MLB Thread

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

The third place Rays were rewarded with a slot in the playoffs, which was the original question. 

I acknowledged that. 🙂

[ProudMary]

11 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I acknowledged that. 🙂

Yes, you did. I just wondered why you felt the need to qualify it by saying that neither team made it to the WS. That the Rays didn't advance doesn't diminish the fact that a third place team was indeed rewarded by MLB with a playoff slot. 

The interesting fact is that three playoff teams came out of the AL East and three from the NL East, showing the regular season dominance of those divisions. It was also within the realm of possibility that the fourth place team in the AL East could have earned a WC slot, as the Orioles finished only three games out of the WC.

[Lantern7]

Deadspin speculates on a potential landing pad for deGrom. I'm awesome with this because it's not in the National League East, where he could hurt the Mets over and over.

[BlueSkies]

I still cant help but think Jason Giambi is the man that changed baseball forever.  And imo not in a good way.

That whole Oakland A's Moneyball was based on the 2002 A's trying to win when Jason signed with the Yankees.  Which at the time was a BFD.  But bear in mind the A's still had three very good young starting pitchers that year: Hudson, Mulder, and Zito.  That played a bigger part in their success that year versus all this saber metric stuff to me.  Plus they lost in the playoffs anyway.

Jason was also a big BALCO guy as well.  

But to me this was the start of the focus on all this statistical analysis, astronomical salaries.  The 1995-2001 Yankees always had the biggest payroll in baseball but most their talent was home grown though.  When they chased after Giambi that came across to me as we try to buy championships.  

[ProudMary]

7 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

That whole Oakland A's Moneyball was based on the 2002 A's trying to win when Jason signed with the Yankees.  Which at the time was a BFD.  But bear in mind the A's still had three very good young starting pitchers that year: Hudson, Mulder, and Zito.  That played a bigger part in their success that year versus all this saber metric stuff to me.  Plus they lost in the playoffs anyway.

Not to mention an MVP in Miguel Tejada at SS!

[mojoween]

Thanks I hate it. 

[cleo]

Yep. Me too. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by cleo

[Carey]

Agreed, except no thanks.  There's nothing to thank Major League Baseball for with that nonsense

[Xeliou66]

13 minutes ago, Carey said:

Agreed, except no thanks.  There's nothing to thank Major League Baseball for with that nonsense

I hate eliminating the shift, the shift was interesting strategy and made the game more compelling. I’m okay with the other stuff.

[Crs97]

I can only assume that the AL Rookie of the Year was chosen by people who never saw Stevie Kwan play.

[mojoween]

Hal Steinbrenner said that he wants Aaron Judge to be a Yankee for the rest of his life (whose life, it wasn’t specified).

Hey, I have an idea how to do that!

Edited November 16, 2022 by mojoween

[Colleenna]

On 11/14/2022 at 7:53 PM, mojoween said:

Thanks I hate it. 

Gah. The only part of that I sorta like is the pitch clock. Other than that,  MLB can suck monkey balls.  I get that #1 & #2 are an attempt to speed up the game,  but there's got to be another way. 

[cleo]

The funny thing is, shift restrictions and larger bases will make the game longer bc it will be harder to get outs.

They don't really care about the time, they want more action so they are trying to force it. 

I'm sure they've also studied how the gambling can be better implemented with more balls in play. 

[mojoween]

Why are the awards being given out in dribs and drabs this week?  Wouldn’t it have made more sense to do a one or two hour special on one day?

[cambridgeguy]

4 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Why are the awards being given out in dribs and drabs this week?  Wouldn’t it have made more sense to do a one or two hour special on one day?

So the less prestigious award winners don't turn into a complete afterthought?  Plus it's a longer news cycle.

Edited November 16, 2022 by cambridgeguy

[Salacious Kitty]

46 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Why are the awards being given out in dribs and drabs this week?  Wouldn’t it have made more sense to do a one or two hour special on one day?

They've done it this way for a while. 

Congrats to Sandy winning NL Cy Young. @Xeliou66 is partying somewhere. 😀

[Lantern7]

I’m surprised there’s never been a Manager of the Year from the Mets. I thought Davey Johnson had won back in the day, but I was mistaken . . . and he had won MOTA twice with two different teams.

[Xeliou66]

5 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

They've done it this way for a while. 

Congrats to Sandy winning NL Cy Young. @Xeliou66 is partying somewhere. 😀

Yeah it’s great to have a Marlins player win the Cy Young, a nice piece of good news for a franchise that never seems to get good news. Sandy was clearly the most dominant pitcher in MLB this season. 

[Salacious Kitty]

1 minute ago, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah it’s great to have a Marlins player win the Cy Young, a nice piece of good news for a franchise that never seems to get good news. Sandy was clearly the most dominant pitcher in MLB this season. 

As an A's fan, I usually count Gold Gloves, but they let those go, too. 😢

[Ms Blue Jay]

I'm so devastated about Teoscar Hernandez being traded to Seattle.  They beat us in the playoffs, then they took Teoscar too.  

[Xeliou66]

1 minute ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm so devastated about Teoscar Hernandez being traded to Seattle.  They beat us in the playoffs, then they took Teoscar too.  

Interesting trade, I guess the Jays thought they needed more pitching in order to get better. Teoscar Hernandez will be a good addition to the Mariners already strong lineup.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Analysts have already confirmed the team is worse off now, than before.  We could have kept Teoscar for one more year.  But front office doesn't care about the fans.

[cleo]

I didnt like Teoscar. At times he made zero effort and I also thought some of his 'pranks' and joking were just him being an asshole. When people ask you to stop throwing shit at them and you keep doing it- not funny. Randomly punching people out of nowhere- also not funny.

ETA they did it partly for pitching but really they want to clear out space and money to bring in someone for the outfield. Whether they are successful at that, I don't know, but it is only intended to be part 1 of whatever they're doing.

Edited November 17, 2022 by cleo

[Ms Blue Jay]

Which Jays do you like?  Teoscar has been a favourite of mine since he joined the team, I always believed in his talent and it was extremely fun to be proven right.  I have never heard of him punching someone, etc. 

6 minutes ago, cleo said:

ETA they did it partly for pitching but really they want to clear out space and money to bring in someone for the outfield. Whether they are successful at that, I don't know, but it is only intended to be part 1 of whatever they're doing.

Ross Atkins has already publicly declared that "they didn't need" any salary room, I don't even know why he would bother to say such a thing after getting rid of such a fan favourite.

[Xeliou66]

7 minutes ago, cleo said:

I didnt like Teoscar. At times he made zero effort and I also thought some of his 'pranks' and joking were just him being an asshole. When people ask you to stop throwing shit at them and you keep doing it- not funny. Randomly punching people out of nowhere- also not funny.

ETA they did it partly for pitching but really they want to clear out space and money to bring in someone for the outfield. Whether they are successful at that, I don't know, but it is only intended to be part 1 of whatever they're doing.

I had never heard about Hernandez punching people/throwing stuff at them/being an asshole. I don’t follow the Jays closely but I usually hear about players who are toxic like that, that’s interesting.

[cleo]

Well I don't believe anything Atkins says to the media tbh. 

@Xeliou66 well everyone thinks it's funny but me apparently. Which isn't unusual, I usually have UOs. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by cleo

[Ms Blue Jay]

That's what I mean.  He didn't need to say it, especially if it was untrue.

[mojoween]

11 years ago I was DISTRESSED and complained about it on Facebook.  Little did I know what was coming down the pike.

Jayson Stark reported that the MLB labor agreement will include interleague play every day of the season starting in 2012 or '13 (didn't hear the date).

Whyyyyyy???  Interleague play was the WORST idea.  Doesn't MLB understand that part of the reason the Series was so fun is because St. Louis and Texas hadn't played each other?

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I had never heard about Hernandez punching people/throwing stuff at them/being an asshole. I don’t follow the Jays closely but I usually hear about players who are toxic like that, that’s interesting.

Teoscar is like the leader of the team.  He's like the big brother and Vladdy is the little brother.  They are always roughhousing like this:

[Xeliou66]

3 minutes ago, cleo said:

Well I don't believe anything Atkins says to the media tbh. 

@Xeliou66 well everyone thinks it's funny but me apparently. Which isn't unusual, I usually have UOs. 

I’m probably with you, I usually don’t find immature clowns funny, I’ve just never heard about Hernandez being one. 

[cleo]

Yeah that's not the clip I was thinking of, but even there I still find his inclination to hit people/throw things at people irritating. At least one teammate said they asked him to stop and he did not.

My understanding is the organization was also getting tired of his attitude, moreso his lack of effort on the field, certainly I was hearing early August he would be going. I also think he has an overestimated idea of what kind of deal in free agency he will get. 

@Ms Blue Jay I basically like every player except him lol. I will be sorry not to see Tapia. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by cleo

[BlueSkies]

3 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I’m surprised there’s never been a Manager of the Year from the Mets. I thought Davey Johnson had won back in the day, but I was mistaken . . . and he had won MOTA twice with two different teams.

Bobby V was the guy that should have deserved it at some point.  
 

On 11/14/2022 at 8:27 PM, Xeliou66 said:

I hate eliminating the shift, the shift was interesting strategy and made the game more compelling. I’m okay with the other stuff.

I can’t stand the shift….  Just see it as analytics ruling baseball more and more.  
 

Having said that I don’t like banning the shift.  Professional hitters should be able to adapt and that’s their problem if they cant.  I mean imagine back in the day teams pulling the shirt on Pete Rose?  He’d have 6000 hits 

Edited November 17, 2022 by BlueSkies

[mojoween]

MISS ME with Shohei Ohtani.  Yeah, I’m a hater.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[Salacious Kitty]

Why bother with Ohtani? Your guy won. 

Yankee fans are so weird. 😀

[Jane Tuesday]

Congrats to Judge and especially Goldy. The right guys won. 

No shade, they both seem like quality people, but... have there ever been two more personally boring MVPs? 😆 

[BlueSkies]

20 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Why bother with Ohtani? Your guy won. 

Yankee fans are so weird. 😀

I recall the last time in 2009 they won the World Series, the next day Yankee fans were calling WFAN already thinking of next year.  Not celebrating.

Hell Hideki Matsui the MVP of the World Series that year got traded right afterwards by the Yanks 

[smittykins]

Judge named one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive

They do know he’s married, right? 😛

[cambridgeguy]

The 2023 HOF ballot is out.  Of the newcomers, Carlos Beltran is the only one whose stats are good enough to have a reasonable case for getting in, but then there's the whole Astros cheating scandal.  We'll see how much the voters feel like punishing him.

Oh, and there's also K-Rod if saves matter.  The three players ahead of him on the all-time list (Rivera, Hoffman, Smith) are in and the guy in sixth (Billy Wagner) is picking up steam.  As for the fifth place player, sorry John Franco.

[JTMacc99]

18 hours ago, smittykins said:

Judge named one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive

They do know he’s married, right? 😛

[mojoween]

Watching “Path to Pinstripes” and a discussion breaks out about “Zoey 101” and where it was filmed, and the kid born in 88 had never heard of it, and the other kid born in 97 said it was for kids his age, and good gravy I am an old woman.

(for the record I am familiar with “Zoey 101”, because I also have a kid who was born in 97 and he watched it.)

[cleo]

I've been reduced to watching soccer, which is a very low scoring game, and all I can think about is how Manfred would force the players to only stand/run in certain spots to make scoring easier.

[Lantern7]

4 hours ago, cleo said:

I've been reduced to watching soccer, which is a very low scoring game, and all I can think about is how Manfred would force the players to only stand/run in certain spots to make scoring easier.

“Offside? *tch* Who needs it? Station two guys at the other end? Now we’re talking!”

The WBC is never going to be on the scale as the World Cup, will it?

[xaxat]

I hope his other investments are faring better than this one.

[Salacious Kitty]

Just saw that Gaylord Perry died. 😢

[Salacious Kitty]

deGrom to Texas. Looks like a 5 year deal. 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Salacious Kitty

[AimingforYoko]

Does this make Texas relevant? I don't know. I still think they're not even the best team in their state.

[mojoween]

Quick someone check on Lantern.

[Lantern7]

1 minute ago, mojoween said:

Quick someone check on Lantern.

I’m just happy deGrom didn’t land in the NL East. Now he’s another superstar in the AL West that won’t get so close to the postseason.

Honestly, I was going to wonder about how there hasn’t been any huge signings. Maybe this kicks it off.

August 28-30. I bet those tickets go fast. Then again, Syndergaard didn’t pitch against the Mets this past season.

[jennifer6973]

If what I'm seeing is right, the Padres are trying to become my favorite NL West team.

[mojoween]

So the Mets swapped youngish DeGrom for old-ass Verlander.  Wut.