Baseball Offseason: Injuries, Injuries and More Injuries

From Brandon Webb to Jose Reyes (and Carlos Beltran) to Ben Sheets to lesser known guys like Russel Branyan and Cameron Maybin, injuries have certainly been the story of spring training so far this year. The most devastating injury of all will end up being the right elbow of Joe Nathan however. The Twins were favored by basically everyone on the planet to win the AL Central this year, including me, after winning it last year and then adding 2B Orlando Hudson and SS JJ Hardy and the potential bounce back of Francisco Liriano... but this injury changes everything.

Joe Nathan's statistics in a Twins uniform have been impressive, to say the least. The last six years he has posted a 1.87 ERA .934 WHIP 11.1 K/9 and averaged 41 saves/year. The only closer on Nathan's level over the past six years? Mariano Rivera (1.90 ERA .936 WHIP 8.7 K/9 40.5 saves/year) of course. Nathan's ability is, to put it simply, irreplaceable and the Twins are scattering likes cockroaches when the lights go on trying to find his replacement. Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Pat Neshek, Jose Mijares and Franciso Liriano have all been mentioned as possibly the new Twins closer but the only thing we really know at this point is that no one knows who it will end up being. My money would be that Gardenhire eventually choose Rauch to be his man just because he has the most experience and performed admirably last time he was closing (2.98 ERA 1.01 WHIP 17 SV for the Nationals in 2008). Closing in what will assuredly be a hotly contested AL Central is going to be a much different beast than closing for the low-pressure/low-expectation Nationals though.

Many publications had the ChiSox finishing second in the division but I just don't see it that way at all. Gordon Beckham was great last year and is an emerging star, but Alexei Ramirez was exceptionally inconsistent and spent most of the season in Ozzie's doghouse, Alex Rios was mediocre, Bobby Jenks is on the downslope of his career and won't finish the season as the closer and their lineup and pitching staff are just generally "blah". Lots of people are raving about Jake Peavy but let's have a quick sanity check people:

1. It was only three starts and they were against the Royals (1x) and a debatably-sober Tigers team (2x).
2. He is moving out of the NL into the Real Man's League and out of the vast confines of PETCO (dead last in park factor in 2009) into the much more snug U.S. Cellular (9th overall PF). Linky
3. People also seem to forget that Peavy doesn't even really want to play for the ChiSox. Ken Williams tried to trade for him multiple times midway through the 09 season and Peavy himself personally nixed the deal that was approved by both the Padres and ChiSox. Only after it became clear that no other team cared at all about the injury-plagued starter did Peavy finally reluctantly agree to waive his no-trade clause and go to the south side of Chicago.

... so shut the fuck up ChiSox fans/analysts. I am going to laugh at everyone when the White Sox finish 7+ games out of first.

I am unsure how exactly the Nathan injury will affect the final 2010 division standings, but one thing is definitely clear: the Tigers are a whole lot closer without the Twins closer (pun definitely intended).

Aside from injuries, most of the buzz coming out of spring training is about Braves RF Jason Heyward (who looks amazing and blasted one against the Tigers) and Stephen Strasburg. The Tigers got "lucky" enough to face both of these potential perennial All Stars on successive days and it appeared as though both deserve every bit of the hype. Heyward's performance in spring training is going to force the Braves to start him in RF Opening Day in Bobby Cox's last year with the team, but the Nationals are being more cautious with Strasburg (rightly so) and it seems unlikely that he will be called up before midway through the season. Other buzz around the league includes Marlins OF prospect Mike Stanton possibly making the Opening Day roster (helped by Maybin's injury), the continued drama of Dodgers owner Frank McCourt's messy, messy divorce, Giants SP prospect Madison Bumgarner getting blown the fuck up and Mauer's contract talks with the Twins (which is total non-news, he is re-signing with Minnesota guaransheed).

Only 24 days until Opening Day!