2011 MLB Thread

[El Justo]

shoe! shoe! shoe! he hooked one foul yesterday in his last AB. dude has just missed on a few. granted, it ain't horseshoes or hand grenades. but good to see Benny Fresh swinging a good bat.

i have a sneaky feeling that utley will be back sooner than we all think (memorial day maybe? stabbin' in the dark here).

 

[Scratch]

I've heard Utley is able to run some now, so that's a good sign. I think the real question is whether or not he may be developing arthritis. If he's becoming arthritic, then there never will be full recovery, it'll become a question of how well the inflammation and pain can be managed.

In other injury stuff, I saw yesterday that Lidge is probably not going to be back before the All Star break. So Contreras is going to get a long stretch here as the closer, if he does it well enough. His first outing of the year was a bit shaky, he couldn't throw strikes but the Mets weren't able to make him pay for that.

But the most important arm in the bullpen is Madson. He's got the best stuff, and there are some good arguments to make that he ought to be the closer. On the other hand, the role that he was in last year ended up having him face the middle of the order more often than Lidge, so it was probably good that Madson who was the best pitcher in the bullpen was facing the best bats of the other team.

 

[El Justo]

contreras will be fine. i like it that madson is still the 8th inning guy. i say we never see lidge pitch for the phils ever again. he is toast. madson will be the closer for this team next year

 

[Scratch]

Yeah, if Contreras doesn't blow up at it, there's also an economic reason not to make Madson the closer -- saves are overvalued commodities in salaries for relief pitchers. If the Phils give Madson the closer role this year and he racks up a bunch of saves, his salary demands as a free agent would go up.

On the other hand, if Madson is kept out of the closer role and that ticks him off, then he will be more open to contract offers from other teams.

 

[El Justo]

and he has that scumbag boras as his agent. in a perfect world, it will play out exactly like you said - let him pitch the 8th, watch the dude who came to america on a raft walk off into the splendid sunset and hand the closer's ball to the mad dog in the spring 2012. just will have to pay him. lidge will be off the books though (can not see any reason to sign him again). ibañez will come off the books too. so in theory, there may be some coin to throw at madson as a closer.

 

[illram]

It's not that April games are completely meaningless, they count like any other loss, but that (a) they are not really indicative of future performance; and (b) the season is so long that there is so much time to come back. For instance, the Cleveland Indians will, eventually, suck and go to the bottom of the AL Central where they belong.

 

[shadowplay]

NEW YORK -- Tampa Bay slugger Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance for the second time and informed Major League Baseball on Friday that he is retiring rather than face a 100-game suspension.

A person familiar with the events that led to the announcement confirmed to The Associated Press that Ramirez tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the nature of Ramirez' issue with MLB's drug policy was not publicly disclosed.

Source: http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=361391


Link to video.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

So what's the deal with Brian Wilson then? Maybe the Cards will hiold on to steal this one, or maybe not, but that dude just wasn't there in the top of the 9th. When you need one more out to close off the game, and you just can't throw the ball past Ryan Theriot, you know something's wrong.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Gah. Franklin! Don't really know why LaRussa perseveres with him.

 

[Strider]

So what's the deal with Brian Wilson then? Maybe the Cards will hiold on to steal this one, or maybe not, but that dude just wasn't there in the top of the 9th. When you need one more out to close off the game, and you just can't throw the ball past Ryan Theriot, you know something's wrong.

Theriot's been walking a hell of a lot this season. I think he's taken more walks than he has gotten hits so far. I am, again, disappointed in Pujols. Top of the 9th, bases loaded, and 2 outs with an opportunity to blow the game out of San Frans reach and he pops out. Oh.. and Franklin just blew the save.

 

[sophie]

So what's the deal with Brian Wilson then? Maybe the Cards will hiold on to steal this one, or maybe not, but that dude just wasn't there in the top of the 9th. When you need one more out to close off the game, and you just can't throw the ball past Ryan Theriot, you know something's wrong.

Just rust, I think. He's been out for 2 weeks, it's going to take some time for him to get back into the swing of things. Thankfully it all worked out in the end.

 

[El Justo]

maybe wilson is more hurt than he's letting on ala brad lidge.

 

[downtown]

It's not that April games are completely meaningless, they count like any other loss, but that (a) they are not really indicative of future performance; and (b) the season is so long that there is so much time to come back. For instance, the Cleveland Indians will, eventually, suck and go to the bottom of the AL Central where they belong.

Yeah, and I think Baltimore will eventually fall back down to 4th in the division, which will make those 6 games an even bigger wasted opportunity (nice win tonight though).

Cleveland isn't going to have nearly enough pitching to contend for anything this season, but their offense is looking surprisingly competent right now, and thats with their best hitter from last season (Choo) hitting around .120, and their best overall position player (Sizemore) on the DL. The team is getting great contributions from Carlos Santana (the next coming of V-Mart), Orlando Cabrera, and even the corpse formally known as Travis Hafner is playing well.

Obviously, I expect guys like Hafner and Cabrera (and prob Brantley too) to fall back, but Choo isn't going to hit .150 all season either. They could get 3rd in the Central I think.

 

[dannyshenanigan]

Thank you young Starlin Castro for making watching the Cubs at least interesting this year, even after 40% of the starting pitching staff just went down in a single day. This kid's got some serious potential.

I just read that he did not swing and miss at a pitch until during his 22nd at-bat of the season . Really amazing for a guy that just turned 21.

He still needs to cut down on his errors, but he has the talent to be a perennial gold glove shortstop.

 

[sophie]

maybe wilson is more hurt than he's letting on ala brad lidge.

Wouldn't surprise me, given that that's just the type of guy Wilson is. But I'm confident Bochy has thought of this, and wouldn't consider putting Wilson back into the swing of things unless he was absolutely certain he was good to go.

As for today's game, good to see Runzler had a good outing. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him, especially given his superb numbers this spring.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Just rust, I think. He's been out for 2 weeks, it's going to take some time for him to get back into the swing of things. Thankfully it all worked out in the end.

Looked something more than rust to me. (Not that I'm a qualified physiotherapist or pitching coach... ;-))

PS Cards were pretty poor. Managed to find a way to lose. Could be a long old season.

 

[El Justo]

some guys just try to push through the injury bugs and it can make it worse. lidge has a propensity to tell the beat writers, "i feel great". and then they have a press conference the next day and he goes on the dl. losing wilson for any extended amount of time will hurt the SF bullpen although one or more of those other guys could step in and do a nice job. but rough outings like wilson has had can be more telling. what was his velocity like in those games he pitched?

 

[sophie]

some guys just try to push through the injury bugs and it can make it worse. lidge has a propensity to tell the beat writers, "i feel great". and then they have a press conference the next day and he goes on the dl. losing wilson for any extended amount of time will hurt the SF bullpen although one or more of those other guys could step in and do a nice job. but rough outings like wilson has had can be more telling. what was his velocity like in those games he pitched?

mid-90s. His velocity is not down, it's more missing spots and Brian being Brian (getting into ridiculous jams) but then not being Brian (getting out of said ridiculous jams without giving anything up) which is what makes me think it's rust.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Oh.. and Franklin just blew the save.

And again...

3 blown saves after 8 games is a pretty breathtaking pace. Wonder if he'll manage to keep it up for the whole season. We could have had a respectable 5-3 start, but instead we're sitting in a hole at 2-6.

Not sure who LaRussa can turn to though. Jason Motte ? Presumably not Mitchell or Boggs. Pity we lost Perez -think we should have tried a bit harder to keep hold of him.

 

[El Justo]

killer. costed me a fantasy win with garcia. he looks great to start this year. wondered whether that workload from last year might set him back some. not so to start. there's other arms at the back end of that BP, right?