Happy holidays!

With the holidays upon us I’ve decided to take use this week as a trial of sorts. I’ll mix in some of my traditional stats based/research style posts with some more informal rant and train of thought posts.

Random Observations

This week one of baseball’s more controversial players passed away, all-star pitcher Dock Ellis. Ellis’ main claim to fame? Pitching a no-hitter after taking a dose of LSD. Fellow mopupduty.com writer Early wrote a great article about the no-no and some of Ellis’ other career exploits, which can be read at Dock Ellis – Trips into the Record Books – 12 June 1970

I’ve back checked the past two Baseball America Prospect Handbooks and the Jays ROY didn’t crack the top 30 in either season. Sure, Jesse Carlson came out of nowhere but its things like this that make me question even the most respected prospect lists.

Boy the Yankees are looking tough. The rotation is solid and they’ll now have a very strong offense. I still question the bullpen but pitcher’s like CC and his 240+ IP can instantly help hide bullpen depth issues.

Speaking of the AL East, the Orioles are quietly building up a strong core of players for a 2010, 2011 run. With the Jays most realistically having a decent shot in 2011 the AL East should have five of the better AL and even MLB clubs.

After looking over the 2008 AL Leaders it may be wise for the mid-tier (economically) clubs to go after former darling prospects. Three of the better AL players in 2008 were Carlos Quentin, Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley. All three were acquired at a far lower cost than the current FA market.

In the same vein as the comment above, AL pitchers Cliff Lee and Ervin Santana were after thoughts heading into 2008. Go dust off your pre-season fantasy guide and I doubt either of these players are given the time of day.

For his career, Jake Peavy has a 1.05 WHIP vs right handers and a 1.34 WHIP vs lefties.

The American Leagues second lowest Batting Average Against in 2008? Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga.

How can the various stat prediction systems (which were way off for a good number of 2008 players) predict 2009 stats for free agents? Someone heading into Coors is going to have a larger positive offensive park factor than someone heading to Petco.