MLB Season 2011

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1041

[quote]therajraj wrote:
So why are the Rockies shopping Ubaldo? [/quote]

I think they’re just trying to see if anyone out there is willing to make them an offer they can’t refuse. His contract is up and although I’m sure they plan on giving him a big contract, they know that they’re basically out of contention and it would be stupid to not explore the possibility that a team IN contention migt actually throw their three or four best prospects at the Rockies for him.

I don’t think they’re actively shopping him, they’re simply letting teams know that for an inexorbitant price he can be had.

1042

[quote]therajraj wrote:
So why are the Rockies shopping Ubaldo? [/quote]

I’m wondering if his decreased velocity and early season injury/struggles are making them worry that he might start to fall off over the next few years. He’s pitching great again as of late…if they’re going to shop him, they may never get a better chance. I dunno though, I feel like the Rockies already have a lot of good pieces and should be better than they are. Seems like getting rid of such a good player, even if they get a lot of potential in return, will set them back some time.

1043

[quote]eeu743 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
So why are the Rockies shopping Ubaldo? [/quote]

I’m wondering if his decreased velocity and early season injury/struggles are making them worry that he might start to fall off over the next few years. He’s pitching great again as of late…if they’re going to shop him, they may never get a better chance. I dunno though, I feel like the Rockies already have a lot of good pieces and should be better than they are. Seems like getting rid of such a good player, even if they get a lot of potential in return, will set them back some time.
[/quote]

The Rockies are a talented team, but outside of Jimenez they don’t have shit for pitching. Is Chacin the Real Deal? Possibly, but aside from him and Jimenez they have nothing going for them pitching-wise. de la Rosa won’t be back for a year and they can’t rely on him to do anything once he is back until he actually proves that he’s regained his form. Besides, other than flashes of brilliance, he’s been an average pitcher at best and he’ll be 31 next year.

Should the Rockies be better than they are? Yes, but a large part of that has nothing to do with Jimenez. Tulowitzki is underachieving this year, Gonzalez has been banged up a bit and has had a good year, but not the one he had last year. I’m afraid that, myself included, the Rockies have been a bit overrated this year. Getting rid of Jimenez would only exacerbate things over there. You just don’t get rid of a proven ace like him unless you get some VERY legit, major league-ready pitching prospects in return.

I also don’t think the Rockies are worried at all about his health. His injuries earlier this year were related to a blister problem in Spring Training and a split fingernail in his first start. He simply wasn’t ready to start the season and he paid the price for it early on. Then things snowballed on him a little. It’s VERY hard to work yourself into pitching shape in real games. You can’t go out there and work on things on Opening Day. His arm is healthy and his velocity isn’t really down much anymore now that he’s slowly built up his arm strength again. Don’t forget, it takes a hard thrower with a funky delivery like his longer than normal to round into shape for the regular season. He’ll be fine and I don’t doubt at all that next year he’ll once again be one of the top pitchers in the bigs. This is just a lost year of sorts for him, and for the Rockies.

1044

Hideki Irabu found dead, he committed suicide

1045

[quote]therajraj wrote:
Hideki Irabu found dead, he committed suicide

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/6813233/former-new-york-yankees-pitcher-hideki-irabu-found-dead-california[/quote]

That’s tragic. I never liked the fucking guy but I never like to see this sort of shit, either. Unless it’s Barry Zito bouncing a .22 caliber bullet around the inside of his brainpan. I fully support that.

It seems like his career failures really followed him around in his personal life. Sometimes it takes something like this to remind us all that baseball is just a game, a job, but a game nonetheless. There are more important things in life than being good at a game.

1046

Wait, I thought I read more than once that they have him under contract for a few more years? Am I misremembering that? I kind of thought that was part of the reason it would seem a little crazy to trade him: that they have him past this season, and at a relatively cheap price. De la Rosa is the same one who missed a bunch of last season with weird finger ligament injury, right? Two straight seasons of serious injuries WOULD concern me, if I was a GM (I’m not in case you guys didn’t know).

1047

[quote]eeu743 wrote:
Wait, I thought I read more than once that they have him under contract for a few more years? Am I misremembering that? I kind of thought that was part of the reason it would seem a little crazy to trade him: that they have him past this season, and at a relatively cheap price. De la Rosa is the same one who missed a bunch of last season with weird finger ligament injury, right? Two straight seasons of serious injuries WOULD concern me, if I was a GM (I’m not in case you guys didn’t know).[/quote]

You’re right and I stand corrected. He’s under contract until the end of next year with option years in 2013 and 2014. But again, I don’t think this is anything other than an attempt to see if there really is a team out there who would part with several TOP prospects in order to get him. They’re sellers at this point in the season and he’s the only valued commodity on that team, other than Tulowitzki and Gonzalez. But they both just signed big contracts so they aren’t going anywhere. They’re just curious more than anything else.

Of course, I’ll probably wake up tomorrow morning to read that they just traded him to the Yankees.

1048

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
Hideki Irabu found dead, he committed suicide

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/6813233/former-new-york-yankees-pitcher-hideki-irabu-found-dead-california[/quote]

That’s tragic. I never liked the fucking guy but I never like to see this sort of shit, either. Unless it’s Barry Zito bouncing a .22 caliber bullet around the inside of his brainpan. I fully support that.

It seems like his career failures really followed him around in his personal life. Sometimes it takes something like this to remind us all that baseball is just a game, a job, but a game nonetheless. There are more important things in life than being good at a game.[/quote]

1049

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]eeu743 wrote:
Wait, I thought I read more than once that they have him under contract for a few more years? Am I misremembering that? I kind of thought that was part of the reason it would seem a little crazy to trade him: that they have him past this season, and at a relatively cheap price. De la Rosa is the same one who missed a bunch of last season with weird finger ligament injury, right? Two straight seasons of serious injuries WOULD concern me, if I was a GM (I’m not in case you guys didn’t know).[/quote]

You’re right and I stand corrected. He’s under contract until the end of next year with option years in 2013 and 2014. But again, I don’t think this is anything other than an attempt to see if there really is a team out there who would part with several TOP prospects in order to get him. They’re sellers at this point in the season and he’s the only valued commodity on that team, other than Tulowitzki and Gonzalez. But they both just signed big contracts so they aren’t going anywhere. They’re just curious more than anything else.

Of course, I’ll probably wake up tomorrow morning to read that they just traded him to the Yankees.[/quote]

Never know how a deal is going to work out, obviously, but you gotta feel good if you get three or four top prospects. Obviously nothing in life is certain, but I feel like baseball (especially pitching) is incredibly unpredictable. Jiminez might blow his arm out next year, and never be the same. If you’re getting multiple guys who, up to this point, have shown the possibility of developing in to talented and successful major league players, I think you’re no worse off than counting on a pitcher not to lose his edge (or get injured, or any of the other crap that seems to affect every pitcher except for the very best).

Personally, I hope he gets traded, just because I like when things get shaken up (plus I’d love to see him go to a contender in the AL and match up against any of the great NL pitchers in the World Series). Jiminez v Lee?

1050

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
^ That private instructor is his dad and he is denying it.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/27/rasmus-dad-blasts-tony--la-russa

LaRussa is a head case. The guy drove Scot Rolen out of town and forced the Cardinals to make a bad trade. Now he’s doing the same with Rasmus.

He’s young controllable talent with a ridiculously high ceiling. As for his progression, I haven’t seen him play much but from looking at his stats his HRs increased by 7 and BA by 25 points between '09 and '10. I’ll agree he has taken a step back this year.[/quote]

That’s a copout to blame LaRussa for any of this. Maybe the Cardinals traded Rolen because in both 2005 and 2007 he injured himself and had season-ending surgery rather than follow team doctors’ advice and try to let the injuries heal themselves, thus being able to play in the postseason. Maybe the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa simply “run players out of town” who don’t follow the advice and wishes of their employers, especially when they can’t stay healthy or are not producing.

Same with Rasmus. He has seriously regressed this year and he was expendable. John Jay has played better than him this year. Also, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard about Rasmus and his attitude. He’s been on my fantasy team 3 years in a row so I’ve followed him a little closer than I normally would. The guy has a bit of a reputation for being hard to coach and hard to work with. There was a guy who was performing better than him, is willing to listen to his employers and Rasmus could bring back pitching help in return. So they made the deal. That’s it. I don’t buy Rasmus’ denials of using his father as a hitting coach, either.[/quote]

Didn’t he go as far as demand a trade last year and then retract it days later? The Cards knew the kid wasnt happy and was going to leave sooner or later, could they have gotten more? possibly, but might as well go for it and adding another decent starter in jackson could help them win the weak central so we’ll see.
As for rasmus how would you like to have the reputation of not cooperating with coaches and having an overbearing “pageant mom/dad” hanging around being your hitting coach.

1051

[quote]eeu743 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]eeu743 wrote:
Wait, I thought I read more than once that they have him under contract for a few more years? Am I misremembering that? I kind of thought that was part of the reason it would seem a little crazy to trade him: that they have him past this season, and at a relatively cheap price. De la Rosa is the same one who missed a bunch of last season with weird finger ligament injury, right? Two straight seasons of serious injuries WOULD concern me, if I was a GM (I’m not in case you guys didn’t know).[/quote]

You’re right and I stand corrected. He’s under contract until the end of next year with option years in 2013 and 2014. But again, I don’t think this is anything other than an attempt to see if there really is a team out there who would part with several TOP prospects in order to get him. They’re sellers at this point in the season and he’s the only valued commodity on that team, other than Tulowitzki and Gonzalez. But they both just signed big contracts so they aren’t going anywhere. They’re just curious more than anything else.

Of course, I’ll probably wake up tomorrow morning to read that they just traded him to the Yankees.[/quote]

Never know how a deal is going to work out, obviously, but you gotta feel good if you get three or four top prospects. Obviously nothing in life is certain, but I feel like baseball (especially pitching) is incredibly unpredictable. Jiminez might blow his arm out next year, and never be the same. If you’re getting multiple guys who, up to this point, have shown the possibility of developing in to talented and successful major league players, I think you’re no worse off than counting on a pitcher not to lose his edge (or get injured, or any of the other crap that seems to affect every pitcher except for the very best).

Personally, I hope he gets traded, just because I like when things get shaken up (plus I’d love to see him go to a contender in the AL and match up against any of the great NL pitchers in the World Series). Jiminez v Lee?[/quote]

I think you meant to say Jimenez versus Lincecum…

Look, if you let the worry of injury or the “unpredictability” of pitchers’ health determine how you run a team then you won’t be running a team at all. If you follow that line of logic out to its natural conclusion you’ll find yourself trading every pitcher on your team. Jimenez isn’t a high-risk pitcher in this respect because he has no history of arm problems. Sure, he could blow out his elbow but so could anyone else on the team. Tulowitzki could blow out his knee tomorrow night too. That doesn’t mean you trade him while his value is high.

The real risk is trading for top prospects. They’re just that: prospects. They haven’t done a single thing in a game that matters and there’s no way to really know how good they’ll be. Even if the Rockies actually do get blown away with some outlandish trade offer, it’s still a risky venture, much more risky than keeping a pitcher whose contract you control through 2014 and who, when healthy, has proven he’s legit.

1052

FUCK YEAH!!! The Giants just shoved it right up the Phillies’ fucking ass in their own ballpark where they own the best home record in baseball. The Giants just have humungous fucking balls.

Oh yeah, and for those who think the Giants got lucky by missing Halladay and Lee in this series: in their last 5 games against those two they’re 4-1, including a memorable kicking-in-of-the-teeth that they delivered to Lee in the Series. The defending World Champions aren’t scared of shit!

1053

I can’t wait until the Phils come to SF next month for a four-game set. Hey rajraj! You want a chance to stick a fucked up avatar on me for a month? How about it? Giants take that series in SF and you get to keep that splendid avatar of yours for another month. If they DON’T win the series, meaning that even if it’s a 2-2 split, I’ll sport whatever avatar you choose for one month. ANY avatar, I don’t give a fuck what it is. How about it?

1054

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

I think you meant to say Jimenez versus Lincecum…

Look, if you let the worry of injury or the “unpredictability” of pitchers’ health determine how you run a team then you won’t be running a team at all. If you follow that line of logic out to its natural conclusion you’ll find yourself trading every pitcher on your team. Jimenez isn’t a high-risk pitcher in this respect because he has no history of arm problems. Sure, he could blow out his elbow but so could anyone else on the team. Tulowitzki could blow out his knee tomorrow night too. That doesn’t mean you trade him while his value is high.

The real risk is trading for top prospects. They’re just that: prospects. They haven’t done a single thing in a game that matters and there’s no way to really know how good they’ll be. Even if the Rockies actually do get blown away with some outlandish trade offer, it’s still a risky venture, much more risky than keeping a pitcher whose contract you control through 2014 and who, when healthy, has proven he’s legit.[/quote]

That’s true. I guess this is why I haven’t gotten any calls about running a team yet. Still, since I don’t particularly care about the Rockies, I’d like to see him get traded to a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, regardless of how likely it is, just because it’d make the playoffs that much more exciting.

Lol idk man. I like the Phillies a lot right now, even more if they go get a bat. Giants ain’t too shabby either, but Halladay, Hamels, Lee? Oswalt if he comes back relatively healthy can be great, and even if you don’t think Worley looks legit, he has been putting up great numbers. Not knocking the Giant’s staff at all, but…man, the Phillies are a tough-ass matchup for anybody in the league.

1055

[quote]eeu743 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

I think you meant to say Jimenez versus Lincecum…

Look, if you let the worry of injury or the “unpredictability” of pitchers’ health determine how you run a team then you won’t be running a team at all. If you follow that line of logic out to its natural conclusion you’ll find yourself trading every pitcher on your team. Jimenez isn’t a high-risk pitcher in this respect because he has no history of arm problems. Sure, he could blow out his elbow but so could anyone else on the team. Tulowitzki could blow out his knee tomorrow night too. That doesn’t mean you trade him while his value is high.

The real risk is trading for top prospects. They’re just that: prospects. They haven’t done a single thing in a game that matters and there’s no way to really know how good they’ll be. Even if the Rockies actually do get blown away with some outlandish trade offer, it’s still a risky venture, much more risky than keeping a pitcher whose contract you control through 2014 and who, when healthy, has proven he’s legit.[/quote]

That’s true. I guess this is why I haven’t gotten any calls about running a team yet. Still, since I don’t particularly care about the Rockies, I’d like to see him get traded to a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, regardless of how likely it is, just because it’d make the playoffs that much more exciting.

Lol idk man. I like the Phillies a lot right now, even more if they go get a bat. Giants ain’t too shabby either, but Halladay, Hamels, Lee? Oswalt if he comes back relatively healthy can be great, and even if you don’t think Worley looks legit, he has been putting up great numbers. Not knocking the Giant’s staff at all, but…man, the Phillies are a tough-ass matchup for anybody in the league.[/quote]

The Giants have winning records against both Hamels and Oswalt and like I said earlier, they’re 4-1 against Lee and Halladay in their last 5 games. We’ll see how Worley does after he’s faced NL teams more than once. He strikes me as the type who will get hit much harder than he has been thus far after a second time through the league.

Besides, fuck the Phillies. The Giants are the team to beat in the majors, not the Phillies. They’re in first place, they’re the defending champs and they just handed the Phillies their lunch in their own ballpark. The Phillies hadn’t lost two straight since May 31st before tonight. If the Giants go ahead and shove it up their ass again in a couple weeks when they come to SF, the Giants will be firmly planted inside the dark recesses of the Phillies’ heads.

Of course, this could all be a moot point. If the season ended today the Giants would face the Braves, who fucking smoked the Giants in a 3-game sweep IN SF earlier this year. They scare me more than the Phillies do.

1056

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
I can’t wait until the Phils come to SF next month for a four-game set. Hey rajraj! You want a chance to stick a fucked up avatar on me for a month? How about it? Giants take that series in SF and you get to keep that splendid avatar of yours for another month. If they DON’T win the series, meaning that even if it’s a 2-2 split, I’ll sport whatever avatar you choose for one month. ANY avatar, I don’t give a fuck what it is. How about it?[/quote]

In all honesty I really don’t care about the Phillies-Giants series.

I may not even have access to watch them.

When playoffs roll around I’ll be up for making more bets.

1057

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]eeu743 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

I think you meant to say Jimenez versus Lincecum…

Look, if you let the worry of injury or the “unpredictability” of pitchers’ health determine how you run a team then you won’t be running a team at all. If you follow that line of logic out to its natural conclusion you’ll find yourself trading every pitcher on your team. Jimenez isn’t a high-risk pitcher in this respect because he has no history of arm problems. Sure, he could blow out his elbow but so could anyone else on the team. Tulowitzki could blow out his knee tomorrow night too. That doesn’t mean you trade him while his value is high.

The real risk is trading for top prospects. They’re just that: prospects. They haven’t done a single thing in a game that matters and there’s no way to really know how good they’ll be. Even if the Rockies actually do get blown away with some outlandish trade offer, it’s still a risky venture, much more risky than keeping a pitcher whose contract you control through 2014 and who, when healthy, has proven he’s legit.[/quote]

That’s true. I guess this is why I haven’t gotten any calls about running a team yet. Still, since I don’t particularly care about the Rockies, I’d like to see him get traded to a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, regardless of how likely it is, just because it’d make the playoffs that much more exciting.

Lol idk man. I like the Phillies a lot right now, even more if they go get a bat. Giants ain’t too shabby either, but Halladay, Hamels, Lee? Oswalt if he comes back relatively healthy can be great, and even if you don’t think Worley looks legit, he has been putting up great numbers. Not knocking the Giant’s staff at all, but…man, the Phillies are a tough-ass matchup for anybody in the league.[/quote]

The Giants have winning records against both Hamels and Oswalt and like I said earlier, they’re 4-1 against Lee and Halladay in their last 5 games. We’ll see how Worley does after he’s faced NL teams more than once. He strikes me as the type who will get hit much harder than he has been thus far after a second time through the league.

Besides, fuck the Phillies. The Giants are the team to beat in the majors, not the Phillies. They’re in first place, they’re the defending champs and they just handed the Phillies their lunch in their own ballpark. The Phillies hadn’t lost two straight since May 31st before tonight. If the Giants go ahead and shove it up their ass again in a couple weeks when they come to SF, the Giants will be firmly planted inside the dark recesses of the Phillies’ heads.

Of course, this could all be a moot point. If the season ended today the Giants would face the Braves, who fucking smoked the Giants in a 3-game sweep IN SF earlier this year. They scare me more than the Phillies do.[/quote]

All I have to say is Ryan Howard is a joke. The sad part is he’s already in decline and his contract extension hasn’t even kicked in yet!

1058

Beltran played tonight, right? How did he do?

I didn’t know that they had so much recent success against those guys, that certainly makes them look better.

I like the Braves a lot too. They have some great pitching too, a lot of young guys with some really good young guys waiting down in the minors, from what I understand. Heyward is only going to get better with time. Dan Uggla is finally starting to remember how to hit the baseball, and I think the fact that Chipper Jones can still play respectable baseball is just awesome. The first 2 MLB games I ever went to were at Turner Field, back when they had Andruw Jones as well. Like I said, Braves are a sentimental favorite and I am happy to see them doing well.

God, I love this shit. I can’t believe it took me so long to get in to baseball. Can’t wait for the playoffs, especially NL. So much fantastic pitching to watch.

1059

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
I can’t wait until the Phils come to SF next month for a four-game set. Hey rajraj! You want a chance to stick a fucked up avatar on me for a month? How about it? Giants take that series in SF and you get to keep that splendid avatar of yours for another month. If they DON’T win the series, meaning that even if it’s a 2-2 split, I’ll sport whatever avatar you choose for one month. ANY avatar, I don’t give a fuck what it is. How about it?[/quote]

In all honesty I really don’t care about the Phillies-Giants series.

I may not even have access to watch them.

When playoffs roll around I’ll be up for making more bets.[/quote]

Shit, you’ll care about that series if that dead fucking blue jay is riding on it! How about it raj? I think the last game of the series is on ESPN.

1060

[quote]eeu743 wrote:
Beltran played tonight, right? How did he do?

I didn’t know that they had so much recent success against those guys, that certainly makes them look better.

I like the Braves a lot too. They have some great pitching too, a lot of young guys with some really good young guys waiting down in the minors, from what I understand. Heyward is only going to get better with time. Dan Uggla is finally starting to remember how to hit the baseball, and I think the fact that Chipper Jones can still play respectable baseball is just awesome. The first 2 MLB games I ever went to were at Turner Field, back when they had Andruw Jones as well. Like I said, Braves are a sentimental favorite and I am happy to see them doing well.

God, I love this shit. I can’t believe it took me so long to get in to baseball. Can’t wait for the playoffs, especially NL. So much fantastic pitching to watch.[/quote]

He made a really nice catch but didn’t do shit other than that. 0-4 with 2 Ks. I thought for sure he’d bat 4th but they moved Sandoval into the 4th spot and batted Beltran 3rd. Schierholtz batted 5th.

Oh yeah, and who the fuck was it on here who ridiculed me for liking Schierholtz and lamenting the possibility that he could get traded? The guy is the most clutch hitter on their team, even with Beltran, and I think he has the highest average in the league since June 25th (roughly .370).