All-Star Ballot Reaction Roundtable

Today marks the launch of our first "roundtable" post. In a roundtable, the same question will be posed to both Matthew Taylor, and Joey Almars, and we will both answer them privately without consulting with each other. It's a fun way to get two different opinions and start some debates. Enjoy!

1) What is your main criteria when evaluating which hitters should be all-stars?

Matthew Taylor: I am a big sucker for the RBI. There is a reason that the RBI hitters make the big bucks and that's because they are the ones who get the clutch hits and drive in the runs that win games. It's all fine and dandy if a player can hit .330, but if he isn't bringing in any runs and lighting up the scoreboard, how much is he really helping? I understand that lead-off hitters aren't expected to hit many RBI, but for players who hit in the middle of the order, I think that RBI are much more important than batting average or even walks.  I want my star player to put the team on his shoulders and bring everyone in rather than taking a walk and diverting the RBI opportunity to the player batting behind him.

Joey Almars: For hitters the main stat that I focus on is, OPS. For me it starts out with making the most out of every at bat and that does the best in my mind at translating that as a statistic. It touches on batting average but more so on slugging and it is also a stat that includes walks which can often times be under valued. From there I look at batting average because OPS can be misleading if a player hits a bunch of home runs but has a bad average. Then from there I look at the quantity stats like Runs, HRs and RBIs.

2) What is your main criteria when evaluating which pitchers should be all-stars?

Matthew Taylor: For me it all begins with ERA when evaluating pitchers. If my pitcher is allowing a lot of runs, he's not an all-star. It's as simple as that. From there I go to innings pitched. I want my all-star pitcher to be a workhorse and put in a lot of innings. That takes the load off of the bullpen and puts it squarely on the shoulders of my ace. Just the way I like it. Lastly I look at strikeouts. Pitchers who can get a player out in any situation are invaluable and are extremely important.

Joey Almars: For pitchers I look at quality starts. I would say wins but in the case of James Shields this year, even if you have a good start it doesn't translate into a Win if your team's hitting doesn't do their part. That stat says for me, "the pitcher did his part." He pitched a strong amount of innings and kept his team in the game which on a consistent basis is all you can ask for from a pitcher. After establishing that threshold, I look at ERA, since we covered quality starts we know the pitcher has pitched his share of innings and now we look at how well he shut down the other team. I don't focus on WHIP too much because I tend to look at the scoreboard. If the runners don't cross the plate then you are fine. I look at Innings Pitched and Strikeouts next, these stats are extras in my book but are important when it comes to considered who is the all-star work horse and can blow pitches but hitters.

3) Which player did Matthew/Joey include in their all-star rosters who you most think does not deserve an all-star roster spot?

Matthew Taylor: The biggest issue I had with Joey's all-star ballot is that he has Shin-Soo Choo as a starting outfielder. Choo has had a very solid season with the Reds this year and his .419 on-base percentage is something that certainly can't be ignored however, in my eyes he is not a starting outfielder for the NL all-star squad. He is batting a mediocre .269, has a measly 76 hits (T-27th in the NL), and has only a 0.61 stolen base percentage. He is having a good year, but he doesn't deserve to be a starting outfielder. In his place I would have Carlos Beltran. Beltran is batting .308 with 18 home runs and an impressive .546 slugging percentage. He is having a career year and deserves to be a starting outfielder.

Joey Almars: I really liked Taylor's list and I was on the fence about one. Nelson Cruz has had a large amount of RBIs but the .268 average is a little too low for my cut (By that some principle I should have picked him over Bautista, but I think that he'll get more votes either way). In place of Cruz I would say Nate McLouth, having an OBP of .361 and having the second most steals in the AL I think that he deserves a nod.

4) Which players were snubbed by Matthew/Joey of an all-star roster spot?

Matthew Taylor: I think Joey really snubbed Shelby Miller of an all-star roster spot. Miller is having an excellent season. He has a stellar 2.35 ERA. He is 3rd in the NL with a 9.88 K/9. He is anchoring the staff along with Adam Wainwright of a St. Louis Cardinals team that has the best record in baseball. Shelby Miller is an all-star.

Joey Almars: I really like Jay Bruce, but for me it came down to him or Shin-Soo Choo. Bruce had the RBIs and slightly better AVG and Choo had the Runs a better OPS. For me I saw that Choo being at the lead off position allowed Bruce to get those RBI chances when we was batting the fourth spot. And Bruce did his job fantastic thus far. But when picking between Reds outfielders, I had to go with Choo and his Run production.

5) Which 8 players (4 from the AL, 4 from the NL) would make for the most exciting home run derby?

Matthew Taylor: AL: Chris Davis, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, and David Ortiz
NL: Yasiel Puig, Bryce Harper, Carlos Gonzalez, and Pedro Alvarez

Joey Almars: AL: Miguel Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Chris Davis, and Prince Fielder
NL: Domonic Brown, Paul Goldschmidt, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Gonzalez

NL All-Star Ballots

Matthew Taylor:

Starting Lineup:
Catcher: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
First Base: Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks
Second Base: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds
Third Base: David Wright, New York Mets
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies
Outfield: Michael Cuddyer, Colorado Rockies
Outfield: Carlos Beltran, St. Louis Cardinals
Designated Hitter: Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers

Reserves:
Catcher: Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
First Base: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
Second Base: Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
Third Base: Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburgh Pirates
Shortstop: Jean Segura, Milwaukee Brewers
Outfield: Allen Craig, St. Louis Cardinals
Outfield: Domonic Brown, Philadelphia Phillies
Outfield: Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds

Pitchers:
Matt Harvey, New York Mets (Starting Pitcher)
Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
Jeff Locke, Pittsburgh Pirates
Patrick Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks
Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals
Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies
Shelby Miller, St. Louis Cardinals
Travis Wood, Chicago Cubs
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants
Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh Pirates
Mark Melancon, Pittsburgh Pirates
Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

Joey Almars:

Starting Lineup:
Catcher: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
First Base: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
Second Base: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds
Third Base: David Wright, New York Mets
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies
Outfield: Shin-Soo Choo, Cincinnati Reds
Outfield: Michael Cuddyer, Colorado Rockies
Designated Hitter: Domonic Brown, Philadelphia Phillies

Reserves:
Catcher: Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
First Base: Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks
Second Base: Marco Scutaro, San Francisco Giants
Third Base: Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants
Shortstop: Jean Segura, Milwaukee Brewers
Outfield: Carlos Beltran, St. Louis Cardinals
Outfield: Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers
Outfield: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

Pitchers:
Matt Harvey, New York Mets (Starting Pitcher)
Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
Patrick Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks
Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals
Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies
Mat Latos, Cincinnati Reds
Lance Lynn, St. Louis Cardinals
Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants
Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh Pirates
Edward Mujica, St. Louis Cardinals
Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

AL All-Star Ballots

For the next three days the "Stand Up Double" will be releasing its all-star ballots for both the American League and the National League. Joey Almars and myself both filled out our ballots without conversing with each other. Today we will post our AL ballots, tomorrow we will post our NL ballots, and on Thursday we will feature our first "roundtable" post where we will discuss why we made the decisions that we did on our ballots. Without further ado, here are our AL All-Star Ballots:

Matthew Taylor:

Starting Lineup:
Catcher: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
First Base: Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles
Second Base: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
Third Base: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
Shortstop: Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers
Outfield: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles
Outfield: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Outfield: Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers
Designated Hitter: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

Reserves:
Catcher: Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians
First Base: Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays
Second Base: Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
Third Base: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles
Outfield: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
Outfield: Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles
Outfield: Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox
Designated Hitter: Billy Butler, Kansas City Royals

Pitchers:
Clay Bucholtz, Boston Red Sox (Starter)
Hishashi Iwakuma, Seattle Mariners
Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers
Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers
Anibal Sanchez, Detroit Tigers
James Shields, Kansas City Royals
Ervin Santana, Kansas City Royals
Hiroki Kuroda, New York Yankees
Bartolo Colon, Oakland Athletics
Glen Perkins, Minnesota Twins
Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
Joe Nathan, Texas Rangers

Joey Almars:

Starting Lineup:
Catcher: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
First Base: Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles
Second Base: Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
Third Base: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
Shortstop: Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers
Outfield: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Outfield: Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles
Outfield: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles
Designated Hitter: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

Reserves:
Catcher: Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians
First Base: Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers
Second Base: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
Third Base: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
Shortstop: Jed Lowrie, Oakland Athletics
Outfield: Coco Crisp, Oakland Athletics
Outfield: Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox
Outfield: Nate McClouth, Baltimore Orioles

Pitchers:
Clay Bucholtz, Boston Red Sox (Starting Pitcher)
Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers
Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers
Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians
Bartolo Colon, Oakland Athletics
Hisashi Iwakuma, Seattle Mariners
Anibal Sanchez, Detroit Tigers
James Shields, Kansas City Royals
Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees,
Jim Johnson, Baltimore Orioles
Joe Nathan, Texas Rangers

Ready or Not...Here They Come! (Matthew Taylor)

The AL East has been praised for a long time as being the toughest division in baseball and as possibly the toughest division in all of sports. First of all you have the vaunted Yankees who have won an MLB-high 27 world championships. Then you have the Boston Red Sox who have won 2 world championships in the past 10 seasons. There's the Tampa Bay Rays who have a habit of doing more with less thanks to a great farm system and a great manager, Joe Maddon. The Baltimore Orioles team who has been laughed at for many years can't be laughed at any longer as they finally broke through and clinched a playoff birth last season for the first time since 1997 and are now only 1.5 games back of the AL East lead. Lastly you have the Toronto Blue Jays who, while disappointing this year, are only one game below .500 with Jose Reyes returning to the lineup next week. There's no denying that the AL East is a great division and while I do still believe that the AL East is the best division from top to bottom, I think that the NL Central is closing the gap as the best division in baseball thanks to the extraordinary play of 3 teams.

The greatness of the NL East starts with the team with the best record in baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals.s Cardinals. Most everyone expected the Cardinals to be good this season, but no one could have expected the insane numbers they have been putting up. What makes the Cardinals so great is that they are perfectly balanced with great hitting, great fielding, and great pitching. You can see this by simply looking at the stats as the Cardinals are 2nd in the MLB in runs scored (355) as well as 2nd in the MLB in ERA (3.28), and 1st in the MLB in fielding percentage (.991). They do everything extremely well, and is easy to see why they have the best record in the Majors.

The team with the 2nd best record in the big leagues also is a member of the NL Central. The team I'm talking about, of course, is the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds have also benefited from great balance as they have outstanding both great bats and great arms. Joey Votto is having another all-star season, Shin Soo Choo has proven to be a great acquisition, Brandon Phillips is leading all second basemen in RBI, Mike Leake has finally been that ace the Reds have been looking for, and Aroldis Chapman is Aroldis Chapman. They are getting production from multiple guys and are seeing results.

Being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan hasn't been easy the past few decades. They currently have the 2nd longest playoff drought in the MLB as they haven't made the playoffs since 1992. All those die-hard fans are finally being rewarded as things are finally looking up in Pittsburgh. The Pirates are only 4 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL Central lead and are currently locked into a wild card spot. The man leading the Pirates to a return to their glory days is Sir Andrew McCutchen. The 26-year old center fielder can do it all. He can field, he can hit for average, power, and he has speed. He's currently batting .287 with 7 home runs, 35 RBI, and 15 steals. He's the leader for this team and has them going in the right direction. He's not the only one producing for the Pirates, however. Their pitching for Pittsburgh has been great this year despite what they were labeled before the season. "Young and inexperienced" Jeff Locke, at 25-years old, has a 2.01 ERA and is 6-1. "Old and washed up" A.J. Burnett is sporting a 3.12 ERA and is 6th in the MLB with a 9.97 K/9. "Injury prone and overrated" Francisco Liriano is 5-3 with a 2.44 ERA. "Prehistoric and wrinkle laden" Jason Grilli has a 1.10 ERA and is leading the MLB with 25 saves. I think it's fair to say that the Pirates pitchers don't care about how they have been labeled, and I think it's fair to say that the Pirates aren't the embarrassing franchise that they have been labeled over the bast 20 years, either.

While the Brewers and Cubs are keeping the NL Central from being the best division in baseball, we all need to take notice of what the top dogs in the division are doing. All three teams are currently projected to make the playoffs and I think it's safe to say that the division race will be a good one when September rolls around.

Shift in Power in New York? (Joey Almars)

When David Wright signed the extension that pretty much locked him up as a Met for the rest of his career, I thought it was pretty cool that he decided to stay. I really like the guys that stay in one place and become the face of the franchise like Joe Mauer and Chipper Jones. Not necessarily the case for Jones but Wright appears to have picked a path that is closer to Mauer’s. You have a guy who could have gone to a strong contender but decides to finish where he started his career. While I think that team loyalty is hard to come by in the game, and I love when it shows up every once in a while, in the back of my mind I wish that a player of that caliber could have gotten a better shot at winning a World Series.

One thing that David Wright said in his interview following his extension with ESPN was that he wanted to have an inside look on where ownership will be taking the Mets in the future (an important question given the trouble that ownership has had in the past with Bernie Madoff). This was a pretty vague statement that apparently played some role in keeping him in New York. Looking at where the Mets are today being 14.5 games out of first I wondered what David Wright was talking about, and decided to dive into who is currently in their minor league system.

To start things off they have the number 1 ranked catcher coming up through their system in Travis d’Arnaud. He was acquired from Toronto in the R.A. Dickey trade and if it hadn’t been for injuries he would be ranked higher than number 6 overall. Then you have pitchers like Jenrry Mejia. He made his debut in 2010 and held a respectable ERA of 2.74 while he was healthy. Jeurys Familia is a prospect with a strong arm and a lot of potential but will need to learn control before he makes his jump the show (MLB ERA was 4.76). Then we have Matt Harvey who is a minor leaguer no more. He showed promise last season and has established himself as the anchor of the rotation this year with an incredible 2.04 ERA. So that covers the birth year of 1989.

Moving on the players born after 1989, we have Zack Wheeler who is 23 years old. In the Pacific Coast League he has a 3.93 ERA with 73 strikeouts to his name in 2013. For RHP he is ranked number 3 among prospects and is ranked number 7 overall. He is a player whose fastball is clocked at 98 mph and can provide great movement and command to his pitches. Next to him you have Noah Syndergaard, who at 20 years old has a fastball that consistently hits 96 mph and a strong curve and changeup that can still be improved. He is ranked #8 for RHP and #27 overall for prospects.

These are just some of the players they have coming up. Others include Brandon Nimmo (OF), Gavin Cecchini (SS), and Wilmer Flores (3B). I mainly focused on pitchers because I believe that is where the Mets are focusing most of their attention. Harvey is among the first wave, and with these new names coming up we might see a shift in power in New York.

The Yankees have some players coming up in the minors but it could be a while before we see them, and they don’t have any prospects that currently sit in the top 30. On top of that you have commitments to A-Rod through 2017, Sabathia through 2015, Teixeira through 2016, the expensive Vernon Wells through 2014, and Jeter who will need to be resigned after 2014 (if he decides not to retire). Then you got the younger talent in Granderson and Cano who will be free agents after this year. What it comes down to is that Karma may have caught up to the Yankees, and we will be seeing how deep their pockets really are in the upcoming years.

So in conclusion, we have seen good moves from the Mets management as of late including not resigning Dickey and getting d’Arnaud and Syndergaard in return. Wright appears to have faith in what they are doing, so depite being 14.5 games back in the division, in years to come we might see a different looking Mets team and a shift in power for New York baseball.

Eye on the Ball

For today's post I'll be highlighting the match-up of the day for Friday, June 14 in a column entitled "Eye on the Ball". Today's match-up of the day:

Boston Red Sox (Ryan Dempster 4-6, 4.40) @ Baltimore Orioles (Chris Tillman 6-2, 3.89)

The American League East is once again as tightly contested as any division in the MLB. Four teams are within 5 games of first place and you can bet your money that it will be equally as close as the season wears on. This is the 2nd of a 3-game series between the first place Boston Red Sox and third place Baltimore Orioles who are only 2.5 games back of Boston for the division lead, after winning a 13-inning thriller on a walk-off Chris Davis single on Thursday.

While we all love great pitching, nothing beats watching two teams who can absolutely crush the ball. Boston and Baltimore are two of the best hitting teams in the MLB as they are both top-5 in the majors in batting average and runs scored. With two teams putting mediocre pitchers on the mound, I fully expect these two teams to light up the scoreboard tonight.

Another reason that this is a great match-up is because of how similar these two teams are. Some of the similarities:

• Boston is #1 in the MLB in runs scored. Baltimore is #4.
• Boston is #3 in the MLB in team batting average. Baltimore is #4.
• Baltimore has a .562 winning percentage at home. Boston has a .606 winning percentage on the road.
• Both teams are 6-4 in their last 10 games.

To me this game is really a toss up. It'll be a slug-fest and I think that the team that makes doesn't strike out at the plate and that can make the plays in the field will be the team that wins and that is why I'm going with Baltimore. Baltimore is the best fielding team in the major leagues and is also extremely disciplined at the plate with only 430 strikeouts which is the 3rd least in the big leagues, while the Red Sox are the most struck out team in the majors. I think that Baltimore will ride their momentum from last night's victory and secure a series win while inching to only 1.5 games behind the division lead.

Prediction: Baltimore Orioles (8-5)

The Third Wheel

With all of the talk of the brilliance of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, there is no doubting that one other second year player has been forgotten. You have to give Harper and Trout credit, after all they have been nothing short of spectacular, but this one player deserves to be in the same conversation as Trout and Harper as he has more hits per game than both Harper and Trout and is arguably the best defensive player in the big leagues. The player that I am talking about is Manny Machado.

Manny Machado is a 20-year old third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles and in 116 games has already compiled 138 hits. Machado was selected by the Orioles with the third overall selection in the 2010 MLB draft after Bryce Harper and Jameson Taillon (Who?!) went 1st and 2nd respectively. Since being called up to the Major Leagues on August 9, 2012 Machado has been nothing short of incredible. He has been the firecracker that has helped bring the Orioles back to relevance in the Major Leagues by ending a 15-year playoff drought last season and being right in the thick of the AL East this season, only 3.5 games back of the division leading Red Sox.

What makes Machado so good? Two things stand out to me for Machado. The first is that Machado knows how to put the bat on the ball. Manny is currently in second place in the MLB in hits, trailing only Miguel Cabrera by 1 hit and is 4th best for qualified 3rd basemen with only 42 strikeouts this season. The fact that he is putting up such great numbers at such a young age is a great sign. In the month of May Machado had 44 hits which is the most ever in a month by a player under the age of 21. Manny Machado also holds the record for most multi-hit games for a player under the age of 21, and he still has a little less than a month to build on the record!!

The second thing that makes Machado so good is his glove. He can make the routine plays, along with the spectacular plays as you can see here...

and here...

These two gifs are just a small portion of Machado's extremely impressive defensive portfolio. So far in 2013, Fangraphs has evaluated Manny as the best defensive third baseman in the MLB as he has saved 15 more runs than the average 3B.

I'm not saying that Machado is better than Trout and Harper, but with all the stats and cool moving pictures that I have showed you, there is no doubt that he deserves to be in the conversation. 

Recognizing Brandon Phillips (Joey Almars)

Being a Twins fan I have always been jealous of teams who have a strong middle infield particularly on the right side. The names that get most of the attention in the media revolve around guys like Pedroia, Kinsler, and Cano. But one guy who does not receive as much credit as he deserves is Brandon Phillips.

To start out, all these players are great at what they do, they deserve to be in the spot that they are at and I would be thrilled if any of them ever ended up with the Twins (one can always dream). But there is a reason why I think Phillips deservers more credit for his play, and that is consistency. Robinson Cano is a phenomenal player and he is consistently healthy throughout the year, which allows the Yankees to benefit even more from having this power hitting second basemen. This is where Pedroia and Kinsler have had their struggles. While they have been playing at such a high level when they are healthy, it is always in the back of my mind that they are going to get hurt. Kinsler has only gone over 130 games in a season 3 times due to injuries. Pedroia has not been as injury prone as Kinsler but he had 75 game season in 2010 due to a broken bone in his foot.

Brandon Phillips, upon arriving to the Reds in 2006 has never played less than 141 games in a season. With that health consistency he is also a stellar fielder with 3 Gold Glove Awards. He is one of those players, that when you watch him you can tell how much fun he is having playing baseball as his career. He is always smiling and this attitude provides a strong locker room presence and helps the fans (and I am sure the team) rally around him (kind of an infield version of Kirby Puckett to draw a comparison). He lights up the twitter world and is so open to giving fans an inside look at some of the behind the scenes in the life of a baseball player (Follow him @DatDudeBP).

On Monday Night he was responsible for hitting in all the runs in the Reds victory over the Cubs 6-2. With the grand slam in this game, he is one home run shy of passing Joe Morgan for most HR hit by a Reds second basemen. This was a night that highlights how strong of a year Phillips is having. He is top 3 for second basemen in Runs (38) and Home Runs (10) and is leading in RBIs (52). He is bringing extra power to a strong Reds team and is rocking a .293 Batting Average. He is having a great year and with these numbers I think that #4 will make a lot of people think about who they would rather have at the second base position. For me it is Dat Dude!

Twins Tuesday - Where Are They Now? (Matthew Taylor)

For this week's issue of Twins Tuesday I thought it would be fun to take a look at some former Twins players and see where they're playing and how they are doing. There are tons of players to choose from, and if I were to choose every player this column would be way too long. So, if you like the idea, we can definitely continue the idea and do more Twins Tuesdays checking in on former Twins players. For the inaugural "Where Are They Now?" post I will focus on 2 Twins players who are having exceptional seasons with their new clubs. So without further ado let's get started...

Carlos Gomez - Remember Carlos Gomez? The speedy, young gun who was the main piece the Twins received when they traded away Johan Santana? Gomez played for the Twins for two season in 2008 and 2009. He was regarded by many as being the fastest player in the MLB and was actually clocked with a 4.29 40-yard dash time (for perspective, the fastest 40-time ever recorded in the NFL combine was a 4.24 by Chris Johnson, so Gomez wasn't far off). Gomez started off his tenure as a Twins with a boom going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs. Gomez became the third-youngest player to hit for the cycle when he did so on May 7, 2008. In his two seasons with the Twins Gomez hit .258 with 10 home runs and 47 stolen bases. Gomez didn't end up being the player the Twins thought he could become and ended up trading him to the Milwaukee Brewers on November 6, 2009 in exchange for J.J. Hardy and $250,000 in cash.

After three continued seasons of struggles for Gomez in 2010, 2011, and 2012 Gomez is having an outstanding season for the Brewers and is looking like the team MVP thus far. Through 63 games Gomez is hitting .316 with 11 home runs, 31 RBI, and 12 stolen bases. He is finally developing into the 5-tool player that the Twins thought he could become and it is a shame that he isn't giving this same productions to the Twins that he is giving to the Brewers.

Francisco Liriano - The story of Francisco Liriano is somewhat gut-wrentching for Twins fans everywhere. After being acquired from the Minnesota Twins in addition to Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser in exchange for A.J. Pierzynski, Liriano was a highly touted prospect in the Minnesota Twins organization. And in his rookie season, Liriano exceeded any possible expectations that could have been put before him. Midway through his rookie year of 2006 Liriano had a 12-3 record with a Major League leading 2.19 ERA. The comparisons to Johan Santana were inevitable; a hard-throwing lefty who could anchor a rotation and get any guy out with any number of pitches. The 1-2 punch of Liriano and Santana was unstoppable and the Twins looked primed to make a deep playoff run. Everything changed on August 1, 2006 when Liriano's elbow problems first began. Liriano didn't pitch again in 2006, and missed the entire 2007 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. After the surgery, Lirano was never the same pitcher. He showed some bright spots (a 15 strikeout game against Oakland, a no hitter against the White Sox), but overall Liriano wasn't the same pitcher after elbow surgery. After his brilliant 2006 season, Liriano posted an ERA over 5 in 3 of the next 5 seasons and Minnesota quickly ran out of patience with Liriano.

After being traded to the White Sox in 2012 and having similar struggles (5.40 ERA in 11 starts), Liriano was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates. To say that Liriano is having a good season with the Pirates would be selling him extremely short. What Liriano has done through 6 starts this season has been nothing short of spectacular. Liriano currently has a 1.75 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a career best 11.75 K/9. Liriano has 5 quality starts out of his six appearances and has yet to allow a home run this season. He has been a pleasant surprise for a Pirates team that is only 4 games back of the NL division lead. It should be fun to see if Liriano can keep up this insane pace that he is on. For what it's worth, I'll be pulling for him as he is now the ace of my fantasy baseball pitching staff.

That's all I have for you today. Even though they aren't on the team anymore, I always like to see former Twins players do well. Thanks for reading.

It's Time to Crack Down on PED Users (Matthew Taylor)

Assuming you don't live under a rock in the middle of the Mojave Desert, I'm sure you've heard about the recent advances in the Miami PED scandal involving Dr. Anthony Bosch with Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun at the forefront of it all facing the possibility of a 100-game suspension for doping. Because of the recent events I'll be giving you my two cents in this column about how I think MLB should change their drug testing policy.

In case you don't know how the drug testing policy works in the MLB, I'll explain how it works. Upon reporting to Spring Training all players are tested for PEDs. In addition to the initial testing at Spring Training, every player is tested once at an unannounced, completely random date. And for the most part, that is all of the testing that goes on.

Even though there aren't tons and tons of tests for each player, it would SEEM as though this testing procedure would still be effective because it is completely random and unannounced so players will never know when it is coming. However, there is one glaring problem to this drug testing procedure. Let's use Ryan Braun as an example since he is at the forefront of this whole scandal. Let's say that Braun passes his drug test at Spring Training and then his random drug test is on May 23, which he also passes. That's great. Braun passed his test, he's clean. The problem is that his random drug test was conducted so early on in the season that he now has May-October to juice the crap out of himself without fear of another drug test.

Another big problem with the MLB drug policy is that the penalty is hardly strict. First time juicers receive a 50-game suspension without pay, second time juicers receive a 100-game suspension without pay, third time juicers receive a lifetime ban from MLB. If I'm a baseball player, the reward from juicing and getting away with it far outweighs a measly 50-game suspension in which I can still return to play in the same season.

How can MLB fix this problem and come up with a better drug policy? My idea is that Major League Baseball adopts the Olympic drug testing policies. The Olympic committee is widely regarded as being the toughest on all competitors and time and time again catches those who are wrongly trying to advance themselves in their respective sport.

What two things does the Olympic committee do that MLB doesn't that would greatly help prevent steroid use in baseball? The first thing is that the Olympic committee is CONSTANTLY testing athletes. They don't simply test each athlete twice a season and then move on. They test the top-5 finishing athletes immediately after each event to ensure that they won in "clean" fashion. This ensures that all athletes are clean, and if they aren't, it ensures that they won't be awarded a medal. The second thing the Olympic committee does to ensure fair competition is that their penalties are FAR more sever than those of the MLB. A first time offender of the Olympic drug policy receives a 2 year ban from all Olympic competition. A second time offender receives a lifetime ban from the game. This is a HUGE deterrent from using drugs, and it is why the Olympic committee is being praised for cracking down on doping.

So how can Major League Baseball use the Olympic drug testing policy as a model and tighten up their drug testing? First of all, MLB needs to adopt mandatory MONTHLY drug testing along with 3 completely random drug tests throughout the season. It might cost MLB some extra money, but they will lose much more money if these drug problems continue and people lose all credibility in the game. Secondly, MLB needs to use the exact same penalties as the Olympic committee uses. There is no reason to have such skimpy suspensions for steroid users. Crack down on them, and create a suspension that will actually ruin their careers and create an actual deterrent.

These are my thoughts on what Major League Baseball needs to do to improve their drug testing policy, and if implemented, will greatly reduce the number of steroid users and restore credibility in the league.

Who’s Hot and Who’s Not! (Joey Almars)

For Who’s Hot and Who’s Not. I just wanted to focus on two players that are having a positive or negative impact on their teams this week.

Who’s Hot:

Domonic Brown: This guy bailed me out in fantasy baseball last week and helped me cut my losses in an overall bad hitting week. In the last week, this Outfielder for the Phillies, is ranked 2^nd in Runs scored (9), 1st in HR (5), and 2^nd in RBIs (12) in the last seven days. And during this past week he has held up a batting average of .429. Last week I was looking for a player who was hot that would help get me through the week but since he is still going… I plan to hold onto this guy until this upper trend starts to come down.

Who’s Not:

Andre Ethier: Dodgers are in a tricky spot with both Kemp and Crawford out. As Matthew Taylor showed us in his last post for NL Thursday, regarding the debut of Yasiel Puig, there have been some who have been helping the Dodgers at this position. Ethier is a former All-Star that should be providing consistent reliability when the team needs it most but instead he is batting .080 with only one scored run to his name. This isn’t just a slump for this week this poor performance goes back 2 weeks and farther. With Puig being the anchor of that Outfield, in the words of Matthew Taylor, “Puig has sustained excellence at every level and I'm sure he has Andre Eithier sweating that his job might get taken once Kemp and Crawford come back.”

NL Thursday (Matthew Taylor)

If you haven't heard the name Yasiel Puig yet, you're going to be hearing it a LOT throughout the rest of this season and onward. This 22-year old Cuban phenom is taking Major League Baseball by storm, and rightly so. Because of injuries to Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford, Puig was called up and made his MLB debut on June 3. Thus far, Puig has only played in two games but BOY has he made an impact. In his MLB debut, Puig went 2 for 4 with a walk-off defensive assist as he made a catch at the warning track and threw a laser to double up Chris Denorfia at first and secure a Dodger victory.

In case you missed it...here it is:



As if his MLB debut wasn't enough, Puig had an even BETTER game Tuesday night against the same Padres team. Puig went 3-4 with 2 home runs, 5 RBI, and 2 runs scored...all while "trending" trending on Twitter. I think it's safe to say that Puig had a better Tuesday night than you did.

This is all a fluke right? He had two games, there's no way he can actually be this good of a player, right?!?! Wrong. It's not like Puig is surprising himself or the Dodgers. This Spring Training Puig batted .526 in the Cactus League, and in AA for the Chattanooga Lookouts Puig was excellent while posting a .313 average with 8 HRs and 37 RBI in 40 games. Puig has sustained excellence at every level and I'm sure he has Andre Eithier sweating that his job might get taken once Kemp and Crawford come back. The guy has speed, power, a great arm, and a great knowledge of the game that we see in MLB superstars.

What does this mean for the Dodgers? Well, Puig represents hope. This was looking like another lost season for the Dodgers. The money they spent was not translating into wins, and they were one injury shy of calling ME up to play for the club. But with the serious momentum and excitement that Puig has generated in just two games, who knows what could happen. The Cardinals have showed us that know deficit is too large to overcome, and if Greinke can round back to go into form, I think these Dodgers could surprise some people.

Stay tuned, people...Yasiel Puig is here to stay.

NOTE: Stats official as of 6/5/13 at 5:45 PM CST

AL Wednesday (Joey Almars)

One of my favorite teams in the American League is the Texas Rangers. For the past five years they have been a team that has had notable losses in their lineup and for some reason they keep producing solid seasons that are worth any fans time. Looking a little closer at who they have lost in the past 5 years we start in 2007, when Texas decided to clear some cap room by trading All-Stars, Mark Teixeira and Eric Gagne. In return for these studs the Texas Rangers received a handful of unproven talent and not much else. Then we go to a temporary pickup in the middle of the 2010 season, which was the acquisition of Cliff Lee. This was a deal designed to help them make a stronger push into the postseason, and despite going to the World Series, they could not bring him back the following season. After that season they made it back to the World Series again with the help of their star pitcher C.J. Wilson. After losing the World Series for the second straight year, C.J. Wilson followed the money and took his talents to L.A. And if this isn’t a bad enough list already they lost their big bats on the team in Mike Napoli and Josh Hamilton, their MVP.

Looking at where they are at today, it follows the same story for this franchise since the year of 2009. They maintained respectable record in 2009 and in the year of 2010 and 2011, established themselves as a competitive threat in baseball. And even with the losses of this offseason they still remain a competitive threat and currently sit at the top of the West Division.

So how do they keep producing? My answer is their Manager Ron Washington. With all the losses that he has had to deal with as a Manager since signing on in 2007, he continues to make do with what he has and produces a competitive ball club each year. Ron Washington is no stranger to the whole situation of losing players and having to rebuild each year. He was the infield coach for the Oakland Athletics from 1997-2006 (and from there he took the Manager role in Texas). Michael Lewis, the author of the book Moneyball, told of how important Washington was in Billy Beane’s push to make a winning team. Billy Beane describes Washington as having the gift of making players want to be better than they were (Lewis 165). So each year when Beane got rid of a star player in exchange for a bunch of unproven prospects, he knew that Washington had a very good chance at helping them improve and making Beane’s trade a good one. And in the most important time of the year, the MLB Draft where they can get talent for cheap, Washington helps these players develop into the players that Oakland hopes to see them become.

With this background, Ron Washington is perfect for Texas. He is still dealing with rebuilding but he is also dealing with a team that has more money to spread around than Oakland does, which can help slow down the turnover ratio of players leaving. Even with Napoli and Hamilton gone, Washington has made his squad competitive and continues to bring out the best in his players no matter who the General Managers bring in or gets rid of.

Twins Tuesday (Matthew Taylor)

For this edition of Twins Tuesday I'll be discussing Josh Willingham and digging deeper to figure out what exactly is wrong with him and how the Twins deal with him going forward.

We all remember the Josh Willingham of 2012. He set career highs in runs, home runs, RBI, walks, and slugging percentage. He produced a glimmer of hope during the train wreck that was the 2012 Minnesota Twins. One thing the Twins have been lacking is that consistent home run hitter who can turn the game around with one swing of the bat. Justin Morneau was that guy for a few years, but injuries have slowed him down greatly and he hasn't played in over 135 games since 2008. Finally, in 2012 Willingham became that guy for the Twins, slugging 35 home runs and 110 RBI while maintaining a respectable .260 batting average. 2013, however, has been a completely different story for the man previously known as "Hammer". Through 50 games this season Willingham is batting .211 with 10 home runs and 29 RBI. Not the kind of production that the Twins are looking for and it is worth asking the question, WHAT'S WRONG WITH WILLY?!

To me Willingham's struggles come down to three main problems:

1) Injury problems. Willingham has struggled with a wrist injury all season.
2) Strikeout problems. Willingham is on pace to strike out 171 times. Which would shatter his previous high of 150 strikeouts in 2011.
3) Age problems. Like it or not, Willingham is getting old. He's 34 years old, and let's face it, he's not getting any younger.

Because of these three problems contributing to Willingham's early season struggles the Twins are at a crossroads and are probably asking themselves, WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH WILLY?!

Since lists of threes are easier to remember, let's keep it going. Here are three options the Twins have for dealing with Willingham.

1) Keep him. He's still on pace for 30 home runs. Fans love watching home runs. We don't have many better options. The team needs to act like we're still trying to compete now, so why not just keep him?
2) Send him to the minor leagues for a few weeks. It sounds ridiculous to send a 34 year-old veteran to Rochester, but it might be exactly what Willingham needs to find his swing again and get out of this brutal slump he's swung (or not swung) himself into. It would give us a chance to bring up some young talent to get some invaluable major league experience for someone like Eddie Rosario.
3) Trade him. While he isn't having a great season here in Minnesota there are plenty of guys who only need a change in scenery to get out of their slump. We could trade Willingham to a contender at the deadline, get some young talent (middle infielders or pitching preferably), and shed $14M in cap space while we are at it.

So what do I think the Twins should do with Willingham? I think we should do a mixture of numbers two and three. I think that two weeks in the minor leagues could do wonders for Willingham. Going against inferior pitchers to get his confidence back could do wonders. Then we bring him back. If he is still struggling, I have no problem at all trading him for whatever we can get. Even if we don't get much in return for him, dumping his contract would be fine. And if he comes back from his minor league stint and gets back to his 2012 form I still think we should trade him. This would increase his trade value greatly, and we should get much more in return.

Weekly Preview (Joey Almars)

For the weekly preview of June 3^rd – June 9^th I wanted to look at a teams that have a good chance to take the division by this weeks end, I’ll start with The New York Yankees.

Sadly, New York’s DL just got a little smaller with one of their stars, Mark Texiera, making his return to the Yankees starting lineup. I have enjoyed this long run of him, Jeter, A-Rod, and Granderson all out for the Yankees, but they have held themselves to 2 games out of first in the division, and have a good schedule coming into this week. They start out with Cleveland who has been holding their own this season but has struggled in the East with a 6-14 record. After Cleveland comes to the Bronx for 3 games, New York goes to Seattle, who has made the Houston Astros not feel so bad about themself. They play four games in Seattle, which gives them a lot of optimism going into this week. The fact the Yankees have hung in there through injuries this season, the addition of Texeira back in the lineup will only help them make a push for the top of the division. Sad day.

In addition to a relatively soft Yankee Schedule we got a pretty tough schedule for the division leader, The Boston Red Sox. They start out with the division leader of the West, Texas, they play them for 3 games and play the Los Angeles Angels for 3 games (who have been struggling but have an explosive lineup either way). It helped that Boston did well against the Yankees over the weekend, but with the opposite kinds of schedules, this could be the week that we see a new leader in the East.

Looking to the National League, we have Cincinnati facing off against St. Louis in a 3 game series. They are close in their division with Cinci only 2.5 games back and could creep closer to claiming the top of the Central. They start out with Colorado who has been playing decent this year, but if they can win that series and get momentum going into the division rivalry series they have a chance to change up the standings. Brandon Phillips (Dat Dude) is out with a bruised forearm for 3-4 days, but in his words from 2010, “I’d play against these guys on one leg. We have to beat these guys. All they do is b**** and moan about everything, all of them.” His feelings haven’t changed much and I believe that we will for sure see him at the start of this series no matter what. This is a strong division and these are the games that these teams need to win. So this will be a good closer to another week of baseball.