5 Things That Are Wrong With Major League Baseball

Even though I'm a big fan of Major League Baseball (actually all baseball), a true fan is able to look at the sport and spot the problems that need fixing. To think your favorite sport is perfect, is either being blind to its pitfalls or ignorant to the negatives within it. Every sport has things wrong with it and here I present to you, the five things wrong with the MLB.

1. The Home Plate Collision Rule: MLB attempted to prevent injuries to catchers by creating a rule that forces the runner to avoid the catcher. Injuries in the past to all-stars such as Buster Posey and Ray Fosse led to the creation of this rule. The problem is that the rule is left with too much of a gray area for the umpires to interpret the rule. When players, managers, and fans can't tell if the rule is broken and many times the replay crew in the New York headquarters has to make the call, there is a flaw in the rule. A rule in baseball must be clear cut and as close to black and white as possible.

2. The Los Angeles Dodgers' Television Deal With Time Warner: In a sport that needs to capture the enthusiasm from a youthful generation to grow, the Dodgers deal alienates a lot of their local fans. Only people subscribing to Time Warner Cable are able to watch the games on live television. The biggest problem with this is that in an industry that is almost monopoly like, with cable companies owning rights to particular cities, many fans don't even have that choice to switch over to Time Warner. Long Beach, the second largest city in Los Angeles County is a city in this category. Five hundred thousand residents, but their city utilizes Cox Communications, meaning that Dodgers fans have to leave the city and find a bar or family member's house that is in a Time Warner city, to watch a game. This alienates current Dodgers fans and either creates future Angels fans in the youth demographic or even worse, hurts the future of baseball in general by taking away the ability for fans to grow up with the game. What's worse is that Time Warner raised their prices by $10 a month to compensate for the deal they made.

3. The 2nd Wildcard Spot: To create even more hype and build revenue that the MLB pulls in during the playoffs, they expanded the amount of teams to make the playoffs to five in a league. Three division winners and two wildcards. The two wildcard teams must play each other in a one game, do or die to play in the rest of the playoffs. It's too many teams. The MLB needs to revert back to four teams a league, which would only include one wildcard team. If there is ever another expansion, the MLB can create four divisions in each league consisting of four teams and still have four teams in each league in the playoffs.

4. The Ban of Shoeless Joe Jackson: Linked to the Black Sox scandal, eight White Sox players who played in the 1919 World Series, were banned for life for throwing the Series. Believed to have been bribed by professional gamblers and mobsters including mob boss Arnold Rothstein, the eight players were part of a conspiracy to throw the Series to supplement their low income. The MLB Reserve clause back then, allowed a team to offer any amount to a player and if the player rejected it, they would not be allowed to play in the MLB again. Charles Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox was notorious for lowballing his players. Eight players were accused of throwing the Series including Jackson, but Jackson's stats didn't appear to be those of a man throwing any of the games. He his .375, hit a homerun (in a time when they weren't hit that often), three doubles, and six RBI's. Teammates of his also went on to tell those who listened that he never accepted any money, nor was part of the scandal. Also no physical evidence ever showed that he was guilty.

5. Ban All Tobacco: In a sport that named the area where pitchers warm up (the bullpen), after the advertising signs of Bull Durham Tobacco that adorned them, baseball clearly had a long association with tobacco. One of the stereotypes of a ballplayer is the wads of chewing tobacco they shove in their mouth. As far back as 1909, players such as Honus Wagner demand the American Tobacco Company to refrain from releasing his baseball card along with packages of chewing tobacco. Unfortunately as far back as the conception of the sport, tobacco had already become common place on the field. The MLB eventually banned players from smoking in baseball facilities and furthered the prevention by banning tobacco companies from giving players free product in the clubhouses of the stadiums. In 1993, professional baseball took it a step further by banning players, coaches, and managers from using chewing tobacco on the field or in the vicinity of the stadium. Unfortunately it is still allowed in the Major League level. Former all-star baseball player Lenny Dystra, an addict to chewing tobacco, once stated, "They call me "Nails" because they say I'm as tough as nails. But I'm not tough enough to beat the spit-tobacco habit. Copy my hustle, copy my determination. But don't copy my spit-tobacco habit." Other Hall of Fame legends such as Babe Ruth and more recently, Tony Gwynn, were all diagnosed with cancer in the oral regions, attributed to their chewing tobacco use.

R.I.P. Don Zimmer

Normally a ballplayer, manager, or someone else involved in Major League Baseball has to hit certain milestones to be considered a Hall of Famer. For a hitter it could be five hundred homeruns or three hundred wins for a pitcher. For a manager, usually it means you have to have a World Series ring or two. Otherwise, if you make it to the Hall of Fame, it's because you did something to revolutionize the game such as breaking the color barrier.

But when should someone be elected to the Hall of Fame, despite not hitting any of the these career milestones? How about a player with these stats....

12 Seasons, .235 career batting average, 773 hits, 91 homeruns, 45 stolen bases, and 1 All-Star appearance

...or manager stats that look like this?...1 first place season, 1 manager of the year award, and a career record of 885 wins and 858 loses.

Not very Hall of Fame like at first glance, right?

Normally I would agree, but in this case, these stats belong to Don Zimmer. He spent sixty-six seasons in professional baseball, playing with World Series winners ('55 and '59 with the Dodgers), and coaching four more ('96 and '98-'00 with the Yankees). He had been involved with the MLB so long that he was the last member of the Brooklyn Dodgers franchise to still be working on the field (Vin Scully is technically the last, but he never played/coached/managed).

Zimmer had also been involved in several other notorious moments in Major League Baseball history. Because of Zimmer nudging Billy Martin to ask about George Brett's bat, the famous "Pine Tar Incident" in 1983 took place. Also in 1953, after being struck in the head by a pitch, the MLB began to adopt the practice of hitters using helmets. Lastly, during a brawl on the field, Zimmer, a coach for the Yankees at the time, charged Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, only to be tossed to the ground. It became one of the most famous fight moments in baseball history.

He also has the dubious honor of being only one of four people to be ejected from a game in six different decades. The others are Casey Stengel, Frank Robinson, and Leo Durocher. He also was the first New York Met to wear the uniform.

As the bench coach for the Yankees, Zimmer was the person to convince Torre not to make it mandatory for the players to wear ties when traveling on road trips. During his tribute in Tampa Bay, it was revealed that his wife Soot used to tie his ties during home games, but on the road, without his wife, he couldn't tie the tie himself. His wife was part of Zimmer and baseball as far back as 1951. They were married at home plate in Elmira, New York in between two games of a doubleheader.

At his tribute, his family mentioned that no funeral service would be performed because the baseball field was his church. Over the years he touched and molded many players and legends of the game from Derek Jeter to Jackie Robinson. Mark Grace to Roberto Clemente. Willie Mays to David Price.

The game won't be the same without him there. With sixty-six years of professional baseball experience under his belt, it's hard for anyone to recall a time the game had been played without Zimmer being part of it. Despite his lack of milestone numbers, his influence superseded what most players have ever achieved in their lifetime.

Expansion Time

With everyone in Major League Baseball trying to find ways to improve or change the game in some form, I wonder why it hasn't occurred to someone to suggest another expansion? In the "Expansion Era" (1961-present), fourteen teams were added to the MLB. Now baseball has gone longer without expanding since the era started.

The last expansion draft was in 1998 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks being added to the MLB. That's sixteen years without adding a new team. Since the era started, the MLB has had expansions in 1961, 1962, 1969 (4 teams), 1977, 1992, and 1998. The biggest gap as you can see was fifteen years.

So why is expansion needed? First off, the AL and NL both have fifteen teams now. Because of this, every game day, there is an interleague matchup happening. Now I'm not exactly against interleague play, but it was supposed to be something special. Now it's common place and because of this, TV ratings and fan attendance will drop slightly. It takes the fun and mystique out of it. Adding two more teams in an expansion will create equal sixteen team leagues, which can be divided to into four team divisions. That's four first place teams that can go to the playoffs.

Second, there are markets that can flourish with MLB teams. San Jose has been trying to steal the A's from Oakland or Giants from San Francisco, but they're so close to the Bay area, that I think that they are best served by hosting a Triple A level team. Markets I think can handle a MLB team include Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Memphis/Nashville, Portland, and Charlotte.

Third, with team's payrolls raising up so high, two more teams can spread out the cost to pay the players. The highest cost players would be spread among thirty-two teams instead of thirty. This would leave more room for teams to play/sign lower cost players, thus lowering their payroll.

I would split the divisions like this....
AL North: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles
AL South: Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros
AL Central: Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers
AL West: ANAHEIM Angels, Oakland A's, Seattle Mariners, LAS VEGAS BANDITS

NL East: New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates
NL South: Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Charlotte Moonshiners, St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies
NL West: LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks

So as you can see, my expansion team cities would be Las Vegas and Charlotte. I think these areas would be most appreciative of an MLB team. Las Vegas is dying for a professional sports team in general and if they built a stadium similar to where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, it could work with the extreme temperatures. Also Las Vegas is larger than teams that already have teams such as Atlanta, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh.

In the case of Charlotte, I believe that Charlotte can grow as a sports city. With teams like the NBA's Bobcats, NFL's Carolina Panthers, and NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, why wouldn't this be a city to host the MLB? Also many banks call Charlotte their headquarter city. It should be easy to find corporate sponsors for a stadium and with a growing population, a growing fan base can provide an even better financial backing.

So in what baseball historians still term "The Expansion Era" why has baseball still yet to expand? There's no reason not to. It could give the American and National Leagues a form of symmetry as both leagues could have an equal amount of teams and divisions could be split into an even 4 teams a piece. Baseball should start now since it tends to take several years for an MLB to set up. They need to find/build a stadium, develop a minor league system, and the season before, hold an expansion draft.

In my opinion, it's time to expand.

The Transfer Rule

As the new year for Major League Baseball, there was debate about the two big rule changes for the 2014 season. Instant replay and catcher collisions were the topics that all the news outlets for the up and coming season. In the first two weeks these two new rules have been some major talking points, but a third rule change that flew under the radar is having just as big of an effect on the game as the first two.

The MLB instilled a new transfer rule that has changed the outcome of games multiple times already. When a player makes a catch, if he doesn't grab the ball with his throwing hand cleanly, the hitter/runner is now safe as a result of the incomplete transfer.

The problem is in many of these occurrences is that the fielder has made a clear catch and even taken a few steps and then bobbled the ball, only to lose the out. When right fielder Elliot Johnson of the Cleveland Indians caught a ball, took three full steps, crashed in the wall, took one more step, and then bobbled the ball, the umpires ruled the hitter safe. After the game Terry Francona, the manager for the Indians was asked by the press about what he thought about the play. He joked that if anything, he would have thought the umpires would have called traveling if anything.

In another incident, the Texas Rangers JP Arencibia took a throw at home plate as part of a force play. He stepped off the plate to throw the ball to first base, but bobbled the ball. Not only did he catch the ball, but he took steps to position himself to throw the ball. After reviewing replay, the umpires rules Dustin Ackley safe because of the transfer rule. Manager Ron Washington came out to argue, but was thrown out before ever getting a chance to argue. After the game, he was quoted as saying, "“We’ve got to do something about it. I understand the rule and I understand their interpretation of it. I just don’t agree with it.”

On another play, Rays manager Joe Maddon was upset on a double play that was ruled safe on all ends because when second baseman Ben Zobrist received the ball and tried to turn two, he bobbled the ball as the runner slid into him. Joe Maddon said, "He was absolutely out,'' Maddon said. "Part of it is that everything is slowed down, there is instant replay, it is slow. You could easily discern that Zo had the ball in his glove with his foot on the bag and the runner is out, period. So as we move this forward there had to be a differentiation between that and the two-handed transfer. … I do believe that has to be revisited.''

This new transfer rule has become a hindrance to the game. If a player has clearly made a catch, the hitter/runner should be out. Simple as that. Several times a day, the transfer rule comes into effect and in some cases, it has changed the outcome of the game.

Unfortunately MLB only changes rules once a year at the Winter Meetings. In this case, it would be advisable that they hold an emergency meeting as soon as possible to change the rule back to it's previous interpretation. If this bleeds into the playoffs and the World Series, we could see a massively important game of the season, hurt by a new rule that is clearly wrong.

The biggest reason to change this rule is that a fan should be able to watch a play and even if they don't like a rule or the call, understand why the umpire has ruled in a certain way. In a couple of cases, one involving the injury of a player, a player did drop the ball, but the hitter was still ruled out. Joe Maddon, the Rays manager affected by this call asked for a clear cut answer from the umpire why this play was ruled out. The umpire cited the injury and could tell him where the actual line is between catch and transfer. If the umpire doesn't know exactly how to interpret the rule, how is a fan in the stands or watching TV supposed to know (this can also be said for the catcher collision rule too)?

MLB....please change the rule back so fans don't have to pull out their hair over this stupid, new rule.

Spring Training

When February roles around, there is excitement in the air. Valentine's Day? Well for some. President's Day? Maybe if you're a banker. Well what is it?

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training for the up and coming new season. When many people are still freezing their butts off, many of the world's best baseball players are flying to Florida or Arizona to get ready for the new season.

For many rookies, it may be a chance to show that they deserve a spot on the roster. For some seasoned veterans, it's a last chance to stick around with a club for one more season. Players report to new teams they just signed with and managers/coaches get familiar with the new teams that they just took charge of.

One can look at Spring Training and not care. Many do. If you're a true baseball fan, it's not something to be missed...in person. The games don't mean anything, but they do give a chance to people to get up close with those they cheer for during the regular season. Tickets that would cost a grand in the regular season and sometimes take a deal with a devil to get, can go for as low as ten dollars and you have your choice of which exact seat you want. You want to lay out on the grass on a nice Spring day? For as low as five dollars, you can soak up the sun and enjoy the game from the outfield territory.

Another benefit to showing up for Spring Training? You can catch your favorite all-time greats coach the young guys. George Brett shows up every Spring still to guide the youth of the Royals. Sandy Koufax gives advice at Camelback Ranch to the Dodgers pitching staff. Robin Yount can be seen giving tips to fellow hitters such as Ryan Braun.

Not only can you watch them coach the current generation of players, many of the greats sign autographs and take pictures with fans. If you show up early enough before a game, many of the players are on the side fields taking early hitting practice or doing field drills. These practices are open to the fans and if you have a kid with you, it's almost a guarantee that you not only get an autograph from many of the players, but the occasional players gives a piece of his equipment away to the lucky kid here and there.

One game I attended at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona in 2012 had one of the better moments I personally witnessed in player/fan interactions. After a White Sox game, utility player Brett Lillibridge was signing autographs for some of the fans that stuck around. A kid around the age of eight years old, went up to him without anything for him to sign. He still wanted an autograph to remember his first game, but had nothing to give Lillibridge. Brett pulled out one of his personal bats from his own bag, borrowed one of the other fans Sharpie's, signed the bat, and presented it to the kid. Brett is a good utility player to have on a squad, but will never be an all-star. After witnessing what he did, he will always be an all-star in my mind.

Moments like this can be seen at many of the Spring Training games. Attending a game with the Diamondbacks in Scottsdale, Arizona, my wife, who loves to get autographs on baseballs she brings to every game. At a regular season game, you can get one autograph and feel lucky. At Spring Training, you can get seven or eight autographs and have done well. The Diamondbacks at this particular game got in a single file line in front of the seats on the third base side and spent the next hour gradually going down the line, signing everyone's balls, hats, or anything else fans handed them. We walked away with a ball that had so many autographs, that you couldn't fit anymore on her ball.

At a game in Peoria, Arizona, with the Mariners playing the Brewers, Rickie Weeks had a game face on and was ready to have a good game. On his way out to stretch before the start of the game, an older lady asked him for an autograph and in turn, gave him candy in trade. A twenty-five cent sucker and the lady had a prized possession. He came down the line to sign more autographs and when he came to my wife, he took a picture with her...with the sucker still in his mouth.

If you have never been to a Spring Training game, try to go at least once in your life. The stadiums only sit several thousand people and there are only a couple of concession stands in the whole stadium, but for a big baseball fan, it's almost like going to an amusement park. It's something that every baseball fan should get to enjoy once in their life.

The 2014 Hall of Fame Vote (a joke)

The BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) should be ashamed of themselves. As a writer, you are there to judge players fairly and be unbiased with your picks for the Hall of Fame. In the past three years, a large portion of the BBWAA has been childish, petty, playing favorites, vindictive, and even revenge seeking.

A small group of these writers call themselves "The Gatekeepers" and have been voting unfairly and/or based on rumors. The Gatekeepers refuse to vote for ANYONE who played during the "steroid era" because their belief is that everyone is tainted. Anyone from your large power hitters (i.e. Mark McGwire) to the speedy infielders (i.e. Craig Biggio), to even the average shaped pitchers (i.e. Greg Maddux). Whatever happened to innocent 'til proven guilty?

One writer, Dan Le Batard, sold his vote (for money for charity) to the website Deadspin.com and became the only writer to actually be stripped of his vote for abuse of his vote. I agree he should have been stripped, but the irony is that Deadspin let their readers vote their top ten picks for the Hall and the readers actually came up with a good vote (Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Piazza, Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Edgar Martinez, Bagwell). Another writer allowed to keep his vote though, voted for players such as Jacque Jones, JT Snow, and Kenny Rogers over Biggio and Thomas. If you can't take your vote seriously, you should lose it. The BBWAA is a lifetime membership and some of the voters no longer cover sports and writer admittedly said he doesn't even watch baseball anymore. These writers should lose their votes too.

People without votes include Bill James (MLB's official historian), many of the journalist for MLB.com and the MLB Channel, and even people who have seen more baseball than ninety-nine percent of writers such as Vin Scully. The group of people voting for the Hall of Fame should be re-examined. Several current writers have submitted no votes for the past three years. You should be stripped of your vote. There is no excuse not to be able to find one vote in years that had so many deserving players.

In this year's ballot, there were arguably fifteen players or so that have Hall Of Fame credentials. Each writer is unfortunately restricted to ten votes, but a large number of players should end up going. Only three were selected (Maddux, Glavine, Thomas). It was nice to see a pitcher with a rookie season after 1970, finally make it. It's not as if there were no deserving pitchers in that group. Jack Morris, the winningest pitcher of the '80's fits in that deserving group, but only three players total was embarrassing.

First off, some players should be considered a no brainer when it comes to the Hall of Fame and with no valid argument against voting the player (i.e. Babe Ruth) and therefore should receive one hundred percent of a vote, which has never happened in history. Greg Maddux should have been one of these players, but a handful of voters actually made a case against him.

What is strange is some of these writers acknowledged that they WILL vote for players such as Manny Ramirez when he becomes eligible. Ramirez tested positive twice after the new rules of suspension came out (i.e. 50/100/150/life). Why would he be okay in their eyes, but not someone like Fred McGriff, who never tested positive, never was accused, and never even changed body shape all that much while he played. Some writers will cite that he didn't hit the benchmark numbers of five hundred homers or three thousand hits. McGriff hit four hundred ninety-three home runs and was a league leader in homeruns during the strike shortened season on 1994. In one hundred thirteen games he had thirty-four homeruns and could have easily hit seven more.

Rafael Palmeiro fell off the ballot this year with less than five percent of the vote and is the first player with over three thousand hits and/or five hundred homeruns to fall of the Hall of Fame ballot. In his case, I believe a case can be made for him not to make because he DID test positive for steroids, but other power hitters such as Jeff Bagwell, Fred McGriff, and even speedsters like Tim Raines never did. The same writers will hold Mark McGwire accountable for doing "Andro" when he played with the Cardinals, but in the late '90's, the medical community classified "Andro" as a supplement and not a steroid, nor was it even banned by Major League Baseball at the time. What he was doing was completely within the rules of baseball during that time period.

Craig Biggio comes up as a player that was gypped out of the honor this year. He was two votes short, the closest any player has come, without being voted in. He is one of the top ten second baseman of all time, amassing over three thousand hits, four gold gloves, five silver sluggers, and holds the record for being beaned the most in the modern day era. He is the only player in MLB history that has over three thousand hits, six hundred doubles, four hundred stolen bases, and two hundred stolen bases. He fell nine homeruns short of being only the second player in history to amass three thousand hits, three hundred homers, and three hundred stolen bases (Willie Mays being the only one). He played three positions to benefit his team, starting off his career as a all-star catcher, switching over to second base to become a gold glover, and moving to centerfield to benefit his team. He is undoubtedly a Hall Of Famer and it is said he will make it next year. The problem lies that for those who vote for him next year, they essentially only have nine votes for Hall of Fame instead of ten because of the travesty of not voting him in this season.

With only three players going this year, the already crowded vote gets even more crowded next year when players such as John Smoltz, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez become eligible. With the already crowded ballot, there's a good chance that several players might fall under the five percent minimum to stay on the ballot the next season, that are better players than ones currently in the Hall.

The biggest snubs are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, neither of which have ever tested positive for steroids. One writer said he would never vote for Bonds because "he is a mean person". This may be true, but former players such as Ty Cobb made it and he was a known racist and even possibly killed a man and he made it. Clemens even tested for international competition and passed when he drug tested for the Olympics. Clemens only negative was that he tested in front of Congress that he never cheated on his wife, a question that had nothing to do with drugs, and he was found later of lying about that. The only thing Barry was ever proven to lie about was paying the correct amount of taxes. Neither should be a reason to keep the all time home run leader and possibly the best pitcher of the last fifty years out of the Hall.

Other players such as Tim Raines (a poor man's Rickey Henderson), Mike Piazza (horrible defense, but best hitting catcher), Mike Mussina (arguably better than Glavine), Jeff Bagwell (best first basemen of the '90's), Sammy Sosa (only proved to have had a corked bat in his final season), and Jack Morris were also gypped from becoming fellow Hall members. Good arguments could also have been made for Edgar Martinez (no defense), Lee Smith (retired as the all time saves leader), Curt Schilling (lack of consistency), Jeff Kent (lack of defense), Alan Trammell (in the shadow of Cal, Ozzie, and Larkin) and Larry Walker (lack of health).

The BBWAA needs to get their act together. With the way the group of writers has acted as a whole, if they continue to vote the way they have for the past few seasons, it will tarnish the validity of the Hall of Fame and players that are well deserving, will never make it. Embarrassing.

Mid-Season 2013 MLB Awards

 Welcome to the mid-season awards for the 2013 MLB Season....

AMERICAN LEAGUE:
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera- Leading in two of the three Triple Crown stats (behind Chris Davis in home runs) and sporting a .457 on base average, Miguel is looking to be a back to back winner in the American League's MVP. In a close second, Chris Davis of Baltimore.
AL CY YOUNG: Max Scherzer- Dominating with a WHIP under 1 and second in the league in strike outs, Max is also leading the league in wins. He's finally lived up fully to the hype. In a close second place is Yu Darvish.
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Nick Franklin- The second baseman for the Mariners is an early favorite, but there is no clear standout compared to the National League. Hopefully for this award, someone steps up in the second half. Franklin is not doing bad with a .288 batting average on a poor hitting team, but it is a weak rookie class for the AL this year.
AL BREAKOUT PLAYER: Chris Davis- A top ten hitter in the Triple Crown categories, he's carrying the Baltimore offense on his back and smashing home runs left and right. As of today he is at thirty-three home runs which is tied with his single season high. His teammate Manny Machado is a good second place on here. He gets on base for Davis and is on pace to break the single season doubles record this year.
AL ALL STAR TEAM: C Joe Mauer, 1B Chris Davis, 2B Robinson Cano, 3B Miguel Cabrera, SS Jed Lowrie, OF Jacob Ellsbury, OF Mike Trout, OF Nelson Cruz, SP Max Scherzer, SP Yu Darvish, SP Bartolo Colon, SP Felix Hernandez, SP Chris Sale, RP Joe Nathan, RP Grant Balfour

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL MVP: Carlos Gonzalez- Leading the National League in home runs isn't his only achievement. He's played Gold Glove level defense, already has fifteen stolen bases, and a .300 plus batting average. He can very easily end up being a 30-30 player this season. Paul Goldschmidt comes in second place with similar numbers, except in stolen bases and runs scored.
NL CY YOUNG: Clayton Kershaw is the pick, but this is a very tight category. Kershaw has a WHIP below 1 and an ERA below 2 while dominating with strike outs. It will be tough to fend other pitcher such as Patrick Corbin, Jordan Zimmermann, Adam Wainwright, and Jason Grilli all have legitimate claims on the Cy Young title as well.
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jean Segura wins this award, although many will argue for players such as Puig, Miller, Fernandez, and Gattis. Segura plays shortstop, is in the top five in the National League in Batting Average and Stolen Bases, and shows enough pop to possibly hit over twenty this season. This could be a different result at the end of the season, but at the half way point, it's Segura.
NL BREAKOUT PLAYER: Patrick Corbin is 10-1 with a 2.40 ERA and a sub 1 WHIP. A case for Zimmermann could be made here, but Corbin wasn't expected to be half this good and he could have been even better. In June he went five starts in a row with an ERA in the two's and still did not receive a win.
NL ALL STAR TEAM: C Yadier Molina, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 2B Matt Carpenter, 3B David Wright, SS Jean Segura, OF Carlos Gonzalez, OF Domonic Brown, OF Carlos Gomez, SP Clayton Kershaw, Patrick Corbin, Jordann Zimmermann, Adam Wainwright, Matt Harvey, RP Jason Grilli, RP Craig Kimbrel

MLB Awards 2011

Well it's that time this year for me to announce the BEAN BALL WAR MLB awards for the year 2011. Hopefully you agree, but if not, then you should probably start your own blog. For each award, I will put my top pick first followed by my second and third place votes.

AL Awards: MVP: 1st Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers); 2nd Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston Red Sox); 3rd Curtis Granderson (New York Yankees)

Cy Young: 1st Justin Verlander (Detroit Tigers); 2nd CC Sabathia (New York Yankees) 3rd James Shields (Tampa Bay Rays)

Rookie Of The Year: 1st Eric Hosmer (Kansas City Royals); 2nd Ivan Nova (New York Yankees); 3rd Mark Trumbo (Anaheim Angels)

Fireman Of The Year: 1st Mariano Rivera (New York Yankees); Jose Valverde (Detroit Tigers); Neftali Feliz (Texas Rangers)

Silver Slugger Awards: C Alex Avila (Tigers); 1B Miguel Cabrera (Tigers); 2B Robinson Cano (Yankees); 3B Adrian Beltre (Rangers); SS JJ Hardy (Orioles); OF Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox), Jose Bautista (Blue Jays), Curtis Granderson (Yankees)

Gold Gloves: C Matt Weiters (Orioles); 1B Adrian Gonzalez (Red Sox); 2B Gordon Beckham (White Sox); 3B Evan Longoria (Rays); SS Erik Aybar (Angels); OF Adam Jones (Orioles), Alex Gordon (Royals), Austin Jackson (Tigers); Pitcher Ricky Romero (Blue Jays)

NL Awards:
MVP: 1st Matt Kemp (LA Dodgers); 2nd Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers); 3rd Jose Reyes (New York Mets)

Cy Young: 1st Ian Kennedy (Arizona Diamondbacks); 2nd Clayton Kershaw (LA Dodgers); 3rd Roy Halladay (Phildelphia Phillies)

Rookie Of The Year: 1st Vance Worley (Philadelphia Phillies); 2nd Freddie Freeman (Atlanta Braves); 3rd Craig Kimbrel (Atlanta Braves)

Fireman Of The Year: 1st Joel Hanrahan (Pittsburgh Pirates); 2nd John Axford (Milwaukee Brewers); 3rd JJ Putz (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Silver Sluggers: C Miguel Montero (Diamondbacks); 1B Prince Fielder (Brewers); 2B Brandon Phillips (Reds); 3B Aramis Ramirez (Cubs); SS Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies); OF Matt Kemp (Dodgers), Ryan Braun (Brewers), Hunter Pence (Phillies); Pitcher Daniel Hudson (Diamondbacks)

Gold Gloves: C Brian McCann (Braves); 1B Joey Votto (Reds); 2B Neil Walker (Pirates); 3B Placido Polanco (Phillies); SS Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies); OF Cameron Maybin (Padres), Michael Bourn (Astros), Drew Stubbs (Reds); Pitcher Jake Westbrook (Cardinals)

1st Half MLB Awards

Today I announce the first half of the MLB Season Awards from Bean Ball War...

AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez (Boston Red Sox)
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander (Detroit Tigers)
AL Rookie Of The Year: Michael Pineda (Seattle Mariners)

All AL Team: Catcher Alex Avila (Detroit Tigers), 1st Baseman Adrian Gonzalez (Boston Red Sox), 2nd Baseman Robinson Cano (New York Yankees), 3rd Baseman Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees), Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (Cleveland Indians), Outfield Jose Bautista (Toronto Blue Jays), Outfield Curtis Granderson (New York Yankees), Outfield Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston Red Sox), Designated Hitter Michael Young (Texas Rangers), Starting Pitcher Justin Verlander, Starting Pitcher Jered Weaver, Starting Pitcher James Shields, Starting Pitcher Michael Pineda (Seattle Mariners), Staring Pitcher Gio Gonzalez (Oakland A's), Closer Chris Perez (Cleveland Indians)

NL MVP: Matt Kemp (Los Angeles Dodgers)
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay (Philadelphia Phillies)
NL Rookie Of The Year: Danny Espinosa
All NL Team: Catcher Brian McCann (Atlanta Braves), 1st Baseman Prince Fielder, 2nd Baseman Rickie Weeks (Milwaukee Brewers), 3rd Baseman Aramis Ramirez (Chicago Cubs), Shortstop Jose Reyes (New York Mets), Outfield Matt Kemp (Los Angeles Dodgers), Outfield Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers), Outfield Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates), Starting Pitcher Roy Halladay (Philadelphia Phillies), Starting Pitcher Jair Jurrgens (Atlanta Braves), Starting Pitcher Cole Hamels (Philadelphi Phillies), Starting Pitcher Tommy Hanson (Atlanta Braves), Starting Pitcher Jeff Karstens (Pittsburgh Pirates), Closer Joel Hanrahan (Pittsburgh Pirates)

Las Vegas

Las Vegas deserves their own pro sports team. Yes, they have lower level teams such as a Triple A minor league baseball team, but I think it's time that the city gets to take on a top level team. The city has hosted the NBA All-Star game before to test the waters and all went well. The MLB has thrown Las Vegas into the hat of nominees for expansion cities during the nineties. Unfortunately, nothing has quite caught on.

Las Vegas has two million people in the metro area, which is the twenty-eighth largest metro area in the United States. That's not counting the tourist that come there. It's the largest tourist spot in the United States and I'm sure that a few of these people are sports fans. The MLB classified the city as a mid-sized market city at best, but I disagree. With the right marketing to tourists, they could bring in the same amount of fans that a large market team does.

One of the requirements of a city gaining a pro team, is an owner local to the area with a large amount of money to run a franchise. Las Vegas has plenty of people that fit this category. The Maloof family is based out of Las Vegas and currently own the Sacramento Kings. They are looking to move the team out of Sacramento, but have considered Anaheim to be the most likely option. The Kings then would become the Monarchs (the Maloof brothers reportedly copyrighted the name Anaheim Monarchs). Why not move the team to Vegas?

Also Steve Wynn lives in Las Vegas and owns a lot of successful projects out there including many hotels. Why not a pro sports team? Other notables in the Las Vegas area are Benny Binion, Andre Agassi, Larry Ruvo, and even Penn & Teller have mentioned during interviews about possibly investing in a sports teams as partial owners.

I doubt the NFL would be an option unless a team commits to moving to Las Vegas. I also don't believe the NHL would likely move there because of the lack hockey already there, except for a minor league hockey team. This is why I think the NBA or the MLB are the more likely options.

The NBA because of the successful All-Star game already there and the current resident/NBA team owners, the Maloofs already residing there. Another reason is that the NBA seems to be more open to their teams moving with the Sacramento Kings rumors, the Seattle Sonics becoming the Oklahoma Thunder, and the Charlotte Hornets becoming the New Orleans Hornets, all in recent years.

The MLB would be another option with the American League West being short a team compared to the other divisions. Nearby in Phoenix, the Diamondbacks play in a great stadium built for nearly the same weather that Las Vegas has. With a retractable roof, it's great for sunny, nice weather games, but also air conditioned for hotter weather.

I say bring on another expansion. Let me introduce my proposed team, the Las Vegas Outlaws. With red, black, and white colors and a cool logo, I can see their apparel selling to tourists and locals alike. With the right marketing and the right investors, I believe this franchise can be very successful.