2008 Screaming Asparagus

OFFENSE OBP .356 2nd Mix and Match in the infield with 11 infielders. Two Full time catchers hit lefties much better. First Round Pick Tony Pena will be playing first thanks to a bust out 46 HR season. Youkilis and Figgins OBP is near .390 as well as Palcido Polanco also had and OBP of .390 and was one of the most difficult guys to strike out, only striking out once every 20 PA. Magglio Ordenez had a huge year in a pitchers park. .363 BA and .434 OBP are gaudy numbers and the slugging may go up drasticly at Shea Stadium. Tough to predict how the lineup will shake out. We will attempt a rating none the less.
RATING 7

STARTING PITCHING ERA 4.08 11th AJ Burnett has a great R/9 and K/9 of 11.4 and 9.6 respectively. Brad Penny is decent but not great. Despite his era of 3.03 righties really hit him well. The interesting thing was despite only having a ground ball percentage of 52% and averaging only 4 k's per 9 innings he only allowed 9 HR's all year. Again he pitched in Dodger Stadium so we will see over the course of a year how he does at Shea Stadium. Patient lefties will own Chad Gaudin and Tom Glavine. If Milwood gets a start it doesn't matter if you are a lefty or a righty you are going to fatten up your numbers.
RATING 3

RELIEF PITCHING Kevin Cameron allowed a lot of base runners via the walk but he kept his numbers respectable by not allowing a HR in 50 innings. JC Romero is the first pitcher I have seen with more walks per inning than hits per inning so teams with great OBP will be problematic for this reliever. Russ Springer is the best reliever of the bunch with a r/9 under 9 and 1 k/ip and only 1 HR allowed per 22 ip. Oscar Villarreal is awful against lefties and Closer Chad Cordero is almost equally as bad against righties.
RATING 3

Catching Two full time catchers is nice to have but I would like to see a third catcher on the roster as catchers do get injured more often. Kenji Johjima has one of the Ex Catcher Throw ratings and is only one of three Full Time Ex ratings. No matter who is catching the obp is going to be under .325.
RATING 4.5

DEFENSE Fld% .986 4th Defense at catcher could be good or bad depending on if Estrada or Johjima is there. Feliz and Palanco are above average range wise and Palanco astonishingly had no errors in 141 games at second base. Who ever plays CF will be out of position and the corner outfielders will only be average at best.
RATING 4

MANAGMENT So far the father/son pair have been very organized and ready for their picks. All idications that they will be a great combo. We'll reserve real judgment until next season though. RATING 6