Thursday, August 17, 2006
A's en fuego
It's August, which means the Oakland Athletics are on a tear, currently leading the AL West by 6 1/2 games. Can they keep it up? I'll be optimistic for once and say that I think they will win the division. Despite a starting pitching staff that looked deep to start the season, the A's have been shorthanded due to injuries to both Rich Harden and Esteban Loiaza, having to use multiple spot starters. Barry Zito and Dan Haren have both been good if inconsistent. Joe Blanton's hit rate is way up this year and he's still giving up a lot of walks, but he's capable of throwing a gem at any time. Loiaza is looking much better lately, and if Harden manages to make it back in time for the playoffs, the staff looks a hell of a lot better all of a sudden.
The bullpen is also very good, with Kiko Calero, Justin Duchscherer, and Huston Street combining to be one of the best 7-8-9th inning combinations in baseball, accompanied by a variety of fairly capable middle/long relievers in the 'pen with them. All of the pitchers have been helped by Oakland's underrated defense, which (when healthy) features three outfielders with excellent range and a solid infield.
Of course, the offense has been a weak spot for Oakland all season, which is reflected in their weak run differential. However, there is reason to believe we'll see some improvement heading down the stretch. There haven't been many times this season where all of the A's key hitters have been healthy. Nick Swisher was red-hot early in the year only to come down with mono or something like that, but he appears to be heating up again. Jay Payton started out the year badly and has since rebounded, while Frank Thomas has started hitting like, well, Frank Thomas. Mark Ellis and Jason Kendall have shown some signs of life lately as well. Although Mark Kotsay and Eric Chavez continue to battle nagging injuries, Bobby Crosby should return soon and the A's will actually have all of their starters in place for the first time in a while.
I think they'll have enough gas in the tank to hold off the Angels and Rangers. I'm more concerned about the Rangers and their high-powered offense, but their pitching staff is pretty bad, with very inconsistent starters and no great arms in the bullpen (outside of closer Akinori Otsuka). They could make a run, but the A's already have that 6 1/2 game lead.
Bottom line is that if the A's get healthy and stay that way, they should hold on to win the division. If Harden is 100% by the playoffs, they could even do some damage there; Zito, Haren, and Harden have the potential to shut anyone down. OK, almost anyone. Fuckin' Yankees.
The bullpen is also very good, with Kiko Calero, Justin Duchscherer, and Huston Street combining to be one of the best 7-8-9th inning combinations in baseball, accompanied by a variety of fairly capable middle/long relievers in the 'pen with them. All of the pitchers have been helped by Oakland's underrated defense, which (when healthy) features three outfielders with excellent range and a solid infield.
Of course, the offense has been a weak spot for Oakland all season, which is reflected in their weak run differential. However, there is reason to believe we'll see some improvement heading down the stretch. There haven't been many times this season where all of the A's key hitters have been healthy. Nick Swisher was red-hot early in the year only to come down with mono or something like that, but he appears to be heating up again. Jay Payton started out the year badly and has since rebounded, while Frank Thomas has started hitting like, well, Frank Thomas. Mark Ellis and Jason Kendall have shown some signs of life lately as well. Although Mark Kotsay and Eric Chavez continue to battle nagging injuries, Bobby Crosby should return soon and the A's will actually have all of their starters in place for the first time in a while.
I think they'll have enough gas in the tank to hold off the Angels and Rangers. I'm more concerned about the Rangers and their high-powered offense, but their pitching staff is pretty bad, with very inconsistent starters and no great arms in the bullpen (outside of closer Akinori Otsuka). They could make a run, but the A's already have that 6 1/2 game lead.
Bottom line is that if the A's get healthy and stay that way, they should hold on to win the division. If Harden is 100% by the playoffs, they could even do some damage there; Zito, Haren, and Harden have the potential to shut anyone down. OK, almost anyone. Fuckin' Yankees.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Magloire to Blazers
The Trail Blazers have had a very good offseason thus far, and most of the credit should go to de facto GM Kevin Pritchard. Some of their draft-day deals were questioned, particularly by borderline maniac Steven A. Smith, but the fact is that we do not know what discussions took place behind the scenes and it is entirely possible the Blazers had to make the moves they did to end up with the players they wanted. Although it appeared to be a somewhat unspectacular draft class, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were the #1 guard and #1 big man (or close to it) on many draft-day boards so coming away with both of them (at a minimal cost player-wise) was one of the more memorable days in recent Blazer history.
The latest move by the Blazers was to trade Steve Blake, Brian Skinner, and Ha Seung-Jin to the Bucks for Jamaal Magloire. This appears to be another solid move by Pritchard. Blake is a young PG who has some skills (he had an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio last year), but the Blazers appear to have confidence in Jarrett Jack who was streaky but often effective last season. Jack is not an outside shooter but he looks like he could grow into a solid playmaker in the NBA. He will also be backed up by the newly-acquired (and hopefully healthy) Dan Dickau and Roy. Skinner, a backup center, certainly did not fit into the Blazers' '07 plans, and Ha is a total stiff.
In return, the Blazers got a solid center to back up/compete with Joel Przybilla. Magloire is a very good rebounder and an OK shotblocker. His offensive skills aren't great, but he nearly averaged a double-double last season, and there just aren't many guys like that around the league. Furthermore, he's pretty durable; I believe he started every game last season and played about 2500 minutes while Przybilla has never played more than 1900 in a season.
The Blazers' frontcourt is now somewhat overloaded, with Przybilla, Magloire, Zach Randolph, Raef LaFrentz, and Aldridge all competing for minutes at the 4/5 spots. This could create some issues; Randolph will undoubtedly get his minutes, LaFrentz and Magloire have been known to complain about playing time in the past, and Przybilla will likely become disgruntled if he is not the starter. Still, having too many big men is not a terrible problem to have. It's possible the Blazers are not done dealing, although each of these players does bring something a little different to the table.
All in all, the coming NBA season will be one of the first I have looked forward to in a long time. It finally feels like the word "rebuilding" is appropriate for the Blazers. There are a lot of new pieces in town, many of which have a lot of potential. Bad-attitude guys Randolph and Darius Miles (ugh) are still around, but I still think the team will start bringing back some of the fans they have lost in the last decade. They won't be competitive yet, but I think they'll be a lot easier to root for.
The latest move by the Blazers was to trade Steve Blake, Brian Skinner, and Ha Seung-Jin to the Bucks for Jamaal Magloire. This appears to be another solid move by Pritchard. Blake is a young PG who has some skills (he had an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio last year), but the Blazers appear to have confidence in Jarrett Jack who was streaky but often effective last season. Jack is not an outside shooter but he looks like he could grow into a solid playmaker in the NBA. He will also be backed up by the newly-acquired (and hopefully healthy) Dan Dickau and Roy. Skinner, a backup center, certainly did not fit into the Blazers' '07 plans, and Ha is a total stiff.
In return, the Blazers got a solid center to back up/compete with Joel Przybilla. Magloire is a very good rebounder and an OK shotblocker. His offensive skills aren't great, but he nearly averaged a double-double last season, and there just aren't many guys like that around the league. Furthermore, he's pretty durable; I believe he started every game last season and played about 2500 minutes while Przybilla has never played more than 1900 in a season.
The Blazers' frontcourt is now somewhat overloaded, with Przybilla, Magloire, Zach Randolph, Raef LaFrentz, and Aldridge all competing for minutes at the 4/5 spots. This could create some issues; Randolph will undoubtedly get his minutes, LaFrentz and Magloire have been known to complain about playing time in the past, and Przybilla will likely become disgruntled if he is not the starter. Still, having too many big men is not a terrible problem to have. It's possible the Blazers are not done dealing, although each of these players does bring something a little different to the table.
All in all, the coming NBA season will be one of the first I have looked forward to in a long time. It finally feels like the word "rebuilding" is appropriate for the Blazers. There are a lot of new pieces in town, many of which have a lot of potential. Bad-attitude guys Randolph and Darius Miles (ugh) are still around, but I still think the team will start bringing back some of the fans they have lost in the last decade. They won't be competitive yet, but I think they'll be a lot easier to root for.
