Every year there seems to be a long-time middle-reliever that closed games out for a couple of seasons on the list of Hall of Fame hopefuls. This year is not any different. The “name famous” Mike Jackson is that man.

Jackson played 17 seasons in the majors, pitching in 1005 games and logging 1188.1 innings of 3.42 ERA ball for an ERA+ of 125.  Very nice numbers.  In those 1188.1 innings Jackson struck out 1006 while walking 464 and notching 142 of my favorite stat, the save.  He also posted a FIP of 3.96.

His best season came in 1998 with the Cleveland Indians when he posted a 1.55 ERA in 64 innings while striking out 55 and only allowing 43 hits and walking 13.  He also had a career high 40 saves and a ridiculous ERA+ of 307.

In 28.2 postseason innings he posted a 4.71 ERA with 25 strikeouts and 13 walks but a FIP of 3.63.  Oh, and he had a 3-run double in a 1995 NLDS game against the Reds.

Jackson falls well short of election and if anyone votes for him they should have their voting rights seriously questioned.  While he was a good major leaguer for a long time he was nohall of famer, not even close.  Still, Mike Jackson should hold his head high for just getting his name on the ballot because not too many people can claim they had their name on a hall of fame ballot.

I am currently working on multiple articles to go over the strong class of 2010 hall of fame candidates and carry-overs.  I will do a piece on each candidate starting with the players that would not recieve a vote, if Ihad one, and ending with the players that would definitely get my vote.  Here is a quick list of the candidates:

Roberto Alomar
Kevin Appier
Harold Baines
Bert Blyleven
Ellis Burks
Andre Dawson
Andres Galarraga
Pat Hentgen
Mike Jackson
Eric Karros
Ray Lankford
Barry Larkin
Edgar Martinez
Don Mattingly
Fred McGriff
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Tim Raines
Shane Reynolds
David Segui
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell
Robin Ventura
Todd Zeile

Stay tuned for each article.

(AP Photo)

The Chicago White Sox struck a heck of a deal with OF/DH/1B Andruw Jones that will pay him a base salary of $500k with the potential for $1M more, a figure he will surely reach with moderate playing time. I absolutely love this deal for the White Sox even though they will not give him a starting job, at least not right off the bat.

The White Sox are likely going to lose outfielders Scott Podsednik and Jermaine Dye this offseason and they have already lost backup outfielder DeWayne Wise. The White Sox needed some outfield depth and that’s why they signed Jones.

The White Sox already have Carlos Quentin in left and Alex Rios is more than capable of patrolling center, but they are slated to have Mark Kotsay, Alejandro De Aza or some other quad-A player in right. Bleh. That gives them no power in an outfield corner spot. Not good. I think Andruw Jones could and should be the man in right field next season and, check this, he may actually be an upgrade over the beloved Jermaine Dye.

Jermaine Dye posted a sad and pathetic UZR/150 of -24.5 in right last year. Add that to a .250/.340/.453 slash line and .344 wOBA over 574 plate appearances and you end up with a -0.3 WAR player. That’s right, -0.3. He was below replacement level last season. In 2008 he was a 1.7 WAR player but in 2007 he was a -0.7.

Andruw Jones posted a UZR/150+24.9 in 148.2 outfield innings and +25.4 in 39.2 innings at first base. Small sample sizes, I know, but add that to his .214/.323/.459 slash line and .338 wOBA in only 338 plate appearances and you get a +0.8 WAR player. In 2008 he was a dismal -0.9 WAR player but in 2007 he was a +3.6.

Jones, in my opinion, can still play center but would be plus in a corner spot. And he moves to Chicago’s homer prone windy park and he brings his 49.5% flyball rate with him. All these things added up (and hopefully some off field conditioning) and I think the White Sox could have at least a +2.0 WAR player if they give him 500 plate appearances in right field.

-stats from fangraphs.com

(Photo by: Chuck Solomon/SI)

Albert Pujols was unanimously named the National League MVP, and rightfully so. He was the most valuable player in the league. The BBWAA voters did a decent job this year of giving the hardware to the right players. Pujols, Joe Mauer, Tim Lincecum, and Zack Greinke were all no-brainers to me and the two rookies of the year (Chris Coghlan and Andrew Bailey) were not bad selections even though they were not my selections. But, where the voters did go wrong was when they tried to quantify the value of Chase Utley, who finished 8th in the NL MVP voting.

Here is the chart from the BBWAA (sorry I couldn’t fit the entire chart here):

As you can see, Utley is not even close in the voting. Granted, no one should be close to the unanimous Pujols, but zero 2nd place votes is simply ridiculous. He was easily 2nd on my imaginary ballot thanks to these overlooked stats: .282/.397/.508 with a wOBA of .402, 31 homers, 23 stolen bases (zero caught stealing), only grounding into 5 double plays, a UZR/150 of +11.3, a fielding percentage of .985, and 7.6 WAR, all while playing a middle infield position. What did those stats get him? Well, he was already snubbed for a Gold Glove award and now he has been completely left off of 14 ballots.

This year the voters have taken a step forward in evaluating players by selecting six deserving players for the major awards. But, they still have a very long way to go when Ryan Howard finishes 3rd, Matt Holliday receives four votes including a 4th place vote, and Jeremy Affeldt is getting votes that Chase Utley should surely be getting first.

-stats from fangraphs.com

The BBWAA announced the National League Cy Young Award winner today. Tim Lincecum narrowly beat out both Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainright. Lincecum recieved 11 1st place votes, 12 2nd place, and 9 3rd place (100 total points). Carpenter recieved 9 1st place, 14 2nd place, and 7 3rd place (94 total). Wainwright recieved 12 1st place, 5 2nd place, and 15 3rd place (90 total). That makes 94 votes out of a possible 96 total that went to these three pitchers.

Neither of the two newest voters (the snarky Keith Law of ESPN and Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus) included the Chris Carpenter on their ballots. With Carpenter only finishing 6 points behind Lincecum, there have been some others who are not happy with Law or Carroll for leaving Carpenter off their lists. In place of Carpenter, Law had Javier Vazquez on his ballot (2nd place) and Carroll had Dan Haren on his (3rd).

Even if Carpenter were placed in each of those spots he would have finished in 2nd place, but only 2 points behing Lincecum. And, it’s not like Law’s or Carroll’s picks were unwaranted. Here was my hypothetical ballot from October 6th:

1. Tim Lincecum (SP-SF)
2. Adam Wainwright (SP-STL)
3. Javier Vazquez (SP-ATL)
4. Chris Carpenter (SP-STL)
5. Dan Haren (SP-ARI)

Carpenter would have also been off my ballot of three like Law and Carroll’s. Javier Vazquez went sadly unnoticed by all but Law when all he did was finish 2nd in WAR, 2nd in FIP, 2nd in K/BB, 3rd in K/9, and 4th in BB/9. The reason I believe most voters paid him little to no attention was becuase he had 10 losses, something out of his control.

All-in-all, this was a very good year for the voters. They presented the award to the most deserving pitcher and we finally get some controversy over something that does not include homers voting for their own pitchers that have no business placing a valid ballot. Good job Law and Carroll!

Ian Kinsler set some personal milestones in 2009. He set career highs in homers (31), stolen bases (31), WAR (4.6), UZR/150 (+9.6), fielding percentage (.985), games played (144), plate appearances (640), and at-bats (566). A fantastic season by any accounts, even with his slash line of .253/.327/.488 being down from the previous season. Oh, and his 30/30 season was only the third ever by a second baseman (Alfonso Soriano and Brandon Phillips are the other two). Not much room to go up from there, right? Wrong. I will show you why Kinsler is due for bigger and better things.

Kinsler had the lowest BABIP (batting average on balls in play) of any qualifying player in the majors at .245. This number was easily the lowest of any season in Kinsler’s career (.339, .282, 310). This is a big deal. Imagine two hits per month that just happen to fall in and not get caught. This would move his BABIP to .271 and his overall AVG to .274, and that is still a low BABIP according to his career averages.

Another area of Kinsler’s 2009 season that was out of the norm was his LD% (line-drive percentage). In his first three seasons he posted LD% of 20.6, 19.6, and 24.2. In 2009 he posted a LD% of 15.9, 10th lowest in the majors. That is surely a number that Kinsler will bring back to normal in 2010.

Kinsler is about to enter his age 27 season, thought to be the season that most players have their breakout performances. In Kinsler’s case, this will be his 5th season in the majors and he is full healthy. He is also surrounded by a lineup that no pitcher wants to pitch to.

Kinsler didn’t do anything out of the norm to warrant a drop in his BABIP and LD%. His out-of-zone swing percentage was in-line with his career averages and his contact rates were the best of his career while his BB% was exactly the same as his career average of 9.4%.

With all that said, Kinsler should have no problems bringing his BABIP and LD% back to his career norms. If those two things happen, in addition to his continued progress as a player, I see no reason why Kinsler cannot hit at least .285/.370/.525 and go above and beyond another 30/30 season. Add that to the well above-average defense he displayed last season and Kinsler may very well be on his way to an MVP type season. Do not rule it out.

-stats from FanGraphs.com

The 2009 Gold Glove Award winners have been announced. *Sigh*. I’ve made it known that I believe the Gold Glove Awards are a joke and I know I am not alone. I want to believe that the award will one day actually go to the best fielders. I hold hope. Well, 2009 was not a year the award took a step forward. In fact, it took a step back, which is very hard to do.

Here are all the 2009 winners with my notes on each:

C – Yadier Molina (STL) – This was one of those without-a-doubt winners. There was no other catcher even close to him. He is the best at throwing out runners, blocking balls in the dirt, and one of the best at calling a game. He is also the best at blocking the plate and catching the ball with a runner charging at him like a raging bull. This is one of the few the voters got right, mainly because it was almost impossible to get wrong.

C – Joe Mauer (MIN) – This is not an awful selection but Gerald Laird deserved to win it here. Laird is the best in the AL at throwing runners out and any scout will attest that he is a plus defender behind home plate. The Fielding Bible Awards (which is the real award for fielders in my opinion) also suggests that Laird is the best in the AL. Mauer wins here because the managers tend to look at offensive stats and star names first. Again, Mauer is not a bad selection but Laird deserves to win.

1B – Adrian Gonzalez (SD) – First base is tough here. I can live with Gonzalez but I do think Derek Lee and Albert Pujols were better. Pujols doesn’t get the win due to his 13 errors but he still managed to have a .992 fielding percentage and the most range at the position in the NL. I can flip a coin between the three but I do believe Pujols got robbed here and the Fielding Bible also believes so; he scored a 95 (out of a possible 100) points. The only man that had a chance to win over him was Casey Kotchman, the best fielding first baseman in the game in my opinion, but he did not log enough innings at first for me to warrant giving him the award.

1B – Mark Teixeira (NYY) – Another close call. Tex has incredible hands and plus range. The only better everyday defender at 1B is Kevin Youkilis but he only totaled 647 innings at the position because he was asked to play third for a chunk of the season. Tex only posted a -4.1 UZR/150 as well. Lyle Overbay posted a -0.8 but had the best fielding percentage and the second most assists and should get a mention here.

2B – Orlando Hudson (LAD) – Not even close. Chase Utley, again, gets violently robbed. Utley posted an +11.3 UZR/150 and from scouts that I have talked to he is the best fielding second baseman in the entire league. I have to agree with them. Hudson posted a below average -3.7 UZR/150. Not even close to what Utley did. This is a complete shame and Utley has now been robbed for the fourth and possibly fifth year in a row.

2B – Placido Polanco (DET) – He was voted the winner thanks to only making two errors. While it is important to not throw the ball in the stands and not kick it around it is more important to reach balls out of your zone. Ben Zobrist, in a rare case for me, should get the Gold Glove here. He destroyed everyone in UZR/150 by posting a +30.8 compared to Polanco who had a +11.0, which is Gold Glove caliber. Zobrist loses a little credit due to all the positions he had to play and his lack of innings at the position. I rarely, if ever, vote for a guy with 714 innings at the position but when your UZR/150 is almost three times as high as the second place fielder then you deserve some credit. Oh, and I saw him play almost all 714 innings and his range and arm are plus there, no doubt.

3B – Ryan Zimmerman (WAS) – He deserves this. Plus arm, plus hands, plus range. His UZR/150 of +20.1 is almost double the second best NL third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff at +10.7.

3B – Evan Longoria (TB) – A solid selection here but one can make an argument for Adrian Beltre. Longoria posted a UZR/150 of +19.2 and Beltre posted a +21.0 but Longoria gets the slight nod due to having a better arm and the best range and hands of any third baseman in the league. The Fielding Bible had Beltre at 76 points and Longoria at 75, for what it’s worth. A very close call here by all accounts.

SS – Jimmy Rollins (PHI) – This is almost laughable. Troy Tulowitzki, Rafael Furcal, Brendan Ryan, and J.J. Hardy were all better at short. Tulowitki’s metrics don’t match what scouts say and what I’ve seen of him. Ryan has the best UZR/150 of +13.8 with Furcal at +8.5 and Hardy at +8.8. Tulo only posted a -0.9 so I have to discredit him some there but he did have the second most assists and putouts, not to mention the best range of any shortstop in the NL and a cannon of an arm. Rollins had a +2.9, which is a far cry from the Ryan, Furcal, or Hardy. The Fielding Bible gave the award to Jack Wilson (who posted a major league best +20.4 UZR/150) but he spilt time between the two leagues and didn’t log close to enough innings to give him the award. Tulowitzki was 2nd in the FB, losing by one point to Wilson.

SS – Derek Jeter (NYY) – Geez! This again. His range is poor. His arm strength is below-average. He looks bad on balls in front of him and to either side. Cesar Izturis posted a +14.1 UZR/150, Adam Everett a +13.6, and Elvis Andrus a +11.7. Jeter had a solid +8.4 but he is not match for any of the three mentioned above. This is another case where the managers looked at offensive numbers and notoriety first. The Fielding Bible had Jeter ranked 8th among AL shortstops with 3 points. Andrus was first among AL shortstops at 69 points.

OF – Michael Bourn (HOU), Matt Kemp (LAD), Shane Victorino (PHI) – Let me start by stating that I hate how the award isn’t divided among all three outfield positions. Why does the infield get divided and not the outfield? Makes zero sense to me. Anyway… Bourn is a solid selection here. He has incredible wheels, great range, and a decent arm. His UZR/150 is +8.7 with 11 assists and the Fielding Bible had him as the highest rated NL centerfielder with 40 points. Kemp posted a + 3.2 but only received 12 points in the FB but does have the best arm of any centerfielder and had 14 assists. Victorino is another laughable selection. He has poor range, makes bad judgment calls on balls hit in front of him, a weak arm, and only gets credit because he dives for balls even though most centerfielders would be camped under them. His UZR/150 is -4.2 and he received 14 points in the FB. Better selections would have been Nyjer Morgan (+35.8 and 13 assists), Randy Winn (+20.1 and no errors), Tony Gwynn (+19.4), and Hunter Pence (+5.3 and 16 assists).

OF – Ichiro Suzuki (SEA), Torii Hunter (LAA), Adam Jones (BAL) – The AL winners consist of two guys that received their 9th award in a row and one first time winner. Ichiro posted a +11.3 UZR/150 with 5 assists and 93 Fielding Bible points, Hunter a -2.1 with 2 assists and 25 FB points, and Jones -4.1 with 9 assists and 2 FB points. I am unsure as to how the managers chose Jones. I know exactly why they chose Ichiro and Hunter, although there were many better selections. Franklin Gutierrez had a +27.1 UZR150 with 6 assists, 97 points in the Fielding Bible, and possibly the most range of any player in the game. Carl Crawford had a +17.5 with 6 assists and had 99 points in the Fielding Bible. Of the 10 voters, 9 gave Crawford first place votes and one gave him a second place vote. He is by far the best defensive leftfielder and has now won 3 of 4 Fielding Bible Awards and no Gold Gloves. What a shame! Ryan Sweeney posted a +27.6 and 11 assists and 60 FB points. David DeJesus had a +15.1, 13 assists, no errors, and 68 FB points (thanks to Crawford). Rajai Davis had a +16.2, 8 assists, and 42 FB points. Juan Rivera had a +15.0 with 11 assists and 65 FB points.

P – Adam Wainwright (STL) – I would’ve taken teammate Joel Pineiro and Johan Santana over Wainwright. He makes all the right plays but he is not a Gold Glover.

P – Mark Buehrle (CHW) – The right choice here. He is the best fielding pitcher in the AL, hands down. He is great at holding runners and picking them off too.

So, with all that said, here are my selections for the Gold Glove Awards:

C – Yadier Molina (NL)
C – Gerald Laird (AL)
1B – Albert Pujols (NL)
1B – Mark Teixeira (AL)
2B – Chase Utley (NL)
2B – Ben Zobrist (AL)
3B – Ryan Zimmerman (NL)
3B – Evan Longoria (AL)
SS – Troy Tulowitzki (NL)
SS – Adam Everett (AL)
OF – Nyjer Morgan (NL), Hunter Pence (NL), Michael Bourn (NL)
OF – Franklin Gutierrez (AL), Carl Crawford (AL), Ryan Sweeney (AL)
P – Joel Pineiro (NL)
P – Mark Buehrle (AL)

As you can see, I only agreed with 6 out of 18 of the selections that the voters made. While some of the selections were decent and not far off there were far too many that were purely laughable and simply had zero thought when they were voted for. It’s time for MLB to re-evaluate the Gold Glove voting process and take it out of the hands of the managers and into the hands of the scouting directors.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Here are my typical, short and sweet, College ball analysis tailor-made for those with A.D.D. Welcome to week 11.

What I’d like to see:

-An Alabama or Florida game without a noticeably controversial call.
-While I’m on those 2, I’d like to get to the SEC Championship game already. With no upsets this year so far, and a weak schedule for Florida, it’s not easy to make a call in this game.
-A clear leader in the ACC Atlantic. The ACC has a reputation that everyone’s in the mix until game 12. True this season.
-A Washington State win. 0-12 last year, 0-6 so far this year.
-Stanford vs. USC this weekend. Stanford has proved they can win big games, and USC has proved they can lose them. What will prevail in this game – the facts of 2009, or reputation?

If I’m a fan of:

-UConn, I’m wondering when we’ll get a break. We’ve lost all our games by a combined 15 points, and all in the 4th quarter.
-Cincinnatti, 4 is my magic number. 2 games against ranked opponents, and Illinois are 3 wins I want, and I want 1 upset of Alabama, Florida, or Texas (or 2…).
-Kansas, I’m wondering what happened in game 6. We’ve lost 4 in a row after winning 5 straight.
-Texas A&M, I’m wondering how my defense will do against Texas. We score an average of 36 points per game, but do we have the right stuff on defense to swing things our way?

It’s crowded at the top, but:

-Until Florida, Alabama, or Texas play Boise State, which they do and always will refuse to do, they have weaknesses in their cases if Boise State goes undefeated again.
-This is the best possible system, of all possible NCAA football systems… right? I mean after all, it’s perfectly clear who the top 6 teams are, given the ease with which we can take into account and compare: strength of schedule, talent, play calling, weather, when the last time the coach ate Italian food, and all the other things that go into the rankings.

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Tampa Bay Rays struck a deal today that will send secondbaseman Akinori Iwamura to the Pirates in exchange for right handed reliever Jesse Chavez.

The Rays had to pick up the $4.85M 2010 contract option on Aki or buy it out for $650K. The Rays are in desperate need to clear payroll due to a good number of their core players earning raises from last year’s salaries. When the Rays realized that Aki and his salary were expendable they looked for a trade partner and Pittsburgh was all over them.

The Pirates get a Gold Glove caliber secondbaseman with on-base skills and decent speed. He has a career major league OBP of .355 in his three years and that includes a very good .281 AVG. He has been worth 6.3 wins above replacement in his three years in the American League East and valued at $27.3M so his $4.85M contract will be a bargain. I wouldn’t rule out a season of .300/.360/.400 with great defense and double digit steals while playing in the NL Central.

Jesse Chavez has an explosive fastball/slider combo that has averaged 94.5 mph and 88.5 mph respectively. He has below average command and control and also throws a changeup that is below average. He has the tools to be a very good reliever but his .289 BABIP indicates that he may have been a bit lucky last year, although that could be attributed to the high number of homers he gave up (11 in 67.1 innings) and the Rays are hoping that is something that can be fixed by pitching coach Jim Hickey. Either way, with a league minimum salary and options to burn, he is well worth the risk for the Rays who need bullpen help.

The trade looks like a win for the Pirates but it was a necessary deal for the Rays. They have the best seconbaseman in the American League in Ben Zobrist and could not afford the salary of Aki. They did well by adding a player of value while saving the salary and/or the cost to buyout the option. This trade is a win-win for both teams.

Taking a quote from Nate Ravitz earlier this season over at ESPN: “I’m just a big fan of what Zobrist is doing this year, and would like to see more written/said about it”, I have been inspired to write about Zobrist and I can’t agree more that Zobrist deserves more love.

Zobrist has put up amazing offensive stats. Yes, that is right, amazing. Take a look: .297/.405/.543 with a wOBA of .408 and an OPS+ of 144 to go with 27 homers, 28 doubles, 7 triples, 17 stolen bases, and a 91/104 BB/K. He is 3rd in the AL in wOBA, 4th in OBP and OPS, 7th in SLUG, and 6th in walks. Ridiculous numbers for a guy who didn’t have a starting job coming into the season and played over 100 games in the middle of the field.

Zobrist’s defense has been nothing short of Gold Glove worthy.  Here are his ratings:

2B: 21.4 UZR/150, .989 Fielding Percentage, 714.2 innings

RF: 31.5 UZR/150, 1.000 FLD%, 5 Assists, 329.1 innings

CF: 29.9 UZR/150, 1.000 FLD%, 46.2 innings

SS: -4.7 UZR/150, .926 FLD%, 62.0 innings

He also played 38 innings in LF, 13.0 innings at 1B, and 5.2 innings at 3B, all well below average according to defensive metrics but the sample sizes are so small that it’s not that big of a deal.  Heck, his sample sizes are small at CF and SS too so we can’t totally take those into account.  But one this is for sure from scouts and my own eye: Ben Zobrist can handle just about any position on the field and he looked like a Gold Glover at second and in right this year.

To top off Zobrist’s accomplishmets he finished 1st in all of the majors in WAR (wins above replacement player) with 8.5 and 1st in value at $38.2M (while only making league minimum).  Both higher than Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer.  This is why I had him 2nd in my AL MVP standings.

Zobrist had an amazing season and it deserves to get a little more attention and a lot more love from writers around the blogosphere.