You may recall that around this time last season there were a handful of books that I reviewed here at BFTB. With a new season underway, those offers have started to come in once again. First on my reading list, Baseball Fantography: A Celebration in Snapshots and Stories from the Fans.

Baseball Fantography is a celebration of the game of baseball pulled straight from the memories of those fans who’ve spent such a large portion of their lives following the game. The book’s author, Andy Strasberg (no relation to Nationals’ pitcher Stephen Strasburg), was initially inspired to start such a project when he discovered some old photos of himself as a teenage with his childhood idol, Roger Maris. He started to wonder if others had some of these old, forgotten treasures laying around. Once he began collecting them, Baseball Fantography was promptly born.

The entire book of nearly 200 pages is filled with stories, anecdotes, and photographs from fans across years of baseball. Each and every one from a regular, everyday fan. Famed broadcaster Bob Costas provided the book’s forward and MLB Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith offers some stories of his own.

Baseball Fantography is a great coffee table book for even the most casual baseball fan and flipping through its pages offers a multitude of great stories and photos.

Update: For a chance to win a free copy of this book, head on over to my Washington Nationals site, District on Deck for further information.

Image courtesy: yahoo.sports.com

Yes, that really says .733. It’s not a typo. He also hit .745 last season, but failed to qualify for the record books because he walked so many times (23), which cost him at bats.

Martinez’s current batting average would rank 10th all time, according to the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations. He’d be the first new entry in the Top 10 since 2000, when Mike Breyman hit .810 on the season. Breyman was never drafted and ended up batting .325/.420/.579 over 5 seasons in the Independent Frontier League.

What’s most amazing about this story is the fact that by all accounts Jose Martinez isn’t on the radar of most of the major collegiate programs. Barring a significant change, Martinez will attend Hartford Community College (which is apparently a “community college baseball powerhouse”) on a full scholarship in the Fall.

Presumably there must be some reason why Martinez is not attracting more interest from the bigger college programs. He also doesn’t seem to be generating much interest by Major League teams with the June Draft approaching. There apparently have been questions about the level of competition that he’s been facing, which may be diminishing the attention, but a bat of that caliber on a player of this age could carry enough potential for someone to take a flyer on him.

A week from Sunday I’ll be marrying a wonderful woman who continues to put up with my baseball obsession and aspiring writing career. Then, since we’ve earned it, we’ll be fortunate to be taking a short vacation to start the rest of our lives together.

BFTB will return towards the end of the month with some new content. There’s already a stack of books on my desk to publish reviews and I’m sure there will be plenty more to discuss after the season’s first full month of the regular season.

We’ll cover each division in no particular order. We started with the NL West and then moved on to the AL West. Then we tackled the NL Central and the NL East. Next came the AL East. Now we’ll finish things up with the AL Central.

Top 5 Moves Since Last Season:

1. Detroit signed first baseman Prince Fielder to a nine year, $214 Million free agent contract.

2. Kansas City agrees to terms with left fielder Alex Gordon on a four year, $37.5 Million extension. The deal includes a player option for the 2016 season, valued at $12.5 Million.

3. Kansas City trades outfielder Melky Cabrera to the San Francisco Giants for left-hander Jonathan Sanchez.

4. Chicago trades right-hander Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays for right-hander Nestor Molina.

5. Cleveland trades left-hander Chris Jones to the Atlanta Braves for right-hander Derek Lowe. Atlanta is also covering a significant portion of Lowe’s 2012 salary.

Key Acquisitions:

Chicago (None), Cleveland (Lowe), Detroit (Fielder), Kansas City (Sanchez), Minnesota (None)

Key Losses:

Chicago (Santos, Carlos Quentin), Cleveland (None), Detroit (None), Kansas City (None), Minnesota (None)

Predictions:

Cy Young – Justin Verlander (Justin Masterson)

MVP – Prince Fielder (Eric Hosmer)

Rookie of the Year – Addison Reed (Jacob Turner)

Standings:

1. Detroit
2. Cleveland
3. Kansas City
4. Chicago
5. Minnesota

All Division Team:

Finally, let’s close things out with my pre-2012 All Division Team*. Eligible candidates consist of each team’s projected starter heading into Opening Day. We’ll revisit these lists again once the season concludes.

* Honorable mentions in parentheses.

1B: Prince Fielder (Eric Hosmer)

2B: Jason Kipnis (Gordon Beckham)

3B: Miguel Cabrera (Mike Moustakas)

SS: Asdrubal Cabrera (Alcides Escobar)

LF: Alex Gordon (Delmon Young)

CF: Austin Jackson (Ben Revere)

RF: Shin-Soo Choo (Brennan Boesch)

C: Alex Avila (Carlos Santana)

DH: Billy Butler (Travis Hafner)

We’ll cover each division in no particular order. We started with the NL West and then moved on to the AL West. Then we tackled the NL Central and the NL East. Next up, the AL East.

Top 5 Moves Since Last Season:

1. New York traded catcher Jesus Montero and right-hander Hector Noesi to the Seattle Mariners for right-handers Michael Pinedaand Jorge Campos.

Photo courtesy: riveraveblues.com

2. New York signed right-hander Hiroki Kuroda to a one year, $10 Million free agent contract.

3. Toronto traded right-hander Nestor Molina to the Chicago White Sox for right-hander Sergio Santos.

4. Boston traded shortstop Jed Lowrie and right-hander Kyle Weiland to the Houston Astros for right-hander Mark Melancon.

5.Tampa Bay signed left-hander Matt Moore to a five year contract extension worth $14 Million. The deal includes three club options which could be worth an additional $26 Million.

Key Acquisitions:

Baltimore (None), Boston (Melancon, Andrew Bailey), New York (Pineda, Kuroda), Tampa Bay (None), Toronto (Santos)

Key Losses:

Baltimore (Vladimir Guerrero), Boston (Jonathan Papelbon), New York (Montero), Tampa Bay (None), Toronto (None)

Predictions:

Cy Young – C.C. Sabathia (David Price)

MVP – Robinson Cano (Evan Longoria)

Rookie of the Year – Matt Moore (Austin Romine)

Standings:

1. New York
2. Tampa Bay
3. Boston
4. Toronto
5. Baltimore

All Division Team:

Finally, let’s close things out with my pre-2012 All Division Team*. Eligible candidates consist of each team’s projected starter heading into Opening Day. We’ll revisit these lists again once the season concludes.

* Honorable mentions in parentheses.

1B: Adrian Gonzalez (Mark Teixeira)

2B: Robinson Cano (Dustin Pedroia)

3B: Evan Longoria (Alex Rodriguez)

SS: Derek Jeter (J.J. Hardy)

LF: Brett Gardner (Desmond Jennings)

CF: Jacoby Ellsbury (Curtis Granderson)

RF: Jose Bautista (Nick Markakis)

C: Matt Wieters (J.P. Arencibia)

DH: David Ortiz (None. The other teams in the division will employ supremely inferior options at the DH position to begin the season. I don’t expect any of them to be the team’s primary DH at season’s end.)

We’ll cover each division in no particular order. We started with the NL West and then moved on to the AL West. Then we tackled the NL Central. Next up, the NL East.

Top 5 Moves Since Last Season:

1. Washington trades left-hander Tommy Milone, right-handers Brad Peacock and A.J. Cole, and catcher Derek Norris to the Oakland Athletics for left-hander Gio Gonzalez.

2. Miami signs shortstop Jose Reyes to a six year, $106 Million free agent contract. The deal includes a team option for 2018, valued at $22 Million.

3. Miami signs right-hander Heath Bell to a three year, $27 Million free agent contract. The deal includes a vesting option for 2015, valued at $9 Million.

4. Washington signs right-hander Edwin Jackson to a one year, $11 Million free agent contract.

5. Philadelphia signs right-hander Jonathan Papelbon to a four year, $50 Million free agent contract. The deal includes a vesting option for 2016.

Key Acquisitions:

Atlanta (None), Miami (Reyes, Bell, Mark Buehrle), New York (None), Philadelphia (Papelbon), Washington (Gonzalez, Jackson)

Key Losses:

Atlanta (None), Miami (None), New York (Reyes), Philadelphia (None), Washington (Milone, Peacock, Cole)

Predictions:

Cy Young – Jordan Zimmermann (Cole Hamels)

MVP – Jose Reyes (Brian McCann)

Rookie of the Year – Bryce Harper (Julio Teheran)

Standings:

1. Atlanta
2. Washington
3. Philadelphia
4. Miami
5. New York

All Division Team:

Finally, let’s close things out with my pre-2012 All Division Team*. Eligible candidates consist of each team’s projected starter heading into Opening Day. We’ll revisit these lists again once the season concludes.

* Honorable mentions in parentheses.

1B: Freddie Freeman (Gaby Sanchez)

2B: Dan Uggla (Danny Espinosa)

3B: Ryan Zimmerman (Hanley Ramirez)

SS: Jose Reyes (Jimmy Rollins)

LF: Michael Morse (Martin Prado)

CF: Michael Bourn (Shane Victorino)

RF: Giancarlo Stanton (Jason Heyward)

C: Brian McCann (Wilson Ramos)

We’ll cover each division in no particular order. We started with the NL West and then moved on to the AL West. Next up, let’s look at the NL Central.

Top 5 Moves Since Last Season:

1. Pittsburgh agrees to terms with center fielder Andrew McCutchen on a six year, $51.5 Million contract extension. The deal includes a club option for the 2018 season that would be valued at $14.5 Million.

2.  Cincinnati trades first baseman Yonder Alonso, catcher Yasmani Grandal, and right-handers Edison Volquez and Brad Boxberger to the San Diego Padres for right-hander Mat Latos.

3. St. Louis re-signed first baseman Lance Berkman to a one year, $12 Million free agent contract. The timing of the deal was vital.

4. Milwaukee signs third baseman Aramis Ramirez to a three year, $36 Million free agent contract. The deal includes a mutual option for a fourth season.

5. Houston trades right-hander Mark Melancon to the Boston Red Sox for shortstop Jed Lowrie and right-hander Kyle Weiland.

Key Acquisitions:

Chicago (None), Cincinnati (Latos, Sean Marshall), Houston (None), Milwaukee (Ramirez), Pittsburgh (None), St. Louis (Carlos Beltran)

Key Losses:

Chicago (Ramirez), Cincinnati (Alonso), Houston (Melancon), Milwaukee (Prince Fielder), Pittsburg (None), St. Louis (Albert Pujols)

Predictions:

Cy Young – Zack Greinke (Matt Garza)

MVP – Andrew McCutchen (Joey Votto)

Rookie of the Year – Josh Vitters (Zack Cozart)

Standings:

1. Cincinnati
2. St. Louis
3. Milwaukee
4. Pittsburgh
5. Chicago
6. Houston

All Division Team:

Finally, let’s close things out with my pre-2012 All Division Team*. Eligible candidates consist of each team’s projected starter heading into Opening Day. We’ll revisit these lists again once the season concludes.

* Honorable mentions in parentheses.

1B: Joey Votto (Lance Berkman)

2B: Brandon Phillips (Rickie Weeks)

3B: Aramis Ramirez (Scott Rolen)

SS: Starlin Castro (Jed Lowrie)

RF: Jose Tabata (Carlos Beltran)

CF: Andrew McCutchen (Drew Stubbs)

LF: Ryan Braun (Matt Holliday)

C: Yadier Molina (Jonathan Lucroy)

We’ll cover each division in no particular order. We started with the NL West. Since the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners open the season this week with a two game series in Japan, let’s take a look at the AL West next.

Top 5 Moves Since Last Season:

1. Los Angeles signs first baseman Albert Pujols to a ten year, $240 Million free agent contract.

2. Texas wins the right to negotiate with Yu Darvish via the posting system with a bid of $51,703,411. Texas signs Darvish to a six year, $56 Million contract.

3. Los Angeles signs left-hander C.J. Wilson to a five year, $77.5 Million free agent contract.

4. Oakland trades left-hander Gio Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals for left-hander Tom Milone, right-handers Brad Peacock and A.J. Cole, and catcher Derek Norris.

5. Seattle trades right-handers Michael Pineda and Jorge Campos to New York for catcher Jesus Montero and right-hander Hector Noesi.

Key Acquisitions:

Los Angeles (Pujols, Wilson, Chris Iannetta), Oakland (Yoenes Cespedes, Milone, Peacock, Cole, Jarrod Parker), Seattle (Montero), Texas (Darvish)

Key Losses:

Los Angeles (Tyler Chatwood), Oakland (Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, Andrew Bailey), Seattle (Pineda), Texas (Wilson)

Predictions:

Cy Young – Jered Weaver (Felix Hernandez)

MVP – Albert Pujols (Nelson Cruz)

Rookie of the Year – Jesus Montero (Yu Darvish)

Standings:

1. Los Angeles
2. Texas
3. Oakland
4. Seattle

All Division Team:

Finally, let’s close things out with my pre-2012 All Division Team*. Eligible candidates consist of each team’s projected starter heading into Opening Day. We’ll revisit these lists again once the season concludes.

* Honorable mentions in parentheses.

1B: Albert Pujols (Justin Smoak)

2B: Jemile Weeks (Dustin Ackley)

3B: Adrian Beltre (None. All three other teams in the division have serious holes at the position.)

SS: Elvis Andrus (Erick Aybar)

RF: Nelson Cruz (Ichiro Suzuki)

CF: Peter Bourjos (Yoenes Cespedes)

LF: Josh Hamilton (Coco Crisp)

C: Mike Napoli (Kurt Suzuki)

DH: Jesus Montero (Kendrys Morales)

The first is a phenomenally thorough examination of the history of Tommy John surgery and some of the advanced ways in which doctors are learning about the procedure. Some of the ideas discussed, particularly a lot of the specifics regarding proper pitching mechanics, are quite interesting and thought provoking. Lindsay Berra’s article is in the MLB Preview Issue of ESPN The Magazine but can also be found online here.

One stat from her piece that I found interesting has to do with how much time (and payroll) has been lost by players missing time due to TJ surgery over the past five seasons:

14,232 total regular season days. $193,503,317 in salary.

Just this Spring we’ve seen Ryan Madson, Joakin Soria, Sergio Escalona, and Joel Zumaya go down with injury requiring TJ surgery, plus a handful of minor leaguers. This, unfortunately, seems to be a growing trend.

Elsewhere, Graham Womack has been conducting voting for his latest project over at Baseball: Past and Present. His quest is to determine what the top All Time Dream Lineup would look like. There are still two days to vote, if you’re interested. But he’s posted some other top lineups – all California born, all under 5’9”, for some examples – that are really worth a read.

Finally, there’s one last item that I need to share. And I’m overdue in getting a link to this up here at the site.

A few weeks ago I sat down and spent some time talking with Daniel Shoptaw in the latest Episode for his Conversations With C70 series. Daniel runs a St. Louis Cardinals blog and was the founder of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. We spent roughly an hour talking baseball and blogging. You can listen to the entirety of our conversation here.

We’ll cover each division in no particular order. Let’s start with the NL West.

Top 5 Moves Since Last Season:

1. San Diego trades right-hander Mat Latos to the Cincinnati Reds for first baseman Yonder Alonso, catcher Yasmani Grandal, and right-handers Edison Volquez and Brad Boxberger.

2. Los Angeles signs center fielder Matt Kemp to an 8 year, $160 Million contract extension.

3. Colorado trades catcher Chris Iannetta to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for right-hander Tyler Chatwood. Colorado then signs catcher Ramon Hernandez.

4. San Francisco and Los Angeles announce contract extensions for Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw.

5. Arizona trades right-handers Jarrod Parker and Ryan Cook and center fielder Collin Cowgill to the Oakland Athletics for right-hander Trevor Cahill and left-hander Craig Breslow.

Key Acquisitions:

Arizona (Cahill), Colorado (Michael Cuddyer, Jeremy Guthrie), Los Angeles (None), San Diego (Alonso, Huston Street), San Francisco (None)

Key Losses:

Arizona (Parker), Colorado (Street), Los Angeles (Hiroki Kuroda), San Diego (Latos, Heath Bell), San Francisco (None)

Predictions:

Cy Young – Clayton Kershaw (Honorable mention: Ian Kennedy)

MVP – Justin Upton (Honorable mention: Troy Tulowitski)

Rookie of the Year – Wilin Rosario (Honorable mention: Trevor Bauer, Drew Pomeranz)

Standings:

1. Arizona
2. Colorado
3. San Francisco
4. Los Angeles
5. San Diego

All Division Team:

Finally, let’s close things out with my pre-2012 All Division Team*. Eligible candidates consist of each team’s projected starter heading into Opening Day. We’ll revisit these lists again once the season concludes.

* Honorable mentions in parentheses.

1B: Yonder Alonso (Paul Goldschmidt)

2B: Marco Scutaro (Aaron Hill)

3B: Pablo Sandoval (Chase Headley)

SS: Troy Tulowitski (Stephen Drew if healthy, in this case Dee Gordon)

RF: Justin Upton (Michael Cuddyer)

CF: Matt Kemp (Cameron Maybin)

LF: Carlos Gonzalez (Gerardo Parra)

C: Buster Posey (Miguel Montero)