MLB Season Discussion - 2013

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Make PEDs legal, have the highly paid Doctors and Trainers supervise it all, then there will be choice and equal access as well as safety.

The problem with legalizing performance enhancing drugs is that there will always be those players who abstain from using because of safety concerns. PEDs need to be driven from the game, as do the players who've used them. Making a bad thing legal doesn't make it less bad. It just makes it more tolerable in certain circles.

--Sran

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Ruben Amaro continues to prove he's a dumb shit. Good grief! Someone please fire this goof!

--Sran

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Matt Harvey complete game shutout!

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^That guy's good.

--Sran

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And it's nice to see that the Yankees have discovered how to hit.

(Even Soriano hasn't been half bad since being traded over there.)

 

[Timby]

(Even Soriano hasn't been half bad since being traded over there.)

A .547 OPS is bad. It's beyond bad.

 

[R. Star]

Make PEDs legal, have the highly paid Doctors and Trainers supervise it all, then there will be choice and equal access as well as safety.

The problem with legalizing performance enhancing drugs is that there will always be those players who abstain from using because of safety concerns. PEDs need to be driven from the game, as do the players who've used them. Making a bad thing legal doesn't make it less bad. It just makes it more tolerable in certain circles.

--Sran

Definitely agreed. To say nothing of the fact you're gonna have freakin kids, high school or college under pressure to do it just to "compete." It's bad enough as is without any official sanction.

 

[Kronos]

There is absouloutly no way PED's will ever be driven from any sport, suspend and ban guys who get caught but it's a lost cause to think the sports will ever be 100 percent clean, there's a gazillion dollars out there and guys will do whatever they can to get some of it.

 

[Use of Time]

There is absouloutly no way PED's will ever be driven from any sport, suspend and ban guys who get caught but it's a lost cause to think the sports will ever be 100 percent clean, there's a gazillion dollars out there and guys will do whatever they can to get some of it.

I think that pretty much goes without saying doesn't it?

I think people get that others will use but there is a system in place now to deal with it as well as a players union that has done a 180 on testing since the late 90's and early 00's. That is a good thing.

 

[J.T.B.]

Make PEDs legal, have the highly paid Doctors and Trainers supervise it all, then there will be choice and equal access as well as safety. Cheating to me involves doing something that requires no work, most PEDs still require a massive amount of work(95% of you on this BBS would not succeed with using steroids), preparation and planning, and in competitive sports, it's only successful if the talent is there...just check who else is on the banned list.

Yeah, right, people would love to follow a sport where the real competition is over who has the best drug lab and the smartest doctors (read: most expensive in both cases). How inspiring.

Cheating is using an unfair advantage and operating outside the rules, period. If the "Steroid Era" wasn't cheating nothing is.

A .547 OPS is bad. It's beyond bad.

The difference between his home and road numbers is pretty significant, I would be a little worried about that if I were his team.

 

[Timby]

It looks like baseball used the straw lawsuit against Bosch to get subpoenas out for private text messages, e-mails, and shipping information, which it then (of course) didn't use for the suit against Bosch, but did use for the internal investigation against the players who were not a target of the lawsuit.

I ... I don't know how you can defend that on a moral basis.

 

[Timby]

Double posting because the Phillies just signed Chase Utley to a two-year extension.

Holy moly, Rube gonna Rube.

 

[Use of Time]

I expect a ten year deal to Michael Young as the next announcement.

 

[Timby]

I expect a ten year deal to Michael Young as the next announcement.

Ordinarily I'd say this would be the best thing ever, but the Rangers put in a waiver claim on him -- apparently Ron Washington wants his favorite toy back.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I expect a ten year deal to Michael Young as the next announcement.

Please don't even joke about that.

I wouldn't be opposed to an extension as part of a contract negotiation. Not sure how I feel about this deal, which is structured in a way that could potentially be very expensive.

 

[Use of Time]

Alex Rios to the Rangers for a player to be named later.

 

[Timby]

I expect a ten year deal to Michael Young as the next announcement.

Please don't even joke about that.

I wouldn't be opposed to an extension as part of a contract negotiation. Not sure how I feel about this deal, which is structured in a way that could potentially be very expensive.

It could be, but Utley hasn't hit 500 PA in a season since like 2009, so those vesting options aren't a huge risk.

It's a deal that might make sense for a team that is in its contention window, where Utley is that last piece and you have a strong secondary option. In the context of a team that has about $110 million committed in 2014 before Utley, for a base of talent that probably won't be any good and will be playing Freddy Galvis when Utley inevitably goes down, it's kind of a disaster.

It's also a loud and clear sign that Rube has no long-term strategy in place whatsoever. The team seems like it desperately wants to keep the deteriorating 2007 - 2011 core together and turn back time. If you really want to do that (you shouldn't), you should be going all-in and signing Cano, one or two of the big gun outfielders, a pitcher or two, and then maybe you talk about bringing Utley back as a complementary piece for third and / or first. Otherwise, you should probably be selling hard, and that probably needed to start at the deadline, which probably means you no longer have Utley to extend because you've traded him. The half-measure where you stand pat, extend Utley, and pretend that Darin Ruf, Maikel Franco, and Jesse Biddle are near-term answers is a great way to become the dumpster fire that has been the Mariners for the last decade.

Rube gonna Rube.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^I tend to agree with this. As I've said before, I am fully behind the aging core of the Philadelphia Phillies and wish each of them nothing but the best as long as they're still playing. But this crap has to stop. Amaro was wrong to sign Howard to that ridiculous extension, and he's wrong for signing Utley to this one. I will not dispute what both Howard and Utley have meant to the Phillies franchise, but neither player can stay healthy for a significant enough stretch to make any sort of meaningful contribution to the lineup.

What's more, there seems to be no strategy for how or when Ruf is going to get playing time. He's already old (given his MLB experience) and isn't likely to get consistent playing time at any position with the way the Phillies are structured. I might be okay with Utley coming back next season if the Phillies find a way to buy out Howard's current deal so that he can DH for an American League team (which might significantly prolong his career; if he continues to play 1B everyday, he might be out of baseball as soon as 2015).

Howard isn't good enough to bat clean-up and play first base on this team, and Utley has no value as their starting second baseman if he can't stay in the lineup himself. With Howard gone, I'd be okay with Utley taking over the Michael Young super-utility-player role and roving between first and second base as needed with Ruf getting the bulk of the starts at 1B. I don't know what's to be done about Jimmy Rollins, who hasn't played respectable ball since George W. Bush was in office, nor do I have answer for what should happen with Halliday, who looked this season as though he'd thrown his last pitch.

I like the idea of courting Cano, who could easily slide into the middle of the lineup, making Utley and/or Howard expendable, but if the Phillies are going to pay Utley for the next two years, signing Cano doesn't make sense unless the Phillies find a way to get rid of Howard- or Utley agrees to try playing 3B and occasionally starts at 1B against tougher lefties (because Howard can't hit them)- because there would be no place for Utley to play.

I haven't even talked about the outfield, a disaster aside from Brown. Ruf looks like an infielder trying to play outfield when he's out there. The other day, I found myself missing Pat Burrell's defense. Read that sentence again. It's pathetic. Ben Revere sucks. John Mayberry Jr. isn't an everyday player (he's OK as a bench guy).

And I'm done.

--Sran

 

[Use of Time]

Honestly, if they want to keep the core offensive players together (which seems to be the case) they need to look at another top of the rotation starting pitcher and they really need to shore up the bullpen. A lot of teams were able to tread water against Hamels and then ambush their six and seven inning guys. Going after bullpen pitchers usually doesn't get the fans all that excited but it can help turn some of those one run losses into wins. Hamels is fine he just seemed to be the guy that the team refused to hit for. I have no idea what Halliday's future holds as being an elite anchor to a rotation. Kendrick actually stepped up a little bit this year but they need someone to replace Lannon.

 

[Timby]

Ostensibly because the Phillies know that Ryne Sandberg would look hard at other opportunities this offseason because the team is a dumpster fire, Charlie Manuel is going to announce his "retirement" and it sounds like Sandberg is getting promoted to the big leagues.

Another classy move by the Phillies front office.