2014 MLB Season: How Many Pitchers Will Die For Our Sins?

[Tom Servo]

Damn it.

I was hoping the Pirates would get Lester.

I was hoping the Yankees could grab one of the 2.

We just get a good fielder and sucky bat.

You honestly thought the Yankees had a shot at Lester or Price? Within the division? In this fantasy, what prospects were you imagining that the Yankees would be giving up that would have touched either one of the actual deals?

Yankees' strength is in overpaying free agents. They've nuked the farm system, there's really nothing of value there, and not many good players on decent contracts on the major league roster to include in a deal, so trades are pretty much a non-starter. Not the sort of thing that nets you an ace.

On the plus side, Lester's a FA at the end of the year, and Price next year, so you've got a decent chance at blowing everyone out of the water THEN for them...

Yeah, I know.

One can hope though.

I'm glad they didn't empty out what we do have, because I'm not sure eaither alone would have been enough to get us to the promise land anyway.

At least we get a really good glove to throw at second base, Roberts was killing me with all those errors.... what is it, 13 or somthing?

I'm still amazed, with 4/5th's of our starters on the DL we are still over .500

The Yankees weren't waiting around for their moves. I like Headley, and McCarthy has been a great find.

The move that really surprised me was Price to the Tigers... as if they didn't already have enough Cy young winners in that rotation.

And somehow, the announcers on the MLB channel say the Red Sox are winners in all of this. (scratches my head). Lester and Lackey gone, Buckholts is a head case.... I guess they got a good power guy, but "winners"?

They're winners not in the sense of look how good the team is, but in the sense that they have aquired a glut of long term (well relatively) controllable major league assets and prospects that they can use, along with their cash flow, to rebuild the team. Next years team isn't going to look close to this one. Hell I'm sure their number one and two pitchers aren't even on the roster yet.

Part of me thinks too that Lester ends up re signing with the Red Sox anyway.

 

[Timby]

Part of me thinks too that Lester ends up re signing with the Red Sox anyway.

As a result of being traded, Lester can no longer be given a qualifying offer. I think the chances of the Red Sox signing him in the winter got a lot worse after yesterday.

 

[Tom Servo]

Oh I realize that Timby. It's an irrational feeling, and not based on any sort of evidence, but I just have a gut feeling that he pulls a Cliff Lee and resigns for a high dollar/ less year deal.

 

[Skywalker]

He never would have signed during the exclusive negotiating period anyway. A deal should have gotten done back in spring training, but at this point I don't blame the Red Sox for trying to gamble on the possibility that they might be able to convince Lester to come back (assuming that they do actually make a push to re-sign him), and getting some decent pieces from other teams in the meantime.

 

[Yanks]

He never would have signed during the exclusive negotiating period anyway. A deal should have gotten done back in spring training, but at this point I don't blame the Red Sox for trying to gamble on the possibility that they might be able to convince Lester to come back (assuming that they do actually make a push to re-sign him), and getting some decent pieces from other teams in the meantime.

That chance might not be very good if the A's win the series

 

[Pondwater]

I'm just happy to see Prado back on a team I follow.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I love watching Puig play. He is so much fun, wish more played like him.

 

[Timby]

He never would have signed during the exclusive negotiating period anyway. A deal should have gotten done back in spring training, but at this point I don't blame the Red Sox for trying to gamble on the possibility that they might be able to convince Lester to come back (assuming that they do actually make a push to re-sign him), and getting some decent pieces from other teams in the meantime.

That chance might not be very good if the A's win the series

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean -- there is absolutely zero chance of Lester signing with Oakland.

In other news, I happened upon Clayton Kershaw's year-to-date stats this morning:

121.1 IP
150 K
15 BB

Look upon his works, ye mighty, and despair.

 

[1001001]

1 walk per 8 innings.

That's a stunning statistic.

 

[Timby]

1 walk per 8 innings.

That's a stunning statistic.

His WHIP is like 0.82. That's a Mo Rivera / elite reliever statistic, not a starting pitcher number. Good God.

 

[Scout101]

Yeah, that's approaching Pedro Martinez numbers. Pedro's 2000 year, finished with WHIP of .737. Yeah. And not really a blip, was .923 the year before, and .934, .923 the two years after. And in the .934 year, he was hurt

OF course, that's probably the best run of any pitcher ever, so hard to hold up to that. And remember that's still height of the steroid era, so in that light, just crazy. Koufax is held up as the guy to beat, but I'm having a hard time not putting Pedro ahead of him on the list. Just other-worldly during that stretch. Pedro was better at his peak, and lasted longer. Koufax seems to get extra point because he didn't hang around to slip up later; he was still on top when he quit. But late 90s/early 2000s Pedro? Forget it, that's as good as it gets.

Kershaw is making one hell of a run at it, though.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

The Oakland A's had Yoenis Cespedes tee shirt giveaway today. Of course he was starting for the Boston RedSox.

 

[Jedi_Master]

The Oakland A's had Yoenis Cespedes tee shirt giveaway today. Of course he was starting for the Boston RedSox.

10,000 T-shirts.

Lester had a decent debut for the A's - 9 hits, 3 ER, 3 Ks 1 BB over 6 and 2/3rd innings.

The last two runs scored were in my opinion due to Lester's rustiness after the almost hour delay at the bottom of the fifth as Oakland went through it's entire lineup while on the way to scoring 8 runs.

Cespedes was 1-4 with a run scored

Gomes was 2 for 4 with a run scored and 2 RBI and Sam Fuld had a crazy catch and throw to save a run.

The kids will be alright I think, especially with the Angels losing to the Rays... this is for Digits

 

[1001001]

Bah!

CJ was not looking good yesterday (he hadn't started in nearly a month).

 

[Danny99]

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/08/02/jays-bautista-should-have-expressed-dissatisfaction-privately

This is why I believe Bautista should be dealt. Ever since he became a star, he has been a prima-donna, bigger than the team. He needs to be moved for the kind of star power out there that are team players.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

According to the various banners in the Citi Field stands, Hunter Pence:

- hates bacon
- likes store bought cereal
- can't parallel park
- likes The Godfather Part III
- is Gowron <--- actually I just made that one up
- "You think 7 RBIs can shut us up?"

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The Cubs are bringing up Javier Baez.

Looks like they'll be plugging him into second base, with Alcantara moving to center field.

 

[Corran Horn]

The Cubs are bringing up Javier Baez.

Looks like they'll be plugging him into second base, with Alcantara moving to center field.

Yeap. We've perhaps reached the end of the beginning. Time will tell.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Hey Joba, you might want to pick another way to greet your former teammate. Hitting Jeter with a pitch - not a good idea.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Hey Joba, you might want to pick another way to greet your former teammate. Hitting Jeter with a pitch - not a good idea.

He was just giving "The Captain" a retirement present.