Going to be a short post today. It’s close to 80 degrees outside and I need to play some basketball. I tried the other day and tore the skin off my elbow, when I slammed into a storage shed following a reverse layup (that did go in) which has led to some sort of infection that won’t go away despite the constant cleaning of said wound. But today will be different.
The title today alludes to Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon who will be trying out for the British National Team despite the fact that he’s not actually British. He was born there, but shortly after, his family moved to the United States.
Apologies for the lateness of today’s post as well. I spent the afternoon making homemade banana bread and washing the bathroom floor/tub/toilet. Tonight we’re eating banana bread in the bathroom apparently.
I got a lot of backlash yesterday because I picked Jacoby Ellsbury (or Jacoby Overratedsbury or Tacoby Bellsbury (kudos to Harry for the best mock name) to win the American League Rookie of the Year. Here’s why I picked Ellsbury:
HE’S GOOD!
The last time that a rookie played an important role in a team winning a World Series was 18 year old Miguel Cabrera with the Marlins in 2003. The year before that, it was K-Rod with the Angels. In fact, in 2005, the Chicago White Sox would not have won a World Series without their semi-rookie closer Bobby Jenks. The next year, the same could have been said about the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright. Ellsbury hit near .400 in the postseason last year and Red Sox Nation loved him for it. However, the slue of GQ-like articles about him, glamorizing his good looks, has soured a lot of people on Ellsbury who seem to forget that they loved him in October and November last year. His defense is not as good as Cavelli Crisp’s. I’ll agree. However, when was the last time that a Rookie of the Year got the award for his stellar Centerfield defense? Thank You. Ellsbury is going to hit .300 this year and steal 25 bases on a playoff team and World Series competitor. No other team will start the year with a rookie who will play as important of a role, with the potential to be good.
I think Adam Jones will be serviceable on a terrible Orioles team this year, but he’s not eligible for the award as he’s passed his rookie status having played off-and-on with Seattle over the last two seasons. Asdrubal Cabrera will be very good with Cleveland. However, he’s also not eligible.
My decision came down to Alexi Ramirez of the White Sox and Evan Longoria of the Rays. I think the latter will be great; the former probably not as good as the Soriano comparisons, at least not this year. The difference is the Ellsbury will be playing on a contender. Ramirez and Longoria for the White Sox and Rays.
(Note the absence of Joba Chamberlin. Unless he is starting for the Yankees, I can’t see the ROY going to a set-up man. I also, frankly, have my concerns about him recovering from the midge situation in Cleveland in the playoffs. I’m serious. I like Joba a lot, but it’s a tough thing for a rookie to bounce back from such a critical fall from the pedestal).
I also received some criticism for my bashing of the Oakland Athletics in my blog and some instant message bashing of A’s slugger Jack Cust, the anti-Jason player. Cust has played one full year in the big leagues. Here are his numbers in that year (last season):
AT-BATS: 395
Avg.: .256
R: 61
H: 101
HR: 26
RBI: 82
SO: 164
BB: 105
OBP: .408
OPS: .912
The Home Run numbers are admittedly nice for a player making half a million (though Prince Fielder making similar money did hit 50 HR last year).
The most glaring number to me, more glaring than his striking out, is the abysmal 61 runs he scored. If you subtract his 26 HR from that number, you get 31. So for all the times he was on base last year, he was brought home only 31 times by another hitter. Why? Because walks will only get you to first base. That’s it. Making contact on the ball puts you into scoring position more often than walking does. So while the homers are nice, striking out 42% of the time probably isn’t. For comparison, here are the numbers for anti-Matt player Placido Polanco last year:
AT-BATS: 587
Avg.: .341
H: 200
R: 105
HR: 9
RBI: 67
SO: 30
BB: 37
OBP: .388
OPS: .846
Who would you take on your team?
Look, I understand that I don’t support the “Moneyball” philosophy of baseball that states that On-Base Percentage is crucial to success, so my argument is obviously biased. However, common sense indicates that you win baseball games by scoring runs. Not by having a high OBP. Or an off-the-chart Value over Replacement Player (VORP). Or any of that stuff. Just runs. Get a hit to get on base and make things happen that way. It might not write books, but it will always make sense.
Game O’ The Day: Watch Baseball.
I’m really excited about seeing everyone’s predictions for the year. You certainly don’t have to give an analysis of all 30 teams (you can if you’d like to), but I want all of my readers, when you have a moment tonight, tomorrow, or thursday, to email me your picks in whatever fashion you’d like to, and on Friday, I will post everyone’s picks. Just email your picks to me at: jason.botelho@gmail.com by Friday morning.
Mid-Atlantic Bias 
“…Ellsbury hit near .400 in the postseason last year…”Douggie (not the stud who hits bombs) Mientkiewicz hit .400 in the 2004 postseason.
a comment to the other commenters: douggie probably had 10 at bats in the 2004 postseason while he probably punched nomar 15 times and yelled “douggies goin deep” 24 times, must more impressive numbers than batting .400 in the post season. as for baseball predictions i think hes yost youre toast will end up in 10th place due mostly to the fact that the owner thought longer about the team name than he did about his picks. as for real baseball, i will bet that a rookie wins the ROY, miguel cabrera wins MVP and a pitcher wins cy young… i dont really watch NL baseball for two reasons, one, since its closer to wiffleball than AL baseball (not necessarily a bad thing) and because i tend to only watch games called by don horsepenis and remperro so i wont make any predictions there.my last prediction is that no matter how the season ends, phish will still not be doing a reunion tour and matt will still like bands which focus more about a girl riding a plane, who by the way is celebrating a birthday, than about writing good songs.
Look at that dig from Ryan. Look at that home run by Jack Cust, as we speak.The problem with your argument is very simple. Runs are a byproduct of the offense around you, and not the play himself. Similar to RBI’s. Placido Polanco is a terrible comparison, too, since he is primarily a singles hitter, and just scored more runs as a byproduct of his place in the order and the quality of hitters behind him. Jack Cust hit lower and had terrible hitters behind him..you figure it out. Jack Cust was ultimately on base more often, and thus had more chance to be driven in, which is not really negated, considering Polanco was on first base most of the time as well, given the singles. Nevermind the lower OBP. Just a poor argument all around.Ben Gordon is a terrible basketball player.