The two big targets so far this offseason are former Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim John Lackey (11-8, 3.83 ERA last year) and current Toronto Blue Jay Roy Halladay.

John Lackey is considered the top pitching free agent this year.  While he likely won’t command anything near C.C. Sabathia’s contract from the Yankees last offseason, he’s no slouch either and he’s likely on multiple radars.

Roy Halladay is still a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, but after a deluge of trade rumors hit around the Trade Deadline last season, the fact that Halladay may waive his no-trade clause for the right $ or team has a few team interested.

The annual Winter Meetings for the GMs starts this Monday in Indy.  Expect the free agent market and trade rumors to pick up then.

On a more personal note, the Braves have revamped their bullpen, bringing in Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito.  Wagner has the opportunity to be the first Braves closer to comfort fans since Smoltz went back to the starting rotation.  Rafael Soriano, who spent a large part of last year in that role is still considering his arbitration offer.  If he accepts, the Braves (excepting injuries and someone forgetting how to pitch) will have a truly solid bullpen for the first time in awhile.

As the offseason starts to get busy, there’s plenty of other sports to follow.  The NBA, NHL, and NCAA basketball season are underway.  The Bowl games for College football are soon to be decided.  And the University of Akron Zips Men’s Soccer team won again today to advance to the Semifinals in the College Cup.

P.S.  For those of you that can’t wait for baseball, the Atlanta Braves official website says there are only 75 days until pitchers and catcher report. 

But then again, the Yankees have now won the World Series 27 times, so it’s not really news.

Ok, that was a little unfair.  After all, isn’t part of the reason so many people hate the Yankees is because they’ve won more World Series than any other team?  In fact, the franchise with the most wins not named Yankees is the St. Louis Cardinals and they only have 10.

But this post isn’t really about the Yankees, it’s about the Free Agent market this offseason. 

Last year, the market was really interesting.  Some big name free agents signed massive contracts rather quickly.  But most free agents watched the fitful economy make teams bide their time and agonize much more over each dollar they offered.

Both sports and news analysts commented on the recession/depression lowering the amount of money that teams were going to spend on the Free Agent market.  With the U.S. economy supposed on the mend, could this year’s Free Agent market be a sign of better financial times to come?

While less than impressive, the sound of the aluminum bat is not the real reason for my dislike of the aluminum bat.

Aluminum bats can reinforce bad mechanics in a swing.  This is because when you hit the ball off the end of the bat or get jammed, you can still hit the ball pretty far.  You don’t have to worry about hitting the ball with the sweet spot.

I’m not proposing that we stop using aluminum bats.  For younger kids they’re great.  They’re lighter and you don’t have to replace them as often. 

But by the time kids get to middle school, they should only use wooden bats.  That when they’ll have enough experience to know what they’re doing, but still be young enough to not be totally set in their ways.  Plus they’ll have enough time to get used to wooden bats and fix their swing before high school and college.

In the 14 years that the Wild Card has been in place, the team that lost the World Series has won a mere 18 games, or 1.29 games per series.  There have been 5 World Series sweeps in those 14 years, or 35% of the series.  Additionally, only 3 of the World Series have gone the full 7 games, or 21% of the series.

On the other hand, in the 14 years leading up to the Wild Card era, the team that lost the World Series has won 26 games, or 1.86 games per series.  Over those 14 years there have been only 2 sweeps, or 14%, and 5 went the full 7 games, 35%.

So it’s up to you to decide if it’s significant or merely a minor variation that will diminish as the Wild Card era continues?  Personally, I don’t know if I’m ready to say that it’s had that much of an effect, but I do know the only time I want to see a sweep in the World Series is when my Braves are sweeping someone (which hasn’t happened since they were in Boston in 1914).

Again, here’s a summary:

Wild Card Era: Losing Team 1.29 wins/series, swept 35% of the time, won three games 21% of the time

Previous 14 years: Losing Team 1.86 wins/series, swept 14% of the time, won three games 35% of the time

The Dodgers are the only team of the four left that has yet to win a World Series title this decade.  The Phillies won last year (2008), the Angels won in 2002, and the Yankees back in 2000.

Additionally, there has only been one team this decade (the Boston Red Sox) who has won more than 1 World Series (2004 & 2007).  It seems as though the Dodgers would be heavily favored by recent history.

The Dodgers do have a tough road through the Philadelphia Phillies, but it should be a better series than last year.  I feel as though the young stars have matured greatly this season, plus Rafael Furcal is healthy.  I’m looking forward to it.

Of course, also being an Atlanta Braves fan, I want the Furcal (and the Dodgers) to beat the crap out of those Phillies.

The Phillies and the Dodgers will meet this Thursday in Los Angeles.  In a rematch of last year’s NLCS, the Dodgers will hope to redeem themselves.  The Dodgers won the season series 4-3, so it should be a good series.

The Angels and the Yankees will face off on Friday in New York.  Both teams have exorcised the ghosts of last year, when the Angels were swept in the ALDS by the Red Sox and the Yankees didn’t even make the postseason.  The teams split the season series 5-5, so it looks like both Championship Series will be good matchups.

One further story to watch, the Angels and Dodgers have never meet in a World Series.  And so you could have an all-Los Angeles series…providing that you agree that Anaheim and Orange County are part of L.A…like the owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim does.

You hear it all the time.  Or at least people who watch or listen to baseball games hear it all the time.  Well tonight, as the playoffs got underway, the Phillies used a premier pitching performance to try to repeat as World Series Champs.

The first game of the MLB playoffs was played between the Colorado Rockies and the Philadelphia Phillies.  Cliff Lee, who came to the Phillies in a deal just before the July 31st trade deadline, pitched a complete game masterpiece.

Over the nine innings, Lee only gave up six hits and didn’t walk a batter.  The one run he did give up was in the ninth with two outs, after the Phillies already had a comfortable five run lead.  Not content to only pitch nine innings of 1-run ball, Lee also stole a base, becoming the first Phillies pitcher to do so in the postseason.

Two other Division Series started today.  Right now (9:16 EDT) the Yankees have what seems to be a comfortable 7-2 lead over the Twins in the eighth, who are likely still recovering from last night’s 12 inning affair.

Later tonight, two of baseball’s best hitters will square off as Albert Pujols and the Cardinals take on Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The final matchup gets underway tomorrow as the Boston Red Sox travel to Los Angeles to take on the Angels

* denotes Division Winner

^ denotes Wild Card Winner

American League East

1. *New York Yankees (103-59)
2. ^Boston Red Sox (95-67)
3. Tampa Bay Rays (84-78)
4. Toronto Blue Jays (75-87)
5. Baltimore Orioles (64-98)

American League Central

1. *Minnesota Twins (87-76)
2. Detriot Tigers (86-77)
3. Chicago White Sox (79-83)
4. Cleveland Indians (65-97)
5. Kansas City Royals (65-97)

American League West

1. *Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (97-65)
2. Texas Rangers (87-75)
3. Seattle Mariners (85-77)
4. Oakland Athletics (75-87)

National League East

1. *Philadelphia Phillies (93-69)
2. Florida Marlins (87-75)
3. Atlanta Braves (86-76)
4. New York Mets (70-92)
5. Washington Nationals (59-103) E

National League Central

1. *St. Louis Cardinals (91-71)
2. Chicago Cubs (83-78)
3. Milwaukee Brewers (80-82)
4. Cincinnati Reds (78-84)
5. Houston Astros (74-88) 
6. Pittsburgh Pirates (62-99)

National League West

1. *Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67)
2. ^Colorado Rockies (92-70)
3. San Francisco Giants (88-74)
4. San Diego Padres (75-87)
5. Arizona Diamondbacks (70-92)

(more…)

Over the past seven months, I’ve made my case against the Designated Hitter.  I’ve used emotional arguments, statistical arguments, and historical arguments.  These have not been an exhaustive list, and if I wanted to invest the time, I could continue railing (?) against the DH much longer.  But I feel like if I’m able to convince you, I have already.  Perhaps awhile down the road I’ll feel the need to continue arguing against the DH.

I’ve done enough for now though.  I now leave it up to you, my readers.  Do you like the Designated Hitter Rule?  Do you have your own reasons to dislike it?  Perhaps you agree with everything I’ve said.  Let me know.  Let others know.

The argument over the Designated Hitter is a great one, and one that is not likely to be resolved soon.  How would you solve it?

I know how I would solve it.  I’d get rid of it effective next season.  What other options would I be ok with.  Get rid of it in up to 5 years.

Teams that have an “E” instead of a number of games back have been mathematically eliminated from the division. 

* denotes Division Winner

American League East

1. *New York Yankees (101-56) 0 GB
2. Boston Red Sox (91-65) E
3. Tampa Bay Rays (80-76) E
4. Toronto Blue Jays (73-84) E
5. Baltimore Orioles (60-96) E

American League Central

1. Detroit Tigers (83-73) 0 GB
2. Minnesota Twins (82-74) 1 GB
3. Chicago White Sox (76-81) E
4. Cleveland Indians (64-92) E
5. Kansas City Royals (64-93) E 

American League West

1. *Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (92-64) 0 GB
2. Texas Rangers (85-71) E
3. Seattle Mariners (80-76) E
4. Oakland Athletics (75-81) E

American League Wild Card

1. Boston Red Sox (91-65) 0 GB
2. Texas Rangers (85-71) 6 GB

National League East

1. Philadelphia Phillies (90-66) 0 GB
2. Atlanta Braves (86-70) 4 GB
3. Florida Marlins (83-74) E
4. New York Mets (67-90) E
5. Washington Nationals (53-103) E

National League Central

1. *St. Louis Cardinals (90-66) 0 GB
2. Chicago Cubs (81-74) E
3. Milwaukee Brewers (77-79) E
4. Cincinnati Reds (74-82) E
5. Houston Astros (73-83) E 
6. Pittsburgh Pirates (59-96) E

National League West

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (93-64) 0 GB
2. Colorado Rockies (88-68) 4.5 GB
3. San Francisco Giants (83-73) E
4. San Diego Padres (72-85) E
5. Arizona Diamondbacks (68-88) E

National League Wild Card

1. Colorado Rockies (88-68) 0 GB
2. Atlanta Braves (86-70) 2 GB
3. San Francisco Giants (83-73) 5 GB 
4. Florida Marlins (83-74) 5.5 GB
5. Chicago Cubs (81-74) 6.5 GB

(more…)