Results tagged ‘ David DeJesus ’
Chicago Cubs 2012 Offseason Recap and Preview
What more can be said about the Cubs 2011 season than any other season:
Actually, this streak is so bad and long it deserves both a picture describing the Cubs’ 2011 season/last 103 years AND a video doing the same. Check it out:
Grade: D+
Notable Additions:
Anthony Rizzo, David DeJesus, Paul Maholm, Andy Sonnanstine, Ian Stewart, Chris Volstad, and Kerry Wood.
Notable Subtractions:
Carlos Zambrano, Andrew Cashner, Tyler Colvin, Sean Marshall, Carlos Peña, Aramis Ramirez, and John Grabow.
Why?: First, I realize that the pictures I chose may not be the best ones to put up. I just really put up the most hyped transactions this offseason for the Cubs. Also, now that I realized I probably made a mistake, I don’t feel like pulling the pictures and putting new ones up.
Anyway, the common theme in my comments on Cubs fans’ MlBlogs was that I was glad for them that the Cubs finally decided to go into full rebuilding mode, because the “in-between” stage they have been in for the past few years has really been hurting them. So you may say, “Well, Mateo, then why do you have them at such a low grade in a D+ if you think they are actually doing a good job?” This is a valid question. The answer is that I did give the Cubs brownie points by bumping their grade up from a D (which is usually the protocol when I can’t give the team a high grade, but like the way they handled things). However, I couldn’t give the Cubs a legitimate grade, because the majority of what goes into it is how it improved the team for winning in 2012. The Cubs set themselves up well for the next few years, but I don’t know what planet you’d have to live on to think paying $15 million+ for Chris Volstad is helping the Cubs win in 2012.
There are other examples, but I think you get the gist of things.
Predicted Record Range: 62-67 wins
Oakland Athletics 2012 Offseason Recap and Preview
The story of the Oakland A’s 2011 season was an effective pitching staff: 
…and a similarly anemic offense.
Grade: D-
Notable Additions: 
Josh Reddick, Tom Milone, Brandon Moss, Brad Peacock, Jason Pridie, and Seth Smith.
Notable Subtractions:
Trevor Cahill, Andrew Bailey, Gio Gonzalez, Craig Breslow, David DeJesus, Andy LaRoche, Guillermo Moscoso, Josh Outman, Ryan Sweeney, and Josh Willigham.
Why?: Let’s clear up a few things right away as most of the people reading this haven’t read one of these entries before, 1) I know nothing about prospects unless they are highly touted 2) my lists of “Notable” additions and subtractions are simply done by my name recognition. Feel free to correct me on any of them if you know more about the given team than I do. 3) Most of what comprises the “grade” in these entries is in the impact it has on the team’s 2012 season. The GM could have done a masterful job in getting back a bunch of talent for an aging star, but unless the young players he traded for project to help the team’s record in 2012, the grade will suffer. Generally, a C grade is the team treading water and keeping their team at the same level, a C+ would be a slight improvement, and a C- would be a slight regression.
Now, the reason I gave the A’s a D- is because Billy Beane essentially crippled them for the 2012 season. Their offense was anemic enough without losing Josh Willigham and David De Jesus among other, and he traded away arguably the two best starting pitchers on a very good rotation in Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez. If that wasn’t enough, he also traded away a very talented closer in Andrew Bailey, who was a big part of this team, because when they did win, it was usually in a save situation due to their lack of offense.
I’m not saying the A’s can’t win in a few years, but the situation looks dim for 2012. Also, as I write this, Hideki Matsui is still unsigned. If he comes back, they will still be in an interesting situation, but if he doesn’t, you can add him to the list of Notable Subtractions.
Predicted Record Range: 62-67 wins
Next team: I don’t know, you tell me. The poll shuts off automatically at 2:37 am, but I might close it off at midnight if their is a team with a majority already selected by then.
Kansas City Royals Offseason Recap and Preview
Well they didn’t do that well in 2010:
… again but the Royals have never been about winning today (seriously, have they won since George Brett was there?). They are building for tomorrow. Take that into this preview with you.
Grade: B
Notable Additions:
Vin Mazzaro, Joaquin Arias, Jeff Francoeur, Melky Cabrera, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress, Lorenzo Cain, Zack Miner, Jeff Francis, and Pedro Feliz.
Notable Subtractions:
Zack Greinke, David DeJesus, Gil Meche, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Brandon Duckworth.
Why?: I know that they lost Zack Greinke this off-season. However, even though the grade is for how well the team set up for their immediate future, I lessen the penalty of losing a star player if the team got something good in return. The Royals definite deserved this slight bump for what they got back for Greinke. Also, they added some crazy depth everywhere. Although, am I the only one to notice that Robinson Cano’s best year came after Melky left? We’ll see what impact he has on players like Alcides Escobar.
I would like to point out that KC’s rotation overall did improve because of names like Vin Mazzaro amongst others. Although they did come in last in their division last year and lost their ace in the offseason, I see a solid transistion year. Let me make an argument for a better rotation in 2011. They traded for Vin Mazzaro and must have seen something in him to give up a piece like David DeJesus. Zack Miner is a solid back of the rotation starter that constantly hovers around 4.00 ERA.
Now… the Jeff Francis case. Does anyone remember that he was the ace of the Rockies’ World Series run in 2007? Anyone? Well, he was. He had 17 wins and had an ERA of 2.21 until the World Series (where the whole Rockie team shut down). He did horribly in 2008 but it was later revealed that he had an injury in his shoulder. He didn’t pitch in 2009 because of arthtoscopic surgery. Pitched badly again in 2010 with an ERA of 5.00 on the dot. I think that this may have been because of the recovery from the surgery. For most shoulder surgeries, it is usually takes a few years to fully recover. If he can get anywhere close to where he was before, the Royals have a much better staff than last year.
Predicted Record Range: 68-73 wins Like I said, this depends on the pitching staff because their young defense will be unpredictable and can fluctuate ( so their wins will fluctuate). We have yet to see how the offense will come together but with solid pitching they can improve a bit on their win total last year.
For those of you who did a little link clicking and wonder why I am so behind on game recaps, I have a lot of homework which is also why this entry took so much time. I have yet to see how baseball will affect my blogging but I can’t post the game recaps of games last weekend until next Monday because my pictures for those games are in a computer that I do not have access to.
Oakland Athletics Offseason Recap and Preview
¿Well, I’m reporting from my country of Colombia and this might take a while, have you ever seen these keyboards? Anyway, fantasy people know what I’m talking about when I say that you will be hearing a whole lot from this guy this year:
Grade: C+
Notable Additions:
Notable Subtractions:
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