2015 MLB thread

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

What experts is Glass talking about? My memory says the Royals were picked to contend for the division, along with the Tigers. 85-90 wins or so.

Most had them picked 3rd or 4th, between 70-75 wins. Almost none had them picked to win the division.

A look at 149 preseason baseball picks finds no one thinks Royals will be in World Series this year | The Kansas City Star

[Chief Rum]

Guess I don't read the experts then. I thought it was pretty obvious the Royals were at least as good as last year, regular season-wise. They pretty much had the same team coming back, outside of Butler and Shields. It was no shock they were even better than that, too, given their general youth.

This is why you shouldn't pay attention to the experts. They're usually idiots.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Good article from JoePoz. Where the hell is SI anyway? He's a huge Joe fan.

Joe Posnanski on the Kansas City Royals clinching the AL Central | NBC SportsWorld

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Good article from JoePoz. Where the hell is SI anyway? He's a huge Joe fan.

Joe Posnanski on the Kansas City Royals clinching the AL Central | NBC SportsWorld

Good question. Looks like he hasn't posted since December. That's too bad. I wonder if he is another one of the disappearing dissenting former FOFC posters?

[tucker rocky]

Just noticed that the Cubs clinched a playoff spot.

[stevew]

Seems like we should be seeing a pretty epic tank off here between Boston, CWS and DET(and maybe Seattle) for the protected 9th and 10th picks here. All of those teams have been known to sign comp free agents, but losing pick 11 would be pretty tough to stomach in exchange for a comp free agent

[JonInMiddleGA]

I have to think the countdown timer on Papelbon's departure from Washington accelerated this afternoon.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I have to think the countdown timer on Papelbon's departure from Washington accelerated this afternoon.

Papelbon might be the only player in baseball dumb enough to start a fight with the one of the few guys that played hard for the Nats this season.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Papelbon might be the only player in baseball dumb enough to start a fight with the one of the few guys that played hard for the Nats this season.

That deal, at the time it was made, just had a real bad vibe about it to me.
It felt like -- from my admittedly long distance -- a chemistry killer.

Kinda hard for that feeling to not be reinforced after today, fair or not.

[claphamsa]

yeah we have 2 "elite"closers...and both are on their way out this off-season.... we can lose, Fister, we can lose, Desmond, we can lose Span....we will suffer, but move on from Zimmermann....but damn the bullpen is a mess right now. 2 guys who MUST be traded...and then nothing.

[Johnny93g]

MVP

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Good question. Looks like he hasn't posted since December. That's too bad. I wonder if he is another one of the disappearing dissenting former FOFC posters?

Looks like he's fine and maybe has a baby(if I was looking at the right person on Facebook)

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

That deal, at the time it was made, just had a real bad vibe about it to me.
It felt like -- from my admittedly long distance -- a chemistry killer.

Kinda hard for that feeling to not be reinforced after today, fair or not.

Ditto, it felt like a terrible deal at the time, even before the news broke that the current closer was PISSED (as he had a right to be)

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by stevew

Seems like we should be seeing a pretty epic tank off here between Boston, CWS and DET(and maybe Seattle) for the protected 9th and 10th picks here. All of those teams have been known to sign comp free agents, but losing pick 11 would be pretty tough to stomach in exchange for a comp free agent

The new rules mitigate it a bit, since all the elite FA's traded during the season can't be offered arb. Price, Cueto, Cespedes (not that Boston would sign him anyway), etc. Plus, unlike 2012 when it was castoff central, its almost all young guys who we either want to be part of our future or are hoping will up their trade value for this winter. Plus now that no one's paying attention our random starters are tearing it up - we literally just shut out the Orioles for a series with Henry Owens, Rich Hill, and Craig Breslow starting. Even Rick Porcello looks like the #3 starter we figured he'd be since his DL stint.

The Rich Hill story is awesome. Local guy, looked good a decade ago but tons of injuries and pigeonholed into being a reliever,. Released in June, tried being a starter again in independent ball, and a month later he's struck out 10 guys in each of his 3 starts.

[stevew]

Sox have been great at grabbing guys off of the trash bin leagues. Isn't Nava like that?

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by stevew

Sox have been great at grabbing guys off of the trash bin leagues. Isn't Nava like that?

Yes, Nava was a great underdog story (he was literally a batboy/team manager at a local college until he could convince the coach to let him play) we signed from an independent league, but Rich Hill is a completely different type of story. Always been talented. Had a really good season a decade ago for the Cubs where he even started a playoff game, has struck out a guy an inning his whole career, just had terrible injury luck and some control issues throwing with the sidearm slot he adopted after the elbow and shoulder injuries. So he tried a 3/4 slot when pitching to his nephew's Legion team after being released by the Nationals and says he's never been able to locate his curve this well (and the limited results and eye test certainly back that up). Red Sox signed him to AAA because they knew him, he was a warm body, and they desperately needed some AAA starters due to all the SP injuries at MLB/AAA this year, not because they even thought he could pitch for them at the MLB level.

So even if he was just getting lucky and snaking some 5IP 2ER wins or 7IP 0ER but like 5BB and 6H or something it'd still be a cool story to see somebody work their way back through so much difficulty get one last run out with their hometown team, but he's legitimately been dominant. 23IP 30K 2BB. Those fancy sites that track pitch rotation and break have his breaking pitches up with Kershaw and Sale. Plus he's pulling my trick from wiffle ball and dropping to that sidearm slot for a few pitches each game so it's like he has 6 or 7 pitches. In something like 2300 games played this season there have apparently been 98 starts where a pitcher went 7+ IP with 1 or fewer walks and 10 or more strikeouts... and Rich Hill has 3 of them. In his only 3 starts. Less than 2 months after being completely out of organized baseball.

Assuming he doesn't blow out his elbow again in his last start, it'll be real interesting to see how teams approach him this winter. Does someone offer him like $1m guaranteed, with a chance to make another $10m in incentives and a vesting option for a 2nd year? You clearly can't count on him whatsoever over a whole season, but there's at least a chance he's the next Arrieta/Kluber/Keuchel/DeGrom at least for a season.

[MizzouRah]

HUGE 3 game series vs Pittsburgh, this ought to be a fun series to watch.

[Subby]

Thank you Mark DeRosa.

[Coffee Warlord]

Jake Arrieta is scary good.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by stevew

Looks like he's fine and maybe has a baby(if I was looking at the right person on Facebook)

That's wonderful! Happy o know he is doing well.

Miss having his contributions here, though.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Subby

Thank you Mark DeRosa.

That's awesome. Way to go, MDR.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Jake Arrieta is scary good.

He's no DeGroom though.

(That's not a thing anymore I don't think)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Just saw that news that Chris Young pitched yesterday knowing his father had died and wanting to honor his memory. I'd say 5 innings of no-hit baseball is about as good of a tribute as you can give in that situation.

[lighthousekeeper]

Papelbon suspended. Thank god the phillies jettisoned that tool.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/0...-papelbon.html

[Chief Rum]

I love football, so it's easy to get distracted. But just want to point out it looks like it will be an exciting last regula season week figuring out the AL West and second wildcard (the only races left to determine really).

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

Papelbon suspended. Thank god the phillies jettisoned that tool.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/0...-papelbon.html

Would've never been an issue if the Nationals hadn't traded for a guy they never needed to begin with. Should fire the GM over that one.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I love football, so it's easy to get distracted. But just want to point out it looks like it will be an exciting last regula season week figuring out the AL West and second wildcard (the only races left to determine really).

Yep! The Astros kept themselves afloat with the two wins against Texas. I hope the Tigers roll over and let Texas sweep them, but I don't see that happening. If the gap between the Rangers and Angels is only one game going into the final series, then that is going to be must see TV.

I think that Jeff Bannister has made a pretty solid case for Manager of the Year. A new coach, coming into a new organization, not picked to make much noise this season, especially after Darvish was hurt in training camp and Holland went out for several months after his first couple of innings. Got off to a horrible start in April, but has managed to have his team in the middle of a division title race.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Would've never been an issue if the Nationals hadn't traded for a guy they never needed to begin with. Should fire the GM over that one.

Yep. Seriously one the dumbest trades I've seen... and now they are stuck with him for another season unless they decide to take a big hit (which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, to be honest).

[BishopMVP]

Fwiw, the Papelbon/Harper thing likely only happens due to Harper's comments last week after Papelbon hit Machado for pimping a home run. I'm certainly not Team Papelbon on this one (although I'd probably take him back on the Red Sox next year if Washington ate like $6m+ of his salary or there was a bigger swap involving one of our bad contracts like Allen Craig or Sandoval), but I'm not going to support Bryce Harper either. Dude's backing it up on the field, but he still seems like a huge prima donna and pretty bad teammate.

[ISiddiqui]

Well aside from the fact that Harper was 100% right on the Machado thing . One thing to talk about another player in the media or yell at him in the locker room, another to grab his neck during a game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Pic of a former co-worker of mine who's been a season ticket holder for 35 years. It's that time of the year!!!!!!

[MrBug708]

Uh-oh...Greinke gave up two runs..

Cy Young in doubt?

[cartman]

Someone is going to be disappointed when their playoff tickets end up on StubHub because they didn't obscure the bar codes.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Well aside from the fact that Harper was 100% right on the Machado thing . One thing to talk about another player in the media or yell at him in the locker room, another to grab his neck during a game.

I wouldn't say 100% right - it's one thing to confront Papelbon directly and another to complain through the media. The physical violence should never happen (and "respecting the game" or running out popups is a dumb reason - I'm not looking to side with Brian McCann and the Molina's on that one), but if the lip reading is right and Harper was screaming Let's F'ing Go in a psychopath's face it's hard to call him blameless or find much sympathy for him.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

but if the lip reading is right and Harper was screaming Let's F'ing Go in a psychopath's face it's hard to call him blameless or find much sympathy for him.

Am I the only person who is hard pressed to believe this was the first moment of tension between the two (or between Pbon and any number of players)?

I mean, I'm not particularly a fan of Harper's but that just had a "enough is enough, let's just do this" vibe about it to me.

[stevew]

Why wasn't Papelbon in the Bullpen

[stevew]

Never mind. He was pitching

[panerd]

Wainwright Set To Return Wednesday - Today's Knuckleball .

[stevew]

Praying the Pirates lose game 1 so Hurdle doesn't have a chance to mangle the rotation chasing a division title

[MrBug708]

Kershaw is crushing it. Don't think he hits 300 K's tho

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Kershaw is crushing it. Don't think he hits 300 K's tho

He needs another start to get there and barring something really unexpected, he's not getting that start.

[MrBug708]

Probably will finish runner up to the Cy Young, though he'd be my pick. It's Greinke's year

[Chief Rum]

Angels leapfrog the Astros for the second wildcard...for tonight at least.

I actually really like the Astros' young talent and respect the season they have had, but if I have to choose between the two, I'm going Angels of course. Would love to see three AL West teams in the playoffs actually, but I don't think we can all catch the Yankees by Sunday.

[Easy Mac]

Thanks to Matt Williams stupidly bunting with Ian Desmond, the Braves will avoid 100 losses.

[mauchow]

Assuming another good start from Arrieta in his last start, I think it's his to lose, Bug. The media is loving the dynamic of his second half of the season. One of the more incredible pitching seasons though from 3 pitchers. I can't remember there being a trio of pitchers pitching this awesome...

[MrBug708]

Oh you silly Cubs fan.

[Grover]

You can make a case for Arrieta, but I'd still be shocked if Grienke didn't win.

[JPhillips]

It wouldn't shock me to see Arrieta win, but Greinke should win. It will probaly come down to whether Kershaw and Greinke split votes. If they do, Arrieta could grab it. His numbers are better than I realized.

Of course none of them are better than De Grom.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Angels leapfrog the Astros for the second wildcard...for tonight at least.

Speaking of end of year awards... this would make Trout's case for MVP stronger.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Speaking of end of year awards... this would make Trout's case for MVP stronger.

Donaldson isn't hurting his bona fides either since the Blue Jays currently have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.