10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: Yasmany Tomas

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the ninth installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s topic: Yasmany Tomas.

After a dismal 2014 campaign, the Diamondbacks retooled both the front office and the roster in preparation for the 2015. Perhaps the biggest off season move the club made was the acquisition of Cuban free agent Yasmany Tomas.

The Diamondbacks inked Tomas, 24, to a six-year, $68.5 million deal. The deal, which has an opt out clause after four seasons, is the largest deal in team history – a sign of how much Arizona values Tomas.

Tomas is known for his bat and hit 30 home runs in 205 regular season games in Cuba, however he’s never played a full season in Cuba so the grind of a 162 Major League season may take its toll late in the year.

Cuba’s Serie Nacional’s season in 90 games and Tomas has never played more than 69.

Primarily an outfielder, Tomas has been working out at third base with the Diamondbacks and his ability to pick up the new position in Spring Training will be something to keep an eye on.

If Tomas struggles at third, he may start the season in the Minors, but it’s hard to envision a scenario where he doesn’t play in the majors at all this season.

Whether it’s Opening Day or somewhere down the line Tomas will don a big league uniform this season and all eyes in Arizona will be watching.

Previous Entries:

Lester, Shields and Scherzer 

The Chicago White Sox 

The AL West 

The Boston Red Sox 

First Year Managers 

MILB Pitch Clocks 

Madison Bumgarner and the Giants 

The Chicago Cubs 

10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: Lester, Shields, Scherzer

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the eighth installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s topic: Jon Lester, Max Scherzer and James Shields.

How will Scherzer Lester and Shields fare in the National League?

Generally speaking the American League is known for offense and the National League is known for pitching. The DH contributes a lot to this fact and it is likely a reason that big name free agent pitchers often opt to pitch in the National League.

When the 2014 season ended there were three big-name, free agent pitchers on the market and all three of them – Jon Lester, Max Scherzer and James Shields – opted to make the transition from the AL to the NL.

While Scherzer spent the first two seasons of his career in the NL, Lester and Shields have never pitched for a NL team. Each of them have spent nine seasons in the American League.

The trio of pitchers have combined for six All Star games and a Cy Young Award (Scherzer) and considering they all have strong stuff, it’s likely they will do just fine in the NL. However, it may be interesting to watch their transitions, especially over the first couple months as they get used to new parks, lineups and catchers.

Also, I wonder which one of them is the best hitter? And how long will it take Lester to collect his first hit?

Previous Entries:

The Chicago White Sox 

The AL West 

The Boston Red Sox 

First Year Managers 

MILB Pitch Clocks 

Madison Bumgarner and the Giants 

The Chicago Cubs 

10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: The Chicago White Sox

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the seventh installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s topic: the Chicago White Sox.

The Cubs aren’t the only Chicago team to have had a big off season. A year after finishing 17 games out in the AL Central, the White Sox are looking to bounce back in a big way this season and have added several key players.

The White Sox upgraded their rotation with the addition of Jeff Samardzija, who will pair nicely with Chris Sale. While the Dodgers tandem of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke may still be the best 1-2 tandem in baseball, the duo in Chicago is right up there.

In addition to upgrading the rotation, the White Sox also added David Robertson as a closer, which could prove to be a very valuable addition late in the season.

Offensively, the White Sox brought in Melky Cabrera who hit over .300 for the fourth time in the past five years last season.

The White Sox won’t be the favorites to win AL Central this season, but if they do find their way into the playoffs it won’t be a total shock.

The club has made a lot of improvements and will be in a lot of close games with Samardzija and Sale starting games and Robertson closing them out.

Previous Entries:

The AL West 

The Boston Red Sox 

First Year Managers 

MILB Pitch Clocks 

Madison Bumgarner and the Giants 

The Chicago Cubs 

Betting Odds for the 2015 Baseball Season

With Spring Training just about to begin, it’s that time of year where every fan base believes their team has a shot to win the World Series.

While some teams are more likely to win it then others, anything can happen and that’s what makes sports so enjoyable.

However, the odds of every team hoisting a trophy in late October are not all equal, which makes those surprise runs by teams no one saw coming all the more enjoyable to witness. But how do we know who the favorites and underdogs are? Well…

Bovada.com – a gambling website – has released its odds to win the AL, NL and World Series.

Bovada gives the Angels and Red Sox the best odds to win the AL, but the best odds to win the World Series are given to the Nationals and Dodgers.

Here’s a look at every team’s odds to win the World Series:

Washington Nationals 13/2

Los Angeles Dodgers 17/2

Boston Red Sox 10/1

Chicago Cubs 10/1

Los Angeles Angels 12/1

St. Louis Cardinals 12/1

San Diego Padres 14/1

Chicago White Sox 16/1

Detroit Tigers 16/1

San Francisco Giants 16/1

Seattle Mariners 16/1

Toronto Blue Jays 22/1

Oakland Athletics 25/1

Baltimore Orioles 28/1

New York Mets 28/1

New York Yankees 28/1

Cleveland Indians 33/1

Kansas City Royals 33/1

Miami Marlins 33/1

Pittsburgh Pirates 33/1

Houston Astros 50/1

Texas Rangers 50/1

Atlanta Braves 66/1

Cincinnati Reds 66/1

Milwaukee Brewers 66/1

Tampa Bay Rays 66/1

Arizona Diamondbacks 100/1

Minnesota Twins 100/1

Colorado Rockies 150/1

Philadelphia Phillies 150/1

Odds to win NL:

Nationals 13/4

Dodgers 19/4

Cubs 6/1

Padres 13/2

Cardinals 13/2

Giants 8/1

Mets 14/1

Pirates 14/1

Marlins 16/1

Braves 28/1

Reds 28/1

Brewers 33/1

Diamondbacks 50/1

Rockies 75/1

Phillies 75/1

Odds to win the AL:

Red Sox 11/2

Angels 11/2

White Sox 7/1

Mariners 7/1

Tigers 15/2

Blue Jays 10/1

Yankees 12/1

A’s 12/1

Orioles 14/1

Indians 14/1

Rangers 22/1

Astros 28/1

Rays 33/1

Twins 50/1

Quick Thoughts:

– I wonder when the last time the Mets and Yankees began the season with the same odds to win it all.

– Five of the top seven teams are in the NL, but three of bottom four are in NL as well.

– A World Series between the Angels and Dodgers isn’t too far fetched.

– In Bovada’s view, the NL appears to be top heavy, with the AL being the more balanced league. This is also reflected in the odds to win each league.

– The Cubs off season moves have certainly grabbed everyone’s attention.

– Not a ton of confidence in the Giants going back-to-back.

10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: American League West

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the sixth installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s topic: the American League West.

Ultimately the Angels ran away with the AL West in 2014, but things could be very different this time around. Yes, the Angels have another great squad, but several AL West teams made big moves over the off season and it looks as if this may be the best division in baseball. The NL Central will rival the AL West for that title, but either way the race out West will be fun to watch and will likely come down to the season’s final days.

Angels:

After posting a 98 win season in 2014, it was not all that surprising that the Angels didn’t go out and completely retool their roster over the off season. The Angels 2015 lineup will look a lot like the one that ended the 2014 season.

A healthy Garrett Richards will be a welcomed face to the rotation, but it also looks like the Angels may start the season without Josh Hamilton.

Although the Angels didn’t make a ton of big moves over the off season, the team did trade Howie Kendrick to the Dodgers, so second base will be a position to watch both offensively and defensively.

A’s:

The A’s got off to a strong start last season and looked like they would easily win the division, but ultimately struggled down the stretch.The late season collapse was followed by a whirlwind of an off season and now the 2015 season will begin with an Oakland roster that hardly resembles that of 2014.

Across the infield the A’s began 2014 with Brandon Moss, Eric Sogard, Jed Lowrie and Josh Donaldson, but this season the projected Opening Day lineup consists of Ike Davis, Ben Zobrist, Marcus Semien and Brett Lawrie, with Billy Butler at DH.

Billy Beane completely changed the makeup of the team over the off season, but the A’s have been to the playoffs in three consecutive seasons so it’s hard to count them out.

Also, it’s important to note that the Athletics will once again feature a strong pitching staff – a fact that will keep them in a lot of games.

Despite losing Jon Lester (not that anyone thought he’d resign or stay in Oakland) and trading away Jeff Samardzija, the A’s will still have a rotation that consists of Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez, Jesse Hahn and Drew Pomeranz.

Oakland’s rotation may be impressive, but it might not even be the best in the division.


Mariners: With arguably the best pitcher in the American League in Felix Hernandez, it’s quite possible the Mariners have the best rotation as well. Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma are a nasty 1-2 punch and will win the Mariners in a lot of games.

While the pitching was there last season, Seattle often struggled to score runs in 2014 – a problem the teams hopes will be solved with the addition of Nelson Cruz.

Cruz hit 40 home runs a season ago and will make the top of the Mariners line-up, along with Austin Jackson and Robinson Cano, a lot more potent than it was just a season ago.

Astros: Just as the A’s made several changes, so did the Astros. The 2015 Astros will look a lot different than the 2014 version – including new manager A.J. Hinch – and appear to be in a much better position to compete.

To bolster the offense, the Astros added Evan Gattis, but most of the reshuffling happened in the bullpen as the Astros added Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek.

Gregerson and Neshek – both right-handers – are coming off some of the best seasons in their careers. Gregorson posted a career-best 2.12 ERA last season while Neshek posted a 1.87 ERA and was selected to his first All Star game.

Jed Lowrie will also be a nice addition to the middle of the infield as he returns to Houston after a productive two seasons in Oakland.

Rangers: Every team deal with injuries, but the amount the Rangers faced last season was crazy.

First and foremost Rangers fans have to be excited about starting 2015 with a healthy Prince Fielder. That fact alone should be a boost to the offense, but regaining Fielder is not the only significant move the Rangers have made.

Late in the off season the Rangers made perhaps their most significant off season move when they traded for Yovani Gallardo.

Gallardo figured to fit into the middle of the Rangers rotation and has started 30 or more games in six straight seasons – a good sign for a team that has struggled with injures and had a hard time keeping players on the field.

Previous Entries:

The Boston Red Sox

First Year Managers

MILB Pitch Clocks

Madison Bumgarner and the Giants

Chicago Cubs

10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: Boston Red Sox

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the fifth installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s topic: the Boston Red Sox.

In the middle of January, MLB Network Radio asked Pablo Sandoval if the Red Sox would win the AL East in 2015. His answer, “we will.”

While Sandoval, who signed a five-year $95 million contract with the Red Sox, is confident, can the team really go from worst to first this season?

Although Boston was unable to resign Lester, General Manager Ben Cherington made some big moves this off season and made it clear the Red Sox are looking to compete.

In addition to adding Sandoval, the Red Sox added Hanley Ramirez to a line-up that already features David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia.

Boston also fixed up the pitching staff, adding Wade Miley, Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson. None of those names are going to have experts listing the Red Sox among the game’s top rotations, but it’s not a bad staff either.

The Red Sox scored 634 runs last season – which tied for 11th in the American League. Needless to say the club is hoping to improve on those numbers and if Sandoval and Ramirez hit like they’re capable of, then the Boston line-up should be more potent.

Going from worst to first in one season is not an easy task, but Boston has done it before and there are several players on that team that know how to win – something that is very important when looking for a major turnaround.

Recap of previous entries:

First Year Managers 

MILB Pitch Clocks 

San Francisco Giants 

Chicago Cubs 

Manfred’s open mindedness can only mean good things

Rob Manfred has been the commissioner of baseball for less than a month so it’s unfair and unrealistic to dish out early grades or talk about the job he’s done. Manfred only began his tenure on January on 26, but there have already been plenty of headlines.

Will new rules be enforced to speed up the pace of games?

Will defensive shifts be eliminated?

Will the strike zone change?

Will Pete Rose’s lifetime ban be lifted?

The answers to these questions and many more will ultimately end up playing a part in how Manfred is viewed, but his open-mindedness and willingness to discuss all these various issues is significant (in no way, shape or form am I saying Bud Selig was close-minded or anything of the sort).

While some fans may be open to the changes and others are vehemently opposed, the fact that Manfred is exploring all options and is open to change is a good sign.

Baseball purists are in love with the way the game is currently played and that’s fine – baseball is a great sport. However, it’s also a bit naïve to believe the game is perfect.

I disagree with some of the proposed changes and agree with others, but I 100 percent agree with having the conversations.

10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: First Year Managers

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the fourth installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s topic: first year managers.

Six Major League Baseball teams will begin the 2015 with a new manager at the helm. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers will enter Spring Training with a variety of expectations and hopes that the new manger can lead the team to heights the previous regime was unable to reach.

Since teams change managers for a variety of reasons and teams have varying levels of expectations, it’s unfair to grade every manager on the same scale, but it is interesting to look at how all the current managers fared in their first seasons at the helm.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Chip Hale

Hale is entering his first season as a professional manager.

Atlanta Braves: Fredi Gonzalez

Gonzalez has managed eight seasons and went 89-73 in his first season with the Braves. In his first ever season as a manager he led the Marlins to a 71-91 record.

Baltimore Orioles: Buck Showalter

Showalter led the Orioles to a 69-93 finish in his first full season as manager. Showalter has been a big league manager for 16 seasons. In his first season, he went 76-86 with the Yankees.

Boston Red Sox: John Farrell

Farrell is the dream scenario for managers taking over a new team as he led the Red Sox to a World Series title and a 97-65 record in his first season in Boston. Farrell began his career with the

Blue Jays and went 81-81.

Chicago Cubs: Joe Maddon

Maddon is entering his first season in Chicago. In his first season with Tampa Bay, where he managed for 11 years, he went 61-101.

Chicago White Sox: Robin Ventura

Ventura has led the White Sox for three seasons and posted a 85-77 record in his first season.

Cincinnati Reds: Bryan Price

Price went 76-86 in his first season as a managers.

Cleveland Indians: Terry Francona

Francona led the Indians to a 92-70 record in his first year with Cleveland, but struggled in his first season as a manager as his Phillies went 68-94.

Colorado Rockies: Walt Weiss

Weiss won 74 games and lost 88 during his first season in charge of the Rockies.

Detroit Tigers: Brad Ausmus

The Tigers may have disappointed in the playoffs, but Ausmus’ first season as manager went well as the Tigers finished 90-72.

Houston Astros: A.J. Hinch

Hinch is entering his first year as manager of the Astros. In his first stint as a manager he finished 58-75 with the Diamondbacks.

Kansas City Royals: Ned Yost

Yost received his fair share of criticism in the playoffs, but he’s come a long way. In Yosts’ first

year he led the Brewers to a 68-94 record. In his first year with the Royals, Kansas City went 55-72.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Mike Scioscia

Scioscia took over the Angels job 15 years ago and went 82-80 in his first year.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Don Mattingly

Mattingly went 82-79 in his first campaign with the Dodgers.

Miami Marlins: Mike Redmond

The Marlins look to be on the upswing, but in Redmond’s first season they went 62-100.

Milwaukee Brewers: Ron Roenicke:

Roenicke has managed the Brewers for four seasons. In his first season, the club went 96-66.

Minnesota Twins: Paul Molitor

Molitor is entering his first season as a Major League manager.

New York Mets: Terry Collins

Collins began his career 10 years ago with the Astros and went 66-49. In his first season with the Mets he went 77-85.

New York Yankees: Joe Girardi

Girardi made a name for himself after a 78-84 season in Miami. Once he took over in New York, Girardi went 89-73.

Oakland Athletics: Bob Melvin

Melvin found success right away as he won 93 games in his first year with the Mariners. In his first full season in Oakland, he went 94-68.

Philadelphia Phillies: Ryne Sandberg

Sandberg just finished his first full season at the helm in Philadelphia, where the Phillies went 73-89.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Clint Hurdle

Hurdle began his managerial career with a 67-73 season in Colorado. In his first full season in Pittsburgh, Hurdle’s bunch finished with a 72-90 mark.

San Diego Padres: Bud Black

Black has spent the past eight seasons in Colorado, which began with a 89-74 campaign.

San Francisco Giants: Bruce Bochy

Coming off a third World Series Championship in five seasons, it’s hard to argue with Bochy’s

success as a manager. Bochy went 71-91 in his first year with the Giants and 70-74 in his first season in San Diego.

Seattle Mariners: Lloyd McClendon

McClendon cut his teeth in Pittsburgh and went just 62-100 in his first full season as manager. McClendon had better success in Seattle, going 87-75 in his first full year.

St. Louis Cardinals: Mike Matheny

Matheny went 88-74 in his first season in St. Louis

Tampa Bay Rays: Kevin Cash

Cash is entering his first season as a manager. He is also the first former Rays player to manage the club.

Texas Rangers: Jeff Banister

Banister is set to begin his first season as a manager.

Toronto Blue Jays: John Gibbons

Gibbons, who has spent seven years leading the Blue Jays, went 80-82 during his first season in Toronto.

Washington Nationals: Matt Williams

Williams just concluded his first season as a manager and although the Nationals had an early exit in October, they cruised to an NL East title.Williams led the Nationals to a 96-66 season and won the National League Manager of the Year.

Recap of previous entries:

MILB Pitch Clocks

San Francisco Giants

Chicago Cubs

10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: MILB Pitch Clocks

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the third installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s focus dips into the Minor Leagues and the pitch clocks that will be featured in AA and Triple-A games.

Pace of play and pitch clocks have been discussed a lot over the past few months and although there won’t be any “20 second clocks” in the big leagues this year, this is still a storyline worth monitoring.

As baseball continues to look for ways to speed up the game and increase the fan experience, pitch clocks will be utilized in both AA and Triple-A games this season. This is a significant step because it shows that after experimenting with pitch clocks in the Arizona Fall League, baseball liked what it saw enough to continue with the new rules.

“It’s something that we’d certainly like to see more testing done with,” Joe Torre, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of baseball operations, said at the Winter Meetings. “I was never a proponent of introducing the clock in baseball, but I went out [to the AFL], and I was pretty impressed. [The clock] was there, but it really wasn’t intrusive in any way.”

Pitch clocks were enforced at 16 AFL games and the average time of those games was two hours and 42 minutes – 10 minutes quicker than the average AFL game time in 2013.

The use of the pitch clock had a noticeable impact on the pace of the game and if the experiment in the minors goes well, changes may be coming to the majors over the next few seasons.

Pitch clocks have generated a lot of controversy among baseball purists who don’t want to change the way the game has always been played.

However games are getting longer and it would likely be in baseball’s best interest to tackle the pace of play issue sooner – while it is just a minor annoyance – rather than later – when it truly becomes a problem.

Having watched multiple Arizona Fall League games in which the pitch clock was enforced, I came away impressed. The game was noticeably faster and although it felt rushed at time (the system does need fine tuning) it was also an enjoyable experience to watch baseball played at such a crisp pace.

The AFL was a cool experience, but the Minor Leagues will provide baseball with a much larger sample size to evaluate and I’m more than anxious to see how it all plays out.

Recap of previous entries:
San Francisco Giants
Chicago Cubs

10 Things I’m Watching In 2015: Madison Bumgarner And The SF Giants

As we count down to Spring Training, here’s the second installment of my ’10 Things I’m Watching In 2015′ series. Today’s focus is on the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants and their ace Madison Bumgarner.

Look at a team that has won three World Series in the past five seasons and you wouldn’t expect to find a lot of holes. Any team on that sort of run would seem like a near guarantee to at least reach the playoffs.

However, that’s not the way the Giants have operated over the past five seasons.

Yes, the Giants have three rings and the word ‘dynasty’ can be associated with them, but they’ve been a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde case. After winning the World Series in 2010, San Francisco won 86 games in 2011. Then after another championship in 2012, the Giants won just 76 games in 2013.

So, what will happen in 2015?

Certainly the Giants would like to stay away from that recent trend (although if it guarantees another ring in 2016, then who cares about 2015) but in order to do so they’ll need to replace Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse.

Nori Aoki and Casey McGehee are solid signings, but the player I’m most interested in watching in 2015 is Madison Bumgarner.

The left-hander has been solid for the Giants with four straight seasons of 30 or more starts and an ERA below 3.40, but this season will be different.

After Bumgarner lit up the national stage and posted a 1.03 ERA in 52 2/3 postseason innings in 2014, Bumgarner has become much more of a household name than he was previously.

While his play under the bright October lights would indicate Bumgarner is the type of player that won’t be fazed by his newfound fame, it could be interesting to see what type of encore he puts on.

Recap of previous entries:

Chicago Cubs