MLB Discussion - 2012 Season

[Timby]

Holy shit, the Indians fired Manny Acta, apparently because he didn't heal Grady Sizemore, fix Ubaldo's mechanics, remove Justin Masterson's platoon split, use Jedi mind tricks to propel Casey Kotchman, Johnny Damon and Shelley Duncan to league-average production or personally drive Derek Lowe to the Fountain of Youth.

Cleveland ... y'all are morons.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Tom Hendricks wrote:

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That was no hit, should have been ruled an error.

How do you figure?

And on a lighter note, R.A. Dickey gets his 20th win!

[Starbreaker]

Acta could be a good fit in Miami if they'll let a white guy coach.

[Timby]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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And on a lighter note, R.A. Dickey gets his 20th win!

Groovy. Pitchers' win / loss records are completely and utterly meaningless.

[SmoothieX]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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How do you figure?

And on a lighter note, R.A. Dickey gets his 20th win!

In a completely lost season otherwise, that was something I was rooting for.

[Scout101]

Entertaining that they can have both a 20-game winner AND only 72 wins on the season, though. Means everyone that wasn't Dickey was completely awful. At least he can say it wasn't his fault

Is kinda funny that despite how epic the Red Sox collapse has been, and how that's portrayed, there are still 6 teams worse (some MUCH worse), and even the Mets are only 3 games better. Lot of teams in a race to mediocrity here.

[SmoothieX]

Yeah, 28% of the team's wins isn't bad. He could probably have 2-3 more wins if the offense didn't disappear after the all-star break and the bullpen didn't go through that 6 week phase where they couldn't hold a lead if the other team stopped swinging.

I'm watching from a distance at this point, but I lived in New England for years and still thumb through the Boston papers. About the Red Sox, last year was all about the collapse. This year the attention seems to be infighting and finger pointing and the fact they already more or less blew up the team.

[Scout101]

Yeah, kinda hard to get emotional about it this year (last year being great and then shitting the bed, getting mad was easy). They set a record for being hurt, so you were just kinda treading water until the guys got back. Then they did, but failed to pick up steam. Already kinda numb at that point, though. And then Bobby constantly starting shit with his mouth, and the in-fighting. Then they blew up the team (staggering amount of money off the books, great fresh start that you almost never get), so you just kinda go into 'have fun and watch the kids play' mode, and don't care about the outcome.

As long as they can Bobby next Friday, and then swing a couple trades in the off-season, they're on their way back to being decent. Over-paid/under-performing stars are mostly gone, and HAS to be less horrible injury luck. Manager that isn't throwing team under the bus, and a couple trades for younger stars about to get expensive (this is the opportunity provided by the trades, you can go grab, say, a Justin Upton, and just absorb the salary no problem).

Don't think that, aside from pink hats, people are really upset by what's going on. Decent fans should recognize the opportunity to retool and get back to winning. On the outside, looks worse, and just traded away the stars.

guess we'll see.

[Use of Time]

Scout101 wrote:

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Yeah, kinda hard to get emotional about it this year (last year being great and then shitting the bed, getting mad was easy). They set a record for being hurt, so you were just kinda treading water until the guys got back. Then they did, but failed to pick up steam. Already kinda numb at that point, though. And then Bobby constantly starting shit with his mouth, and the in-fighting. Then they blew up the team (staggering amount of money off the books, great fresh start that you almost never get), so you just kinda go into 'have fun and watch the kids play' mode, and don't care about the outcome.

As long as they can Bobby next Friday, and then swing a couple trades in the off-season, they're on their way back to being decent. Over-paid/under-performing stars are mostly gone, and HAS to be less horrible injury luck. Manager that isn't throwing team under the bus, and a couple trades for younger stars about to get expensive (this is the opportunity provided by the trades, you can go grab, say, a Justin Upton, and just absorb the salary no problem).

Don't think that, aside from pink hats, people are really upset by what's going on. Decent fans should recognize the opportunity to retool and get back to winning. On the outside, looks worse, and just traded away the stars.

guess we'll see.

There's something to be said for watching your favorite sports team without any expectations. As an analogy, I remember a couple of years ago when Tony Romo went down for the season in his fourth game. It became a lot less stressful watching Jon Kitna take the helm when you pretty much knew the season was fucked. My best hope watching games was just to knock off a few good teams every now and then. I became a lot less vested in the games emotionally. The same for my Braves during the later part of the 06-09 era. You pretty much just root for individual players to have a good night and try to spot some emerging talent that can help you farther down the road.

That being said I expect the Sox to jump back into the mix easily next year. They will no doubt be big off season spenders with the amazing dump they took on the Dodgers. How they got them to eat all those contracts is mind boggling especially considering they will most likely miss the post season.

[Scout101]

Think they were hoping to avoid that 2nd part

I don't think there's a ton available on the Free Agent market this year, which is going to make the trade market very interesting. Boston has the money to take on expensive contracts, and has a bunch of prospects that, while not tops in the system, are all squeezing for spots on the 40-man roster, so clearing the logjam there may be a benefit as well. Definitely going to be interesting.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Homer Bailey no-hitter!

[SmoothieX]

There's something to be said for watching your favorite sports team without any expectations. As an analogy, I remember a couple of years ago when Tony Romo went down for the season in his fourth game. It became a lot less stressful watching Jon Kitna take the helm when you pretty much knew the season was fucked. My best hope watching games was just to knock off a few good teams every now and then. I became a lot less vested in the games emotionally. The same for my Braves during the later part of the 06-09 era. You pretty much just root for individual players to have a good night and try to spot some emerging talent that can help you farther down the road.

Kinda like the way the Pats got guillotined 7 minutes into the 2008 season after shitting it in the last minute of the Super Bowl the previous year. No expectations, just something to watch on Sunday afternoons. At lest I didn't get teased for 4 games.

Watching the Mets this year has been similar to what you are getting at. After a few years of organizational incompetence and ineptitude, they have some promising young players. You can see them being good in a couple years with some further development and a good signing or two. But honestly, in the second half, other than a Dickey start, it's just moving pictures to entertain me during dinner.

[Kronos]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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Homer Bailey no-hitter!

Bailey has three complete games in his career. All are against the Pirates - one a shutout and now the no-no.

They should sign him

[Danny99]

Went the Blue Jays and Yankees game yesterday and while it was a good game, I have to say the experience was sorely lacking.

Not only did Downtown Toronto traffic make it an hour just to get across town, once you get to the game, too many fans make it a horrible experience. It's Jr. Jay's Saturday, a day devoted to kids, and there are fans flipping the bird in the stands and on the jumbo-tron and usually horrible language with kids with earshot. I know it's a free country, but seriously.

And seriously, 16.75 for a hot dog, popcorn, and a bottle of water? 6.75 for an ice cream cone? Lucky I didn't have one of those $11 beers.

Plus, there were probably more Yankee fans in the stands than Jays fans.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Danny99 wrote:

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too many fans make it a horrible experience. It's Jr. Jay's Saturday, a day devoted to kids, and there are fans flipping the bird in the stands and on the jumbo-tron and usually horrible language with kids with earshot.

In Toronto? Really? I thought Canadians were supposed to be exceedingly polite.

I'd expect language like that in places like Philly, and in fact I witnessed that very thing. But not in Toronto...