2008 MLB Thread

[senob44]

Well folks, this thread is off to a little bit of a late start, but there's a whole Major League Baseball season ahead of us.


Boston is off to a hot start in the AL East as expected, while in the AL Central, the very talented Tigers are having a rough go of it so far. In the AL West, the Angels and the A's are duking it out early.

My favorite team, the Mets, are winners of 5 of their last 6 after starting slow. While the Brewers, Cubs and Cards are looking good in the NL Central, the cream of the NL so far is Arizona at 13-5.

Standings:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings

SO LET'S TALK BASEBALL, FOLKS!

 

[yaheem]

hoo boy Giants suck.

 

[Nice Cans]

Go White Sox!

 

[Tballlz63]

yankees are a .500 team and finally getting a day off. at the time i was happy the yanks didn't go for the trade for johan santana but man hughs and kennedy are sucking it up pretty good. and moose is a toss up between horrible and barely able to get through 5 innings. i dunno about the playoffs this year but luckily cleveland and detroit are sucking too.

 

[Christmas_Ape]

Loving the Reed Johnson pickup the Cubs made in the off season, loving Fukudome...pretty much loving what I'm seeing from the Cubs so far 3 weeks in.....but mostly I'm scared....for The Big Let Down.

 

[senob44]

yankees are a .500 team and finally getting a day off. at the time i was happy the yanks didn't go for the trade for johan santana but man hughs and kennedy are sucking it up pretty good. and moose is a toss up between horrible and barely able to get through 5 innings. i dunno about the playoffs this year but luckily cleveland and detroit are sucking too.

Living where I do, I hear a lot about the Yankees (whom I hate, being a Mets fan). Your assessment of those three pitchers is right on. I think Mussina is pretty much done, at least Hughes and Kennedy still have potential. You guys are fortunate though that Wang and Pettitte have largely been as solid as they come. Right now, the Yanks are hurting too from injuries to position players. I think they'll contend for the wild card though, possibly with the A's and the Indians.

The AL central should be real interesting if the Tigers can't regain form and run away with it. It would be interesting to see a Wild Card out of the AL west possibly.

 

[senob44]

Loving the Reed Johnson pickup the Cubs made in the off season, loving Fukudome...pretty much loving what I'm seeing from the Cubs so far 3 weeks in.....but mostly I'm scared....for The Big Let Down.

I'm loving the 3-way early race there in the NL central with MIL, STL and the Cubs. (not to mention the very capable Reds are also in the division). I think this race is the most wide-open in all of baseball. I think STL will fade, but look for the Reds to take their place. It may come down to the wire again.

And let me just add this: the longer the Brewers play around using Eric Gagne, the better things will be for the rest of their division. The guy just blew his 3rd save in spectacular fashion, not retiring a batter and allowing 2 HR and the game winning hit in extra innings. He is almost to the point where you could call him a proven loser. The Brewers gamble didn't pay off and they should eat his contract.

 

[Christmas_Ape]

^^ Oops..I think I've said too much. Normally this is where I say piss on the Brewers.....but I'm really trying to try to try to stop talking sports on the web. Not just cause of my superstitious mind, but when I'm wrong...I hate having a digital record of that online.

 

[AverageAllStar]

I am a Cardinals fan that has a very hesitant excitement about the start so far. I love what I am seeing from the "young" guys on the team, and the amount of fire the team seems to be competing with. My brain is telling me that they will fade over time, but my heart likes to believe that they will find a way to keep the Cubs from winning the division.

 

[senob44]

I am a Cardinals fan that has a very hesitant excitement about the start so far. I love what I am seeing from the "young" guys on the team, and the amount of fire the team seems to be competing with. My brain is telling me that they will fade over time, but my heart likes to believe that they will find a way to keep the Cubs from winning the division.

If the Cards can stay competitive, we may have a situation of 4 good teams in one division beating up primarily on the other two and secondarily on the other divisions. Something will probably have to give due to MIL, CHC, STL, and CIN playing each other so much. They can't all have a good record, or can they? STL is in the right division to compete though, like I said, I think it is wide open.

 

[bodie54]

Nothing new with the Dodgers :dunno:
Year after year they either don't address their primary need or end up with damaged goods (Jason Schmidt) when they do. This year they needed a starting pitcher (and arguably a third baseman) but instead they paid 16 mil for Andruw Jones, who's looking like a corpulent testimony to lack of professional pride.

 

[D-rock]

If the Cards can stay competitive, we may have a situation of 4 good teams in one division beating up primarily on the other two and secondarily on the other divisions. Something will probably have to give due to MIL, CHC, STL, and CIN playing each other so much. They can't all have a good record, or can they? STL is in the right division to compete though, like I said, I think it is wide open.

It still feels too weird to me to think of the NL Central as a good division.

 

[Becks...poamr]

Resident Brewers fan here. :wave:

Normally this is where I say piss on the Brewers

:hiss:

 

[Magnet]

Im just hoping the Dodgers can get goin. They have a more then capable team. If Joe torre would just stick with Kemp and Either we should be good.

Hopefully he dosent keep floping around the young guys. I would like to see them get 500 at bats.

 

[Sherlock_Holmes]

Seattle Mariners, our starting pitching appears to be pretty good and our offense is starting to come around including Richie Sexson who was horrible last season.

 

[senob44]

Nothing new with the Dodgers :dunno:
Year after year they either don't address their primary need or end up with damaged goods (Jason Schmidt) when they do. This year they needed a starting pitcher (and arguably a third baseman) but instead they paid 16 mil for Andruw Jones, who's looking like a corpulent testimony to lack of professional pride.

Took a look at the Dodgers for the first time this season just yesterday. I'm like "who the hell is Blake DeWitt?" Made me think how when spring training started, Andy LaRoche was my pick for NL ROY! I think when he comes off the DL (not sure how long that will be) he'll provide some help at third. I really thought this would be his year and that he was ready to be a big leaguer and make his mark. I guess it still can be. But it's a crowded infield and Nomar can still hit. So they'll I guess platoon Nomar and LaRoche at third when they are both healed up? I say jettison Loney and make Nomar the 1B. Clearing up third for LaRoche.

And Magnet, I definitely agree with your opinion on Kemp and Ethier. Both are much better all-around players than the overrated Juan Pierre.

 

[bodie54]

Senob - Loney's golden. Great fielder, outstanding bat. He figures to be with this team a long time. The logjam in the outfield has turned into a big problem. Instead of providing leverage for a trade Pierre may eventually have to rescue this team from the yawning abyss that is Andruw Jones (so far). The question is how long will Jones be allowed to fail before he and his huge salary get sat down? I agree Pierre isn't all that - but he does have speed and a consistently decent batting avg. I think you're right about the Nomar/LaRoche platoon, with Nomar getting most of the time if he's healthy enough to handle it.

 

[Tballlz63]

Im just hoping the Dodgers can get goin. They have a more then capable team. If Joe torre would just stick with Kemp and Either we should be good.

Hopefully he dosent keep floping around the young guys. I would like to see them get 500 at bats.

oh man... i am happy the yankees got rid of torre or let him walk or however u wanna describe that situation.

seeing the yankees actually try to win games now is amazing and not just wait to hit home runs. i can't really say anything bad about torre but it's good to see a manager use things like a hit and run, and not just using relievers in set roles. like using jaba in the 7th inning, if torre were still here jaba would ONLY be used in the 8th inning as a set up man, and not in the 7th when the games on the line.

 

[gunslingingbird]

I think the best thing to happen to MLB this year are the all-you-can-eat seats that several stadiums now have. I mean, what better way to promote sports (physical activity) than to dangle the carrot of a bottomless pit of nachos, hot dogs, french fries, and soda in front of the morbidly obese fat fucks who are gonna buy these seats?

 

[senob44]

Senob - Loney's golden. Great fielder, outstanding bat. He figures to be with this team a long time. The logjam in the outfield has turned into a big problem. Instead of providing leverage for a trade Pierre may eventually have to rescue this team from the yawning abyss that is Andruw Jones (so far). The question is how long will Jones be allowed to fail before he and his huge salary get sat down? I agree Pierre isn't all that - but he does have speed and a consistently decent batting avg. I think you're right about the Nomar/LaRoche platoon, with Nomar getting most of the time if he's healthy enough to handle it.

Well, you're right about Loney. I was misinformed in a way by my own self since I was using my opinion on him from two years ago, when I thought he was a JT Snow-esque, no hit, all field 1B. But yeah, he's proven at this point that he can hit. If they only had a DH spot to stuff Nomar in. The platoon will happen, but I really don't like it. It doesn't suit either player. But you can't deal LaRoche because then Nomar will get hurt and you guys will be up Blake DeWitt creek without a paddle again. Good point about the outfield logjam. It's not just Ethier, Kemp, Jones and Pierre either. Delwyn Young is a good young player (former big prospect) who gets absolutely no playing time at 5th outfielder. You really can't learn by pinch-hitting every other game. The logjam all comes back to the signing of Jones and the big risk they took in doing so. When he's on, he's got tons of power and is one of the best defensive CF in the game. But when he's off, oh baby is he off. Was last season the indication of what his future will be? Just when he's supposed to be coming into his prime, he instead goes into a tailspin. I guess the Dodgers thought last year was an anomaly rather than an indication. At this point, Andruw Jones is an unknown commodity as far as I can tell.