TC's Fake Baseball Mailbag (Part 1)
Written by Big Poppa TC, Tuesday May 26 2009
I honestly love reading the mailbags of other ‘more famous’ bloggers (bloggers with readers). And I was thinking that it would be awesome to do my own mailbag. But I ran into a snag. I barely have any readers, and I certainly don’t have anyone writing me random questions that want to see answered. While that may stop lesser men, it hasn’t stopped me. So here’s Part one of my Fake Baseball Mailbag.
There has already been a record number of home runs hit at the New Yankee Stadium. How many do you think will be hit there this year?
B. Cashman - New York, NY.
17,434. So far there have been 87 home runs hit this year at New Yankee Stadium, 45 by the Yankees, and 42 by their opponents, in 23 games. This is an average of 3.8 homers per game, well ahead of any other stadium in history. The dimensions are allegedly the same as old Yankee Stadium, but this new ballpark plays smaller and balls are flying everywhere. The homer numbers are gaudy so far, but I think the rate is going to increase exponentially as the season goes on, for the following reasons:
1. In late season meetings with the Red Sox, either David Ortiz will have gotten his groove back, or he will be replaced with someone who is at least decent. (+0.7 HR/game as other Red Sox will get better pitches to hit too)
2. One of the Yankees better starters (Sabathia or Burnett) will inevitably get injured, forcing the Yankees to recall Chien-Ming Wang. (+231 HR/game)
3. A-Rod didn’t play for the first month of the season, but will play for the rest. (+1.5 HR/game as other Yankees will get better pitches to hit too)
4. Pitchers typically have the advantage early in the season, as hitters are facing pitchers they haven’t seen before. (+.8 HR/game)
5. I’ve been asking this for 6 years, but Mario Rivera has to start declining sometime right? (+0.2 HR/game)
We have bi-racial president from Hawaii. Isn’t it odd that we still have team names like the “Indians”?
A. Sharpton – Atlanta, GA.
With the Indians, I feel that that they should go entirely the other way. They should play up the fact that they’re the Indians. But the Indians should change themselves from the Native American “Indian” to the South Asian “Indian”. Think about it, if they can associate themselves with the second most populous nation in the world, it would open up a huge market to both Cleveland and Major League Baseball. Additionally Cleveland, along with every other major city has an increasing Indian population, whereas the Native American population is dwindling and doesn’t really represent a targetable market for baseball or Cleveland specifically. Cleveland could completely revitalize their image and go with the South Asian Indian as a logo and team. But the biggest step would be to buy the contract of one or more world class cricket players (India and South Asia’s most popular sport) and convert them into a baseball player. It can turn India into the next Japan in terms of baseball marketing. The Pittsburgh Pirates already have two Indian former cricket pitchers in their minor league system. Teams with Asian players make large amounts of extra revenue from overseas TV rights. If we a society have decided that it’s ok to have “Indians” as a team name, they why not try get more revenue out of it? It’s time to get creative in the midst of our recession, and part of our recovery is convincing other countries to invest in America.
Who is the best player nobody knows about?
R. Branyan – Seattle, Wa.
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B , San Diego Padres. He leads the league in homers with 17, playing in the biggest pitchers park (Petco), in a division with the strongest starting pitching (NL West), with absolutely no protection in the lineup (Scott Hairston is the only player batting above .300). Gonzalez is a former All-Star who plays a Gold Glove first base and has a gorgeous left handed swing. But he plays for the mediocre Padres, a small market team that doesn’t represent well nationally (few people move from San Diego cause it’s freakin’ awesome to live there), so people don’t know him. But they should. He’s one of those players you always watch if he’s up to bat.
How good is Zack Greinke? No, I mean for real. How good is he?
Johan S. – Westchester, NY
Umm… he’s very good. Very, very good. He’s Jessica Alba-in-a-bathing-suit good. He’s Chuck Norris good. He’s given up six earned runs in nine starts. He’s good like having your 21st birthday party in Vegas. He’s got four complete games out of nine starts. He was at one time ready to quit baseball and the Royals convinced him to come back. He’s got a 0.91 WHIP. Don’t worry Johan S. from New York, he’s the best pitcher in the American League, not the National League. The National League’s best pitcher is Tim Lincecum. He’s not Michael Jordan good, but he’s not far from being Bo Jackson good (Bo Jackson in real life, not Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl. No one is that good.).
You named your Butterface Award after Fergie last week in your Giants Quarter Season Review column? That seems a bit harsh. I don’t think she’s that bad, and she really sings and dances well.
Josh D. – Santa Monica, Ca.
Look it would be unfair if there were people who were perfect in every way. Fergie does sing very well (albeit her songs get annoying), and she is a very sexy dancer. But these attributes are balanced out by other aspects of her which in my opinion are somewhat BRUTAL and old Jack-O-Lantern-like (thanks to Ben H. for that). All I’m saying is that if I were a good-looking young actor (who was starring in the Transformers movie this summer), I would think that I could do better. Do ya hear what I’m saying Josh D.?
Lyoto Machida destroyed Rashard Evans over the weekend to become UFC Lightheavyweight Champion and seems to have impenetrable defense and strong karate striking. Is there anyone in the division who poses a threat?
D. White – Las Vegas, NV
Zack Greinke. That’s how good he is.
Is the National League Central secretly the best division in baseball?
Bud S. – Osh Kosh, Wi.
No. The National League Central is secretly very good, with the four teams being .500 or better. The Milwaukee Brewers have surprised everyone with their hot start a solid starting pitching. The Cardinals and Reds have also been extremely competitive due to above average pitching. The pre-season favorite Cubs have faltered recently to fall to a .500 record, but are still widely considered to have the best NL Central lineup along with the Brewers.
However, the perennially good AL East is still the strongest division top to bottom, with the high scoring AL Champion Rays middling in 4th place. At the top are the always powerful Red Sox and Yankees, followed closely by the upstart Blue Jays. The AL East also has four teams at .500 and above, but they play stiffer competition in the AL. Even the last-place Orioles have the 13th strongest offense in the majors. So much to my chagrin (as I am pretty tired of the national media covering the Yankees and Red Sox so aggressively), the AL East is still the best division.
If one were to bet in some sort of office pool, what date do you think the Dodgers will clinch the NL West?
Rick N. – Westwood, Ca.
July 24. Suspended outfielder Manny Ramirez is scheduled to come back on July 3. You figure they’ll be 33 games ahead of San Diego by then. You figure another two weeks and it should be locked up. The NL West is just plain super-sucky as the Padres, Giants, and Diamondbacks are 3 of the 5 lowest scoring teams in the majors. In contrast, the Dodgers have the second highest number of runs, and the best ERA in the major leagues, even though they’ve missed Manny for the last three weeks. Just a bit of friendly advice though Rick, if you work in an office affiliated with sports, maybe it’s best not to bet on sports.
Thanks for reading this mailbag, check back for Part 2 of this Fake Mailbag, which will be more centered around the Giants. But feel free to post real questions here or message me.
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2 comments
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Another great article, keep it up TC. Hey, Canseco evidently entered the ring with a bat last weekend, so why can't Greinke have a bucket of balls?
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I'm not sure Machida-Greinke would be a good fight, but to make if fair, Machida would have to take a Greinke fastball in the ribs. As far as the Giants go, does Brian Sabian have the stones to go out and get Matt Holliday before the trade deadline?