Merry Christmas Fans!
Mathew Latos. Yes, fans Mat with one “t” is correct. Many people outside of the West Coast, or San Diego for that matter, are not all that familiar with him. Here’s some background info.: The righty starter just turned 24 last week and is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and a robust 225 pounds. Plus, he already has 27 Major League wins and a 3.37 ERA while racking up 8.7 K’s per nine innings in 72 career starts. Not bad at all. Those are the kind of numbers that will eventually make him a household name. He is a big talent in more ways than one, and thanks to a trade from San Diego to Cincinnati for a slew of talented young players, more fans are familiar with the young star before Spring Training even starts. With Latos, Cincy is looking to step it up a notch to hang with those Champ Cards and Division-winning Brewers.
Then there’s Gio. Nope, nothing to do with a car. Gio Gonzalez, formerly of the A’s. He is heading to Washington as the Nationals made another big splash before Christmas by acquiring the lefty in a 2 for 4 player trade to follow up last year’s shocking signing of free agent Jayson Werth. This team is really starting to put some pieces together to go along with some of the most intriguing gate attractions in Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. G.G. is a 26 year old with a 3.93 ERA and 38-32 record. And that was for a team that couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag as they averaged 21st in runs scored in his four seasons. Gonzalez is 31-21 with a 3.18 ERA the last two full years in the Bigs as he has shown the type of progress that probably sold the Nationals on his near Ace potential.
Similar to the RedSox ‘winning’ the fifty plus million dollar bid for the rights to sign Daisuke Matsuzaka to an additional $50 million bucks back in ’06, the Texas Rangers won the bid to sign Yu Darvish, another 25 year old with a power arm. They have 30 days to sign him, and if not, I believe they do get their money back as Darvish is under contract in Japan for two more years. It would be great to see them sign him and have him dominate at least close to the way he does across the Pacific. If he ends up like Dice-K, it will be a boring repeat as he has gotten his fair share of wins, however, he has handed out TWO pitchers’ worth of Bases On Balls and perhaps three starters’ worth of balls in general while earning Ace money and being oft injured. Stay Tuned!
Props go out to Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies. This week, J-Roll signed for 3 years and $33 million to hang around the Brotherly Love down there in the Keystone State. I could love any place for that cash and stay with the team that is all I have ever known in an organiztion too. Right? It’s good to see a staple member of a team and franchise stick it out towards the end of a career in the wake of Albert Pujols leaving St. Louis. Pujols left for the money even though he said it wasn’t for that. What exactly was it about then? Anyway, it’s good for the game to see some of the marquee guys staying put. And this time, it’s good for the Phillies too! J-Roll’s a Gamer.
Ok, so there’s a few updates to last through the Christmas holiday. What will happen before the year end? Will Theo Epstein and the Cubs begin to make some noise on the NorthSide? Will King Felix be moved from the Emerald City BEFORE the season even starts? We’ll have something to say when things do happen. Find out right here!
Later Fans, have a MERRY one!