Mook vs Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke

There have big some big post-season moves this off-season.
The Giants this last year proved what people have been saying for years - pitching wins championships.

Let's start with the Cliff Lee move

Mulligan/Repentance
Give the Phillies credit. They made a mistake in trading Cliff Lee last year. And they were men enough to admit- we made a mistake.

Some may say, hey not a big deal. They get Lee back- and get some prospects.
But not so
Why this was a mistake
1. The players they got weren't that great, and now they have to give up a 1st rd pick... likely better than anyone they got in the trade

2. Since they didn't have Lee, they had to trade for Oswalt, giving up a good young pitcher in Happ and a good player in Gose. Plus they have to put more money into Oswalt.
They could have instead of traded for a middle reliever or a big bench bat, or kept those guys for the future...

3. If they would have signed Lee last year, they probably could have got him for 5 years 100 million... That's 20 mil they could have used on... maybe Rafeal Soriano....

4. Let's face it, as good as Oswalt is, Cliff Lee is better... and they would have had a better chance to win last year.

But, at least the Phillies corrected their mistake and got Lee back.
i guess that is what life is all about. This is what God expects of us. Admit your sin, repent. You will make mistakes, just don't stay there

Now, do the Phillies have the best rotation ever?
4 Aces
1. Halladay 2. Lee 3. Oswalt 4. Cole Hamels

Jayson Stark writes a pretty good article.
i'd have to say the 80 Mets were pretty good... i mean, if Doc Gooden doesn't get hurt, he may have gone as one of the best ever. David Cone - amazing, Frank Viola a Cy Young... and Sid Fernandez, Ojeda, Darling  decent. Phil certainly better

but the Braves of the 90's?
How do you top Maddux, Glavine & Smoltz? 3 for sure Hall of Famers. And Steve Avery was pretty good too, sometimes looked better.

Of course i liked the White Sox rotation of Jack McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Wilson Alvarez and Jason Bere.
The Yankees had some good rotations: including one that had Clemmens, Cone and Mussina
Or how about the A's big 3 of Hudson, Mulder & Zito

The Phillies has to be right up there with the Braves...

Of course, some teams may think they have a better rotation this year!
And the Giants have a case - look, they won last year with just their pitching.
We forget Tim Lincecum is called Freak, because of how dominating his was his first two years.... Matt Cain was even more dominant than Lee last post-season. Sanchez has thrown a no-no...  Bumgarner looks amazing and Zito is the highest paid...

The Cardinals can boast Wainright- who i think is the best pitcher in baseball, Carpenter, still top ten... and guys like Garcis, Westbrook under the tutolidge of Dave Duncan...

Both the BoSox and ChiSox have deep rotations... Tampa Bay & Florida... and now Milwaukee

Brewers
Last year, it looked like Greinke was the best pitcher in the game bar none.
Meanwhile both Gollardo and Marcum were considered Aces last year.
The Brew Crew still have Braun, Fielder & Hart up the middle of their lineup.
The sacrificed their future (Lawrie & Escobar + pithcers), but they have a pretty good rotation, and they should be excited in Milwaukee.

Mook vs the next generation of pitchers

Pitchers are dominating this year. There have been 3 perfect games (if you count Galaraga) and 2 more no-hitters. Plus a bunch that went 8+ innings. And not only that, but there are more shut-outs than I can remember.

Young pitchers are particulary dominating
In anticipation of Stephen starssberg’s debut, ESPN did an article on the top pitchers of the next decade(not including Starssberg).

(This was pretty interesting in one of my fantasy leagues where Strassberg (and some others) were traded for Felix… and then this article ranks Felix #1)

Interesting that Lincecum didn’t even make the cut. And neither did Zach Greinke who was ridiculous last year.

Here are my top 12 pitchers in the next 5 years
1. Wainright
(he reminds me a lot of Greg Maddux- a complete player. He performed under pressure in the playoffs, and has Dave Duncan as his coach)
2. Lester
(Take out his April this year and his numbers would be mind-blowing. A lefty for a perennial contender… he already has a perfect game to his name and overcame cancer
3. Lincecum
(Scouts don’t like his unusual technique, but it has been working)
4. Halladay
(He still has 5 good – great- years left in him)
5. Ubaldo
(he’s coming back to earth, but he’s still pretty incredible)
6. David Price
(like many of the others before him I like his playoff experience… we forget how much hype he had last year)
7. Strassberg
(he will be great, but he’ll also have some growing pains)
8. Josh Johnson
(he is often mentioned as one of the top 3 pitchers in the NL- but usually for shock value… but he has been darn good this year, again no one notices).
9. Cliff Lee
(Seems to be coming into hiw own these last 3 years)
10. Verlander
(does anyone throw harder?)
11. Phil Hughes
(has gone thru some growing pains, I think he’s ready to bloom
12. Clayton Kershaw
(he’s stil 21 and improving a lot)
Honorable mentions
13. Mat Latos
14. Clay Buchholz
15. Bret Anderson

Noticeably missing
1. Felix
(he has a lot of wins, big deal. He reminds me of CC or Bartolo Colon
2. CC
(I’ve never been impressed by CC- expect for his brief tenure with the Brewers which was incredible. He is extremely inconsistent though, and due for a breakdown)
3. Greinke
(he looked like the next Saberhagen… but maybe that is what he is, a couple amazing years, and a decent career, but nothing special)
4. Tommy Hanson
(I’m sure he will be good, but I think others will be better)

Top Ten in the next ten years?
1. Strassberg
2. Price
3. Wainright
4. Bret Anderson
5. Lester
6. Kershaw
7. Ubaldo
8. Josh Johnson
9. Lincecum
10. Some guy we haven’t heard of yet

Of course no one knows what will happen. We all saw what happened with Prior & Wood with the Cubs. Any one of these guys could blow their arm out (though Johnson & Lester already went thru major surgeries). Or we could recall guys with funky deliveries like Fernando, D-train, or Nomo and assume Lincecum is bound to fail too.

Of course we don’t know. Only God knows.
But we like making predictions. We like preview magazines. We like picking our brackets for march madness and we like playing fantasy sports. And if we’re right, we can say “I knew it” or at least “I called it/ predicted it”
Just like only the writers of LOST actually knew the ending (ok maybe they didn’t either, those bastards… liars…idiots), no one knows how things will turn out.

I mean if anyone was going to have a great career it was Doc Gooden. Check out his stats! He was 24-4 with a 1.53 era and 16 complete games & 8 shut-outs, 268 k's- as a 20 year old!... 276k's as a 19 year old!


Only God knows. He knows the future, He knows all outcomes. He foreordained it. Does God really care about baseball? I guess He must be a fan… Some of His children are playing, so…
Yeah, God knows. And these guys may feel like a god on the mound…. But they’re not. And the same God who gave them that talent, can take it away.

This reminds me of the comedian when Kirk Gibson showed up in LA, some were calling him Jesus, and the stand-up joked could you imagine… Jesus up to bat, hits a routine grounder to the thirdbaseman and… he goes blind! The ball goes thru… Or… there’s popup to left field should be an easy out…. Wait a second! There comes a bird! HE has the ball and… yes! It’s a homerun!

OF course Jesus wouldn’t do that, it would be cheating, and God doesn’t cheat… Of course… He wouldn’t have to…

Anyway, I know we may not know, but it’s fun to predict. What are your predictions?