On Hanley Ramirez, before his monster rookie campaign (.292/.353/.480 at age 22) with the Florida Marlins:

There’s no indication that he is ready for the major leagues, but the Marlins are apparently going to let him try.

On Jimmy Rollins, in 2004 (three years before he won the NL MVP):

In any event, his power and speed both appear to be dissipating, and without those he won’t hold a starting job for long.

On Chase Utley, before the 2005 season (in which he hit .291/.376/.540):

Utley is not going to be a star, but second base is a thin position and his extra-base power should provide the Phillies with a competitive advantage.

On the Chicago White Sox, before 2005:

Their opportunity has passed; the constant exodus of talent will relegate this team to second-tier status.

The folks at Prospectus almost nailed this one. They were a year early, and they forgot the part about winning a World Championship. Ah, the devil is in the details…

Fun stuff here. Be sure to read the entire article over at Seamheads.com.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• White Sox at Tigers, 12:55 p.m. PT — At 0-4, Detroit is the only team without a win so far this season. Baseball is a strange game. Dontrelle Willis makes his Tigers debut. For a guy who should be in his physical prime, Willis sure has fallen fast. Where’s Steve Avery when you need him?
• Dodgers at Padres, 12:55 p.m. PT — This is by far the best matchup of the day: Brad Penny goes up against Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Penny is 0-2 with a 6.67 ERA over his last five starts against San Diego.
• Diamondbacks at Rockies, 5:05 p.m. PT — Last year’s NL West playoff participants square off this evening. Two good young pitchers — Brandon Webb and Jeff Francis — hook up in this one. It’s also a good excuse to watch Justin Upton play, which is always a treat.

Play ball!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• The Mets beat the Marlins, 7-2. The planet’s best pitcher against a Triple-A squad — who could’ve have anticipated such a result? Uh, everyone.
• The Pittsburgh/Atlanta game was insane. The Pirates took a 9-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but the Braves tied. Then the Bucs jumped ahead in the 12th, 12-9, before allowing two runs in the bottom half and hanging on for a 12-11 victory. Xavier Nady, whom I’ve been following since he took home Cal League MVP honors in 2001 while playing for a great Lake Elsinore Storm club (Peavy and Mets left-hander Oliver Perez also played on that team, which went 91-49), knocked two homers, including the game winner.
• The Giants really stink. Good thing they’re paying Barry Zito all that money.
• The Brewers and Cubs ran a clinic on how not to close a game. Locked in a scoreless tie headed to the ninth, Milwaukee plated three runs in the top half off “closer” Kerry Wood, then watched “closer” Eric Gagne cough up three of his own in the bottom half. The Brewers scored in the top of the 10th and hung on to win, 4-3. Who got credit for the victory? The least deserving guy in the ballpark, of course: Gagne. The next time someone tries to tell you that a pitcher is good because of his won-loss record, remind them that the rules dictating how a win is “earned” don’t necessarily correlate with actually contributing to victory.
• Break up the Nationals. With Monday’s 11-6 drubbing of Philadelphia, they’re assured of finishing no worse than 2-160 this year.
• Livan Hernandez pitched well in his Twins debut. Actually, for all the grief Minnesota took in signing him, he matched Johan Santana’s line — two runs in seven innings — and got the win. Not that he’ll keep pace with Santana beyond, oh, right about now, but still…
• The White Sox seem to be a sexy dark horse candidate this season, but I just don’t see it. By my count, they’ve got about three or four good pitchers, depending on whether you believe Octavio Dotel can stay of the disabled list. One of them (Mark Buehrle) got absolutely pounded at Cleveland. Granted, the Indians will do that to a pitcher, but if the White Sox can’t win behind Buehrle, then what are they going to do when, say, Gavin Floyd toes the slab?

Good times, my friends. Good times…

Post from: Knuckle Curve