Raise your hand if you had Las Vegas leading the division after seven weeks. No one? Well, here we are. While the Angels have a lead, there are several teams chasing them, and the West is starting to look like it could get very interesting. Here's a look at the biggest needs around the division. Las Vegas Angels The Angels are ahead of schedule on their rebuild, which puts them in an interesting spot. The hitting looks great. The pitching looks...
As we head into May and the divide between contenders and pretenders starts to make itself obvious, let's do a deep dive into team needs. The marketplace is starting to come alive, with people other than Ginter posting team needs and wants for the 19 different teams he's running, so away we go. With no offense meant to the Detroit Tigers or the Baltimore Orioles. New York Mets Sitting at 19-18 after going 2-8 in their last ten games, the Mets...
Washington Senators acquire 3B Ken Caminiti and a 1998 5th-round pick from the Milwaukee Creams for OF Mike Greenwell, OF Jeff Abbott, SP Jim Niedlinger and a 1998 2nd-round pick. The Washington Senators, owners of the second-best record in the league at 16-4, have looked at their roster, looked at their pitching staff, looked at the standings and apparently reached the following conclusion: You know what we're missing? A 35-year-old hitting...
Excellent We can stop playing the season now. Washington is 11-1. Kansas City is 12-3. Baltimore is 2-11. Pedro Martinez has 42 strikeouts. Jeff D. Robinson has a 0.57 ERA. Clearly, we have seen enough. The remaining 150-odd games are just administrative paperwork. There is no reason to continue. Somebody call the commissioner. Tell him to start engraving the trophies. This is particularly important because, as everyone knows, the most...
Well, we're finally here. The 1998 season is about to begin, which means it's time for me to do the thing every sportswriter loves: Pretend I know what's going to happen. Last season, I made a bunch of predictions. I was spectacularly wrong about several of them. So naturally, I've decided the best course of action is to put another eleven opinions in writing where everyone can find them later. You're welcome. Let's get stupid. 1. Boston will...
We're going to take a brief break from dissecting the Boston Red Sox's offseason strategy. Don't worry. We'll be back soon with an exposé on how current ownership did actually originally trade away its own 1998 first-round pick and lived long enough to see it come back home. It's one of the stranger trade trees the DBL has produced. But first, Boston has finally done something they've been trying to do for weeks. Shane Mack is gone. The Red...