MLB 2012

Off Topic
401

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
My man Aroldis Chapman is free-falling. Velocity is dropping and he can’t locate any pitch for his life, let alone his slider, which he’ll need to find to be effective long term. He did something similar last year, though. Started really strong but hit a giant rough patch in the middle of the season.[/quote]

That guy is killing my fantasy team right now. Is his velocity really dropping? I saw him blow a save about a week ago and he was 99-100 with every fastball. What’s going on with him? Should I trade him? I’m already in a fucking free-fall in the standings over the last two weeks even with Matt Cain being on my team. I need to shake things up and I need another starting pitcher. Will he ever start for them this year? He hasn’t really thrown a lot of innings yet for a reliever. I hope this is just a bump in the road for him.[/quote]

I watched that game, but it was one of the only games in his last 6 or so appearances where he’s come close to his usual velocity. In that Cleveland game he topped out at 95, IIRC, and he was missing spots by the width of the plate. He has to be a bit of a headcase when you consider the weird scandals he gets involved in.

But I’ve said it before to other Reds fans: if he doesn’t learn to throw that slider, he’ll be Derrick Turnbow 2.0, except he won’t have a 40 save season of sub-2 ERA to show for it.

402

One of the best catches of the year, maybe even the best

http://www.thevictoryformation.com/2012/06/23/video-insane-catch-by-marlins-justin-ruggiano/

It could’ve been an inside the park home run with Lawrie’s speed.

403

Youkilis traded to the White Sox for Zach Stewart.

Stewart was one of the players traded in the Colby Rasmus deal last year.

404

I gotta tell you guys, I’m not liking what MLB is doing with the scheduling these days. First, the playoff structure this year is totally fucked. The best team in each league has to open their first-round series on the road for the first two games, after sitting around for almost a week. Any team that ends up with the best record in their league and finishes the regular season on the road could potentially go two weeks before playing at home again.

But I don’t like the way next season is going to go. Interleague games being played somewhere in the majors every day of the year next season. I don’t like this for a couple reasons. FIrst of all, the whole interleague isn’t necessary anymore. Baseball’s popularity hardly hinges on it. Secondly, it’s a disadvantage to NL teams when they have to play in AL parks but not really the other way around.

NL teams build themselves differently. Without a DH, they don’t really need a legitimate hitter who can’t play any positions on the roster. Instead, teams fill that bench spot with a guy who might be a decent hitter but is more valuable as a late-inning replacement during double-switches because he can play multiple positions well.

In the AL, teams don’t do this. Plus, almost all of the DH’s in the AL can actually play defense as well, they just don’t for their teams. The day of the pure DH who can’t play a lick in the field is over with. The only DH’s like that that I can think of are Billy Butler, Luke Scott and maybe David Ortiz, although they still manage to get him in the lineup more often than not.

So when an NL team plays in an AL park, they have to fill the DH spot with some guy who’s on the team for defense, whereas when an AL team plays in an NL park almost every one of them can still put their DH in the lineup. They sacrifice defense for offense, which is basically a wash. But the NL teams simply have to plug a poor hitter into the lineup. They can get their worst defensive player off the field and into the DH spot, but they don’t gain anything by still having to put a poor hitter in the lineup.

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Wasn’t comfortable watching the Giants get their ass handed to them by the Rangers, Angels and Mariners I guess?

  1. I agree Interleague isn’t necessary, but I definitely enjoy it. I think it’s meant to cater to the hardcore fan more than anything else. It’s also fun to see previous WS matchups.

  2. The NL gets crushed every year in interleague because talent level is much higher in the AL. It’s been this way for the past 5 years and it’s only gotten worse.

  3. Each team is at an advantage when playing at home. I would say your comment about the DH’s ability to play defense is only technically correct. David Ortiz may be able to play 1B but he’s ATROCIOUS at it. Along with who you mentioned, Adam Dunn, Michael Young, Mike Napoli, Travis Hafner, Jesus Montero (projected to be terrible but we’ll see I guess) are terrible defensively and are important parts of their teams lineups. Before you ask, Michael Young gets points for his versatility, but he stinks at every position he plays -lol. Basically, you’re underestimating the handicap and I would hardly call it a wash.

  4. I greatly dislike seeing AL pitchers hit because I think it poses a real injury risk since they don’t partake in baserunning or BP regularly.

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Also those were the only DH’s I could think of off the top of my head.

I’ll add in the Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion to that list.

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[quote]therajraj wrote:
Wasn’t comfortable watching the Giants get their ass handed to them by the Rangers, Angels and Mariners I guess?

  1. I agree Interleague isn’t necessary, but I definitely enjoy it. I think it’s meant to cater to the hardcore fan more than anything else. It’s also fun to see previous WS matchups.

  2. The NL gets crushed every year in interleague because talent level is much higher in the AL. It’s been this way for the past 5 years and it’s only gotten worse.

  3. Each team is at an advantage when playing at home. I would say your comment about the DH’s ability to play defense is only technically correct. David Ortiz may be able to play 1B but he’s ATROCIOUS at it. Along with who you mentioned, Adam Dunn, Michael Young, Mike Napoli, Travis Hafner, Jesus Montero (projected to be terrible but we’ll see I guess) are terrible defensively and are important parts of their teams lineups. Before you ask, Michael Young gets points for his versatility, but he stinks at every position he plays -lol. Basically, you’re underestimating the handicap and I would hardly call it a wash.

  4. I greatly dislike seeing AL pitchers hit because I think it poses a real injury risk since they don’t partake in baserunning or BP regularly.

[/quote]
FIrst of all, I disagree that there is greater talent in the AL and I think the last two All-Star Games and World Series bears me out. There are more teams in the AL that have a lot of talent collected together, but I think the talent in the NL is deeper and more evenly dispersed throughout.

Secondly, regarding your DH list: yes, they are all bad defensively. But they can still play defense. There isn’t an Edgar Martinez in that group. And Napoli is a catcher primarily. He’s made 42 starts there and 1 at DH this year, so I don’t think he belongs in this conversation. Neither does Michael Young. He isn’t a great defender by any means, but he makes half his starts in the field and he can play several positions halfway decently. And Montero hasn’t even made a single start at DH. And my point is that given these guys play in the field primarily, or half the time with Young, when their teams play in an NL park they still have the option of using these players at their normal positions or in the DH spot if they have a better defensive alternative.

Both teams have to use a shitty hitter with the pitcher in an NL park, but in an AL park the NL team isn’t replacing that shitty hitter with a good hitter like an AL team can do with their DH because NL teams simply don’t carry players like that. So they’re replacing a shitty-hitting pitcher with someone who isn’t good enough to start for that team and who more than likely has more value to his team due to defense than hitting.

And let’s face it: the game is more boring with the DH. There’s less strategy involved and while pitchers generally are an embarrassment at the plate, when one of them DOES do something like hit a home run or drive a run in or score a run on a nice base-running play it’s a little more exciting or interesting then watching a DH do something he routinely does. It’s not like the removal of the DH is going to remove all these good hitters from the game. Guys like Dunn and Butler and Ortiz and Encarnacion are going to be playing on the field somewhere if the DH rule were removed.

As far as the risk involved with pitchers when they hit and run the bases, whatever. I don’t think pitchers injure themselves very often at all in these situations in the NL and quite frankly, I like the idea of making them take it a little more seriously. Why should a pitcher be any different than any other player, other than DHs, and be expected to only contribute on one side of the ball? Shit, there are some good hitting pitchers out there anyways. I think guys like Zambrano or Bumgarner could probably out-hit some regular players on their own teams if they hit every day. Besides, as much as there is a risk involved when a pitcher hits, it’s nothing like the risk involved when they pitch. Sure, the reward is much higher, but a pitcher who can hit and run the bases well, and players who can hit and play defense well, are better, more well-rounded players than those who are one-dimensional. I can’t see any argument against seeing an improvement in the quality of play overall when the players are generally more multi-dimensional. In other words, fucking Ball Players.

408

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

FIrst of all, I disagree that there is greater talent in the AL and I think the last two All-Star Games and World Series bears me out. There are more teams in the AL that have a lot of talent collected together, but I think the talent in the NL is deeper and more evenly dispersed throughout.

[/quote]

I’m busy will respond to the rest, but wanted to respond to this quickly.

This is up there with the comment you made at the end of 2010 regarding TB’s chances in 2011. 2 All Star games and 2 WS as proof, really?

How about the interleague record since it’s inception: 2083-1883 in favour of the AL? That’s a 52% winning percentage for the AL and 48% for the AL. Since 2007 it’s been 831-681 in favour of the AL - 54.5% AL and 45.5% NL.

In 2012 it has been 56% AL and 44% NL. It’s getting worse every year.

How about the fact that the AL won the All-Star game for more than 10 straight years (ignoring the year they tied)? This speaks directly to your point about the collected talent vs dispersed talent. If this were true, we’d see a different result.

The NL has won most of the last 10 world series by a margin of 6-4.

I would consider the interleague the most telling due to the sheer amount of games.

409

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

FIrst of all, I disagree that there is greater talent in the AL and I think the last two All-Star Games and World Series bears me out. There are more teams in the AL that have a lot of talent collected together, but I think the talent in the NL is deeper and more evenly dispersed throughout.

[/quote]

I’m busy will respond to the rest, but wanted to respond to this quickly.

This is up there with the comment you made at the end of 2010 regarding TB’s chances in 2011. 2 All Star games and 2 WS as proof, really?

How about the interleague record since it’s inception: 2083-1883 in favour of the AL? That’s a 52% winning percentage for the AL and 48% for the AL. Since 2007 it’s been 831-681 in favour of the AL - 54.5% AL and 45.5% NL.

In 2012 it has been 56% AL and 44% NL. It’s getting worse every year.

How about the fact that the AL won the All-Star game for more than 10 straight years (ignoring the year they tied)? This speaks directly to your point about the collected talent vs dispersed talent. If this were true, we’d see a different result.

The NL has won most of the last 10 world series by a margin of 6-4.

I would consider the interleague the most telling due to the sheer amount of games.

[/quote]
Dude, my whole point is that the way the DH vs not having a DH forces teams to construct themselves is why there is a disparity between records in interleague play. AL teams take on another quality hitter whereas that position is filled by a bench-quality player in the NL due to there being more double-switches. So in AL parks AL teams use their regular lineup, whereas NL teams plug in a guy that generally isn’t a good enough hitter to start normally. In NL parks, that player is removed, but the DH player from an AL team still usually gets into the lineup.

It’s not a talent thing at all. And as far as the All-Star Game goes, only the last couple matter now. There’s more young talent in the league now and most of it is in the NL: Strasburg, Harper, Kershaw, Bumgarner, Upton, Posey, Stanton, Castro and even Trevor Bauer are all top prospects or perennial All-Stars in the NL under the age of 25. Throw guys like Cain, Kemp, Reyes, Tulowitzki, Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Gio Gonzalez, Carlos Gonzalez, Braun, Greinke, Melky Cabrera, Joey Votto and Matt Holliday and there’s a lot of talent, period.

I have the strange sense an All-Star Game bet is coming on. How about it, Raj? Avatars for the entire second half of the season on the line?

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[quote]DBCooper wrote:

I have the strange sense an All-Star Game bet is coming on. How about it, Raj? Avatars for the entire second half of the season on the line? [/quote]

Alright, but lets just do a month like last time.

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Nothing extremely gay, or racist.

That Steve Jobs avatar you use to sport would be okay, but not the two dudes in spandex hugging each other (like you posted last time).

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[quote]therajraj wrote:
Nothing extremely gay, or racist.

That Steve Jobs avatar you use to sport would be okay, but not the two dudes in spandex hugging each other (like you posted last time).[/quote]

I was more inclined to go with the dead Blue Jay again. But what’s the point of wagering avatars if there are limitations on what I can make you use if you lose? It isn’t really gambling at that point.

No, there is no bet unless you agree to ANY avatar of my choice. I know that the NL is better and the last two Series and All-Star Games bear me out more than the interleague records for reasons I clearly laid out. And you know this is the case as well, which is why you’re afraid to bet on my terms. If you don’t want to wager ANY avatar on the game then I’m fine with it. No bet then.

413

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
Nothing extremely gay, or racist.

That Steve Jobs avatar you use to sport would be okay, but not the two dudes in spandex hugging each other (like you posted last time).[/quote]

I was more inclined to go with the dead Blue Jay again. But what’s the point of wagering avatars if there are limitations on what I can make you use if you lose? It isn’t really gambling at that point.

No, there is no bet unless you agree to ANY avatar of my choice. I know that the NL is better and the last two Series and All-Star Games bear me out more than the interleague records for reasons I clearly laid out. And you know this is the case as well, which is why you’re afraid to bet on my terms. If you don’t want to wager ANY avatar on the game then I’m fine with it. No bet then.[/quote]

Okay, no bet. I really don’t want to look at something gay or racist on a daily basis for 30 days.

Plus All Star games are pretty boring to me. If it were an interleague series between the Jays and Giants I would definitely be up for betting.

414

So the Jays starting rotation is absolutely decimated with injuries.

It’s gotten so bad that the Jays just signed Jamie Moyer who will likely pitch later this week.

Currently, the Jays have a pitcher with a mid-80s fastball (86) with Laffey and an 80 mph fastball in Jamie Moyer.

Jays pitchers that are currently injured:

Starters:
Morrow (not expected back until late july-early august)
Alvarez (uknown timetable more testing done)
Drabek (had TJ surgery out for 12-16 months)
McGowan (not expected until mid july)
Hutchison (not expected back until September)
Litsch (out for season had TJ)

Closer:

Sergio Santos (out since April 21, unknown timetable)

Now all Jays wins will be 10-8 wins.

415

Also what do you think of the Belt-Bonds gif?

416

Okay Raj, no gay or racist avatars allowed and the bet is on? Then it’s on. I don’t know where the hell you got the idea that I’d make you sport a racist avatar, but whatever.

In other news, the Giants just swept the Dodgers with three straight shutouts, something they had never done to the Dodgers in the history of the teams’ rivalry, dating back to 1890. Now the Giants sit tied for first place with Kemp already on the DL and Ethier coming out of the game today with an oblique injury of some sort.

But the real news is that Lincecum looked lights out for the second straight start. Granted, the A’s and Dodgers are both poor-hitting teams right now, but his stuff looked much more crisp and with more late movement than it has all year. He was only throwing 90-92 today, but he carried 92 through the 7th inning and his off-speed stuff looked sharp. I think his line was 4 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, and no runs in 7 innings.

If a close approximation of the Lincecum of the last 4 years is now back, the rest of the NL better watch out for the Giants. With an effective Lincecum combined with Cain, Bumgarner and Vogelsong (who have ERAs of 2.27, 3.10 and 2.23) and a much-improved offense, they look legit right now. Belt has started to produce big-time, Sandoval is hitting the ball well and most of his outs lately have been hard-hit balls, and the rest of their lineup is pretty solid. Blanco leads off and draws a lot of walks and has elite speed. I think they’ll start putting Cabrera back in the 2nd spot now with Sandoval batting third, Posey fourth, Belt fifth, Pagan sixth, Crawford 7th and Theriot 8th. I think Crawford will hit better anywhere other than 8th because batting 8th in the NL means you get pitched around a lot, so a patient hitter like Crawford is forced to expand the zone more and be aggressive early in the count so he doesn’t leave things up to the pitcher batting next. A patient approach like his should suit him better in the 7th spot.

Their bullpen looks nice as well, although I think they’d like to add a quality right-hander at some point. Casilla has done very well in the closer’s role and statistically-speaking I think his numbers might be better than Brian Wilson’s average season the last 3 years.

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[quote]DBCooper wrote:
Okay Raj, no gay or racist avatars allowed and the bet is on? Then it’s on. I don’t know where the hell you got the idea that I’d make you sport a racist avatar, but whatever.

[/quote]

http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/music_movies_girls_life/mlb_season_2011?id=4373163&pageNo=36

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Check out Mike Trout’s catch

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To be clear I don’t think you’re a racist but i wouldn’t put it past you to pick something racist for shock value

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[quote]therajraj wrote:
To be clear I don’t think you’re a racist but i wouldn’t put it past you to pick something racist for shock value [/quote]

Stop patronizing me. Do we have a bet or what?