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Juan
Juan watches baseball from the land of hot women and good-field no-hit shortstops. While he is likely to ramble about a wide variety of topics, he especially likes talking and writing about Hall of Fame candidacies and financial aspects of the sport.
Juan's Profile
Hall of Fame: My Fictional Vote
November 27, 2007
By: Juan
It's that time of year again. The list of candidates in the ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2008 has just been released, and the long-tenured members of the BBWAA are hard at work (or maybe not) figuring out their ballots. And, even though they don't count, common fans like yours truly show an equal amount of passion and dedication to the subject. Watching and evaluating careers to figure out the best of the best is a subject I've always found fascinating, and the result is this post, where I'll pick players who, IMO, deserve to be inducted in Cooperstown's hallowed halls.
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Who's on third?
November 8, 2007
By: Juan
You don't need me to say this, but Arod's opt-out has left the Yanks in a difficult situation regarding their team building for the next season. What already was expected to be an eventful winter because of decisions regarding Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bob Abreu, and Andy Pettitte's player option, gained a new dimension because of the need to find a new third baseman. Alex had the best offensive season of his impressive career last year, and no doubt that was a factor in the Yankees' run towards the postseason, so that needs to be replaced somehow. As always, there are financial considerations to remember.
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NL Rookie of the Year: My vote
October 11, 2007
By: Juan
With the regular season finally over (after an excellent tie-breaker game in which the Rockies ended up on top), some teams continue on the chase for the World Series, and for others the off-season has already begun. Of course, one of the highlights of the off-season is the handing of individual awards, which will be the subject of my following articles.
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Craig Biggio and magic milestones
August 6, 2007
By: Juan
Excuse me, if you can, for taking increasingly long delays between articles. I have been looking for a good subject, and I believe I have found one.
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To Opt Out, or Not to Opt Out?
July 10, 2007
By: Juan
The Alex Rodriguez situation has already been one of the main points of attention this season, and will grow in importance as we approach the offseason. For those who have been living in a cave, this situation is based on a clause he negotiated in his mega-deal with the Rangers, which allows him to opt out of his contract after the 2007 season. The clause went with him to New York, and of course could be executed after the season ends. To make things more interesting, the Free Agent market has seen booming prices over the last few months, and Alex is having the best offensive season of his career so far. What he will do, and how will the Yankees react, has been a matter of huge speculation.
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All-Time Latino Team
June 21, 2007
By: Juan
Over the last few months, ESPN has been making a series of polls asking fans to choose the best Latin American players (or, at least, players of Latin American origin) of all time. I thought that explaining my choices would make a nice article, and since you readers haven’t seen one of those in a while, here it is. At this point, most of you know how I like to evaluate players (if you don’t, click on my archive and check the Hall of Fame series). I will limit myself to analyzing the players ESPN chose for their polls, although I feel there are some significant omissions. So, without any further ado…
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Lookout for Cooperstown
April 15, 2007
By: Juan
A few months ago, I gave you my impressions of the Hall of Fame chances of many recently retired (and now un-retired, see Sammy Sosa) players. Now, having little else on my mind to write about, I once again turn to this favorite topic of mine and revisit the Hall debate, this time focusing on active players.
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Underrated!
March 5, 2007
By: Juan
Every fan that has followed a sport for a certain amount of time, or with some dedication, can point to a group of player that, in his or her opinion, don’t get the respect or appreciation they deserve. Even though it counts with a deeper and more accurate statistical record than other sports with which to compare players, baseball is no exception. Even considering this data, there are many factors that could lead to a player’s perception lagging behind his on-the-field contributions: A certain skill set that doesn’t lead to much attention, playing in small markets and/or poorly assembled teams, and a long etcetera.
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the 2007 National League
February 22, 2007
By: Juan
EAST DIVISION
Atlanta Braves
Check this out: The last time the Braves missed the playoffs, I was barely aware of the sport. Do they have the firepower to take back the division? The bullpen, a sore spot last year, has been addressed with many smart trades, and they still have a good offense. The “signing” of Mike Hampton could help, as well. But the main concern, for the short and long term, is the exodus of brainpower following shrinking budgets.
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the 2007 American League
Don't forget your towel!
By: Juan
EAST DIVISION
Baltimore Orioles
Winner of the “Pointless spending award”, as they spent millions on relievers such as Danys Baez and Chad Bradford, who’ll have few leads to protect. If their young pitchers - such as Daniel Cabrera - overcome their growing pains, they could surprise people, but average is the upside for their hitters outside Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Ramon Hernandez. With two (possibly three) behemoths in their own division, .500 seems to be the very optimistic upside for this team.
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Making sense out of the nonsense: A look at this offseason
January 24, 2007
By: Juan
Alfonso Soriano just got 136 million dollars. Carlos Lee, 100 million. Barry Zito, 126 million, the same number Vernon Wells will get. These players are part of baseball’s “B-list”: Very good players, even All-Stars, which create tangible benefits to their teams, but fall short of superstar status. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop them from getting those kinds of bloated contracts. Clearly, baseball teams have money, and they aren’t afraid to use it. What led to this financial extravaganza, and what does it mean for the future of baseball?
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Hall of Fame, Class of 2007
(Part 4 of 4: Looking ahead)
January 7, 2007
By: Juan
The five-year waiting period between retirement and eligibility allows us to start looking at candidates long before the testing of their Hall credentials begin, which is the point of this article. After all, these careers have already ended (as of now!) and we can start to evaluate them, even though the perspective of time is still useful. Just ask McGwire.
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Hall of Fame, Class of 2007
Part 3 of 4: New arrivals, and my fictional vote
January 1, 2007
By: Juan
The new class of aspirants for the 2007 election promises to be one of the most interesting, with many sub-plots relating to many candidates. Unfortunately, only one of these back stories is dominating the conversation right now. As has been the norm in this series of articles, I will touch on some of the most interesting new candidates, presenting a quick review of their plus and minuses.
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Hall of Fame, Class of 2007
(Part 2 of 4: Pitchers)
December 18, 2006
By: Juan
After taking on the position players that were left over from previous years in last week’s installment, now it is time to talk about the pitchers that are among the returning players in this cohort of eligible players. Among these pitchers, we see a number of contrasts: Seventies vs. Eighties, long careers vs. high peaks, relief aces vs. closers, and so on. So, let’s get to it:
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Hall of Fame, Class of 2007
(Part 1 of 4: Introduction, and position players)
December 6, 2006
By: Juan
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is the place where the greatest of the greatest (and some of the not-so-great) are honored. Roughly a month from now, the newest inductees will be announced, and the voting population is already composing their ballots. Thankfully, and in opposition to what this same population tends to do with end-of-season awards, the Hall has remained relatively free of puzzling choices. Sure, there are too many Freddie Lindstroms and Rube Marquards inducted in Cooperstown, but they were let in mostly by the old cronyistic Veteran’s Committee. In general, Cooperstown hasn’t reached the depths of its Rock ‘n Roll equivalent (any music-honoring institution that fails to induct Black Sabbath at the first try isn’t worthy of the name Hall of Fame).
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WHY THE MVP'S WERE WRONG
November 23, 2006
By: Juan
This week, the winners of the Most Valuable Player awards were announced. This award has always been a source of controversy, and this year was no exception. A lot of the discussion associated to the award has been around the definition of “Valuable” (which is why I believe the award should be changed to “Player of the Year”, or something to that effect, but that’s not the point of this article). Considering some of the most popular philosophies in the subject, it is my humble opinion that the writers in charge of the election made the wrong choices.
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