MLB Discussion

[flood]

the problem would be the disparity of the teams would kill interest in the central and western teams and you'd eventually see these teams fail.

i heard another rumor today about doing very regionalized divisions.. where the northeast division would become mets yanks, boston, philly and toronto... holy shit would that be the most ridiculous division

[dynamitekid]

That would be ridiculous. And pretty much destroy all the history of the leagues.

[thebiglebowski]

the problem would be the disparity of the teams would kill interest in the central and western teams and you'd eventually see these teams fail.

i heard another rumor today about doing very regionalized divisions.. where the northeast division would become mets yanks, boston, philly and toronto... holy shit would that be the most ridiculous division

I don't think this would destroy interest in the Western teams. Couldn't you use the same argument for the Rays, Blue Jays, and Orioles (ie because they almost never make the playoffs people would lose interest in the teams and they would fail)? They obviously haven't failed (through revenue sharing and careful spending), so I don't see why the Rangers or Mariners would be any different.

Guess I just think MLB would be fine with 2 divisions. Not saying it is the only way to do a reorganization. It would be different no doubt, but I don't think it would destroy the competitiveness and cause bankruptcy of teams.

[Guest]

can we talk about jeter starting the all star game?

[flood]

can we talk about jeter starting the all star game?

as a life long yankee fan i'll be the first to admit that Jeter's past his prime, and shouldn't be on the all star team. That being said... Jeter is the face of baseball in America. You cannot argue this fact. He has the #1 selling jersey every year. He's in more commercials than pretty much any other athlete. Every woman at yankee stadium is wearing a Jeter shirt. He's whom the fans want to see in the all star game. He's an iconic figure who's bigger than the sport itself... and since the starters are voted by the fans... he's going to win hands down. Theres lots of precedence for this.... guys like Ripken or Mantle both were starters on all star teams way past their primes, where they really didn't belong... and tons of other guys were always voted based on popularity with the fans over the years. I don't agree with him being there either but thats how fan voted things work

[thebiglebowski]

You guys think Konerko will have a spot at the hall? He definitely has some work to do, but dude is making a strong push late in his career (and in the post-steroid era). I'm giving him about a 1/3 chance at the moment.

[travis]

Personally I dont think Konerko makes it in.

Lame that Jeter is starting the ASG but its not suprising at all, he's probably the most popular player in the league still and thats all the ASG starters are anyways, the fan favorites. Not necessarily who deserves it the most. Im stoked Tex isnt starting, an all NY infield would make me want to puke. Unfortunately its a Red Sox player at first which is just about as bad haha.

Also...holy shit the Halos are tied for first!?!

[thebiglebowski]

Personally I dont think Konerko makes it in.

Lame that Jeter is starting the ASG but its not suprising at all, he's probably the most popular player in the league still and thats all the ASG starters are anyways, the fan favorites. Not necessarily who deserves it the most. Im stoked Tex isnt starting, an all NY infield would make me want to puke. Unfortunately its a Red Sox player at first which is just about as bad haha.

Also...holy shit the Halos are tied for first!?![/quote

You have to be pretty happy your team dumped that turd Figgins.

[travis]

Yea for the amount of money he got, I am. If they could have kept him for half of what he got I would have been stoked. Halos need someone to play third badly. One of the major weak spots on the team along with Figgins being a good lead off guy. I think he would still be playing well if he stayed in Anaheim but who knows.

Stoked they didnt give into Lackey's demands either haha, he definitely isnt earing his money in Boston. I just hope they give Weaver what he deserves and can keep him here.

Halos should be ok for the next couple years if they can keep this core group together with a few of the young guys they have in the bigs right now along with a couple prospects (mainly Mike Trout) and maybe fill in some holes with the veterans. Tony Reagins is a fucking horrible GM though so I dont have a lot of faith in all that with him running things. Dude spends so much fucking money on guys who dont deserve it and then cant come up with the cash for the guys they should be spending big on. I heard Arte Moreno put a hold on all his spending for the rest of the year so we'll see what happens. Hopefully they fire him but I doubt it, he just got an extension last year.

[Guest]

but you cant deny that gonzo is easily the best player in the game this year.. even though reyes has been making a strong push lately.

and wtf... lester goes down with a lat strain after mowing down the jays for 4 innings with no hits and a walk.

[travis]

Yea Gonzo is killing it this year, dude is a slugger.

[clydeftones]

finally, and probably most importantly, there arent enough good pitchers in baseball. even more specific, there arent enough good middle relievers in baseball. ... but even the best teams in the league have shaky-at-best middle relief. all this does is expose that, and force managers to go deeper into their bullpens than they need to.

some things

1. MLB is pitching heavy right now. Offense is at a premium. The NL's league ERA is the lowest since '92. The AL's is the lowest since 1981. Motherfucking '81. There is plenty of great pitching in the league, both as starters and middle relievers.

2. I dont really see the downside of making the game more tactical and using more of your roster. The bench & bullpen should be more than an injury reserve. Managerial moves should matter beyond filling out a lineup card 30 minutes before the game.

3. realignment is more about dollars than competitive balance. Small market teams in Central and Western divisions want more of those home games featuring Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Cubs, etc. Having an NBA esque schedule would give a financial bump to each team in the league annually.

[mcm1610]

I don't like that fans vote for the all-star starters. All you get is a popularity contest, so OF COURSE you're going to have a team full of Yankees and Red Sox.

[thebiglebowski]

but you cant deny that gonzo is easily the best player in the game this year.. even though reyes has been making a strong push lately.

and wtf... lester goes down with a lat strain after mowing down the jays for 4 innings with no hits and a walk.

Gonzalez is awesome, but you are wrong if you think you can't make an argument for other players.

Bautista has an OPS of 1.154. Gonzo's is .989. Bautista's OBP is .468. Gonzo's is .405.

Bautista almost has twice as many home runs. He has 10 more runs and a handful of steals.

Gonzo has 15 more RBIs and 10 points on the BA.

Basically, the numbers suggest that if those guys switched lineups, Bautista would run away with the MVP. In their current lineups, it is close.

[travis]

Where the fuck did Bautista come from all of a sudden? Last year the dude just went nuts and he's keeping it up this year. Honestly, I dont think I had ever heard of him before last year.

[thebiglebowski]

Where the fuck did Bautista come from all of a sudden? Last year the dude just went nuts and he's keeping it up this year. Honestly, I dont think I had ever heard of him before last year.

Not trying to be a smart ass, but if anyone in baseball really knew what the hell happened to that guy to turn him into superman, they might have a whole team of MVPs. It's pretty amazing.

[travis]

Where the fuck did Bautista come from all of a sudden? Last year the dude just went nuts and he's keeping it up this year. Honestly, I dont think I had ever heard of him before last year.

Not trying to be a smart ass, but if anyone in baseball really knew what the hell happened to that guy to turn him into superman, they might have a whole team of MVPs. It's pretty amazing.

Yea seriously, I looked up his stats and he had been decent but seems like last year he just really took off and he seems to be having an even better year this time around. Most guys that have that big of a break out year dont usually follow it up with an even better year. Dudes got a pretty cool nickname too. Sounds like a mobster haha.

[tattoosdonthurt]

On Bautista-He swears up and down that it's the change in his swing. He's said time and again, "test me, I'm clean". I really am starting to believe it, when you watch him bat, he just looks so natural. Early this season ESPN did a short on him and they compared his swing from his mid-twenties to his current swing, and it is, indeed, totally different. I guess sometimes a different approach can make a difference even when its something you've been doing you're whole life.

On a completely different note--Jair Jurrjens has really impressed me the last two years. I realize that Atlanta doesn't get a ton of love as a "sports town" (albeit good reason), but the Braves are tearing up opponents this year, and Craig Kimbrell is a beast.

[flood]

Bautista is a monster. and he's doing it with minimal protection... can you imagine what that dudes #'s would look like if he was say... batting between Texeira/A-Rod/Cano? or midway through the Red Sox lineup?

[dynamitekid]

He would probably be the same, just with more RBI's. I mean he has a little bit of protection with Adam Lind in the lineup.

[mclz]

but you cant deny that gonzo is easily the best player in the game this year.. even though reyes has been making a strong push lately.

and wtf... lester goes down with a lat strain after mowing down the jays for 4 innings with no hits and a walk.

Gonzalez is awesome, but you are wrong if you think you can't make an argument for other players.

Bautista has an OPS of 1.154. Gonzo's is .989. Bautista's OBP is .468. Gonzo's is .405.

Bautista almost has twice as many home runs. He has 10 more runs and a handful of steals.

Gonzo has 15 more RBIs and 10 points on the BA.

Basically, the numbers suggest that if those guys switched lineups, Bautista would run away with the MVP. In their current lineups, it is close.

Sometimes it's just about Average though. Look at last year, Cabrera was better in every category expect for AVG with Hamilton, but Hamilton still won the MVP.

[thebiglebowski]

Gonzalez is awesome, but you are wrong if you think you can't make an argument for other players.

Bautista has an OPS of 1.154. Gonzo's is .989. Bautista's OBP is .468. Gonzo's is .405.

Bautista almost has twice as many home runs. He has 10 more runs and a handful of steals.

Gonzo has 15 more RBIs and 10 points on the BA.

Basically, the numbers suggest that if those guys switched lineups, Bautista would run away with the MVP. In their current lineups, it is close.

Sometimes it's just about Average though. Look at last year, Cabrera was better in every category expect for AVG with Hamilton, but Hamilton still won the MVP.

Almost entirely because Texas made the playoffs and the Tigers did not. If that was not a factor, Cabrera would have won it.

[clydeftones]

yeah that was all about team performance, although there still are members of the BBWAA that are dumb enough to care about average

[travis]

yeah that was all about team performance, although there still are members of the BBWAA that are dumb enough to care about average

Well they still care about wins for pitchers and I think BA is a much more telling stat for a batter than wins are for a pitcher.

[Snaggle Von Swift]

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=6747510

this is crazy/sad.