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Author Topic: Offical MLB Thread!  (Read 338031 times)

Offline stax

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1300 on: December 16, 2009, 06:38:15 AM »
The Jays are reportedly getting three prospects from the Phillies - pitcher Kyle Drabek, outfielder Michael Taylor, and catcher Travis d'Amaud; the Mariners are also supposedly sending a couple of prospects to Philadelphia.

As for the Sox, there are some rumblings that Cameron might play center for them, shifting Ellsbury to left.

how good of the prospects are they? i hope vernon wells can step it up next season

Drabek is a top top prospect. Others, dunno.

Offline Saburo

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Tim Raines for the Baseball HOF!
« Reply #1301 on: December 17, 2009, 09:37:00 PM »
No other sport takes its Hall of Fame as seriously as baseball.  The deadline for 2010's BBWAA inductees looms closely.  Sadly its become as reliable as the Emmy or Grammy Awards recently.  Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter and Bowie Kuhn (!) enter while Ron Santo, Bert Blyleven and Marvin Miller have yet to make it.

The great Joe Posnanski made the case for The Great Tim Raines in his latest blog post.  I can not agree more; he was to the National League what Rickey Henderson represented in the Senior Circuit.

Offline stax

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Re: Tim Raines for the Baseball HOF!
« Reply #1302 on: December 17, 2009, 10:45:55 PM »
No other sport takes its Hall of Fame as seriously as baseball.  The deadline for 2010's BBWAA inductees looms closely.  Sadly its become as reliable as the Emmy or Grammy Awards recently.  Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter and Bowie Kuhn (!) enter while Ron Santo, Bert Blyleven and Marvin Miller have yet to make it.

The great Joe Posnanski made the case for The Great Tim Raines in his latest blog post.  I can not agree more; he was to the National League what Rickey Henderson represented in the Senior Circuit.

Lets not go crazy, Henderson >>> Tim Raines. But yes, Raines, Blyleven, and Trammell all should be in the hall while Rice and (soon to get in, I'm sure) Dawson do not.

Offline Saburo

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1303 on: December 21, 2009, 08:55:04 AM »
GO CRAZY, St. Louis!  Go crazy!

FWIW Raines should have won two, maybe three NL MVPs in the 80s, which would have made his election on the first ballot a no-brainer.  But yeah his career did exist in the shadow of Rickey and who remembers who the second-greatest leadoff hitter of all time was?  Certainly not the BBWAA...

Offline Saburo

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吉田えり
« Reply #1304 on: December 21, 2009, 08:58:14 AM »
BTW how's this Eri Yoshida story?  "Arizona Winter League?"

Seems like Reality TV to me.  People in America should appreciate this stuff...

Offline stax

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1305 on: December 21, 2009, 04:44:04 PM »
GO CRAZY, St. Louis!  Go crazy!

FWIW Raines should have won two, maybe three NL MVPs in the 80s, which would have made his election on the first ballot a no-brainer.  But yeah his career did exist in the shadow of Rickey and who remembers who the second-greatest leadoff hitter of all time was?  Certainly not the BBWAA...

Alan Trammell is one of the worst things, I think, because he often doesn't even get love as a great, but forgotten player. He's probably about as valuable for his career as Derek Jeter but:

A. Wasn't a Yankee and
B. Did it defensively in an era of poor defensive metrics, while Jeter does this offensively and gets a defensive rep he (largely) doesn't deserve

Offline Saburo

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1306 on: December 21, 2009, 05:30:32 PM »
An interesting question Bill James raised last year was whether or not Trammell's HOF chances would have increased if he had won the '87 AL MVP (pretty awful year for the BBWAA that year --- Dawson & George Bell -- can you imagine FJM's coverage?).  James was inconclusive but kinda makes you wonder.

Ten more years until the likes of Rob Neyer get a HOF vote.  It can't come much sooner...

Offline stax

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1307 on: December 21, 2009, 06:11:59 PM »
An interesting question Bill James raised last year was whether or not Trammell's HOF chances would have increased if he had won the '87 AL MVP (pretty awful year for the BBWAA that year --- Dawson & George Bell -- can you imagine FJM's coverage?).  James was inconclusive but kinda makes you wonder.

Ten more years until the likes of Rob Neyer get a HOF vote.  It can't come much sooner...

MVPs definitely help, but I dunno. Like when I say Tim Raines or Bert Blyleven should be in the Hall people will tend to nod and at least understand what I mean, even if they don't agree. But Trammell people often look at me and don't remember who he was.

Offline Mucca

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1308 on: December 21, 2009, 07:20:31 PM »
Yeah, Tram's non-HOF case is kind of puzzling. He won a few Gold Gloves, made some All-Star teams, was the MVP of the '84 World Series, should have won the '87 MVP...and no one cares (or remembers). Part of it, I think, is Tram's numbers don't look sexy enough compared to recent offensive juggernauts at SS like A-Rod, Jeter, Nomar, etc. (whose numbers are at least partially helped by the era they're playing in). And he wasn't like Ozzie Smith where he was a super crowd favorite who got highlight reels on ESPN every night because he made flashy plays, so he doesn't have that going for him, either.

Another guy from those Tigers teams I think is deserving is Lou Whitaker, Tram's double-play partner. At least Tram still has a theoretical chance with the writers; Lou was one-and-done.

What's also sad is that nearly 50% of the baseball writers think Jack Morris is a Hall of Famer, and not Lou or Tram.

Offline stax

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1309 on: December 21, 2009, 07:27:18 PM »
Yeah, Tram's non-HOF case is kind of puzzling. He won a few Gold Gloves, made some All-Star teams, was the MVP of the '84 World Series, should have won the '87 MVP...and no one cares (or remembers). Part of it, I think, is Tram's numbers don't look sexy enough compared to recent offensive juggernauts at SS like A-Rod, Jeter, Nomar, etc. (whose numbers are at least partially helped by the era they're playing in). And he wasn't like Ozzie Smith where he was a super crowd favorite who got highlight reels on ESPN every night because he made flashy plays, so he doesn't have that going for him, either.

Another guy from those Tigers teams I think is deserving is Lou Whitaker, Tram's double-play partner. At least Tram still has a theoretical chance with the writers; Lou was one-and-done.

What's also sad is that nearly 50% of the baseball writers think Jack Morris is a Hall of Famer, and not Lou or Tram.

Both of them are definitely amongst the best not-in-HoF-but-eligible players. A great article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/sports/baseball/21score.html

Offline Saburo

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1310 on: December 21, 2009, 09:31:28 PM »
Absolutely on board with the notion of Bobby Grich as a great player.  I think he'd be even more famous/appreciated/beloved in today's game, where OBP and SLG are more appreciated, especially from a middle infielder.  Jeff Kent will probably make the HOF, while Grich's power and walks (THE prototypical Earl Weaver ballplayer) went unnoticed in the seventies.

Offline stax

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1311 on: December 22, 2009, 05:53:54 PM »
Yankees get J. Vazquez and Boone Logan for M. Cabrera and Mike Dunn. Excellent little deal. Trading an overrated Melky and a nothing pen arm for a workhorse 4th starter.

Offline Mucca

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1312 on: December 22, 2009, 06:10:00 PM »
Because Yankees fans loved Javier Vazquez so much the first time he was in the Bronx, right?  :lol:

Of course, back then he was being counted on as a No. 1 or 2 guy, which -- like you noted -- he definitely will not be this time around.

Offline stax

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1313 on: December 22, 2009, 06:16:15 PM »
Because Yankees fans loved Javier Vazquez so much the first time he was in the Bronx, right?  :lol:

Of course, back then he was being counted on as a No. 1 or 2 guy, which -- like you noted -- he definitely will not be this time around.

Plus, FWIW:

Javier Vazquez, 2004 1st half: 3.56 ERA in 118.2 IP
Javier Vazquez, 2004 2nd half: 6.92 ERA in 79.1 IP

He was pitching injured in the 2nd half.

Offline Saburo

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Milton Bradley takes out full-page ad telling Cubs fans to rot in hell
« Reply #1314 on: December 23, 2009, 07:10:39 AM »
Milton Bradley's farewell message published in a Chicago newspaper.

Yeah it's a spoof but one that had me totally laughing out loud.

Offline daigong

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1315 on: December 23, 2009, 07:25:26 AM »
HAHAHA! At least that kid is one of the few who will miss him.

Offline Saburo

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1316 on: December 23, 2009, 07:44:58 AM »
I read something re. Javier Vazquez and his "arm slot" supposedly changed and corrected for whatever causes ERAs to skyrocket.

Couple concerns:

1) He's back in the American League, where Bill Simmons lives, and

2) He's still a flyball pitcher, and we saw that right field porch in the New Stadium a heckuva lot in highlight packages.

That said, he'll be the FOURTH starter and the scars of the 2004 ALCS are probably gone by now.

Offline Saburo

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Jon Heyman has an epiphany
« Reply #1317 on: December 23, 2009, 06:09:23 PM »
Not that long ago, Jon Heyman of SI tweeted about the dreaded "stat people" taking over the Damn Yanks.

You think Heyman still has issues when someone brings up "slash stats?"  Does he really want to go back to "clutch" and "leadership" facets?


Gads, I REALLY miss FJM...

Offline stax

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Re: Jon Heyman has an epiphany
« Reply #1318 on: December 24, 2009, 12:08:57 AM »
Not that long ago, Jon Heyman of SI tweeted about the dreaded "stat people" taking over the Damn Yanks.

You think Heyman still has issues when someone brings up "slash stats?"  Does he really want to go back to "clutch" and "leadership" facets?


Gads, I REALLY miss FJM...

Nick Johnson = Sexy move. The most classic example of an older-style Moneyball player. You generally can't find guys like that for cheap anymore, but somehow the Yanks got an almost guaranteed .400 OBP (maybe injury prone, but still a .400 OBP) for almost nothing.

Offline Saburo

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Re: Offical MLB Thread!
« Reply #1319 on: December 24, 2009, 12:17:01 AM »
Yeah, low risk-high reward.  Hey, wasn't that the MO of Theo Epstein last off-season?

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