Since the scapegoating of Barry Bonds first began it has become increasingly obvious that steroids during the 1990s & early 2000s wasn't some rare thing in MLB that only a few home run sluggers like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire were using but instead so prevalent that the question is more "Who was *NOT* taking steroids?" rather than who was.

Because of the obvious prevalence of steroid use among almost all major league baseball players the witch hunt of Barry Bonds has become absolutely absurd to anyone with more than a couple of brain cells to rub together. And yes, to any silly people out there still trying to scapegoat Barry Bonds: Your favorite player did steroids too. Get over it. They still were not as good as Bonds and they never will be. Deal with it.

The ridiculous waste of tax payer money that is the witch hunt of Barry Bonds has now been put on indefinite hold as it's clear that the federal government has greatly overstepped the law in their single minded pursuit of Bonds.

If the federal government wants to go after someone in regards to steroids in baseball they should go after major league baseball itself and the owners of the teams who ignored the issue for years instead of trying to scapegoat Barry Bonds.

Also to the idiot sportswriter (Rick Reilly) at ESPN who wrote this dumb ass story about Albert Pujols taking all of Barry Bonds MVP awards: You are a moron. You have completely missed the point of the Alex Rodriguez thing. The point isn't for you to now go looking for a new mythical "clean" player but instead to admit that steroids use was so prevalent during this time that it's moronic to try to give some players credit for being "clean" while taking away the accomplishment of the so called "dirty" players.

Your self-righteousness makes me ill.

And your memory is lacking. Wasn't it just last year that there was significant suspicious about Pujols himself? Would anyone really be surprised if Pujols did steroids? I would honestly be extremely surprised if he had not.

This is not about finding "saviors" who were "clean" during the steroids era you brain dead fool. This is about accepting the reality of the times. If you want to go after anyone about steroids, go after the owners and MLB itself for not giving a crap that players were on steroids when it was helping the games popularity (and thus helping them make more money.)

Labels: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, steroids

My picks for 2008.

AL MVP: Kevin Youkilis, 1B - Boston Red Sox

Youkilis was among the AL leaders in Batting Average (.312), OBP (.390), OPS (.958), SLG (.569), and RBI (115.)

I could have also gone with Chicago's Carlos Quentin but he only played 130 games and his rate stats are not significantly better (.965 to .958 OPS.) Milton Bradley lead the AL in OPS (.999) but he only played 126 games and he did it at DH.

Alex Rodriguez is another possibility (also .965 OPS) but considering it was actually a very average year for him (by his standards) and the Yankees missed the playoffs and he missed 24 games it just didn't make sense to me to pick A-Rod.

Overall it was a weak year for stand out offensive numbers in the AL. No one really stood out from the crowd.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, 1B - St. Louis Cardinals

This was a much easier decision. Pujols was easily the top offensive player in the NL in 2008. Yes, Chipper Jones had an incredible year but he missed 34 games and Pujols easily bested him in the power department (SLG: .653 to .574.)

Pujols lead the NL in OPS at 1.114 & SLG (.653.) He finished second (to Jones) in Batting Average (.357) & OBP (.462.) He also finished with 37 HR (4th), 44 2B (4th), 116 RBI (4th), and 104 BB (2nd.)

AL CY YOUNG: Cliff Lee - Cleveland Indians

Lee lead the AL in both Wins (22) & ERA (2.54) which makes him a pretty easy choice for the AL Cy Young award. Toronto's Roy Halladay and Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka also had great years but Lee's was better.

NL CY YOUNG: Tim Lincecum - San Francisco Giants

Lincecum certainly lived up to the hype in his second year with the Giants. He finished the year 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA. That's good for 2nd in Wins & 2nd in ERA. He also lead the NL in Strikeouts (265) and Winning Percentage (.783.) He was 3rd in innings pitched (227.)

The New York Met's Johan Santana is the runner up. He lead the league in ERA at 2.53 and innings pitched (234.) He finished second in Strikeouts (206.) Arizona's Brandon Webb did lead the NL in Wins (22-7) but his other numbers are not as impressive (10th in ERA at 3.30) and I think Wins are a very ineffective statistic for judging a pitcher's performance.

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Evan Longeria, 3B - Tampa Bay Rays

Longoria was a big part of why the Rays made it to the playoffs for the first time. He hit .272 with 27 home runs and 85 RBI. He lead all AL rookies in HR, RBI, OBP, SLG, & OPS.

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Geovany Soto, C - Chicago Cubs

The Cincinatti Red's rookie 1B Joey Votto lead all NL rookies in BA (.297), OBP (.368), SLG (.506), H (156), HR (24), & OPS (.874.) He finished second in RBI with 84 to Soto's 86.

From the offensive numbers it looks like Votto should be the pick but Soto's offensive numbers are really just barely behind Votto's (OPS .874 to .868 & HR 24 to 23) and because Soto is a catcher and was a big part of the Cubs great season, I think he has to be choice. A good offensive player at the catcher position is a big deal, another good hitting first baseman? Not as much.

Labels: Albert Pujols, Cliff Lee, Evan Longeria, Geovany Soto, Kevin Youkilis, Tim Lincecum

At age 28, Pujols became the 5th youngest player in MLB history to hit his 300th home run today. He's less than one year older than the youngest player to reach the milestone; Alex Rodriguez.

Obviously if Pujols continues at the rate he's on now, he will one day reach some much bigger milestones.

Pujols is having another awesome year this season. He's current hitting .348 with a .470 OBP and a .625 SLG.

If he can keep the .470 OBP up that would be a new season high for him. His current highest OBP is .439 in 2003.

Labels: Albert Pujols

A new feature here at BigShowBaseball.com is going to be a look at the best hitters and pitchers of each decade. I'm going to start in the present and make my way back.

The first period is 2000 to 2007 (through yesterday's games.) Of course there are 2+ seasons left in this decade so we'll have to come back to take another look at the end of 2009.

So then, who is the best hitter of the 2000s? The answer should be no surprise. Barry Bonds. Bonds won 4 consecutive NL MVP awards from 2001 to 2004 and should have won the award in 2000 as well. The 5 years by Bonds from 2000 to 2004 is arguably the greatest 5 year span in the history of baseball by any hitter, thus Bonds is the easy choice for the best hitter of this decade despite missing most of 2005 with injury and being far less successful in 2006 and thus far in 2007.

The OPS+ leaders for this period leave no doubt about Bonds complete dominance during this decade.

OPS+ leaders for 2000 to 2007 (2000 PA MIN.)

1. Barry Bonds 224
2. Albert Pujols 169
3. Jason Giambi 163
4. Manny Ramirez 163
5. Alex Rodriguez 155

Considering the above numbers it's no surprise that Bonds also dominates the slugging percentage leaders for the decade (Bonds is at .726, Pujols is second at .622) and OBP leaders (Bonds is at a Godlike .519.)

How about Home Runs? Alex Rodriguez does lead in home runs during this period with 351 but Bonds is second at 309 despite missing almost all of 2005 and having nearly 1500 less at bats than A-Rod.

Batting Average? Discounting Todd Helton (which one should always do any player with inflated Colorado numbers) Bonds is 4th in batting average during this period despite his .270 average last year and .269 thus far this year. His overall batting average from '00-'07 is .323 which is behind only Suzuki 's .333, Pujols' .330, & Guerrero's .329 batting average.

One of the most revealing stats (both of Bonds dominance and the lack of protection Bonds receives in the Giants weak lineup) is the fact that during the 2000s thus far Bonds has more than double the amount of IBB of any other player. Bonds has been intentionally walked 381 times this decade. Vladimir Guerrero is second with 186.

The real question is not who is #1 as that is obviously Bonds but who is #2? It looks to be close between Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez. I would give Rodriguez the advantage because it is so close and Rodriguez has the benefit of playing (and playing great) in 2000 when Pujols did not enter the Majors until 2001.

Labels: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Best By Decade

Hello everybody and welcome to my first of many posts here on Big Show Baseball. I am happy to have the opportunity to blog about the greatest sport ever created. I hope you all enjoy the site.

Now, I am going to get something out of the way right off the bat so there is no confusion. I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan. That means that from time to time, I may get a little excited about another Albert Pujols walk off home run or a Chris Carpenter trip to the mound that turned into a ten strikeout, complete game masterpiece. But I am not going to go Bill Simmons on you and write about the Cardinals every single post. On top of that, when in an argument, I usually do not let the Cardinal red blind me to numbers and facts.

For instance, I am not one of those Cardinals fans that think Albert Pujols was completely robbed in the MVP voting last year. That vote could have gone either way and I believe Ryan Howard deserved it just as much as Albert Pujols. Besides, as a fan, I'll take a World Series championship over Albert Pujols winning an MVP any day.

But enough about the Cardinals. The upcoming baseball season is going to be a great one. The Barry Bonds home run chase is probably the most anticipated event of the summer for some and the least anticipated event of the summer for others. The arrival of Daisuke Matsuzaka and his famous (and possibly not even real) gyroball to Boston has been one of the hottest offseason topics and promises to be one of the biggest stories of 2007. As usual, the national media will focus a very trained eye on New York and Alex Rodriguez and his struggles. Will the Cardinals be able to repeat as champions and become the first team to win two titles in this decade? And of course, where will the steroid scandal lead us next?

The answers to these questions and many others can only be answered throughout the season. We hope you enjoy following the 2007 Major League Baseball season here at Big Show Baseball. Here is to another great season of baseball.

--Ryan Reynolds

Labels: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Chris Carpenter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, gyroball, Ryan Howard, St. Louis Cardinals, steroids