June 22, 2008
IMAGINE if on April 1 I had told you that the two best lefty starters in the AL were going to be Cleveland's Cliff Lee and Chicago's John Danks (or maybe the Angels' Joe Saunders and the Red Sox's Jon Lester) and the two that you thought it was going to be - Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia and Seattle's Erik Bedard - would be on the trading block by mid-June.
Imagine if I had told you that the two Florida teams, the Rays and Marlins (or maybe the two Chicago teams), would be outdoing the two New York teams as midseason approached.
Imagine if I had told you that a team (Oakland) that had traded its ace (Dan Haren) would have the majors' best rotation ERA and the team (Seattle) that obtained an ace (Bedard) and signed the largest free-agent contract with a pitcher (Carlos Silva) would have the AL's worst rotation ERA.
This is the 2008 season, a campaign of shock and awe. The script has not been re-written. It has been shredded. The AL has been topsy and the NL, its brother, turvy. We knew the Red Sox would be good, but not the White Sox. We knew the Giants would be bad, but not the Rockies. And if you had any thoughts at all about Edinson Volquez before the season, well, the Mets are looking for a few good scouts.
So in honor of a season in which Tampa Bay might become the second team ever to go from the majors' worst record one year to the playoffs the next (thanks, Elias), Hardball has decided to honor the stunning - both good and bad. We have cast our All-Star ballots for the most pleasant surprises and biggest disappointments to date:
CATCHER
SURPRISE
Jesus Flores, Nationals. Was up to .308 with a .525 slugging percentage to gain the starting job on a team that had signed Met discards Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada. But the Mets' problem is they lost a talented, young catcher when they did not protect Flores in the 2006 Rule 5 draft, but did protect - among others - Julio Franco, Alay Soler, Jon Adkins, Ben Johnson and Steve Schmoll.
DISAPPOINTMENT
Kenji Johjima, Mariners. There are many legitimate candidates such as Detroit's Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and Cleveland's Victor Martinez, who have combined for one homer. But consider that Seattle gave Johjima a three-year, $24 million extension in April, and he isn't even the starter anymore due, in part, to the majors' second-worst OPS (On-base plus slugging) of .564 (minimum 200 plate appearances).
FIRST BASE
SURPRISE
Jason Giambi, Yankees. As late as May 15, Giambi was hitting .181 and the conversation in town was who was more washed up Giambi or Carlos Delgado? But since then, he had hit .333 with a .698 slugging percentage and 10 homers. Want the biggest surprise: It is not impossible that the Yanks will want Giambi back next year.
DISAPPOINTMENT
Paul Konerko, White Sox. Yes, there are highly paid, aging first baseman doing worse - actually far worse - than Delgado in Konerko and Seattle's Richie Sexson. The choice is Konerko because Sexson had almost completely fallen off the cliff last year. Konerko took the AL's worst batting average (.215) onto the disabled list with him.
SECOND BASE
SURPRISE
