Pablo Sandoval Claims He Has Nothing To Prove This Season

Boston Globe - Pablo Sandoval arrived at Red Sox spring training camp Sunday morning, looking exactly the same as he looked when he arrived last spring. Plus-size.

He was in a great mood. He said he has nothing to prove. He said he has no idea what he weighs. In a contradiction of what we’ve been told by Torey Lovullo, John Farrell, and Dave Dombrowski, Pablo said that nobody in Sox management asked him to lose weight during the offseason.

Not a great start to Spring Training for the Panda. I'm not as concerned with his February weight as some others (this is just who he is) but his comments are certainly concerning. Sandoval claims to have nothing to prove. Let's look at the stats:

Sandoval's career triple slash line is .288/.339/.452 (including last season) but last year he hit .245/.292/.366. WAR is a confusing stat but I'm pretty sure it's not a good sign that last season he was worth -0.9 wins above replacement. In a sense that means the Sox paid this bum $19 million to be worse than a replacement level player. Great.

Now let's look at Sandoval's stats from his time with the Giants. (Spoiler alert they aren't anything to tell your grandchildren about). He has hit 20 homers just twice in his career. Never more than 25. When you take a closer look his best season, 2009, it looks like an extreme outlier. That season he posted career highs across the board, hitting 25 homers with 90 RBI and a .330/.387/.556 triple slash line. What this means is Sandoval has never really been a great regular season player. 

Perhaps expectations were a bit too high for Sandoval's first season in Boston. I think a lot of the disappointment from Sox fans comes from his contract. However it's not his fault that the Red Sox gave him $95 million. This was always my defense for JD Drew. The Sox overpaid and they know that. Sandoval was never going to be "worth" $19 million per year. The hope was that he would be close to worth that in the regular season and would live up to the contract in the playoffs. 

Now all that being said I cannot understand why "Panda" thinks he has nothing to prove. He is coming off his worst season in a new market fresh off a gigantic contract. So the concerning part isn't that Sandoval is coming off a down year. It's that anyone playing in Boston needs to understand how the media here works. All Sandoval had to do today was tell us that last season was a tough year, that he is disappointed in himself, and that he worked hard over the off-season to be better in 2016. Instead he tells us he didn't weight himself once all winter and has nothing to prove. Not a great look.

PS while I am just as frustrated as everyone with his guy (I would obviously dump his contract in a minute if possible) I can't totally give up on him. We are probably stuck with him for four more years. He's only 29 and is going back to switch hitting this year. If (and that's a BIG if) he rebounds this season and has some big hits in the playoffs a lot will be forgiven. Until then however Sandoval most certainly has something to prove.

Tyson Ross Named Padres Opening Day Starter

The 28 year old Ross gets the honor over James Shields and Andrew Cashner. In Ross' 2014 breakout season he started 31 games while posting a 2.81 ERA. He also struck out 195 in 195.2 innings pitched and was named an all star. Ross followed this performance by starting a league leading 33 games last year. While his ERA rose to a still respectable 3.26, he also increased his strikeout rate by fanning 212 in 196 innings. 

Ross has been the subject of trade rumors for the past year and those talks should only increase as he has just two years left until free agency. Despite recent big name additions (Craig Kimbrel, Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, James Shields) the Padres have not been able to reach .500 since 2010. Below are their records from the past five seasons:

I have no reason to believe that the 2016 Padres will be any better than the 2015 edition. If the season does start poorly they will have to start thinking about rebuilding. Trading Ross as early as this summer could accelerate that process. So while getting named the opening day starter is a big honor for Ross, it wouldn't surprise me if it were his last in San Diego.

Wake Up With Josh Hamilton's 2008 Home Run Derby Performance

This is my favorite Home Run Derby of all time. It's the only one that sticks out to me from the past 15 years. Anyone who was around in '99 might argue that it was better than '08 and honestly it probably was. I was just too young to remember watching it live. The only disappointment of the '08 derby was that Hamilton didn't win. The derby changes their rules every year it seems so it's confusing to keep up with but in 2008 Hamilton did all his damage in the first round, knocking a record 28 out of the park. He added 4 homers in round 2, giving him a total of 32 entering the finals where the count resets. This allowed Justin Morneau to edge out a gassed Hamilton 5-3. Regardless of this defeat Hamilton's performance is one of the most memorable of all time.

Full 2008 Derby Results:

Corey Seager Is Baseball's Consensus Top Prospect

CBS - Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager has been named the top prospect in baseball for the 2016 season by all four major scouting publications, including Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, and MLB.com. Baseball America released their annual top-100 list Friday, completing Seager's sweep.

Seager's only real competition for this honor came from Twins outfielder Byron Buxton. While Buxton is still an elite prospect he was somewhat disappointing in his brief time with the Twins last season (.209/.250/.326 in 46 games). Seager meanwhile became the best hitter on a division winning team while playing a premium position in shortstop. In just 27 games the 21 year old hit 4 home runs while slashing .337/.425/.561 and was the Dodgers' number three hitter for game 1 of the NLDS. There are concerns that Seager will eventually have to shift to third base but the Dodgers can live with that if he keeps producing like he has offensively. If he stays at shortstop he will just be that much more valuable. Below is the rest of the top 15, using the average rank from the four prospect sites mentioned in the CBS article:

Note most of these names are new to the list this year. This is due to a ridiculous 2015 rookie class that saw many of last year's top prospects advance to the majors (Carlos Correa, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Miguel Sano, Noah Syndergaard, Francisco Lindor, Kyle Schwarber, etc). In order to be considered a prospect a player must have less than 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched.

Wake Up With Barry Bonds Getting Intentionally Walked With The Bases Loaded

I'm always hesitant to make the case for Bonds as one of the best hitters of all time. It always turns into a steroid argument. However I think we still forget how incredible he was. In addition to the all time home run record (762) he holds the single season record for home runs (73), slugging percentage (.863), OBP (.609), walks (232), and intentional walks (120). To put the walks into perspective here are MLB's leaders from 2015:

Just two players walked more than 120 times last year. In 2004 Bonds was INTENTIONALLY walked that many times! He has 7 MVP awards, which is three more than anyone else, including the most consecutive MVP awards (4, 2001-04). In Bonds' only World Series appearance (2002) he absolutely carried the Giants by slugging 1.294, which is a World Series record. Finally, from 1992-2004 Bonds hit at least 30 home runs in every single season.

I've never seen a hitter more feared than Barry Bonds. The video above is from May 28, 1998. Up two in the 9th and with the bases loaded the Diamondbacks chose to intentionally walk him and make it a one run game. The crazy part? It worked and I don't blame them for doing it.

If All Of MLB Had A Re-Draft Who Would You Take With The First Overall Pick?

Similar to dynasty mode in MVP Baseball 2005 we are assuming the league is starting from scratch and that you have the number one pick. Who ya got? The only difference here is contracts do no matter. In this hypothetical world every first round pick receives the same contract. So the only other factor to consider is age. While Miguel Cabrera should be awesome for the next couple of years it probably makes more sense to consider someone a little younger. The below list is not the order I would take them in but are the guys I know you can make the best arguments to be chosen first. 

Carlos Correa, SS, Astros Age: 21
Correa played most of 2015 at age 20, not turning 21 until September. He won the AL Rookie of the Year playing just 99 games, hitting 22 homers with 14 steals. Give him a full season in 2016 and he is the instant favorite for a 30/30 season, something that hasn't been done since Mike Trout and Ryan Braun did it in 2012. Correa plays a premium position (there aren't as many good shortstops as there are first basemen and outfielders) and had a nice start to his postseason career, hitting 2 homers in just 6 games. Despite these impressive statistics the argument for Correa is more an argument for youth and position. He is a full two years younger than anyone on this list and is probably already baseball's best shortstop. While 99 games is just not a big enough sample for me to consider him first overall I think the argument can easily be made for him to be taken in the top 5.

Kris Bryant, 3B, Cubs Age: 24

Bryant just turned 24 in January, which is a little older than I would expect people to think he is. He's a few months younger than Trout and is actually about ten months older than Harper. Regardless his rookie year was impressive. He accumulated 5.9 WAR in 2015, more than Harper's 5.1 from his 2012 rookie season. While Bryant led the league in strikeouts he showed a rare combination of power (26 homers) and ability to get on base (.369 OBP). Managers can live with strikeouts when a player is putting up those kind of numbers. Due to the fact that Bryant should only get better in the coming years, one can make the argument for him be considered as high as third on this list.

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Marlins Age: 26

Stanton might be the most controversial player on this list. I have to admit his injury history hurts him a lot. Here are his games played per season:

2010 doesn't exactly count because he was called up on June 6, so did not have a chance to play a full season in the big leagues. It seems every year we say this is going to be the year he puts it all together while staying healthy. His most recent "full season" came just two years ago, when he hit 37 homers with a .395 OBP. Last year he had a ridiculous 27 home runs through just 74 games. However even in his best season, 2014, Stanton accumulated just 6.5 WAR. No where near Bryce Harper's 9.9 last year or Mike Trout's 10.8 from 2012. Therefore I cannot make the case for Stanton to be selected ahead of Trout or Harper. However his combination of age, upside, and production while healthy make him a no brainer top 5 pick. 

Clayton Kershaw, SP, Dodgers Age: 27

It is important to note that Kershaw turns 28 in March, which is a little older than I thought he was. However I still think anybody taking a pitcher first overall has to take Kershaw. He's won three of the past five NL Cy Youngs. He hasn't had an ERA below 2.53 since 2010. Over the past five years he's led the NL in strikeouts three times, ERA four times, wins twice, complete games twice, shutouts twice, and FIP twice. He has also made at least 30 starts in a season six of the past seven years and the one he didn't make 30 starts he made 27. Now the concern with Kershaw is obviously his postseason performance. In 13 playoff games (10 starts) he's 2-6 with a 4.59 ERA. However he was a lot better in 2015, going 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. The rest of his postseason numbers (WHIP, BB/9, K/9) are much closer to his career norms so not all hope is lost there. Plus there's no doubt he gives you the best chance of any pitcher at making the postseason over the next 3-4 years. While I wouldn't consider a pitcher within the top 10, Kershaw would be the first off my board if I did. 

Mike Trout, OF, Angels Age: 24
Every year Mike Trout has played in the majors he has finished first or second in the AL MVP voting. That's fucking incredible. He is the perfect combination of power, speed, defense, durability, and drive. WAR is not a perfect statistic but it's worth pointing out that Trout has the most WAR through ages 20, 21, 22, and 23:

His stats through four years have basically been perfect:

The two most notable stat changes over the past four years are home runs and stolen bases. The steals have decreased dramatically, from 49 in 2012 to 11 in 2015. However the home runs have increased the past three season from 27 to 36 to 41. If Trout keeps doing what he is doing nobody will be complaining about the lack of steals. While I personally rank him second, I do not have a problem with anybody taking Trout first overall.

Bryce Harper, OF, Nationals Age: 23
2015 was Harper's fourth year in the majors. He just turned 23 in October. He's younger than both Mike Trout and Kris Bryant. Actually, he's the youngest player on this list besides Carlos Correa. He came to the majors when he was just 19 so it feels like he has been playing for a lot longer than he has. Harper was just voted the youngest unanimous MVP in the history of baseball. In his age 22 season Harper led the entire league in OBP (.460), slugging percentage (.649), and WAR (9.9). He also hit .330 with and NL leading 42 homers. There is a chance this was Harper's career year but I'm betting on a 23 year old unanimous MVP who's only goal his entire life has been to become one of the best baseball players of all time. Harper is the number one pick.

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Wake Up With The Texas Rangers Scoring 30 Runs in 2007

On August 22, 2007 the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 30-3. I remember watching SportsCenter that night and when the score rolled across the bottom of the screen I thought they made a mistake and it was actually 3-3. Nope. This wasn't even one of those great Rangers team that went to the World Series back to back years. Their box score featured Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Nelson Cruz before he was great. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vasquez combined for 4 home runs and 14 RBI. Just one of those nights where everything goes right for a team, apparently.

For those wondering, 30 is the most runs scored by a team since 1897: