Thursday, September 17, 2015

SEASON 27 POWER RANKINGS

Robert E. McCabe Magazine Power Rankings

McCabe Magazine Power Rankings


Cincinnati, OH (McC) - The power rankings are an average of the following team statistics; Winning Percentage, OPS, Runs Scored, ERA, WHIP, and Fielding Percentage. 

TOP 10
RANK TEAM OWNER WIN LOST
1 Minnesota Twins optistrat 31 19
2 Washington D.C. Nationals Saffron 33 17
3 Toronto Blue Jays dimestoregin 30 20
4 San Diego Padres jgarron 31 19
5 Anaheim Angels captain10a 29 21
6 Houston Astros runnrun 29 21
7 Chicago White Sox kgrffth 32 18
8 Los Angeles Dodgers Arte 31 19
9 Chicago Cubs carseneau 25 25
10 Cleveland Indians Fantasy Frea 30 20
THE NEXT 5
RANK TEAM OWNER WIN LOST
11 Detroit Tigers patrickkm 27 23
12 Atlanta Braves bigsammich 26 24
13 San Francisco Giants wylie715 28 22
14 Rochester Broncos coinguy 31 19
15 Florida Marlins lido9613 27 23
THE BEST of THE REST
RANK TEAM OWNER WIN LOST
16 Colorado Rockies axtell 30 20
17 Pittsburgh Pirates sportbanker 27 23
18 Cincinnati Reds cpintens 21 29
19 Texas Rangers goldenbaer88 24 26
20 Oakland Athletics jefepwnzer 27 23

News and Notes

Congratulations to Jose Colon (1B/DH), of the Los Angeles Dodgers for becoming the newest member of the Major League Home Run  500 club, and retired Los Angeles Dodgers career minor leaguer Hector Crespo (LF/1B/DH) for collecting 3,000 hits during his 24 year minor league career. 

Jose Colon
Los Angeles
Dodgers
Age: 31B/T: L/L
Born: Chiriqui, PA
Position(s): 1B/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


On September 9, 2015 Jose Colon came to the plate in the bottom of the 6th inning down 2-1 to the Minnesota Twins, facing one of the best pitchers in baseball, Juan Azocar (all-time 2.88 ERA, 10 seasons) and with one swing of the bat and 410 feet later, Colon hit his 500 Home Run to straight away centerfield. The Dodgers went on to win the game and Colon became the newest member of the 500 club.  

Colon was a Dodger International Free Agent signee in season 14 out of Chiriquí, Panama. The amazing thing about Colon is he only spent one (1) full season in the minors before being promoted to the majors. Assigned to the AA club in season 14 where he played 15 games, and 122 games in season 15. He started season 16 at AA, and after playing only 3 games he was promoted to the majors. That season he cranked out 43 Home Runs and 119 RBIs. And that performance has continued throughout his career, our only question is how many will he finish with once he decides to hang them up.     


Hector Crespo
none
none
Age: 42B/T: L/L
Born: Villa Gonzalez, DO
Position(s): LF/1B/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Hector Crespo, an international signee in season 3 from Villa Gonzalez, Dominican Republic, a career minor leaguer, hangs his spikes up with over 3,000 hits. Crespo has never made a big league roster and has spent his entire 24-year career in the Dodgers organization. Other remarkable stats this 42 year-old Leftfielder has accumulated, 2,739 games played, 10,605 AB, 1,184 RBI, and 477 SB. Crespo is presently working out on his farm in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He’s hoping to get a tryout with one of the winter league clubs. Our sources tell us there is little interest in his services as a player, however, he does has several offers to coach and a few to do Television and Radio in Latin American. We look for Crespo to join the Dodgers organization in some capacity next season.      

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

SEASON 27 PREDICTIONS

ASTROS WIN S27 WORLD SERIES

HOUSTON ASTROS knockoff CINCINNATI REDS 4-3

Quinton Bryne Leads the Astros to Back to Back World Championships

Detroit, MICH (McC.COM) - Spring training is over and the season is ready to begin. That means it’s time to release the McCabe Magazines season 27 preview and postseason award winners. As in years past we have enlisted the assistance of all 32 beat writers in each major league city, a panel of club front office personnel, major league baseball players association, and of course longtime contributor Tony “the Rock” Gambino, to help us complete this year’s forecast.  

Meet the Rock 

Before we get started we would like to acknowledge those readers who flooded our offices with letters, emails, and tweets, regarding the true identity of Tony “the Rock”. It has been learned and confirmed that Tony is not a Las Vegas insider or a point spread legend in Nevada as noted in the Sportsbook section of the McCabe Magazine. He is actually Anthony Rogers a 42 year-old customer service employee at PetSmart in South Williamsport, PA., site of the Little League World Series (LLWS), where he lives with his mom and dad, and his pet yokie, Duke. In Williamsport, Tony has also worked the LLWS concessions for 24 consecutive years and according to Tony, in 2014 he was asked by Mo’ne Davis, female pitcher from Philadelphia, to help her with some pitches. So before her first LLWS game Tony met her and taught her the proper way to throw the curveball, the slider, and fastball. Davis went on to pitch a 3 hit 8-0 shutout over the Newark Nationals of Delaware, and the rest as they say is history. So I hope this is a lesson to all of those readers sending hateful emails and letters about someone you really don’t know anything about. Take your time to get to know someone before you burn them at the stake. As senior editor I would like to thank Tony for sharing this story. Tony is a Great American, his gifts to the sports world and society is beyond anything we can imagine, and we are glad to have him as a part of the McCabe Magazine staff.

The World Series Champions

Now let’s get down to business, our panel of experts have selected the Houston Astros as our season 27 Worlds Series Champions. We have them beating the Cincinnati Reds in a 7 game series and winning 100+ games for the second time in team history. This is quite a turnaround for an organization that hadn’t won 100, in fact had actually lost 100 games 5 times in team history. Our National League Pennant winner will be the Cincinnati Reds who also won 100 games last year and was the NL number one seed going into the postseason. The Reds visions of a world championship was derailed by the most dominating National League major league team we here at McCabe have ever laid eyes on, the San Diego Padres. Many here wanted the Padres a 5 time world champion, and 9 times Pennant winner to be our selection. However, after much debate we decided to go with the young suds from the Ohio valley.

American League Pennant Winner and Playoff Teams

Leading the way for the Astros is our season 27 MVP Quinton Bryne. He banged out 37 Homers and 106 RBIs last year and we look for him to do the same to opposing pitchers this season. Bryne is not alone when it comes to giving the opponents nightmares, the rest of the hit squad consist of Blake Henson (38 HR, 100 RBI),  Richie Brush (36 HR, 109 RBI), Alex Salas (31 HR, 98 RBI), and Magglio Palacios (24 HR, 113 RBI, 319 BA). We think this lineup can threaten the All-Time Run scoring record of 1103 runs set by the season 2 Boston Red Sox, which was led by Hall of Famer Placido Ortiz. The best pitchers on the staff is Al Oliva (17-5, 2.75 ERA) and Tito Bang (15-8, 3.63 ERA), but make no mistake, it’s the offense that will fetch this organization the Robert E. McCabe Major League Season 27 Baseball Trophy.

The division winners will be the Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, and the Anaheim Angels. The wildcard teams are the Minnesota Twins, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

National League Pennant Winner and Playoff Teams

The season 26 Reds won a National League high 101 games. Even though the current version has lost a ton of talent from last year, we feel they will continue to shake up the hierarchy in the National League. Reds Centerfielder Charley Reynolds (30 HR, 98 RBI, 327 BA, 1.003 OPS) is a 4 year starter and a 4-time National League All-Star. This 24 year-old future MVP is the straw that stirs the drink. His running mate is Kris Guerrero (32 HR, 102 RBI) an Iron horse, playing 161 games in seasons 23 and 24, 162 in S25, and 159 last season. In his 8 ML seasons Guerrero has averaged 30.8 Home Runs and 110.2 RBIs. The Ace on the pitching staff is Carlos DeRojas (11-5, 6 CG) and along with number 2 starter Ezequiel Mendoza this should be a solid rotation. There are more than a few problems we can see with this club 1) DeRojas has spent some time on the DL with shoulder and elbow problems, 2) Mendoza has 62 appearances at the major league level and of that 62 only 14 as a starter, and 3) The loss of major league talent. The biggest lost via Free-Agency was   Victor Brown (42 HR, 127 RBI) who signed a 5-year $53.0 M deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Other key loses;  John Dorsey (20 HR, 70 RBI) released during the offseason and signed by the San Diego Padres,  Alan Drese (25 HR), traded to Toronto, Mack Crosby (24 HR, 70 RBI, 292 BA) traded to Texas Rangers, and Anibal Frieri (305 BA) released and signed by the New York Mets.

The division winners will be the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Richmond Virginians, and the San Diego Padres. The wildcard teams will be Atlanta Braves, and the Cleveland Indians. 

After reading our own review several writers and upper management folks wanted to change our choice of the Reds to the Padres, however Tony “the Rock” convinced the staff that this was the correct choice.  
  
McCabe Magazine S27 MVP

Quinton Bryne
Houston
Astros
Age: 32B/T: R/R
Born: Robstown, TX
Position(s): 2B/CIF/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


McCabe Magazine S27 Cy Young Award Winner

Asdrubal Pelaez
San Diego
Padres
Age: 34B/T: R/R
Born: Ciudad Bolivar, VE
Position(s): P (SP1)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

McCabe Magazine S27 Rookie of the Year

Sammy Benoit
Chicago
White Sox
Age: 23B/T: S/L
Born: Sitka, AK
Position(s): CF/1B/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

McCabe Magazine S27 Fireman of the Year

Yunesky Saez
Cleveland
Indians
Age: 29B/T: R/R
Born: Bani, DO
Position(s): P (ClA)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile



Season 27 Predictions 

AL North W L NL North W L
Toronto Blue Jays 100 62 Cincinnati Reds 97 65
Minnesota Twins 97 65 Cleveland Indians 90 72
Chicago White Sox 92 70 Chicago Cubs 71 91
Milwaukee Brewers 71 91 Detroit Tigers 68 94
AL East W L NL East W L
Washington Nationals 93 69 Pittsburgh Pirates 95 67
New York Yankees 90 72 Rochester Broncos 89 73
Baltimore Orioles 72 90 Philadelphia Phillies 79 83
Boston Red Sox 68 94 New York Mets 73 89
AL South W L NL South W L
Houston Astros 112 50 Richmond Virginians 94 68
Texas Rangers 85 77 Atlanta Braves 91 71
St. Louis Cardinals 69 73 Florida Marlins 85 77
Kansas City Royals 65 97 Tampa Bay Rays 64 98
AL West W L NL West W L
Anaheim Angels 101 61 San Diego Padres 102 60
Los Angeles Dodgers 99 63 Colorado Rockies 83 79
Oakland Athletics 82 80 Arizona Diamondbacks 74 88
San Francisco Giants 70 92 Seattle Mariners 67 95