Carl Yastrzemski 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen

Carl Yastrzemski 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen I bought this card ‘on the blind’ during a recent shopping splurge on www.sportlots.com. Have a look: In my opinion, Topps’ Gypsy Queen set offers the best card backgrounds in the hobby.  There is … Continue reading →

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n/

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TCB March Madness 2013: Brandon Barnes vs
Jiovanni Mier

TCB's Astros Fan Favorite March Madness Tournament is underway. From now until the end of Spring Training 64 players will spend the next several weeks facing off in a head to head public vote to determine who advances to the next round and who will eventually be crowned the communities favorite Astros player. For more details click here for the introductory post.

The rules are simple determine which player you want to advance to the next by voting for that player. Any excellent arguments made for an advancing player in the comments below may be used in the players description for the next round. Vote subjectively, objectively or by using your trusty magic eight ball. Votes will last exactly 24 hours.

In this match-up:

12 - Brandon Barnes

The human highlight reel, made his debut with the Astros last year and while his bat left something to be desired his defense was outstanding as he provided several highlight reel catches for those watching. While he struggled in his short stint int he majors last year he did post an .894 OPS In 446 plate apperances between AA and AAA last year. He's a bit of unknown for this team going forward but if anything he's proven that determination and hard work pay off.

Vs

53 - Jiovanni Mier

Jiovanni Mier has bounced around in the low minors since the Astros took him in the first round in 2009. He's flashed good on-base skills and power from the shortstop position, but he's primarily a defense-first shortstop with a questionable hit tool. 2013 should be his first chance to taste the high minors after repeating Lancaster in 2012 - and his success (or lack thereof) in Corpus Christi this year could make or break his prospect status, which makes him an exciting player to keep an eye on. -Anthony

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Spring Training Game 2: Preview & Game Thread

The Astros come off an impressive 8-3 win over Phillies. Robbie Grossman and Marwin Gonzalez will be looking to build of their two hits game each, bother are starting today. Norris will face right-hander Matt Harvey. Harvey is looking to take over as the top man in the New York rotation. The No. 7 pick in the 2010 draft, finishing 2012 with a 2.73 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 70 strikeouts in 59.1 innings. The Mets will be running out a split-squad, New York will also be facing the Cardinals in Jupiter, Florida today. Projected starters, Jose Altuve, Carlos Pena, and Jason Castro will get their first starts today for the Astros. Brett Wallace and Rick Ankiel will be looking to make impression with their first starts as well after not making the trip for yesterday's game.

Astros Fan Favorite March Madness Tournament:

Don't forget to go vote in our TCB March Madness match-ups for todaySpring Training Viewing Guide:

Spring Training Viewing Guide:

Helpful Do's and Don'ts to watching Astros spring games.

New York Mets at Houston, 12:05 PM CT

MLB.TV: Live

Radio: KBME 790 AM

Pitching Matchup

RHP Matt Harvey (3-5, 2.73 ERA in 2012) vs. RHP Bud Norris (7-13, 4.65 ERA in 2012)

Mets Lineup (Split-Squad)

1. Jordany Valdespin, 2B

2. Collin Cowgill, CF

3. Lucas Duda, DH

4. Andrew Brown, RF

5. Travis d'Arnaud, C

6. Jamie Hoffmann, LF

7. Zach Lutz, 3B

8. Omar Quintanilla, SS

9. Josh Satin, 1B

Mets Pitchers

Matt Harvey, Jeremy Hefner, Aaron Laffey, Scott Atchison, Josh Edgin

Astros Lineup

1. Marwin Gonzalez, SS

2. Jose Altuve, 2B

3. Carlos Pena, 1B

4. Brett Wallace, DH

5. Rick Ankiel, RF

6. Jason Castro, C

7. Fernando Martinez, LF

8. Matt Dominguez, 3B

9. Robbie Grossman, CF

Astros Pitchers

Bud Norris, Jose Veras,, Brad Peacock, Wesley Wright, Rhiner Cruz, Sergio Escalona, Josh Fields

Let's get it started!

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Miami Marlins Spring Training 2013 Coverage

The Miami Marlins are starting spring training, and Fish Stripes has all of the coverage that you need.

The Miami Marlins may not have much to which to look forward in 2013, but it does not mean that the team does not need to start this impending season. Today, the Fish take the first step into 2013, as pitchers and catchers report to Roger Dean Stadium for workouts at 10 AM. Today, we begin the first day of what will be a month and a half of relatively scrutiny-free warm-up to what should be a dreary season.

The Marlins' MLB.com website has the schedule of what is to come shortly.

Pitchers and catchers report

Feb. 12

Full squad reports

Feb. 15

First Spring Training game

Home vs. Cardinals, Feb. 23, 1:05 p.m. ET

Opening Day

Away vs. Nationals, April 1, 1:05 p.m. ET

As you can see, the Marlins' full team will be reporting to first-year manager Mike Redmond on Friday, with the team having a full week to warm up before starting their spring training schedule. As usual, the Fish will start off against the St. Louis Cardinals, as the two teams share Roger Dean Stadium as their Grapefruit League home during the lead-up to Opening Day.

This year's spring training will be significantly different from last season. In 2012, the Marlins had many eyes on their talent, as new additions Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Heath Bell were set to join the volatile Hanley Ramirez to form an interesting and potentially competitive group. This year, all of those players and more are gone, and the Marlins will not even have Giancarlo Stanton for much of their time in Jupiter, as he and two other teammates will be joining their respective countries in the World Baseball Classic this season. What is left is what is supposedly going to be a tight competition for multiple spots on the roster.

Marlins fans, today we start the long road that will be the 2013 season. What are your expectations and levels of interest, and how closely will you be following spring training? If you are keeping close track of the Marlins this season, then you had better be tuning in February and March for the second annual Fish Stripes Season Preview series, along with all of your spring training coverage, right here on Fish Stripes!

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Intra-squad at the Twins

I headed over to Ft Myers to catch a Twins game where they are hosting te Rays, and was lucky[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.lovemyteam.com/2013/02/24/intra-squad-at-the-twins/

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What should we expect from Jeff Francis in 2013

When the Rockies brought back Jeff Francis last year after releasing Jamie Moyer, the move made sense based on injuries and lack of any other reliable starters. I was not sure I agreed with the decision to keep him with the team for 2013 and I am curious as to what to expect from him this year. With his first action coming this Sunday, let's look at a couple of different methods for projecting his production in 2013 and if it makes sense to keep him on the roster.

Of the many different projection systems in use, here are two projection systems as shown on Fangraphs.com:

Steamer: 8-6, 4.50 ERA with 120 IP in 20 starts; WHIP 1.35, 5.01 K/9, 2.16 BB/9

Oliver: 8-11, 5.13 ERA with 167 IP in ?? starts; WHIP 1.51, 5.29 K/9, 2.05 BB/9

I find these projections to be fairly odd for a couple of reasons. For example, Jeff Francis has not had an ERA below 4.82 since his great 2007 season and has not had an ERA below 5 as a Rockie since that year. Projecting a 4.50 ERA seems highly unlikely and seems to be a product of a failed computer model.

Further, both projections show higher walks than he has allowed in each of the past four years and lower strikeouts than any year except his time in Kansas City. These projections may assume this because of age, but Jeff has shown a consistent decline in walks allowed per nine as he has gotten older. I decided to take a look at how pitchers like Jeff Francis fair at 32 and try to interpolate what that means for him.

Baseball Reference has a similarity system (explained here) that compares player's careers. Francis has had similar career numbers to several former Rockies, to include Josh Fogg, Armando Reynoso, and John Thomson. In fact, his closest comparison is Mark Redman who finished his stellar career with a couple of nondescript partial seasons with the Rockies.

Averaging out the age 32 seasons for the 10 players whose careers most resemble Francis provides the following numbers: 6-7, 4.83 ERA with 100 IP in 16 starts; WHIP 1.48, 5.48 K/9, 3.65 BB/9. However, several of these pitchers were no longer starters at age 32 so I decided to go a little further and try to interpolate how changes in their careers based on age would affect Francis and his year.

Of the pitchers that are compared to Francis, only four pitched significant innings as a starter at the age of 32 (Redman, Reynoso, Dave Mlicki, and Nate Robertson). It was a bit subjective but based on their trends from ages 30 to 32, and comparing them to the trends in Jeff Francis' numbers, I came up with a projection of: 9-11, 5.62 ERA with 140 IP n 25 starts; WHIP 1.4, 5.55 K/9, 2.00 BB/9. Not horrible by Rockies standards, but nothing to necessarily write home about.

So what does all of this mean for the Rockies and why should you care? It means we have a 32 year old starting pitcher who, if healthy, provides back-end of the rotation type numbers. Does it make sense to keep him on a rebuilding team? Does he allow the Rockies to develop their young pitchers outside of the limelight of the majors, or will he be taking valuable MLB innings away from a young pitcher who needs the experience?

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Spring Training Game Three: Braves at Pirates

The Braves play their first road game of the spring. They'll take on the Pirates in Bradenton, and no doubt everyone will be watching starting pitcher Julio Teheran... and will immediately make too much of his performance. Today's lineup:

1. Reed Johnson, CF
2. Jason Heyward, RF
3. Justin Upton, LF
4. Juan Francisco, 3B
5. B.J. Upton, DH
6. Blake DeWitt, 2B
7. Gerald Laird, C
8. Ernesto Mejia, 1B
9. Ramiro Pena, SS

Following Teheran on the mound will be Sean Gilmartin, Jonny Venters, David Carpenter, David Hale, and Juan Jaime. The game is only on radio, AM 680 and FM 93.7.

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Sunday Rockpile: Listening to bats cracking is
like listening to ice breaking. Spring is here.

As this is the 100th anniversary of the Rite of Spring, it still seems fitting to me to make the comparison. I hope we have all filed the necessary legal paperwork to sacrifice our virgins and ensure a successful season for the Rockies. If not, you better get on that, the government can get a bit heavy-handed with the fines and what not for unauthorized sacrifices.

So far, though, there's nothing to complain about yesterday's results, even if they are without meaning. The reason for the sacrifices to be made are still churning underneath the frozen surface, though:

Troy Tulowitzki's leg, it needs to be healthy. That might require a couple of virgins to the baseball gods right there.

The Rockies rotation, it needs added help, which won't require virgins, but maybe Christian Friedrich as a piece to get Tampa Bay's Jeff Niemann.

Jason Giambi may need a Christian Friedrich of his own to sacrifice for one more year of playing, but he can't have the Rockies', they might need it to get Niemann. Troy Renck's article among other notes also points out that Dante Bichette has been working well so far as Rockies hitting coach.

The Rockies do seem fairly willing to sacrifice Ramon Hernandez, without much mentioned in the return offers category so far, so maybe they can pass the now backup catcher on to Giambi for use so long as the slugger takes on Hernandez's salary. Other notes from Thomas Harding include Walt Weiss preaching to the Rockies to become Blake St. Bullies (always better to be the ones not on the sacrificial alter) and a bit on Friday's intrasquad game. The note on LHP Nick Schmidt's performance could be important to file away in light of Edwar Cabrera's shoulder impingement. Cabrera's loss figures to have a shuffling effect in the Rockies minor league depth should a need arise in the MLB rotation (it will) and Schmidt figures to be a prime beneficiary of that.

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TCB March Madness 2013: Nate Freiman vs Jarred
Cosart

TCB's Astros Fan Favorite March Madness Tournament is underway. From now until the end of Spring Training 64 players will spend the next several weeks facing off in a head to head public vote to determine who advances to the next round and who will eventually be crowned the communities favorite Astros player. For more details click here for the introductory post.

The rules are simple determine which player you want to advance to the next by voting for that player. Any excellent arguments made for an advancing player in the comments below may be used in the players description for the next round. Vote subjectively, objectively or by using your trusty magic eight ball. Votes will last exactly 24 hours.

In this match-up:

30 - Nate Freiman

If we put the four first base/designated hitter candidates on a scale of most likely to make contact to least likely, Freiman has to rank as the most likely. He's made consistent contact throughout his minor league career, despite being a baseball giant with a huge strike zone. Still, he never struck out more than 20 percent of the time at any minor league level and walks right around 9-10 percent of the time. If there's a knock against him it's he's the last of that first base group in terms of pure power (assuming Wally doesn't go Hulk this season). Freiman hit a career-best 24 home runs last season in 581 PAs for the Padres Double-A affiliate. He'll need to do better than that to hold onto a roster spot with Houston. -David

Vs

35 - Jarred Cosart

The poster boy for the Ed Wade Era could easily be Cosart, as a toolsy guy who has never really seen that translate into professional success. His tools have wowed scouts for years and impressed everyone at the annual Futures Game. After all that waiting, the future appears to be now, as Cosart should break into the big leagues sometime in 2013. Though he's never become that front-line starter he was projected to be based on his stuff, Cosart could be exactly what the Houston front office wants in a pitcher. He's a strikeout guy with good stuff who also generates a ton of ground balls. He doesn't strike out guys at a Verlander-esque level, but he does good enough when paired with his ground ball tendency. Cosart should start the season in the minors, but could be the first call-up from OKC in the event of an injury. -David

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TCB March Madness 2013: Jason Castro vs Bobby
Borchering

TCB's Astros Fan Favorite March Madness Tournament is underway. From now until the end of Spring Training 64 players will spend the next several weeks facing off in a head to head public vote to determine who advances to the next round and who will eventually be crowned the communities favorite Astros player. For more details click here for the introductory post.

The rules are simple determine which player you want to advance to the next by voting for that player. Any excellent arguments made for an advancing player in the comments below may be used in the players description for the next round. Vote subjectively, objectively or by using your trusty magic eight ball. Votes will last exactly 24 hours.

In this match-up:

9 - Jason Castro

Cleared to play baseball in 2012 after missing all of 2011 with knee surgery, Jason Castro was expected to be the full-time catcher for the Astros in 2012. Unfortunately, Castro still missed time in 2012 due to his knee. Still Castro flashed some offensive potential posting a .320 wOBA in 295 plate appearances with six homeruns. One more year removed from surgery should do wonders for Castro offensively and defensively.

Vs

56 - Bobby Borchering

Bobby Borchering spent a lot of time traveling in 2012. He spent time on three different minor league teams on two different levels. In 535 plate appearances Borchering posted a .236/.303/.453 batting line for the Astros and Arizona Diamondbacks minor league teams. Upon arriving to the Astros minor league system he was switched from outfield back to his original position of third base whether that played a role in his subpar offensive numbers will have to be determined by his 2013 season.

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