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TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers three questions each week. This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs. 1) With J.A. Happ heading to the DL, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced a starting rotation of R.A. Dickey, Drew Hutchison, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow and Dustin McGowan. Should the Blue Jays feel confident with that group or even this early in the season, should they be looking outside the organization for an upgrade? Or should they have kept a prospect like Aaron Sanchez or Marcus Stroman with the big club? The Blue Jays are starting the season with exact rotation they should be using. Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman both need more development but at some point they may be called upon to help. Certainly there are big questions for three-fifths of the starters but there is definitely upside. RA Dickey is just a year removed from his NL Cy Young Award and is predictable and dependable. I cant believe I am saying that about a knuckleballer but it is true. Mark Buerhle is a more than serviceable innings-eater who gives his team a chance to win start after start. After these two though the questions are significant. Brandon Morrow has suffered injuries in each of the past two seasons after looking like a number one starter at times in 2012. Dustin McGowan is throwing in the mid-nineties and is working on a curve ball to go with his devastating slider, but he has thrown just 46 2/3 innings since 2008 because of recurrent shoulder injuries. Drew Hutchison hasnt pitched in the Major Leagues for the past year and a half due to Tommy John surgery but prior to that he looked like he could be a long-term answer for the rotation. Before the season begins players, front office personnel and fans close their eyes and dream about what could be. I can close my eyes and see RA Dickey commanding his dancing knuckler that will baffle hitter. I can envision Buerhle getting a ton of grounders and working quickly getting the powerhouse offense back in the dugout and scoring a ton of runs. I can picture Brandon Morrow rifling his fastball by the games biggest sluggers and logging a ton of strikeouts. I can imagine McGowan and Hutchison fulfilling the potential that they once had as well. It could happen just that way. But it probably wont. My experience is that the more questions you enter with the more things that will likely go wrong. There is a bunch of unpredictability in this rotation. Depth will be important. It is safe to assume that health will be an issue at some point because it has been an issue in the past. Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond may make starts if necessary. But Alex Anthopolous is going to have to keep working the phones to look for upgrades. Early in the season other clubs arent typically trading good pitchers but he will need to be ready for when they do become available. So when you close your eyes and dream just hope it is not a nightmare. 2) Is manager John Gibbons on the hot seat with the Blue Jays? If the team is slow out of the gate again this year, will he be replaced? Are his and Alex Anthopouloss future tied together (if one goes, the other follows him out the door)? I dont think John Gibbons is on the hot seat during the season this year. I know there were big expectations last year but the collapse wasnt Gibbons fault. The starting rotation just fell apart on him as Morrow and Josh Johnson got hurt and Ricky Romero imploded. Jose Reyes injury crushed the offense early in the season and more injuries followed. The expectations are less this year than a year ago. It certainly behooves the Jays to get off to a good start so they can start to believe in themselves but Gibbons cant pitch for his team and the staff will be the key. I have never been a believer that managers and general managers are tied at the hip. The manager needs to look at the GM as his boss. Clearly Gibbons was brought back to the Jays because of his relationship with Anthopolous but if Anthopolous thinks a change needs to be made he will have to make it. If ownership gets to a point where they believe the roster is flawed and they decide to make a decision on the general manager it is unlikely Gibbons would survive a change in regime. Anthoplous can possibly survive the firing of Gibbons but I dont believe Gibbons would survive the firing of Anthopolous. As it stands today both the manager and general manager are on firm ground as they should be. They just need to be honest with themselves and their bosses about what the expectations are with the roster they have. The owners can hope to be competitive in the tough AL East but if they expect to win it then both Anthopolous and Gibbons are in trouble. This is a roster for which you can hope but not expect great things. 3) With Reds starter Aroldis Chapman and Rays starter Matt Moore both being hit in the head by comebackers to the mound in spring training, is it time for Major League Baseball and/or the players union to implement mandatory pitcher protection? It seems that pitchers have become more and more vulnerable over the past few seasons. Fortunately, we have avoided major catastrophe but we shouldnt be shocked if a pitcher were to be killed by a hit ball. We have just been lucky so far. I am a firm believer that we should never wait for someone to be killed to make a change. Baseball already did that once. Base coaches wear helmets now because a minor league first base coach was hit in the head by a line drive and killed. If protecting pitchers is being considered then protect them. Lets not wait for a tragedy. It is currently optional for pitchers to wear the new protective headgear that was developed by MLB for this year. The feedback so far is that the hats look funny and are not overly comfortable. MLB needs to keep refining the protective hats to make them functional. This needs to be a priority for the Players Association as well. Protective hats for pitchers need to be made mandatory at the minor league level initially. Let the kids get comfortable with them so by the time they are big leaguers it is commonplace. Once the hat is advanced enough make it mandatory for major league pitchers to wear. There is no clock in baseball but we need to put a clock on this. Every pitch thrown puts a pitcher at risk. Please hurry. 4) With the second and third opening days approaching for Major League Baseball it is time to make predictions. Here is how I see the American League:AL East AL Central AL West 1) Boston Detroit Oakland2) Tampa Bay* Kansas City** LA Angels3) Baltimore Cleveland Texas4) Blue Jays Minnesota Seattle5) New York Yankees Chicago Houston * first Wild Card ** second Wild Card AL CHAMPION: Oakland As defeat Detroit AL AWARDS AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DetroitAL MVP: Justin Verlander, DetroitAL Rookie of Year: Yordano Ventura, Kansas CityAL Manager of Year: Ned Yost, Kansas City Here are my predictions for the NL:NL East NL Central NL West1) Washington St Louis LA Dodgers 2) Atlanta** Milwaukee SF Giants*3) NY Mets Cincinnati Arizona4) Philadelphia Pittsburgh Colorado5) Miami Chicago San Diego* first Wild Card ** second Wild Card NL CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Dodgers NL AWARDS NL MVP: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta BravesNL CY Young: Stephen Strasburg, Washington NationalsNL Rookie of Year: Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates Manager of the Year: Mike Matheny, St Louis Cardinals WORLD SERIES CHAMPION: Washington Nationals defeat Oakland As LET THE GAMES BEGIN…..PLAY BALL!!! nflchinajerseyshop . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1. nflchinajerseyshop.com . At the moment, neither do the decision-makers. Dustin McGowan is front-and-centre in this ongoing saga, having thrust himself into the conversation with a dominating three-inning performance against the Phillies on Thursday, just hours after manager John Gibbons appeared to pour cold water on the notion. http://www.nflchinajerseyshop.com/ . The Texans sunk to a new low on Sunday with a 13-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars to extend their franchise-record skid to nine games. http://www.nflchinajerseyshop.com/Women-Jerseys-xf-96_Nike-W omen-NFL-dx-89/ . A week after collecting the Professional Footballers Association trophy, the Uruguay international won the 2014 vote by the Football Writers Association on Monday. http://www.nflchinajerseyshop.com/ . Niese pitched seven steady innings on a rainy Tuesday night and Daniel Murphy had three hits to lead New York to a 6-1 victory over the Phillies.ATLANTA -- Fredi Gonzalez says if you keep putting the ball in play, good things can happen. The good things for Gonzalezs Braves on Monday night were a barrage of Mets errors which handed Atlanta the win. Three errors by New York fueled Atlantas comeback as the Braves scored four runs in the eighth and beat the Mets 5-3 for their fifth straight win. "We were never giving up, never giving any at-bats away," Gonzalez said. "Its the perfect example of putting the ball in play." The error-prone Mets wouldnt let the Braves give up. Errors by reliever Jeurys Familia (1-3), centre fielder Juan Lagares and third baseman Eric Campbell in the eighth helped the Braves rally from a 3-1 deficit. "Weve got to catch the baseball better," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "We didnt catch the baseball tonight." Anthony Varvaro (3-1) pitched one scoreless inning to earn the victory. Craig Kimbrel recorded the final three outs for his 25th save. The Braves announced late in the game that catcher Evan Gattis will be placed on the 15-day disabled list after an MRI revealed a bulging thoracic disk in his back. Curtis Granderson had two hits, including a homer, for the Mets. Trailing 3-1, the Braves loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth against Familia. Following singles by Justin Upton and Jason Heyward, Chris Johnson hit a soft grounder to Familia, who threw low to shortstop Ruben Tejada at second base for an error on what could have been a double play. "I tried to be too quick throwing to the base," Familia said. "It was my fault. Its tough because you work for something and you have a chance to make the double play and you dont make it." Tommy La Stellas single up the middle drove in Upton, and Heyward scored the tying run when Lagares bobbled the ball in centre for another error. With one out, pinch-hitter Ryan Doumits walk loaded the bases again. Campbell, the Mets fill-in third baseman while David Wright sits with a bruised left rotator cuff, bobbled Andrelton Simmons grounder for the third error of the inning, allowing Johnson to score the go-ahead run. Dana Eveland replaced Familia and walked Freddie Freeman, pushing Atlantas lead to two runs. Gattis,, hitting .dddddddddddd.290 with 16 homers and 39 RBIs, missed his fourth straight game on Monday night with what had been called back spasms. He said he was told 95 per cent of similar bulging disks "kind of resolve themselves" without surgery. He said hell have an epidural as early as Tuesday. Rookie Christian Bethancourt, who made his first home start, and veteran Gerald Laird will be Atlantas primary catchers for at least two weeks. New Yorks Zack Wheeler was in position for the win before the Mets eighth-inning collapse. He gave up one run on four hits and five walks in 6 1-3 innings. The Braves were held without a hit until Heyward led off the fourth with a double. The Braves scored one run in the fifth. B.J. Upton, who hit a leadoff single and moved to third on Simmons single, scored on Freemans fly ball to left field. Atlantas Alex Wood allowed three runs on six hits in six innings. He gave up runs in each of the first three innings and then recorded 11 straight outs. Granderson opened the game with his 11th homer. It was his 26th career leadoff homer. Travis dArnauds double drove in Chris Young, who reached on a single, in the second. Youngs flyball drove in Daniel Murphy from third base in the third. Collins successfully challenged a ruling that B.J. Upton stole second base in the third inning. The safe call was overturned following the review, which lasted 1 minute, 15 seconds. Uptons slide easily beat the throw, but the replay showed he was tagged when he bounced off the bag at the end of his pop-up slide. Running from right field, Heyward made a sliding catch in foul territory on Tejadas fly ball to open the fifth. NOTES: Fans with tickets to Tuesday nights game can arrive early, with gates opening at 3:30 p.m., to see the U.S.-Belgium World Cup game on the video board. ... Collins said Wright will avoid the DL, but will remain in New York for rest and treatment during the Braves series. Collins hopes Wright is ready to play Friday when the Mets open a home series against Texas. ... RHP David Carpenter (strained right biceps) is expected to come off the 15-day DL on Wednesday. ... Braves LHP Mike Minor will face Mets RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka in Tuesday nights second game of the series. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '
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| gengm125 |
07.02.2015 - 08:40 |
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| wlpwlp |
06.12.2015 - 07:02 |
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| chenyan |
20.04.2016 - 04:29 |
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