Charlie’s News At Five: 25th June 2013
Charlie takes a look at five of the hottest stories currently in baseball. This week, an expected contender comes to life, an unexpected contender moves into contention, an elite team struggles, a noted slugger retires and the city of San Diego takes legal action against MLB.
1. The Toronto Blue Jays Take Flight
Earlier in the season I highlighted the Toronto Blue Jays slow start. Since then, I have made a few comments, stating that I had my doubts that they could contend. Well, Blue Jays fans, I apologise I was very wrong.
Toronto has won eleven games in a row. One major factor of this win streak has been an improved offense. The last time I covered the birds, their offense had not yet hit top gear. It’s safe to say they have found that gear. The Blue Jays are now 15th in MLB in team batting average, 10th in .OPS, and 8th in runs scored. When I last looked at them they were close to bottom in baseball, in all of those stats. Leadoff hitter and offensive spark, Jose Reyes will also be returning from the DL in the next few days.
The birds starting pitching, ranks 27th in MLB in cumulative ERA. This may sound lowly, but is actually a huge improvement; just 2-3 weeks ago they were last in that statistic. Impressive considering, Kyle Drabek, J.A. Happ and Ramon Ortiz are all on the DL. Replacement starting pitchers such as Esmil Rogers and Chien-Ming Wang have done a great job so far.
Toronto’s bullpen has been the one constant elite part of the team so far. They currently rank fourth in cumulative bullpen ERA in MLB.
2. The Padres Resurrected
On April 23rd the San Diego Padres held a record of 5-15. Fast forward to today, they find themselves serious NL West contenders with a record of 38-38.
Offensively, the Padres have had a reputation of generally being a small ball team. This is partly due to their home baseball park, PETCO Park being very pitcher friendly.
Carlos Quentin, Jedd Gyorko and Everth Cabrera have been the biggest contributors for the friars; they all currently boast OPS’ of .801 or more. San Diego as a team ranks 15th in MLB in home runs, somewhat dispelling the myths of them being a “light hitting team”. Also due to suspensions and injuries, the Padres have not been able to play their full strength line up at all this season.
Traditionally, the friars main strength has come from starting pitching. This season they cumulatively rank 25th in MLB for cumulative ERA. The rotation has been very injury hit with, Casey Kelly, Clayton Richard, Corey Luebke and Joseph Weiland all currently on the disabled list.
The Padres bullpen has performed well this year, so far compiling an ERA that’s good for 11th in MLB.
It may seem strange that the friars have resurrected themselves, despite not ranking highly in any team offensive or pitching statistics. For the Padres, much like 2010, it’s been a case of timely hitting and great chemistry.
3. The Nationals Woes
Prior to the 2013 MLB season, the Washington Nationals were the one team which most analysts thought would dominate the national league. Currently their record stands at 37-38.
The Nationals starting rotation has not hit its potential. Dan Haren has struggled mightily. Ross Detwiler started the season hot, but he has struggled in recent weeks. The starters have still done a good job overall, as evidenced by ranking 7th in cumulative MLB ERA.
The bullpen featuring, closer Rafael Soriano, as well as fellow elite relievers Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard has also done its part. Washington’s relievers have combined to post a 3.47 cumulative ERA so far.
The Nationals offense has not performed as well as expected. They rank a lowly 29th in MLB in team OPS. Bryce Harper has, at times kept the offense afloat on his own, but he is currently on the disabled list. The only other hitter in the Nats. Line up batting over .280 is Ian Desmond.
I believe the Nationals offense is too good to stay asleep for the whole season. A crucial question for Washington’s fans will be, when will it wake up?
4. Happy Retirement Carlos Lee
On Thursday 27th June, Carlos Lee announced his retirement from Major League Baseball, which also happened to be his 37th birthday.
Lee broke into MLB in 1999 with the Chicago White Sox, before going on to play for the Brewers, Rangers, Astros and Marlins.
For his career, Carlos batted .285, put up an obp of .339 and a slugging percentage of .483 for a total OPS of .821.
Lee slugged 358 home runs, drove in 1,364 RBIs and stole 125 bases, over his fourteen year career. Carlos also had five straight 30 home run seasons.
Lee was a member of three all-star teams from 2005 – 2007. Carlos also won two silver slugger awards in 2005 – 2007.
According to baseball-reference, Lee was worth 28.4 wins above his replacement for his career.
I would like to wish Carlos Lee a happy retirement and all the best for the future.
5. The City of San Jose To Sue Major League Baseball
On Tuesday 18th June, it was announced that the city of San Jose, were going to sue Major League Baseball, thus also challenging MLB’s antitrust exemption. Antitrust laws, are state and federal business laws, designed to create a fair and competitive environment, to help consumers. For MLB, it means, MLB can control where teams move to and from if they wish to move to somewhere that is not within their territorial rights.
The whole issue stems from the Athletics desire to move to San Jose. My colleague Max Whittle highlighted last week in his MLB podcast for this very site, Oakland play in a dilapidated stadium, which has for a while had problems, such as sewage leaks.
Oakland originally held territorial rights to San Jose. The A’s gave those rights to the Giants in the early 1990’s, to keep the Giants in the bay area when they were on the verge of moving to Tampa.
Since 2009, Commissioner Bud Selig, has had a committee doing research into the viability of the A’s moving to San Jose. The committee has so far made zero recommendations.
San Jose is stating that the lawsuit is based on lost revenues, which a new baseball stadium would have brought to the city. The key figure being, $130million of extra spending per year, which a new stadium would have generated.
