MLB Thread

[xaxat]

On 3/14/2019 at 6:18 PM, kariyaki said:

I found the addition of the million dollar prize for the home run derby interesting. Trying to get some more enthusiastic participation for it, since the past few years have been like pulling teeth for them to get players to do it.

They need to roll out a table with stacks of cash to start the competition. Like they do with the World Series of Poker. Dudes will be all over each other trying to get photos of themselves posing with it on their social media feeds. Even guys who aren't in the derby.

[bosawks]

I thought it was Scully and Garagiola as the “A team” and Kubek and Costas as the “B team”?

I loved them both as a child of the 80’s.

And TWIB Notes, god I loved TWIB Notes!

[smittykins]

(If the reports are correct)

Bryce Harper:  I just signed the largest contract in professional sports!

Mike Trout:  Hold my beer...

[Bort]

Kind of surprised, I figured Trout would ride out his current contract and sign on with a better team.

[bosawks]

24 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Garagiola_Sr.#Baseball_broadcasting

Garagiola and Kubek teamed up from 1976-1982.

I can't find it anywhere, but I thought towards the end there was some friction between those two.

----

I don't like Costas at all.  IMO, he comes off as incredibly smug.

Ah, and that timing certainly corresponds to my increased interest in watching the game of the week after moving from Boston in junior high.

And Mike Trout got paaiiidddd!  Good for him, he can now buy the entire town of Millville....

[mojoween]

What I have learned today is that the Yankees need to take a good hard look at the training regimen for their pitchers.

[Crs97]

5 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

I don't like Costas at all.  IMO, he comes off as incredibly smug.

I can see that.

I think where Costas shines is as a story-teller.  Give him two minutes at the end of a broadcast to sum up a historic day, and he will probably do well.  Give him room to tell a story about someone, he will probably be entertaining.  Have him call a baseball game, and I am ready to mute it pretty quickly.

A friend once told me to listen to Bob Uecker call a game without Costas and then watch an evening broadcast when the two were paired.  What you discover is that Bob is really great at calling the game and giving interesting insights without Costas.  Costas would force him into sidekick, comic relief mode when they were together.  Once I noticed, I couldn't unhear it.  It was maddening.

[Bort]

Ooh, Astros extend Alex Bregman and Ryan Pressly. Crossing my fingers that they can work a deal with Verlander.

[mojoween]

When I hear the verbal bouquets thrown at Mike Trout I have to wonder if it’s because I only watch Yankees games and I'm not going to stay up to one o’clock in the morning that I wonder if the hyperbole isn’t a little over the top?  

Yes.  I get it.  He’s humble, and he’s good.  But why does he get a pass for the Angels playoff woes when other players do not?

Again I know it’s probably because I have a very small sample size of seeing him actually play and also as soon as people tell me I HAVE to do something I bristle.

Although it does amuse me to see people say “see, you have to play baseball, it’s where the money is.”  Mmhm, sure.  Because everyone is Mike Trout.

[Bort]

I do often think Trout is overrated. Yes, he's a very good ballplayer, one of the best right now. But THE best? Meh. Certainly not to the degree that the media likes to fluff him.

And yeah, baseball is where the money is. The league minimum is still $500,000 a year, so even if you're mediocre, if you can do well enough to get to the majors, it's still a pretty good chunk of change.

[mojoween]

Buster Olney said that Mike Trout is Mickey Mantle come to life.

[smittykins]

OK, Buster, whatevs...

(Don’t get me wrong, I think Trout is a great player and human being, but holy hyperbole, Batman!)

Edited March 20, 2019 by smittykins

[bosawks]

Happy Opening Day!

I just might be not so subtly watching the game on my phone in my office........

[Bort]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

Buster Olney said that Mike Trout is Mickey Mantle come to life.

Yeah no. Not that there's anything anyone can say that will bust up the endless Mike Trout circle jerk that the analysts have going...

My favorite was the article that said that Trout re-signing with the Angels was going to dethrone the Astros as the division leader. Ooookaaaay. It's not like Trout hasn't been on the Angels for the better part of a decade and they've won the division ONCE in the last ten years. 

[Lantern7]

2 hours ago, bosawks said:

Happy Opening Day!

I just might be not so subtly watching the game on my phone in my office........

This gives me a logic headache. Spring Training is still going on, but two teams playing in Japan counts in the actual standings. Also, this is the first day of spring, so technically, they've been "winter training."

[bosawks]

8 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

This gives me a logic headache. Spring Training is still going on, but two teams playing in Japan counts in the actual standings. Also, this is the first day of spring, so technically, they've been "winter training."

Even better; after tomorrow's game the Mariners have 4 more Spring Training games and the A's 3 I think.

Good times....

[Bort]

2 hours ago, bosawks said:

Happy Opening Day!

I just might be not so subtly watching the game on my phone in my office........

I had to get up really early for work this morning and watched the beginning. Good ole Mike Fiers, hemorrhaging runs like always...

[ganesh]

7 hours ago, kariyaki said:

And yeah, baseball is where the money is. The league minimum is still $500,000 a year, so even if you're mediocre, if you can do well enough to get to the majors, it's still a pretty good chunk of change.

Guaranteed money as well, and there's no time period cap like the NBA. Likely you won't get CTE either. 

[smittykins]

Wasn’t there a player who was found to have CTE(from concussions)after he committed suicide?

ETA:  Ryan Freel

Edited March 20, 2019 by smittykins
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[Lantern7]

3 hours ago, bosawks said:

Even better; after tomorrow's game the Mariners have 4 more Spring Training games and the A's 3 I think.

Good times....

Does MLB make that much more money to justify regular season games in Japan, as opposed to exhibitions? Also, I think there's going to be a game in England this year as well.

[theatremouse]

3 hours ago, kariyaki said:

It's not like Trout hasn't been on the Angels for the better part of a decade and they've won the division ONCE in the last ten years. 

One difference is the Angels have had bottom of the barrel system for most of that time, and at the moment, they've theoretically got some up and comers who should peak and stay peaked during a decent chunk of his new contract.

I'm not saying I buy the hype that they're about to completely boomerang, but there are other factors combined with keeping Trout that make the playoff talk not preposterous.

[Bort]

10 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I'm not saying I buy the hype that they're about to completely boomerang, but there are other factors combined with keeping Trout that make the playoff talk not preposterous.

No, I agree, if they build a team around Trout, then a force to reckon with they would be. And I'm guessing the Angels have promised Trout they would actually DO that instead of farting around as usual. But the playoff talk is based solely on Trout being on the team and nothing more, which is just dumb.

[Mittengirl]

12 hours ago, mojoween said:

I wonder if the hyperbole isn’t a little over the top?

That is how I feel about Aaron Judge.

[smittykins]

Report:  Ichiro to announce retirement after today’s game

[mojoween]

Noooooo Ichiro don’t go

[ganesh]

I saw Ichiro in person when I lived in Berkeley and went to a bunch of A's games. In one game, he went 3 for 4, all infield hits. I mean, I go to games, but it's a social event. Everyone always stopped when he was at the plate. 

[xaxat]

I always loved the fact that he was so quick, there were times when it looked like he could be out of the batter's box and on his way to first before that bat made contact with the ball. And had I been a kid growing up watching Ichiro, I soo would have adopted his batting stance ritual.

I'm still betting we see him on the Japanese national team when baseball makes its Olympic return in Tokyo next year.

[ganesh]

You'd think he has to. It's perfect pr. 

[Bort]

Boy, everyone is extension-happy this spring training. Now it’s Chris Sale with the Red Sox.

Rumors are flying around about the Astros working on Justin Verlander at the moment, could my wish list be fulfilled after all?

[morriss]

Ichiro is my favourite player of all time.   He always gave 100% effort and never showboated.  A class act,  on and off the field.

[Bort]

Hell yeah. Wish list granted. Verlander, Astros agree on two year deal.

[mojoween]

I feel like MLB passive-aggressively looked down on the Stros by taking away the September trades.  Isn’t that how Verlander ended up there, and everyone bitched about Houston doing something that was within the rules?

[Bort]

I don't really recall anybody bitching about the Verlander trade. My locale is admittedly biased towards the Astros but I didn't hear any complaining about it on the MLB network either. Unless it was Christopher Russo on High Heat, which I refuse to watch. That guy is like nails on a chalkboard. Why does he yell everything?

[smittykins]

That’s his shtick(his nickname is The Mad Dog).

Edited March 24, 2019 by smittykins

[Bort]

Yeah, I know, but it's annoying. I'd be constantly waiting for his head to explode.

[Silver Raven]

The Cubs have sent Ian Happ down to Iowa.

[Moose135]

12 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Unless it was Christopher Russo on High Heat, which I refuse to watch. That guy is like nails on a chalkboard. Why does he yell everything?

He's from Long Island, that's just the way we talk. 😜

[Bort]

2 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

He's from Long Island, that's just the way we talk. 😜

My dad and his whole family are from NYC. They’re from Queens, they all sound like Fran Drescher. So that ain’t it. 🥺

[xaxat]

17 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

The Cubs have sent Ian Happ down to Iowa.

I really wish teams would be honest and admit "Hey, you would be a contributor to the major league club now, but we want to limit your service time so we can pay you less down the road."

[mojoween]

I’m watching David Cone’s perfect game (...as you do) and one of the Yankees walk up songs was “Tom Sawyer.”

Now I want to know who it was (I was in another room and only heard the song, because I can hear Rush from a mile away, and not the announcers) because the Yanks were playing the Expos and if it’s not the regular walk-up song that is very passive-aggressive.  I love it.

[Lantern7]

Mets to show deGrom deMoney; $137.5M for five years. For his sake, that had better be guaranteed. Given how the team feels about going to Syracuse, one thing would lead to another, and the locals would sacrifice him to their orange god. God of oranges, I mean.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Lantern7

[Bort]

Why are all the opening day games tomorrow so flipping early?

[Lantern7]

Heads up: Christian Yelich is on Ridiculousness right now. If you miss it, MTV reruns the hell out of that series.

[Bort]

Well, I'm all set for tomorrow. Got my new favorite beer to drink the afternoon away -- the afternoon, because the damn game is on at 3.

[kathyk24]

4 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Why are all the opening day games tomorrow so flipping early?

Not if you are a Red Sox fan. Who decided to have the World Series Champions open the season in Seattle?

[Bort]

7 minutes ago, kathyk24 said:

Not if you are a Red Sox fan. Who decided to have the World Series Champions open the season in Seattle?

The schedule was decided before the last season even ended, so there was no way of knowing who the World Series champs would be. The times on the other hand, those get set much, much later.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

My coworkers already know I'll be working with my headphones on tomorrow from 12-3.  Whoops, I meant 1-4. Better update my calendar 😆

Edited March 28, 2019 by MVFrostsMyPie

[kathyk24]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

The schedule was decided before the last season even ended, so there was no way of knowing who the World Series champs would be. The times on the other hand, those get set much, much later.

That was my issue. The game starts at 10:00 on the east coast Most Sox won't be able to stay up to see the whole game. If the start had been 7:00 p.m. that would be no problem.

[smittykins]

As an East Coaster, I don’t even bother with the 10 pm-start games anymore.  I figure I can watch the encore the next day.

[mojoween]

I’m happy the Yanks start at one so there is no interference with the Sweet Sixteen.