MLB Season 2011

therajraj · July 5, 2011, 5:12am

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
Also rajraj, if you didn’t continually make posts that resemble those of someone with aggressive dementia I wouldn’t feel the need to write long posts responding to you. I’m always under the impression that everything has to be laid out nice and neat for you with nothing left to assumption or for you to figure out on your own, which leads to my tendency to leave no base uncovered, since you clearly have the mental capacity of a pair of soiled boxers and are utterly incapable of connecting any points together on your own.[/quote]

This post is just an attempt cover up your inability to write for the intended audience. I am not the only one who has complained about your posts. People on an internet forum do not want to read a wall of text every time they have a conversation with you. You know it and I know it.[/quote]

I could give a FUCK about what ANYONE on this site says or how anyone feels about anything that I write on here. My intended audience is the one capable of reading more than monosyllabic (that means one syllable) words and that has an attention span long enough to read more than a sentence or two at a time. If someone is intimidated by the length and breadth of my posts then I don’t care what they have to say in response anyways because we simply aren’t operating on a level of mutual respect at that point. But I’ll work harder at dumbing things down for you in the future.

And you can ramble on about the Sox’ superior revenue and all that, but it doesn’t negate the fact that for the last 15 years you’ve seen a losing team on the field who doesn’t know what it feels like to be optimistic in a month not called April or May. The Red Sox do not have this problem. Who cares how much a team pulls in? Do you find solace in the fact that your team is paying less per win than the Red Sox? [/quote]

lol - this post made laugh. I can barely take you seriously anymore.

As for the Red Sox spending, when a franchise has copious amounts of money at their disposal and still loses for decades straight it just shows how truly pathetic a franchise is.

Say what you want about the Yankees spending but they win. The only real criticism I can throw their way is they should have won more in the 2000’s. They had absolutely stacked lineups in 2001-2008.

scj119 · July 5, 2011, 1:35pm

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
Now, ask anyone who understands and follows baseball, they will tell you Toronto will be the team to beat in the AL East 2 years down the road.

[/quote]

Based on what?

Is this assuming the yankees and red sox stop making attempts to get the best free agents/lame ducks to replace older players?

I agree that the blue jays are getting better but I dont see how they will become ‘the team to beat’ [/quote]

Based on the way the team is coming together. The team consists of high quality talent that have either been in the big league a couple years and are close to peaking (Romero, Morrow, Lind), just breaking in now (Drabek, Arencibia, Snider) or on the cusp of being Major League ready (Brett Lawrie, Anthony Gose). They also have a few vets in Bautista, Hill and Escobar. Except for the closer role, I don’t see a major weakness on this team moving forward. Of course none of this is a lock, but it’s looking more and more likely as the season progresses. I could go over in detail why I think each individual player will be great but that would take too long. You can google the names of any of these players and see why I’m so optimistic.

As for the spending aspect, this is probably more of what you’re looking for in an answer: The Jays have money. The difference is they only spend it once they feel they have a solid core built not every offseason. When the time comes, they will fill in any holes with big free agent signings as they did a few years ago. If you remember in offseason 2005 they were the biggest spenders signing both AJ Burnett and BJ Ryan to huge deals as they were expecting to compete in '07-'09.

[/quote]

Toronto has a shot to compete but to state as fact they will be the team to beat in 2 years is a bit much. Snider’s shown nothing, Arencibia is hitting near .200, Drabek had more walks than strikeouts in his 14 starts this year, Morrow is constantly injured…

Nothing’s sure until it happens in baseball, especially up-and-coming young guys. And also, just having money isn’t enough, you have to spend it correctly which Toronto has yet to prove they know how to do. Bautista looks like a good start but will they be smart with FAs? That’s yet to be proven.

DBCooper · July 5, 2011, 2:17pm

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
Also rajraj, if you didn’t continually make posts that resemble those of someone with aggressive dementia I wouldn’t feel the need to write long posts responding to you. I’m always under the impression that everything has to be laid out nice and neat for you with nothing left to assumption or for you to figure out on your own, which leads to my tendency to leave no base uncovered, since you clearly have the mental capacity of a pair of soiled boxers and are utterly incapable of connecting any points together on your own.[/quote]

This post is just an attempt cover up your inability to write for the intended audience. I am not the only one who has complained about your posts. People on an internet forum do not want to read a wall of text every time they have a conversation with you. You know it and I know it.[/quote]

I could give a FUCK about what ANYONE on this site says or how anyone feels about anything that I write on here. My intended audience is the one capable of reading more than monosyllabic (that means one syllable) words and that has an attention span long enough to read more than a sentence or two at a time. If someone is intimidated by the length and breadth of my posts then I don’t care what they have to say in response anyways because we simply aren’t operating on a level of mutual respect at that point. But I’ll work harder at dumbing things down for you in the future.

And you can ramble on about the Sox’ superior revenue and all that, but it doesn’t negate the fact that for the last 15 years you’ve seen a losing team on the field who doesn’t know what it feels like to be optimistic in a month not called April or May. The Red Sox do not have this problem. Who cares how much a team pulls in? Do you find solace in the fact that your team is paying less per win than the Red Sox? [/quote]

lol - this post made laugh. I can barely take you seriously anymore.

As for the Red Sox spending, when a franchise has copious amounts of money at their disposal and still loses for decades straight it just shows how truly pathetic a franchise is.

Say what you want about the Yankees spending but they win. The only real criticism I can throw their way is they should have won more in the 2000’s. They had absolutely stacked lineups in 2001-2008.
[/quote]

What’s funny is that you equate revenue with success. It’s a factor, but not the only one and not the most important one. Teams with mid-level payrolls like the Giants for instance aren’t winning DESPITE their relatively low payroll. The amount of money a player makes isn’t an indicator of future success from that player. You should know by now that the huge explosion in salaries is actually a very recent phenomenon that started with Ryne Sandberg’s $7 million a year contract in 1992. Before Bonds’ contract that surpassed Sandberg’s, followed by the escalation of salaries throughout the late 1990’s, the total revenue a team pulled in wasn’t nearly the factor in success that it is now.

And since then, even though the Red Sox have pulled in more revenue than any team not named the Yankees, the Yankees routinely could afford a payroll $50 million more than the Red Sox, which would negate the clear advantage they have over the other teams, especially since the two are in the same division.

One other thing: based on your logic, it’s pathetic that the Blue Jays didn’t win the World Series every year between 1989 and 1995 when they were consistently outdrawing the Red Sox. That’s right: the Blue Jays had a significantly higher attendance rate than the Red Sox did in the early to mid 90’s and were pulling in AT LEAST as much the Sox. So it isn’t really a big deal, by your line of logic, that the Blue Jays won a couple titles in 1992 and 1993. They should have won 5 straight.

therajraj · July 5, 2011, 2:28pm

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
Now, ask anyone who understands and follows baseball, they will tell you Toronto will be the team to beat in the AL East 2 years down the road.

[/quote]

Based on what?

Is this assuming the yankees and red sox stop making attempts to get the best free agents/lame ducks to replace older players?

I agree that the blue jays are getting better but I dont see how they will become ‘the team to beat’ [/quote]

Based on the way the team is coming together. The team consists of high quality talent that have either been in the big league a couple years and are close to peaking (Romero, Morrow, Lind), just breaking in now (Drabek, Arencibia, Snider) or on the cusp of being Major League ready (Brett Lawrie, Anthony Gose). They also have a few vets in Bautista, Hill and Escobar. Except for the closer role, I don’t see a major weakness on this team moving forward. Of course none of this is a lock, but it’s looking more and more likely as the season progresses. I could go over in detail why I think each individual player will be great but that would take too long. You can google the names of any of these players and see why I’m so optimistic.

As for the spending aspect, this is probably more of what you’re looking for in an answer: The Jays have money. The difference is they only spend it once they feel they have a solid core built not every offseason. When the time comes, they will fill in any holes with big free agent signings as they did a few years ago. If you remember in offseason 2005 they were the biggest spenders signing both AJ Burnett and BJ Ryan to huge deals as they were expecting to compete in '07-'09.

[/quote]

Toronto has a shot to compete but to state as fact they will be the team to beat in 2 years is a bit much. Snider’s shown nothing, Arencibia is hitting near .200, Drabek had more walks than strikeouts in his 14 starts this year, Morrow is constantly injured…

Nothing’s sure until it happens in baseball, especially up-and-coming young guys. And also, just having money isn’t enough, you have to spend it correctly which Toronto has yet to prove they know how to do. Bautista looks like a good start but will they be smart with FAs? That’s yet to be proven.[/quote]

Nothing in sports is a sure thing period and I’m not claiming to have a crystal ball. This is my opinion based on what I’ve seen on the field and my faith in current management. Obviously everything could go wrong and fall apart and they could sign the worst free agents imaginable.

Snider is only 23 - He’s going to be the second best hitter on the team next to Bautista. If you watch him play regularly you’ll see why I’m saying that. Really all I can say.

Arencibia - He’s in his rookie season and is on pace to hit 25 home runs with a shoddy average. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he’ll hit .250-.275 with 30 HRs in a couple years

Drabek also only 23 - Son of former Cy Young winner Doug Drabek, this guy has great stuff. You’re right he could fuck it up and never realize his potential. Just remember this is the reason the Halladay deal took so long. The Phillies were adamant about not parting with this pitcher.

Morrow - He was injury free all of last year. This year, he wasn’t really injured they were just babying him at the start of the season. It doesn’t make a difference because he’ll be shut down early again as this is only his 2nd full season as a starter. The Mariners really fucked up handling this guys development by moving him back and forth between the starting rotation and bullpen. He will eventually be the clear ace on this team.

Another question mark you didn’t mention: Will Bautista still be the best player in baseball or close to it 2 years down the road? Probably not, but would it be a stretch to see him regress to a .280 35HR year at 33-34? I don’t think so.

The Last GM was terrible at taking gambles, every time he did it failed. AJ Burnett (this one wasn’t horrible but had he not opted out and signed with the Yankees it would be a different story), BJ Ryan, Frank Thomas… you get the pitcher. However, as we discussed earlier in this thread I explained why I have such faith in current management.

Lastly, I’m honest with my teams chances and really believe what I wrote. If you look at the NBA thread, I didn’t hold back on how terrible the Raptors are and how the franchise really is going nowhere.

DBCooper · July 5, 2011, 2:28pm