2011 MLB Thread
- Thread starter El Justo
- Start date
Lambert Simnel
One across
Strider
In Retrospect
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- 8,984
It's baseballs way of making things more even. Don't complain; at least you didn't lose your ace pitcher for the entire season.
Scratch
ça ne fait rien
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2011
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I can always find something to complain about. It's a talent of mine.
The Phils are going to have a couple of cold exhibition games against the Pirates tonight and tomorrow.
El Justo
Deity
or being on the cusp of losing a sure-fire first ballot HoF'er. enjoy King Albert while you can, cards fans 
schlaufuchs
Break My Heart
just bagged tix for game2 of the season, astros at phils. i will be able perpetuate my man crush on Clifton Phifer Lee that night
it's his first game back in philly
Meh, Lee is probably the most overrated player in MLB right now.
Saw the Giants A's exhibition game last night. Panda has definitely lost weight and I liked what I saw in Belt. Had a nice pick and looked good at the plate. Posey airmailed a throw to second but hey, it's still technically spring....
schlaufuchs
Break My Heart
Yeah, I saw that. He could have got the guy, but he just didn't have his feet planted. Did you see the Huff jackshot? It was like WS Game 5 all over again
Cain looked decent enough. Torres made some pretty catches. Overall it was a good game. I am so ready for this season to start
El Justo
Deity
i wouldn't call lee overrated. have you looked at his absolutely insane stats? he is without question a surgeon. guess the pre-season disses in the direction of the overrated sf giants getting someone down? glass houses, you know
glass houses, you know
The Giants need to have some more miracles if they want to get back to the World Series. They're a mix of good to great young players (basically their entire pitching staff, Posey, Panda if he gets his act together, Belt, Torres to an extent, Freddy Sanchez), so-so journeymen (Ross, De Rosa, their entire bench) and overpaid flops (Rowand and Zito!) and old timers running on fumes (Burrel, Tejada, Huff, to an extent.) Alot of folks around here forget that the Giants won a ton of one run games last year... why they were famously called "torture." The ATL series was basically a snapshot of their entire season. Hanging by a thread, down to the wire, pulling it out at the last second and sometimes on another teams screwup.
Pitching will need to carry them through and I am telling anyone that will listen that Bumgarner is going to develop into a stud lefty. They have got 4 aces, basically, so long as Sanchez is not pitching in a big game. I think their offense took a step forward this year with Tejada and a hopefully improved Panda, and we will see if Belt can do something at this level in his rookie year. I think Burrel is going to go down at some point.
I dont have cable so I miss the sportscenter and BBTN fly by night analysis, are they hyping the Giants alot? I think the hype machine this year is on the Red Sox, who actually should live up to the hype because their lineup is so stacked this year.
Teams that will surprise us: Blue Jays and Brewers. People think the O's will pull something out but I don't think so. I think the Rays are going to disappoint. The Pirates are quietly putting together a decent offense but their pitching is still suspect.
Pitching will need to carry them through and I am telling anyone that will listen that Bumgarner is going to develop into a stud lefty. They have got 4 aces, basically, so long as Sanchez is not pitching in a big game.
I think their offense took a step forward this year with Tejada and a hopefully improved Panda, and we will see if Belt can do something at this level in his rookie year. I think Burrel is going to go down at some point. I dont have cable so I miss the sportscenter and BBTN fly by night analysis, are they hyping the Giants alot? I think the hype machine this year is on the Red Sox, who actually should live up to the hype because their lineup is so stacked this year.
Teams that will surprise us: Blue Jays and Brewers. People think the O's will pull something out but I don't think so. I think the Rays are going to disappoint. The Pirates are quietly putting together a decent offense but their pitching is still suspect.
El Justo
Deity
giants staff is very, very good. offense seems to have holes in it but they won the WS last year. nobody in their lineup outside of maybe posey (let's see how he handles a full season, multiple matchups etc) is somebody scouts will say 'don't let this guy beat you'. telling, too, since this is what cody ross did last year in the postseason. can't say for sure whether SF will win their division. LA is always hovering, SD has some new faces but they battle, and Colorado will be mashing all season. tough call.
people aren't talking about the Reds much this pre-season. they can really mash and votto and co. are just going to get better in that little rinky-dink park they play in. if they can get pitching again, they'll be really tough to beat.
nationals will finish with a worse record this year than last year. absolutely God-awful starting pitching and they lose a strasburg and dunn? tough to replace 40 homers every year. werth? out of the 2 hole? so they say. he's a good fit there but he won't have anybody on base in front of him. a long season for the nats imo and i can't wait to invade their stadium some time this season
people aren't talking about the Reds much this pre-season. they can really mash and votto and co. are just going to get better in that little rinky-dink park they play in. if they can get pitching again, they'll be really tough to beat.
nationals will finish with a worse record this year than last year. absolutely God-awful starting pitching and they lose a strasburg and dunn? tough to replace 40 homers every year. werth? out of the 2 hole? so they say. he's a good fit there but he won't have anybody on base in front of him. a long season for the nats imo and i can't wait to invade their stadium some time this season
Strider
In Retrospect
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- 8,984
or being on the cusp of losing a sure-fire first ballot HoF'er. enjoy King Albert while you can, cards fans
Meh. He's on the downward turn of his career. How long will he be able to keep those numbers up? 3 years? 5 years? Even if he does keep hitting injuries have been a problem with him in the past and it'll only get worst. If we resign him for a reasonable amount that's great. If we don't then having 3-4 solid players in the lineup rather than fishing at cheap risks would be pretty nice also.
schlaufuchs
Break My Heart
giants staff is very, very good. offense seems to have holes in it but they won the WS last year. nobody in their lineup outside of maybe posey (let's see how he handles a full season, multiple matchups etc) is somebody scouts will say 'don't let this guy beat you'. telling, too, since this is what cody ross did last year in the postseason. can't say for sure whether SF will win their division. LA is always hovering, SD has some new faces but they battle, and Colorado will be mashing all season. tough call.
people aren't talking about the Reds much this pre-season. they can really mash and votto and co. are just going to get better in that little rinky-dink park they play in. if they can get pitching again, they'll be really tough to beat.
nationals will finish with a worse record this year than last year. absolutely God-awful starting pitching and they lose a strasburg and dunn? tough to replace 40 homers every year. werth? out of the 2 hole? so they say. he's a good fit there but he won't have anybody on base in front of him. a long season for the nats imo and i can't wait to invade their stadium some time this season
Nice ESPN you have there. I see the East Coast bias is true to form, as always.
As for Cliff Lee, he is so overrated. Look at his stats. He's had all of 1 really good year and 1 really good offseason. Of his 9 seasons, he's only pitched 2 seasons with over 15 wins. Only 1 season with an ERA under 3.18.
Let's compare him to Zito who's had 2 more years in the big leagues
Identical career ERAs: 3.86
Zito has almost thrown 150% of the innings: 2100 to 1400
Almost identical WHIPs: 1.26 for Lee, 1.31 for Zito
Zito has a better Opp Avg: .260 for Lee, .239 for Zito
Zito has 6.79 K/9, Lee is 6.9 K/9, about the same
Zito gives up .9 HR/9 Lee gives up .95 HR/9
Lee signed a 5 year $100M Contract; Zito signed a 7 year $126M Contract
So we can see Zito, who has essentially had 1 good season, 2 or 3 decent ones, and since then has been by all accounts a mediocre to terrible pitcher, has near identical statistics to Lee. He might scrape by as our 4/5 pitcher. So much for your God.
dannyshenanigan
Emperor
I have no East coast bias whatsoever, but nobody in their right mind would take Zito over Lee at this point. It's okay to compare their overall careers, but there is a big difference you have completely ignored. Zito started out as a very good pitcher early in his career and badly regressed later because he was never able to adapt after he lost velocity and his great curveball. Cliff Lee was the opposite in that he started out slow before he mastered the art of pitching and became a good pitcher later in his career. Cliff Lee is still very much in his prime whereas Zito is well past his even though they're the same age.
As for the one Phillies ace who I wouldn't expect as much from this year, I think Roy Oswalt won't be quite as good as he was last year. I expect he'll probaby put up a 4.00-4.20 era over 180-200 innings. Very solid for a #4 starter but not quite an "ace" year.
El Justo
Deity
don't kid yourself, Strider. i know you're a cards fan but fess up, dude. it will be a crushing blow to the organization, the city, and even stan musial if albert leaves. that post you made was complete nonsense. you just better pray that the cubs don't ante up and pay him that $30M a year.
@Owen
cliff lee, well, don't hate. he's a beast. peripheral stats are off the chart. comparing him to zito is a joke and shows you aren't thinking clearly. and espn? what are you talking about? that is my take. don't insinuate that i'm ripping material from somewhere else. i study this stuff, you know. 4th or 5th starter on the giants staff can you hear me laughing from here?! you should insert foot in mouth right about now!
@Owen
cliff lee, well, don't hate. he's a beast. peripheral stats are off the chart. comparing him to zito is a joke and shows you aren't thinking clearly. and espn? what are you talking about? that is my take. don't insinuate that i'm ripping material from somewhere else. i study this stuff, you know. 4th or 5th starter on the giants staff
can you hear me laughing from here?! you should insert foot in mouth right about now!
Darkness
Shadow creature
Of course it will be a tremendous blow if Albert leaves!
But non-one, not even Albert, is worth 30 million dollars a year for 10 years, and 32-year-olds (which Albert will be on opening day 2012) should not be signed to 10-year deals. Now if he would take 7-8 years in the 200-220 million dollar range, then that would be great, but if he really wants the 10-year, 300 million dollar deal, then the Cards are going to let him walk. Which will hurt a lot the next five years, but after that Albert's going to tail off and then he's just not worth 5 more years at 30 million a year...
El Justo
Deity
agreed about the money part. it's insane and would be potentially grievous to allot that much coin to one dude. however, and this is a humongous however, pujols is in the prime of his career. he is a monster and we could rightfully debate the merits of paying a guy the kind of scratch he's looking for in exchange for those numbers he puts up. i guess my point is that if anyone in the game is worth that kind of money, it's pujols. of course, it's mind-boggling but losing albert would be a tremendous blow to a proud franchise. there's no other way around it imo.
Darkness
Shadow creature
You guys put your 'picks' where your mouths are.
Then we can look back near the end of the season.
AL East: Boston
AL Central: Minnesota
AL West: Oakland
Wild Card: New York Yankees
NL East: Philadelphia
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: San Francisco
Wild Card: Atlanta
World Series: Philadelphia over Boston
Strider
In Retrospect
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I am by no means saying that I do not want to see him resigned. The money really isn't even my issue either. It's the amount of time he's asking for. I'd love to see him put those numbers up for 10 years, but I doubt it'll happen. I don't want to see the franchise regretting that deal 7-10 years from now.
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