John Earnhart

MLB Blog Breakdown

October 21, 2009 2:01pm CDT

God BlessBuckner.com: Ideas For a Mets Number Two Starter
Our Mets correspondent, Eno Sarris, discusses the possibility of a new arm in the Big Apple.

"But then look at the list of pitchers he starts: Jeremy Guthrie, Gil Meche, and Ervin Santana. Certainly the Mets would be buying low. But would their teams want to sell those pitchers low? And for the trade bait that Sherman suggests? Let's take a look in reverse order."

Impact: The Mets' No. 2-4 hurlers (Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine) combined for a 20-22 record. Be extremely cautious when drafting Mets pitchers aside from Johan Santana and K-Rod next year, especially since the Big Apple just lost their pitching coach.

DodgerBlueBlog.com: So We Meet Again ( Part 6 - Wolf's Return)
Dodgers correspondent Aaron Fischman breaks down the regular season and playoff performances of Randy Wolf.

"Last start- (In just 3.2 innings, against the Cardinals on October 7th (12 days ago), he walked 5 batters and surrendered 6 hits. He was lucky enough to only allow 2 earned runs before exiting from the game."

Impact: During the regular season, Randy Wolf went 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA and a 160/58 K/BB ratio. But during his final 10 starts, Wolf went 6-1 with a 50/16 K/BB ratio. If the playoffs end as expected, Wolf will be even hungrier next year (and he'll be a Type A free agent).

RedsWhite And Blue.com: Why Are We Watching?
Mike Norrod, in his newly launched Cincinnati Reds Blog, discusses the past, present and future of the club.

Homer Bailey pitched well down the stretch.

"I said though we have a great core of guys up here, between Johnny Cueto's live fastball, to the guy they traded Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volquez, you have Homer Bailey who really seems to be figuring it out, and may yet develop into the number 1 guy he seemed destined to be. "

Impact: The good news out of Cincinnati is that Homer Bailey is starting to look like the pitcher everyone thought he could be. During his last 10 starts in '09, he finished with a 6-1 record and lowered his ERA from 7.53 to 4.53. The team will still need a fifth starter to buy time until Edinson Volquez is able to return next year.

BaseballBrew.com: Grading the 2009 Brewers
Our Brewers correspondent, Adam Burnett, hands out his individual grades for the club.

"Casey McGehee nut up to play through constant knee pain and provide some pop behind Fielder. I hope he is able to rehab his knee and come back in spring training to compete for the job at the hot corner."

Impact: Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Trevor Hoffman all lived up to their usual expectations. The real fantasy surprises here were Casey McGehee and Felipe Lopez. While he played in only 116 games, McGehee still finished with 16 homers, 66 RBI and a .301 batting average. Lopez carried a .320 average during his tenure with the club. However, Lopez is now a free agent. Corey Hart's stock took the biggest hit after all of his numbers dropped significantly. Stay tuned to Burnett's blog to find out how one of last year's worst rotations will respond to new pitching coach Rick Peterson.

DockOf The Rays.com: Backstopped
Rays correspondent Jason Collette reviews the need for a new catcher in Tampa Bay.

"If you take away the season Navarro had in 2008, Rays catchers have finished in the bottom half of the league in overall production year in and year out. There was hope after 2008 that Navarro would be turning the trend of catching futility for the Rays but he regressed in a huge way in 2009 at the plate and behind the plate. "

Impact: Dioner Navarro has never hit 10 home runs, nor has he ever had more than 60 RBI in a season. He's also never finished a season batting over the .300 mark. While Navarro isn't very reliable in the fantasy world, the free agents Tampa Bay has to choose from aren't much better; Bengie Molina, Jason Kendall, Pudge, etc. I'd continue to follow Collette's blog to see how the Rays will handle their most pressing need this offseason.

KissMyAstros.com: Third base and Manager
Astros correspondent Scott Barzilla reviews Houston's need at third base and the need for a manager.

"The problem is that baseball is a game of the long haul and over the long haul neither he nor Keppinger will get the job done. This leaves the Astros a choice of accepting bad hitting from third base (remember they are prepared to accept bad hitting from the catcher and second base spots) or they can roll the dice on signing Tejada to play third base. "

Impact: Chris Johnson, Geoff Blum and Jeff Keppinger all made less-than-impressive cameos at third base for the Astros last year. The three men combined for a total of 17 home runs, 79 RBI and had a collective batting average of .198. Miguel Tejada could re-sign and slide over to third. As always, Barzilla will have this news as soon as it is available.

Ray Flowers provides some random thoughts on what is going on in the world of baseball.
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Breaking Down: Derek Lowe

Will Derek Lowe be able to rebound from his worst effort since 2004, or is his time as a top level option at an end?
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