MLB Season Discussion - 2013

[Yanks]

Well, there's an easy explanation for that: The Cardinals are in the playoffs so often because they're GOOD.

That, and their division is TERRIBLE. Slightly better lately, with the Pirates and Reds getting their shit together a little, but come on. In 2006, when they won the WS, they won their division with 83 games. Would have been good for about 8th place in the AL East. Out of 5 teams. They've been decent for quite a while, but that crap division certainly helps.

As for the Red Sox "always being in it", it may see that way, but last Post-Season appearance for them was 2009 (swept in LDS by LAA). May seem like they're always there, but they haven't been. 2003-2009, excepting 2006, was a good run though. The Blue Jays spent the money, they're just a terrible team. They were the favorites to win the division and so some damage this year, and they shot themselves in the foot. Repeatedly. Money /= good. And I think the Red Sox proved that Farrell wasn't the problem last year for them...

And the Yankees: not sure where the optimism is coming from. They're already locked in as super-expensive, and are losing a bunch of big pieces. They've got several expensive guys that are liabilities at this point, and like a 4 person logjam to try and DH them. Best player is a FA at the moment, and their best hope for getting better is that their most expensive player gets suspended or hopefully banned from baseball. Only 4 years, 116 million left on that one! Jeter can't stay on the field and hurts you when he does, Mo retired, CC looked terrible this year (4 years 96 million left there), Texiera has another 3/67.5M left on his deal, can't stay healthy and has wrist issues sapping his power. Kuroda, your best pitcher, is a FA. Pettitte retired. Granderson's a FA. They have NO farm system, without any 'big' prospects, and their best guys took steps backwards this year, so no help coming there.

In all reality, who would you say is the Yankee's best player right now (excluding FAs)? Gardner (.274 avg, 8 HR, 24 SB)? Nova (9-6, 3.10 ERA, went from 16 wins to 12 to 9 the last 3 years)? Right now, Cano is all they've got, and while he'll probably return, it's not guaranteed. He leaves, there's literally nothing there. Especially for the 189M they're going to try and get under. This has happened a few times in the last decade where we thought the Yankees might fall off and they held it together, but it's starting to seem more and more like the bill for all the bad and expensive signings is starting to come due...

2009 was a good year!

So right about my Yanks. What an off-season this will be.

We just might NOT see Cano in pinstrips again.

I believe I heard Karoda was ging to retire?

Still have Michael Pineda. That should be a good rotation fill.

Easy on El'Capitan... he lead the majors in hit before his injury. I'm concerned... not sure he'll make it back. He's had a year to recover and couldn't make it back... I'm hoping he can heal properly. When healthy is is NOT a liability in the field at all.

What do I want to see?

Tex at first and the wrist thing healed.

Granderson resigned patroling in the outfield with Gardner and Soriano.

Jeter healthy back at short stop.

A-Rod dies and we find someone, maybe just throw Nix or Nunez in there.

Let either JR Murphy or Auston Romine work behind the plate. Cheap and given a huge opportunity. While I like Stewart behind the plate, I think he's a proven <.250 hitter.

Rotation... ?????????

CC will rebound. 18-21 wins. Gain some weight back man!!

Pineda finally gets in the roation. win 16-18

Nova has the potential to win 20... I saw big strides in his head at the end of this year.

David Phelps wins 15-18

5??? Who knows at this point.

With Mo gone (sniff) everyone is talking David Robertson for the closer. I don't thinkn so. He's FANTASTIC at what he does. I wont root against him, but I don't see him succeeding in that role.

So, closer???? Who knows

We won 85 game this year with a band-aid line-up, our ace not pitching like an ace and Hughs and Jaba failing.

A least we got Girardi back...

LOTS of questions for sure.

 

[Scout101]

Heard the same about Kuroda, possible. If you throw another 16M at him, maybe he stays one more year.

Think you're *overly optimistic* about the rotation. Maybe CC bounces back, but do you really expect him to go right back to being an ace? Lot of miles on that flabby arm. 16-18 wins for Pineda seems a tad high, seeing as how he's not thrown a single pitch for you in the two years you've had him. Big jump from 0 to 18. Nova has that potential, I suppose, but isn't exactly trending up over the last 3 years (the opposite). Robertson might be the area that's of least concern, at least he's healthy and can play. Rivera aside, "Official team closer" doesn't have to be as big a deal as it's made out to be. Check out the Sox this year, who took 4 tries before finding one that stuck this year...

As for Jeter? Come on. All the respect in the world for him, but he IS a liability in the field. Always used to be (spare me the gold glove talk, not exactly an advanced metric, and rewards flash over substance), and he's slowed down a LOT over the past couple years. This one has been beat to death on sports websites, no need to rehash. Other than to say Jeter's little jump and throw move looks flashy, but takes longer and gets less on the ball than a real throw every time. Seen that broken down on tape a lot

Here you go, with pictures, video, and gif files to show the proof. The metrics show Jeter costing something around 230-260 runs over his career...

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9603949/the-tragedy-derek-jeter-defense


Glad you liked the TBS coverage of the As/Tigers game: thats' the Red Sox announcing crew. With Eckersley filling in for Remy. Hope that part stays permanent, Eck is a fantastic addition to the booth.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Eck is a fantastic addition to the booth.

When you can understand his...unique vocabulary.

 

[Scout101]

oh, he comes off a little funny for sure, but once you get over him constantly talking about cheese, salad, moss, etc. it's actually very good commentary, and usually pretty insightful. From a pitching perspective, he really gets a lot of what's going on out there, which is helpful and interesting. Sounds corny at times, but once you accept the vocabulary, it's pretty good.

And honestly, they don't sound any different calling the As/Tigers game than they have calling the Red Sox games, so they come across pretty well and not so much a couple of homers. No John Stirling, anyway

 

[Danny99]

I'm glad Buck Martinez is being inflicted on someone other than Jays fans with his insipid commentary.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And honestly, they don't sound any different calling the As/Tigers game than they have calling the Red Sox games, so they come across pretty well and not so much a couple of homers. No John Stirling, anyway

I was talking about the Detroit radio team. I don't know who they are, but they were definitely homers, and insulting ones at that.

(I don't have cable, so I don't get TBS)

 

[Scout101]

Ah, disregard then

I was obviously talking about the TBS tv announcers, which are the duo that does the Red Sox NESN broadcast during the regular season...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Eh? I thought the Red Sox TV guys were Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy. Have they changed things around?

Me, I'm hoping for a Tigers win in this world series. The city could sure use the boost.

 

[Yanks]

Heard the same about Kuroda, possible. If you throw another 16M at him, maybe he stays one more year.

Think you're *overly optimistic* about the rotation. Maybe CC bounces back, but do you really expect him to go right back to being an ace? Lot of miles on that flabby arm. 16-18 wins for Pineda seems a tad high, seeing as how he's not thrown a single pitch for you in the two years you've had him. Big jump from 0 to 18. Nova has that potential, I suppose, but isn't exactly trending up over the last 3 years (the opposite). Robertson might be the area that's of least concern, at least he's healthy and can play. Rivera aside, "Official team closer" doesn't have to be as big a deal as it's made out to be. Check out the Sox this year, who took 4 tries before finding one that stuck this year...

As for Jeter? Come on. All the respect in the world for him, but he IS a liability in the field. Always used to be (spare me the gold glove talk, not exactly an advanced metric, and rewards flash over substance), and he's slowed down a LOT over the past couple years. This one has been beat to death on sports websites, no need to rehash. Other than to say Jeter's little jump and throw move looks flashy, but takes longer and gets less on the ball than a real throw every time. Seen that broken down on tape a lot

Here you go, with pictures, video, and gif files to show the proof. The metrics show Jeter costing something around 230-260 runs over his career...

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9603949/the-tragedy-derek-jeter-defense


Glad you liked the TBS coverage of the As/Tigers game: thats' the Red Sox announcing crew. With Eckersley filling in for Remy. Hope that part stays permanent, Eck is a fantastic addition to the booth.

Yeah, I'm a fan...

But I watch no less that 145 games a year. Been doin that for about 7 years.

The numbers can say one thing, but I haven't seen us lose a game because Derek's defense yet.

 

[Skywalker]

^ Eh? I thought the Red Sox TV guys were Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy. Have they changed things around?

Jerry Remy missed most of the latter portion of the season because his son is in some serious legal trouble, so he stepped away from the booth to focus on that. Eckersley has been NESN's primary replacement (he usually works as an in-studio analyst on their pre- and post-game shows), and I agree with Scout that Eck's been excellent in the booth. I wouldn't be adverse to seeing him become Remy's permanent replacement, but I don't see that happening.

 

[jespah]

^ Eh? I thought the Red Sox TV guys were Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy. Have they changed things around?

Jerry Remy missed most of the latter portion of the season because his son is in some serious legal trouble, so he stepped away from the booth to focus on that. Eckersley has been NESN's primary replacement (he usually works as an in-studio analyst on their pre- and post-game shows), and I agree with Scout that Eck's been excellent in the booth. I wouldn't be adverse to seeing him become Remy's permanent replacement, but I don't see that happening.

Agreed; I like Eck. I've enjoyed them bringing in other pitchers from the past, like Timlin, too.

 

[Use of Time]

I love the way playoff baseball is managed. When is the last time you saw a guy get pulled after six with a no hitter in progress?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

...and the Tigers take game 1.

 

[Kirby]

No offense to Red Sox fans, but SUCK IT RED SOX!
SUCK IT DODGERS! (true offense meant to Dodgers fans - I hate you.)

That said, I still think we'll see a Dodgers/Sox series.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I predict it will be a rematch of the '06 series: Tigers/Cardinals.

 

[Yanks]

Are we witnessing some damn GREAT pitching or what!!!

 

[Scout101]

I love the way playoff baseball is managed. When is the last time you saw a guy get pulled after six with a no hitter in progress?

What's that have to do with playoff baseball? Pretty sure that would have happened in regular season as well. The guy was at 116 pitches after 6. Is there ANY realistic expectation that he goes 3 more innings without ruining his career? It's because it was only 6 innings that it made it EASY to pull him, not harder. It was pretty much a no-brainer from a managing standpoint.

He wasn't going to go the distance, so what was the 'ballsy' way that was managed? Would have been stupid to let him go back out there, he's at 140 after 7 (he was pretty much doing 20ish an inning), was he going to stay in for all 9 and run up 180 pitches? Come on. Maybe you can squeeze one more inning out of him, but it took him too many pitches to get there, he was never going to finish. Would have only been a ballsy move for the manager if he does that when the pitcher's only got 80 or so pitches. Then there's something to talk about.
That said, it was one hell of a performance last night. Ended up a 1-hitter, and even on the Sox side, 1 run on what, 5-6 hits? Pretty tight game all around.

 

[Use of Time]

I love the way playoff baseball is managed. When is the last time you saw a guy get pulled after six with a no hitter in progress?

What's that have to do with playoff baseball? Pretty sure that would have happened in regular season as well. The guy was at 116 pitches after 6. Is there ANY realistic expectation that he goes 3 more innings without ruining his career? It's because it was only 6 innings that it made it EASY to pull him, not harder. It was pretty much a no-brainer from a managing standpoint.

He wasn't going to go the distance, so what was the 'ballsy' way that was managed? Would have been stupid to let him go back out there, he's at 140 after 7 (he was pretty much doing 20ish an inning), was he going to stay in for all 9 and run up 180 pitches? Come on. Maybe you can squeeze one more inning out of him, but it took him too many pitches to get there, he was never going to finish. Would have only been a ballsy move for the manager if he does that when the pitcher's only got 80 or so pitches. Then there's something to talk about.
That said, it was one hell of a performance last night. Ended up a 1-hitter, and even on the Sox side, 1 run on what, 5-6 hits? Pretty tight game all around.

I know. I was watching college football pretty much most of the day so I had no idea what his pitch count was. The only reason I flipped over was because of the little banner at the bottom of the screen tipping me off that the Sox were on the verge of getting no-hit in the eighth. It's not surprising that his pitch count ended up high. I caught the first two innings and it seemed like every batter he faced was seeing a full count. Didn't he walk a ton of people too?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I love the way playoff baseball is managed. When is the last time you saw a guy get pulled after six with a no hitter in progress?

Didn't CC Sabathia get pulled after 8 no-hit innings a year or so ago? It wasn't even in the playoffs.

 

[Scout101]

Well, not too shabby a day to be a Boston fan! Brady gets a last-second TD for the win in the Pats game, and then after getting held down AGAIN by Detroit pitching all day, Ortiz does, well, what Ortiz does, and tied it in the 8th with a grand slam, and the Sox follow it up with a walkoff hit in the 9th. Great come from behind win, something this team has been doing all year, just refuses to admit they lose...