Midyear Reports

So the season is more than half way completed and some players are just raking. This post will focus on the players raking. Another will follow with the players who are disappointing, and another will follow with which teams may be buyers and which teams may be sellers.

In the American League, baseballs are flying out of stadiums from every which direction. The home run leader Chris Davis has an astounding 33 home runs as of July 10th. Miguel Cabrera follows him with 29 in the Motor City, and Adam Dunn represents the South Side with 24.

In the National League, Carlos Gonzalez leads with 24 big flys with Philadelphia's pleasant surprise Dominic Brown and Pittsburgh's slugger Pedro Alvarez both trailing with 23. Alvarez's amazing season has been a major part in Pittsburgh's contention in the NL Central and why they are fighting with the Cardinals for the best record in baseball.

Throw Back Miggy with the Marlins

I'm not a big fan of batting average, I like on base percentage more, but some guys are just blowing the category away this year. In the NL Yadier Molina leads with a .344 avg followed by Rockies surprise Michael Cuddyer with a .336 avg. Finishing third in the NL avg contest is Allen Craig with a .329 avg of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Miguel Cabrera has made a joke of American League pitching by posting a .366 batting average a half season after winning the triple crown. David Ortiz comes in second with a .327 avg for the Red Stockings and teammate Dustin Pedroia finished third with a .321 avg; a fair explanation for the success of the Boston Red Sox.

In the MLB leaders for ERA the first seven names are of the National League. Pitching has been dominate in the NL this season. Clayton Kershaw leads the pack with a 1.89 ERA, followed by Jeff Locke of the Pirates with a 2.15 ERA, and rounding out the top three is Adam Wainwright with a 2.30 for the Cardinals.

Felix Hernandez is the king of Seattle. He has a 2.69 ERA for the Mariners, leading the American League. Second in the AL is Bartolo Colon with a ... 2.69 ERA (rounded but slightly higher than Hernandez's). Finally Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda has a 2.77 ERA in 2013 and has been a bright spot for the bombers this year.

I've also mentioned how strikeouts aren't a necessity for pitchers, but they are still awesome to watch and in the American League Yu Darvish has collected 157 k's to lead the MLB. Second in the AL and third in the MLB is Max Scherzer with 146 punch outs. Finally rou
nding out the trio is surprise guest Justin Masterson with 137 strikeouts for the Cleveland Indians.


In the National League pheno
m Matt Harvey leads the league with 147 for the Mets. Following Harvey is my favorite starter Clayton Kershaw with 129 k's in LA. From the North side of Chi Town comes the man who's name I can't spell Jeff Samardzija with 128 strikeouts in 2013.

Jim Johnson. Was that a balk or a bark?

The American League features all three save leaders in the MLB. They are of course Jim Johnson of the Orioles with 31, Joe Nathan of the Rangers with 30, and the great Mariano Rivera of the Yankees with 29. That is as of July 12th.

In the National League the save leaders are the usual suspect and two surprising pitchers. Jason Grilli of the Pirates leads the NL with 28 saves, followed by Craig Kimbrel of the Braves with 25, and Edward Mujica of the Cardinals
also with 25.

Those are your lead leaders for the midyear report. These guys have been ripping their leagues a new one. They may just continue to do so for the second half. Will Davis hit 60 homers? Will Cabrera win back to back triple crowns? Can Kershaw finish with a sub 2.00 ERA? We have about 70 more games to find out.

Yu Got What I Need

Two stars from Japan went head to head last night. The game between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers was practically broadcasted worldwide. The Rangers came out on top in a 2-0 win over the Yankees.

Yu Darvish was spectacular. He pitched 8 and 1/3 innings collected 10 strikeouts and didn't give up a run. Hiroki Kuroda gave up 2 run over 6 and 2/3 innings while getting 5 strikeouts. There was a lot of hype on this game and the end resulted in Yu Darvish proving that he can compete at at major league level.

Kuroda has the 5th most wins in Japan and Darvish is a superstar in Japan. There two going head to  head was a trill for people all of the world. Both performed well, but Darvish just baffled the Yankee hitters.

Yu Darvish

Yesterday Darvish started his first spring training game. According to scouts his fast ball reached up to 95 MPH and was consistently 93 MPH. His slider was also very effective. He struck out two batters and got ahead of batters in the count. 26 of his 36 pitches were strikes. Will Venable hit a 410 foot double off of Darvish, but that was the only well struck ball. The other hit was by Orlando Hudson.

In Japan Darvish's ERA was never over 2.00 and he has about 200 innings pitched each of his 5 seasons. He also strikes out slightly more than one batter every inning. Darvish is probably the most hyped up Japanese pitcher ever, but lets see how he may do.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was another hyped up pitcher coming over from Japan. He had an average ERA of 3.00 over his 7 seasons in Japan. That is not even close to Darvish's sub 2.00 ERA. When Matsuzaka pitched for The Boston Red Sox in his first season he pitched 204 innings with a 4.40 ERA. He was a fluke, but in his second season he pitched 167 innings with a 2.90 ERA. Then from 2009-2011 he had an ERA above 5.00.

Hiroki Kuroda had a 3.69 ERA in his time in Japan with 103 wins. In the MLB he has a 3.45 ERA with 41 wins. Kuroda came to the U.S. when he was 33, Darvish is 25. Hideo Nomo came to play in the MLB at the age of 26. He had a 3.15 ERA in Japan and posted a 2.54 ERA in his first season with The Dodgers. He would only have 3 other seasons of with an ERA below 4 and about 3 years into his contract Nomo had a 5.05 ERA.

Yu Darvish is major league ready. He is consistently pitching a lot of innings and his ERA is incomparable to other pitchers who made the transition. Never posting a an ERA higher than 1.88 ERA is great and Darvish may have a promising career in The MLB.

The Texas Rangers

In 2011 The Rangers finished with a record of 96-66. They are known as one of the most powerful teams in the MLB. In 2012 they will bring more offense and even some pitching.

The big concern for the Rangers in 2012 is pitching. They lost their ace pitcher CJ Wilson to free agency. He signed with The Angels. Wilson had a 2.94 ERA and 223 innings pitched in 2011, which is remarkable for a pitcher who pitches in that home stadium. To counteract the loss of Wilson The Rangers signed Yu Darvish and are moving Neftali Feliz to the starting rotation. Darvish who pitched in Japan for 5 seasons collected a 1.72 ERA, 1083 strikeouts, 76 wins, and 1024 innings pitched. Darvish will be fun to watch in 2012. If he does anything close to what he did in Japan, he will be a major asset to The Rangers. Neftali Feliz on the other hand was the closer for The Rangers in 2011. I am opposed to moving him to the rotation, but this is what they are doing. Feliz had 32 saves in 2011 and 62 innings pitched. He can pitch a lot of innings, because he came up to the big leagues as a starter, but I don't want The Rangers to have a Joba Chamberlain.

We all know how great The Rangers' lineup is, so here are the stats:

Elvis Andrus: .347 OBP, 37 SB
Ian Kinsler: .355 OBP, 30 SB, 32 HR, 77 RBI
Josh Hamilton: .346 OBP, 25 HR, 94 RBI, 128 OPS+, 121 games
Michael Young: .380 OBP, .474 SLG, 106 RBI
Adrian Beltre: .331 OBP, 32 HR, 105 RBI, 129 OPS+, 124 games
Nelson Cruz: .312 OBP, 29 HR, 87 RBI, 124 games
Mike Napoli: .414 OBP, 30 HR, 75 RBI, 171 OPS, 113 games

The above players are 7 players who had great 2011 seasons. They're only weakness is they need to play the whole season. The Rangers lost more games than they should have without having Hamilton, Napoli, and Beltre in their lineup. The numbers they put up in 113-124 games are miraculous, imagine what they could do in 162 games. If I were the Rangers I wouldn't let Napoli touch the catcher's equipment, because he's a not defensive player. Move him to first base and find a young and effective catcher. This way Naploli can get more at bats and not risk injury as much. A possible trade with the Blue Jays or White Sox would be a good idea for Arencibia r Pierzynski

The bullpen for The Rangers also looks nice. They signed Joe Nathan in the 2011-2012 off season and traded for Mike Adams in the 2011 season. Nathan had an elevated ERA in 2011 coming off surgery from the 2010 season. He had a 4.84 ERA, but perhaps that could be lowered in 2012. As for Mike Adams, he pitched to a 1.47 ERA in 2011 over 73 innings pitched for both The Padres and Rangers, Adams is a definite strength for the Rangers.

The Rangers have a nice team. Starting pitching is the only concern for the Rangers. It will be a nice competition for the AL West between the Angels and The Rangers, but The Rangers may come out on top again. It will be close and maybe they won't lose the World Series three times in a row.

Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish is probably going to be a Texas Ranger for the 2012 season. The Texas Rangers won the right to negotiate with Darvish last night for $51 million. Yu Darvish is a pitching phenom in Japan. Posting a 1.44 era in 2011 and a 1.99 career era from the age of 18-25 Darvish has been dominate in his time in Japan.

The Rangers will absolutely be able to combat the angels now. The Angels signed Wilson and Pujols and now the Rangers will probably sign Darvish. Without a doubt the rangers have a blistering offense that will frighten any pitcher.

Neftali Feliz is said to move to the rotation since Joe Nathan was signed by the Rangers. With Darvish, Feliz, Ogando, and who ever else may fill in the positions the Rangers will be a definite force in the A.L. The only other thing I have to say is that the Angels-Rangers series' will be very entertaining.

MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!

Money, money, money is what the teams are spending on free agents. Today Albert Pujols signed with the Angels for $250-260 million over 10 years. Also the Angels signed CJ Wilson for about $77.5 million over 5 years. Where did the Angles come from all of a sudden. What does this mean?

The Angels have become even a bigger thorn in every team's side. The Angels are pesky and aggressive on the base pads  They don't hit many home runs, but now with Big Albert they will be a huge force in the American League. The combination of speed, power, and high on base percentages could lead them to a division title.

CJ Wilson will strengthen that rotation to the status of the 2011 Phillies. With Jared Weaver, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and now CJ Wilson, this is an explosive rotation. Playing in the huge Angels Stadium  in Anaheim or what ever they call it this week that ERA could be microscopic. Not to mention the Angels' not perfect, but above average bullpen, their pitching will be close to lights out.

What if the Angels sign Yu Darvish. If he performs well in the MLB, that rotation will have no holes. The only other thing I can say is that those Angels-Rangers match ups will be fun to watch it.