Hot Stove League....Rockies Favored
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook A-Rod, Bonds Highlight Offseason
This promises to be an interesting offseason once the World Series is over and players have to make decisions on entering free agency. Alex Rodriguez is more than likely going to leave the Yankees for greener pastures meaning he may sign for the most money he can get. Can't see him signing with the Rays even if they offer him the most money...he has been there and done that with the Rangers. He is more likely to look for the most money from a contending team. Yankees are tired of his annual October fade and doubt they will resign a player who does nothing in the playoffs after having great seasons. Balco Bonds apparently is rid of his legal problems since nothing seems to be happening on that front in his perjury and tax evasion charges. Only thing that may spur prosecutors is the admission of guilt by sprinter Marion Jones that she did take illegal substances to enhance her performance in the Olympics. It still remains to be seen if the prosecutors have the smoking gun that guarantees them that Bonds will have to go to trial. Bonds will play next year if for no other reason than to get 3000 hits since he needs only 65 hits to reach that mark and he needs only 4 RBI's to reach 2000 RBI's. I will be very suprised if he signs with a NL team but if no AL team signs him he may be forced to play for a NL team again. Diamondbacks-Rockies
Rockies need to defeat Brandon Webb today or else they will be one game down and starting a 4 game winner in Ulvaldo Jiminez against 13 game winner Doug Davis in Game Two tomorrow.
Rockies clearly have a better offensive team having five players with over 90 RBI's while Diamondbacks have none with Eric Byrnes leading them with 83 RBI's which is 54 less RBI's than Matt Holliday. During the season the Rockies outhit the Diamondbacks .280 to .250. Rockies outscored them 860-712....Surprisingly the two teams both hit 171 home runs in 2007. Rockies are more patient hitters drawing 622 walks to the 532 of the Diamondbacks.
In pitching the Diamondbacks had a 4.13 ERA to a 4.32 by the Rockies....Diamondbacks had 51 saves compared to 39 by the Rockies....Rockies had 29 blown saves almost twice as many as Diamondbacks who had 15.
Rockies fielders had the highest fielding percentage in the majors with a .989 percentage compared to Diamondbacks being ranked 18th in majors with a .983 percentage....Rockes committed only 68 errors leading the majors while Diamondbacks made 106 errors which was 10th worst in the majors.
It looks like the Rockies have the edge in hitting and fielding and the Diamondbacks have the edge in pitching. With the Rockies firepower and their No.1 defense in the majors I pick the Rockies to win because if the Diamondbacks pitchers can't quiet the bats of the Rockies they won't have what it takes to win the LCS in the NL.
