For me, Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. It’s one of the few times of the year when all bets are off when it comes to food. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

Thanksgiving is also the time of year where we give thanks to what we have in life. It’s no different for all 30 teams of Major League Baseball. Each team has something they can be thankful for.

NL East

Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies should be thankful that they have one of the best GM’s in the game in Ruben Amaro Jr. A GM who doesn’t get nearly the credit he deserves.

Atlanta Braves: The Braves should be thankful the Minor League Player of the Year, Jason Heyward is on his way. The kid looks like a star.

Florida Marlins: The Marlins should be thankful they are getting a new stadium in 2012. Maybe then they can keep their young stars like Josh Johnson

New York Mets: The Mets should be thankful that 2009 is finally coming to an end. 2010 can’t be much worse.

Washington Nationals: The Nationals should be thankful that new GM Mike Rizzo has more of a clue than former GM Jim Bowden

NL Central

St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals should be thankful for the fact that they get to watch the best player in the game on a day in and day out basis.

Chicago Cubs: The Cubs should be thankful that after so many years of being labeled “lovable losers,” they are finally dedicated to winning. Whether or not they are making the right moves to win is another story.

Milwaukee Brewers: The Brewers should be thankful that they have an owner in Mark Attanasio, who runs a small market team, but has a big market mentality.

Cincinnati Reds: The Reds should be thankful that Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs, and Joey Votto are young stars, who should provide a solid foundation for the future.

Houston Astros: The Astros should be thankful that Wandy Rodriguez established himself as a solid No. 2 starter in 2009.

Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates should be thankful for the fact that GM Neal Huntington has the team moving in the right direction. The Pirates are making the right moves to compete in the future.

NL West

Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers should be thankful for Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, who appear to be the foundation of the Dodgers’ offense for years to come.

Colorado Rockies: The Rockies should be thankful that they have one of the best and exciting young teams in baseball. The Rockies have finally figured out how to win in Colorado.

San Francisco Giants: The Giants should be thankful for being able to watch Tim Lincecum every five days. His unique delivery continues to amaze fans and baffle hitters.

San Diego Padres: The Padres should be thankful that it appears that they will not be trading star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

Arizona Diamondbacks: The Diamondbacks should be thankful that Brandon Webb is making progress and looks to be healthy in 2010.

AL East

New York Yankees: The Yankees should be thankful that they are the Yankees. No other team in professional sports has the advantage they have.

Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox should be thankful for their minor-league system, which allows them to trade for players like Victor Martinez and potentially Roy Halladay or Miguel Cabrera.

Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays should be thankful that they have the most athletic team in baseball and after so many years of losing, they have a winner in Tampa.

Toronto Blue Jays: The Blue Jays should be thankful for the fact they got to watch Roy Halladay pitch in a Blue Jays’ uniform for the last 12 years. He will go down as the best player in franchise history.

Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles should be thankful for that after so many years of not having a clue, they are moving in the right direction. Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, Brian Matusz, and Nick Markakis provide a solid foundation for the future.

AL Central

Minnesota Twins: The Twins should be thankful for Joe Mauer. When it is all said and done, I believe he will go down as the greatest catcher of all time.

Detroit Tigers: The Tigers should be thankful for Mike Ilitch. Despite a ravaged economy in Detroit, Ilitch does his best to put a winner on the field in the Motor City.

Chicago White Sox: The White Sox should be thankful for employing Ozzie Guillen. His press conferences have provided baseball fans with hours of comedy. Oh yeah, the guy is a pretty good manager.

Kansas City Royals: The Royals should be thankful that there is only more year left in the Jose Guillen era in Kansas City.

Cleveland Indians: The Indians should be thankful that Grady Sizemore, Carlos Martinez, Azdrubal Cabrera, Matt LaPorta, and Shin-Soo Choo provide hope for the future.

AL West

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: The Angles should be thankful for that they have one of the best run organizations in baseball. The job Arte Moreno and Mike Scioscia have done in Anaheim has been impressive.

Seattle Mariners: The Mariners should be thankful for the fact that if they make a couple of solid moves this offseason, they could win the AL West in 2010.

Texas Rangers: The Rangers should be thankful for GM Jon Daniels. His trades and drafting over the last four years have the Rangers poised to make a run at the AL West crown in 2010.

Oakland A’s: The A’s should be thankful for Andrew Bailey. The 2009 AL Rookie of the Year and a great year and should anchor the backend of the A’s bullpen for years to come–or at least until Billy Beane trades him.

I would like to give thanks to all my readers for taking the time out of their days to read my blog. For that, I am truly grateful.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE AND THEIR FAMILIES!!!

TIM LINCECUM

The all-time record salary that a pitcher has ever been awarded in salary arbitration is $6.25 million. Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants wants $23 million this year.

The baseball world is abuzz following an article by Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports yesterday that reports Lincecum’s agent, Rick Thurman of Beverly Hills, was going to submit a figure of $23,000,001 during the pitcher’s salary arbitration hearing this year. Lincecum has pitched two full seasons in Major League Baseball and has won two Cy Young Awards. The only other pitchers in National League history who have won back-to-back Cy Young Awards are Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson.

Lincecum’s agent is making a simple argument. Since his client is the best pitcher in baseball, he deserves to be paid as such. Thurman’s logic seems to be gaining traction. Several articles actually support Lincecum and his salary demands which would blow up baseball’s current salary structure. Under the current collective bargaining system, players can make astronomical salaries via free agency but must wait six years to qualify. During the time that a player is with his original team, he qualifies for salary arbitration after his second season.

Currently, teams like the Marlins, Royals and Padres are able to keep payroll low by using young players. For example, Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson, Lincecum’s fellow teammate on the National League All Star team last season, made $1.4 million dollars last year. Johnson went 15-5 for the Marlins. Compare that to Lincecum who went 15-7. It’s not inconceivable that an arbitrator might award Johnson a salary similar to Lincecum’s. A Lincecum arbitration win raises the salary bar for Johnson and every other young starting pitcher in baseball. Johnson’s own agent certainly doesn’t see his client’s current worth as anywhere near that. According to published reports, he recently submitted a four-year $38 million contract offer to the Marlins. Since the Marlins payroll for the ENTIRE TEAM was $21,811,500 in 2008, you can see how the possibility of a $23 million award for Lincecum has the entire baseball world trembling.

More MLB postseason awards have been handed out over the past few days, and the Cy Young Award Winners were selected a few days ago. One winner is a first time winner that has overcome so much in life on and off the field. The other has been here before, and also he joined a pretty exclusive club.

In the American League, Zack Greinke has come a very long way. From being the #6 pick in the 2002 MLB Draft to a major-league leading 17 losses in 2005, and then suffering from social anxiety disorder and depression throughout the 2006 season, Greinke had his career season in 2009. Signing a four year, $38M contract in January with Kansas City, he returned on the first year of the investment, with a career best 16-8 record, and a major league leading ERA of 2.16, six complete games and three shutouts, and a career-high 242 strikeouts, which was second in the American League to Detroit Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander. The award is Greinke’s first Cy Young award, and he’s the first Royals’ pitcher to win since David Cone in 1994.

In the National League, “The Freak” goes back-to-back. Giants’ young ace Tim Lincecum barely won his second Cy Young Award for the National League, beating Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals. He went 15-7 on the season with a 2.48 ERA, and 261 strikeouts, which was tops in the National League. Lincecum became the 15th player in Major League history to win two or more Cy Young awards, and also became the youngest pitcher to win back-to-back awards in just his third season in the majors.

Next up on the MLB Postseason Awards- the Most Valuable Players of the American and National League.

(photos courtesy of Getty Images)

The Blue Jays resigned good-field-no-hit shortstop John McDonald to a $1.5 million contract for 2010.  It’s still too much money for a player who will be 35 years old and is coming off a career year with the bat in which he still only had only a .655 OPS.  On top of that, he isn’t even the only John Joseph McDonald ever to play in the major leagues — a John Joseph McDonald briefly pitched for the Washington Senators in 1907.  [More recent reports indicate that the contract is two years for a total of $3 million.]

The Giants are apparently considering bringing back catcher Yorvit Torrealba as a replacement for Bengie Molina, while Buster Posey grows into the role as an every day major league catcher.  I remember Yorvit fondly from his prior stint as a Giant a few years back, when he looked like like a promising young catcher who perhaps deserved more playing time.

Now that he’s had that additional playing time, I’m not particularly impressed.  In his four years playing semi-regularly for the Rockies, he’s had OPS numbers of .732, .699, .687 and .731.  These numbers wouldn’t be bad for a catcher playing on any team in MLB except the Rockies.  The Rocks play in the best hitters’ park in baseball by a wide margin, and a catcher who consistently posts an OPS right around .700 playing half his games there just isn’t giving you much offense.  I would expect to Torrealba’s OPS to decline playing semi-regularly for the Giants.

The Tigers are apparently eager to trade pitcher Edwin Jackson, coming off a break-through season at age 25.  The reason: the only one I can see is that Jackson’s ERA got worse every single month in 2009.  From April through October, he posted monthly ERAs of 2.25, 2.34, 2.91, 3.16, 4.45, 5.08, and finally 14.40 in one October start.  Yeesh!

That being said, Jackson had a second-half ERA of 5.07 with 64 Ks and 35 walks in 92.1 innings pitched.  These are not terrible numbers for a 25 year old starter in the AL.  Depending on what the Tigers are asking for him (reportedly, not very much), he looks like a player worth taking a chance on.

Again to no one’s surprise, The Great Pujols won the National League’s MVP award unanimously.  Two things come to mind for me, one negative and one positive, although with even the positive comes with an unsettling undertone.

First, the negative: I’m waiting for the steroid allegations to crop up. Following the ARod revelations, Pujols is the one big bopper left who hasn’t been implicated, and I think it’s just a matter of time following this high for someone to bring him down.  Part of it is that now is the time that reporters will be looking for dirt, because it is absolutely peak news value following this career high.

Americans as a whole love to see the mighty brought down to size and then rise up again as long as the fallen giant shows a little contrition and owns up, at least a little bit, to his or her failings.  It’s a theme that goes back at least as far as Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Aeschlus’ Agamemnon, although they were a bit harder on their fallen heroes in those days.

I won’t be surprised if Pujols turns out to be enhanced.  He is awfully good and awfully big, and in recent years those players with the drive to be the best haven’t shown a lot of scruples about how they get there.  In other words, some of the signs are there.

On the positive side, the only 1Bmen in baseball history who, I think, compare with Pujols at this stage in his career are Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Frank Thomas and maybe Jeff Bagwell.  First base men who hit for average, power and drew a lot of walks.

Of these players, the players that most resembled Pujols in body type were Foxx and Thomas.  This is the down side.  Players as big as Pujols don’t tend to age well.  (Foxx was actually much smaller than Thomas or Pujols, but in his era, he was one of the biggest players in the game).

At the end of the season in which he was age 32, Foxx looked well on his way to beating Babe Ruth’s 714 career homerun total, but he played only full season after that.  Foxx’s heavy drinking added to his aging, but even without it, I doubt he would have played regularly into his late 30’s.

Frank Thomas, perhaps, is a better example.  Through the season in which he was age 30, Thomas played in at least 141 games eight years in a row (O.K., in the strike year 1994, he played in all 113 games the ChiSox played that year, so I’m going to count it).  After age 30, he played in at least 14o games only four times in the final ten seasons of his career.

Pujols will be age 30 in 2010.  At least looking at Thomas and Foxx, I’d sure be willing to shell out to get Pujols on my team in 2010 and 2011, but after that I think it’s a crap shoot.

Pujols runs well for a man his size, stealing 16 bases in 20 attempts in 2009.  However, I’m not sure he’s really fast, as opposed to being a truly great player who really understands the game.  Pujols has now twice stolen 16 bases in a season with a success rate of 80% or higher, but he’s also hit only 14 triples in a nine year major league career.

I’m reminded of Barry Bonds, who didn’t run hard in the last years of his career, even if he could have, but routinely stole bases when the pitcher forgot about him.  In his last six major league seasons, Bonds hit a puny 6 triples, while playing half his games in one of the best triples parks in baseball (AT&T Park’s Death Valley in right center is 421 feet from homeplate, meaning balls hit in that gap roll a long way), but he stole 30 bases in 33 attempts.  Bonds routinely stole second without a throw, because he got such a huge jump off the pitcher when he decided to run.  I suspect a lot of Pujols’ steals come in similar circumstances.

I note that 1Bmen in general rarely play as long as players at other positions.  Mainly, this is because 1Bmen are never particularly fast when young and get downright pokey as they age.  Think Will Clark or Alvin Davis.

As for Lou Gehrig and Jeff Bagwell, both had better body types than Foxx, Pujols or Thomas for long-term success, but neither made to age 40 as professional players.  Gehrig, of course, developed ALS, which effectively ended his career at age 36, while Bagwell developed an arthritic condition in his shoulder, which ended his career several years prematurely at age 37.

Getting all but one first place vote, Joe Mauer became the fifth Minnesota Twin to win the AL MVP.  Hitting .365, playing gold glove worthy defense behind the plate.  It’s hard to argue with the selection – I can’t, he was my pick, too – because there just aren’t that many players like this guy.  Mauer decided to take advantage of the count when he it was in his favor and added power, enough to lead the AL in batting, on base percentage, and slugging percentage.  Amazing, really…  [ESPN and others...]

Tom Verducci had a vote and explains it for Sports Illustrated…

Ken Rosenthal discusses his vote for Fox Sports…

The real challenge will be this offseason or next when the Twins have to try and keep Mauer around, especially since Mauer has to be worth about $20 million per season on the open market.

And in Other News…

Omar Vizquel signed a one -year deal with the Chicago White Sox.  Vizquel expects to be a mentor to infielders Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham.  [ESPN]

The Nationals say that Stephen Strasburg, who missed his last start in the Arizona Fall League, won’t need surgery on his twisted knee.  Dcctors say it’s a dislocation of the joint and he just needs some rest.  [SI]

The Associated Press released notes suggesting that Ken Griffey Jr. could earn as much as $3.9 million after incentives for the 2010 season.  [ESPN]

The Cubs signed lefty reliever John Grabow to a $7.5 million, two-year deal.  Grabow is a solid eighth-inning guy (though he can pitch in any inning from 5 through 9) who earned the contract after a year with 70 appearances for both Pittsburgh and Chicago.  However, personally I’d be leery of anyone coming off a career high in appearances and a career ERA over 4.00…  [SI]

Cuban Aroldis Chapman has fired his agent, signing with the Hendricks Brothers, agents who represent players such as Andy Pettitte.  Edwin Mejia, of Athletes Premier International, had helped Chapman escape from Cuba, setting up residency in Andorra so that Chapman couldn’t be drafted and would be signed as a free agent.  One expects a lawsuit for tampering in the very near future.  [ESPN]

Look for Roy Halliday to play out the string for Toronto, knowing that he will either be traded or become a free agent after the 2010 season.  Toronto brass fully expect Halliday to hit the road.  [ESPN]

The Marlins and pitcher Josh Johnson couldn’t iron out a deal, and per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, it’s because Johnson wants a fourth year if he signs a long-term contract.  The Marlins are prepared to deal with arbitration, but tried to get Johnson to sign a three-year deal.  Johnson was trying to get a deal similar to the four-year, $38 million deal the Royals gave Zack Greinke.  [ESPN]

Speaking of Marlins named Johnson, the ESPN rumor mill has Nick Johnson getting plenty of interest in the free agency market.  Johnson had a .477 OBA after arriving in Florida in a late season trade with Washington.  Among the suitors?  Boston, Washington, the Mets, Giants and Orioles.  [ESPN]

Let’s stick with stories about my fish…  Former Angels prospect and Marlins minor leaguer, Dallas McPherson, signed a minor league deal with the Oakland A’s.  At 29, McPherson is past his prospect days and has missed two of three seasons with back problems.  [ESPN]

Finally, Peter Gammons compliments the management of the Marlins for winning with a payroll that, over four years, has spent less money – nearly a third less – than the Mets spent in 2009.  [ESPN]

Quick Hits…

Jermaine Dye says he is open to playing first base.  I’d be more worried about how his production fell apart after the all-star break, so this is just something to make him seem more valuable on the free agent market. [MLB]

After signing Chris Capuano and John Halama, two pitchers who have missed time due to injury and really haven’t been on the MLB radar in two or three years, the Milwaukee Brewers are showing interest in Carl Pavano.  There just aren’t enough 4.50 ERA guys with bad backs and shoulders to go around, I guess…  [MLB]

Happy Birthday!

Hall of Famer Joe Medwick was born on this day in 1911.  Joe never liked his nickname “Ducky”, which was shorted from “Ducky Wucky”, which might help explain his surliness…

Others celebrating with cards, cake, or rememberances include:  George Burns (1889) – a fine lead off hitter with the Tigers back in the day…, Billy Rogell (1904), Danny Ozark (1923), Jim Northrup (1939), Fred Beene (1942), Steve Yeager (1948), Randy Velarde (1962), Cal Eldred (1967), Ben McDonald (1967), Al Martin (1967), Dave Hansen (1968) – who could probably STILL lace a single pinch hitting for the Dodgers right now…, and Joel Guzman (1984).

Details of Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 2010 contract with the Mariners were reported today.  He will get a guaranteed $2.35 million with incentives, that I’ll describe below, that could bring the deal up to $3.9 million.  As I’ve already written, I have my doubts whether even at this seemingly low price, the deal really makes sense for the Mariners.  Little about the details of the deal make me think otherwise.

Griffey clearly has more value to the Mariners than to anyone else, but I wonder whether that value was mainly in the 2009, when his being back with the M’s was a novelty.  Griffey has been given a lot of credit for turning the attitude in the Mariners’ clubhouse in 2009, but it’s hard to put a value on that.

In 2008, the Mariners went 61-101, and the attitude in the clubhouse was lousy.  In 2009, the M’s went 85-77, and the attitude in the clubhouse was much better.  Was Griffey responsible for the change?

His play as a DH certainly didn’t make a difference: he hit poorly for a full-time DH.  Baseball is full of potential designated hitters, guys who can hit a ton, but kill you in the field. You don’t have to try to find a DH that can hit better than Griffey’s 2009 .735 OPS.

Whether his manner in the clubhouse made the difference is a chicken-or-the-egg argument.  Griffey could have helped with clubhouse attitude which helped the players perform better and win.  Or clubhouse attitude improved because the team played 24 full games better than they did the previous season.

One of the things about “good-in-the-clubhouse” guys is that you are always faced with this sort of unanswerable question.  In my mind, “good-in-the-clubhouse” guys are valuable if they have some concrete, measurable skill that helps the team win.  A few years ago, Mark Sweeney was one of those “good-in-the-clubhouse” veteran players for the Giants.  So good, in fact, that he didn’t blow up when Barry Bonds tried to blame him for his steroid use.

However, Sweeney was also one of the better pinch hitters in the game, which justified his roster spot, aside from his alleged presence in the clubhouse.  The same is true for Twins catcher Mike Redmond.  He may be great in the clubhouse, but for several years, he was a back-up catcher with enough of a bat that he didn’t kill the Twins when Joe Mauer was hurt or needed a day off.

Back to Griffey.  He’s guaranteed $2.35 million and can earn $3.9 million if all of these conditions are met: (1) he gets 400 plate appearances; (2) the M’s draw at least 2.5 million; (3) he stays on the M’s roster the whole year; and (4) he stays off the DL for the whole year.

The only one of these incentives that makes any sense to me is (2).  The whole reason to bring back Griffey is that Mariners’ fans will come out to see him play and/or his presence in the clubhouse will be so valuable that the M’s win and bring in the fans.

As for the 400 plate appearances, Griffey got well more than 400 last year and probably hurt the M’s as a result.  One can assume that to get 400 plate appearances in 2010, Griffey will have to play better than he did in 2009.  It’s a possibility, but if I had to bet I’d guess Griffey’s 2010 will resemble Hank Aaron’s 1976 season (his second and last season with the Milwaukee Brewers).  I’ll grant that Griffey will be two years younger in 2010 than Aaron was in 1976 and that players as a group age better than they once did due to better nutrition and training regimens (and expansion), but Griffey has also experienced a lot more major injuries in his career than Aaron did.

Staying on the roster all year isn’t much of an accomplishment for which to pay, and the requirement that he stay off the disabled list all year long seems a little unfair on the Mariners’ part for a player who will be 40.  If Griffey plays in 110 or 115 games and posts an OPS over .825 in 2010, he’ll be worth every penny of $3.9 million, even if he spends a stint or two on the DL.

Omar Vizquel received $1.375 million to be the White Sox’ back-up shortstop in 2010.  I’m glad to see Omar squeeze out on more year in MLB, but I also tend to think that teams shouldn’t give players at this stage in their careers more than $1.1 million or $1.2 million a year tops.  The reason is that veteran good-field-no-hit players are fungible, and if one asks for much more than $1 million, the team is just as well off finding another of these guys who will accept less.

With Vizquel, he gets a premium for his past Hall of Fame career.  He hit once, so there’s always a chance, no matter how slight, that he might have one good year left with the bat.  At this point in his career, that’s a pretty unreasonable hope.

Another thing you can say in Vizquel’s favor is that there is probably no person better qualified to give your starting shortstops tips on how to get better.  No one has played more major league games at SS, and its probably hard to argue with the assertion that he has been one of the ten best defensive shortstops in baseball history over the course of his career.

The Rangers seemed to appreciate the work he did with Elvis Andris (it helps to have a talented pupil), although it’s also worth noting that they apparently didn’t make a strong effort to bring him back for 2010.  Of course, it’s also doubtful that in their current financial situation, the Rangers could come close to matching the money the White Sox just gave him.

With the departure of free agent Yorvit Torrealba, the Colorado Rockies have expressed interest in former Met backup catcher and now free agent Brian Schneider according to The Denver Post.  Torrealba recently turned down a 2 year $4.5 million offer from the Rockies.  The Denver Post speculates that Torrealba may be headed to the San Francisco Giants with the departure of free agent Bengie Molina.  Torealba started in the Giant’s system and was with the big league club from 2001-2005.  He’ll be a stop-gap until Buster Posey is ready to take the job full-time.

Schneider hit .218 with three home runs and 24 RBIs in 59 games with the Met’s in 2009.  He’s he’s an average backup at best.  The Rockies other option is Chris Iannetta who started approximately half of the Rockies games last season.

Congratulations to Tim Lincecum for winning his second consecutive NL Cy Young award.  It’s nice to see that the voters looked beyond uncontrollable stats such as wins in deciding the top pitcher of the National League.  You have to feel for the Cardinal’s Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.  The voters overlooked the fact that they had more wins and were on a playoff team. Rather they focused on statistics that the pitcher had more control over such as FIP and VORP.  FIP stands for Fielding Independent Pitching and it covers the statistics that a pitcher is responsible for such as walks, strikeouts, hit batters and home runs.  VORP is the Value Over Replacement Player.  VORP measures the value that the players provides over a replacement or backup player.

Like I did with the Zach Greinke when he won the AL Cy Young Award last week, I want to analyze the salaries of the past 4 winners of the NL Cy Young.

The American League over the last 4 years had 4 different pitchers that were more established in the league (ie. they had proven their success early on and their agents had negotiated a high contract before they won the award).  Cliff Lee would be the exception since he was paid $3.75 million during Cy Young year in 2007, but he was signed to a long-term deal that was back loaded in salary.

The National League has 3 pitchers over the last 4 years that are in the early parts of their career.  Lincecum is negotiating year-to-year knowing that he’s arbitration eligible.  He should expect a nice raise for the 2010 season with at least a $1-2 million base salary which he’ll sign before Spring Training 2010.  Jake Peavy and Brandon Webb had similar contracts when they won their awards and a similar pay raise over the following 2 years.  Peavy is now reaping his rewards with the 3 year $52 million contract that is good through 2012.  Webb recently had his 2010 team option exercised for $8.5 million despite his injury plagued 2009 season.  He’ll have to perform well in 2010 to expect a long-term deal similar to Peavy’s current contract.

The Giant’s have a pitching bargain with Lincecum.  He’s easily worth $20 million per season.  They need to milk it and make use of it before his discount expires after the 2012 season.  You can easily predict that Lincecum will be the most sought after pitcher then with the Yankees and the Red Sox taking dump trucks full of cash and dropping it off at his door when he’s a free agent.

MLB: ナショナルリーグのサイ・ヤング賞に、
2年連続でサンフランシスコ・ジャイアンツのティム・リンスカムが選出されました。私はこの投手が好きです（でも髪は切ろうね）。まだ25歳、これから大投手への道を歩んでいってくれることを願っています（でも髪は切ろうね。それと、ハッパはもうやめようね）。

2年連続での受賞は（たぶん）ランディ・ジョンソン（ジョンソンは4年連続くらいだったような…）以来の快挙（でも髪は切ろうね）。1位票の数だけなら2位。3位のアダム・ウェインライトとの得点差が10ポイントしかなかったという大接戦。ちなみに、ウェインライトは3位ながら、1位票の数だけであればトップでした。

2年連続のサイ・ヤング受賞はすごいことです（でも髪は切ろうね）。
ただし、私のなかでは、「今年のサイ・ヤングはカーペンターだったんじゃないの? 」という気がしています。記者の投票で決まる同賞ですから、2位のクリス・カーペンターとウェインライトがカージナルスのチームメイト同士で、票を食いあってしまった結果のリンスカム受賞という気もしなくもないです。

- リンスカム: 15勝7敗 (.682), ERA 2.48, K 261, Walks 68, WHIP 1.05
- カーペンター: 17勝4敗 (.810), ERA 2.24, K 144, Walks 38, WHIP 1.01
- ウェインライト: 19勝8敗 (.704), ERA 2.63, K 212, Walks 66, WHIP 1.21

三振の数では劣るものの、勝率, 防御率, WHIPで他の2人を上回っているカーペンターの方が、サイ・ヤング受賞によりふさわしかったんじゃないの?という感じが私にはしてしまうんですよね。さらに決定的なスタッツが、被ホームラン数。

- リンスカム: 225.1イニングで、33本被弾
- カーペンター: 192.2イニングで、7本被弾
- ウェインライト: 233.0イニングで、49本被弾

う〜ん、やっぱりカーペンターに一票。
しかし、リンスカムが受賞にふさわしくない成績しか残せていないというわけではないので、やはり「カーペンター惜しかったね、リンスカムおめでとう!（でも髪は切ろうね）」と言っておきます。

Congratulations to San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecum on winning the 2009 National League Cy Young Award. This is Timmy’s second consecutive Cy Young Award. He is also the only pitcher to win the award twice in his first two full Major League seasons. This was one of the tightest races. Cardinals Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright were right there behind Lincecum. Wainwright actually had the most first place votes, yet came in third place because he didn’t have enough second and third place votes to give him enough points. It’s a weird system they have set up there. I was hoping for Wainwright to take it, but Lincecum absolutely deserves it. He ended the season with a 15-7 record, a 2.48 ERA, and 261 strikeouts in 225.1 IP. A terrific year and a much-deserved award. Congrats Timmy!

Don’t have too much fun celebrating, if you know what I mean

Next Up: Your 2009 AL & NL MVPs will be announced Monday and Tuesday of next week. Stay tuned…

Peace,

Love,

& Baseball,

♥ S.

Many thought it would be a St. Louis Cardinals pitcher to win this year’s NL Cy Young Awards but it was not. San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum won the award by 6 points. Lincecum did not have the most first place point but in the ended had the most overall points. Congrats. This is his second in a row!

Player, team                                             1st-place votes                     Total
Tim Lincecum, Giants                                         11                                       100
Chris Carpenter, Cardinals                                 9                                          94
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals                          12                                         90

~Signing Off~
AGE

College students of California, we need more money for us to educate you! Yesterday, University of California regents panel approved a 32% fee increase, or $2500 a student for undergraduate and graduate students. The decision will take effect in the 2010 spring and fall semesters raising fees over $10,000 per year! The justification for a such a dramatic fee increase is “to close the budget gap of $535 Million this year,” said UC President Mark Yudof. The new fees are expected to generate more than half a billion dollars, enabling the university to restore some of its worst cuts, Yudof said.

Of course students hear fee increase and immediately freak out. Students rallied in hundreds and thousands at UC campuses across the state including UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz. At the UCLA campus where the board meetings occures, student continuously disrupted the meeting as police cleared the room several times before the decision was finalized. Included with the disruption were 14 arrests, 12 being students.

One part some fail to notice is the fee increase is NOT for all UC students. This fee increase is only for those us who’s household income is $75,000 or more. Hmm, at this point I personally became a little less upset because I personally don’t make anywhere near that! Then my anger turns a little to those who are complaining about fee increases when it’s only effecting the rich kids who’s parents make over $70,000.

I have very little sympathy for you complainers. I mean it sucks, don’t get me wrong, paying $10,000 extra for anyone has to be a bad deal. But take in consideration, you must be alright if you are even attending a University in the first place. If your family makes over $70,000 you are doing much better and living pretty comfortably. So maybe you can’t go to Berkeley, and live in the nicest apartment and drive around a $35,000 car or even more.

To everyone complainers or not, I have my one and only solution to you. Legalize the most profitable crop known on earth and watch our state flourish with success. Fee increases aren’t going anywhere as UC President Mark Yudof told reporters Wednesday he couldn’t rule out raising student fees again if the state is unable to meet his request for an additional $913 million next year for the 10-campus system. Good luck with that as that is longshot request as the state projects a $21 billion budget gap and the state legislative analyst reported Wednesday that increased funding for higher education was unlikely. So what a better way to generate revenues then TAXING, REGULATING , and LEGALIZING MARIJUANA!

In addition to my persuasion for legalization for revenues, this clearly shows, Weed does a body good! Ask two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum. Announced this morning, Tim Lincecum (15-7 265K 2.48 ERA) won the Cy Young award in a close 3 way race between the Cardinal’s Chris Carpenter (17-4, 2.24) and Adam Wainwright (19-8, 2.63). He was a little surprised ( as was I ) and accepted his award graciously. He thanked everyone and said this was a great award as an individual achievement but he wants that team World Series victory! The big part of the speech was the end where he apologized to everyone from the Giants Organization to most importantly, the fans for his marijuana related incident with the law last month. A real Class Act. Even though he got caught up and said he wouldnt do it anymore, it just shows smoking weed doesnt make you the terrorizer Reefer Madness makes you out to be.We look forward to more successful years from Tim as long as the Giants can land a deal as Mr. Lincecum’s stock just went up adding the second trophy to his shelf, next to his bong =).

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball to have repeat Cy Young Awards in his first two years in the bigs. Impressive, yeah?

Lincecum barely beat out St. Louis Cardinal pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Wainwright actually had more 1st place votes than Lincecum (12 over Timmy’s 11)! Announced today, the race was the closer than any other in previous Cy Young award voting history.

Lincecum received 100 total points (5 points for 1st place votes, 3 points for 2nd place votes, and 1 point for 3rd place votes). Carpenter received 94 points and Wainwright got 90.

For those who don’t know, Lincecum stands at 5′11″ and weighs 170lbs (probably soaking wet). He has led the Giants in wins for two years. He had 261 strikeouts for the 2009 season, just 4 shy of the 2008 season – 265. He also posted his career high strikeouts per game record – 15 Ks in one game. Pretty impressive.

Congratulations, Mr. Lincecum for another fine year in pitching. Just stay away from those Washington speed traps, please.

San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum became only the fifteenth pitcher in history to win the Cy Young award twice.

The St. Louis Cardinals made the playoffs in large part because of the two-headed monster atop their rotation: Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. Wainwright won 19 games with a 2.63 ERA in 233 innings, and Carpenter won 17 games with a 2.24 ERA. Their statistics were unbelievable, and they would have been one-two in the race if not for San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum, who won the Cy Young award in 2008 by winning 18 games, touting a 2.62 ERA, and, in 227 innings, allowing only 182 hits and 10 home-runs while striking out 265 batters, was in the mix to repeat as winner. The Giants missed out on the playoffs, but finished strong and won 88 games, sixteen more than in 2008. Lincecum was a big reason for the improvement, anchoring their very successful rotation by going 17-5 with a 2.48 ERA in 225 1/3 innings. Even more remarkable than his record and ERA, was that he allowed an amazingly low amount of hits, 168, home-runs, 11, and walks, 68, while striking out the opposition 261 times.

So, it was a three-horse race between Wainwright, Carpenter, and Lincecum. Carpenter and Wainwright had more wins, forming a two-headed monster. Lincecum had a sidekick as well: Matt Cain won 14 games and had a 2.89 ERA. He wasn’t flying solo, therefore making the decision a toss-up. The voters, made up of sportswriters around the country, voted in a tight-knit fashion, expectedly so considering the similarity in statistics and impact. Who did the majority pick? The Freak, also known as Tiny Tim.

Lincecum, who had a microscopic WHIP (Walks + Hits/Inning Pitched) of 1.05, had 10 first place votes, less than Wainwright’s 12. But, what won it for him was the substantial number of second place votes, which gave him 100 points overall, barely beating Carpenter’s 94, and Wainwright’s 90. Though the voters’ indecision in choosing between Carpenter and Wainwright played a role in Lincecum taking home the award, there is no doubt the 25-year old, 5′9″ Washington-native deserved the hardware for the second straight year.

Zack Greinke convincingly won the American League Cy Young award, acquiring 25 of 28 first-place votes.

In the American League, another pitcher won deservedly on a non-playoff team: the Kansas City Royals Zack Greinke. His story is well-documented, but though I presume it had little to do with the 26-year old winning the award, it made his victory that much more remarkable. His statistics spoke for themselves, as he won 16 games with a dominating 2.16 ERA. He had 6 complete games, 2 shutouts, struck out 242 in 229 1/3 innings, relinquished only 11 homers and 51 walks, and had a 1.07 WHIP. His numbers were very similar to Lincecum’s, and he also won without leading the league in wins.

In fact, he was seventh in that category. CC Sabathia of the World Series-winning New York Yankees led the league with 19 victories, tying the Seattle Mariners’ Felix Hernandez and Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander; Toronto’s Roy Halladay, Boston’s Josh Beckett, and Texas’s Scott Feldman each tallied 17 wins. Clearly, as in Lincecum’s case, a teams’ record doesn’t matter, as the Royals finished last in the American League Central with 65 wins and 97 losses, nor do the victories they themselves accumulate.

Lincecum’s win was surprising at first glance, given the year both Wainwright and Carpenter had. So was Greinke’s victory in some respects. But though they somewhat flew under my radar, the writers did their job and truly picked both leagues best pitchers over the course of the season; and what a season Tiny Tim and Greinke had.

Corey Hart; Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Two evening trade rumors to pass along concerning Kentucky natives. Jason Stark of ESPN.com reports that trade talks from the Marlins with the Giants and Rangers about Louisville-native Dan Uggla got “pretty hot and heavy” at the GM meetings. Uggla remains the most likely Marlin to be traded, but the team told Stark they would keep him and trade someone else if they didn’t get what they wanted for the second baseman.

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reports the Braves are trying to move starting pitcher Derek Lowe and there most serious discussion so far came with the Brewers concerning Bowling Green-native Corey Hart. That deal appears to have fallen through, and Mark Bowman of MLB.com says the Braves would prefer prospects to Hart.

Mark it down….Tim Lincecum has won his second NL Cy Young Award and second straight. The guy who is nicknamed “The Freak” only compiled 15 wins which was the lowest of the pitchers who were voted for the award(Harn, Vasquez, Carpenter & Wainwright) but he had better numbers in the statistical categories(WHIP, FIP, BABIP). Mr. Lincecum is the first Cy Young repeat award winner since Randy Johnson did it. Randy Johnson, who was Lincecum’s teammate this year in San Francisco, and Sandy Koufax are the only other pitchers to win consecutive NL Cy Young Awards.“The Freak” led the NL with 261 strikeouts and tied for the league lead with four complete games and two shutouts which put him over the top of the rest of the contenders who made this one of the closet Cy Young Award races in history. Only 10 points separated the top three vote-getters in the balloting. Chris Carpenter was second and St. Louis teammate Adam Wainwright finished third despite getting the most first-place votes. On the year Timmy went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 32 starts and 225 1-3 innings.

Do you think the Cy Young should be more weighted because first place votes or is it fine how they determine the winner?