Believe it or not, some teams will be reaching the unofficial halfway mark of the season this week. While the All-Star game in mid-July continues to act as the natural divider of seasons, the true mid-point is at the 81-game mark, of course. So with this in mind, Spikes Up thought it would be a great time to take a look at some projections, with another installment of our Setting the Pace column.
After driving in three runs on Friday night, Jorge Posada is now on pace to fall just short of his second career 100-RBI season. Regardless of whether he can hit the mark or not, the Yankees’ backstop is enjoying a solid comeback year, after two declining seasons in a row. He’ll be 35 in August; Posada should definitely be in decline now – 1,146 career games behind the plate will tend to do that – yet he’s batting a career best .300 this year. Keeper league owners who find themselves out of contention should definitely think of parlaying Posada’s solid season into some high-end prospects and perhaps an emerging catcher like Brian McCann or Josh Willingham.
Chien-Ming Wang accomplished the seemingly impossible on Friday night – he cooled off the Marlins. And, man, did the injury-depleted Yankees need that shot in the arm as they desperately try to keep pace with a blazing Bosox squad. Wang scattered nine hits and four runs over seven innings, striking out two and walking none to earn the victory. After a solid rookie campaign, the Taiwanese righty has earned more responsibility this season and has not blinked. He’s now on pace to win 16 games, and he’s turned in to quite a workhorse, as he’ll reach 231 IP at his current rate. Wang still won’t offer much help in strikeout leagues, as he’s on pace for just 80 (in fact, it’s a worse rate than he had last year), but all things considered, the 26-year-old has established himself as a quality major league starter.
Brandon Inge cranked his 16th homer of the season Friday, matching a career high set last season. Don’t look now, but he’s on pace for a 35-HR year. Inge is only batting .225 and is getting on base at a wholly unacceptable .284 rate, but he’s an excellent source of power. Yes, that’s right. He has more homers than A-Rod. In fact, the only third basemen with more dingers than Inge are Troy Glaus, Morgan Ensberg and David Wright.
The move to Baltimore is sure working out well for catcher Ramon Hernandez. After driving in a pair of runs Saturday, including the game winner in the bottom of the ninth, to help the O’s beat the Nats, Hernandez is now on pace for 117 RBI for the season. A home run earlier in the game has upped his pace in that department to 29, which would shatter his previous best of 21. In fact, he’s already passed his home run total from all of last year. Hernandez’s career high in RBI, 78, looks like it will be dwarfed this season. At the rate in which he’s producing runs, Hernandez has an outside chance of having one of the 10 best single-season RBI totals for a catcher in baseball history. Currently, Buck Ewing, Gabby Hartnett and Walker Cooper share the 10th-best total with 122 each, the most recent of which was Cooper, 59 years ago.
Jon Rauch’s days as starting pitching prospect appear to be over, but it looks like he’s found his niche in middle relief. After tossing a scoreless appearance on Saturday – the third such showing in his past four tries – Rauch’s ERA has dropped to almost 3.00. He’s on pace to set career bests in almost every category, particularly games, innings pitched and strikeouts (86, a darn nice total from a bullpen arm). He may never become the dominant starter we all envisioned five years ago, but Rauch has managed to carve out a job as a solid major league reliever, and that’s a commodity plenty in demand these days as well.
Crash and Burn of the Week
Heading into 2006, the Pirates looked to be a team on the rise. They had one of the brightest young stars in the game in Jason Bay; they had an enviable collection of young arms ready to contribute with more on the way and they had a group of young hitters at key positions that looked ready to finally help Pittsburgh get back to .500.
Well, that’s all a pipe dream now. The Buccos have dropped 10 straight games to solidify their spot as the National League’s worst club. Hell, Pittsburgh was swept by baseball’s worst team – the Royals – last week. At 26-50, the Pirates are in the midst of yet another write-off season. In fact, they are on pace to lose 105 games.
So now what? Salary trimming time? Injury-prone and underachieving Sean Casey would be a good place to start. How about Jeremy Burnitz? Yeah, the Pirates will probably have to eat some of his contract, but if they can get a bona fide prospect for him, they have to do it. Unfortunately, there’s not much hitting help on the way at Triple-A, but the Pirates could shore up the pen by cutting bait on Ryan Vogelsong and bringing up Jonah Bayliss. Struggling Oliver Perez needs a stint in the minors or as the long reliever. His rotation spot should be handed to Tom Gorzelanny.
I don’t envy the Pirates’ management. Although they are the author of much of their own misfortune, the Pirates’ mess this year looks harder to clean up than ever before. At least Steel City sports fans have the defending champion Steelers to look forward to, even if they do have a QB who's not smart enough to know that when you ride a motorcyle you should: (a) wear a helmet; and (b) actually have a motorcycle license.
Aging Minor Leaguer of the Week
Bobby Hill is a monument to the ineffectiveness of Pirate management. Recall that, from Pittsburgh’s perspective, he was supposed to be the jewel of the deal that sent Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to the Cubs. Well, Hill slipped further out of the Pirates’ plans each season, and now he’s out of the organization altogether. The final reminder of the Ramirez deal was traded away in November, sent to the Padres for the every popular PTBNL (which turned out to be pitcher Clay Hamilton).
Now 28, Hill is a non-roster player after being waived in March and then subsequently re-signed, but is having a decent season at Triple-A. He’s scored 35 runs in 56 games, and is doing a good job of getting on base with 25 walks and a .391 OBP. Hill has no power and his once-ample speed is gone, but with Vinny Castilla struggling in San Diego, and backups Geoff Blum and Mark Bellhorn nobody’s idea of a solution, perhaps Hill could still play a role for the Padres in the second half. At the very least, the switch-hitter, once considered to have great lead-off potential, deserves a chance to be a utility infielder.
Blog Update: It’s official. I’ve registered the domain for my new fantasy blog: www.rotorob.com. It’s still in the planning stages, but stay tuned for launch news, coming shortly!
NEXT: Spikes Up returns next week, July 3. Basketball fans should check out Three in the Key. Now published on Thursdays, it will next appear on June 29.
Comments? Questions? Criticisms or witticisms? You can reach me at rob@creativesports.com if you’d like further information or have a question you’d like me to answer in an upcoming column. Have a suggestion for a column or want to hear analysis about a particular player? Feel free to write. I might even answer!
Rob Blackstien is a freelance writer and the principal of Pen-Ultimate (www.pen-ultimate.ca), a Toronto-based writing and editorial services firm. Position Battles, a column he writes for www.rotoworld.com, also appears on usatoday.com and foxsports.com. His latest venture, www.rotorob.com, a fantasy sports blog, will be launching shortly.