Telling It All Podcast - MLB Trade Deadline, Russell Westbrook, The Night Of, Mr. Robot, Jason Bourne, Nerve

Topics Include: Trades By The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers/American League Pennant Favorites (1:20). Trades By The New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals/National League Pennant Favorites (6:40). Russell Westbrook's Contract Extension (9:30). The Night Of/American Criminal Justice System (16:10). Mr. Robot's Second Season Struggles (24:15). "Oh my God... It's Jason Bourne" (28:35). Rory's Trip To Watch Nerve (31:45).

SoundCloud Podcast Homepage: https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports

New York Mets - Texas Rangers July 5th Scouting Report

My brother Rory is going to a Mets game for the first time since the team was still playing at the old Shea Stadium when the Mets and Rangers play tonight at Citi Field (the same Citigroup that has had major economic problems over the past decade invested money in the Mets in purchasing the stadium's naming rights, so it is safe pretty safe to assume that nobody from that financial service has actually watched the team play on the field). Why my brother, who is a big time Yankees fan, is going to the game is a very good question. Although Met fans have not felt anywhere near the amount of misery that Cub supporters have grown accustomed to over the past few decades, the Mets are pretty much the biggest joke in New York since Spider-Man decided to come to Broadway.

The Miracle Mets have not won a World Series in 27 years (soon to be 28) since they were down in the series to the Red Sox 3-2 in 1986 and were down to their final out trailing by 2 runs in game 6 when a combination of Calvin Schiraldi, Bob Stanley, and of course Bill Buckner ruined everything for the Sox (I wasn't even alive and I'm still upset). In recent times, the Amazin's have not played in the postseason since back in 2006 (only the Marlins have a longer current playoff drought in the NL), they were up by 7 games on the Phillies in the NL East on September 12th and finished the 2007 season losing 12 of the last 17 games to lose the division in one of the worst collapses in sports history (the 2011 Red Sox and Braves know how the Mets feel), and they have won somewhere from 70 to 79 games each of the last 5 seasons.

Also, any free agent that the Mets sign or any player on their own team that they re-sign or extend seems to lose any ability to play baseball like the Monstars from Space Jam stole their powers. How about when the Mets signed Luis Castillo to a 4-year, 25 million dollar contract in 2007, who would then proceed to hit .245 in 2008 and then .235 in 2010 and miss 152 games over those two seasons. In 2009, the Metropolitans got Oliver Perez to agree to a 3-year, 36 million dollar deal and after that contract he went on to have a 6.83 ERA in 2009 and a .680 ERA in 2010. They signed Jason Bay in 2010 to a 4-year, 66 million dollar contract and after hitting 36 home runs and 119 RBI's with the Red Sox in 2009 and feasting on pulling balls off the monster in left, he was hitting .165 with the Mets in 2012 and looking more clueless than Benji in The Sound and the Fury at the plate. Not to mention Bobby Bonilla, who the Mets bought out in 1999 but are still paying because they offered him a deferred payment of 1.19 million dollars every year from 2011 until 2035 instead of giving him the 5.9 million dollars he was owed right away (a contract that makes the Joe Johnson deal not look so bad when you think about the fact that Bobby Bonilla will be getting more from the Mets than Josh Donaldson will be receiving from the A's or Jose Fernandez will be getting from the Marlins this season).

Although the Mets are currently sitting at 38-48 and are 10 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, most people could have expected that since they are, after all, the Mets and especially since they lost Matt Harvey to Tommy John Surgery before the season and decided to sign Chris Young and Curtis Granderson, but the Texas Rangers have surprisingly been just as bad. The Rangers, who joined the 1952 and 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, the 1963 and 1964 New York Yankees, 1977 and 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers, and the 1991 and 1992 Atlanta Braves in 2010 and 2011 as the only teams in the last 75 years to lose in back-to-back World Series, are a dismal 37-49 and have fallen 16 games behind the Oakland "We Just Got Jeff Samardzija and are going for the World Series" A's in the very difficult AL West. The Rangers are more than likely going to miss the postseason for the first time since 2009 and they are on pace to have their fewest wins in a full MLB season since they went just 63-99 all the way back in 1985 when the Milwaukee Brewers were still in the American League and the Montrael Expos were still in baseball at all.

The answer to my question from earlier on of why my brother is going to a Mets-Rangers game is still a mystery to me, but major league baseball is still major league baseball even without the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Jose Abreu, or any semblance of an all-star player on the field. However, like all people do for their brothers when they are going to a baseball game, I am making him a scouting report for the inter-league contest so that he can keep it in his pocket and have it at all times during the game (interestingly, the Mets and Rangers have only played 10 times in their histories coming into this game with all of the match-ups coming since 2003).

New York Mets Scouting Report For Their July 5th Game Against The Texas Rangers:

SP Bartolo Colon (8-6, 3.88 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.163 WHIP): The Mets signed the 41-year old Bartolo Colon (or so he says he is 41, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is actually like 51) in the off-season to a 2-year, 20 million dollar contract after he somehow went 18-6 with a 2.65 ERA with the A's in 2013 and finished in the top 6 of the Cy Young for the first time since he won the award back in 2005 with the Angels (one of the weaker AL Cy Young seasons when you think about the fact that Cliff Lee finished 4th in the voting despite having a 3.79 ERA, which he has not come close to reaching in any of the last 6 seasons). Colon is on his 9th MLB team, which is also the number of times he has probably juiced because he is the most obvious steroid user since Jose Canseco. Despite the fact that Colon is so old and is likely still taking steroids despite his suspension in 2012, he could still be a target for some teams looking to get into the playoffs or make a run in the postseason like the Cleveland Indians, who he began his career with all the way back in the gilded age from 1997 to 2002, or even the crosstown rival Yankees, who need some more pitching since C.C. Sabathia is out for the whole season and they would like to get some wins from somebody other than just Tanaka. Nonetheless, in the present, aside from Jonathon Niese, Colon has been the best pitcher for the Mets in his 16 starts, as he stays in the strike-zone and does not give away any free bases like a A.J. Burnett or a Shelby Miller (his 1.27 bases on balls per 9 innings pitched is only behind Phil Hughes of the Twins and David Price of the Rays in the MLB and his 5.27 strikeout to base on balls ratio is the 4th best mark in the National League). Colon relies a lot on his two-seam fastball and for what he doesn't have in velocity, he can sometimes make up for in his above average ability to locate his main pitch, especially down in the zone. In 7 of his last 8 starts, Colon has allowed 2 earned runs or less for the Mets.

If you think of the word terrible, or any synonym of the word terrible like atrocious, horrendous, dreadful, or awful, that word pretty much applies to the Mets offense this season. Through their first 86 games, only the Reds, Astros, Cubs, and Padres have had fewer hits than the Mets (they are averaging just 8 hits per game), just the Cubs, Astros, and Padres have a worst batting average than the club, only the Padres and Cardinals in the National League have hit fewer home runs than the Metropolitans, and the White Sox, Astros, and Marlins are the only teams that strikeout more than the team. The Mets are also second to last in the MLB in total bases and slugging percentage only ahead of the miserable Padres in both categories and are 26th in the MLB in extra base hits with only 221 all season long.

Batting Order:

LF Curtis Granderson (12 HR, 39 RBI's, .233 BA, .347 OBP, .413 SLG, .760 OPS): When the Mets signed the 33-year old Curtis Granderson to a 4-year, 60 million dollar contract this offseason, they did not envision him striking out every time he goes to the plate. Granderson's strikeout percentage of 23.4 is the 14th worst amongst major league outfielders and his 81 strikeouts are the 9th most amongst those same outfielders in the majors. The Curtis Granderson who hit .302, stole 26 bases, and used his ability to get on base and cause havoc with his leg, like he did in 2007 with the Detroit Tigers, is gone and has been replaced with a Granderson that looks impatient at the plate and is always looking for the long ball with his upper cut swing. Curtis has a fly ball percentage of 46.4, which is the 3rd highest in the National League, and is one of the reasons why he is struggling so badly at the plate because he is trying to hit home runs in a pitcher friendly ballpark like Citi Field. He has been unable to find the confidence that typically comes when you get on-base with a couple of hits up the middle or in between the holes in the infield. However, Granderson does have a .401 on-base percentage since May 18th and he has looked better since Terry Collins moved him up to the lead-off role and made it more so about him getting on base than anything else.

2B Daniel Murphy (7 HR, 34 RBI's, .296 BA, .347 OBP, .416 SLG, .763 OPS): A fun fact to tell your friends is that Daniel Murphy is shockingly tied with Andrew McCutchen and Jonathan Lucroy in hits and only behind Casey McGehee in the category in terms of National league hitters. Murphy is like a poor men's version of Matt Carpenter or a Mets version of a better player that another team has in their lineup, but he has been a very consistent table setter for the team at the top of the lineup. Murphy is on pace for just under 200 hits for the season with the Mets (Lance Johnson in 1996 and Jose Reyes in 2008 are the only two Met batters to ever have at least 200 hits in a season, which shows you just how sad of a franchise the Mets really are because the feat has been done more than 520 times in MLB history including 42 times by players on the Tigers and 10 consecutive times by Ichiro on his own from 2001 to 2010 but just twice by Mets hitters).

3B David Wright (6 HR, 41 RBI's, .277 BA, .333 OBP, .396 SLG, .729 OPS): David Wright is back in the Mets lineup for the first time since June 26th after missing more than a week of games with a bruised left rotator cuff in his shoulder. Wright seemed to be heating up before his injury, as he was batting .385 with 2 home runs and 8 RBI's in the last 10 games he played in prior to being sidelined. Although I think giving Wright a 7-year, 138 million dollar deal in 2012 was a mistake and done more so for the service he has given them for so many years, which Jurgen Klinsmann calls the "Kobe Contact", he has been the one consistent bat in the Mets lineup for years, especially since he is such a good fastball hitter.

RF Bobby Abreu (1 HR, 13 RBI's, .276 BA, .360 OBP, .398 SLG, .758 OPS): Although Rory will have to sit and watch the 40-year old Bobby Abreu play in right field and move as slow as a sloth in the outfield, it is probably better than having Eric Young Jr. or Chris Young playing out there, especially since Chris Young is hitting below the Mendoza Line at .199, has a -0.6 defensive WAR, and is getting paid 7.25 million dollars to be on pace for career lows in almost every offensive and defensive statistical category (yikes). Abreu was a very good hitter in this league for a long time like when he hit 30 home runs, had 105 RBI's, and batted .301 in 2005 with the Phillies or when he had a .405 on-base percentage in the postseason for the Angels in 2009, but my brother will have to rely on those memories because Abreu is way past his prime and his bat speed and control is nowhere near what it once was with the Phillies, Yankees, or Angels.

1B Lucas Duda (13 HR, 43 RBI's, .250 BA, .345 OBP, .472 SLG, .817 OPS): Lucas Duda has been an improvement over Ike Davis at first basemen for the Mets, who got traded away to the Pirates for Zack Thornton and minor league pitcher Blake Taylor, which isn't saying much since Davis didn't even make it seem like Granderson swung and missed too much. Duda, though, leads the Mets in home runs and has been more than serviceable for a team that has very few productive hitters.

CF Juan Lagares (2 HR, 18 RBI's, .294 BA, .332 OBP, .411 SLG, .743 OPS)

C Travis d'Arnaud (4 HR, 15 RBI's, .205 BA, .289 OBP, .317 SLG, .606 OPS): When the Mets traded R.A. Dickey, Josh Thole, and Mike Nickeas to the Blue Jays for John Buck, Wuilmer Becerra, the hard throwing Noah Syndergaard, and the highly rated Travis d'Arnaud, people were so excited to have d'Arnaud as their catcher of the future and for him to follow in the footsteps of guys like Mike Piazza, Gary Carter, Jerry Grote, Todd Hundley, and John Stearns (somehow a majority of the best players the Mets have had outside of Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden have all been catchers). However, they forgot that d'Arnaud actually can not hit a baseball if his life depended on it and has very limited power in his bat.

SS Ruben Tejada (2 HR, 17 RBI's, .234 BA, .345 OBP, .294 SLG, .639 OPS)

Texas Rangers Scouting Report For Their July 5th Game Against The New York Mets:

SP Colby Lewis (5-5, 5.71 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 1.74 WHIP): There is a reason why the Texas Rangers have the second worst team ERA in all of baseball at 4.64 despite having Yu Darvish, who is 8-4 with a 2.63 ERA and an American League leading 11.031 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched, and it is because of the very poor pitching of guys like Nick Martinez, Robbie Ross, Martin Perez, Joe Saunders, and especially tonight's starter, Colby Lewis (the Rangers 3.62 ERA in 2013 was amongst the top 4 in the American League). Lewis, who missed the entire 2013 season after getting elbow surgery and then having problems with his right hip, has not looked like the Lewis of old, a guy that won 14 games in 2011 and had a 3.43 ERA and a 1.076 WHIP in 2012. Colby has lost some velocity on his fastball, which he is throwing more so this season than ever before, and the pitch has been getting hit hard all season long along with his cutter. Batters are making contact with his pitches 91.5 percent of the time when they are in the strike zone and they are swinging and even when he does throw his fastball or slider outside of the zone, batters are still making contact with it 73.7 percent of the time when they swing the bat, which is a rate that is much too high.

Batting Order:

LF Shin-Soo Choo (9 HR, 31 RBI's, .254 BA, .378 OPB, .401 SLG, .778 OPS): Shin-Soo Choo has struggled a little bit at the plate in his first year with the Rangers after signing a 7-year, 130 million dollar contract in the off-season with the club. Choo is batting just .249 against right handed pitchers like Colon and has not always seemed comfortable in Arlington, especially when he gets down in the count because when the pitcher is ahead of Choo, he is hitting a dismal .163 with a poor .235 slugging percentage in those situations. However, Choo is still doing the best he can to get on-base at his normally very high rate, as his on-base percentage of .378 is not terrible for a guy that is hitting .254 overall because he is 6th in the American League with 48 walks.

SS Elvis Andrus (2 HR, 19 RBI's, .272 BA, .320 OBP, .347 SLG, .668 OPS)

RF Alex Rios (3 HR, 36 RBI's, .300 BA, .330 OBP, .425 SLG, .756 OPS): Although Alex Rios has lost a lot of the power he used to have, like when he hit 25 homers in 2012 with the White Sox, had a .516 slugging percentage, and added 312 total bases, he is a very solid contact hitter for the Rangers in the middle of their lineup. Rios also does not have the same bat speed he once did when he was with the Blue Jays or White Sox, but he still has underrated hands and is a good hitter when dealing with breaking ball pitches.

3B Adrian Beltre (10 HR, 45 RBI's, .336 BA, .383 OBP, .515 SLG, .898 OPS): Aside from the always amazing Yu Darvish, who I would still take over Masahiro Tanaka in a MLB Japanese pitching duel, Adrian Beltre has been the only other bright spot for the Rangers. I have to admit that I have always loved Beltre because in his only season with my Red Sox in 2010 he hit 28 home runs, 102 RBI's, had 49 doubles (best in the AL), a 7.8 WAR (4th best in the AL), batted .321 (4th best in the AL) with a .553 slugging percentage (5th best in the AL) and had a very good .919 on-base plus slugging percentage (5th best in the AL). He has always been a very underrated player even after he hit 48 home runs and finished 2nd in the MVP voting in 2004 with the Dodgers and is one of the best third basemen in the game today with Evan Longoria, Josh Donaldson, and Manny Machado (in a normal year he would have won the MVP, but it is tough to take the award away when Barry Bonds gets walked 232 times, the previous high being 198 set by Bonds in 2002, has a OBP of .609, an all-time record for a season, has a SLG of .812, the 4th highest ever, and has a OPS of 1.422, the highest ever in a single-season. Bonds was feared so much in 2004 that he could have had a .391 OBP without touching a ball all season long, which is saying something considering that first ballot Hall of Famers like Lou Brock, Kirby Puckett, Cal Ripken, Johnny Bench, Ernie Banks, Brooks Robinson, and Robin Yount never had a single-season in their legendary careers with at least a .391 OBP). Since 2010, Beltre has the 6th most home runs in the game (136), the 4th most RBI's (446), the 2nd best batting average only behind Miguel Cabrera (.316), and the 6th best WAR (26.0). Also, Beltre hits home runs while going down on one knee and gets pissed off when people touch his hair, so he can't get much cooler either. I honestly don't think that the Hall of Fame is that crazy to think about when it comes to Beltre, as his stats compare favorably to the 16 other players in Cooperstown who played at one time or another at the hot corner. For example, Paul Molitor was a first-ballot Hall of Famer and even taking away Beltre's power numbers because Molitor did not have too much pop in his bat (his only season with at least 20 home runs was in 1993 with the Blue Jays), Beltre is on his way to batting above .295 for his 5th straight season, something that Molitor never did in his 21-year career. Beltre's .479 slugging percentage is also better than power hitting Ron Santo, who made the Hall of Fame as a third baseman back in 2012 with a .464 career slugging percentage. 

CF Leonys Martin (3 HR, 23 RBI's, .271 BA, .330 OBP, .364 SLG, .694 OPS)

C Robinson Chirinos (7 HR, 23 RBI's, .246 BA, .279 OBP, .425 SLG, .704 OPS)

1B Carlos Pena (1 HR, 2 RBI's, .091 BA, .143 OBP, .182 SLG, .325 OPS): When Mitch Moreland went out with season ending ankle reconstructive surgery, it meant more time for Carlos Pena and and Donnie Murphy at first base for Texas. There was a time when Carlos Pena finished in the top 10 in the AL MVP voting in back-to-back seasons in 2007 and 2008 with the Rays including when he set club records in home runs (46), runs batted in (121), on-base percentage (.411), slugging percentage (.627), and walks (103), which is pretty impressive even if the Rays have only been around since 1998 and who have Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Aubrey Huff as their best players of all-time. There was also a time more recently when Carlos Pena batted .196 in 2010 and then .197 in 2012 and was in the bottom 6 in strikeout percentage in both seasons. Pena was once a very strong, pull hitting home run hitter, but not anymore.

2B Rougned Odor (3 HR, 17 RBI's, .263 BA, .297 OBP, .394 SLG, .691 OPS): With the Rangers trading away second baseman Ian Kinsler for Prince Fielder, who is out for the entire season after getting neck surgery, and opening up that position for Jurickson Profar, who in turn is likely going to miss all of the 2014 season with a bad shoulder problem, Rougned Odor is the everyday second baseman for the Rangers. If somebody had said that to me a year ago, I would have thought they were crazy, or just Donald Grant.

There was a time when the bottom of the order for the Rangers looked like Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli, and either Craig Gentry, David Murphy, or Yorvit Torrealba. Texas now have Leonys Martin, Robinson Chirinos, Carlos Pena, and Rougned Odor in their 5-8 spots in the lineup, which I would say is just a little bit worse than what Texas previously brought out to the diamond during their World Series years in 2010 and 2011.

2014 MLB Preview Part 1 - American League Breakdown

It feels like it has been a long time, almost as long as a typical Red Sox-Yankee game, but the baseball season is finally upon us. Technically, the season has already begun, but there are very few people actually aware of that fact since the Dodgers and Diamondbacks started the MLB year not under the lights at Chavez Ravine or at Chase Field, where the Dodgers players took the longest swim in a pool after winning the NL West since Leonardo DiCaprio in the Titanic (seriously, there was room on that raft for two people), but instead, played ball at four in the morning in Sydney, Australia. While I have nothing wrong with baseball trying to expand its market to a more global platform, don't you think the season should start in the country where most of the games are actually played (don't worry I remembered the Blue Jays, so Toronto fans can be happy about something since the Maple Leafs defense just let up two goals as I wrote this sentence and have now lost 9 straight games in regulation).

Last year was one of the best major league seasons that we have seen in recent history and I'm not just saying that because the Red Sox won their 3rd World Series since 2004. Ok, I am entirely saying that because of the fact that the Red Sox went from chicken and beer in 2011 to 69 wins and their worst season since 1960 (Ted Williams's last year with the team) in 2012 (thank you Bobby Valentine) to the best team in baseball in 2013. Aside from the Sox going from worst to first, we also saw Miguel Cabrera nearly win his second straight triple crown, we were able to watch the greatest closer in the history of baseball in Mariano Rivera say goodbye, we had the privilege of seeing Clayton Kershaw literally never give up a hit, we were lucky enough to watch the emergence of young stars like Yasiel Puig, Jose Fernandez, Michael Wacha, and Xander Bogaerts, and we also witnessed the Houston Astros attempt to play baseball (you know you are having a bad season when you draw a Nielsen rating of 0.0 in your local area during a home game against the Indians or when you finish the season 21-62).

However, aside from the fact that I am already preparing for the Red Sox to repeat as champions for the first time in the major leagues since the Yankees three peat from 1998 to 2000, the 2014 MLB season should be even better than last year in terms of entertainment value. One of the three greatest shortstops in the history of baseball in Derek Jeter is in his final year, Bud Selig is entering his 22nd and final year as the commissioner of the major leagues, we will finally have extensive instant replay in baseball, Albert Pujols is approaching 500 home runs and also a retirement home, the Phillies are hoping that their 180 million dollar opening day payroll can help them finish with more than 73 wins, the Mets are trying to finish above .500 for the first time since 2008, baseball is finally seeing a shift towards younger players like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Manny Machado, A-Rod is nowhere to be found, and the Astros will attempt to play baseball once again (Scott Feldman is their opening day starter; that is all). What else could be better.

AL East Preview:

There has not been a division in sports that has been dominated quite like the AL East outside of the AFC East in football (the Patriots, though, are fortunate enough to be competing against the Bills, who have not finished above .500 since 1999, the Dolphins, who have won one playoff game since Dan Marino and have a locker room that is reminiscent of a team with Gilbert Arenas, and the Jets, whose passing game was only ahead of the Bucs last year. The Jets, Dolphins, and Bills have combined for 2 seasons of 11 or more wins since 2002 and the Patriots have had 9 such years). The Yankees and Red Sox have won the AL East 16 of the last 19 years and 25 of the last 38 seasons, which includes 10 World Series and 16 American League pennants between the clubs.

Boston Red Sox Preview:

With the Red Sox coming off their 8th World Series, they are the front-runners to come out of the AL East and the American League once again this season, and that is widely accepted, not just my Red Sox love bleeding out. After having the 4th worst ERA in all of baseball at 4.70 in 2012, the Sox pitching had a complete turn around last year, finishing 7th in strikeouts with nearly 8 per game and having their most quality starts in a season with 95 since 2002 (a season where Pedro Martinez was 20-4 with a 2.26 ERA and Derek Lowe was 21-8 with a 2.58 ERA and the tandem finished 2-3 in the AL Cy Young race respectively).

The Sox rotation is as good as it has been since the glory years of Pedro in the early 2000's. Jon Lester is going to be the ace of the staff once again this year, not only because he is in a big contract year at the age of 30, but also because his cutter is looking like one of the best in the big leagues once again, especially against left handed hitters, who have a 3.36 strikeout to walk ratio against him. I never thought I would utter this sentence but John Lackey should be another reason why the Sox will have a very good rotation in 2014. After literally being the worst pitcher on the face of the Earth and finishing with a laughable 6.41 ERA in 2011 (Doc Ellis could have done better sober) and missing 2012 with Tommy John Surgery, Lackey not only had a 3.52 ERA during the season in one of the most hitter friendly ballparks in the majors, but he then had a 3.52 ERA in 5 playoff appearances and was the winning pitcher in the clinching game 6 in the World Series. Lackey went from being the most hated man in Boston since Rick Pitino to being the Red Sox's most reliable starter (Farrell trusted Lackey enough to put him in to pitch against the Cardinals in game 4 in his first relief appearance since 2004). There has not been an athlete that fell from grace or into relative obscurity and then revitalized their career quite like John Lackey since maybe Josh Hamilton (before he struck out every other at-bat with the Angels after getting Albert Pujols syndrome), Garrison Hearst, or James Braddock (watch Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe, a movie that tells the story of James Braddock, which I would say is best boxing movie of all-time aside from Raging Bull and Million Dollar Baby).

While Boston will certainly miss Jacoby Ellisbury, a guy that stole 52 bases last year and had a 5.7 WAR, they bring back a majority of their lineup that scored the most runs in the majors since the Red Sox team back in 2011. With the additions of A.J. Pierzynski for Jared Saltalamachhia, who hit just.218 against left handed pitching, and the amazing Xander Bogaerts replacing Stephen Drew, who played some quality defense but batted .111 in the playoffs, the Sox have even more depth in their order to go with their sluggers, David Ortiz and Mike Napoli, in the middle of their lineup.

New York Yankees Preview:

For just the second time in the last 19 years since 1995, the Yankees failed to appear in the postseason, and New York absolutely hates missing out on baseball's biggest stage. You may be thinking that this is a rather conspicuous statement because every team wants to make the playoffs every year, but the Yankees are different. If the Cubs don't make the playoffs, they still have that lovable Chicago spirit and the history of Wrigley Field. If the Pittsburgh Pirates miss out on the postseason, their fans understand that they are a small market team without the resources of bigger clubs. If the Royals are not in the playoffs, their fans do not even react because they do not even remember what it is like to watch a postseason game since they haven't played extra baseball since they won the World Series with George Brett and Bret Saberhagen in 1985. But if the Yankees don't make the playoffs, there is nothing quite like it in sports.

After the Bronx Bombers missed out on the postseason in 2008, they spent 441 million on players the following off-season including 180 million on Mark Teixeira, 161 million on CC Sabathia, and 82.5 million on A.J. Burnett (Burnett could be the only pitcher I know to get 16.5 million per year, go 34-35 with a 4.79 ERA, and not be remembered as a failure because he pitched that great game 2 against the Phillies when the Yanks were done 1-0 in the 2009 World Series and absolutely needed a win).

Similarly, this off-season after missing the playoffs, the Yankees committed 471 million dollars to players, bringing in Masahiro Tanaka (7 years, 155 million, which is questionable for a pitcher to be paid the 5th most ever despite never throwing in the big leagues), Jacoby Ellisbury (153 million over 7 years, which they will regret in four years when he loses his speed since he has only batted above .305 in a full season once in his career), Brian McCann (5 years, 85 million for a guy who hit .226 in his final 55 games last year), and Carlos Beltran (45 million over 3 years, which is not a bad move for a proven postseason hitter that will cancel out Mark Teixeira). While I'm not sure about the years or the money amount on any of those contracts, they will put the Yanks in position to do some definite damage this year. Tanaka looked impressive in spring ball and Michael Pineda is going to be one of the breakout pitchers in 2014. Although he is not the same guy that threw 97-98 mph fastballs in Seattle when his strikeouts per 9 innings was the second best in the AL, he can still hit the mid 90's and he has a pretty good change-up.

The question with the Yankees comes in their infield, as Teixeira and Jeter played a combined 32 games last year and Kelly Johnson and the 36-year old Brian Roberts are not anywhere near top tier second and third baseman.

Baltimore Orioles Preview:

In Baltimore, Buck Showalter may be the biggest genius since Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. How anybody can lead a pitching staff of Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez, Jason Hammel, and Wei-Yin Chen to 85 wins by mixing and matching the bullpen is something else. The Orioles are going to give up a fair amount of runs once again this season, especially since Camden Yards saw the 4th most home runs leave the ballpark in 2013, but they did bring in Ubaldo Jimenez on a 50 million dollar deal from the Indians and they will also have Bud Norris for a full season. Jimenez does not have the same velocity on his fastball that he did when he started the 2010 season 15-1 with the Rockies, but if he keeps his fastball down in the zone, he can still be effective.

At bat, the Orioles could arguably have the best lineup in baseball if Manny Machado can return somewhere near the player he was last year when he hit 51 doubles and had a 6.4 WAR. The middle of their order is just deadly with Chris "I will hit every ball over the fence" Davis, Adam "I can literally hit any pitch" Jones, Nelson "Performance Enhanced" Cruz, Matt "I've hit 20 home runs every year since 2011 but nobody notices me" Wieters, and J.J. "I'm actually a power hitting shortstop" Hardy. Last season, these 5 guys alone had more home runs than 16 other MLB teams including the Yankees, Dodgers, and Cardinals, which helped the Orioles hit a league high 212 home runs on the season. They have some of the most powerful hitters in baseball and despite the fact that I will fight to my grave that PED's impact on players is immeasurable, Cruz and his performance enhanced swing is perfect for Camden Yards and will be great insurance behind Crush Davis.

The main question with the Orioles will be their bullpen, which is so important to any team that has Showalter as its manager. Buck will go to his bullpen early and often, which means that for Baltimore to be successful, they will have to have a solid pen. After going 29-9 in one run games in 2012, helping them make their first trip to the postseason since 1997, the Orioles went 20-31 in such games last year because their bullpen was unreliable and blew the third most saves in baseball with 27. Jim Johnson and his sinker have gone off to Oakland, so it is up to Tommy Hunter to be the steady presence at the back end of O's bullpen.

Tampa Bay Rays Preview:

As if the AL East wasn't tough enough, the Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff is just nasty and the scary part about their rotation is that every guy is under the age of 28, which would mean even more except for the fact that the Rays probably wouldn't even pay for a gum ball machine in their clubhouse. Tampa likely has their best pitching staff since their run of success began in 2008, which is saying something since they have been to the playoffs 4 of the past 6 years and made the World Series back in 2008. David Price looked like a Cy Young pitcher at the end of last year when he finished the season 9-4 with a 2.53 ERA in his last 18 starts, as his cutter and change-up allowed him to not rely so much on his fastball. Matt Moore has the ability to be one of the majors best pitchers as long as he stays in the strike zone. His 4.5 walks per 9 innings was the second worst amongst pitchers that threw at least 150 innings in 2013 and yet he still ended up 17-4 because his stuff is just that good. Alex Cobb went 11-3 with a 2.76 ERA last season and will only improve in his 3rd full season in the big leagues and Chris Archer is one of the game's brightest young pitchers with his ability to hit the mid 90's on the fastball so that he can set up his deadly slider. Aside from maybe the Tigers with Verlander, Scherzer, and Sanchez, the Rays staff is the best in the American League, as no other team has the power arms throughout their rotation like Tampa Bay.

However, as has always been the question with the Rays and their 3rd lowest MLB payroll, their offense will need to be able to score enough runs in order for them to win ballgames. With a healthy MVP type guy in Evan Longoria, a full season of do it all Wil Myers in right field, and the always steady Ben Zobrist playing any position imaginable, the Rays lineup is as balanced and well equipped as it has been in a while.

Tampa has lost in the ALDS 3 of the last 4 years, but this seems like Joe Maddon's best chance to get the Rays their first ever franchise World Series and bring them out of a championship-less category that includes the San Diego Padres (lost in the 1984 World Series to the Tigers and the 1998 World Series to the Yankees), Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers (11th team to lose back-to-back World Series), Houston Astros (lost in the 2005 World Series to the White Sox), Colorado Rockies (lost in the 2007 World Series to the Red Sox), Milwaukee Brewers (lost in the 1982 World Series to the Cardinals when they were still in the AL), and Seattle Mariners. In the NFL, 12 teams have never won a Super Bowl (Bills, Browns, Bengals, Texans, Titans, Jaguars, Chargers, Vikings, Lions, Panthers, Falcons, and Cardinals), in the NBA, 13 teams have never hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy (Raptors, Nets, Pacers, Cavaliers, Bobcats, Magic, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Jazz, Clippers, Suns, Hornets, and Grizzlies), and in the NHL, 11 teams have never won Lord Stanley (Sabres, Panthers, Blue Jackets, Capitals, Blues, Wild, Predators, Jets, Coyotes, Canucks, and Sharks).

Toronto Blue Jays Preview:

Finally, we get to Rob Ford (if only America had more mayors like him, which I am saying only half jokingly because we did have an extortioner in office in Detroit with Kwme Kilpatrick). You have to commend Rob Ford's local baseball team for spending money and at least attempting to improve their club but it is hard to defend a front office that thought trading Travis d'Arnaud and paying around 200 million dollars for one year of Josh Johnson and his dead arm, one year of John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio, six years of Jose Reyes getting injured and not batting over .300, four years of a steady but declining Mark Buehrle at the end of his career, and three years of R.A. Dickey was a good idea.

The Jays do have a pretty solid lineup from top to bottom, especially if Jose Reyes can stay on the field and be the table setter for the team by stealing 30 or 40 bases and scoring 100

Despite Melky being a manifestation of Jose Guillen or Lenny Dystra, Toronto will be able to score runs, but their pitching staff is far and away the worst in the very difficult AL East. In a ballpark that was the site of the 4th most runs in the MLB last season, the Blue Jays are going to struggle with a rotation of the very young 23-year old Drew Hutchison, the often injured Brandon Morrow, Mark Buehrle, and R.A. Dickey, a pitcher that doesn't even know where his knuckleballs are going to end up most of the time. Rob Ford could probably do a better job as the GM of this time (until he was found in his car using Melky's PED's).

AL Central Preview:

The American League Central has typically been the odd division out when it comes to the American League. This may have to do with the fact that the last time the Royals made the playoffs in 1985 Nelson Mandla was in prison, the Berlin Wall was still standing, and Super Mario Bros. was just released, the White Sox are Chicago's other team, the Indians cannot even get fans to their games at Progressive Field (only an average of 43.5 percent of their ballpark was full on a given night, the lowest in the majors despite the fact that they made the playoffs), the Twins are in a small market, and the Tigers are in a more football obsessed city. Before the major leagues went to the two wild card system in 2012, only once in 17 years did the AL Central send two teams to the postseason (Twins and Tigers in 2006) and the division has only had one team ever finish with 100 wins or more (Indians in 1995). Much should be the same this year, as the Tigers are the clear class of the AL Central with little competition from the teams around them except for possibly the Indians.

Detroit Tigers Preview:

Often times after a team makes a big money move and it doesn't work out, they sit around and wait for the contract to expire until they can finally get out of the bad deal. Obviously, with some of baseball's heinous contracts it is impossible to do anything with them because nobody is going to trade for Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard, or Jason Werth (except for maybe Alex Anthopolous in Toronto) and have to pay them all the money that is in their deals.

The Tigers were in a similar position this off-season. After signing Prince Fielder to a nine year, 214 million dollar contract in 2011, it was evident that the move was not working out as the Tigers had thought it would with Cabrera and Fielder in the middle of their order. Fielder had career lows in almost every batting category last season and in two full postseasons with Detroit, he had just 1 home run, 3 RBI's, and hit below .200 in 24 games. Also, with Fielder at first base, Cabrera had to play third, which is not his favored position and hurt the Tigers defensively and hampered their best hitter at the plate. Thus, when the Tigers got their chance, they were smart to trade Fielder to the Rangers for one of the three best second basemen in baseball in Ian Kinsler. Kinsler is a guy that gives the Tigers their most legitimate second basemen since Lou Whitaker in the 1980's and 1990's and he will get on base for guys behind him like Cabrera and Victor Martinez. In the last four years, Cano, Matt Carpenter, Pedroia, and Chase Utley are the only second basemen that have a better weighted on-base percentage than Kinsler.

Aside from Kinsler, it is also very important that Victor Martinez stays healthy for the Tigers so that he can protect Miggy and collect any of the 292 million dollars that falls out of his pockets (a very well deserved contract though for Cabrera in all seriousness).

Meanwhile, the Tigers rotation is going to be great once again this year with 2011 Cy Young and MVP Justin Verlander, 2013 Cy Young Max Scherzer, and last year's AL ERA champion Anibal Sanchez (my sleeper pick for the Cy Young this year). Verlander and Scherzer can just throw gas (among many other things) and Sanchez has the best slider in baseball except for Yu Darvish, Zack Greinke, and maybe Madison Bumgarner. The Tigers have a top three pitching staff in the MLB along with the Nationals rotation of Strasburg, Zimmermann, Gio, and Fister and the Dodgers staff of Kershaw, Greinke (highest paid player in baseball this season), Haren, and Hyun-jin Ryu.

Last year the Tigers bullpen was their downfall in the ALCS against the Red Sox because essentially Verlander, Scherzer, or Sanchez went 7 innings and barely let up anything and then Veras or somebody else would blow it late in the game (thinking about it, how did the Red Sox win that series. The Sox had one hit through the first 14 innings of game 1 and 2 and somehow came away from Boston tied 1-1 in the series). Although left hander Drew Smyly is moving into the rotation, the Tigers did bring in the always dependable Joe Nathan to be their closer, who had 43 saves and just 3 blown saves with the Rangers last year in route to the second highest WAR for a relief pitcher behind Koji Uehara.

Kansas City Royals Preview:

I'm calling it now: the Kansas City Royals will be one of the two American League wild card teams this year and will finally make the playoffs for the first time in nearly 30 years (the only thing worse than not making the playoffs since 1985 would be not winning a playoff game since 1993 and going 0-7 in the process including losing a game after leading 38-10 in the 3rd quarter. I guess some things are just in the water in Kansas City). Since the Royals last made the postseason, the Yankees and Braves have each made 17 trips to the playoffs. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only other MLB team with a playoff drought of more than 12 years (they last made the postseason in 1993). The Minnesota Timberwolves have the longest NBA playoff drought at a relatively short 10 seasons, the longest NFL postseason drought is 14 years held by the Buffalo Bills, and the Edmonton Oilers have the longest NHL playoff drought at just a short 7 seasons.

Despite it being hard to believe that a team could actually go nearly three decades without making a single postseason and still have fans, the misery is going to end very shortly for the Royals (I was going to say Kansas City but then I remembered they still have Andy Reid coaching in playoff games where clock management and playing well in the 4th quarter is actually needed). The only positive in not making the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985 (thank you umpire Don Denkinger) is that you get to stockpile picks in the MLB draft and after years of high picks and compensation selections, the Royals are finally near a playoff team. Eric Hosmer, who the Royals took with the number 3 overall pick in 2008, has gotten better each year in the league, improving so much last year that he won a Gold Glove and was one of two AL first basemen, along with Miguel Cabrera, to bat above .300 and also have more than 15 home runs and 75 RBI's. Hosmer's big and powerful bat goes well with Billy Butler, a first round draft pick in 2004, in the middle of the Royals lineup. Butler is a very underrated player, as he has batted above .288, had a slugging percentage above .411, and finished the season with 78 or more RBI's every year since 2009.

Kansas City also has more complimentary pieces this year than ever before, which will give their lineup great flexibility, especially if their middle of the lineup guys struggle for parts of the season. Norichika Aoi has had an on-base percentage of .355 and .356 in two MLB seasons, which is of the utmost importance for a leadoff hitter. While it has not worked out exactly as planned for Alex Gordon, who was taken 2nd overall in 2005, or Mike Moustakas, who also got picked 2nd overall but this time in the 2007 draft, they have showed signs of why they were considered top prospects. Gordon has won three straight Gold Gloves in left field and his WAR of 12.1 from 2011 to 2012 was the 4th highest in the majors over that stretch, only behind Braun, Cabrera, and Cano. Moustakas has also been really good with his glove, going a Royals record 47 straight games without making an error, and he is destined to have a solid year in his 3rd MLB season.

Meanwhile, with a pitching staff of James Shields, Jason Vargas, Jeremy Guthrie, Bruce Chen, and the rocket throwing Yordano Ventura and a closer in Greg Holland that had the 3rd most saves in 2013 behind Jim Johnson and Craig Kimbrel, the Royals can finally play a meaningful game in October.

Cleveland Indians Preview:

The Indians are going to be a solid team once again this season in the AL Central but so few people in Cleveland will actually know that since Progressive Field has been imitating the attendance level that was present, or more preciseness not present, at Crosley Field during the 1960's before the Reds became the Big Red Machine with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Dave Concepcion. Since 2010, the Tribe have had the lowest attendance in baseball and one of the worst stadium capacities in the game (when you are bringing in less fans than the Marlins, you know something is wrong).

The Indians are destined for a season anywhere from 80 to 85 wins, as there is no team in the major leagues more average than Cleveland (something their basketball team would actually take). They have an an average to above average lineup and a below average to average pitching staff that should put them above .500 for just the 4th time since 2002 but just outside the playoff picture, which would deny them their first back-to-back playoff appearances since they made the postseason every year from 1995 to 1999.

From top to bottom, the Indians have a very solid batting order but nothing that is going to make the Red Sox, Tigers, or Rangers fearful. Last season, Cleveland was 10th in the MLB in home runs with 171, 10th in total base with 2,240, 13th in batting average at .255, and 15th in hits with around 8.6 per game. Nick Swisher is going to hit in the 20-30 home run range with an OPS+ around 120, Jason Kipnis can drive in 80 runs and a have a OPS in the .800's (could be the most widely unknown player to ever make 52.5 million dollars in a contract), Carlos Santana has some power and can have a slugging percentage around .450 and an isolated power of .200, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Yan Gomes are above average hitters for their respective positions of shortstop and catcher. There are few teams with the depth in their lineup of the Indians, who have a solid player at every single position, but most of the other top teams in the AL have a big time hitter in the middle of their lineup, which the Indians lack (Red Sox have Big Papi, Orioles have Chris Davis, Tigers have Cabrera, Rangers have Beltre/Fielder, and Angels have Trout). Since a Hall of Famer like Nap Lajole, Tris Speaker, Earl Averill, or Lou Boudreau is not walking onto the field in Cleveland any time soon, the Indians are not going to score enough runs in order for their questionable pitching staff to bring them to the postseason.

Danny Salazar could turn into something really special for Cleveland, but it may be too early to count on him to be his best for an entire season at just the age of 24. Salazar, though, looked impressive in his few starts last season, throwing a mid 90's fastball and bringing back Luis Tiant rookie year comparisons. Justin Masterson and Zach McAllister are both solid rotation guys, but having to rely on them to be top end starters even 2004 Matt Hasselbeck thinks is wishful thinking (I do love Masterson's slider though and wish my Sox never traded him for Victor Martinez, who never came up with a big hit in Boston). The Indians, who had a MLB low 2 extra innings losses last season, will also need to hope that their bullpen of guys like Marc Rzepczynski, Cody Allen, John Axford, and John Axford's beard will be able to finish out close games.

Minnesota Twins/Chicago White Sox Preview:

Since the Twins and White Sox should be two of the worst three teams in the American League along with the Astros, I am just combining their team previews into one paragraph because the chances of them making the playoffs are as slim as James Harden actually playing some defense in the next five seasons. After winning the AL Central six out of ten years from 2001 to 2010 and finishing with a record above .500 in 9 of those seasons (2007 being the exception), the Twins have had three straight seasons of 96 or more losses for a record of 195-291, their worst stretch since 1998-2000. In fact, their 99 losses in 2011 were the second most in a season since the franchise moved to Minnesota from Washington in 1961, only behind the 1982 year when the Twinkies went 60-102. Meanwhile, after winning the World Series in 2005 for the first time since 1917, the White Sox have not won a playoff series since and their 99 losses last year was their worst season since they went 56-106 all the way back in 1970. The Twins and White Sox should see their recent struggles continue once again this season.

The Twinkies, who finished second to last in the AL in runs and last in the league in earned runs last year, did make some small improvements to their ballclub in the off-season. Joe Mauer, who will be getting paid 23 million dollars a year until 2018 but has played less than 115 games two of the previous three seasons, is only going to play first base this year, which should keep him much healthier for Minnesota. Despite having the second best batting average in the AL and the third best on-base percentage in the league in 2013, Mauer will be looking to regain his power stroke (he hit 28 long balls in 2009 and has hit 33 in the four years since then). The Twins also added veteran Ricky Nolasco (coming off his best season), Phil Hughes (coming off his worst season), and Mike Pelfrey (also coming off his worst season) to their rotation, which is likely going to get hit very hard by teams like the Tigers, Royals, and Indians. Aside from some of the young minor leaguers that may come up during the season (Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Alex Meyer), the only thing for Twins fans to look forward to is Ron Gardenhire becoming the 10th manager to ever win 1,000 games with the same team their entire career (Connie Mack, John McGraw, Walter Alston, Tommy Lasorda, Earl Weaver, Mike Scioscia, Tom Kelly, Danny Murtaugh, and Red Schoendienst being the others).

Meanwhile, the White Sox have something to look forward to every 5th day when the current version of Randy Johnson takes the mound in the form of Chris Sale. Sale is right up there with David Price for the best left handed pitcher in the majors in the non-Clayton Kershaw pitching category. Last season, Sale had a 3.07 ERA (7th in the AL), a 1.073 WHIP (3rd in the AL), 226 strikeouts (3rd in the AL), a 4.913 strikeouts to walk ratio (2nd in the AL), and a 6.9 WAR (2nd in the AL for pitchers), and yet he finished 11-14 (3 less wins than CC Sabathia, who had a 4.78 ERA and 1 less win than Jeremy Hellickson, who had a 5.17 ERA). This is once again a remainder that pitchers can not only be judged based upon wins and losses because Chris Sale is undoubtedly one of the best pitchers in the league. He should, however, have some more run support than last year when the White Sox averaged an AL worst 3.69 runs per game. Jose Abreu, the Cuban defect who the White Sox signed for 6 years and 68 million dollars in the off-season, seems to have some real pop in his bat, as does big time prospect Avisail Garcia, who the White Sox acquired in the Jake Peavy, Jose Iglesias three way trade last season. Finally, Chicago's other team (yes, it's true) will also be entertaining because the Adam Dunn strikeout count is always something to keep tabs on during a season (This will alarm you, but Adam Dunn is likely two seasons away from 500 home runs. If we take the steroid guys out of the equation, which would be Bonds, A-Rod, Sosa, Palmeiro, Palmerio, Palmeiro, and Sheffield, the worst hitter to ever go yard 500 times in his career is likely Reggie Jackson or Eddie Murray. Adam Dunn is not even on the same planet as those guys, so it would be odd to see a career .238 hitter on that historic list).

AL West Preview:

The AL West has been the hardest division to figure out over the past few decades in the American League. The Red Sox and Yankees have had a stronghold over the AL East and the winner of the AL Central has been fairly obvious coming into each season with the Twins dominating the 2000's until the Tigers recent resurgence. However, the AL West has had no such pattern in the teams representing the division in the postseason. We all remember the Seattle Mariners team that went 116-46 in 2001, a record that tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the most wins in a season, but the following year, the Mariners did not even reach the postseason. Similarly, in 2002, the Angels made the playoffs as a wild card team from the AL West and won their first World Series in franchise history, but in 2003, the team did not even win 80 games (although the 1998 Marlins are impressed by that). In 2012, the A's had the second lowest payroll in baseball at around 55 million dollars, but they won the west for the first time since 2006 over the Angels and their 154 million dollar roster and the Texas Rangers, the two-time defending AL pennant winners. The A's won the AL west again last year, their first back-to-back division titles since 2002-2003 (moneyball years) despite the fact that Josh Hamilton and his 17.4 million dollar contract nearly equaled what Oakland was giving to Dan Straily, A.J. Griffin, Josh Donaldson, Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, Josh Reddick, Brandon Moss, Jed Lowrie, Bartolo Colon, Seth Smith, and Grant Balfour combined (essentially their entire starting rotation and a majority of their positional players). My argument is basically that it is safe to assume that you can assume nothing when it comes to the AL West.

Texas Rangers Preview:

Yu! Yu! Yu! If the Rangers are going to make the playoffs for a 5th straight season (they didn't make the playoffs at all from 1961 until 1996), it will largely be because of Darvish, the most dominant thing out of Japan since Godzilla himself. Texas does have some major holes when it comes to starting pitching depth and the bottom of their order, so they will need a lot out of Yu (Darvish is my 2014 AL Cy Young pick. It can't get must worse for me since my pre-season NL Cy Young prediction last year was Matt Cain, who ended up having a 0.5 WAR and a worse ERA than Jorge De La Rosa - any sentence that goes a worse ERA than insert Rockies pitcher name here is just bad news). Darvish, though, is arguably the best right handed pitcher in the major leagues (King Felix of Seattle, Jose Fernandez, Verlander, Scherzer, or a healthy Stephen Strasburg may contest that claim). He throws a ton of sliders and cutters, which look like his fastball until they dip down in the zone before they reach the plate. No pitcher in baseball had a higher pitch value on their slider than Darvish, whose 27.6 slider pitch rank was well better than Justin Masterson's second best 18.7 slider pitch value. For this reason, Yu is a strikeout machine, as his 277 k's in 2013 were the most in a single-season for a pitcher not named Randy Johnson since Curt Schilling in 1997 (Randy had more strikeouts in 1998-2002, 2004) and his 11.9 strikeouts per nine inning rate was also the highest in a season for a pitcher not named Randy Johnson since Pedro Martinez in 1999 (Johnson had a better SO/9 in 2000-2002). Darvish is one of the few must watch guys in baseball when he takes the mound because his stuff is good enough where any time out he could do something really special like when he took a perfect game into the last batter on opening day last year against the Triple A-Astros or when he struck out 15 batters against the Triple-A Astros in the middle of August.

After Josh Hamilton left the Rangers for the Angels last off-season, Texas just decided that to spite him, they weren't going to have any quality left handed bats in their lineup (or there were just not any left handed hitters available on the market). Their left handed batters hit a paltry .244 in 2013 (in comparison, their right handed bats hit .276). Texas made sure that they addressed one of the biggest concerns in the off-season, making two of the biggest moves in the majors by bringing in Prince Fielder from Detroit and signing Shin-Soo "I've never hit above .310 in my career and have never hit more than 22 home runs in a season but I'm getting paid 130 million dollars" Choo. Despite some of his postseason struggles and his alarming inability to move off first base, Fielder has some unique power that few guys can match in the big leagues. Since 2007, only Miguel Cabrera has more long balls than Fielder, who is averaging more than 36 a year since that date. He will be helped by the short right field wall at Globe Life Park in Arlington, and also Adrian Beltre, the most underrated hitter in baseball hitting behind him (he has hit more than 28 home runs, added at least 92 RBI's, and hit better than a .295 batting average each of the last four years). On the other side of things, any left handed hitter that doesn't hit home runs and gets signed to a big deal just scares me because of what happened with Carl Crawford on my Sox, but Shin-Soo Choo does get on-base like a machine. His .423 on-base percentage was the 4th best in the league last season and Matt Holliday is the only other outfielder to have two seasons with an on-base percentage better than .400 in two different years.

The Rangers main concern right now though is getting healthy, especially on their injured plagued pitching staff. Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, and Derek Holland will all begin the season on the disabled list (Atlanta and Oakland know how that feels), so Texas will need Tanner Scheppers and Martin Perez to hold down the fort for the beginning of the year until their rotation can get healthy as the season goes along.

Los Angeles Angels Preview:

When the Angels signed Albert Pujols to a 10 year, 254 million dollar contract in 2012 and also signed left hander C.J. Wilson to a 5 year, 77.5 million dollar deal within the same week, there were a lot of people that immediately jumped on the Angels bandwagon. Despite some of the struggles that the team faced in their first year with Pujols and Wilson, things still seemed to look positive when Mike Trout came up from the minors and instantly became one of the best position players in baseball along with guys like Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Andrew McCutchen, Dustin Pedroia, and Robinson Cano. Los Angeles even signed Josh Hamilton, who was coming off a season of 43 home runs, 128 RBI's, and a slugging percentage of .577 in 2012 with the Rangers, to a 5-year, 125 million dollar contract the following off-season to bolster their lineup. After bringing in Hamilton, most people felt that the Angels were destined for a deep run in the playoffs with superstars across the board. So, did I set up this entire little preface so that I could talk about how I did not think LA was going to be one of the best teams in the AL, despite the Pujols and Hamilton signings, because of their poor pitching staff? I would be lying worse than Pete Rose if I said I did not want to gloat about my Charles Xavier like psychic abilities on this prediction (I can't brag too much though because I did pick Maurice-Jones Drew in the first round of a fantasy draft last year). Not only have Pujols and Hamilton both struggled on their new ballclub, but the Angels have had an ERA well over 4.0 the past two seasons (4.02 in 2012 and 4.23 last year, the 7th worst in the league. All the teams in the 2012 postseason had an ERA well under 4.0 and Cleveland's ERA of 3.82 was the worst for a team in the playoffs in 2013, which is a wide gap from the Angels).

Once again this season, I am not sure that the Angels and their 155 million dollar payroll will turn things around and make it to the postseason. There is no doubt that the Halos have offensive fire power throughout the rather deep lineup, as they are right up there with Boston, Detroit, and Texas for the best order in the American League. Even in the worst case scenario where Albert Pujols realizes he no longer has the bat speed to catch up to fastballs and is just waiting out his contract (Steve Nash style) and Josh Hamilton continues to get hurt and breaks every bone in his body (Dodgeball reference sort of), the Angels will still be able to produce a lot of runs. Mike Trout is already the best player in baseball in just his third year in the league and the Mickey Mantle comparisons to the young center fielder are not even hyperbole. He has lead baseball in WAR in each of the last two seasons and his 10.9 WAR in 2012 was the 2nd best by a positional player not linked to steroids since 1976 (Cal Ripken had a 11.5 WAR in 1991). Meanwhile, all Raul Ibanez does is hit, no matter if he is as old as Hugh Hefner. His .281 career batting average against right handed pitching will help an Angels lineup that has a lot of righties with Trout, Pujols, Howie Kendrick, Chris Iannetta, and Chris Cowgill. David Freese, another right handed hitter, should also have a bounce back year after being the biggest World Series hero in 2011 since Joe Carter or Kirby Puckett, batting .293 with 20 long balls in 2012, but then hitting .262 with just 9 home runs last year. If the Angels can just get Brandon Belt or Mike Napoli like production out of Pujols and Alex Rios or Jay Bruce kind of offensive output from Hamilton, the Angels should remain amongst the top 7 in the league in runs scored for the 3rd year in a row.

The thing that really concerns me about this team is their pitching staff, which has been a bigger train wreck the past two years than Tony Romo in any meaningful game. The Angels are already short on arms without any injuries, which is destined to occur over a full 162 game season. More than ever before, the Angels are going to need Jered Weaver to remain healthy and be the ace of their staff. After finishing in the top 5 of the AL Cy Young from 2010 to 2012, Weaver made his fewest starts last year since 2006 as a result of a fractured left elbow. He should be back, however, with his unique delivery and his nasty compilation of off-speed pitches including his slider and change-up that tail away from right handed hitters who have a .229 career batting average against him. Although CJ Wilson is pretty good in those old spice commercials, he has certainly not been worth the 15.5 million that the Angels are paying him each year. Nonetheless, he is a solid pitcher that LA will be able to rely on for around 200 innings (he has pitched at least 200 innings the last four years) and a strikeout per 9 inning rate anywhere from 7 to 9. The back end of the Angels rotation, though, is as big of a question mark as the Cowboys defense (two Cowboys jokes in one paragraph. I somehow need to balance it out because of Dallas's eternal mediocrity). Behind Weaver and Wilson, LA's pitching staff is made up of Garrett Richards, Hector Santiago, and Tyler Skaggs, which doesn't even scare the Astros and will likely be the team's downfall in hopes of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2009.

Oakland Athletics Preview:

The Oakland A's back-to-back 90 win seasons have been one of the best success stories in baseball over the past few decades (behind the 1987 Twins, 1990 Reds, 2003 Marlins, 2007 Rockies, and 2008 Rays in terms of their overall achievements, but still very impressive considering their financial limits). I was even beginning to think that the A's could pull off the biggest surprise since M. Night Shyamalan's twist in The Sixth Sense by making their first World Series since the Rickey Henderson, Bob Welch team that got swept by the Reds in the 1990 World Series. However, just as the baseball gods would have it so that the teams that spend huge amounts of money and make the game more profitable are satisfied, the A's were killed by devastating injury news to their very consistent and important pitching rotation. A.J. Griffin, who had the 6th best WHIP at 1.125 and the 5th best hits per 9 innings rate in the American League last season, is going to spend significant time at the beginning of the season on the disabled list with flexor tendinitis. Meanwhile, Jarrod Parker, who is one of the many pitchers that people don't know from an Oakland staff that finished 4th in opponents batting average last year, is out for the entire 2014 season, needing the way to common Tommy John surgery to fix an arm problem (Parker can join the club of Medlen, Beachy, and Corbin). The A's do have more pitching depth than most teams in the majors, but any club that loses two of its best starters is going to have some issues replacing their arms in the rotation. Oakland is going to have to rely on Sonny Gray, Dan Straily, Tommy Milone, and gasp, Scott Kazmir to pick up the load for some of the injuries that the team has suffered.

The A's are a team that play a lot of close games, which means that they will need a solid bullpen in order to make sure that they can win some games where their starting pitching, or particularly their offense, is just not there. Jim Johnson is slated to be the team's closer after Oakland acquired him from Baltimore in an off-season trade. Last year, Johnson joined Mariano Rivera and Eric Gagne as the only three closers to ever have at least 50 saves in multiple seasons (Rivera did so in 2001 and 2004 and Gagne did it in 2002 and 2005), and yet he looked as bad as somebody can when still registering 50 saves in a  season. His WAR was just a paltry 1.5, behind 12 other closers with at least 13 saves, mainly because he blew a league leading 9 saves, tied for the 4th most in a single-season since 2010. His sinker was hit hard and very often and he was constantly having to get out of jams because his hits per 9 innings went from 7.2 in 2012 all the way up to 9.2 in 2013. If Johnson does struggle, the A's do have a lot of other arms in the bullpen with guys like Luke Gregerson, Sean Doolittle, and Dan Otero, who were all very good last season.

At the plate, Oakland does not have the superstars, the power, or the speed of a team like the Rangers or the Angels, but they do have some good depth and a full lineup capability of being the hero on a particular night. Josh Donaldson, who finished 4th in the AL MVP race despite not making the All-Star game (no love for Oakland players), hit .301 with a .384 on-base percentage (6th in the AL) and added 24 home runs and 93 RBI's to go along with a very high 8.0 WAR, the 2nd best in the AL behind only the God that is Mike Trout. Donaldson, Coco Crisp, and Jed Lowrie should provide consistent hitting for the A's all season, so the overall productivity of their offense will come from three guys that can either hit a lot of home runs or strike out as much as any player that is not named Adam Dunn. Yoenis Cespedes showed to the entire world his freakish natural power when he won the 2013 Home Run Derby and Brandon Moss hit 30 home runs last year (one of only 6 major league first basemen to do so along with Chris Davis, Paul Goldschmidt, Edwin Encarnacion, Mark Trumbo, and Adam Dunn), but both of their K% last year were amongst the worst 9 in all of baseball. Similarly, despite hitting 32 home runs in 2012, Josh Reddick struck out 151 times over the course of the season, the 10th most times in the American League behind the usual suspects like Adam Dunn, Curtis Granderson, Carlos Pena, Josh Hamilton, and Mark Reynolds. If Cespedes, Moss, and Reddick can limit their strikeouts and get on-base a little more often, Oakland could increase their run total and help make up for the losses of Griffin and Parker in the rotation.

Seattle Mariners/Houston Astros Preview:

Out of pure laziness and the fact that we are nearly 9,000 words into this article (take that Les Miserables), I am combining the team previews for the Houston "don't watch this team play baseball if you want to maintain your sanity" Astros and the Seattle "we spent a lot of money this off-season but aren't close to winning anything" Mariners. The Astors have finished with more than 105 losses in three straight seasons, the first team in baseball history to do so (the 1915 and 1916 A's teams both lost more than 105 games, as did the 1941 and 1942 Phillies. Oddly enough, the Athletics did that after reaching four World Series in five years and winning three of them). While the Astros are practically a triple-A ballclub, the Mariners at least went out and spent some money this off-season to try and reach the playoffs for the first team since they won 116 games in 2001. They signed Corey Hart, got Logan Morrison in a trade, signed closer Fernando Rodney, and obviously, spent the big bucks to get Robinson Cano for 240 million dollars. We will see how much 24 million dollars really means to Cano after this season because the Mariners are more than likely going to finish under .500 for the 5th straight year, their longest stretch since a period where they didn't have a winning season from 1977 to 1990.

Looking at the Astors lineup, they actually only have three legitimate major league players that would play on any other team, except for possibly a club like the Marlins or Cubs. Houston traded for the speedy Dexter Fowler so that he could be the team's solid lead-off hitter, and more so as a precaution to make sure that they don't come close to the 1962 Mets for the most losses in a season since 1900.  You know that your team is as bad as the Bucks when their best player has never made an All-Star game and has never had a season with a WAR of at least 3. Jose Altuve is a more than good enough second basemen for a team, as he has gold glove ability and can steal some bases while Jason Castro is also a solid player behind the plate. I was going to include Chris Carter on that very short list of actual MLB players on the Astros but then I remembered that he strikes out at a rate that competes with Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds (he had the worst K% in the history of baseball at 36.2% last year and the 3rd most strikeouts in a season ever with 212). The Astors have a lot of very young arms in their rotation with guys like Brett Oberholtzer and Jarred Cosart, which means they will likely have some significant growing pains throughout the season.

The biggest move of the baseball off-season, aside from Chris Stewart going to his 7th different MLB team in a trade to the Pirates of course, was Robinson Cano moving on from the Yankees (When was the last time a star like Cano actually said no to the Yankees. When was the last time a star like Dwight Howard left the Lakers? How did the Yankees and Lakers lose out on bringing back their one of their star players in the same year? Andy Pettitte was likely the last big name to leave the Yankees when he signed with his hometown Astros in 2004, but he did eventually return to the Bronx in 2007. The last big time Laker that left the team in free agency was A.C. Green in 1993 when he went to the Suns, and he only ever made one All-Star game). Cano will face some serious difficulties though in Seattle. Safeco Field is not a safe haven for runs, as it ranked dead last in runs scored two years ago, and is continually towards the bottom half of the majors in home runs. He will also not have the same opportunities with guys getting on-base in front of him because Abraham Almonte and Brad Miller don't even make the Lion from Wizard of Oz afraid and Justin Smoak and Kyle Seager are not going to make teams pitch to Cano. The Mariners do have the third best King in the world behind LeBron and Lorenzo de' Medici from Da Vinci's Demons with King Felix (yes, I actually just made a Da Vinci's Demons reference, which is the best show on Starz since their last big show Spartacus), but the rest of their projected rotation of Erasmo Ramirez, James Paxton, Roenis Elias, and Blake Beavan have 25 combined career wins. It could be worse for Seattle; they could be without a NBA team.

MLB Storylines To Follow During The Second Half Of The Season

The phrase has been muttered a million times, but yet it bears repeating year after year: the MLB season is a marathon, not a sprint. Unlike the NFL, where every week there is a feeling of desperation, the MLB teams are accustomed to long stretches during a season where their club may be struggling, whether it is a World Series contender or a last place team that is rebuilding. In fact, the 1951 New York Giants and the 1982 Atlanta Braves both had 11-game losing streaks and still managed to reach the postseason (the Giants lost to the Yankees in the World Series and the Braves lost in the NLCS to the Cardinals). With the first half of the MLB season in the rear-view mirror and the dog days of July and August rapidly approaching, it is important to remember that a few losses or a few wins don't make a playoff team, as the consistent ball clubs are always the ones that last the entire season. Here are some storylines to closely monitor during the tail end of the baseball calendar.

Manny Machado's Chase Of The Doubles Record:

Since 1936, not one player in the major leagues has hit 60 doubles over the course of a season. In 2000, Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton came close, and in 2002 Garret Anderson and Nomar Garciaparra fell just short. However, not only will Manny Machado likely become the first player since Joe Medwick to hit 60 doubles in a season (Medwick hit 64 with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936), but he is also on pace to eclipse Earl Webb's record for doubles in a single season. In 1933, Webb hit 67 doubles with the Boston Red Sox, and remarkably, the record has stood ever since. Machado, who needs just 18 doubles over the second half of the season to break the Orioles single season record of 56 set by Brian Roberts in 2009, is having a historic year for any ball player, especially for a guy that just turned 21 in July. To show just how impressive it is that Machado hit 39 doubles during the first half of the season, only once in the history of baseball has a player younger than 24 hit more than 48 doubles over an entire season (Alex Rodriguez in 1996 at the age of 20 with the Mariners). As good as Machado has been defensively for the O's, his offensive consistency has been just as impressive. While Machado will certainly hit more home runs as his career progresses, his smooth stroke at the plate lends itself perfectly for his chase of the doubles record. The former first round pick will continue to rack up doubles over the second half of the year because he is a line drive hitter. Of Machado's 128 hits this season, 61 of them have been line drives, which shows his ability to drive the ball into the gaps. This could be the year that the 77 year old doubles record finally falls.

Possible Back to Back Triple Crowns For Miguel Cabrera:

As we all know, Miguel Cabrera had a season for the ages last year. Not only did Cabrera become the first Tigers batter to win the MVP award since Hank Greenberg in 1940 (Hal Newhouser, Denny McLain, Willie Hernandez, and Justin Verlander all won the award as pitchers), but he also become the major leagues first Triple Crown winner in 45 years since Carl Yastrzemski. As crazy as this may seem, Miguel Cabrera is actually having a better season this year! The Tigers slugger is on pace to finish the season with 51 home runs and 163 RBI's, which has only been done by three people in the history of baseball (Babe Ruth in 1921 and 1927, Hack Wilson in 1930, and Jimmie Foxx in 1932). Cabrera, who currently has an OPS of 1.132, is also looking to become the first player since Barry Bonds in 2004 to have an on-base plus slugging percentage of at least 1.1300 for an entire season. Cabrera is in such a grove right now that in at-bats where he is ahead of the count, he is batting a ridiculous .411. The third baseman is also trying to achieve something that no other triple crown winner ever did, which is to accomplish the feat in back to back years. Miggy has a seizable lead in batting average over Mike Trout, as his .365 average is 43 points better than the Angles star. However, despite an almost laughable 95 RBI's at the All-Star break, Orioles slugger Chris Davis drove in 93 runs over the first half of the season, while Davis has a 7 home run advantage in the last Triple Crown category. Despite having even better numbers than last season, Cabrera may miss out on consecutive Triple Crowns because of the historic season that Chris Davis is having. Nonetheless, just how good Miguel Cabrera has been this year can not be understated, as he is having one of the greatest single-seasons in MLB history.

Clayton Kershaw's Sub .200 ERA:

In the last 40 years, only 8 pitchers have ever finished a season with an ERA below 2.00 (Ron Guidry in 1978, Nolan Ryan in 1981, Dwight Gooden in 1985, John Tudor in 1985, Greg Maddux in 1994 and 1995, Pedro Martinez in 1997 and 2000, Roger Clemens 1990 and 2005, and Kevin Brown in 1996). However, at this year's All-Star break, Clayton Kershaw has an astonishing 1.98 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers. If Kershaw is able to end the season with a sub .200 ERA, he would forever be linked to some of the greatest single season pitching performances in MLB history. In 1994, Greg Maddux had a 1.56 ERA, the lowest for any pitcher in 77 years since Fred Anderson and Eddie Cicotte in 1917. In the heart of the steroid era in 2000, Pedro Martinez finished the season with a 1.74 ERA, while also setting the MLB record in WHIP for a single season. Kershaw has the stuff to finish a season with an ERA under 2, as his nasty curveball beautifully complements his mid 90's fastball. The Dodgers ace is certainly a strikeout pitcher, as his strikeout percentage of 24.8 ranks amongst the top 10 in the league. However, Kershaw can also pitch to contact and still be just as effective, as hitters are batting just .238 when they put balls into play against him, which is the 5th lowest in the league. Although Kershaw has been terrific the last two years (winning the NL Cy Young in 2011 and coming in 2nd in 2012), he has been even better so far this season.

Late Season Drama:

When the MLB instituted the second Wild Card berth in each league in 2012, its main intention was to put emphasis on team's winning their own division. However, the underlining goal of the expanded format was to create more drama with late season playoff races and the winner take all wild card showdown. The final day of the 2011 season was the greatest single night of baseball in MLB history, with more drama and twists and turns than a Shakespearean play. Baseball could be in store for some classic late season playoff races once again this year. Unless the Angles can miraculously turn around another massively disappointing season, the American League will likely be a 8 team race for 5 postseason spots, as all 8 of the clubs are within 6 games of each other. In fact, the Rays, Rangers, Orioles, Yankees, and Indians are all within three games of one another in the AL Wild Card race. The National League, specifically the NL West is likewise very crowded. In the NL West, the last place Padres are only 8.5 games out of first place. In fact, before San Diego went on a 2-11 skid, each team in the division was sitting within 3 games of each other on July 2. While the Dodgers have been playing exponentially better baseball ever since they got healthy and Yasiel Puig came to the big leagues, the Diamondbacks have been holding a slim lead in the division all season long. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to ever count out the Giants, who have won 2 of the last 3 World Series. Meanwhile, it is going to be a dogfight in the NL Central, as the Cardinals, Pirates, and Reds will all be looking to capture the divisional crown.

Yasiel Puig's Dominance:

Whether you thought that Yasiel Puig should have been an All-Star or that the question was an absolute joke (Jonathan Papelbon), there is no denying the impact that the Cuban sensation has had on the Los Angeles Dodgers. When Puig made his MLB debut on June 3rd, the Dodgers were 9 games under .500 at 23-32 and were 8.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West. Ever since then, the Dodgers have been 25-15 and have crawled to within two games of the division leading Dbacks. Puig got off to such a torrid pace in June that his opening month in the big leagues drew comparisons to Joe Dimaggio. The star outfielder had a hit in 26 of his first 30 games including 8 home runs, 19 RBI's, a ridiculous slugging percentage of .745, and a batting average a tad under .450. Puig's energy (jumping into walls to make catches, throwing guys out from the outfield, and being ultra aggressive on the base paths) along with his crazy talent have proven to be invaluable for the Dodgers. However, the question is: can Puig continue to light up the big leagues or will pitchers begin to figure him out? While Puig has mainly slowed down in July due to a hip injury, some of his flaws have begun to appear. Puig is a guy that loves to swing the bat and he can sometimes be inpatient at the plate. The Cuban star only walked in 3 of his first 26 MLB games and through his first 161 plate appearances, Puig has walked just 7 times. In fact, Puig had a 12 game stretch from June 8 to June 21, where he didn't walk in 49 consecutive plate appearances. Pitchers have begun to pepper Puig with off-speed pitches outside of the strike zone because they know that he will chase a lot of pitches. Nonetheless, Puig is still just a 22-year old rookie that has unlimited potential and power, as he has already shown to opposing pitchers.

The Predicament of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once said, “The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.” Legacy and immortality are very difficult to quantify, but no matter how adamantly baseball players profusely deny it, they care about how the public looks back on their playing career. Juxtaposing the legacies of players from vastly different eras is quite an onerous task (just imagine trying to compare the careers of catchers Mike Piazza and Roy Campanella) and it has become even more difficult because of the recent performance-enhancing drug (PED) implications that will forever pollute the indelible image of baseball. However, comparing different ballplayers is a large reason why fans are so enamored by the game and the Baseball Hall of Fame serves as the representative platform for the judgment and assessment of players’ careers. 

The Hall of Fame voters recently made a statement when they elected to shun any player from entering the hall, who they had suspected might have used PEDs. The task of the Hall of Fame electors is to essentially answer the question, “Do the statistics compiled by a certain player along with his intangibles show evidence that he is amongst the greatest of his era?” The voting for the Hall of Fame is certainty not a perfect science and the sports world was left in pure dejection after there were no inductees to the hall for just the first time since 1996 and only the second time in over 40 years since 1971. However, players that used PEDs should not have been voted in baseball’s most prestigious club as the “memory of their name” will always be identified with tainting baseball’s legacy and their drug usage has certainty not left an “inheritance of a great example.”

Players that used or alleged used PEDs were not on a level playing field with the rest of their counterparts on the diamond. The unprecedented statistics that ballplayers like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Roger Clemens were able to amass over the careers need to be looked at with a grain of salt, as their numbers are completely inflated due to their drug usage. 

Some fans argue that while Mark McGwire may have taken steroids, the performance enhancing drugs didn’t teach him how to catch up to a fastball or how to hit a breaking ball. However, anybody who makes it to the MLB is obviously good enough to contend with the greatest players in the world, and PEDs give major leaguers an extra edge, which could propel them from an average player to one of the most dangerous in the league. For example, in 2010 Melky Cabrera hit .255 with the Atlanta Braves and knocked out just 4 home runs. However, when he began to take steroids, his batting average leaped all the way up to .346 and he hit a career high 18 home runs two seasons ago. 

Steroids allow baseball players to build endurance, strength, and muscle, such as Barry Bonds, who went from a speedy 185-pound outfielder on the Pittsburgh Pirates to a stocky 230-pound power hitter on the San Francisco Giants. PEDs also allow players to recover from injury at a much faster rate. Andy Pettite, who testified in court that Roger Clemens told him in 1999 or 2000 that he was using steroids, has admitted that he was able to return quicker from elbow surgery because of human growth hormone usage. 

With all this in mind, voters were justified in their decision to not elect players like Bonds or Clemens into the Hall of Fame because steroids gave them an unfair advantage over the other players in the league.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is a museum that shows the history of America's national pastime, and honors the careers of the most outstanding ballplayers of all-time. Some people contend that by not putting players like Bonds and Clemens into the hall, the voters are neglecting a major part of baseball's history. However, just because the Hall of Fame may not induct steroid guys into its elitist fraternity, doesn't mean that players connected to PEDs won't have any part in the hall in terms of its artifacts, videos, and photos. The paradoxical nature of PEDs is that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's home run chase to catch Roger Maris's single-season home run record in 1998 was one of the most exhilarating events in baseball history, and it brought the game back to the forefront of sports after its embarrassing strike in 1994. However, McGwire and Sosa didn't do it the right way, which is damning to their own careers as well as to the history of baseball.

More than any other sport, baseball is a numbers game and its fans cherish its past history and stats. If somebody says 71,838 (the NFL career passing yards record set by Brett Favre) or 38,387 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA all-time scoring record), very few fans would know the significance of those statistics. When somebody says the number “56,” baseball fans immediately think of Joe DiMaggio’s hit streak in 1941, while “714,” the number of home runs Babe Ruth hit in his career, is revered by fans. Numbers are sacred in baseball, which is why the steroid era has infuriated so many people, as PED usage has tainted the game.

Although many people agree with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s (BBWAA) decision to not elect PED users into the hall, that doesn’t mitigate some of the other head-scratching judgments that the journalists from the organization have made in their Hall of Fame voting history. While a preponderance of the writers are very fair and accurate voters, it is baffling that some of the journalists still refuse to elect players into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The fact that Willie Mays, arguably the greatest baseball player ever, and Stan Musial, by many accounts the greatest left-handed hitter of all-time, were both left off more than 20 Hall of Fame ballots in their first year of eligibility is an absolute abasement and disgrace.

Furthermore, statistics are set in stone once a ballplayer ends his career, and it is up to the writers of the BBWAA to determine if a player is Hall of Fame worthy. It makes little sense how Andre Dawson could receive 67 percent of votes in his 8th year on the Hall of Fame ballot, but the next year receive more than 77 percent of the Hall of Fame votes. Dawson's career was cemented once he retired from baseball in 1996, so it is puzzling that "The Hawk" can receive an additional 50 votes from one year to the next when nothing about his baseball career actual changed.

We should get some Hall of Fame clarity next year when Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas are all eligble for the ballot. Maddux (355) and Glavine (305) are both 300 game winners, and Frank Thomas is one of just 9 players along with Willie Mays (.302 BA, 660 HR), Babe Ruth (.342 BA, 714 HR), Ted Williams (.344 BA, 521 HR), Hank Aaron (.305 BA, 755 HR), Jimmie Foxx (.325 BA, 524 HR), Mel Ott (.304 BA, 511 HR), Manny Ramirez (.312 BA, 555 HR), and Alex Rodriguez (.300 BA, 647 HR) to have hit 500 home runs and have a career average of at least .300. Hopefully, the writers will do everybody justice by voting in all three of the deserved first ballot Hall of Famers next year.

Mike Trout And Andrew McCutchen Are Running Away With The MVP Awards

Baseball is witnessing a shift in star power to a new generation of younger players. With guys like Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Ichiro Suzuki, Todd Helton, and Paul Konerko in their late 30's and early 40's, younger players are beginning to take over the game. Obviously, we aren't going to the extreme of saying "out with the old and in with the new", but we are definitely watching a transition of power to players like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, and Giancarlo Stanton. 

The change of baseball's star power to its youth is cementing itself this season, as two of baseball's youngest guns, Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen, are clear cut favorites for the major league MVP awards.

Mike Trout has turned the Angels around from a 6-14 start to a team that is sitting with the 3rd best record in the American League at 53-44. Andrew McCutchen is leading a Pirates team that is in position to make the postseason for the first time in franchise history since 1992. Not bad for a bunch of 20 year old kids.

Before we even look at Trout's incredible numbers and his unique 5-tool ability to be able to hit for average, hit for power, steal bases, field, and throw, it is important to look at Trout's impact on the Angels as a whole. The MVP goes to the player that is Most Valuable to his team, and since Trout was called up from triple-A, the Angels have done a complete 360.

The Halos, who were one of the favorites to win the World Series after they signed both Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson in the off-season, looked out of sorts in their first 20 games. Pujols, a 3-time MVP and 2-time World Series Champion, had a dismal start to the season and looked uncomfortable in Los Angeles with his new team. Before Mike Trout began to play every day on May 8th, Pujols was batting a woeful .197 with a .236 on-base percentage and he had just 1 home run through 29 games.

Since Trout came up to the big leagues, the Angels have looked like a different ball club, and Pujols has finally looked like the guy who signed a 254 million dollar contract with the team this off-season. Although it is rare to see, the 20-year old Trout has taken the pressure off of the 32-year old Pujols. With his .412 on-base percentage, which is the 3rd best in the AL, Trout has allowed Albert to hit with runners in scoring position, and he has relieved a ton of stress off of the 9-time All-Star's back, as Pujols no longer has to be the guy night after night for the Halos. In 67 games since May 8th, Pujols is batting .318 and has 17 home runs and 52 RBI's, to go along with a .391 on-base percentage.

Trout, who is so smooth that it is difficult to find a weakness when he is at the plate, has taken the American League by storm. The center fielder, whose .357 batting average leads the American League by 25 points over Joe Mauer, can hit any pitch against any pitcher during any count. Despite nearly missing the entire first month of baseball, Trout leads the MLB with 71 runs scored and is in the top 5 in both slugging and on-base plus slugging percentage.

People are so impressed with Trout's play because he can truly do it all. His 31 stolen bases lead the major leagues and his glove work has been so impressive, as evidenced by his incredible leaping catch against the Orioles to rob a J.J. Hardy home run earlier this season.

Mike Trout showing off his jumping ability by making one of the best plays of the year.

Prince Fish, as he is also called, is fortunate that no one else in the AL is having a monster season. Josh Hamilton, who began the first two months of the year with 21 home runs, 57 RBI's, and a .368 batting average, has cooled off dramatically since his first 47 games and is batting just .204 since the start of June. Miguel Cabrera, who is having another solid year with a .330 batting average and 23 home runs to go along with 79 RBI's, is the biggest contender to Trout's MVP chances.

Trout is likely going to be a landslide winner for the AL Rookie of the Year Award, so if he is able to walk away with the AL MVP, he would join Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro (2001) as just the third player to ever win the two awards in the same season. He would also be the youngest player to ever win the MVP, and the 3rd ever Angel to win the award joining Vladimir Guerreo (2004) and Don Baylor (1979).

Unlike Trout, who has taken a talented team and revitalized them with his spectacular play, Andrew McCutchen has put the Pirates on his back and brought them into playoff contention.

Although the Pirates are a solid team with a quality pitching staff led by James McDonald, A.J. Burnett, and Joel Hanrahan at the back end of the bullpen, they are no where near a 54-41 team without McCutchen. He was the main reason that the Bucs entered the All-Star break in first place of the NL Central for the first time in 15 years since 1997.

Aside from McCutchen, Neil Walker is the only every day Pirate player that is batting above .265, and the fact that the Pirates don't have a lot of good hitters around McCutchen makes it even more impressive to see what the young outfielder is doing this season. To put in perspective how heavily the Bucs relay on the 2-time All-Star, Andrew leads the team in runs, hits, batting average, triples, home runs, runs batted in, total bases, extra base hits, stolen bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging percentage.

McCutchen leads the league with a .373 batting average, which is on pace to become the best average in a single season since Tony Gwynn hit .394 in 1994 with the San Diego Padres. Clutch, as he is often called, also leads the MLB with a .642 slugging percentage and a 1.071 OPS.

McCutchen has solidified his hold on the MVP award with his ability to keep the Pirates in playoff position. In the Buccos last 31 games since June 16 the team is 22-9, and in this span McCutchen is batting .464 with a 1.330 OPS and he had a 6 games stretch where he hit 6 home runs in the middle of July.

Like Trout, McCutchen doesn't have too much competition for the MVP award. The player that looked like he would pose the biggest threat to McCutchen's chances of becoming the first Pirate to win MVP since Barry Bonds in 1992 was Joey Votto. However, the Reds slugger had to be sidelined earlier this month due to knee surgery and he will be out for at least a month.

It would be very historic if McCutchen won the MVP award. He would be the 2nd youngest player to win the NL MVP award in the last 27 years since 1985. Clutch would join Pirate greats Paul Waner, Dick Groat, Roberto Clemente, Dave Parker, Willie Stargell, and Barry Bonds as an NL MVP award winner.

McCutchen has shown he can do anything on a baseball field. Can he give an MVP speech though? At this rate, we will get a chance to see.