Looking at the Joe Nathan Situation

Who would have thought that Joe Mauer reaching an agreement for a contract extension would play second fiddle to another headline in the world of Minnesota sports?

Unfortunately for Minnesotans (but fortunately for the rest of America), that headline does not involve Brett Favre. Instead, the big story is that the Twins' All-Star closer, Joe Nathan, will miss the entirety of the 2010 season and undergo Tommy John surgery.

Will losing Nathan for the season kill the Twins' season? No (yes, I did overreact in a previous post). Why is that? Because in reality the idea of having a lockdown closer during the regular season is slightly overblown. Is it nice to hand the ball off to a Nathan, or a Papelbon or a Rivera in the ninth inning 65+ times a year? Absolutely. But do you need one of those players to enjoy success in the regular season? Absolutely not.

Look at the Phillies last season, they managed to win the NL East and make it to the World Series despite their closer Brad Lidge having those recurring nightmares of a certain Albert Pujols' home run haunting him for an entire season again. Despite Lidge blowing 11 saves, the Phillies won 93 games.

The fact of the matter is, as long as you throw a capable reliever into a closer role, he will succeed more often than not.

The Twins' certain have a group of "capable" relievers in Jon Rauch, Jesse Crain, Jose Mijares and Matt Guerrier and there have already been reports saying that the Twins are scouting San Diego Padres closer, Heath Bell.

Regardless, even without Nathan, the Twins still have the most talented overall roster in the AL Central. Their lineup easily trumps the White Sox, unless you think this is really the year that Alex Rios puts it all together (joke). The White Sox just don't have the type off lineup that will scare opposing teams (but I'll save that analysis for later).

So have heart Twins' fans, Joe Mauer just resigned and the team's 2010 outlook is still bright and just remember one thing, at least you aren't Pirates fans.

We'll return to our regularly scheduled programming...

Next week. Catching up on some things as well as a little game called Final Fantasy XIII has led to a nearly month long drought for me, but the (now) 14 team, American League marathon will continue next week.

The New York Mess

I just recently commented on an Atlanta Braves blog regarding the NL East and figured it would start a good discussion.  The blogger believed the the NL East standings would read:

Philadelphia
Atlanta
Florida
New York
Washington

I'll begin by openly admitting that I'm a New York Mets fan.  I believe I'm the only writer on FUNK who is so this should cause a nice debate.  Anyway, it's hard to even argue that this may very well be the standings come season's end. Both the Braves and the Marlins are much better than I think a lot of people realize and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see them compete for the wild card or even division throughout the year. The confusion I have with everyones dislike for the Mets chances is that if you really look into it, where is it coming from? Even after the two collapse seasons of '07 and '08, the Mets were predicted to win the division in '09. The team in '09 (I believe at least) was better on paper than both the '07 and '08 teams. This year's Mets team has added Jason Bay. Now, aside from injuries which obviously killed the Mets in 2009, why can't this team be any good? They haven't had a great rotation since I can even remember. Why is this 2010 rotation suddenly the worst rotation baseball fans have ever seen? If Beltran can return in May at 100% and Reyes doesn't miss more than 2 weeks, then how is a team with Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Bay not competing?  Francisco Rodriguez did not go from a premier closer to nothing over the course of one season.  Sure there are plenty of question marks, but aside from the Yankees and Phillies, those are everywhere.  Before Beltran's backwards K in the 2006 playoffs against the Cardinals, the Mets were considered by some to be World Series favorites.  That continued for the next two seasons.  The team had one year riddled by injury and suddenly they're one of the worst franchises in Major League Baseball.  It may very well be wishful thinking, but the Mets could surprise us all.

THE NL WEST

Since 2003 every team in the NL West has won the division title except for one, and that one team has been to a Division and World Series two of the last three years by way of the Wildcard. So my odds for predicting in March how the division will look in October/November are about as good as Manny Ramirez legitimately passing a drug test, but I will make an attempt nonetheless.
The 2009-2010 season was extremely competitive at the top with the Dodgers, Rockies and Giants. The Padres made a stong push at the tail end of the season and the Diamondbacks when healthy, may boast the best pitching staff in the division. However I think this season may be more of the same leaving the 2011-2012 season for the young Pads and oft injured Dbacks to put themselves in serious contention. This lets the Dodgers, Giants and Rockies battle for the division crown. With that being said, no team this offseason has done anything to clearly seperate themselves from the pack. Which is why I believe this division is as up for grabs as any in baseball. I mean this is a division where the big free agent pickups were Edwin Jackson, Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora, Jon Garland, and Garrett Anderson. Yes you read that right....hardly household names to say the least. The average baseball fan may not even know these players exist, but with the likes of Manny Ramirez and Matt Kemp, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki, Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell, Brandon Webb and Dan Haren the division does maintain some star power. So as it stands today, I have no choice but to unveil my projection of the how the division will play out:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

2. San Francisco Giants

3. Colorado Rockies

4. San Diego Padres

5. Arizona Diamondbacks

All five in depth team previews to follow.......

On The Twins..

At first glace, I was going to agree.  Having said that, Rauch is a solid replacement.  I'm not sure if Nathan costs them 10-15 games, but it's obviously a possibility.  As was said, the Twins do always find a way win, the same way Cleveland seems to always find a way to lose.  This should definitely be an interesting year for the Twins in a highly competitive division.

Update to Twins' Prediction

Well with the news that Joe Nathan might he heading towards Tommy John surgery, I'd have to say its time to shave about 10-15 wins off my predicted Twins' record. Then again, they always do find a way...

FUNK Fantasy Baseball Has Arrived!

As fantasy baseball is as big as ever, FUNK Sports has added fantasy baseball into its family.  The link will be up on the right.  In the meantime, go here:  FUNK Fantasy Baseball