Baseball Storylines 2016

Nate’s 9: Baseball Stories of 2016

I think most everyone knows that when it comes to sports, I love each and every one of them. That is, all sports except baseball. I like baseball. I enjoy a game at the ball park. I will watch the World Series’ 7th game in the 9th inning if the scores are close. Joking aside, I really miss baseball in the way that I watched it in my youth. I was hardcore. I collected numerous baseball cards. I poured over statistics. I tried to GM every team, and decipher the next big dynasty. My friend and I would create power teams and play are very own versions of strat’o’matic baseball, and generally the stats were pretty close to what the major league players did (sans the game when Kirby Puckett hit 4 HR’s). While I haven’t come all the way back, I am excited for this season as it seems about 15 teams have a shot at a World Series title. So without further ado (because I haven’t finished a blog in about 10 weeks which is ridiculous), I share my thoughts, hopes, and predictions for the 2016 baseball season.

#9. The San Francisco Giants continues baseball’s most beautiful trend, and pull in another championship in an odd numbered year. It doesn’t seem to be as far fetched as some may think. They weren’t very good last year, and I think they were out of the race with a few weeks to go. They suffered a lot of pitching injuries, and really only got good performances out of Madison Bumgarner, which is great, but which also happens only once every five days. This year they get Matt Cain back, who I love, and also signed Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija which with Jake Peavy and Mads, will give the Giants one of the best rotations on paper. Their lineup is average at best, but with my favorite off-season signing of all (Denard Span) leading off for this team, Brandon Belt and Buster Posey should get more opportunities to knock in some runs than when they had Angel Pagan at the top of the order. I see a three horse race in the NL west, but I’m picking the Giants to come through again.

#8. Joey Votto Sweepstakes. I’ve asked a few baseball experts if they see another Troy Tulowitzki in their future, and the one person that got mentioned to me was Joey Votto. Now, I think that’s crazy, because when I was heavy into the baseball love, he was one of the best players around. Evidently he still is, but the Cincinnati Reds have become one of the worst teams in all of baseball, so he doesn’t have much help. Outside of Homer Bailey, I can’t name one player in their starting rotation, and I had a hard time recalling any player after Votto in their lineup. It sounds like both the Astros and Blue Jays have the farm possibilities to make a deal happen, plus both teams are pushing towards a World Series appearance without an everyday first baseman. Could this be the trade that would get either one of them over the top?

#7. NY Mets Rotation. This is a new one to me, because prior to last season I didn’t know any of these guys existed outside of Matt Harvey and Bartolo Colon. I had finished my last season of fantasy baseball with Zack Wheeler, but he was more of a prospect at the time. Now I hear he might be the missing link in the arms race to the top of baseball for the Mets. I now understand that this is the best rotation in baseball, and possibly the best since the Red Sox back in the last decade. I know Harvey is the monster of the rotation, and some of his stuff is preposterous. I’ve heard that Jacob DeGrom is getting close to that level, and could be the ace on about 90% of teams in baseball. Then someone stated that Noah Syndergaard is the best 3rd starter in all of baseball. Finally, it’s been mentioned to me that Steven Matz could be National League rookie of the year. Uh... get the pitching coach a raise! This is the type of staff that could get me excited about baseball again.

#6. Baltimore’s Bats. I sat down earlier this year to watch a little Pirates spring training baseball and enjoy what has become my favorite lineup to watch in all of the majors. As I’m going through the order, I recognize Andrew McCutcheon, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco... but where the heck is Pedro Alvarez? My free-swinging, bomb blasting, 3rd baseman? David Freese is on the roster? I jumped onto Google, and I’m told that Pedro will now be swinging for the fences at Camden Yards a few miles down the road. Along with Chris Davis, Manny Machado, Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, Jonathan Schoop and JJ Hardy? So literally seven guys that can swing for the fences at any given time? Then I heard that the Orioles also signed strikeout king Mark Trumbo, who’s been known to a blast a ball as well. Pretty sure this lineup could push toward some record breaking numbers.

#5. The Arizona Diamondbacks are pushing the Dodgers and Giants to break the Californian duopoly. I’ve kind of ignored the Diamondbacks for the last couple of years as they don’t have any players that I enjoy watching outside of MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt, and they never make it onto Sunday night baseball (which I will turn too when it’s a good matchup and nothing else is on). So imagine my surprise when this extraneous MLB franchise went out and traded for the Braves’ Shelby Miller and signed Zack Greinke as a free agent. Boom, ace and another potentially 15 win starter in a matter of a couple of weeks. Now there are the expectations that the Diamondbacks could soak up one of the two wild-card spots. I read up on the rest of this team, and it appears they have some pretty talented role players as well. AJ Pollock is becoming one of the best outfielders in all of baseball.  Jake Lamb is a solid corner guy. Patrick Corbin is a decent 3rd starter. While I don’t expect the Diamondbacks to challenge for a world series title this fall, I due believe that I will spend a couple of my Sunday nights enjoying how good of a team these Diamondbacks could become.

#4. Pittsburgh Pirates Outfield. During my most impressionable years as a baseball fan (13-30), the Pirates were always one of baseball’s worst teams. To the point where when I told people that I also like the Pirates as much as the Twins, they would respond with the one word question, “why?” It’s a good baseball town with a bit of history, and I always just figured that they would turn things around with good drafting and a solid fan base. Well, for the longest time, neither thing happened. When my closest friends and I took a trip to Pittsburgh back in 2009, I read somewhere that the Pirates were dead last in baseball’s attendance, even though they had just built this exquisite, breathtaking stadium right along the river in the heart of downtown. It made me sad. Then, one day. I heard a rumor that these kids were coming up through the ranks and it would make Pirates fans proud again. Guys like Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutcheon and Starling Marte. The odds that all three of them would be starters on the same team someday and be productive was minimal at best, and I didn’t get my hopes up. Now, they’ve all arrived, McCutcheon has become an annual MVP contender, and they are the reason the Pirates could finally make it to the World Series for the first time since I’ve come out of the womb.

#3. Baseball’s most brilliant and exciting player: Mike Trout, Bryce Harper or Felix Hernandez? I polled a number of my fellow baseball following friends, and one of the things that had me curious was, who is the most exciting player to watch. For all intents and purposes, no one mentioned some great players like Clayton Kershaw or Miguel Cabrera, but when presented in this format, I’m led to acquiesce to their opinions. Exciting is different from best, and each one of these players provide baseball fans with a glimpse of the incomparable when discussing which players are the best to see at the park. I like Mike Trout for reasons that even the casual fan can enjoy. He’s fearless, plays great centerfield defense, wields a beautiful bat, and is a threat to score every time he comes to the plate. He can do it with speed, power, precision or instincts, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite the complete player like that in my lifetime (Maybe Barry Bonds, perhaps Rickey Henderson). They’ve tried to surround him with solid bats, but as so far, it hasn’t really worked out (Josh Hamilton was a bust; Albert Pujols hasn’t been the same in LA). Regardless of that, there’s no reason not to enjoy his athletic gifts...Bryce Harper has been destined for this stage since he was in junior high. I still have the cover to his first Sports Illustrated appearance and the stories about how far his home runs travel still stick with me even to this day. My favorite part of his game, and the reason why I rank him up there with the NFL and European football greats that I more readily acknowledge is because of how hard he plays the game. He hustles all out on every at bat, and I even love watching him in the field even though he doesn’t have the skills of a Mike Trout or Torii Hunter. He’s got great strength on his swing, and it looks like he really understands what each at bat takes, and how he can get on base. I really like Paul Goldschmidt and McCutcheon, and maybe they’re better MVP candidates, but there’s no National League player I’d rather go watch than this guy... King Felix Hernandez had a terrible season by his standards last year. I think the norm for him has become around 8-10 K’s a start and a season ERA around the mid 2’s. Last year, his ERA was 3.53 and he didn’t even get to 200 strikeouts. The numbers he did have though are still great for most pitchers in baseball, and any team would be lucky to have him. He shows intense passion, and doesn’t let the bad outings get to him. He’s been supported by one of the worst lineups in baseball over the past 5 years, but his excellence gives the Mariners a chance to win every time he goes to the mound. Anybody that can almost average a K an inning is a guy I can get behind, and a good reason to buy a ticket to Target Field in the middle of September this year when it’s probably barely reaching 40 degrees at games’ end.

#2. My American League World Series contender is the Cleveland Indians. Until I actually sat down and researched a little baseball, I wouldn’t have put the Indians on my radar at all. I liked the Blue Jays, Royals, Rangers, Astros and Yankees all a little bit more. Looking a little closer to the matter, one can see that the Indians really have all the essentials to win a world series this year. Their rotation could be one of the best in baseball, and it starts with Corey Kluber. I got to see him pitch last year, and he’s lights out and knows it. I didn’t see him smile once at the game, but he’s obviously not bothered by the excitement of dominating pitching contests. Danny Salazar has reached the heights that I was told he would reach when I drafted him in fantasy back in 2014. Trevor Bauer I know from Baseball Prospectus fame and Carlos Carrasco is still pitching well. Yet, it’s the lineup that has me believing this could be the Indians year (which is depressing considering the Tigers have a pair of WS appearances, the Royals have a win, plus another appearance, and the White Sox are improving quicker than the Twins). They signed Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis to infuse some power and speed into the lineup, and if Michael Brantley comes back as good as he was when he single handedly destroyed the Twins in the game that I went to, this team could push towards the 90-95 win total and a playoff appearance.

#1. My National League World Series contender is the Chicago Cubs. Theo Epstein joined the Cubs brass and I shrugged. They convinced Joe Maddon to come and manage and I raised an eyebrow. They introduced a wealth of major league talent through their farm system and I said, “Okay Mark Prior and Kerry Wood”. I’d heard this story before. Steve Bartman wrote the final chapter, and I shut the book. Now it appears that they’ve written the sequel. MLB network loves them. Sports Illustrated loves them. TSN loves them. I put this roster under the microscope and now I love them too. How can you not? Anthony Rizzo could be an MVP soon. Kris Bryant could be a transcending talent. Javier Baez reminds me of Dean Palmer in the mid 90’s. Jorge Soler has the potential to be the best 8th hitter in all of baseball. Addison Russell is as exciting as them come. And now... they add Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist?! If the Chicago Cubs can’t win their first major league title in 108 years, well, they’ll likely have another shot to do it with this young talent in 109.