Column--7/23/13 (Re-Predictions)

            The first half of the Red Sox season was filled with excitement with multiple walk-off homers, lots of exciting one-run games, and 58 wins (before the All-Star break).

            My predictions going into opening day were some of the worst I have ever made.  I predicted that the Blue Jays would win the American League east division.  The Jays are currently 13.5 games out of first place and struggling to find light at the end of the tunnel at the moment.  This year is turning out to be one of those years where you can make your predictions and the division turns out to end up completely the other way around.   So with all that said, it’s time for me to re-assess my 2013 MLB predictions.

            I’m going to pick the Rays to win the division this year.  If pitchers David Price, Matt Moore, and Jeremy Hellickson continue having the years that they are, the Rays will come out on top. The only thing that scares me about the Rays from here on out is the lack of power in the middle of that lineup.  They don’t have the pop that Baltimore does.  That will make for a very hot race towards October.

I think that the Red Sox will end up with the wild card and face the Oakland A’s in the wild card playoff game.  Sports Illustrated predicts that the Red Sox will go down against the A’s, but SI is known for its bad predictions.  I think that the Sox will get by Oakland in the wild card round and once it’s playoff time in October (or Soxtober if you will), anything can happen. 

            Behind the Sox in the AL East I’m going to take the Baltimore Orioles.  The Birds have the bullpen depth to get through the season.  Many doubted that they were the real deal after they won so many one-run games last year but they seemed to prove themselves this year.  I expected them to fall back this season, but they are still very much in the race for first place in the east.  The Orioles have to step it up in the second half and if they do, watch out.

            Behind the Orioles I put the New York Yankees.  The Yanks finally got what they were asking for by signing big name players in their prime.  Texeria is down, A-rod may be done for the year, Jeter has suffered many setbacks, Granderson is still out, Jason Nix, Davis Phelps, Kevis Youkilis, and the list goes on.  I don’t think that the Yankees will end up being in contention once October rolls around.

            The big question so far this year is why is a team that everyone predicted to finish in last place – the Red Sox -- leading the division right now? 

The answer is the depth that they have in their system.  Look at the situation right now with starting third baseman Will Middlebrooks. Middlebrooks stopped hitting well and they had three guys knocking on the door as soon as he went down.  Xander Bogarts appears right now to be one of the top prospects in Major League Baseball.  He is tearing things up in triple-A, hitting .252 with 23 RBIs.  The Sox also have Brock Holt and Brandon Snyder to fill in at third.  That’s the kind of depth that wins games because not everyone is going to be healthy all year long. 

The one place where the Red Sox might be lacking depth is out in the bullpen.  The middle relief could definitely use another arm.  They got Matt Thornton from Chicago which I think is a good move, but they still don’t have enough out there.  Now that Koji Uehara is the closer, they don’t have him as a middle reliever. 

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching on July 31^st, I would expect the Red Sox to make some sort of move regarding a pitching addition.  Much has been made of a possible trade to get all-star pitcher Cliff Lee from the Phillies or Matt Garza from the Cubs.  If Theo Epstein and the Cubs are are asking a lot for Garza, than I wouldn’t make that move.  Cliff Lee, however, I can get excited about.  I don’t think that it would be a good idea to give up a top prospect to get him but he can be a huge addition for the Red Sox going down the stretch.

            I’ll also point out that I wasn’t the only one whose predictions ended up being a flop.  Sports Illustrated had the division completely upside down, and had to reassess their predictions as well.  I may not be 100% on how I predict the division but one thing is for sure, it will be a hot race this year in the AL East.

Follow Jasper Goodman on twitter:  @Jasper_Goodman

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www.goodmansports.blogspot.com

Column--7/9/13 (Jim Kaat)

Sitting in first place in the NECBL, the Mountaineers know a thing or two about winning.  But one part-time Vermont resident who also knows a thing or two about winning is Jim Kaat.  He was in attendance at Recreation Field on Sunday for the Mountaineers 5-3 loss to the Saratoga Brigade.  I had a chance to talk to Kaat for a good while before the game while the team was taking batting practice.

Kaat spent 25 years in Major League Baseball playing for five different teams.  He was a three-time all-star, World Series champion, and a 16-time Gold Glove award winner. After his playing career, Kaat stayed in the game of baseball and moved upstairs to the broadcast booth where he spent the next 22 years calling games for the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins.

After the 2006 season, Kaat thought that he was done.  But he just couldn't stay away from the ballpark.  Kaat than went to MLB Network to call some of the World Baseball Classic.  Red Sox fans also may recognize Kaat from the brief stint that he spent at NESN as the substitute for Jerry Remy while he was battling cancer a few years ago.  Kaat is currently back with MLB Network calling select games throughout the season.

Pitching for 25 years is an amazing feat, and it's a question in my mind if a pitcher today would be able to do that.  Part of his secret is that his only focus as an athlete was on baseball.  "My body was able to develop quicker than a lot of today's players because they play a number of different sports," said Kaat.

Kaat clearly enjoys himself in the broadcast booth--of course who wouldn't if you're working with broadcasting legend Bob Costas--but he says,  "I'd rather be on the field (than broadcasting) but I understand that those days come to an end.”

For many, the transition from the field to broadcasting is bumpy, but for Kaat that wasn't the case.  "That (transition) was easy for me because I always liked to pay attention to what was going on on the field."

Kaat’s love for baseball started long before his playing days. "My dad was a very avid baseball fan and I grew up learning baseball history."

So many must be wondering how a Hall of Fame hopeful found himself at Recreation Field on Sunday.  As it turns out, Kaat is a friend of  a friend of long time Mountaineers GM Brian Gallagher.  Gallagher arranged for Kaat to attend a Mountaineers last year.  Kaat enjoyed himself so much that he decided to come back this year.  

Prior to this Sunday’s game, Kaat had a long talk with the team, watched the team take batting practice, and also brought his broadcasting talents to the press box at Recreation Field, calling two innings of the game with the voice of the Mountaineers, Joe Hutter.

During Kaat's talk with the team he provided helpful insight on different parts of the game and what it is like through the grueling years of the minor leagues.
There has been many a change over the past few years to what happens to pitchers once they get their pitch counts go over their limits.

"I don't like it. I understand that it is the way that they do things today but I really don't know what kind of database they have for saying if a pitcher throws over 100 pitches, he's subject to hurting his arm.”

Like many residents in Central Vermont, Kaat understands the importance of teams like the Mountaineers in the community.  "It's such an advantage for kids now.  When I was in college we only played 12 games.  We didn't get near the game experience, the coaching, and the level of competition. If they do have the kind of talent to play professionally, it's leagues like this that kind of speed up their progress."

             I hope that players and fans across baseball and across the country, from the streets of New York City, to Montpelier, Vermont enjoy Kaat’s commentary and insight for many more decades to come.

Follow Jasper Goodman on twitter:  @Jasper_Goodman

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Column--6/11/13 (Joe Brown)

Joe Brown has been coaching baseball for more than 20 years.  This year, Coach Brown is taking on a new challenge here in central Vermont.

            After two seasons with the Sanford Mainers, Brown has found himself back in the New England Collegiate Baseball League managing the Mountaineers.

            “I’m exited to have him aboard,” said lefty pitcher Nick Naradowy.  “He brings a very positives attitude to the team.”

            Aside from coaching in the NECBL, Brown is the head coach at SUNY Cortland.  Brown has led Cortland to a combined 479-131-3 with 13 NCAA Div. III tournament appearances.  In 20012 Brown had lots of success leading the Red Dragons to a 41-9-1 record with a SUNYAC title.

            Brown has been successful in the NECBL as well.  He won a championship in Sanford.  Sanford actually lost to Vermont in the semi-finals as well when Brown was coaching there.

            Perhaps the most impressive fact about Brown, however, is that his .781 winning percentage (prior to the 2012 season) was the best of any active coach nationally (NCAA Div. I, II or III) with at least 10 years experience, and the third-best all-time among all Div. III coaches with 10 years as a head coach.

            Brown has been successful in the NECBL as well.  He won a championship in Sanford.  Sanford actually lost to Vermont in the semi-finals as well when Brown was coaching there.

“That tells you that I have been in the same place for a long time,” said Brown. “Coaches get way to much credit and way to much criticism in all sports.”

Brown comes off as one of the most humble managers that I have ever met.  He doesn’t credit his incredible winning percentage to himself, but GM Brian Gallagher says that his high winning percentage is because of the work that Brown puts in on a day-to-day basis. 

            After Brown finished his two years in Sanford, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to come back to the NECBL once he received the call from Gallagher.  But once Brown had time to make up his mind he decided to come to Vermont for the 2013 season.  “It’s a unique opportunity,” said Brown, who was afraid that the new job might take away from his recruiting and other jobs at Cortland. “Being a head coach, I didn’t know if I could or should take the job,” said Brown.

But the decision for The Mountaineers to bring in brown wasn’t so hard.  “He’s a really high caliber coach,” said Gallagher. “He was really the guy we wanted.”  And according to Gallagher, Brown has come through so far just fine.  He told me that “(Brown) has been a great coach so far.”

            Brown’s love for the game of baseball began long before his coaching days.  He grew up in Maine and then graduated from Ithaca College in New York.  He played baseball there.  “I wasn’t the best player on my team by any stretch of the imagination, which meant that I had to work hard.” Said Brown.  Working hard is exactly what he did and after graduation from Ithaca with a degree in Science and Physical Education, Brown’s playing days were over but he moved right on to coaching.

            A few years went by and Brown had made his mark in college baseball.  He then, in 2006, was inducted into the Canandaigua Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.  After that, Brown stayed in the game as a coach and had moved up to become a head coach.  Currently, Brown has finished his 16^th year as a coach in college baseball.

            Another interesting thing about Brown is that he always brings in former players of his as his assistant coaches. “They are guys that know me. They know what I expect of them,” Brown told me after I asked him about the decision to bring back his former players as coaches.  This time Brown brought in Justin Fredenburg Travis Ratliff.

            As for his coaching personality, just as LHP Naradowy put it,  He is very positive.  That style works well for GM Brian Gallagher.  “(Joe’s positive attitude is) big. Every team go team goes through losing steaks but it’s the one’s who have trust in eachother who get through those streaks.”

            Joe Brown and the Mountaineers picked up their first win on Sunday over the Saratoga Brigade.  They are back in action today trying to get their revenge from the North Adams Steeplecats who blew them out on opening day 8-0 in five innings.

Follow Jasper Goodman on twitter:  @Jasper_Goodman

Check out Jasper’s blog:

www.goodmansports.blogspot.com