The World Series, Melky Cabrera, and Other Thoughts

I'm not sure how much I have to add to this discussion, but Dan Szymborski has an interesting article up over at ESPN (insider) today. He covers most of the arguments, but his basic point is that Melky Cabrera is again eligible to play baseball, and the Giants are still not using him in the World Series, despite keeping players like Aubrey Huff, Gregor Blanco, and Joaquin Arias on the roster.

Carlos Beltran and the Postseason

Like I said last time, I'm not going to be drawing any major conclusions from the playoff games. I would assume MLB feels like they dodged a bullet with the Cardinals' loss tonight. Can you imagine the stares the World Series would have gotten if it had consisted of the second Wild Card and fifth-best team (record-wise) in the NL faced off with the seventh-best (yet still division-winning) team in the AL? Instead, we get at least one 90-win team. So I suppose they lucked out there.

Stray Thoughts and Random Renderings of the 2012 Postseason (So Far)

Although the playoffs have been exciting so far, I’m going to refrain from commenting on the games. I get excited for the games, but they don’t usually leave me with a lot to say. I’m not the type of person who forms strong reactionary opinions after one game; weird things can just happen in baseball. Sometimes your 50-save closer blows a lead in the ninth. Sometimes your team comes back from six down. It happens.

But I do have some various stray thoughts, and I feel like collecting them. So check back for shorter reflections.

2012 Baseball Bloggers Alliance Awards Ballot

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance deadline for voting in the 2012 Awards is today. So, I'm going to post my ballot today to get the vote in, then explain my reasoning later in the season.

I've been busy lately, so I would just like to take this time to say: Go Orioles and Cardinals!*

A First Look at the 2012 NL MVP Vote

With the Baseball Bloggers Alliance award voting coming up, I’ve been trying to determine how I should vote. The NL Most Valuable Player looks like it’ll be a fun debate for this Awards season. I would even say the most fun; the AL MVP is hogging all the attention, with Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera. The AL race is just people shouting at each other, with neither side moving; what should count more, the Triple Crown, or pitching, defense, and accounting for home park? Each side has their opinions, and neither is really budging at this point.

The NL race is an actual, honest-to-goodness debate. You know, with multiple sides and ambiguity and all that jazz. So, before I post my official ballot (by Friday), I figured I would look at who I consider the top six candidates.

Is Adam Wainwright the Cardinals' Ace Again?

The Cardinals find themselves in need of an ace for a one-game playoff at week’s end for the most important game of the season (so far, of course; fingers crossed). This of course brings the question: who is the ace of the staff? Who can Mike Matheny turn to in a must-win scenario?

Really, the Cardinals have a nice rotation in that every starter is at least above average. Most teams would be thrilled with a top four of Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse, Lance Lynn, and Jaime Garcia.* While that’s good for a full series, though, it’s less good for the coin-flip match that St. Louis will now have to go through.