Josh Hamilton Avoids Suspension, John Carpino Avoids Good PR

Hi. My name is Josh, and I am an addict.

Hi, Josh.

This is a very real thing that is going to be said in the very near future for the Angels enigmatic and ridiculously overpaid and declining slugger, Josh Hamilton. And, it is a very real thing that became very very necessary with what has become his very public hearing regarding a cocaine relapse back in January. Angels' fans reactions on Twitter ranged from "Good. Baseball is not worried about the money he is owed ($83M), and is more concerned with Hamilton receiving the help that he needs" to "Great. The Angels can't dump this guy for anything now."

Josh Hamilton's Vision Problems Caused By Energy Drinks

Did you know Red Bull can make you go blind?!?

10 seconds. It took me 10 seconds to go from zero to hyperbole. Nice.

Okay, energy drinks might not make you go blind but their main ingredient, caffeine, is responsible for the vision problems Josh Hamilton has been suffering from since last Tuesday. Too much caffeine and energy drinks can cause ocular keratitis which something, something, dry cornea, something, something, burred vision.

Hamilton missed five straight games but returns to the line-up and center field Monday night. Somebody might want to hand Hamilton a cup of water once in a while. With well documented addiction problems, you have to wonder how many Red Bulls Hamilton was consuming every day to give him blurry vision. My guess is Sam's Club pallet. He might cut back to two cases a day after the diagnosis...

Hamilton, 31, said he plans to back off the caffeine, which included chocolate after games and an energy drink before games -- not to mention what he was consuming all day long.

"I was loading up on caffeine, and I'm out there in the bright lights," Hamilton said. "I can't control my eyes. They are stuck."

I feel like with this information we were robbed of a "Jose Canseco off-the-head-home-run" type of situation with Hamilton.

But a healthy Hamilton is good news for Angels fans. The Rangers play the Wild Card holding on to by 2.5 games A's seven times in the last 10 games. Hamilton's 42 home runs is also tied with Miguel Cabrera for the AL lead. Hamilton in home runs and Joe Mauer in batting average are the two candidates with the best chance of blocking Cabrera from the Triple Crown. If Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, it could very well sway the old school BBWAA members to rob Mike Trout of his rightful MVP. Of course, that is a long post for another day.

Kids, the point of this story is that too many Red Bulls and fudge bars will mess you up good. No more Red Bull and fudge parties. Get someone to buy you beer like normal high schoolers.

Legal notice: Off Base Percentage doesn't condone underage drinking but, if we did, we don't have any money for you to sue us anyway.

Josh Hamilton Hits The DL After 11 Games

If you had Josh Hamilton in your "first Ranger to hit the disabled list" pool, please step up and collect your prize. Hamilton was injured in a collision with Tigers catcher Victor Martinez in a head first collision at home. The MRI revealed less than pleasant results for the red hot Rangers...

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said an MRI exam Tuesday afternoon on Josh Hamilton's injured right shoulder revealed a broken bone at the top of his shoulder. The Rangers plan to place Hamilton on the DL and expect him to miss at least six weeks, but are planning for eight.

The reigning AL MVP was off to a good enough start, hitting .316/.395/.395 but with nary a home run. PECOTA wasn't expecting another MVP season for Hamilton, projecting only 22 homers and a .294/.356/.509 line over 515 plate appearances. All of those numbers are now in jeopardy.

The injury is an obvious blow to the Rangers who will have to plug David Murphy into the outfield and recall Chris Davis to be the designated striker-outer. Whatever projection you prefer, replacing a .400-ish wOBA player for two months is a daunting task. Luckily for the Rangers, the other teams in the AL West have their own issues to deal with. But it would make me slightly more optimistic about the Angels chances if it wasn't for their bullpen and lineup.

Rangers Avoid Further Arbitration With Hamilton

The Rangers played nice with Josh Hamilton today by signing him to a 2-year deal worth $24 million. Heading toward arbitration, Hamilton had filed for $12MM and the Rangers had offered $8.7MM which would have been a nice raise from the $3.25MM he made in 2010.

Instead of going to a tough arbitration hearing, the Rangers played it smart and gave Hamilton the 2-year, $24 million deal that buys out his final two years of arbitration but doesn't delay his free agency. Hamilton won the AL MVP with 32 home runs and a .359/.411/.633 line while missing the last month of the 2010 season. According to Fangraphs, that season was worth $32.2 million.

By avoiding the arbitration hearing, the Rangers don't have to bring up Hamilton's past injuries or demons and Hamilton doesn't have to compare himself to Mickey Mantle for his 2010 season. There really aren't many comps for him. So it seems like a win-win situation. The Rangers also trade off minimizing the risk of Hamilton getting hurt for the insane salary he could command in two seasons.

It looks like a nice peaceful settlement that I'm sure Hamilton will think pleasantly of when free agency rolls around. Whereas, I'm pretty sure after the Angels beat Jered Weaver in arbitration, they left a flaming bag of dog poo on Scott Boras' porch as an encore.

Josh Hamilton Pops The Schweppes

The voters from the BBWAA capped a shockingly good award season by handing the American League MVP to Josh Hamilton today. It appears the hard work of basement dwelling math nerds is finally wearing the mainstream media down. Hamilton was the best player in the AL and perhaps all of baseball despite missing the last month of the season.

Hamilton's feel good story has been well documented from being the first overall pick in 1999 to washing out of baseball in 2001 due to drug and alcohol addiction to his Phoenix-esque rise from the ashes in 2007. Hamilton was able to shake off his demons, except for a spring training wagon fall in 2009, to become one of the game's top players. Which brings us to his amazing 2010 season.

In a mere 133 games, Hamilton managed to out fWAR (Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement) all of baseball including NL MVP Joey Votto and the all around awesomeness of Albert Pujols. It helps, of course, that Hamilton played good defense in center and great defense in left field instead of manning first base. Hamilton hit 32 home runs and a .359/.411/.633 line while taking the Rangers to the AL West crown.

He collected 22 of the 28 first place votes leaving Miguel Cabrera and Robinson in a distant second and third respectively. I had Hamilton first and Cabrera second in my BBA ballot so I don't have much to complain about, at least in this post.

Congratulations, Josh. The next round of ginger ale is on me. Um, so if you have, like, a Pay-Pal, let me know and I can send you the $4.

BBA AL Stan Musial Award Ballot

Baseball's award season is upon us and we finally have a vote that counts for something this year. We're proud members of the Baseball Blogger Alliance and they've been kind enough to give us ballots. The only thing the BBWAA ever gave us was George Bell as the AL MVP in 1987. It's not like Wade Boggs was worth 4 more wins and had .461 OBP or anything. Today we'll be unveiling our AL Stan Musial ballot for player of the year. Note: I completely ignored RBI.

1. Josh Hamilton
Hamilton missed the last month of the regular season and was still the best player in ALL of baseball. His 8.0 WAR (wins above replacement) led the majors and he finished with a .359/.411/.633 (BA/OBP/SLG) line. He'd probably be a unanimous choice for the MVP if he played the final month and added 6-8 homers to his 32 regular season dingers. Like Joe Mauer last year, Hamilton did more missing a month than anyone else did with a full season.

2. Miguel Cabrera
There were players who finished with a higher WAR than Miggy's 6.2 but I have a hard time looking past his .328/.420/.622 line. Getting on base at a 42% clip is extremely valuable and even more so if you can hit 38 home runs to boot. I did not take Cabrera's ability to win an arepa eating contest into my voting.

3. Jose Bautista
A retooled swing and regular playing time led to 54 home runs and a .260/.378/.617 line. While I'm not going to sit here and tell you I think he can repeat this season, I do have a hunch about the breakout season. Poutine. Not sure when this became a food based post.

4. Adrian Beltre
Give Beltre a contract season and the guy is a monster. Beltre hit 28 home runs and .321/.365/.533 for an AL second best 7.1 WAR. Much of Beltre's value comes from playing excellent defense at third base (11.8 UZR) and he'll surely be in high demand in the off season. Hey, the Angels could use a third baseman who doesn't hit .180 and strikeout more than my friend Jason at a strip club.

5. Felix Hernandez
My AL pitcher of the year.

6. Evan Longoria
Considering Longoria was the best player on the best team, this might be a low ranking for him. He hit 22 home runs and .294/.372/.507 while playing superb defense at third base (11.1 UZR). His 6.9 WAR is basically a toss up with anyone not named Josh Hamilton. Perhaps I'm just bitter because I suspect he dated nothing but the hottest Southern California cheerleaders while growing up.

7. Robinson Cano
Missing in action, Off Base co-founder and resident Yankee fan, Derwood Morris, was not pleased when I informed him of Cano's place on my ballot. Too bad, buddy. Return an email every once in a while. Sorry, interoffice politics. Cano had an MVP caliber season and I actually expected him to be ranked higher than seventh here. He raked for a .319/.381/.534 line with 29 home runs. But he finished with a negative UZR at second base which I'm sure he learned by watching Jeter.

8. Carl Crawford
Crawford is a beast in the outfield posting an 18.5 UZR and instantly makes a pitching staff better. He had another one of the toss up 6.9 WARs in the AL hitting 19 homers and a .307/.356/.495 line. I try to not to be a huge homer around here but a potential Crawford, Torii Hunter, Peter Bourjos outfield makes me giggle like a school girl.

9. Cliff Lee
My close second best AL pitcher of the year.

10. Shin-Soo Choo
I'm not just throwing Cleveland a bone here because of the quick downfalls of Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner. I actually hope they both find a resurgence because I enjoy the nickname "Pronk." But with Cleveland's recent string of luck, Choo will get called for the military service he owes Korea and Cleveland's post season hopes will fade away on a sad note like the Drew Carey Show. Oh, here are some stats. Choo hit 22 homers and .320/.401/.484 for a 5.6 WAR.

Is Derwood Headed to a NASCAR race?

A little over a month ago I examined three potential triple crown candidates: Josh Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto. While Hamilton looks to be on his way to a batting title, Jose Bautista has a healthy lead in the HR race (38 to Cabrera's 31 and Hamilton's 28), and the Detroit behemoth leads the AL with 102 RBIs to Hamilton's 88. So we can probably count those two out. Votto is another story.

Back in my July 15 piece, I said if Votto wins the NL triple crown, I'll watch five minutes of a NASCAR race. That was my promise to the Offbase readers, but I thought I was safe. I certainly never thought the jerk would be so close in all three categories on August 23. I still don't think he's going to win it, so I'm raising the stakes: if Joey Votto wins the NL triple crown, I'll ATTEND a NASCAR race.

Derwood's head: "Don't press PUBLISH", don't press PUBLISH", "don't press PUBLISH..."



Votto leads the NL with a .323 average, currently five points better than Atlanta's Martin Prado. Standing in his way in the other two categories is that loser Albert Pujols, who is finally putting together a decent season for the Cardinals. Pujols has a 32-29 lead over Votto in HR (Washington's Adam Dunn is second with 31), and an 89-86 cushion in RBIs. It's basicaly Pujols vs. Votto, and with about 40 games left, I could easily see happen any of the following:

1. Pujols takes off in all three places (he's also fourth in average at .316)
2. Dunn hits a ton of home runs and leaves Pujols and Votto behind
3. Joey Votto wins the 2010 triple crown, forcing me to go Murfreesboro, TN for the Premium Select Rye Bread 500

In other words, I really want Adam Dunn to hit a lot of home runs over the next month.

Could This Be a Triple Crown Year?

John Schlegel at mlb.com wrote a story about three players-Miguel Cabrera, Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto-who he feels are candidates to win the triple crown. It'd be the first TC winner since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, and despite the fact that it's only July 15, we'll take a look at the trio and their chances of winning.

Votto
First-half stats: Tied with Adam Dunn for lead in HR (22), tied for seventh with 60 RBIs and is seventh in average (.314).

We'll start with the long shot on Schlegel's list. Votto is having a tremendous season, leading the NL in OBP and OPS at the break, but I'm going to be completely honest: if Joey Votto wins the 2010 triple crown, I'll watch five minutes of a NASCAR race. That's how confident I am in Votto not winning. Still, the argument can be made for the Reds' first baseman: he gets on base, hits for power and drives in runs. Or as Joe Morgan would say, he's very consistent.


Hamilton
First-half stats: Tied with Cabrera for league-leading average (.346) and second-most HR (22). Fourth in RBIs (64).

Hamilton had a slash line of .281/.335/.500 at the end of May, but you know what they say: anyone who gets worked up over May numbers is probably John Kruk. Since June 1, the Texas center fielder has been outstanding, pushing his slash up to .346/.390/.625. The triple crown is in reach for Hamilton for several reasons, not the least of which is the ballpark he plays in and the offense he mashes in the middle of. The HR and RBI totals should stay within the league leaders all summer, but I'm not sure he can sustain that .340+ average (career high is .304 in 2008), and hold off guys like Cabrera, Justin Morneau and Robinson Cano.


Cabrera
First-half stats: No. 1 in average (.346) RBIs (77), while trailing Toronto's Jose Bautista in home runs, 24-22.

Cabrera's current slash numbers (.346/.423/.651) and an OPS+ of 182 would shatter his career totals if kept up. There's good reason to think he'll sustain the HR and RBI numbers-top 6 in HR each of the last three seasons including the '08 title and 112 or more RBIs in five of the last six seasons-it's just a question of whether, like Hamilton, he can hold off Morneau, Cano and others for the batting title. At the break, eight AL players were hitting at least .326.


Obligatory mention of Albert Pujols

Let's not forget Albert. He's second in HR (21), one back of Votto and Adam Dunn, and one RBI behind leaders Corey Hart, Ryan Howard and David Wright (65 to 64). And though he's hitting just .308, 10th-best in the NL, you want to bet against him passing these guys for the batting title? I don't.