Roster Rules - The Rule 4 Amateur Draft

The Rule 4 amateur draft is held each year in June. It is 50 rounds long, and also includes the compensatory picks related to free agency. The draft order is set based on the previous season's win-loss record, with ties being broken by the team's win-loss record for the season prior to that.

Eligible Players:

Any players who have not signed a contract who fit the following criteria:

• Resident of the U.S., Canada, or any U.S. territory
• They must have graduated from high school, but not attended college
• They must have attended a 4 year college and be either 21, or in their junior or senior year.
• They must have attended a community or junior college.
  

Once a player is drafted, they have a certain window to sign a contract with a team. For most players, that window ends on August 15th. College seniors who have graduated (or run out of eligibility), have a longer window, due to their not being able to return to school any longer. If a team fails to sign their pick, they may potentially receive a compensation pick in the following year's draft, depending on what round the player was drafted in.

If a player does not sign by the end of their window, their age will determine when they will be eligible to be drafted again. For players drafted out of high school, they will not be eligible until they meet the requirements for college players. For college players, they will be eligible in the following year's draft. Notable examples in previous years include Aaron Crow, and Tanner Scheppers.

Each year, the office of the Commissioner gives out guidelines for what the signing bonus of each pick in the draft should be. The logic is that the best player available should be the top selection, and receive the highest signing bonus. This is also known as the slotting system. However, many teams do not adhere to it, as it is not a requirement to do so.

Analysis:

Since players drafted generally take between 2 to 4 years to make an impact at the major league level, organizations try to minimize their risk at the draft. This can include drafting players based on signability rather than talent, drafting lower ceiling players with a higher potential to reach their ceiling, and avoiding talented players with makeup concerns. This can lead to some unusual choices from time to time.

The slotting system does not help teams to land the top players available all the time, since it is only a suggestion and not a requirement. A great example was Rick Porcello. When Porcello was eligible to be drafted, he was widely viewed as a top-5 draft pick. However, knowledge of his contract demands became public, and many teams shied away from him due to concerns about signability. Since he was a high school student, if he didn't sign, he could simply go to college, and wait 2 years to be drafted again. As a result, he fell to the end of the first round, when he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers, and received a contract well over the slot suggested by the commissioner's office. The Tigers were willing to pay him what it took to get him signed. The reason that this has become a bigger problem is that it works, as evidenced by the season that Porcello had in 2009. If he had not signed with the Tigers, he would have been eligible to be drafted this coming season in 2010. The Tigers' willingness to pay Porcello what he believed he was worth impacted this season, as well as future ones as well.

Also, the fact that international players are not subject to the draft has become a point of contention. All international players who have not signed contracts are considered to be free agents, and a player can be signed after June 2nd of the year that they turned 16. As a result, teams that can offer better development opportunities and better money will generally get these players, leaving the other teams out of the process.

The Rule 4 draft is going to be a hot topic of discussion when the next collective bargaining agreement negotiations begin, and could very well see some large-scale changes with wide-ranging impacts on the market for players.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Sons of Sam Horn

Roster Rules - Arbitration

Arbitration is something that was negotiated into the collective bargaining agreement in order to help players who were not eligible for free agency to be paid similarly to players who were eligible.

How it works:

Essentially, both the player and the team submit a single figure, and an independent arbitrator looks at both cases, and chooses one of the numbers. The arbitrator is not allowed to choose any number other than one of the two that were submitted.

Each case is based on similar players. Both the team and the player will build their cases around what they view as "comparable players". Generally this will include service time, a player's accomplishments, and other improvements/deficiencies that a player has.

Who is eligible:

Any player with at least 3 years of service time can qualify for arbitration. In addition, the top 17% of all 2nd year players (in terms of service time) will also qualify as "Super-2's".

Any free agent can be offered arbitration, but unlike players that are not free agents, can either accept or decline arbitration. If they accept, they are subject to the decision made, and are no longer free agents.


Another thing to remember with arbitration is that it is related to free agent compensation.

[Edit]

MLB Trade Rumors has put together another great post about this topic as well.

NL MVP in Review

Without much surprise, Albert Pujols was announced as a repeat winner of the NL MVP award. Unanimous this time, Pujols led the National League in homeruns (47), runs (124), OBP (.443), slugging (.658), total bases (374), and intentional walks (44). This while also hitting .327, with 135 rbis, 45 doubles, and almost twice as many walks as strikeouts (115 to 64).

Voting (First)

Pujols - 448 (32)
Hanley Ramirez - 233
Ryan Howard - 217
Prince Fielder - 203
Troy Tulowitzki - 172
Andre Ethier - 113
Pablo Sandoval - 89
Chase Utley - 84
Derrek Lee - 66
Matt Kemp - 49
Ryan Braun - 43

No real issue with the voting, as a lot of top players for this season ended up at the top of the voting. Further down the voting, I always wonder when I see things like this:

Jeremy Affeldt - 1

Now, Affeldt had a very good year. And he was definitely of some good value to his team. But the 10th most valuable player in the National League? That seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

Later today, I should have an article up about Pujols in the context of history.

AL MVP in Review

The Baseball Writers announced their choice for the American League MVP today: Joe Mauer

The writers really nailed this one down, as Mauer went completely nuts this season. Despite missing nearly a month, he still lead the AL in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. He set career highs in homeruns (28), rbis (96), hits (191), batting average (.365), OBP (.444), slugging % (.587), OPS (1.031). And all of this in addition to helping to guide the young Twins pitching staff, and leading the Twins to a division title.

The voting:

Mauer - 387 (27 first place)
Mark Teixeira - 225
Derek Jeter - 193
Miguel Cabrera - 171 (1)
Kendry Morales - 170
Kevin Youkilis - 150
Jason Bay - 78
Ben Zobrist - 34
Ichiro - 33
Chone Figgins - 31

I'm really happy with this result. Teixeira, Jeter, Cabrera, and Morales all had really great years, but in my opinion there is simply no way that the Twins have a .500 record, let along win their division without Mauer. I am really looking forward to hearing what he gets for his next contract, which could conceivably be in the $200 million range, and what he will do next season in a full season.

Roster Rules - Free Agency

Free Agency actually started this morning at 12 AM EST, so we'll go over that topic next.

After a player has completed 6 full seasons in the major leagues, they can file for free agency. Free agency allows a player to negotiate with any team they chose. A player can also become a free agent if they are released by their previous team. Since major league contracts are guaranteed, if a player is released, any team that signs him during the remainder of that contract will only be required to pay the player the minimum salary, and his old team will be on the hook for the rest.

Free Agents may be subject to compensation as well, under the following system:

All players at the end of each season are ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau. They are broken into groups by league, and by similar positional group:

Catchers
1B-OF-DH
2B-3B-SS
Starting Pitchers
Relief Pitchers

MLB Trade Rumors has a breakdown of exactly what they look at for each player. Keith Law of ESPN.com also went into this in quite a bit of detail.

What the end result of this process is that each player is given a ranking:
Type A: Top 30% of their position group
Type B: Top 50%, but outside the top 30% of their position group
All Others: Bottom 50%

Type A free agents, if signed by a different team, earn for their previous team compensation in the form of:

• The first round draft pick of the team that signed the player (if the pick is #16 or higher), OR
  
• The second round draft pick of the team that signed the player (if their first round pick is from picks #1 through #15), AND
• A "sandwich" pick in between the 1st and 2nd rounds.
• These are all in the June Rule 4 draft. (To be discussed in a later post)

Type B free agents, if signed by a different team, earn for their previous team the following:

• A "sandwich" pick in between the 1st and 2nd rounds.

All other free agents which do not qualify as Type A or Type B will not earn their previous team any compensation. Also, any team which re-signs a player that had been on their team prior to filing for free agency does not earn any compensation for that team (since there is no loss to the team).

The key with any compensation is this: The player's previous team must offer the player arbitration by the deadline (usually in the first week of December), or the player must sign prior to December 1st. If neither of these conditions are met, then there is no compensation.

MLB Trade Rumors also has some examples about this as well.

Roster Rules - The Disabled List

The Disabled list is a fairly basic concept. When a player gets hurt, and he is going to be hurt for an extended period of time, you move the player onto the disabled list. There are two different lists, the 15 day, and the 60 day.

15-day Disabled List
This is used to allow teams to bring a player onto the 25 man roster. Any player placed on the 15-day disabled list remains on the 40 man roster. A player can be moved from the 15-day to the 60-day, but not vice-versa.

60-day Disabled List
This is used to allow teams to bring a player onto the 40 man roster. A roster spot is freed up by placing a player on the 60 day disabled list.

In both cases, a player may be placed on either list retroactively up to 10 days into the past, providing that they have not appeared in a game since. Also, players are required to be on the list for the full amount of time (either 15 or 60 days).

Players may also be sent down to the minor leagues for rehabilitation, but there are limits of 20 days for position players and 30 days for pitchers.


Sources:


Wikipedia

Roster Rules - The 40 man roster

Yesterday, I discussed the basics of the 25 man roster. Today, we'll go into the 40 man roster.

The 40 man roster is considered to be the protected roster.

Players on the 40 man roster include:

• All players on the 25 man roster
• All players on the 15 day disabled list
• Selected minor leaguers

Any minor leaguers which a team wishes to protect from the Rule 5 draft must be added to the 40 man roster by November 20th each year.  Only certain minor leaguers are required to be protected:

• If they signed their initial contract by the age of 18, after 5 seasons in the minor leagues
• If they signed their initial contract at age 19 or older, after 4 seasons in the minor leagues

Some other terms related to the 40 man roster:

Recalling a player - Moving a player already on the 40 man roster to the 25 man roster.
Purchasing a player's contract - Adding a player to the 25 man roster that has not been added to the 40 man roster. This player would also be automatically added to the 40 man roster as well.
Designated for Assignment - This is essentially a holding place for a player that is being removed from either the 25 man or 40 man roster. It gives the team 10 days to either trade the player, or put him on waivers.

Options - Once a player has been added to the 40 man roster, they can be freely moved between the minors and the majors for 3 different seasons following that. Some notes:

• If a player does not get sent down during a season, an option is not used. 
• If a player is sent down to the minors during spring training, an option is used.
  
• If a player uses all 3 of his options, he must be put on waivers, and clear in order to be sent to the minor leagues.
  

This roster is also used starting September 1st, and any player listed on the 40 man roster can be used in a game for the month of September. Players on the 40 man roster, but not on the 25 man roster on August 31st, are not eligible for postseason play.

The 40 man roster is probably the most important piece of information for a general manager. It helps protect players from other teams, allows them to draw on a base of players for their team, and can potentially be a financially driven item as well.


Sources:

Wikipedia
Brewerfan.Net

Roster Rules - The 25 man roster

Each team has both a 25 man roster, and a 40 man roster. I'm going to start with discussing the 25 man roster today.

The 25 man roster is also known as the active roster. These, simply put, are the players you can use in a live game. Any player that you wish to use MUST be on the active roster. The key with this roster is this: If you wish to have a player available to play, you must get them on this roster. There are a few ways to get players onto it:

- Place a player on the disabled list (either 15 or 60 day)
- Release a player
- Send a player to the minor leagues (on an option)

Any player that a team wishes to use in a playoff game must also be on the 25 man roster as of August 31st each year.

All players which are on the 25 man roster are automatically on the 40 man roster as well.


Sources:

Wikipedia

Roster Rules Series

As we enter the free agency period, you're likely to hear a lot of terms about transactions that you may or may not be very familiar with. Over the coming posts, I am going to go over a lot of the concepts involved with major and minor league transactions, and the impact that they can have. Some of them are pretty straightforward, and some are confusing. I am hoping to shed some light on those ones.

1. The 25 man roster
2. The 40 man roster
3. The Disabled List
4. Free Agency and Free Agent Compensation
   
5. Arbitration
6. The Rule 4 draft (June Amateur)
7. The Rule 5 draft (December)
8. Trades, the Trade Deadlines and Waivers
   

AL Cy Young Award in Review

It was just announced that Zack Greinke has won the 2009 AL Cy Young award. Let's take a look at each of the players receiving votes, and how their seasons went.

Voting (first place)

Greinke: 134 (25)
Felix Hernandez: 80 (2)
Justin Verlander: 14 (1)
C.C. Sabathia: 13
Roy Halladay: 11

Zack Greinke
Zack posted an extremely dominant season, starting out 6-0 and never looking back. He finished the season with 16 wins (the least of any Cy Young award winner ever), a 2.16 era, 6 complete games, 3 shutouts, 242 strikeouts, and a 1.07 whip. A dominant season by any stretch, and most likely there would have been no doubt about this if he had played in a major market, or for a contending team.

Felix Hernandez
King Felix probably would have won a Cy Young with this season just about any other year. 19-5 with a 2.49 era, 217 strikeouts, a 1.14 whip, 2 complete games, 1 shutout on a 3rd place team. And he's still only 23 years old. I know it doesn't seem like it since he's been in the majors for parts of 5 years already.

Justin Verlander
Verlander had what may have been his best season so far, finishing with a 17-5 record and anchoring the Tigers' pitching staff to within one game of the playoffs. Some of the other eye-popping numbers: 269 strikeouts, a 3.45 era, 1.18 whip, and 3 complete games in 240 innings pitched. He improved nearly every key stat a pitcher can improve in a single season, seeing a lower walk total, higher strikeouts, and lower era.

C.C. Sabathia
Sabathia had a very good year, proving that a good pitcher can still go to the Big Apple and own the place. A World Championship in year 1, Sabathia anchored the depleted Yankee rotation with a 19-8 record, a 3.37 era, 1.15 whip, and 197 strikeouts in 230 innings pitched this year. Another player who might have won a Cy Young in a different year, the Yankees will more than get their money's worth out of Sabathia.

Roy Halladay
Every year, it seems Halladay ends up in this discussion. This is the 4th straight year that Halladay has received votes for this award. Subjected to a summer of trade rumors, Halladay still went 17-10 with a 2.79 era, 1.13 whip, a league-leading 9 complete games and 4 shutouts, and 208 strikeouts in 239 innings for the Blue Jays. I'm not sure where he pitches come the beginning of April, but it's safe to say at this point that Roy is going to take the ball, and keep his team in the game at all times.

This is the 4th straight Cy Young winner to come from the AL Central division (Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee). Hopefully this won't be the 4th one to leave the division in the years afterward.

Links for 11/17/09

Some afternoon links....

• Mister Baseball talks about the structure of a new Italian baseball league that is forming. Interesting to read about how the sport is growing in other countries besides the U.S., Japan, and Latin America.
• Jason Grey has his wrapup about AFL outfielders. A definite good read for anyone interested in prospects.
• Project Prospect has their top 15 centerfielders. No real argument here with Jennings at the top.
• Baseball America has released their top 10 prospects for the Braves, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Phillies, and the most recent was the Cubs.
  

NL Rookie of the Year Review

Chris Coghlan was announced as the winner of the National League Rookie of the Year award for 2009 yesterday.

In my predictions, I noted that I thought Andrew McCutchen would win, but that it wouldn't surprise me if Coghlan won instead. The voting for this award was much more spread out than its AL counterpart:

Votes (first place)

Coghlan - 105 (17)
J.A. Happ - 94 (10)
Tommy Hanson - 37 (2)
Andrew McCutchen - 25 (2)
Casey McGehee - 18 (1)
Randy Wells - 3
Garrett Jones - 2
Everth Cabrera, Dexter Fowler, Gerardo Parra, Colby Rasmus - 1 each

Chris Coghlan
Coghlan joined the Marlins on May 8th, and from there just hit and hit and hit. In 128 games, he hit .321/.390/.460, with 9 homers, 8 steals, and 84 runs scored. This while also learning a new position (LF) that he had never played before. While there were definite growing pains associated with learning this new position, Coghlan's bat more than made up for it. He should only get better as he matures.

J.A. Happ
Happ really made a huge impact this season, making the roster in the bullpen out of spring training, and when injuries hit transitioning into a starting role. He finished the year with a 12-4 record, a 2.93 era, 3 complete games (2 shutouts), and a 1.24 whip. I doubt highly that the Phillies would have made the postseason if not for the contributions of Happ. Apparently I had completely forgotten about him when making my predictions, because he would definitely have been ahead of McCutchen had I remembered.

Tommy Hanson
Hanson did not make his debut until June 7th, but it was definitely worth the wait. He finished the season with an 11-4 record, a 2.89 era, a 1.18 whip, and 116 strikeouts in 127 2/3 innings. Hanson is the next great Braves starter, and I am really looking forward to what he can do in a full season. A player that I discounted somewhat because of not being up for the full season, but probably should have included as well.

Andrew McCutchen
McCutchen did not debut until early June either, but went on a tear once he was there. He finished with a .286/.365/.471 line with 12 homers, 54 rbi, 22 steals, and 74 runs. While the trade of Nate McLouth was extremely unpopular with Pirate fans, it allowed them to really showcase McCutchen, who didn't disappoint. I think that he would have won this award hands down if he had been up for the full season. He's going to be really interesting to watch, and hope that the Pirates can keep him long term.

Casey McGehee
McGehee was actually put on waivers at the end of last season by the Cubs, and they are going to regret letting him go. The Brewers used him as a sort of super-utility, trying to get his bat in the lineup while trying him at multiple positions. He played 2B, 3B, and even 1B for them last season, while hitting the cover off the ball to the tune of .301/.360/.499 with 16 homers and 66 rbi. Hopefully next season the Brewers will pick one position to let him play, and leave him there. But that could prove interesting with the return of Rickie Weeks, and the promotion of top prospect Mat Gamel.

Randy Wells
Wells did well this season, and really helped to solidify the Cubs rotation. He compiled a 12-10 record, with a 3.05 era, 1.28 whip, and 104 strikeouts in 165 1/3 innings. Originally drafted as a rule 5 player by the Blue Jays, he was returned to the Cubs during the 2008 season. While the season for the Cubs was lost, Wells was a bright spot on an otherwise poor starting rotation.

Garrett Jones
Jones was never really considered a top flight prospect, especially since he was 27 when he was called up for his first real length of time in the majors. But he hit. .293/.372/.567 with 21 homers in just 82 games. While it remains to be seen what he can do with a full season, he should be very interesting to watch, especially since he is likely to get consistent playing time in 2010.

Overall, another group where not every top prospect made an impact. At the beginning of the season, Rasmus, Hanson, Fowler, and Cameron Maybin were all mentioned as top candidates, and only Hanson really had a showing worthy of the award.

AL Rookie of the Year Review

Andrew Bailey was announced as the winner of the American League Rookie of the Year for 2009 yesterday.

In my predictions, I thought Bailey would win the award, but it was a lot closer than I thought it would be. The voting (first place in parentheses):

Bailey - 88 votes (13)
Elvis Andrus - 65 (8)
Rick Porcello - 64 (7)
Jeff Niemann - 21
Gordon Beckham - 10
Brett Anderson - 4

Andrew Bailey
Andrew spent the majority of the 2009 season as the closer for the A's, and was 26-for-30 in save opportunities this year. But his dominance is better illustrated in his other stats: 1.84 ERA, 91 strikeouts, a .167 opponents batting average, and a 0.88 WHIP.  His numbers were extremely comparable to the elite players at his position:

Bailey: 1.84 ERA, 91 K, .167 Opp BA, 0.88 WHIP, 26 saves
Mariano Rivera: 1.76 ERA, 72 K, .197 Opp BA, 0.91 WHIP, 44 saves
Joe Nathan: 2.10 ERA, 89 K, .171 Opp BA, 0.93 WHIP, 47 saves

Bear in mind, that Bailey did not take over the closer role until early May, and could potentially have had a lot more saves on a more competitive team. Digging in a little deeper, there are a couple of concerns I have for the next season.

Bailey's Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) was a very low .234. Those same comps had .252 (Nathan), and .263 (Rivera), so I would be inclined to believe that some form of correction to the mean may occur next season. His Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) number was 2.56, almost a full run higher than his actual era. Again, not a huge problem necessarily for a reliever, but something to keep an eye on.

So, how did his competitors fare last season?

Elvis Andrus

Andrus was named the starting shortstop for the Rangers prior to the season. The Rangers thought so highly of him that they asked All-Star SS Michael Young to switch to 3B. Andrus definitely did not disappoint. He hit to the tune of .267/.329/.373 with 72 runs, 6 hr, and 33 sb. Andrus was also no slouch with the glove, as he compiled a 10.7 UZR rating at SS. A very good rookie season.

Rick Porcello
Porcello joined the Tigers out of spring training, and made the rotation. This was a huge surprise, considering that he had only pitched one year in the minors, and it was in A-ball at that. However, he made a very strong impact, compiling a 14-9 record with a 3.96 era, 89 strikeouts, and a 1.34 whip. They believed in him so heavily, in fact, that he was the choice to start the play-in game against the Twins on 10/6. Porcello should be a very good major league pitcher for years to come.

Jeff Niemann
Niemann made the Rays rotation out of spring training, after having a couple of starts in 2008. With a 13-6 record, Niemann was one of the few pitchers that the Rays could rely on throughout the season. He gave the Rays 180 innings, while compiling a 3.94 era, 1.35 whip, and 125 strikeouts. I frankly thought that Niemann would finish ahead of Porcello, but that could be partially due to Porcello pitching meaningful games in October. Niemann will be a solid #2-3 anchor for the Rays rotation in a system that is full of top-level pitching.

Gordon Beckham
Beckham was called up in May, and was the first player from the 2008 draft to have a meaningful impact in the Majors. He posted a very solid .270/.360/.477 line, with 14 homers, 58 rbi, and 7 steals. All while learning a new position in the major leagues. While he had some of the better stats of the season, I felt that he should be discounted slightly due to not being up for the whole season. Not really his fault, but that's how it goes. Beckham will have another transition to make next season, as the White Sox announced that he would be moving to 2B to accommodate newly acquired Mark Teahen.

Brett Anderson
Anderson spent the whole season in the A's rotation, and posted a respectable 11-10 record on a bad team. He really came on in the second half, going 6-4 with a 3.48 era, 86 strikeouts, and a 1.19 whip. If he puts together a full season like his second half, he's going to be a very, very good pitcher for a long time.

Overall, this year's AL rookie class was one of the strongest. Especially when you consider that the two top rookies in the AL at the beginning of the season aren't here either. (Matt Wieters, David Price). This whole group should be interesting to watch for years to come. 

Links for 11/10/09

• The San Jose Giants were named Minor League Baseball's franchise of the year. I've been to a couple of their games, and they do a very good job trying to get people to the games, and they were always fun in my opinion.
• Khoi Vinh has an interesting read about the correlation between revenue, payroll, and success in the Majors. 
• R.J. Anderson over at FanGraphs has a new article about the discrepancies involved with the Elias Free Agent Rankings. It's a valid point.
• Johanna Wagner over at Love My Team has an article about the case against collusion since 2002. 
• An older article, David Sabino of SI.com ranked each team's performance in the draft over the last 10 years (prior to the most recent draft).
  

Trade Review - CHW/KCR

Chicago White Sox trade 2B Chris Getz and 3B Josh Fields to the Kansas City Royals for 3B/OF Mark Teahen.
Source: ESPN.com


To be honest, I hadn't really followed what Mark Teahen has been doing in Kansas City. My most common recollection of him is the fact that he was a part of the Carlos Beltran trade a few years ago, and that the Royals kept moving him all over the field, playing 2B, 3B, 1B, and OF during his time there. That said, he appears to have at least been a serviceable player at many of those positions, with a fair bat. For the White Sox, he's going to be playing 3B, and shifting Gordon Beckham from 3B to 2B. When I first heard this trade, I assumed (wrongly it turns out) that Teahen would be playing right field, replacing the newly free-agent Jermaine Dye.

The Royals get two very serviceable players in Getz and Fields. Getz stole 25 bases last year in 107 games, and playing a solid 2B. Fields, who seemed to be in the doghouse constantly for the White Sox, hit 23 homers as a rookie in 2006, and hasn't really seen consistent playing time since.

I really think that the Royals did well on this trade, as they sent a player who is one year from free agency, and in return got 2 young players that are under team control for much longer than that.


Some other analysis about this trade:


MLBTradeRumors' coverage
ESPNChicago's Jon Greenberg thinks the White Sox are just shuffling the deck.

Links for 11/9/09

Some links for today...

• Mike Silva at New York Baseball Digest breaks down his top 50 prospects in the Yankees system.
• Ken Davidoff at Newsday.com has a new article about his top 10 General Manager rankings. 
• Ryan Campbell at Love My Team has a good explanation of how free agency works. 
• Joe Posnanski has a great (and self-admittedly long) post about some of the best eligible hitters not yet in the Hall of Fame. Joe has a Hall of Fame vote, so I think it gives a little perspective into his next vote.
  

Some Other Moves from Last Week

Now that the World Series is over, we will start seeing a flurry of transactions in the coming days. Last week was no exception. I've already discussed the J.J. Hardy-Carlos Gomez trade, but wanted to make mention of some of the other moves completed last week.

- Philadelphia exercised Cliff Lee's 2010 option. No surprise here. Cliff pitched amazingly down the stretch for the Phillies. Now they need to start working on a contract extension and keep him there even longer.
- Manny Ramirez will return to the Dodgers on his exercised option. Also not a huge surprise to me here. Manny likes it in Los Angeles, and probably knew that he would never get $20 million on the open market this season.
- Brandon Webb had his 2010 option exercised as well. Based on how much the buyout was ($2 M), it wasn't a huge surprise that it was picked up. Well worth the risk in my opinion.
- Jermaine Dye had his option for 2010 bought out, and became a free agent. He'll catch on somewhere, as he is still a productive outfielder. Just not at the price of his 2010 option.

Trade Review - MIL/MIN

Milwaukee trades J.J. Hardy to Minnesota for Carlos Gomez
Source: ESPN.com

When I first heard this trade, I really liked it for both teams. Hardy fills an immediate need for the Twins at SS, and only takes away from a position of strength. For the Twins, they are able to shift Denard Span permanently to CF, and have either Michael Cuddyer or Jason Kubel go to RF. For the Brewers, this allows them to let Mike Cameron leave via free-agency, and take that savings to help improve the team in other areas. This definitely signals the start of the Alcides Escobar era in Milwaukee, as he will likely be handed the starting SS job.

Overall, I like this trade a lot. One of those trades that makes too much sense.

Some other opinions and information:

Beyond the Box Score takes a look at the impact of this trade on the defense of the Twins next season.
They also take a look at the value provided to each team by each player.

Congrats

Congrats to the New York Yankees on winning another world Championship.

Time for everyone else to start making themselves better to catch them.

Weekly Links

Once a week, I will be posting articles and links that I found interesting related to baseball.

- Baseball America has begun posting its organizational top 10 prospects.  They started with Atlanta. For more in-depth information, you'll need to subscribe. It does give some good basic info though.
- One of the Philadelphia papers made a mistake. Not a particularly good one either. After losing both games at home, I'd probably be pretty upset too.
- Jorge Says No! is starting a series of columns reviewing some of the worst contracts in baseball, beginning with Jake Westbrook. Interesting read, and I'm looking forward to the future columns as well.
-Yawkey Way Academy looks at what it would take for the Red Sox to acquire Javy Vasquez from the Braves. I love these "what-if" articles. Always fun to play the GM. (Thanks to OvertheMonster for the link)
- Vicente Padilla apparently has a small problem. But he's going to be fine, and apparently there's interest from the Dodgers in him returning next season.


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World Series Thoughts

Been a bit busy, and didn't get to catch anything but the highlights for Game 5...

• Chase Utley is hopefully becoming a household name. He's played extremely well, and if the Phillies do manage to come back and win this Series, he's a lock for MVP.
• Game 6's matchup, when I first heard it, made me initially think Red Sox-Yankees. Guess Pedro really was known for that, even more than I thought previously.
• I would love to see the Phillies win tonight, and force a game 7 tomorrow. I love seeing games where they will throw anyone and everyone out there if need be.
• It has been a much better and more interesting World Series than I thought it would be initially. As much as it annoys me that the Yankees may very well have purchased this title, the players on the field still have to execute.
  

My Award Winners for 2009

AL MVP - Joe Mauer (C - MIN)

 Joe Mauer didn't play in 24 games (almost a month worth), and still did this:

• led the majors in batting average (.365)
• led the majors in on-base percentage (.444)
• led the AL in slugging (.587)
• finished second in the majors in OPS (1.031), behind Albert Pujols
• hit 28 homers, drove in 96 runs, and had 191 hits
• pieced together a pitching staff decimated by injuries and inconsistency
• helped lead his team to a division title

No way Minnesota gets where they did without him.

AL Cy Young - Zack Greinke (SP - KC)

Yes, he pitched for a bad team. But the award isn't given to the best pitcher on a good team.
Zack Greinke:

• led the majors in ERA (2.16)
• led the AL in WHIP (1.07)
• second in the AL in strikeouts (242)
• Tied for third in the AL in wins (16)
• second in the AL in complete games (6) and shutouts (3)
• has 26 quality starts (out of 33)
  
• could have had more wins potentially - in his 8 losses he got 15 runs of support, including being on the losing end of a 1-0 and a 2-0 loss.

A truly dominant pitcher throughout the year, in spite of his team's struggles.


AL Rookie of the Year - Andrew Bailey (RP - OAK)
Andrew was an afterthought in the A's bullpen at the start of this year, and came out with some very dominant numbers. He took over the closer role early on in the season, and never gave it up.

• 1.84 ERA
• 26 saves
• 91 strikeouts in 83 innings

Yes, I'm biased towards the A's. But I don't think that Gordon Beckham coming up until June gives him a better shot at this award.

NL MVP - Albert Pujols (1B - STL)

Do I need to even explain this one?

• 1st in NL in OBP (.443)
• 1st in Majors in Slugging Percentage (.658)
• 1st in Majors in OPS (1.101)
• 1st in Majors in Runs (124)
• 1st in Majors in Total Bases (374)
• 1st in Majors in Homers (47)
• 2nd in Majors in RBI (135)

And he led his team to the playoffs. Without any particular backing in the lineup until the arrival of Matt Holliday. We're all going to look back in 20 years and marvel at how much better Albert Pujols was than every other player in this generation.

NL Cy Young - Tim Lincecum (SP - SF)

I actually saw Lincecum pitch against Philadelphia on August 1st. He was dominant that night, striking out 8 and scattering 7 hits in a 2-0 win.

• Led the majors in strikeouts (261)
• 3rd in the majors in ERA (2.48)
  
• 4th in the majors in WHIP (1.05)
• 1st in NL in Complete Games (4) and Shutouts (2)
• 23 quality starts (out of 32)
  
• Got a no-decision or a loss in 10 of those quality starts

He appears to me that in spite of his team, he pitched ridiculously well.

NL Rookie of the Year - Andrew McCutchen (OF - PIT)
When I first started writing this, I had Chris Coghlan down as my rookie of the year. But after looking at McCutchen's stats, I was surprised at how much better they appeared than Coghlan's.

• 12 homers (Coghlan 9)
• 22 steals (Coghlan 8)
• 54 rbi (Coghlan 47)

And those are with a month less. (Coghlan was called up early in May, McCutchen in June). Coghlan definitely outhit McCutchen overall (Coghlan - .321, McCutchen - .286). It's very close, and I think that McCutchen had a slightly better rookie season. But honestly, either choice would be a good one.

Games 3 and 4 Thoughts

I didn't get a chance to watch either of Games 3 or 4 with a busy weekend, but from the highlights and recaps, a few things stood out to me.

• The Phillies held their ace for Game 5, and there's a chance it may have really cost them. Blanton pitched well, but they really needed to win Game 4, and would have been able to figure it out from there.
• I can't recall ever seeing anyone steal 2 bases on the same pitch like that, but it definitely caught the Phillies sleeping.
• Ryan Howard has really not hit very well, and it seems to be showing.
• Alex Rodriguez is hitting really, really well. Crud.

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