Boys of Summer

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It’s that time of the year once again. The fresh-cut grass, the roasted peanuts, the overpriced beer. Baseball season is upon us. Major League Baseball has actually already started the season with two games between Seattle and Oakland in Japan. The problem is, the league scheduled those games a full week before any other regular season games are played. In any case, the real season kicks off on Wednesday with the defending World Series champion St.Louis Cardinals taking on the new look Miami Marlins.

This winter brought about many interesting story-lines to watch for in the upcoming season.

1. The Ryan Braun Debacle: After winning the NL MVP just one season ago, will Ryan Braun be able to return to form, or will his suspension, which was ultimately overruled, throw him off his game?

2. City of Angels: Following a three-year run of AL West division titles for the LA Angels of Anaheim, Texas has taken over the division. The Rangers have won the pennant in back-to-back years and have gone to the World Series both times, only to fall short. The Angels have restocked their cupboards over the winter, having brought in highly-coveted first baseman Albert Pujols and viable ace C.J. Wilson. Pujols is fresh off his second title with the Cardinals, and if he can find his form in Southern California then the AL West title may return to the City of Angels.

3. Re-birth of the Marlins: The Marlins history has been a roller-coaster ride. After three years without success following their inaugural game in April of 1993, the Marlins spent heavily prior to the 1997 season, and followed it up by winning the franchise’s first World Series title. The Marlins then immediately dismantled the team for financial reasons and returned to their state of futility until returning to glory to win the 2003 World Series. It’s been nearly a decade since their last world championship, but hopes are high for the Marlins this year. They have a brand new stadium, a brand new name: the Miami Marlins, and an increased payroll featuring the likes of Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, and Mark Buehrle. Will the Commissioner’s Trophy be returning to South Beach? Only time will tell.

4. A Prince’s ransom: It took a lot longer than expected but the Prince Fielder sweepstakes finally came to an end in late January when the first baseman agreed to a 10-year, $214 million contract with the Detroit Tigers. With essentially ever other big-name free agent having already signed, many people speculated Fielder was demanding too much money and wouldn’t be able to get what he was after. Those rumors were laid to a rest when the Tigers made him one of the highest paid players in Major League Baseball. The question is, does he deserve to be one of the highest paid players? He has incredible power at the plate, there’s no denying it. Batting from the left side, Fielder has surpassed the 30-home run mark each of the past five seasons, having fallen just short with 28 the year before. His batting average is not likely to be one of the highest in the league, but it’s usually above average. Last season he hit .299 with the Brewers and he has a career average of .282. The big knock against Fielder would be his lack of productive outs. Last season’s 106 strikeouts was the least he had during a full season in the big leagues. He’s also never going to be a threat on the base paths. In any case, the 27-year-old should give a nice boost to the Tigers lineup, and may be what Detroit needs to push itself over the hump.

5. Extra Wild Card: The MLB Playoffs are about to get a whole lot more interesting, and winning your division will be a hell of a lot more important. The addition of an extra Wild Card team to each league, will result in a one-game playoff for the two Wild Card teams, with the winner advancing to the real playoffs. This means the extremely competitive AL East will be a source of real interest. It’s believable that any one of New York, Boston or Tampa Bay will win the division. However, that doesn’t mean they will finish 1-2-3 in the division, with the upstart Toronto Blue Jays ready to make a push. The Jays have made it no secret that making their way into that one-game playoff is the goal this season. Once they make it to that, anything can happen. With one of the Majors’ better offences, a revamped bullpen and a solid young rotation, the Jays may finally have what it takes to return to the post-season, and the addition of another Wild Card spot has opened up one more door for the team to possibly knock down.

No matter how things shake down between now and November, one thing is for sure. There will be many surprises along the way, and that’s why they play the games. Play ball!

The Ryan Braun Debacle

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Milwaukee Brewers Outfielder Ryan Braun

As a baseball fan you have to be conflicted with the Ryan Braun saga that continues to grab spring training headlines. After Major League Baseball’s first ever overturned suspension, where are you supposed to sit as a fan?

On one hand you have Braun, a 28 year-old star fresh off of a National League MVP season; who has done nothing but great things since being drafted to the league in 2005. With an impressive resume that also boasts NL Rookie of the year, 4 silver slugger awards, and 4 all-star appearances to go along with a god-like status that even Packers QB Aaron Rodgers can attest to, what’s not to like?

Let’s face it; fans of baseball are desperately hoping the new age of “clean” superstars can shed the recent pasts of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire and Roger Clemens. Certainly Braun looked like a god send to anyone around the sport known as “Americas Favourite Pastime.”

In the other corner you have Major League Baseball and Bud Selig who are equally desperate to turn the corner on what has been arguably the game’s darkest days.  Sure you have the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, but I’m pretty sure the “Steroids Era” takes the cake. MLB  has claimed to put out all the stops to stop players from using performance enhancing drugs, only to see its brightest star test positive… and no Manny Ramirez is not the brightest star.

Then you have that drug test failure that rocked baseball fans this winter. Baseball fans gave a collective sigh of “here we go again.” I mean can baseball fans be more apathetic to fact that more than half of the best players of late have cheated? That’s material for another column I won’t get into.

“I would bet my life that this substance never entered my body at any time,” said Braun said after winning his appeal. He added, “The Truth is on my side and ultimately that is why I prevailed.”

Ultimately Braun got off on a technicality, there is really is no scientific proof that he did not fail the drug test. Science says that even if the collector who made the fatal error of not sending the sample to the Montreal lab on the day of test, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Braun tested positive for excessive amounts of Testosterone in his body.

As a fan you really have to sit back and scratch your head. Why on earth would Braun use performance enhancing drugs now? The guy has already passed multiple drug tests over the years. MLB is obviously very touchy with the steroids era close in the rear-view mirror. It just seems stupid and unnecessary.

Looking at the facts it’s simple though, he tested positive, got off an unbelievable stroke of good luck and now he’s back for the start of the 2012 MLB season.

What’s harder to believe? That Ryan Braun took performance enhancing drugs? Or that he luckily got off on such a silly mistake that would rival a Harry Dunn and Lloyd Christmas scheme.

As a baseball fan you want to believe Braun. Either way his legacy is tainted, despite the outcome of the appeal. To me, that’s the saddest part.

 

 

The Kassian Project

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Zack Kassian of the Vancouver Canucks

Trade Deadline Day 2012 will be a day that Canucks fans will look back at for years to come. Fan favourite Cody Hodgson was shipped out to Buffalo along with Alex Sulzer. In exchange the Canucks brought in power foward in the making Zack Kassian and defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani.

Tonight Canucks fans got their first glimpse at the man that was brought in to provide size and toughness to a lineup seriously lacking in both departments. On just his first shift of the game against the Coyotes, Kassian gave the Vancouver faithful a glimpse at what was to come as he used his 6’3″, 214 lbs frame to knock Taylor Pyatt off the puck and then keep it away from him.

Kassian’s first game was one of the better debuts for a Canuck that I can remember, certainly better than when Felix Potvin surrendered a goal on the first shot he faced with the team. The 21-year-old threw five hits, had one shot on goal, and two penalty minutes in his Canuck debut. Not the flashiest game in the world, but he did what he was brought in to do, and gave Canucks fans hope that their team would be much tougher to push around come playoff time.

Perhaps the best indication of the type of player the Canucks are getting came in the second period when Kassian joined the Sedins for a shift. He got the puck to Henrik Sedin and then immediately drove to the net for a return pass, which he got, but Mike Smith was able to slide across and deny him his first goal with his new team. In any case, seeing Kassian know to get the puck to a guy like Henrik and then go straight to the front of the net was terrific. Granted it’s only been one game, and there’s no guarantee everything will work out, but if one game is any indication than the Canucks got exactly what they were after.

Taking a step back to the day the trade was made. People all across Vancouver were outraged with the deal. Now don’t get me wrong, I think Cody Hodgson has a long and bright career in the NHL, and he may start racking up the points in Buffalo with an expected increase in ice time. The problem is, there was simply no room for Hodgson to grow in Vancouver. The top two centre positions are locked up for years to come and Hodgson simply looked out of place when he was tried on the wing. This is the type of deal that’s tough to make, but had to be done.

No matter how you look at the trade now, the real winner can’t be decided for another 5-10 years, seeing as how the main two pieces are 22 and 21 years old respectively, with Hodgson being the elder. For now, let’s just call it a deal that had to be done and move on.