• Barry Bonds. His stories pretty much write themselves.
• Miguel Cabrera. Anyone who gets scolded by Ozzie Guillen for being too fat is okay in my book.
• Fausto Carmona. One of the biggest surprises of 2007.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka. Not as good as the hype, but still pretty good.
• Gil Meche. Irresponsible spending almost got the Royals out of last place.
• Jake Peavy. Bounced back from poor (by his standards) ‘06 season.
• Carlos Pena. Where did that come from?
• Alex Rodriguez. Takes abuse from everyone, but still great.
• C.C. Sabathia. Out-Santana’d Santana.
• Barry Zito. Hey, at least the Giants only have 6 years left on his deal.

Stay tuned for Jamie’s full list…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

1. Tigers – They enjoyed a solid season and stayed in the wild card race for a long time, but no repeat in Detroit. Despite some tremendous individual offensive performances, there just wasn’t enough pitching to carry them back to the playoffs.
2. White Sox – Geez, I picked them to win the wild card? They might not finish ahead of Kansas City.
3. Twins – Hey, look, I got one right. Minnesota should get extra credit for remaining somewhat competitive despite the continued presence of Nick Punto in their lineup.
4. Indians – I’m surprised that I picked Cleveland to finish this far down in the standings; in my mind they were one of my sleepers for ‘07, but maybe I’m just in denial that I could have been so wrong about the White Sox.
5. Royals – I take back everything I said about the Gil Meche signing. Clearly he has pushed the Royals to the brink of fourth place. My bad.

I need to figure out why the White Sox fooled me so badly. Does it help to admit that I expected their pitching to be better? No, not really…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Soriano has done a nice job (.297/.336/.511) so far, although he’s now out 2-4 weeks with a strained right quadriceps. Of course, the Cubs signed a few other high-profile free agents (Aramis Ramirez, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis) to the tune of nearly $300 million, so it’s not like Soriano is solely responsible for the Cubs’ improvement this year.

Zito has been terrible for a Giants team that is going nowhere fast. Mike Hampton taught us a valuable lesson about the wisdom of locking up finesse lefties to a long-term deal, but evidently some folks weren’t paying attention. If Hampton is any guide, Zito will be pitching for a contender in 2009 — I’ll say the Mets — with San Francisco picking up most of his salary.

Lee is having a solid season in Houston (.298/.352/.531) for a team that can’t compete in a weak division. The Astros are drawing about 200 fewer fans per game in ‘07 than they did last year, so he isn’t really helping at the gate either. The Astros have had just one losing season (72-90 in 2000) since 1992, but this year looks like another for them. With all due respect to Lee, who is a fine ballplayer, I think they probably don’t need his help to do that.

Finally, I have to mention Gil Meche. The $55 million man got off to a hot start with Kansas City but has come back to Earth since then. On the bright side, he does have his Royals on pace for their first 70-win season since 2003. If Matt Morris is Wayne Newton, then Meche must be Robert Goulet. Come to think of it, I always kind of liked Goulet…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• Brett Myers and John Smoltz both were in mid-season form yesterday. Smoltz in particular was making guys look silly with off-speed stuff. He seems like another one of those pitchers that could keep going strong well into his 40s.
• Adam Dunn is a very strong man. That second home run he hit to dead center on the first pitch from Carlos Zambrano was a jaw-dropper. It must be fun to get a hold of one like that.
• Johan Santana looked almost mortal. The Twins still managed to win thanks to some timely hitting from Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter. Oh, and the Orioles’ Nick Markakis has a sick arm in right. Dude nailed Morneau twice last night — at home and at second (though replays suggest that Morneau might have beaten the throw to second).
• Gil Meche? Seriously. The guy gets the big bucks and suddenly he shuts down the Red Sox? It’s a long season; I remain skeptical that his signing was a good idea.
• Casey Kotchman had some nice at-bats for the Angels. If he can stay healthy, he’s a terrific breakout candidate. Look at what Adrian Gonzalez did for the Padres last season, and you’ll get an idea of what Kotchman might be able to do. If he does step up, the Angels could be scary good.
• Speaking of the Angels, I never get tired of watching Vladimir Guerrero bat. He is so aggressive at the plate, and his coverage is ridiculous. Plus he won’t chase everything like he did when he first came up with the Expos. And no batting gloves. Gotta love it.

Well, those are my thoughts. What are yours?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Okay, then. Lots of games to watch today. When you’ve been waiting this long, I’d venture to say they’re all worth checking out, but here are a few in particular that have piqued my interest:

National League

• Braves at Phillies, 10:05 a.m. PT – Take the day off, slap together some breakfast, and watch John Smoltz battle Brett Myers. Sounds like a good plan to me. Smoltz needs just 7 more wins to reach 200 for his career. What an unusual career its been, too. I wonder if any other pitcher has won 24 games in a season (1996) while also failing to win any games over a stretch of two straight years (2003-04). If he hadn’t spent four seasons as a dominating closer, Smoltz would be closing in on 250 right about now.
• Cubs at Reds, 11:10 a.m. PT – Time to see what all the Cubs’ off-season acquisitions can do. Carlos Zambrano gets the call for Chicago, and he’ll face last year’s NL strikeout king, Aaron Harang. If you like to watch guys swing and miss, this one’s for you.

American League

• Blue Jays at Tigers, 10:05 a.m. PT – Roy Halladay goes for Toronto, while the defending AL champs send Jeremy Bonderman to the mound. Halladay already has a Cy Young Award under his belt, and Bonderman could be a contender before too long. All his ratios are headed in the right direction, and he’s just 24 years old. What’s not to like?
• Red Sox at Royals, 1:05 p.m. PT – The Gil Meche era begins in Kansas City. I keep looking at his numbers to see what I’m missing, but I can’t find anything. No matter how I slice it, he still looks like a #3 or #4 starter to me. Anyway, the guy to watch in this one is the Royals’ rookie third baseman, Alex Gordon. If it weren’t for the fact that MLB considers Daisuke Matsuzaka a rookie, Gordon would be the odds-on favorite for AL Rookie of the Year. As it is, he’s still my pick.
• Orioles at Twins, 4:05 p.m. PT – What, you need an excuse to watch Johan Santana pitch?

Those are your games for Monday. If you can catch just one, I’d go with the Halladay/Bonderman matchup in Detroit. That should be fun. Enjoy!

Post from: Knuckle Curve