2012 MLB Thread (Cabrera Gets Triple Crown, first since Yaz 1967)

[tarcone]

Directv is having a free preview of their MLB package. For some reason the Angels and Twins are blacked out in St Louis.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Juan Francisco has three errors through five innings innings for the Braves at Houston.

Any wonder Chipper is expected to come off the DL and go into the lineup just 15 days after surgery?

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Cole Hamels and Matt Garza will be nice Dodgers next year

Cmon, Ned Colleti is still your GM. It will be a 3 year contract for Jaime Moyer instead.

[tarcone]

7-1 Cards!
Liking the team.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Cmon, Ned Colleti is still your GM. It will be a 3 year contract for Jaime Moyer instead.

Was Moyer ever a Giant?

[Lathum]

I know it is early but I am really excited about these mets. Nice to see them. Playing loose.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The last time the Braves started the season 0-4 was 1988. That team finished the season 54-106, 39.5 games out of first ... Just sayin

[Big Fo]

The Braves somehow look worse than they did last September. Maybe the whole "let's not do anything to improve the team in the offseason" strategy was flawed.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The last time the Braves started the season 0-4 was 1988. That team finished the season 54-106, 39.5 games out of first ... Just sayin

Was this the "Goodness Gracious, one Crazy summer!" year?

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by tarcone

7-1 Cards!
Liking the team.

Very early.. but we seemed balanced. If we can only stay healthy.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Was Moyer ever a Giant?

Point well-taken. Lets say Jeremy Affeldt, 3 / 27 as closer.

[fantom1979]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The last time the Braves started the season 0-4 was 1988. That team finished the season 54-106, 39.5 games out of first ... Just sayin

I would be shocked if the Braves are crappy this year. If someone would have asked me 12 months ago to name the top five teams with the brightest future, the Braves would have been near the top. Solid middle of the lineup with Heyward, Freeman, McCann, Prado, and Uggla. Excellent young SP like Hanson, Beachy, Jurrjens, Teheran, Minor, and Delgado. Not to forget one of the best backend bullpens with Kimbrel, Venters, and O'Flaherty.

On paper, they look very good. You would think they should finish with more than 89 wins this year.

But if Heyward goes into the shitter again,
and Uggla bats .180 in the first half again,
and Teheran turns out to be a AAAA pitcher

then who knows how many they will win.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

Anyone watching Texas-Seattle? Yu doesn't look like he'll get out of the 1st inning.

I was there. It was pretty tense. But he did a great job settling in after the horrible start, and the offense caught fire and made up the deficit.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by cartman

I was there. It was pretty tense. But he did a great job settling in after the horrible start, and the offense caught fire and made up the deficit.

Watching on TV you could certainly see the electric stuff. His fastball has a lot of natural downward movement. Going to need to get sharper with his command however. He cant be down 2-0 on every batter.

I can imagine there was much excitement at the park tonight with your new prize on the hill? Did you take down one of the $26 hot dogs?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Nick Punto leading off for Boston? OK.

Sounds about right, I had him lead off with my really crappy Strat-o-Matic baseball team...

[cartman]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Watching on TV you could certainly see the electric stuff. His fastball has a lot of natural downward movement. Going to need to get sharper with his command however. He cant be down 2-0 on every batter.

I can imagine there was much excitement at the park tonight with your new prize on the hill? Did you take down one of the $26 hot dogs?

Yeah, we were saying the same thing. If he could retire 10 straight guys after getting behind in the count, imagine how it will be when he can figure out how to get ahead of batters. It was really impressive to see him not get lost and frustrated after the horrible start.

Alas, the Champion Dog will have to wait for another trip. There was a 30 minute wait for them tonight.

[Ksyrup]

Watched the first couple of innings of the Orioles/Yankees. Matusz is still a mess. He pitched just like Westbrook last night - aiming the ball at spots, missing high, and not following through. He literally looked like he was trrying to throw darts with his follow-through (if you can call it that).

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Originally Posted by cartman

Yeah, we were saying the same thing. If he could retire 10 straight guys after getting behind in the count, imagine how it will be when he can figure out how to get ahead of batters.

Still waiting on this from Dice-K

[Ksyrup]

Interesting. Kinda strange, though. Maybe an Orange Zone? It's not like just because you've got a runner on second that a score is imminent.

John Ourand ‏ @Ourand_SBJ
SBD: MLB is launching a RedZone-style channel tonight on Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network and Bright House.

[Ksyrup]

Even stranger.

Catch Strike Zone on Tuesday and Friday evenings at 7 ET, starting April 10

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

I would be shocked if the Braves are crappy this year. If someone would have asked me 12 months ago to name the top five teams with the brightest future, the Braves would have been near the top. Solid middle of the lineup with Heyward, Freeman, McCann, Prado, and Uggla. Excellent young SP like Hanson, Beachy, Jurrjens, Teheran, Minor, and Delgado. Not to forget one of the best backend bullpens with Kimbrel, Venters, and O'Flaherty.

On paper, they look very good. You would think they should finish with more than 89 wins this year.

But if Heyward goes into the shitter again,
and Uggla bats .180 in the first half again,
and Teheran turns out to be a AAAA pitcher

then who knows how many they will win.

I'm close to boycotting the team until Fredi Gonzalez is fired. I did this for 2 years with Furman until they fired Bobby Lamb.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Interesting. Kinda strange, though. Maybe an Orange Zone? It's not like just because you've got a runner on second that a score is imminent.

John Ourand ‏ @Ourand_SBJ
SBD: MLB is launching a RedZone-style channel tonight on Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network and Bright House.

I don't have any data to back this up, but a lot of times on the Red Zone channel, no one is in position to score and they're still showing something. Then, you get into a situation where 3 teams are in the Red Zone and they switch around or a lot or you get the Triple Box!!

I'm interesting in seeing how this works. Hopefully they come to AT&T soon and make it every day.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Interesting. Kinda strange, though. Maybe an Orange Zone? It's not like just because you've got a runner on second that a score is imminent.

John Ourand ‏ @Ourand_SBJ
SBD: MLB is launching a RedZone-style channel tonight on Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network and Bright House.

I think it'd be more like a channel that has a lot of "look ins" to various games going on at that time.

[Ksyrup]

I guess. But it's available to those with the Extra Inning package, and the Mix Channel already gives me live look-ins to 8 games at a time. What's different about this? In-studio people telling me what I'm seeing?

[Butter]

I am on UVerse so I don't think I'm getting it, but I think on those others it's going to be available to those who don't also subscribe to Extra Innings. But I don't know that for sure.

[Ksyrup]

Here's what I found so far on it:

MLB is launching a new cable channel tonight at 7:00pm ET called MLB Network Strike Zone, which is patterned after the NFL's successful NFL RedZone Channel. The channel already has signed affiliate deals with Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, DirecTV and Dish Network. The channel will operate on Tuesday and Friday nights during the season, when MLB Network carries live games. During that time, Strike Zone will provide live look-ins and highlights commercial free. It will be part of DirecTV's Sports Pack and MLB Extra Innings package, and part of Dish Network's Multi-Sport Pack.

[Ksyrup]

I see - it's basically a supplement to MLB Network's coverage. When MLB Network is showing live games, Strike Zone Channel will operate. When MLB Network is doing the live nightly show, it's not necessary. This is a non-factor for me - I never watch MLB Network, I just watch the mix channel when I want to see what's going on in all the active games.

[Ksyrup]

EDIT: Wrong thread

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Here's what I found so far on it:

That is news to me, we haven't received any internal emails stating this channel exists (yet).

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I see - it's basically a supplement to MLB Network's coverage. When MLB Network is showing live games, Strike Zone Channel will operate. When MLB Network is doing the live nightly show, it's not necessary. This is a non-factor for me - I never watch MLB Network, I just watch the mix channel when I want to see what's going on in all the active games.

I watch Quick Pitch every night. But I don't subscribe to Extra Innings.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

That is news to me, we haven't received any internal emails stating this channel exists (yet).

Who are you with? I saw something on a board saying it would be channel 719 on DirecTV (which is what I have).

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Who are you with? I saw something on a board saying it would be channel 719 on DirecTV (which is what I have).

I work for TWC.

[Ksyrup]

Only info I've gotten about it is from Sports Business Daily, plus some googles searches landing on some messageboards. But I did see this link on twitter:

MLB Network | Strike Zone, Tuesdays and Fridays - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

It doesn't give specifics other than the days in runs and that it starts today. It also says to go to mlbnetwork.com/strikezone, but that page isn't active.

[k0ruptr]

Cool stat #1 for 2012 season:

AJ Pierzynski is the only catcher in baseball to record 1000 or more innings caught in each of the last 10 seasons.

[Scoobz0202]

Reds extend Brandon Phillips with a 6 year 72.5 mil deal.

I love B-Phil but i hope he doesnt drop off fast. A 35-36 year old B-Phil is kind of scary

[DeToxRox]

Snowing pretty good in Detroit right now.

[DeToxRox]

Tigers beat the Rays 5-2. Porcello looked as good as I recall seeing him pitch. His velocity was 92-94 all day. Last year he was 88-90 for most of the season. We're really going to need him this season if we have any chance of making waves in October.

[Bearcat729]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Reds extend Brandon Phillips with a 6 year 72.5 mil deal.

I love B-Phil but i hope he doesnt drop off fast. A 35-36 year old B-Phil is kind of scary

Yeah the fact that it's for 6 years scares me more than the 12 mil a season he'll be getting.

[Butter]

Considering Kinsler got 5/75, I think 6/72.5 is great... basically getting his last 2 worthless years for free.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by cartman

Yeah, we were saying the same thing. If he could retire 10 straight guys after getting behind in the count, imagine how it will be when he can figure out how to get ahead of batters. It was really impressive to see him not get lost and frustrated after the horrible start.

Alas, the Champion Dog will have to wait for another trip. There was a 30 minute wait for them tonight.

There was a 30 minute wait for a $26 hot dog?

[RomaGoth]

Tigers appear to be in Beast Mode. If the pitching stands up and injuries are kept to a minimum, this team could win it this year. If not, I expect Leyland will be gone.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Considering Kinsler got 5/75, I think 6/72.5 is great... basically getting his last 2 worthless years for free.

Kinsler's also two years younger and put up consistently better numbers, though.

[JPhillips]

It's a year or two too long, but that's what it takes to sign a guy like Phillips. They may not get past the first round of the playoffs over the life of the contract, but at least they're trying to kep a highly productive core together. I'd rather they do that and miss than continue to wait for the next round of prospects ala the Royals or Pirates.

[Butter]

I would argue the "consistently better numbers". They are pretty comparable... Kinsler has better power numbers, Phillips has better defense.

[Crapshoot]

Eh, Kinsler's significantly better than Phillips (last year was the best year the latter had in his career - not sure if I would bank on that); I don't know if I would give Brandon 6 years at more than Richie Weeks money. Still, MLB has an explosion of cash, but the Reds dealings the past couple of weeks have been surprising; that's a lot of commitments for a mid-market team (at best- market wise). Its unpopular, but the Votto commitment almost makes more sense to me than Brandon Phillipps; 3 years from now when they need to pay Latos / Bailey / Bruce / et all again, that might be an issue.

[JPhillips]

They won't have to pay Bailey.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

I would argue the "consistently better numbers". They are pretty comparable... Kinsler has better power numbers, Phillips has better defense.

I know this isnt the absolute bottom line but Kinslers last 5 years compared to Phillips has a large advantage to Kinsler. One might say Phillips is very overrated.

Kinslers WAR 3.8, 5.3, 5.0, 3.7, 5.4
Phillips WAR 2.0, 1.0, 2.0, 2.6, 4.1

Kinsler dWAR 0.1, 0.2, 1.6, 0.6, 1.0
Phillips dWAR -0.4, -0.4, -0.4, 0.0, 0.1

[JPhillips]

I don't buy the dWAR numbers for Phillips. He's a very good defensive 2b and has been for years.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I don't buy the dWAR numbers for Phillips. He's a very good defensive 2b and has been for years.

I am not saying the dWAR numbers dont come without fault but it is interesting that he is so consistently average on defense with his dWAR numbers. It would be one thing if they were 1.1, 0.9, -1.2, 1.0, -0.8 but he is consistently around the same number which makes me think they are close to accurate.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by tarcone

There was a 30 minute wait for a $26 hot dog?

Evidently they don't have all of the kinks worked out in cooking them yet. They are pretty much cook to order, since they don't really have space to keep a few ready to go.