7.26.2005
Around Everywhere
We're approaching what appears to be one of the quietest trading deadlines in recent memory, since the one major prize being dangled, Florida's A.J. Burnett, is held in gridlock because 1) the Marlins still are fringe contenders, and 2) they insist on the potential takers also taking Mike Lowell's big contract, along with the guy who stole Mike Lowell's jersey and is only managing a .648 OPS. Meanwhile San Diego's Phil Nevin, who flatters himself to be considered a deadline prize of half Burnett's caliber, has vetoed a trade to Baltimore, further gumming up the works.
So let's do a quick spin around the league, keeping in mind that things might change by the end of this week, but they probably won't:
AL East: If this were any other year, we'd be looking at Boston's one-game lead over New York, then looking at our watch, then looking back at the standings, then looking back at our watch again, then looking at the standings once more to see if the Yankees had surged ahead yet. But the Yankees' ongoing battle with mediocrity, combined with the lurking cutting-edge verve of Theo Epstein, combined with the specter of Boston's defending champion status, means that nothing is certain anymore. Well, we do know this much: Baltimore is fading, their first-half run as distant a memory as the fame of William Hung. Toronto's hopes at sneaking in the back door were derailed by Cy Halladay's leg fracture. And scientists are working around the clock trying to figure out how it is possible for Tampa Bay to still be alive as a franchise.
AL Central: The Chicago White Sox! will hereby have an exclamation point next to their name, at least until they quit posting the best record in baseball and revert to the regular old Chicago White Sox. It's unclear how they're doing it, unless you look at their solid pitching staff and the fact that Scott Podsednik is on pace to steal 941 bases and wreck fantasy leagues everywhere in the process. Reasonable people continue to assume that Minnesota is still a superior squad, and on paper they should be, just so long as that particular piece of paper doesn't mention their middle-infield situation (Bret Boone, anyone?). The Twins can still shoot for the wild card, and we here at MLBeat wish them the best in holding off the Yankees/Red Sox, Athletics, Rangers, and Cleveland, the last of which has suffered some serious ups and downs. Travis Hafner's mouth shot will probably put them down for a while. Detroit is in the midst of an epic, Old-Man-and-the-Sea struggle with the .500 mark, though Chris Shelton and Jeremy Bonderman have given Motown some semblance of hope for the future. (For those Detroiters out there who are foreign to the concept, "hope for the future" means that something positive might eventually happen. Not now, mind you, but later. Thank you continuing to hold.) The Kansas City Royals are occupying their time with a concerted effort to derail the career of Zack Greinke, whose name has been accompanied in print by the word "poor" more than anyone else in baseball since Anthony Young.
AL West: This one's going to be another humdinger. The Angels still have a five-game lead as of today, but it's withering steadily in the face of yet another incredible second-half run by Oakland. The A's got Bobby Crosby and Rich Harden back from the DL, which certainly helps, but nothing can explain this torrid streak -- a ML-best 36-13 since May 29th -- save perhaps for some obscure metric locked away in Billy Beane's safe deposit box. The Texas offense rolls along as merrily as ever, but nobody can take them seriously in this division or wild-card race, not unless they make good on their darkhorse status in the aforementioned Burnett sweepstakes. A bloated corpse recently discovered off the shores of the Puget Sound has turned out to be the remains of the Seattle Mariners.
NL East: The best race going, thanks to the involvement of all five teams. We will know more by the weekend, once the showdown between the Braves and Nationals over first place has transpired. It's no secret that the Nats have slumped spectacularly to make this a tight race, though Atlanta's had themselves a nice recovery behind the rookie corps of Francoeur, McCann, Betemit et al. But even the Braves have cooled off a smidgen of late, the result being a severely tightened division with Philadelphia, New York and Florida all within 4.5 games or less. This was showing signs of devolving into a two-team race, but wouldn't it be great to come down to the final week of the season, when all five rivals get a direct shot at one another (with Atlanta and the Mets drawing Colorado additionally)? At this point, at least, it remains a possibility.
NL Central: Still St. Louis' race to lose. You can injure Pujols, injure Rolen, injure Sanders, whomever. Throw a ridiculous Neifi Perez grand slam into the mix. Whatever. This division was called before Opening Day, and it's still called. A resurgent Houston and a wobbly Cubs team both have shots at the wild card, but for now it looks like the fourth playoff spot will be going to the runner-up in the NL East donnybrook. For that to change, Chicago will need Nomar Garciaparra to return from his gruesome groin injury and somehow jump in at 1999 levels, and Houston will need more offense from a source yet to be determined. Milwaukee resembles a fantasy team that has thrown in the towel on 2005 and is hoarding keepers for 2006, and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are just that: Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
NL West: The least meaningful division title out there apparently, because nobody seems to want it. We've been waiting for San Diego to run away with it for some time now, but Jake Peavy and Co. are just chillin' at .500 atop the race, although the imminent return of Mark Loretta could change matters somewhat. Honestly though, they could stay at .500 and not have to worry about their uninspiring challengers, the Diamondbacks, who call Javier Vazquez their ace and Brian Bruney their closer. Ugh. Meanwhile Los Angeles is feeling the wrath of the baseball gods in return for ever having expressed faith in a character from a book, even if that book was Moneyball, and even if paul DePodesta happens to be a real person, and even if their spate of injuries (J.D. Drew and Milton Bradley chief among them) has just been horrible luck...doesn't matter. Grumble grumble, that's what you get for playing Moneyball style, grumble grumble spit. These are days of great malaise in San Francisco, as Barry Bonds continues to hold himself hostage, Blazing Saddles-style, for some kind of vague, undefined ransom. Colorado appears to have already moved on to hockey season.
So let's do a quick spin around the league, keeping in mind that things might change by the end of this week, but they probably won't:
AL East: If this were any other year, we'd be looking at Boston's one-game lead over New York, then looking at our watch, then looking back at the standings, then looking back at our watch again, then looking at the standings once more to see if the Yankees had surged ahead yet. But the Yankees' ongoing battle with mediocrity, combined with the lurking cutting-edge verve of Theo Epstein, combined with the specter of Boston's defending champion status, means that nothing is certain anymore. Well, we do know this much: Baltimore is fading, their first-half run as distant a memory as the fame of William Hung. Toronto's hopes at sneaking in the back door were derailed by Cy Halladay's leg fracture. And scientists are working around the clock trying to figure out how it is possible for Tampa Bay to still be alive as a franchise.
AL Central: The Chicago White Sox! will hereby have an exclamation point next to their name, at least until they quit posting the best record in baseball and revert to the regular old Chicago White Sox. It's unclear how they're doing it, unless you look at their solid pitching staff and the fact that Scott Podsednik is on pace to steal 941 bases and wreck fantasy leagues everywhere in the process. Reasonable people continue to assume that Minnesota is still a superior squad, and on paper they should be, just so long as that particular piece of paper doesn't mention their middle-infield situation (Bret Boone, anyone?). The Twins can still shoot for the wild card, and we here at MLBeat wish them the best in holding off the Yankees/Red Sox, Athletics, Rangers, and Cleveland, the last of which has suffered some serious ups and downs. Travis Hafner's mouth shot will probably put them down for a while. Detroit is in the midst of an epic, Old-Man-and-the-Sea struggle with the .500 mark, though Chris Shelton and Jeremy Bonderman have given Motown some semblance of hope for the future. (For those Detroiters out there who are foreign to the concept, "hope for the future" means that something positive might eventually happen. Not now, mind you, but later. Thank you continuing to hold.) The Kansas City Royals are occupying their time with a concerted effort to derail the career of Zack Greinke, whose name has been accompanied in print by the word "poor" more than anyone else in baseball since Anthony Young.
AL West: This one's going to be another humdinger. The Angels still have a five-game lead as of today, but it's withering steadily in the face of yet another incredible second-half run by Oakland. The A's got Bobby Crosby and Rich Harden back from the DL, which certainly helps, but nothing can explain this torrid streak -- a ML-best 36-13 since May 29th -- save perhaps for some obscure metric locked away in Billy Beane's safe deposit box. The Texas offense rolls along as merrily as ever, but nobody can take them seriously in this division or wild-card race, not unless they make good on their darkhorse status in the aforementioned Burnett sweepstakes. A bloated corpse recently discovered off the shores of the Puget Sound has turned out to be the remains of the Seattle Mariners.
NL East: The best race going, thanks to the involvement of all five teams. We will know more by the weekend, once the showdown between the Braves and Nationals over first place has transpired. It's no secret that the Nats have slumped spectacularly to make this a tight race, though Atlanta's had themselves a nice recovery behind the rookie corps of Francoeur, McCann, Betemit et al. But even the Braves have cooled off a smidgen of late, the result being a severely tightened division with Philadelphia, New York and Florida all within 4.5 games or less. This was showing signs of devolving into a two-team race, but wouldn't it be great to come down to the final week of the season, when all five rivals get a direct shot at one another (with Atlanta and the Mets drawing Colorado additionally)? At this point, at least, it remains a possibility.
NL Central: Still St. Louis' race to lose. You can injure Pujols, injure Rolen, injure Sanders, whomever. Throw a ridiculous Neifi Perez grand slam into the mix. Whatever. This division was called before Opening Day, and it's still called. A resurgent Houston and a wobbly Cubs team both have shots at the wild card, but for now it looks like the fourth playoff spot will be going to the runner-up in the NL East donnybrook. For that to change, Chicago will need Nomar Garciaparra to return from his gruesome groin injury and somehow jump in at 1999 levels, and Houston will need more offense from a source yet to be determined. Milwaukee resembles a fantasy team that has thrown in the towel on 2005 and is hoarding keepers for 2006, and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are just that: Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
NL West: The least meaningful division title out there apparently, because nobody seems to want it. We've been waiting for San Diego to run away with it for some time now, but Jake Peavy and Co. are just chillin' at .500 atop the race, although the imminent return of Mark Loretta could change matters somewhat. Honestly though, they could stay at .500 and not have to worry about their uninspiring challengers, the Diamondbacks, who call Javier Vazquez their ace and Brian Bruney their closer. Ugh. Meanwhile Los Angeles is feeling the wrath of the baseball gods in return for ever having expressed faith in a character from a book, even if that book was Moneyball, and even if paul DePodesta happens to be a real person, and even if their spate of injuries (J.D. Drew and Milton Bradley chief among them) has just been horrible luck...doesn't matter. Grumble grumble, that's what you get for playing Moneyball style, grumble grumble spit. These are days of great malaise in San Francisco, as Barry Bonds continues to hold himself hostage, Blazing Saddles-style, for some kind of vague, undefined ransom. Colorado appears to have already moved on to hockey season.
