Baseball Advertising Blows

Baseball is my favorite sport, but as far as marketing goes, they are a distant third behind the NFL and the NBA. Why can't baseball have good commercials too? Maybe it's Fox (my employer), or maybe it's the MLB, but it's clear they need to hire a better ad agency (or maybe steal some away from the NBA/NFL).

The past few years, shit's been weak for the MLB. Dane Cook last year??!
C'mon. Can't you guys do better than the most overrated/annoying comedian on the planet. This year, they've got some no-name blogger as their spokesman for the playoffs. This is a terrible marketing ploy. I'm a blogger, and I love writing, but let's be for real. That's not going to make me or anyone else more interested in watching the playoffs. It's all about the big names (and I'm not talking about obnoxious Dane Cook).

The NBA has won it's way back into America's hearts with great ad campaigns. Last year they had prime timers hyping up the playoffs including Jeremy Piven (Entourage's Ari Gold), Will Smith and other "now" actors. This year they had the slogan "There's Only One" and "Where _____ Happens". Both were very successful. The Super Bowl is known as having unquestionably the best commercials of any sporting event. Football has been strong for years and is so far ahead of every other american sport that it can just stay consistent and keep it's crown.

So MLB, if you want to avoid becoming a joke, get some new Ad Guru's. PS: If I see another ad for FrankTV I'm going to kill someone (most likely Joe Buck).

The Joy of the Call-up

I don't even know how to start this, so i'm just going to type as i think. I just found out that one of my best friends from Connecticut, Charlie Morton, is going to get his first career major league start this Saturday for the Atlanta Braves against the Anaheim Angels. Charlie is one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball and after dominating Triple-A with a 5-2 record with a 2.09 ERA, he has finally been promoted to the majors. What makes me even happier about this is that even though Charlie is an awesome pitcher, he's an even better person, which makes the call up that much more exciting. I met him my freshman year in high school and we quickly became close friends, joking around in lunch and class (Foss in Geography oh lord) and writing freestyle rap lyrics in study hall or on AIM. Charlie was always so chill, and he was one of the few friends who i had at a time when many of my older friends were leaving me behind. I moved to Michigan after my sophomore year but I've always followed Charlie's pitching career from the time he was signed by the Atlanta Braves through his journey through the minors and finally to this point today. I can't imagine how excited he must feel knowing he is going to the majors, all i know is that it completely made my day and damn near my year just knowing that one of my very good friends has achieved such a monumental accomplishment. You better believe that first start in Atlanta i'm going to be acting a fool while cheering on a great friend on the grandest stage the sport of baseball has to offer.

San Diego Padres Preview

Sorry for the 24-hour delay in getting this out, but an absolutely brutal weekend in Bloomington forced me to push this back until my body had forgiven me.

So, without further delay, here are your 2008 San Diego Padres...

2007 Finish: 89-74, 3rd Place in the NL West

Key Acquisitions: Mark Prior, Randy Wolf, Jim Edmonds, Tadahito Iguchi

Key Losses: Mike Cameron, Milton Bradley

Probable Opening Day Lineup:
1) Brian Giles - RF
2) Tadahito Iguchi - 2B
3) Kevin Kouzmanoff - 3B
4) Adrian Gonzalez - 1B
5) Khalil Greene - SS
6) Jim Edmonds - CF
7) Josh Bard - C
8) Scott Hairston - LF
9) Pitcher

Lineup Grade: C-...The Padres' lineup is representative of the offense in general, many serviceable middle-tier players, but they don't have any real superstars for the other hitters to fill in around or to compliment. None of these guys hits for average or has great speed, and none of them get on base terribly often. And other than Adrian Gonzalez, there isn't any power there to generate the type of instant offense a team like this needs to succeed. On the Padre's website, in response to a poll question about the teams greatest needs going into '08, well over half (63%) think the most pressing issue finding a more suitable left fielder.

Probable Rotation:
1) Jake Peavy
2) Chris Young
3) Greg Maddux
4) Randy Wolf
5) Mark Prior

Rotation Grade: A-...Any team with the 1-2 punch of Peavy and Young demands attention. Peavy is the reigning Cy Young winner, and probably would have defeated Johan Santana if Santana was with the Mets last year. He has four plus pitches and isn't afraid to throw any of them at any time. Chris Young has emerged during the last two seasons as one of baseballs best young pitchers. The Padres have surrounded these two guys with some great role-player/back of the rotation type of guys: the ageless Maddux, Wolf, and Prior. Prior and Wolf are coming off injuries, so there are question marks around them, but the potential is there for this to be the NL's best rotation. However, they also sport one of the best bullpens in the leauge, so they have the added security of being able to go to the pen early and often if they need to, and when they take leads into the later innings, have a very good chance of maintaining it.

2008 Outlook: The Padres will go as their offense goes. The pitching is good enough to hold their opponents to few runs, but their offense might still not be good enough to put them ahead in low-scoring games. This, coupled with the fact that they play in the NL's best division, doesn't bode well for their '08 playoff hopes. A mid-season trade for a big bat, or waiting to sign an impact hitter during free agency next year could allow the Pads to contend in the not-too-distant future.
Predicted 2008 Finish: 75-87, Third/Fourth Place in NL West
Offensive woes means the Pads and Dodgers will finish well behind the D-Backs and Rockies, but still ahead of the irrelevant Giants.