Possibly the most anticipated debut of this 2012 MLB season happened when Yoenis Cespedes stepped to the plate for his first time while wearing a MLB uniform in the opening series of the 2012 MLB season. The game and the rest of the series will be played in the Toyko Dome in Toyko, Japan.

 

Yoenis Cespedes was born on October 18^th of 1985 in  Campechuela, Cuba. Yoenis Cespedes posted a .333 batting average in the Cuban National League last season. Cespedes also had 33 homeruns and 99 RBI’s in the 90 game season.Yoenis Cespedes signed a 4-year , 36 million dollar contract with the Oakland A’s on February13th, 2012. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus called Céspedes “arguably the best all-around player to come out of Cuba in a generation.”

 

Cespedes didn’t disappoint in his debut going 1-3 with a double off of the Mariners ace, Felix Hernandez. Cespedes struck out swinging in his first plate appearance, got hit by a pitch in his second plate appearance, hit his double in his third appearance, and struck out swinging in his final plate appearance of the day. Cespedes also earned an outfield assist when he gunned out Ichiro at second base.

 

Cespedes and the Oakland A’s eventually lost in eleven innings to the now 1-0 Seattle Mariners in the 2012 MLB season’s opening series game 1.

 

W: T. Wilhelmsen (1-0)

L: A. Carignan (0-1)

S: B. League (1)

The Cincinnati Reds play the San Diego Padres tonight at 10:05 ET.

                The Reds lineup tonight will look like this,

1. Brandon Phillips-4
2. Zach Cozart-6
3. Joey Votto-3
4. Ryan Ludwick-7
5. Jay Bruce-9
6. Scott Rolen-5
7. Drew Stubbs-8
8. Ryan Hanigan- 2

And on the hill for the Reds is veteran, Bronson Arroyo.

        The Padres lineup will look like this for tonight’s action,

1. Cameron Maybin-8
2. Mark Kotsay-7
3. Chase Headley-5
4. Yonder Alonso-3
5. Will Venable-9
6. John Baker-2
7. Everth Cabrera-6
8. Andy Parrino-4

The ex Red, Edinson Volquez will be on the mound tonight against his former team.

The NL Central division has changed a lot in the offseason; this means a change in the standings at the end of the year is likely. Some of the greatest hitters in the entire MLB have also left the NL Central division; these great players are Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols.

 

Prince Fielder, the big lefty power hitter, spent all of his years in the MLB up until now in the NL Central Division with the Milwaukee Brewers.  In seven seasons in the majors Prince has a career batting average of .282 with 230 homeruns and 656 RBI’s. Prince has made three All Star teams, won the Silver Slugger award twice in his career, and Prince was the 2011 MLB All Star Game MVP in 2011.

 

The NL Central has also said goodbye to Albert Pujols. Many baseball fans say that Albert is the best hitter in the game of baseball at the moment. Pujols spent eleven year in the NL Central, all of them with the St. Louis Cardinals. Albert has a career batting average of .328 with 445 homeruns and 1,329 RBI’s. Albert has many MLB awards sitting in his trophy case including, three NL MVP awards, six Silver Slugger awards, and two Gold Glove awards. Albert also was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2001 and has nine All Star Game appearances.

 

The other day I was thinking about how this season will play out in the NL Central with Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder leaving and the Reds having a great off season. I believe that the Reds have what it takes to win this division even if Prince and Albert were still in the division.  So after thinking about this topic for a while I decided that I would write a blog with my NL Central predictions for standings at the end of the year.

 

Below I am going to list my predictions for the year, number six will be the worst team in the division and number 1 will be the team I think will win the division.

 

6. Houston Astros

The Houston Astros finished last in the NL Central last year, and I expect them to repeat that this year. The Astros were everything but good last year.  The Astros were 56-106 last year, which was the worst record in the MLB and trading two of their best players at the trade deadline didn’t help them out. They did though get some prospects in these trades that will help better their team in the future, but not now.  

Key additions added during the off season- INF Jed Lowrie

Key losses during the off season – (?)

5. Chicago Cubs

 

The Cubs finished last year exactly where I think they will finish this year, fifth. The Cubs finished the 2011 season with an ugly 71-91 record. The Cubs did help themselves this off season by acquiring Theo Epstein. This won’t help them now but it will in the future. I think Theo can lead them to success in future years but now isn’t the time.  In my opinion, the Cubs lost too much talent this off season to have success in 2012. They lost three very talented players, which you will see below, that really helped them have the success they had in 2011, and looking at the roster I don’t see any players that can make up for the lost talent. Therefore, I don’t expect them to have a very good season.

Key additions added during the off season- 1B Anthony Rizzo

Key losses this off season- 3B Aramis Ramirez, RHP Carlos Zambrano, 1B Carlos Pena

 

4. Pittsburgh Pirates

To me the Pittsburgh Pirates finish this year like they did last year, fourth in the NL Central but not very far ahead of the Chicago Cubs.  The Pittsburgh Pirates have not been a great or even great team for the last several years; they finished the 2011 campaign just one game ahead of the Cubs with a 72-90 record. The Pirates did though look pretty good before the All Star break, they posted a 47-43 record, but they season doesn’t end at the All Star break, things went downhill from there for this club in the second half of the season. The Pirates pitching Is what lead them to a pretty decent record before the break, the Pirates were eighth in team ERA with a 3.44 team ERA and the Pirates were sixth in team saves with 27. Again, the second half of the season wasn’t good for the Pirates and I expect about the same performance this year as they had the second half of the 2011 season. The Pirates did pick up some talent this off season but I still think they will finish were they did at the end of 2011.

Key additions during the off season- SS Clint Barmes, RHP Erik Bedard, OF Nate McLouth, 3B Casey McGehee

Key losses this off season- OF Ryan Ludwick, RHP Jose Veras

 

3. St. Louis Cardinals

                The biggest story this off season involved the St. Louis Cardinals, like I mentioned above, the Cardinals lost their best player and slugger, Albert Pujols. Albert has been the “main man” for the St. Louis Cardinals ever since he came into the league and now he’s gone. In my opinion, Albert’s talent just cannot be replaced by any player in the entire MLB. Without him and his production the last couple of years I honestly don’t know where the Cardinals would be, he just has helped them drastically. In other news, the Cardinals finished last year second in the NL Central with a 90-72 record and they won the World Series against the Texas Rangers. The Cardinals did pick up some players in the off season (which I will list below) that will help them out but to me, Pujol’s talent and productivity that he provided just can’t be replaced and this is why I think they will finish third in the NL Central in 2012.

Key additions during the off season- OF Carlos Beltran, LHP J.C. Romero

Key losses during the off season- 1B Albert Pujols

 

                2. Milwaukee Brewers

The former NL Central champs the Milwaukee Brewers might have been a part of the second biggest story in baseball this off season, and this story was about Ryan Braun and possible PED use. If he was proven guilty, he would have to serve a 50 game suspension at the beginning of this year. This would really hurt the Brewers a lot if Braun had to serve a lengthy suspension, and I might even have had the Brewers finishing third instead of second. Also, the Brewers lost their best hitter in Prince Fielder this off season. In 2011, the Brewers won the NL Central with a 96-66 record, but I feel that the Brewers have lost too much talent this off season to repeat as NL Central champs, but I feel that they will still do pretty good this MLB campaign.

Key additions during the off season- 3B Aramis Ramirez, SS Alex Gonzalez, RHP Jose Veras

Key losses during the off season- 1B Prince Fielder, 3B Casey McGehee, SS Yuniesky Betancourt

 

              1.Cincinnati Reds

And last but not least, the Cincinnati Reds, I feel that the Reds are the best team in the division at the moment and their talent will help them win the NL Central. The Reds had possibly one of the best off seasons out of all the MLB teams. Even though the Reds had to give up a lot of talent and good prospects they got an excellent pitcher in Mat Latos. The Reds now have a good solid pitching staff that they kind of lacked last year. The club also signed closer Ryan Madson to a one year deal. The Reds finished third in the NL Central with a 79-83 record, but I expect them to do much better than that this year. I also believe that the Reds can go pretty far in the playoffs and (I’m not just saying that because the Reds are my favorite team.)

Key additions during the off season- RHP Mat Latos, RHP Ryan Madson

Key losses during the off season- RHP Edinson Volquez, INF Yonder Alonso, RHP Francisco Cordero

 

 

 

Think I made some mistakes in my predictions? Let me know in the comments and feel free to list your predictions or tell me what you think of my predictions. Thanks for reading.

Please follow me on Twitter (Feel free to ask me any questions you may have or just tweet me if you just want to talk baseball.) https://twitter.com/#!/HenduBlog

Please like the blog on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Play-At-The-Plate-MLB-Blog/243254542414841

Please follow the blog (Hit the follow blog button on the right side of the screen) to receive an email every time I post a new blog

The 6-9 Reds meet the 4-8 Cleveland Indians today at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear Arizona. Game time: 4:05 PM ET.

The Reds lineup today looks like this,

Phillips 4
Cozart 6
Votto 3
Bruce 9
Francisco 5
Stubbs 8
Heisey 7
Mesoraco 2
Harris DH

Arroyo 1

The Indians starting lineup,

Brantley CF

Cabrera SS

Santana C

Hafner DH

Lopez 1B

Guzman 2B

 LaPorta LF

 LaRoche 3B

 Cunningham RF

 Jimenez P

The Reds have played the Indians three times this spring, the Reds have won the most recent two games and the teams tied the first time they played.

Can the Reds and their key offseason additions win a third time vs the Indians this spring? I think yes they can and will, I believe Ubaldo Jimenez is not playing up to par so far this spring so I expect key hitters like Votto, Bruce, and Phillips to really get to him early.

Score Prediction: 6-3 Reds taking home the win.

In other news, sorry for not posting any baseball blog entries, March Madness is keeping me busy. Also, happy St. Patricks day to all!

Please follow me on Twitter (Feel free to ask me any questions you may have or just tweet me if you just want to talk baseball.) https://twitter.com/#!/HenduBlog

Please like the blog on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Play-At-The-Plate-MLB-Blog/243254542414841

Please follow the blog (Hit the follow blog button on the right side of the screen) to receive an email every time I post a new blog

                    In my opinion, the biggest decision the Red’s front office and Dusty Baker is where to put Aroldis Chapman. Dusty Baker said that the Reds are going to prepare Chapman as a starter. Chapman started yesterday (3/9) against the San Francisco Giants. Aroldis allowed zero hits in two innings of work.

                    The Reds need a lefty  in the starting rotation, Jonny Cueto, Mike Leake, Mat Latos, Bronson Arroyo, and Homer Bailey are all right handed pitchers. Having a starting rotation of all the same handed pitchers is something you don’t want to have. In my opinion, Chapman needs to start. I don’t care if he has to start out the season in the rotation for AAA Louisville or if he jumps right into the starting rotation of the Reds. A guy who can throw 105 miles per hour needs to be getting a lot of work. I think its young talent going to waste to have Aroldis in the bullpen getting only one inning of work a night, or every other night. Anyways, Aroldis was a starting pitcher when the Reds acquired him.

                    Chapman does need some work to get his pitching mechanics down pat, so I do see him starting the year off in Louisville in the starting rotation. It just makes sense to me. Maybe he is not ready to start every five days in the MLB, but he needs to get innings in, and I see him getting the amount of innings he needs in the AAA Louisville starting rotation, at least at the beginning of the year. As much as I and many other Reds fans would like to see him start out the year in the Reds starting rotation, I don’t see it happening. But, this is not my decision to make.

—————————————————————————————————Please follow me on Twitter (Feel free to ask me any questions you may have or just tweet me if you just want to talk baseball.) https://twitter.com/#!/HenduBlog

Please like the blog on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Play-At-The-Plate-MLB-Blog/243254542414841

Please follow the blog (Hit the follow blog button on the right side of the screen) to receive an email every time I post a new blog

“Oldies but goodies?” Isn’t that music that people say is still good even though it was made a long time ago? Yes, that is but, I am actually talking about baseball. In this blog I am going to be talking about MLB pitchers who have won a plentiful amount of games over the age of 40 in their MLB careers.  There is even a current player who is on this list who is currently in Spring Training with the Rockies. Can you guess who it is before scrolling down? If that answer to my last question is a no, or a yes please scroll down and find out. While your down there, have a look at the rest of the blog.

Phil Niekro

Phil Niekro has the most wins over 40 for any pitcher in MLB history. Phil played for four teams over his MLB career; he played for the Braves from 1964-1979 and then again in 1987. Phil won 318 games in his career while losing 274 games and posting a career 3.36 ERA.  Niekro won a total 121 games over the age of 40 years of age.

Jamie Moyer

Jamie Moyer has the second must wins of any pitcher in MLB history over the age of 40 with 103 games won over the age of 40. Moyer played for 7 teams over his MLB career and is now in Spring Training with the Colorado Rockies at the young age of 49. Jamie has won 267 games in his MLB career along with 204 losses and a 4.24 average career ERA.

Randy Johnson

Randy Johnson “The Big Unit” has played for six teams in his career including the Seattle Mariners from 1993-1998. Johnson also played for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 199-2004. Randy has a career record of 303-166 with a 3.29 career ERA. Johnson won 75 games in his career over the age of 40.

Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time is fourth on the list for most MLB wins over the age of 40 with 71. Nolan Ryan pitched a MLB record, 7 no-hitters over his 27 year career in the MLB. Ryan had a record of 324-292 with a 3.19 ERA over his career. Will anybody ever pass his record of 7 no-hitters thrown in the MLB? Tell me what you think in the comments section below.

Roger Clemens

 

Roger “Rocket” Clemens is fifth on the list for MLB players with the most wins over the age of 40. Rocket won a total 66 games in his career over the age of 40.  Clemons had a career record of 354-184 with a 3.12 ERA. Clemons pitched until he was 44, winning six games in his final season of his career.  From 1984 to 1996 he played for the Boston Redsox and from 199-2007 with the New York Yankees.  Overall, Clemons played for the most loved and the most hated teams in the MLB. To go from playing for the Redsox then playing for the Redsox’s rival, the New York Yankees is not the best thing to do in my book.  People go where the money is though right?

—————————————————————————————————Please follow me on Twitter (Feel free to ask me any questions you may have or just tweet me if you just want to talk baseball.)  https://twitter.com/#!/HenduBlog

Please like the blog on Facebook -  http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Play-At-The-Plate-MLB-Blog/243254542414841

Please follow the blog (Hit the follow blog button on the right side of the screen) to receive an email every time I post a new blog