** The Official 2012 MLB Thread! **

[Ninja108]

Indeed Sonny,so many more teams are in it now. I think it helps keep intrest in baseball in so many areas where as last year half the teams would be out of it by now.

 

[gtru1981]

I am surpised no one is talking about the 9 men trade that the Dodgers and Soxs did.

The Soxs had to dump all those bitchy overpaid players. Sorry, Crawford and Gonzalez got way overpaid and arent made for big market teams. The Soxs have to clean up all the mistakes that Theo did with overpaying for players. I still dont understand why these clubs overpay for these guys.

Havent the Soxs, Phillies, Mets shown that high payroll usually doesnt end well. No offense, but Miami, Tigers, and Angels are also showing this as well. Stupid Bora and Arod. Even the Yankees are looking to shed payroll as well. Never been a fan of these 10 year contracts, i think 6 should be the max.

I think changing clubs and leagues does good for many players. Cody Ross, Russell Martin, and Kuroda coming from the National League to the American League has done good for them. I think Looney will be fine in the American League. I think this had to happen, change of scene will be good for everyone.

 

[Ninja108]

Agree with you 100% on long term deals. They almost never work and the Yankee Dynasty was more due to the farm system and signing the right utitly guys versus the big name free agent.
As for the Dodgers/Red Sox deal..you won't likely see one like that in a long time. The Dodgers Gonzalez so badly they took on two bad contracts just to get him.
And as for big market teams,some players simply can't handle the harsh and unforgiving glare of NY,Philly and Boston.

 

[Sausy]

I HATE long term deals beyond six or seven years ....and never would go beyond five after 32,33. Players deserve to be well compensated, support free agency but a club's objective isn't to play Santa Claus to the player's union. It's doing the best it can within it's market to develop a long term program for contention, ideally. Most big contracts bite you in the ass. The money the Phillies gave to Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee....now Cole Hamels? Makes no sense right now. Boston luckily gave their bad contracts to rthe Dodgers but how many clubs can just pull checks out of thin air to sign? Even the Yankees have huge decisions this winter as they swear they want to be at $189 mil max( still an extraordinary chink of change) by 2014 so they can lower dramatically their luxury tax burden(Yanks pretty much only team really impacted over the last few years with the luxury tax). They NEVER should have taken A-Rod back after he opted out. Now they got him til he's 42 for out of this world, insane money. Teixeira and CC Sabathia while they give it all are flawed players, CC more consistent but still around $25 mil he should be a no doubt about it Cy Young contender but shaky conditioning and minor ills have hurt him. Granderson is really overrated if he gets anywhere near $20 mil this winter. Robinson Cano struggled mightily in the clutch the first couple of months, still should have more RBI than he has but again....better player than Grandeerson but 25 mil for eight years good? Even gotta worry about Nick Swisher, should be a four year guy around 50 mil but represented by Scott Boras maybe will try for seven year,100 mil plus Jayson Werth money. Just because Washington foolishly tried to bring legitimacy by overpaying by a lot for a good but not great player doesn't mean you throw common sense out the window too.

 

[Ninja108]

Frustrating to see the Yanks choke away their lead to a tie but not shocking either. We had so many injuries that were going to bite us in the butt sooner or later and now they have popped up.
We have too many platoon and old players that were NOT meant to play as much as they have and the pitching...that's why Montero was traded away.
I come from a multi generation Yankee family so I know there can be hard times..and IMO,the Yanks will be in one ofr the next couple of years.

 

[Sausy]

Yankees have to get younger and better defensively range wise. I don't think they're going on a rebuilding course because they have enough quality veterans but long term they have to develop or trade for some guys they can build with. Derek will probably play another two or three years, we're stuck for the next for with A Rod and that's by far the worst situation. Mark Teixeira too, four more years to go on his contract....keep Cano but don't forget he's 30 now and another seven or eight year vontract for him means they should just forget tying themselves to either Curtis Granderson (32 next year) or Nick Swisher(31). Even the backups are old.... if Brett Gardner comes back healthy well mazel tv but even he's no spring chicken turning 30 next season. With the prices they charge no way they'll start over and be crap for a time but it is a very difficult balance of contending and developing /adding a new generation of talent. They do have a few really promising guys in the minors but trading the best of them for the new thirtyish slugger of the day is not the way to go. Interesting to see how they try to keep contending and not eventually all check in to the over the hill major league retirement home but form the next potential Yankee dynasty. I think Hal Steinbrenner wants to do it right., eschewing the superstar obsession his father had for a mix of players. Even the Yankees don't want to pay out plus 200 million dollar player budgets ad infinitum. As Brian Cashman said, the Yankees will always be willing to spend the money and have one of the highest if not the highest budgets but just spending money without thought doesn't make sense even for them. Flexibility too is key to long term contention.

 

[King Gumby VIII]

The Washington Nats have shut down Stephen Strasburg for the year. John Lannan will take over the spot in the starting rotation.
Strasburg 15-6 3.16 ERA

 

[Sausy]

The Washington Nats have shut down Stephen Strasburg for the year. John Lannan will take over the spot in the starting rotation.
Strasburg 15-6 3.16 ERA

Hi,Z! I know Strasburg had the Tommy John surgery, and has made an outstanding comeback this year. Understandable if frustrating for Strasburg, his teammates ,the organiation and the Nat fans this season when the Nats are really going forward and finally loooking at a presaeason. He'll be back fresh and ready to go next spring and hopefully will have the stamina and okay of the club to stretch to around 200 innings or so for the season.

Also,though he may not have the glowing stats this season as the Angel's center fielder Mike Trout, Bryce Harper is great... playing with a spark again after hitting a wall earlier in the summer. His daring baserunning and aggressiveness highlighted by his efforts against the Cubs a few games back (the game with the bench clearing brawl)just highlighted how much passion he has to win and how outstanding his baseball instincts are. He may react immaturely after a mistake or what he perceives a boneheaded call but no doubt he knows and appreciates how to play the game hard and right.

 

[Stealth412]

Hi,Z! I know Strasburg had the Tommy John surgery, and has made an outstanding comeback this year. Understandable if frustrating for Strasburg, his teammates ,the organiation and the Nat fans this season when the Nats are really going forward and finally loooking at a presaeason. He'll be back fresh and ready to go next spring and hopefully will have the stamina and okay of the club to stretch to around 200 innings or so for the season.

Also,though he may not have the glowing stats this season as the Angel's center fielder Mike Trout, Bryce Harper is great... playing with a spark again after hitting a wall earlier in the summer. His daring baserunning and aggressiveness highlighted by his efforts against the Cubs a few games back (the game with the bench clearing brawl)just highlighted how much passion he has to win and how outstanding his baseball instincts are. He may react immaturely after a mistake or what he perceives a boneheaded call but no doubt he knows and appreciates how to play the game hard and right.

Trout is having an incredible year

he's pretty good looking too

 

[Sausy]

Trout is having an incredible year

he's pretty good looking too

He absolutely is both!.....and is a New Jersey boy too!One of a kind talent....doing it all like he's showing now at only 20 is amazing!

 

[King Gumby VIII]

Washington nationals just got swept by the Braves.
The lead in the east drops to 5.5 , the magic number stays at 11.

 

[Sausy]

Yep Nats hit a bump in the road not helped by Stephen Strasburg's season being cut short and Gonzalez and Zimmermann picking the worst time to slump this month. Still,you guys are in pretty good shape compared to what happened to the Mets Atlanta has been amazing, and damn if the Phillies at least showed fight getting back into a semblance of competitiveness.

 

[Ninja108]

I don't think the Nationals thought they were going to be as good as they were this year. Hence why they botched Strasburg. As for the divisions..other then the Giants in the NL West and Reds in the NL central,the rest of them are still up for grabs.

 

[sonny10305]

Sill,you guys are in pretty good shape compared to what happened to the Mets

WHY???? What's happened to the Mets ????

 

[Sausy]

WHY???? What's happened to the Mets ????

Bad boy,sonny!

 

[gtru1981]

I don't think the Nationals thought they were going to be as good as they were this year. Hence why they botched Strasburg. As for the divisions..other then the Giants in the NL West and Reds in the NL central,the rest of them are still up for grabs.

I dont think anyone in MLB thought the Nats would be this good and or even the A's.

Just proves my point about overspeanding and having high payrolls and long terms contracts never are good for teams.

I really want the Nats to win the National League and head to the WS.

On a side note, super excited for the Dodgers and Giants coming to NY next year. Going to be like the good old days.

 

[Sausy]

Nats did though spend obscenely for Jayson Werth...last year was an aberration but seven years, over $120 mil is crazy....crazier still they were bidding pretty much only against themselves. Happy to see Billy Beane back up again with his A's right in the thick of it....winning isn't just marquee names but chemistry and dedication as well. Glad the A's are out there to help remind baseball that the huge payrolls don't guarantee playoff caliber performances.

19 th win for RA Dickey over the Marlins....only blemish a three run homer late by John Buck off of Jon Rauch relieving Dickey. Anyone going to see Knuckleball, about the pitch thrown by Dickey and a number of other legendary pitchers? Got great reviews and just seems like a really fun picture due to the very close knit camaraderie between the knuckleball fraternity.

 

[Ninja108]

Holy cow...that was one of the best games I've ever seen!

 

[Sausy]

Holy cow...that was one of the best games I've ever seen!

Fuck,the Yankees pulled it out!!!I saw the score was 13-9 Oakland in the 13th and thought no way in hell the Yanks would rally from that! Then again,these ARE the Yanks and they can do stuff like this in their sleep!

 

[Sausy]

Fuck,the Yankees pulled it out!!!I saw the score was 13-9 Oakland in the 13th and thought no way in hell the Yanks would rally from that! Then again,these ARE the Yanks and they can do stuff like this in their sleep!

My bad....Yanks scored four runs to tie the game in the bottom of the 13th 9-9,then won in the 14th. Not come back from a 13-9 deficit....though they did erase a four run burst from Oakland.