 7.50. Garza's career FIP is 3.98. Nolasco's career FIP is 3.83. Nolasco has six complete games in his career and two shutouts. Garza has eight complete games and three shutouts. Nolasco has thrown a two-hitter. Garza has thrown a no-hitter. Nolasco's career WHIP is 1.289. Garza's career WHIP is 1.303.

Both pitchers have made an attempt to change their pitching style in the last year, which is serendipitous as well. In 2010, Ricky Nolasco threw a two-seam fastball only 5.6 percent of the time. Garza in 2010 threw his 10.5 percent of the time. But in 2011, Nolasco increased his use of that pitch to 14.9 percent while Garza increased his two-seam usage to 15.5 percent. As a result, both pitchers saw a jump in their ground ball rates.  Thus, Nolasco's 45.1 percent ground ball rate in 2011 was the highest of his career. Garza's 46.3 percent ground ball rate was also the highest of his career. Both pitchers saw spikes in their line drive rate in 2011. Nolasco's was the highest of his career. Garza's was his highest since his rookie season.

Matt Garza has a clear edge on Nolasco in WPA with a career number of 2.42 compared to Nolasco's -0.67. But that is understandable considering that Garza pitched on a highly successful Tampa Bay Rays team in 2009 and 2010 while Nolasco's Marlins have muddled around a bit. Their "clutch" numbers are remarkably similar with Garza rated at -0.64 in his career compared to Nolasco's -0.69.

Baseball-reference.com and Fangraphs have widely divergent views of Nolasco's career value but agree pretty much on Matt Garza. Garza has compiled 12.7 rWAR compared to 14.6 fWAR. Nolasco, however, is only given 4.7 rWAR by B-R while Fangraphs is much more bullish at 15.4. Baseball Prospectus has Nolasco at 10.6 WARP and Garza at 10.1 WARP for their careers. Two of the three sites, then, rank the two pitchers remarkably similar in value.

What's the point of all this? Well, you could just take it at face value as a piece that simply compares two pitchers and their careers. Of course, you have to take into account park effects, defenses behind them (Nolasco has had awful defenses behind him), and competition. But on another level, you can see two pitchers that haven't been quite as good as they seem capable of being. For whatever reason, their careers have sputtered around. Garza's past season for the Cubs gives hope that he is starting to put it together as he posted the top ERA and FIPs of his career. Nolasco? Not so much. In many ways, the two pitchers have been the same pitcher for their big league careers. Garza now has shown a greater upside going forward.

Top Ten Position Players of the Past Ten Years

Putting lists together is sort of like trying to run across the highway. Somebody is bound to run you over for your efforts. But lists are fun even if, in the end, people end up poking holes in your logic. For this little exercise, this writer went to Fangraphs and used their handy and amazing leader board to find the top ten position players for the past ten years (2002 through 2011). The criteria used was fWAR. Again, you can poke holes in that logic. But so what? The amazing thing about the list is that all of the players on it are still playing. Yeah, a few of them are getting ancient now, but they are all still with us. Such long term performance signifies greatness in this writer's book. There are a few obvious players on the list and a few that may surprise you.

So here's the list in descending order with a few comments:

1. Albert Pujols: (80.1 fWAR): Ten of Albert's eleven year career are covered by these stats. And they are amazing. Everything about his ten seasons lead the world. In those seasons, he had the highest wOBA, the highest wRC+, the highest ISO, the highest slugging percentage, the highest batting average, the highest on base percentage. He scored the most runs, drove in the most runs, hit the most homers and struck out fewer than any player that follows him on this list. Incredible. But what about the next ten years?
2. Alex Rodriguez: (67.9 fWAR): This is the Pujols Era and everyone else is chicken fodder. But with all the negative press he's received, A-Rod has been an amazing player. And even with a few years of late that were below his standards (he is getting old), he's been just below Albert in most every category.
3. Carlos Beltran (51.2 fWAR): Surprised? You shouldn't be. Not if you have been a steady reader here in the FanDome. Beltran easily earned (as the Fan proved) his Mets contract with a decade of good defense, good base running and consistently good offensive numbers. He is the best centerfielder of his era.
4. Chase Utley (50.6 fWAR): Utley has the fewest games played over the ten years of all the players on this list. But when he has played, he's been amazing. Great fielding metrics, very good base running and good offensive numbers. He might not be the best second baseman in baseball right now, but over the last decade, he has been.
5. Lance Berkman (49.7 fWAR): Another surprise. Tucked away on the Astros for most of his career, few have really noticed how excellent he has been. It took a comeback year for a higher profile Cardinal team to show how really good Lance Berkman is and has been. Berkman has the second highest on base percentage on our list and third best slugging percentage and wOBA. If it wasn't for his positional adjustment (1B), his less than stellar fielding and his leaden base running, Berkman could easily have been third on our list. Even so, he's been far better than most realize.
6. Ichiro Suzuki (46.9 fWAR): Ichiro along with the next two players on our list built his high fWAR based just as much on defense as he has on offense. He's not a great on-base guy and he has shown no power, his ability to blow past 200 hits every season takes somewhat of a hit because of those facts. But according to Fangraphs, Ichiro has saved 104.6 runs with his defense over the past ten years and has been an above average base runner. This writer would put him in the Hall of Fame already.
7. Adrian Beltre (46.7 fWAR): Seattle Mariner fans might choke a bit on this one. But he was much better for them than people thought. And his overall defense for the past ten years make him the best defensive player on our list with 138+ runs saved at third base. His offense had some off seasons (hence the Seattle hate) but he's averaged 28 homers and 88 runs driven in over the ten year period. Hardly shabby. He's been a great, great player.
8. Scott Rolen (46.3 fWAR): Rolen is the third of four third baseman that will make our list. And he is a surprise of sorts to be here. But he has saved 114.5 runs with his defense and his ten year slash line of: .281/.360/.485 is not chopped liver either. It's a shame that injuries have kept him from building more WAR and being the household name that he should be. He's played the third least amount of games of our list of ten players.
9. Chipper Jones (46.2 fWAR): It's a shame that a lot of baseball fans will only remember the last couple of broken down memories of Chipper Jones. His offense might be the third best of our ten players with a ten year slash line of .302/.404/.521. Defense has chipped away a bit of his value and he hasn't been a great runner on the bases. But he's a first ballot HOF guy in this Fan's book.
10. Derek Jeter (45.6 fWAR): Yes, Jeter has given away 48.9 runs on defense over the ten year period. But he's also averaged 189 hits, 100 runs scored, 70 RBI and 20 stolen bases. His base running over the decade was excellent (though he's stumbled the last two years). His offense put him four wins above replacement above Jimmy Rollins over the same time period.

So that's the Fan's list. The compiler will now commence dodging speeding cars on that highway! Happy Boxing Day everyone!

Hondo and Denny

When the kids grow up, Christmas isn't quite the same. At least it isn't until your kids have kids and then you can watch grandchildren open presents. This Fan isn't there yet for the latter, but yeah for the former. And since there were no toys opened this Christmas in the Tasker family, memories come flooding back to when the kids were little and toys from Santa were the bomb. Memories, of course, go back further than that to our own childhood. There weren't video games back then. There were much cruder things to play with. It's hard to say they were any less fun though.

Some of the favorite gifts from this Fan's childhood were things like the electric football game where a vibrating metal football field propelled little plastic players around the field. It was hard to find any of those suckers that would run straight up the field though. One year, us boys got an indoor golf game that featured felt greens and little cotton golf balls. It was something like this game here, but it wasn't an Arnold Palmer game. It was hard to get those little cotton projectiles to land on that patch of felt.

The best gift this Fan received as a kid wasn't a toy. It was a subscription to The Sporting News. To a kid of this Fan's era, there was nothing better for sports than The Sporting News. It was "TSN" before Ted Turner turned those initials into a television station. We didn't have highlight shows on television. We saw one team all season so we knew those players. We sort of knew other players from baseball cards. And we knew some as opponents of our favorite team we watched. But knowledge of players on other teams was nebulous. TSN changed that because all the teams were covered and each team was given a two page spread in each weekly issue which allowed feature stories on players for each team. It was those pages that brought other players from other teams to life. Plus, there were statistics in the back of each issue for each team. It was awesome.

Those columns usually were the best writers from around the country. And a nice, large picture of that week's featured player usually graced the article. This Fan used to cut out these pictures to make a scrapbook. The scrapbook had a section for each team. Naturally, there were extra pages for our favorite team. But each team was well represented. This writer filled up two scrapbooks during those young years and that interest fostered by TSN has endured to this day. Those two scrapbooks are still in this author's possession.

The scrapbooks covered the years from 1968 to 1972. A recent romp through those old relics made this author pause at the Washington Senators' section gathered mostly in 1970 and 1971. Staring up out of those pages were Frank Howard and Denny McClain. What a flood of memories those two individuals recall! 

They couldn't have been two more different people. There has never been anybody in baseball that has ever disliked Frank Howard. He was the lovable giant who stood six foot, eight inches tall and was built like Gronkowski. Every piece on his was painted as this loving portrait of a monster of a man. Denny McClain was just the opposite. By 1971, he was tarnished by a bookie scandal. And he was only a shell of the pitcher who had won 31 games in 1968. People blamed his demise on his lifestyle. But the truth was more likely that his arm was dead by then. He only lasted one more season after 1971 and fittingly, the last batter he ever faced was Pete Rose (verified by game logs).

The Washington Senators were the laughingstock of baseball in 1970 and 1971. They had the horrifically bad idea of hiring the great Ted Williams as their manager in 1970 and it didn't work. The situation was so dreadful that after those two misshapen seasons, the team moved to Texas and became the team that nearly fifty years later came within an out of winning the World Series.

Denny McClain lost twenty-two games in 1971 after winning 55 games combined in 1968 and 1969. That's a heck of a fall. Frank Howard was 34 that season and entered the decline phase of his career in 1971. He would only play two more seasons himself. This Fan was fascinated (thanks to TSN) by both players. McClain's interest was sort of like the fascination with a NASCAR car wreck. Howard was larger than life and crushed baseballs. 

The interesting thing about these two teammates in 1971 is that just two years earlier, they were the best in the American League. McClain was the Cy Young Award winning pitcher who got the Tigers to the World Series. Howard was the top slugger despite playing on the American League's worst team (the Senators) with no protection in the line up. The contrasts between the two men are endless. 

From 1967 to 1970, Frank Howard might have put together four of the most impressive slugging season runs in baseball history. He hit 172 homers in those four seasons and led the league in that category in twice. Sure, that isn't as impressive as the streak that Babe Ruth put together or Barry Bonds. But the timing of Howard's slugging is what makes it impressive. 1968 was the year of the pitcher. The American League homers per nine innings was 0.68. Compare that to today's game with its 1.00 homers per nine innings. Frank Howard hit 44 homers that season. Nobody was within eight homers of him. And, he played that season with a terrible cast of characters that came in next to last in batting average and slugging percentage. Those factors make his 44 homers incredible.

Howard's OPS+ for those four seasons was: 153, 170, 178 and 170. It was still 144 in 1971, but Howard declined to only 26 homers that season.

Nearly everyone remembers Denny McClain as baseball's last thirty game winner. His 31-6 season in 1968 was brilliant and earned him the Cy Young Award and the MVP. But few remember that the previous three seasons, he was 53-35 on some pretty bad teams and the year after his 31-win season, he went 24-9 and won a second straight Cy Young Award. Few also know that he began his great run at the age of 21 and it reached its pinnacle at the age of 24. In fact, his 1969 season is rated higher (in rWAR) than his 1968 season. 

McClain threw 661 innings in 1968 and 1969. His suspensions in 1970 due to the gambling case and a later incident with sports writers cost him almost the entire season. But the fact was, his career would probably have faded anyway. His strikeout rate plummeted in 1969 and never recovered. His right arm simply threw too many innings. He had 51 complete games in 1968 and 1969 (combined) out of 82 starts. He led the league in batters faced in both seasons. It's no wonder his arm died.

Yes, McClain has been in the news since his last season in 1972 for all the wrong reasons. The arrests, the weight gain have all painted him as baseball's John Daly. But like Daly, when McClain was young, he was something to behold. Most will say that McClain--like Daly--squandered his talent and threw away his career. It's much more likely that his career was used up anyway.

These two pictures staring at this writer in the old scrapbook represent two completely different players joined together by fate on one of the most abysmal teams in the early seventies. Both were on their way out of the game when their pictures were added to the scrapbook. But both had a four or five year period where few were better and more awe-inspiring in what they did in baseball. Joined together for one miserable season, they remain joined together in this writer's mind forever.

The Boring Yankees

Being the son of this Fan wasn't easy. Face it, every father has a ready-made list of platitudes that are drawn upon for every situation. Since being trite was always an irrational fear for this writer, those fatherly platitudes were a bit different. For example, every kid will start a sentence with some form of, "I just..." like I just wanted to see what would happen or I just wanted to see what it tasted like. Whenever this father heard the "just" word, the platitude was, "'Just' is short for justification and you are simply trying to justify your actions." Boy, he hated that one. The other equally-hated platitude came whenever he said, "I can't." Such as, "I can't make my bed, I don't have time." Or, "I can't split wood." The platitude on those occasions was, "Don't tell me you can't, just say you won't because that is what you really mean." Yeah, poor kid. How does this relate to the Yankees? The overriding story line this off season has been they can't spend money. Don't tell this Fan you can't, just say you won't.

The Yankees have gotten boring. They didn't sign C.J. Wilson. They weren't the high bidder on Yu Darvish. They didn't sign Mark Buehrle. They didn't sign...well...anybody. Brien of It's About the Money Stupid has been all over this story so this Fan isn't really breaking new ground here. Check out his posts on the subject here, here and here. Whatever the conclusions as to why the Yankees are not serious bidders, the bottom line is that after years of splash, they are the sea of tranquility.

Somewhere, George Steinbrenner has to be screaming. His team has become a non-story. Well, sure, they are one of only two teams to still face a luxury tax (the Red Sox being the other). Sure, they have All Stars all over their roster and seem poised to make another run at 90 wins at least. But remember a few years ago when they signed C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett within weeks of each other? Now that was splashy. Of course, Burnett has turned splashy into trashy, but that's another story. With a second consecutive year of rotation uncertainty, the Yankees won't make a splash. They re-signed Freddie Garcia. They hope Phil Hughes will somehow reach his potential. They are good with that it seems. It's boring.

And who's to say they are wrong? They have minor league options if the aforementioned pitchers don't work out. They can still bludgeon you to death with their line up. Jesus Montero at DH looks mighty tasty. This Fan isn't questioning their sanity, just their showmanship. Frankly, its fans are stunned and disappointed. This isn't what Yankee fans are used to. They aren't used to a team sitting and spinning while the Rangers, Angels and good golly, the Nationals make headlines. We'll have to see if this strategy works in 2012. It almost worked in 2011. Well, it did work during the regular season.

Whether it's the provisions of the new collective bargaining agreement or that the young sons of George are more interested in the bottom line than the old man or whatever, the Yankees' fat wallet has been closed for business this off season. In the long run, that might be the smartest option, who's to tell. But it sure is boring.

BBA Link Fest - Holidays in General

Happy holidays, everyone, and welcome to a holiday edition of the BBA Link Fest, bringing you the best from the Baseball Bloggers Alliance General Chapter. While the only thing hot is the stove this off season, our writers have kept plugging along bringing great content to their sites. Please click a link and leave a comment on our friendly sites and thanks as always for tuning in each Thursday. May you and yours have a wonderful week.

The links!

Mike Cardano over at the X-Log emptied his caviar or something this week over Yu Darvish. And congrats to Mike and his staff as the X-Log made the list of this year's best baseball sites over at BallHype.com. Way to go!

The ever interesting Through the Fence Baseball included a post by Jackie Micucci on the Yankees top prospects.

This Fan doesn't always agree with Sully about things. But his videos are top notch and always supremely entertaining. Check out his latest linked over at his Sully Baseball.

The Sports Banter has lots of content each week. But this Fan can't help but look forward the most to the Monday Mullet. Love it!

A lot of our folks are weighing in on this year's Hall of Fame entrants. Your own Fan will come up with one soon perhaps. But in the meantime, a great job by Replacement Level Baseball Blog on their thoughts.

Remember when The Platoon Advantage was having that be nice week? Well, forget about that. The gents there have been extra feisty this week. Loved this piece by Bill on closers.

Have money to burn? Old Time Family Baseball has an idea how to spend it. You've got to read this.

Erik Eitel takes us back to the beginning over at Number One Baseball.

In honor of Hanukkah, Jonathan Hacohen of MLB Reports re-introduces us to The Baseball Talmud by Howard Megdal. Perfect timing. Perfect delivery.

Michael Schwartze of MLB Dirt gives us all the fun facts of the great Jose Bautista.

The Fan's good buddy over at Left Field presents his top music picks of 2011 with a baseball twist. Great stuff.

Love baseball? Love baseball trivia? Theo over at Hot Corner Harbor will tickle your fancy.

The Hall of Very Good has a terrific five days of Christmas. Honest! Check it out here.

This long-time baseball Fan just loves historical pieces. Grubby Glove his the spot with his piece on Jim Northrup. 

Daniel "Dee" Clark's top fifty prospects series has been terrific and if you have a few days and haven't been there, check them all out. Or you can just check out the latest one on Drew Pomeranz over at The Golden Sombrero.

The Baseball Index has some sad news on a Mets' minor league franchise. Agree in spades.

Who were the best players in the National League in the 1980s? For Baseball Junkies has the skinny.

Dugout 24 presents a unique baseball workshop from across the globe.

A Reds fan over at Diamond Hoggers is less than thrilled by the Mat Latos trade. Why? You'll have to check it out.

Matt Whitener of Cheap. Seats. Please. thinks pitching will be the Cardinals' strength in his post this week.

Mario Salvini of our Italian affiliate, Che Palle! offers smile aplenty from a gem of a video of two teams enjoying a rain delay. Fun!

Way behind on your holiday shopping? It's kind of too late, but Lew Freedman over at Call to the Pen gives us great info we can use with the money Mom sent us.

Did you know that baseball has a baseball solstice? Yeah, neither did the Fan. But have no fear, The Ball Caps Blog educates us.

Prince Fielder is still homeless. At least that's what Sooze calls him over at Babes Love Baseball.

If the Fan's brain worked like Ryan Sendek's does, it would spin right out of this noggin. Sendek is amazing! Check out his mock draft extravaganza going on over at Analysis Around the Horn.

Over at 85% Sports, Eugene and Russ have a great discussion on Prince Fielder. Love how they do these give and take posts.

MajorBaseball.fr, our French affiliate, gives us some words from the Marlins' former manager on how to deal with Hanley Ramirez.

In this Fan's favorite post of the week, Stevo-sama takes us back to a glorious David Cone moment in time. Fantastic stuff. Loved it at The Baseball Enthusiast. 

Thanks for stopping by and please check out these great sites. Happy Holidays!

Projecting Mike Stanton

Quick quiz: Who had the higher home run to fly ball ratio in 2011 between Mike Stanton and Jose Bautista? Why yes, that would be Mike Stanton, who led the majors in that category among all qualified batters. In fact, Stanton's home run to fly ball ratio was higher than Bautista's in 2010 too. The problem (if you want to call it that) is Bautista hits a lot more fly balls than Mike Stanton. Among all power hitters in the game in 2011, only Prince Fielder and Michael Morse had lower fly ball rates than Stanton. All of that plus a brand new ballpark makes projecting Mike Stanton in 2012 very difficult.

Let's start with the new ballpark. The Marlins' new stadium has larger dimensions than Sun Life Stadium. The left field line is ten feet further. Left center is thirteen feet further and dead center is eight feet further. But as most of us know, when Mike Stanton hits a homer, dimensions don't matter. Mike Stanton does not hit cheap homers. What we don't know is how balls in the air will react in the new stadium when the roof is closed. So again, projections are a bit difficult.

Stanton's plate discipline is confusing as well. He certainly walked more in 2011 than he did in 2012. His walk rate rose to 11.6 percent from 8.6 percent the previous season (his first). But Stanton swung at more pitches out of the strike zone in 2011, 33.6 percent compared to 32.1 percent the year before. Not surprisingly, that increase also meant Stanton swung and missed at a higher rate in 2011 than he did in 2010 (15.2 percent compared to 12.8 percent). Stanton's 166 strikeouts in 2011 are a bit alarming.

Perhaps part of his problem in 2011 was that he spent the early part of the season batting sixth in the line up. When you only have weakness batting behind you for 58 games, you're not going to get pitched the same when you are further up in the line up. His strikeouts decreased somewhat when he moved up to third and fourth in the line up, but his average slumped. He hasn't yet learned to succeed in high leverage situations and times when runners are in scoring position. His numbers in both were poor. He will need to improve in those areas to justify staying that in those prime positions in the line up.

A return to form for Hanley Ramirez and the addition of Jose Reyes should help as pitchers would have much more to think about than just Stanton. Logan Morrison also had a disappointing season and if he comes back with a better season, than much more protection is afforded Stanton. Stanton is a lot like Bautista in that both players have a similar lack in line drive percentage. Both players are well below league average in hitting ropes. But again, Bautista is much more adept at hitting the ball in the air. Stanton could dramatically increase his home run total if he could improve his fly ball rate. It's hard, however, to increase a batting average stuck in the .250 to .262 range when you only hit 16 percent of your balls in play on a line.

As can be expected by now from Bill James projections, the projections are bullish for Stanton in 2012. James has Stanton hitting 39 homers and raising his average by twelve points. Fans projections are equally bullish. This Fan hates to be a wet blanket, but Stanton has to hit more balls in the air to hit more homers and he has to hit less ground balls and more line drives to raise his batting average (if his BABIP remains static).

Mike Stanton will only be 22 in 2012 and will continually have to adjust as pitchers adjust to him. He didn't have a whole lot of growing time in the minors as you can well imagine. He is getting his training at the major league level. How will Mike Stanton do in 2012 and in his new ballpark? We are all excited to find out because the guy is intriguing as heck.

Frank Francisco Hurt by Home Ballparks

The Toronto Blue Jays have some of the best bloggers on the Web and this writer loves checking them out. Writers like Tao of Stieb, Navin Vaswani and others provide priceless entertainment. And after reading them religiously for the past season, when it was announced that the Mets had signed Frank Francisco, the Fan's first reaction was to scoff. After all, "Fat Frankie" as he was called north of the border was often the cause of derision and scorn. But if this observer has learned one lesson over the years, it's, "check your facts." Francisco isn't half as bad as perceived.

When looking at a deal, the first thing this writer does is check Fangraphs' valuation of a player over the last several seasons. Judging by that, the Mets overpaid Francisco. According to the reports, Francisco is due to receive $12 million over the next two seasons or an average of $6 million per. But WAR might not be the best way to value closers. You also have to look at the pay scale top closers are getting around baseball and it's also helpful to check Win Probability. Francisco's deal is relatively cheap compared to other established closers and he's posted solid WPA scores his entire career.

Francisco has played his entire career with his home parks in Texas and Toronto. Both places are hitters' paradises. And the numbers bear out that Francisco has been hurt by pitching at home in his career, particularly the last two seasons when his fastball has fallen off by a MPH or two. In 2011, Francisco's OPS against was .793. His OPS against was .598 on the road. Six of the seven homers he allowed last year were in Toronto and fifteen of his nineteen extra base hits allowed came at home.

His season in Texas in 2010 was similar. That season, Francisco's OPS against was .743 at home and .603 on the road. Four of the five homers he allowed in 2010 were hit when Francisco pitched in Texas.

So perhaps we shouldn't pooh-pooh this deal made by the Mets. Francisco should fare well in Citi Field even if they do bring the fences in. If he is as successful at home in Citi Field as he's been on the road the past couple of seasons, the Mets should have themselves a fine relief pitcher.

Alex Gordon - Sudden Superstar

Long before there was Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, there was Alex Gordon. And while the former two along with Lorenzo Cain (and others) form the core of the hopes of Kansas City fans, Alex Gordon finally took his rightful place as a star in Major League Baseball. And Gordon did so far out of the spotlight accorded the two young phenoms. And it was totally unexpected. The only real recognition his season begat was that he somehow upset everyone's favorite to win the Gold Glove in left field (Brett Gardner of the Yankees). Would most casual fans know that Alex Gordon had the ninth highest fWAR in the majors last season (not counting pitchers)? Doubtful.

This writer remembers when Gordon was getting the prospect hype currently garnered by Hosmer and Moustakas. He was the first round pick of the Royals and second overall of the 2005. Justin Upton was selected ahead of him and rightly so. But Gordon was going to be the next big thing. Except it didn't happen.  Just two years after finishing his college career at Nebraska, Gordon was the starting third baseman for the Royals in 2007. He had had only one full season in the minors in 2006 and was rushed to the majors. Understandably after being rushed to the majors, he was underwhelming. While he was a better third baseman than written about, it was his bat that didn't spark much admiration. He hit .247 his first season and only collected a .314 on-base percentage.

2008 was better. Gordon increased his walk percentage and despite his .260 batting average, he finished that season with .351 on-base percentage. And yet, he was falling out of favor with Trey Hillman, his KC manager at the time. Then came 2009.

By April 15 of 2009, Alex Gordon was batting .095. He had injured himself sliding into second on April 11 but still played two more games. But there was obviously something wrong and he underwent surgery on his hip on April 17. The operation laid him up for twelve weeks. After a brief rehab, he was back with the Royals  in mid-July and slowly raises his batting average to a high of .224. But Gordon slumped again and after a game on August 17, then batting .198, Gordon was optioned to the minors where he remained until the minor league season was over. He was added back to the Royals when the rosters expanded and he hit upon his return. But it was too late and his final slash line for 2009 was: .232/.325/.378. His line drive percentage fell that season to under fifteen percent.

By the spring of 2010, there were whispers that Alex Gordon was a bust. His first two seasons weren't as bad as they seemed and understandable for a guy with no experience thrust into the majors full time. But 2009 seriously damaged his standing. To make matters worse, he then broke his thumb in Spring Training in 2010. After starting that season on the disabled list, he was activated and saw his first action on April 17. He obviously wasn't right and by May 1, he was batting .194 with only one homer and one double to his credit. He was sent to the minors.

Gordon might have remained in the minors the rest of that season, but David DeJesus got hurt in late July (another thumb) and Gordon got the call. He had been converted to the outfield by that time in the minors as by that time, the Royals had this Moustakas kid who was going to be the future at third base. So Gordon returned in late July and stayed the rest of the season. Gordon played every day the rest of the season but it never jelled for him and his final slash line after 281 plate appearances was: .211/.315/.355. The whispers grew deafening.

By the spring of 2011, Gordon was an afterthought. Nobody expected anything from him and nobody even talked about him. But as the season broke, Gordon was the starting left fielder. His first game of the season didn't bode well. He went 0-5 with three strikeouts. The home fans weren't happy with their opening day left fielder. But in his fourth game, an extra-inning affair against the Angels, Gordon went 4-6. The following day against the White Sox, he went 3-5 and hit his first homer. He went 2-5 his next game and never looked back. By the end of April, Gordon was batting .339!

Gordon slumped in May and his batting average fell to .275 by May 19. But he finished May well and was consistently good at the plate through the rest of the season. His final slash line for 2011 was .303/.376/.509. That was good for a 140 OPS+ which easily led the team. He hit 23 homers and added four triples and a terrific 45 doubles. Plus, he was terrific in left with twenty assists and was excellent on the base paths. A star was born. Or was he reborn? His wOBA, which has been a woeful .294 in 2010, finished at .382 for the 2011 season.

After being left for dead after 2010, Alex Gordon became a star in 2011. His season in many ways mirrors the season that Jacoby Ellsbury had for the Red Sox. Both resurrected from injuries and lost time and whispers to become young stars. But what does the future hold? Bill James and Fans projections have him falling off again in 2011. Their projections still show him to have a valuable season, but they both expect him to be far less impressive than he was in 2011. His BABIP of .358 in 2011 might lead to those tame projections. But Gordon hit the ball hard in 2011. His line drive percentage was 22 percent. If he keeps hitting bee-bees all over the field, there's no reason to think he can't duplicate the success he had in 2011.

Kansas City fans have a lot to look forward to in 2012. They have an exciting young team. Hosmer and Moustakas and Cain rightly inspire hope for a long-moribund franchise. But their best player is Alex Gordon, the Hosmer of 2007. Gordon became one of the best players in the majors in 2011. The sky is now the limit for him going forward.

Posnanski Closes Comment Section

Your host on this site follows a lot of baseball writers. To be widely read is one of the truly best ways to get wiser in life. But it's not just that. Many writers are inspiring. To live an artistic life--and writing is art, friends--other artists are not competitors. Artists are drawn together by the love of what they do. And yeah, to be honest, we want affirmation by our peers. Twitter serves that need very well. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule. For some writers, the goal is to dominate public thought and opinion. That's fine, if that's how they want to play it. But after a while, the same machine that brings you to the top, brings you down just as quickly if hubris is the foundation. All of these thoughts are brought about by Joe Posnanski's decision to shut down comments on his site. Wait. That came off wrong. That is not to say that Mr. Posnanski is one of those hubris-driven writers. It's just his decision has brought out all these conflicting emotions that are spilling out now.

The thoughts here aren't concrete and already they are off on the wrong foot. Since the nexus of this particular post is to come to grips with Mr. Posnanski's decision, the emotions are torn and thus the hesitation you might already be feeling. This writer also feels the hesitation. So pretend this is a flow of consciousness post and maybe we'll get through it together.

The two conflicting emotions with Mr. Posnanski's decision are one, a profound respect for his career and his craft and second, that reaching the heights he has risen, such decisions must be difficult even when they don't feel right to this observer. The respect for Mr. Posnanski as a writer is not just about how good he is at what he does. And obviously, he has few peers in that regard. But it has also been that his writing has drawn us in to his narrative for so long, it always felt like he was speaking to us personally. In the song world, Amy Grant and more recently, Taylor Swift, have that ability. Certain actors make you believe in whatever character they paint and make us root for them. It's a gift really. Joe Posnanski made us look at the fan-writer differently. Everyone knows and loves (and has adopted) his "Posnanski asterisk" which makes him the heir of Peter Gammons who gave us the word, "Arguably." That's the sort of thing great writers do.

Part of Joe Posnanski's art is in intelligently crafted narratives that carry us along. But just as importantly, he carried us along as co-conspirators in the dialogue. Many of his posts have come from those "brilliant readers" that commented on his posts. His use of polls have been done far better than anyone else because it echoes and adds to the shared experience his writing already fosters. Now he has decided--for at least the time being--that he is going to shut a part of that off.

This writer's previous career was building a software company's customer service division from the bottom up. As a new start-up, the company went through many bumps along the way. Many of those bumps were truly saved by terrific and personal customer service. Your Fan's goal was to try as best as possible to treat people the way we wanted to be treated ourselves. Sometimes that meant allowing them to vent when necessary and at times to agree with their assessments.

In one of the few times this Fan was ahead of the technological world, early on in the growth process, blogging to customers and creating an open forum for customers (which this writer moderated) was implemented. This was before most people had ever heard of the word, "Blogging," and, "Chat." Our customers loved it. First, they found fellow customers they could bounce ideas with and secondly, they found the head of customer service interacting with them, listening to their problems and working with them to get through them. This really was something that set us apart from other software companies in our industry.

But as we continued to grow, so did the leadership. We got more and more managers, vice presidents, directors and so forth. As we got to be a big company, many of these leaders felt that these platforms exposed us to our competitors so they would know our struggles and use them against us. Others felt that we were too big by then to care what individual customers thought and found the sometime negativity to be threatening. The bigger we got as a company, the more this was debated. Until finally, this Fan lost and the thing was shut down.

It was one of the worst decisions the company could have made at the time as we had just been purchased by a major company in our industry. But that's life. What they didn't understand was that these components we offered customers was part of our charm. The fact that we shared the stress of tough software times together made it a collective more than just a customer/vender relationship. We retained a lot of our customers through the tough times, through the bugs, and the late deliveries, because of our openness in talking to them.

Once we shut the chat and blog down, we were just another big shot that didn't care about the little guy. That's what this feels like in what Mr. Posnanski has done. And what makes this difficult to say is that it's very possible that has nothing to do with his decision. He could very well be concerned that unfair comments could occur and with no time to look after them, they could ruin the experience with others. But even that is something with which we disagree.

This writer totally believes that if we call ourselves a democracy, then people have a right to bitch and be jerks. Many times our company learned from those complainers, even if they were totally unfair in how they presented themselves. The customer service manager turned a lot of those naysayers into product endorsements over the years. Letting free speech reign, even when it hurts, is cool. Limiting it is not cool. And many times, your customer-supporters will defend you quite well without you even having to say anything. That happened with our company and it happened over at Joe's Blog. Self-policing can be even more effective than riot-policing.

The other sticking point is that Mr. Posnanski feels he no longer (or at least currently) does not have the time to read his comments. That's a shame. We as writers can't be overly influenced by those who comment on our sites, but feedback is always good and sometimes, those comments add to a point given or correct facts erroneously stated.  Mr. Posnanski (a term of respect by the way and not written as a derogation) does not state why he no longer has the time. He could be in a family transition or crisis. He could be in the middle of writing deadlines. Or he could just be hung up with the many requirements of success that include book deals and sales and other things. We don't know and, frankly, it's none of our business.. But it's very easy to make the jump that he's gotten bigger than his readers. That's not fair, but that's the way the human brain works.

As much as success is sweet, it has its costs. Perhaps Joe Posnanski is paying some of them. We all want to be successful. Let's face it, we not only write because we like to, but because we want to be heard. But as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Sometimes it might mean that the very thing that helped us to be successful in the first place becomes one of the casualties.

So the Same Day as a Reds' Snooze Fest Post....

Life isn't always kind to a writer. Yesterday morning dawned and the idea struck that the Cincinnati Reds had done absolutely zilch this off season. So that was the theme of yesterday's post. The  fortunate thing that happened after that  post was written was having to spend thirteen hours at the mall trying to peddle the company's books. Why was that fortunate? Because there is no Internet at our mall. And why is that fortunate? Because that way this writer didn't find out until much later how silly the morning post looked after the blockbuster deal between the Reds and the San Diego Padres.

One Twitter buddy said he preferred to think of yesterday's post as a catalyst (which was kind). Another asked that this writer come up with a post talking about his team's glaring needs (which was hysterical). But enough about the Fan. What about that deal, eh? The Reds turned three prospects into Mat Latos. Don't be fooled by Latos' 9-14 record in 2011. This guy is a stud.

Latos is the kind of pitcher every team covets for the top of their rotation. In Latos, the Reds get a pitcher who just turned 24 this month and has already logged 72 starts in his big league career. His FIP in the last two seasons were 3.00 and 3.16 respectively. Opponents have batted .216 and .228 off of him the last two seasons. Batters have trouble squaring up the bat to his pitches. His line drive rates the last two years have been off the charts: 14.9 and 16.1 percent respectively.

And Latos' success can't be pinned solely on his home park in San Diego. Yes, his home OPS against was lower than on the road. But not by much. His OPS against at home was .641 last season and only .688 on the road. You would take that, no? Plus, he is not an extreme fly ball pitcher (when batters manage to hit the ball). His ground ball to fly ball ratio is 1.03 for his career. So that isn't something that would overly concern you heading into the Reds' little ballpark.

In yesterday's lame duck post, Yonder Alonso was featured as an up and coming player for the Reds. Well, forget that idea because he was one of the three prospects the Reds sent to the Padres. The Reds were trying to convert Alonso from first base to left field since Votto is a fixture at first. But in Keith Law's take on the trade over at ESPN.com yesterday, Law mentions that the left field move was ill-advised and that Law prefers Anthony Rizzo, the Padres incumbent first baseman. Alonso could then be dealt by the Padres for another need they might have.

While it's hard to argue with Keith Law, this writer thinks that Alonso could have worked out in left field for the Reds and the Reds line up will miss the young player. But you have to give up quality to get quality and that's just what the Reds did. The Reds most glaring need was in the rotation (as mentioned yesterday) and the Reds took care of that need in glorious fashion. They also got rid of a thorn in the organization's side.

Part of the deal sent Edinson Volquez to the Padres. The erstwhile starter the Reds obtained from the Rangers in the Josh Hamilton deal had a brilliant debut season for the Reds but has gone down hill since. Last year was particularly trying for all as Volquez had to endure two stints in the minors due to his ineffectiveness in the Reds' rotation. This Fan bets that Volquez pulls it together for the Padres gaining a comfort level in a much more pitcher friendly environment.

This Fan wouldn't call Brad Boxberger a spare part like others have when discussing this deal. Boxberger has a big arm and could have helped the Reds in the bullpen this season. That's still a big need for the Reds. But then again, when you can get a guy like Mat Latos, geez, you have to give up some quality if you have the chance. Latos, if he stays healthy (knocking wood), can be a terrific pitcher for the Reds for years to come. He's a fiery personality which makes him a tough competitor. He is an ace and aces are hard to find.

Merry Christmas, Reds fans. You got something pretty exciting to talk about today.

Cincinnati Reds' Off Season Snooze-Fest

After winning the National League Central Division in 2010, the Cincinnati Reds were never a factor in 2011. Pitching woes crippled the team and they could never muster a winning streak. They were below .500 in the first half, below .500 in the second half, below .500 in one-run games and woeful in interleague play. Teams in their division have been active this off season. The Cardinals and Brewers are both expected to lose their big first basemen but have made other moves to stay relevant. The Cubs hired all new leadership. The Pirates have been active. The Reds? The Reds have not had a transaction since October. What gives?

The Cincinnati Reds have one of the most respected general managers in Walt Jocketty.  In this piece, it appears Jocketty has been actively seeking to make deals and says he is frustrated that nothing has happened. There most often trade bait dangled (at least according to rumors) has been Yonder Alonso. But Alonso seems to be a very good young player, so why trade him? In fact, the Reds appear to be in good shape offensively. The loss of one half of their catching duo, Ramon Hernandez, should be more than adequately replaced by good looking young catcher, Devin Mesoraco. Jay Bruce hit 32 homers last year which gives them another weapon (albeit an inconsistent one) and Drew Stubbs showed some flashes of goodness (when he wasn't striking out, which happened an alarming 205 times).

Yes, with Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Stubbs, Bruce and Alonso, the Reds should have no trouble scoring runs. Plus they have a good looking young shortstop in Zack Cozart (whose name would be a Scrabble bonanza if you could use proper nouns). The offense looks fine. But what of the pitching? Dontrelle Willis is off to the Phillies, which is probably a good thing for the Reds. But when Mike Leake was their most consistent starter, that is a problem (no offense to Leake who has become quite solid). Johnny Cueto was terrific but again missed thirteen starts. His former phenom partner, Edinson Volquez, had a horrific season last year. But even worse was Bronson Arroyo who frankly hit bottom last year and became a batting practice pitcher. Homer Bailey was somewhat meh. Travis Wood doesn't appear likely to an effective major league starter and does anybody really think that Aroldis Chapman will work out as a starter?

And then you have the bullpen. Last year's closer is gone since the Reds declined to pick up Francisco Cordero. So who is going to close? Nick Masset can be a very good reliever but he was over-exposed last season and cracked in the second half. Jose Arredondo has a big arm, but was inconsistent. And Logan Ondrusek and Bill Bray are useful if not spectacular.

Sam LeCure had some success and that was hopeful, but a lot of the Reds' 2012 season will depend on if Cueto can stay healthy, Volquez can find the magic, Leake can continue to improve and if two other starters can find a way to get people out. Behind them, a bullpen needs to be cobbled together. If the Reds don't pitch better in 2012 than they did in 2011, it will be another lost season.

Fans of the Reds have to be restless. How could they not be when absolutely nothing has happened this off season? This writer hopes for their sake that the team doesn't trade Alonso. But again, Jocketty is a terrific general manager and there is still some time to make some things happen. But it sure has been a snooze fest so far this off season in Cincinnati.

Dark Clouds Shroud the Mets

Have you seen that drug commercial for those who suffer from depression? You know the one with the animated woman who has this little dark cloud that follows her everywhere? The Mets are that lady these days and there isn't a prescription big enough to handle the cloud the Mets are dealing with. Ever since the Wilpons became entangled in the fallout from Bernie Madoff, things have changed in New York and judging from this eye-opening article from Fangraphs', Alex Remington, their financial woes appear to be deepening. It's pretty sad stuff.

This Fan's history is wrapped up a bit in the Mets. The Fan's father was a Mets fan. So was his father's father. Their descendant did not follow in those footsteps and instead fell in love with that other New York team. But even so,  the very first ballgame this Fan ever watched on television was a Mets game and the first ever foray to a major league ballpark was Shea Stadium with Dad. While the Mets have never been a top five favorite in this observer's echelon of teams, there is a heft of fifty years of interest in what goes on with the Mets.

And that history has had some fine moments. The Miracle Mets of the late 1960s, the 1986 team, the Bobby Valentine Mets at the end of the millennium and the mid-2000s team that with a different bounce or two could have been great. To see the Mets now reduced to doom and gloom is not a happy circumstance. It's not a good thing that a fan base had to lose their favorite player because there was no money to pay him. At least not through these eyes.

What's painful is that you cannot talk about the Mets for their team on the field. There is always the financial mess that makes the news. Bud Selig has not tried to "fix" the Mets like he did with the Rangers and now with the Dodgers. Whether that is because of his close ties with the Wilpons or because the Wilpons were heretofore good baseball owners is not for this writer to sort out. For a fan, you want to talk about what's on the field and not other stuff that takes away from pure baseball entertainment.

It's also sad that there are positive things to talk about. Sandy Alderson and his team are very bright leaders with proven track records. They take over from a regime that like it or not, ran the Mets into the ground. That Alderson plugs away with the fiscal restraints without quitting is admirable in and of itself. Players like Jason Bay and David Wright should benefit from the reduced dimensions of Citi Field that Alderson has instigated. Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy and Josh Thole are all promising young players. If Ike Davis can come back, that would be another. Andres Torres is an upgrade in center field.

The Mets likely have little shot at winning this coming season despite some good young talent just mentioned. Their rotation is weak and there is little talent in the upper levels of their minor league system. Alderson was left with dry bones there. Johan Santana may or may not come back and even if he does, there is no way they will ever recoup the value of his contract. Improvements to the bullpen are somewhat looked at with skepticism. Jon Rauch did not have a good year in Toronto. Can he and other acquisitions shore up a bullpen that was third from last in the majors last year? Not completely.

There is also the problem of the Mets' defense. They were fifth from the bottom in defensive efficiency last season and also made the fifth most errors in baseball. A healthy Ike Davis would help as a good fielding first baseman is worth far more than given credit. But you still have Jason Bay in left, David Wright at third and a second base situation that will not prove defensively capable no matter who wins that job.

The problem for Alderson is that he can't dip into the minors for help and he can't spend any money. So any holes on the team (rotation, bench depth, etc.) will have to come from fliers on non-tendered and fringe players on the market who will agree to play for less money. It is hoped that Alderson will resist the temptation to trade Jonathan Niese. Most people do not realize that he out-pitched Gio Gonzalez last season if you believe in Fielding Independent Pitching statistics (FIP). A good left-handed pitcher like him is very useful against teams like the Braves and the Phillies. He is a possible star in the making and right now, he's cheap.

There are a lot of players fans in New York can rally around. The Mets were surprisingly effective for large parts of last season and even without Jose Reyes, can be fun to watch this season. The problem for Mets fans is that this dark cloud follows the team around and as long as that cloud is the big New York Mets story, much of the fun of being a fan of that team is removed. Let's hope that things improve for the New York Mets and that such an important team in the biggest market on earth can again join the healthy status it used to enjoy.

BBA Link Fest - General Thoughts

With ten days left until Christmas, the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance have filled the Web with ornaments of good writing. Okay, that was lame, eh? Ah well. These writers aren't lame, that's for sure. As we do here every Thursday morning, what follows is general goodness from our chapter. Please support these folks with a click and a comment. To be sure, it will brighten the day of the writer as well as the reader. Here we go!

We're going to start with some great new additions to the chapter just this week.

The general chapter now has a third overseas writer. This one is in France. MajorBaseball.Fr tells us why Carlo Beltran is a perfect fit in St. Louis.

Stevo-sama has been a big supporter of the Fan and so it is a happy circumstance for him to join the BBA in our chapter. His The Baseball Enthusiast will be a great addition. Heck, he even provides us with this cool scoresheet.

Another great addition has the unusual name of Crum-Bum Beat. The site features two writers and a real passion for our favorite game. Check out this post on Matt Moore's new contract.

Welcome folks! And now for the best of the rest on our roster:

To be sure, Russ Blatt's open letter to the New York Mets would be signed by a whole bunch of Mets fans. Check it out over at 85% Sports.

This Fan wouldn't want to go head to head in fantasy baseball with Ryan Sendek. Check out why over at Analysis Around The Horn.

Sooze over at Babes Love Baseball gives us her thoughts on the Aramis Ramirez signing.

The Ball Caps Blog has its baseball universe all disrupted this week. Check out why.

Over at Baseballism, a great piece is offered on the vilification of Ryan Braun. Well done.

Call to the Pen is always one of our most active sites. With so much to choose from, the Fan particularly enjoyed this history of the BBWAA and the MVP.

Our Italian writer, Mario Salvini, covers a local awards gala and one of the quotes was astounding. Che Palle!

Our hearts go out to Matt Whitener whose aptly titled post mourns the passing of Albert Pujols over at Cheap.Seats.Please.

TheNaturalMevs over at Diamond Hoggers gives us a first look at many people's favorite video game.

Our German entry, Dugout 24, gives us perhaps the best Pujols heading this Fan has seen thus far.

After a flurry of free agent signings, For Baseball Junkies wonders what's next. So do we!

The Baseball Index gives us some excellent analysis on the recent moves by the Boston Red Sox.

The Ryan Braun situation woke Kenn Olson of Going Yard fame out of his self-imposed nap!

Griffin Phelps of The Golden Sombrero provided this Fan's favorite read of the week this week. A must read.

Hmm...After just saying that, this Fan then went and read this excellent post over at Grubby Glove. Torn now!

The Hall of Very Good thinks Derek Jeter is a rock star. You'll remember this piece for quite a while.

Theo of Hot Corner Harbor participated in epic "50 Best Players Not in the Hall of Fame" project and gives us his choices and explanations here. Great stuff.

You know, baseball writers are not one-dimensional people. Keith Law cooks. Rob Neyer does movie reviews. And our own Left Field not only loves baseball, but if you want to know about beer and many other things, you have to check him out!

Major League A-Holes has a touching tribute and goodbye to Mark Buehrle. We baseball fans are a passionate bunch.

We have another excellent scorecard entry, this one from the brilliant mind and author of Michael Holloway's Baseball Blog.

The always interesting MLB Dirt got even better with the addition of Andrew Martin to the team. Here is his first entry and it is BIG!

One of the hardest parts of this job each week is picking the best of the bonanza of offerings over at MLB Reports. Being a sucker for young players, let's go this week with an interview of Jaff Decker.

Old Time Family Baseball laments where the new baseball labor agreement is taking us. Superb.

Bill over at The Platoon Advantage gives us a fun to read explanation of why teams back-load contracts. It all makes perfect sense despite this Fan's stupid comment.

Rational Pastime is all about baseball. But for one week, J-Doug delves into the Tim Tebow phenomenon. Great read even if it isn't baseball.

Replacement Level Baseball Blog is going through a mock draft for 2012 and takes us along for the joy ride. Terrific.

Of course, our weekly link post is never complete without The Sports Banter's Monday Mullet.  It's one of life's most guilty pleasures.

Sully over at Sully Baseball salutes Jed Lowrie after the Red Sox announced his trade to the Astros. This writer roots for Jed too.

Through the Fence Baseball fills us in on a very bad accident suffered by a prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Keep this guy in your prayers and help if you can please.

Mike Cardano of the X-Log gives us an excellent rundown of baseball's new rules in the new labor agreement.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.