TheHurl

I'm amazed how these low GB% relievers can thrive. Uehara came around a bit last year.

Which one? Boras or Rauter?

Who me? I'm a first year college student

Six-time gold glove CF'er, 4 time WS winner, 2 time All-Star Paul Blair passed away today at the age of 69. My Dad felt he was the best defensive CF'er ever. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/blairpa01.shtml

yes someone who doesn't say it while asking for millions of dollars.

I'm actually a huge Raines supporter but I enjoyed saying this anyway.

This message board f***ed me from getting my 10 years on the MLB official message board. I'd love for just one player to admit that 90% of the players took something...and then we can get past this. Hard to believe that all of this can be blamed on the Iraq war.

if you are just purely looking at runs scored I agree about the Royals...but the Jays get a huge Rogers Centre boost in this. I don't know the numbers but I'm betting that the Jays were middle of the pack in runs scored on the road. As for the Indians I'll take their offense over ours.

Considering it's going to be so long before McGowan can give you a lot of innings as a starter I think I'd rather just throw him in the pen and keep him there until his arm falls off

No they added guys that at their best might have provided value, while having too many that were negative value on the team (and traded players that could have immediately provided positive value). I'm over simplifying things here but it's easier to find value in min salary guys who can provide 2 WAR if they play to their potential than it is to find $20M players that can provide 5 WAR. Both have approximately the same worth when you are analyzing a team based on value (obviously depending on your view of $/WAR). The Jays had a bunch of min salary guys that were replacement level or below. If they all played their best (lightning in a bottle) most of the Jays positive value would have come from EE, JB and Lawrie. Guys like DeRosa, Kawasaki, Rogers and Goins probably played to their max value. This is why I say I like this years team so much better than last year's...there are guys that I think can play to solid positive value (and we shouldn't have huge negatives playing everyday...hopefully), now the supposed big guys need to step up. It's still a hope and pray method but if they are quick to move the useless, they have more potential waiting.

Don't think he does. Here is the original paper http://statsportsconsulting.com/main/wp-content/uploads/Schuckers_Curro_MIT_Sloan_THoR.pdf Edit, found this "relative to an average player"

Option C - give Stroman and Hutch a full chance to prove they can do it and maybe secure some positive value before taking some chances on high performance positive value.

He was my assistant at my last job. Honestly I played a bunch of tournaments with Fan 590 teams. Someone gave it to me and it's stuck with me.

Japanese righthander Masahiro Tanaka has drawn a heavy scouting contingent at his starts, with teams expecting Rakuten to put the 24-year-old into the posting system for a jump to Major League Baseball after this season. In 2011, Tanaka won the Sawamura Award—Japan’s version of the Cy Young—and he will likely win another one this season. Tanaka will get a lot of attention for his 18-0 record in 21 starts, but the more meaningful numbers are stellar as well, with the best ERA (1.15) among Nippon Professional Baseball starters, 138 strikeouts (second in NPB) and 23 walks in 165 innings. Here are notes from Tanaka’s most recent start: The Game Friday, Aug. 23: Rakuten Eagles 5, Chiba Lotte Marines 0 Tanaka’s Line 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 HBP, 1 BB, 8 SO, 116 pitches The Report Tanaka’s fastball ranged from 91-95 in the first inning, mostly toward the upper end of that range. After relying on his four-steam fastball the first, Tanaka mixed in a two-seamer the rest of the way, cruising at 88-93 mph. When Tanaka got into a jam in the sixth inning with runners on second and third and two outs, he showed he still had his top-end velocity available. Kazuya Fukuura, a lefthanded hitter, swung through a 95-mph fastball up and in, then laid off another 95-mph fastball in the same spot to even the count 1-1. Tanaka finished Fukuura by getting him to swing through the next two pitches—an 89-mph splitter that started at the belt on the inside corner before falling off the table, followed by a 97-mph fastball on his 108th pitch of the game. Tanaka has arguably the best splitter in the world, which is partly because so few pitchers in MLB throw the pitch. Of his eight strikeouts, six of them came on the splitter, with five of Tanaka’s victims swinging over the pitch, which generally registered around 86-89 mph. Scouts who have followed Tanaka note that he sinks on the backside of his delivery, which causes his fastball to come in on a flatter plane and makes it a more hittable pitch than the pure velocity would suggest. But Tanaka’s splitter is difficult for hitters to distinguish from his fastball, with hard, late tumble that makes it a true putaway pitch. It comes out of his hand looking like a juicy fastball at thigh level, then drops hard out of the bottom of the strike zone. Some of the splitters he threw against the Marines were pitches even the best major league hitters would have been lucky just to foul off, so it’s easy to see why some scouts call it a 70 pitch on the 20-80 scale. Tanaka threw an 82-85 mph slider, which scouts say can be a plus pitch, although his splitter was his go-to out pitch against the Marines. He also mixed in a few 72-76 mph curveballs, mostly early in the count trying to throw it in the zone to give batters a different look. While Tanaka worked seven scoreless innings, he did have to escape from danger on a few occasions. When Tanaka got into trouble, it was mostly because he left his slider up in the zone or had trouble locating his fastball. Even on the inning-ending strikeout in the sixth inning, Tanaka’s first two 95-mph fastballs went high and inside with the catcher set up down and away. More advanced hitters might have made him pay for some of those command mistakes, but Tanaka’s control is one of his strengths. When he did get runners in scoring position, Tanaka had the extra gear to get out of the inning unscathed, something scouts have said they’ve seen him do consistently.

The Game Aug. 30: Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 11, Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 6 Tanaka faced the team leading Nippon Professional Baseball in runs per game, but even without his sharpest stuff he was able to rattle off five straight scoreless innings before getting tagged for three runs in his final two frames. Bryan LaHair and Wily Mo Pena, the Hawks’ two most notable imports, weren’t in the lineup, although neither one has been a major contributor to their offense this season. Tanaka maintained his NPB lead in ERA, while his strikeouts and innings rank second in Japan. Tanaka’s Line 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 102 pitches Season Stats 19-0, 1.20 ERA, 20 G, 20 GS, 172 IP, 135 H, 5 HR, 25 BB, 145 SO Game Report Tanaka’s fastball sat in the low-90s, ranging from 89-94 mph for most of the game and topping out at 95. Some scouts have pegged his splitter as high as a 70 pitch on the 20-80 scale, but Tanaka’s 85-88 mph splitter wasn’t as sharp as usual against the Hawks. In his previous start against the Marines, Tanaka’s splitter was a putaway pitch with devastating late tumble, but in Fukuoka the pitch lacked its usual wipeout drop. Instead of going to his splitter, Tanaka leaned more on his fastball and his slider. Four of Tanaka’s strikeouts came on his fastball (all swinging). The other two strikeouts—both against righthanded hitters—came on his 81-86 mph slider, one looking on the outside corner, the other swinging on a pitch that broke down and away off the plate. Scouts have called his slider a plus pitch, and at times during the game it was easy to see why. Yet Tanaka was also prone to hanging his slider, and when he did, the Hawks made him pay. “My form wasn’t good at all tonight, so I have my teammates to thank,” Tanaka told The Japan Times. “I had a tough time out there, so it’s a good thing we won.” Tanaka is known for putting it in cruise control against the lesser hitters in a lineup to be able to pitch deeper in the game, saving his best stuff for the best hitters and high-leverage situations. Given the lineups he’s facing, it’s a strategy that makes sense, and it was apparent he wasn’t going all out against the Hawks. That doesn’t explain why his splitter wasn’t as crisp as usual, but it’s relevant that his offense gave him a 7-0 lead before he stepped on the mound for the second inning, and he didn’t give up his first runs until he was already staked to a 9-0 lead. Those first two runs scored in the bottom of the sixth. After striking out the first hitter of the inning swinging on a 92-mph fastball, Tanaka got to a 1-2 count against lefthanded hitting Akira Nakamura, the Hawks’ leadoff hitter who ranks second in the Pacific League in OBP. Tanaka threw him a 94 mph fastball but left it out over middle of the plate, and Nakamura kept his hands inside the ball to slap it to center field for a single. Tanaka then got ahead of the righthanded-hitting Kenta Imamiya 0-2, but he left a belt-high fastball on the outer half that Imamiya lined to the opposite field for a single. Tanaka struck out righthanded-hitting Seiichi Uchikawa (sixth in the Pacific League in OPS) swinging with an 86-mph slider, but he couldn’t escape unscathed. Tanaka’s first pitch to the lefthanded-hitting Yuki Yanagita was a hanging slider, which Yanagita crushed for a double to bring home both runners. With damage done and a runner in scoring position, Tanaka geared up for the next hitter, firing fastballs at 94-95 mph the whole at-bat to get out of the inning with a strikeout. Tanaka gave up another run in the seventh, when he started the inning by hanging a slider at the letters to Nobuhiro Matsuda, who smoked it to left field for a leadoff double, then advanced to third on a passed ball before Tanaka walked the next batter with a 3-2 fastball to put runners at the corners with no outs. Tanaka induced a groundball double play to clear the bases, scoring Matsuda. After getting to 0-2 against the next hitter, Tanaka threw a splitter that caught too much of the plate and didn’t drop hard enough, staying at thigh level before getting whacked for a double to the left-center field gap. Tanaka showed his frustration at his inability to execute his pitch, yelling at himself on the mound after giving up the double. But he got out of the inning against the next batter by fielding his position well on a high chopper between the third base line and the pitcher’s mound, with some help from his first baseman on a nice scoop of Tanaka’s one-hopper. The Hawks were able to hit Tanaka hard when he left his stuff up in the zone, whether it was the fastball, splitter or the slider. If Tanaka had faced a major league lineup, his outing likely would have been shorter, but all major league pitchers have games like that. If a scout was watching Tanaka for the first time, it’s unlikely he’d project Tanaka as a frontline starter based off this look—and it’s not like he really got hit around that much—but this start was more of an aberration than the norm for Tanaka this season.

The Game Sept. 6: Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 3, Nippon Ham Fighters 2 Righthander Masahiro Tanaka helped the Eagles retain their stronghold on first place in the Pacific League and maintained his Nippon Professional Baseball lead in ERA (1.24) en route to what will likely be his second Sawamura Award, the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young. According to Japanese media outlet Sponichi, the Braves, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Red Sox and Yankees were among the teams with scouts in attendance. Tanaka’s Line 9 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 11 SO, 128 pitches Season Stats 20-0, 1.24 ERA, 23 G, 23 GS, 181 IP, 142 H, 6 HR, 27 BB, 156 SO Game Report After lacking the typical crispness on his pitches in his previous outing, Tanaka returned to the mound on Friday with a swing-and-miss fastball and excellent splitter against the Fighters. Tanaka generally pitched off his fastball, which parked at 90-94 mph for most of the game. The majority of Tanaka’s strikeouts came on his fastball, which he ramped up to 93-96 in the ninth inning to preserve the Eagles’ one-run lead. Eight of Tanaka’s 11 strikeouts were swinging, with most of those swing-throughs coming on his fastball rather than his splitter, which is typically his out pitch. While just two of Tanaka’s strikeouts came on his 84-89 mph splitter (including a called strike three to end the game), it was also a swing-and-miss pitch that had much sharper movement than his last outing. Tanaka’s splitter had its usual plus-plus diving action when he threw it well, and the best the Fighters could do against Tanaka’s splitter was foul it off or hit it into the ground. Tanaka’s slider was a solid third pitch at times, although it did get him into some trouble when he left it up in the zone. Facing Michel Abreu in the second inning, Tanaka got behind the Pacific League home run leader 2-0 with a pair of sliders that missed away. Tanaka came back with a third slider that hung up in the zone out over the plate, allowing Abreu to extend his arms and smash it for a home run. Three consecutive base hits allowed the second run to score in the fourth inning, but otherwise Tanaka didn’t run into much trouble the rest of the game.

BA's game reports from Tanaka's game when Badler spent a month there this year The Game Sept. 13: Rakuten Eagles 6, Orix Buffaloes 2 Pitching against the worst offense in Nippon Professional Baseball, Eagles 24-year-old righthander Masahiro Tanaka faced little trouble and overcame shoddy defense behind him to record his eighth complete game of the season. According to Japanese media outlet “Sanspo,” the Yankees, Red Sox and Diamondbacks were among the teams with scouts in attendance. With the NPB season ending on Oct. 8 and Rakuten comfortably in first place in the Pacific League, Tanaka likely has three regular-season starts remaining before the playoffs. Tanaka’s Line 9 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO, 125 pitches Season Stats 24 G, 24 GS, 21-0, 1.23 ERA, 190 IP, 152 H, 27 BB, 163 SO Game Report Tanaka touched 96 mph and recorded the majority of his strikeouts on his fastball, but this start was more notable for how often he went to his offspeed pitches and tried to attack hitters backwards, or at least how major league scouts refer to pitching backwards. Tanaka sat at 89-94 mph most of the game, mostly throwing his four-seam fastball but with a heavier dose than usual of his two-seamer, along with a handful of pitches at 89-91 mph that looked like cut fastballs. Five of Tanaka’s eight strikeouts came on his fastball, including four swinging strikeouts. He painted the corner down and away with his fastball several times even when he reached back for 94-95 mph, but he relied heavily on his offspeed stuff early in the count. Of the 35 batters he faced, Tanaka started just 14 of them with a fastball. The most effective offspeed pitch for Tanaka, as usual, was his splitter, which was devastating at times. Tanaka threw several outstanding splitters at 84-88 mph with hard, late action that started at the thighs and tumbled below the knees. He used his splitter 27 times and got swings and misses on 10 of them (a 37 percent whiff rate), including three swinging strikeouts. Tanaka’s No. 3 pitch is his 83-85 mph slider, which he went to frequently for an early-count strike. What’s more surprising is how often Tanaka used his curveball. Tanaka’s 71-76 mph curve is mostly a show-me pitch to give hitters a different look, something he usually mixes in only a few times per game. Against the Buffaloes, Tanaka threw 14 curveballs, which is well out of the ordinary for him. After throwing a complete-game victory, Tanaka said in his postgame interview that he was frustrated because he didn’t throw a shutout. Given the way he pitched, he probably could have had one if his defense and luck had been better. Facing the lefthanded-hitting Takuya Hara with a 5-0 lead and one out in the top of the seventh, Tanaka threw Hara a 90-mph two-seamer down and in. Even though Tanaka missed his catcher’s target low and away, it ended up being a good pitch anyway to induce a groundball, but it bounced off the first baseman’s glove and into right field for a generous single. Hikaru Ito followed with a routine groundball that shortstop Kaz Matsui (yes, that Kaz Matsui) didn’t have the range to his right to get to and snuck into left field to put runners on first and second. Tanaka nearly escaped unscathed one batter later by charging a groundball toward the third base side, making an athletic play to field, turn and fire a strike to second base to get the out there, but the batter beat the throw to first to avoid the inning-ending double play. Keiichi Hirano then lined a single to center field to drive in the first Buffaloes run, with Ito getting thrown out at third to end the inning. The only other run Tanaka allowed came in the ninth, when his defense again came up short. After striking out the first batter of the inning, Tanaka threw an 85-mph slider that broke the bat of Aaron Baldiris for a fly ball to shallow left field. Left fielder Hiroaki Shimauchi charged the ball, slid and had plenty of time to make the catch, but it bounced off his glove, he injured his wrist and Baldiris went to second with a charitable double. Poor luck and defense plagued Tanaka against the next batter, who hit a groundball single through the right side of the infield that could have been handled by the first baseman, who instead backed off the ball at the last moment. He ended up shielding the vision of the second baseman, who slowed down and allowed the ball to get into right field. That would have set up runners at first and third, but the right fielder bobbled the ball and allowed Baldiris to score from second. Tanaka got out of trouble with a two-seam fastball to the next hitter, who hit a groundball to the third baseman for the game-ending double play.

no one knows is true. But the best comparison is someone that was in the exact same scenario. He played on the same team as Iwakuma. 2007-2011 Iwakuma (age 26 to 30) 780 IP, 725 Hits, 157BB, 607K's, 2.67 ERA 3.86 K/BB ratio, 1.13 WHIP 2007 - 2013 Tanaka (age 18 to 24) 1315 IP, 1182 Hits, 275BB, 1238K's, 2.30 ERA 4.50 K/BB ratio, 1.10 WHIP Same park, same team behind them (except for 2012 and 2013). Worst case scenario is that Tanaka compares better than a top 20 pitcher. Give him an adjustment year and depending on health he'll be a top 25 guy.

Jays starters rank in the first half in 2012 - 28th Jays starters rank in March/April in 2012 - 29th

I thought the biggest info in the article was that Simmons won't vote for anyone who has done steriods. I hope that means he's ripping up his ballot

PM me if you want Wilner's ESPN Insider account information. If I don't reply it means I don't trust you with the info. Don't f*** it up for us all and make changes to the info or anything stupid like that.

Kendrys Morales is still looking for work, and so is Nelson Cruz. But with almost all of the best hitters in place, we present the first in a series of our annual top 10 team rankings: the best lineups. As one executive noted: "When you start looking at the projected lineups for 2014, there are not many dominant lineups. Most clubs have a couple of spots that have young players, or players returning from injuries. So almost all have a couple of questions." Absolutely true. Here is how I rank the top 10 lineups. 1. Texas Rangers The Rangers’ front office saw the flaws in their batting order, the lack of left-handed power, and have aggressively reached for repairs. But it’s not as if the Texas offense was a black hole in 2013: The Rangers finished eighth out of 30 teams in runs, and now they’ve added two left-handed hitters who ranked among the top 30 in the majors in OBP, in Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo. There is notable risk in the long term in Fielder and Choo, given the Rangers’ seven-year investments in each, but in 2014, Texas could run out a lineup that looks like this: LF Shin-Soo Choo SS Elvis Andrus 1B Prince Fielder 3B Adrian Beltre RF Alex Rios DH Mitch Moreland (for now) 2B Jurickson Profar C Geovany Soto/J.P. Arencibia CF Leonys Martin The question mark should be attached to Moreland because it is possible that Nelson Cruz could return on a team-friendly deal -- but only on a team-friendly deal, like Adam LaRoche’s modest two-year contract with the Washington Nationals last winter. Otherwise, the Rangers will be content to let Cruz go elsewhere. 2. Boston Red Sox Boston was the only team to score more than 800 runs last year, and they led the majors in that category by a margin of 57 runs. Xander Bogaerts may quickly evolve into an upper-echelon hitter, and the Red Sox retained Mike Napoli and signed A.J. Pierzynski. But they do appear to be vulnerable to some regression for a couple of reasons: 1. Jacoby Ellsbury is gone from the top of the lineup, and while Jackie Bradley Jr. appears to have the skill set to eventually become a good leadoff hitter, he’s no sure-thing replacement for a player who finished 13th in the majors in WAR in 2013, per FanGraphs. 2. David Ortiz, the most important hitter in the lineup, is 38 years old. That might not mean anything next season, and maybe it won’t mean anything in 2015. But the only perfect record in major league history belongs to Father Time, who is undefeated; eventually, Ortiz’s skills will be affected by age and injury. The Red Sox's hope is that happens later, rather than sooner. 3. Detroit Tigers The Tigers have had three straight years of near-misses, reaching the AL Championship Series in 2011 and 2013 and playing in the World Series in 2012, and a lot of that is due to the explosiveness of their lineup -- starting with Miguel Cabrera, the back-to-back winner of the AL MVP Award. This could be the year he reaches 400 homers (he needs 35 more), and he needs just five more hits for 2,000. Prince Fielder put up good numbers in his two years with the Tigers, as well, but now his production is gone -- yet Detroit might have a more functional lineup, with more speed and more depth, if the Tigers get positive answers to at least some of their major questions: A) Was Ian Kinsler’s offensive slide in 2014 the beginning of the end, or was it just an aberration? Can Austin Jackson, who will be 27 this season, get back to being an above-average offensive player, after seeing his OPS drop by more than 100 points? C) Will Victor Martinez stay healthy, because he will be charged with the responsibility of protecting Cabrera in the lineup? D) How smoothly can Nick Castellanos transition into the big leagues, as he assumes third base? His minor league performance suggests he could be a steady contributor, if not a dynamic force. 4. St. Louis Cardinals No team has been better at making changes on the run without losing anything. Adam Wainwright went down and the Cardinals still won the 2011 World Series. Chris Carpenter didn’t throw an inning in 2013 and a bunch of talented young guys stepped in. Now the Cardinals are looking at turnover with half of their every-day lineup after leading the NL in runs in 2013, with Carlos Beltran, David Freese, Pete Kozma and (perhaps) Jon Jay out. But St. Louis could be just as good: Matt Adams assumes an every-day job at first base, Allen Craig moves to the outfield, Kolten Wong and Mark Ellis figure to share time at second base (with Matt Carpenter moving to third), and Jhonny Peralta moving in at shortstop. 5. Los Angeles Angels You start with the game’s best player, Mike Trout, and go from there -- and the safe money is that the Angels will get more out of Albert Pujols than the 391 plate appearances they did last year, and that Josh Hamilton won’t be quite so bad for quite as long as he was in 2013. In spite of all of the Angels’ offensive dysfunction, they finished seventh in runs scored, which brings us back to where we started: They have Mike Trout, getting on base 300 times, scoring more than 100 runs, compiling 75 to 85 extra-base hits, stealing 30-plus bases. And nobody else does that. 6. Oakland Athletics The Athletics’ barometer comes down to this: When they’re playing well, they are really good at two things -- they draw walks, and they hit homers. Oakland ranking (walks/homers) 2011: 13th/24th 2012: 5th/7th 2013: 3rd/4th The last two seasons, they’ve drawn walks and they’ve hit homers, and they’ve won back-to-back AL West titles, while finishing first in runs scored among all 30 teams in the second half of 2012 and ranking fourth in runs for the 2013 season. There’s no reason to think they won’t have a good offense again this year: Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick appear to be candidates for bounce-back seasons, and Oakland loves Craig Gentry for the damage he does against lefties. 7. Cleveland Indians If you’re looking for a team as a sleeper for a breakout offensively, I’ll take the Indians, who were already really good last year, finishing tied for fifth in runs. Think about what didn’t go well for them last season: Michael Bourn (.676 OPS) and Nick Swisher (.764) really didn’t hit the way they have in the past; they had only one hitter with more than 20 homers; Yan Gomes didn’t establish himself as the every-day catcher until the second half of 2013; Asdrubal Cabrera had a terrible year, with a .700 OPS; and Lonnie Chisenhall wasn’t able to establish himself as a third baseman, and Cleveland finished 26th in OPS at the position; Carlos Santana is trying out third base in winter ball, and may or may not be an option there. David Murphy takes over in right field for Drew Stubbs, and between him and Ryan Raburn, the Indians should get better production out of the position. Will the Indians be as dynamic as the Rangers or Red Sox? Probably not. But they seem to have the personnel to get better. 8. Colorado Rockies Yes, their best players seemingly suffer a whole lot of injuries, with both Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez missing a significant number of games, and their search for the Mile High Holy Grail of Success continues. But year after year, the conditions and their ballpark help them generate strong offensive production (and not-so-sterling pitching numbers). Justin Morneau is set to take over from Todd Helton at first base, and in theory, Gonzalez will shift to center field now that Dexter Fowler is gone -- although you wonder whether those plans will change. The Rockies didn’t have a 30-homer hitter in 2013, but they had four guys with 20 or more homers, and Tulowitzki and Gonzalez seem capable of more and better -- if they can stay on the field. Gonzalez has missed 114 games over the last three seasons, and Tulowitzki has become something like the Derrick Rose of shortstops: He’s played in more than 143 games once in the last six years. 9. Kansas City Royals Their window to win is right now, and GM Dayton Moore augmented his lineup in two troublesome spots. He paid top-of-the-market dollars to sign Omar Infante to fill in at second base and traded for Norichika Aoki to be the leadoff man, which allows Ned Yost to move Alex Gordon to somewhere in the middle of the lineup. This could be a dynamic lineup, with power and speed and depth, but so much of the Royals’ season will depend on the development of their best young players -- like the 24-year-old Eric Hosmer, who had a very good second half in 2013, and third baseman Mike Moustakas, who enters an extremely important year in his career after posting an OPS of .651 last season. Salvador Perez has a unique ability to square up a ball, but needs patience; last year, he had 41 extra-base hits, 21 walks and just 63 strikeouts in 526 plate appearances. This is a big year too for Billy Butler, one of baseball’s last full-time DHs; he hit into a league-high 28 double plays last season, while his slugging percentage dropped about 100 points. My guess is that the improved depth of the lineup helps all of them, and the Royals become a strong offensive team. But that’s hardly a sure thing. 10. New York Yankees The Yankees finished out of the top 10 in runs scored for the first time since 1991, as Joe Girardi pieced together a collection of misfit toys -- journeymen and castoffs and unproven young players -- around Robinson Cano. Now Cano is gone, but the Yankees would seem to have a good chance for an offensive recovery because the depth may be better, with the addition of Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann (whose left-handed swing is perfect for Yankee Stadium), Carlos Beltran, (who will aim to collect his 400th career homer and 2,500th career hit over the next couple of seasons). Mark Teixeira is set to be back at first base, Derek Jeter is penciled in -- lightly -- at shortstop, and the Yankees’ hope is that Kelly Johnson gives them some production at third or second. But again, the Yankees’ collective age will make them more vulnerable to injury, and Girardi may be looking for pixie dust again. Honorable mentions: Tampa Bay, which will field as deep a lineup as any in Andrew Friedman’s time as GM; Atlanta, loaded with young players who continue to evolve; Arizona, because Paul Goldschmidt is already among the game’s best hitters; Washington, which could field an excellent lineup if Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth stay healthy enough to remain in it. Around the league • Presumably, all 30 teams will go through the motions of indicating a willingness to pay the $20 million posting fee to bid on Masahiro Tanaka -- because to not do so would be like not running out a groundball and demonstrating at least minimal effort. After that, however, it’ll come down to desperation. How desperate are the Cubs for a starting pitcher who can lead them into the future? How desperate are the Yankees for young pitching talent? How much do the Dodgers want the marketable Tanaka to become part of what would be the most marketable, must-see rotation in baseball? How much are the Rangers really ready to pay for him? Are the Diamondbacks desperate enough to win in 2014 that they would be willing to have a pitching making a $20 million-25 million salary? Are the Mariners desperate to follow up on the Robinson Cano signing and make themselves legitimate? Are the Red Sox desperate to position themselves for a possible back-to-back situation? The Yankees know the risks of splurging on Japanese aces, writes Jay Schreiber. The Yankees must go all-in or they will lose, writes Mark Feinsand. The pursuit of Tanaka begins today. Here’s how the Rangers could get him, from Evan Grant. The Diamondbacks probably should pursue Tanaka, writes Nick Piecoro. The Dodgers haven’t committed yet, writes Dylan Hernandez. It’s interesting that Tanaka is being represented by Casey Close, who heads the agency that also represents Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Moves, deals and decisions 1. The Rays claimed Jerry Sands off waivers the other day. 2. The Dodgers made some signings official. NL East • The Phillies are pinning their hopes on a prospect. NL Central • The Cardinals are thriving because of the vision of Bill DeWitt, writes Bernie Miklasz. NL West • Drew Stubbs could be a great addition to the Rockies’ lineup, writes Patrick Saunders. AL East • The Red Sox lineup is wounded in subtraction. Other stuff • There is sad news about longtime Indians broadcaster Mike Hegan. • Leonys Martin filed a lawsuit against his former agents. • A trailer for a Pirates-related movie has arrived. • Clark Spencer asked: Now that Logan Morrison is gone, should the Marlins re-retire No. 5? The answer is yes, of course, because it’s the decent thing to do, and here's hoping they get a nudge from the commissioner’s office in this matter. • The voting process for the Hall of Fame is at a crossroads, writes Richard Griffin. • Steve Simmons won’t be voting for steroid users. And today will be better than yesterday.

Colome?

no other country gives a s*** about this tournament unless they have a relative on the team or are an agent for a player. It's about as big as any other U21 event in any sport...no one really cares. oh yeah, and Merry Christmas to you all!

yes and he will advise Tanaka against the Jays...should have given him first base coach.