The 2010 MLB Season Thread

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Brooks F'n Conrad baby

You can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

You can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him.

Unless you're the Marlins bullpen, in which case there appears to be little hope period.

Yoinks that's a bad bullpen.

[JPhillips]

The Reds won(suck it Oswalt!), but Nix as the cleanup hitter?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Conrad's 2nd pinch-slam of the season makes him only the 5th player & 3rd NL'er to accomplish the feat. Mike Ivie & Davey Johnson did it for the Giants & Phils respectively in 1978, Darryl Strawberry did in for the Yankees in 1998, and Ben Broussard did it for the Indians in 2004.

Like those guys (and I'm sure some others), he's now one short of the career record for pinch-slams. Broussard, Rich Reese (Min 69-72), Willie McCovey (SF/SD '60-'75) and Ron Northey (StL/Chi '47-'50) all hit three in their career.

Grand Slam Records

Grand Slam Records

[MrBug708]

My second greatest baseball moment was see Kal Daniels hit a pinch hit HR

[samifan24]

Does anyone want a pair of tickets to the Pirates/Rockies game in Pittsburgh on Friday, August 6? It's Andrew McCutchen bobblehead night, too. I'm asking $40 for the pair shipped, which is what I paid for them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nate f'n McLouth.

Proving the versatility of a certain ajdective.

[rowech]

Reds lose by scoring no runs for the 12th time....the 6th time on Sunday. What the hell are they doing Saturday nights?

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by rowech

Reds lose by scoring no runs for the 12th time....the 6th time on Sunday. What the hell are they doing Saturday nights?

They're uh, "Clogging the bases."

[Lathum]

SNY just reported during the Mets game Haren to the Angles.

[Izulde]

Yep saw it on SI's website. Just glad the Twins didn't get him.

[MrBug708]

Haren went pretty cheaply

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Haren went pretty cheaply

Evidently the PTBNL is a top prospect, just not Mike Trout, so it may not be as cheap as it looks.

[bhlloy]

I'll reserve judgement on the deal until I see who the PTBNL is. I'd guess Bourjous if Trout isn't on the list (assuming that the Dbacks don't want/need Conger with Montero around). Not much else in the Angels system except Reckling who will be a #3 starter at best and a few pitchers at rookie ball.

I'd be sad to see Bourjous leave as he can be a top 5 CF defensively in this league and steal 40 bases, but I guess the club decided they like Trout better. And in the long run, one of them will have had to be moved as their best value will come in CF.

[bhlloy]

DOLA - local radio and twitter seems to think it will be Tyler Skaggs, who is a pretty decent top of the rotation prospect but also only 19 years old. If we picked up a workhorse like Haren for a 19 year old kid who is still 3 years away and in A ball right now I'll be fricking ecstatic. I'll take back everything I ever said about Reagins.

[MrBug708]

I see Corbin being reported

[bhlloy]

That would be unreal - that's a guy listed at 15-25 in the Angels system in most places. If that's true the Dbacks got raped.

EDIT - Corbin has been named in the deal already, there's another player to be named later. Thought that would have been too good to be true.

[JPhillips]

Doesn't a PTBNL have to be off the 40 man?

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

I see Corbin being reported

As bhlloy said, Corbin's already in the deal.

From SI online article:

In exchange for dealing Haren -- whose contract runs through the 2012 season -- the Diamondbacks received pitcher Joe Saunders and minor league pitchers Patrick Corbin and Rafael Rodriguez, along with a player to be named later.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Doesn't a PTBNL have to be off the 40 man?

Is that a standard rule? I have never heard something like that, but that doesn't mean it isn't.

I would actually be encouraged if this is true, since I don't think the Angels will give up a very good player from the current team (outside of Saunders) and our best prospects are not on the 40 man. Conger's probably the best (and that would make sense, too, since C is one spot where the Angels are very deep), but it doesn't make as much sense for the DBacks.

[JPhillips]

I know I read that at some point, but now I'm not finding it.

[Chief Rum]

Shit...as excited as I am about the Haren deal, it's frustrating watching this game. Angels are down 4-1 already and Bell can't seem to get through an inning without giving up a couple hits. Which is not a surprise--we're talking about a 23-year-old who frankly hasn't done much in the majors. And he's being asked to pitch in a critical fourth game of a series against the Rangers--I mean, going into this series, you pretty much had to hand this game to the Rangers.

Very frustrating where the Angels can't even confidently pull up a kid to get us a decent start in the short term at least in a key game. We shoulda started Pineiro on short rest.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Take a look at his 2nd half stats and see how excited you still are. Haren is a great April-June pitcher.

Oh, you're right. I better throw him back now.

[Chief Rum]

BTW, breaks my heart to lose Saunders, although everyone knows you have to give a little to get a little (well, except if you're the Lakers).

Saunders was really broken up about being traded. Really a team guy. Loved his teammates and has been with this team through thick and thin for several years now. I'm going to miss him. I hope he does well with Arizona.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Very frustrating where the Angels can't even confidently pull up a kid to get us a decent start in the short term at least in a key game.

Eh, I'm not sure how many teams could do that confidently. Unless you've got a real excess of pitching (and not many do as far as I can tell), there's always a crapshoot element to throwing an unexpected starter.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Eh, I'm not sure how many teams could do that confidently. Unless you've got a real excess of pitching (and not many do as far as I can tell), there's always a crapshoot element to throwing an unexpected starter.

Oh, I agree. I guess what I am saying is that it's frustrating that you can look ahead at the schedule, days in advance, and just say, "Damn, throw that one out...". I would think if you're running an MLB team that is expected to contend, you should have the depth to avoid that.

I mean, literally, there was no chance we win tonight's game, and that's pretty critical when we're six games back and playing the division leaders.

[k0ruptr]

Albert the machine just destroyed a ball to left.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I would think if you're running an MLB team that is expected to contend, you should have the depth to avoid that.

That sounds nice, I'm just not sure how many teams could actually do it. The Braves, for example, would probably go with Kawakami for an emergency/fill-in guy right now and that's not something that inspires much confidence.

If they had to go with a minor league guy, it would probably have been 28 y/o Chris Resop if he were healthy or would have been Jo-Jo Reyes before he was traded. Anyone else likely to get a start would be complete filler or a too-early major league debut. Now there might be an argument that the Braves weren't necessarily expected to contend but they certainly have ended up doing so.

With the number of teams today, I just don't think hardly anyone has the luxury of a starter sitting in the wings that they feel like is a 50-50 chance of winning a game. Yankees probably, Red Sox maybe, but after them I dunno.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

That sounds nice, I'm just not sure how many teams could actually do it. The Braves, for example, would probably go with Kawakami for an emergency/fill-in guy right now and that's not something that inspires much confidence.

If they had to go with a minor league guy, it would probably have been 28 y/o Chris Resop if he were healthy or would have been Jo-Jo Reyes before he was traded. Anyone else likely to get a start would be complete filler or a too-early major league debut. Now there might be an argument that the Braves weren't necessarily expected to contend but they certainly have ended up doing so.

With the number of teams today, I just don't think hardly anyone has the luxury of a starter sitting in the wings that they feel like is a 50-50 chance of winning a game. Yankees probably, Red Sox maybe, but after them I dunno.

Resop. I remember him.

I don't know, I just think the Angels should have better options than a guy that has proven he's a 6 ERA guy. I mean, they don't even have a remotely good looking pitching prospect ready to go from AAA, not even a guy with a legit shot at an end of rotation job in the future. You mock Kawakami--he would have given the Angels a chance to win tonight. Bell does not.

Of course, I thought much the same about O'Sullivan, and he was excellent against the Yankees on Tuesday. He would have started tonight, but we traded him the next day to the Royals for Callaspo.

It's mostly a matter of poor timing--the trades, Kazmir's minor shoulder injury (this is supposed to be Kaz's start), the lack of pitching depth in the organization, etc. But the Angels are in the verge of falling out of this completely, Haren or not, and they're putting their hopes in a must win game on... Trevor Bell.

[Tasan]

While I don't like the Angels picking up a good starter, I'm just not sure how much Haren is going to upgrade the rotation for them. His WHIP is back up this year, his HR/9 is up, and ERA+ is pretty low. All of that being in the NL as well, and I'm just not sure how much he'll really help over what Saunders was giving the Halos. We'll see though, I guess. This should be the best August/September/October we Rangers fans have witnessed in a long time.

I need to find some more advanced stats on Haren. I'm really interested in this guy now.

[bhlloy]

His advanced stats don't look as bad as you might think. He's having career high BABIP and HR numbers, if those come back down to anything close normal then he's actually still a very effective pitcher.

Clear upgrade over Saunders IMO but I don't think you have anything to worry about this year.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Doesn't a PTBNL have to be off the 40 man?

Don't believe so. In this case it was a PTBNL because the player in question can't be traded until August 7th(one year after he was signed)

[bhlloy]

This is a pretty fair article IMO. I didn't realize that the Diamondbacks gave up so much to get him. Unfortunately they just don't seem like an organization with a whole lot of direction right now.

hxxp://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ArOKMT3YqCaF7i0n3fWFC9I5nYcB?slug=jp-tendegrees072510

[Crapshoot]

I for one am thrilled that the D-Backs seem to be heading towards irrelevance. The Angels got a hell of a deal here, and I can't believe the D-backs GM cited "winning percentage" as a legitimate reason for acquiring Saunders - are we in 1983 here?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

I for one am thrilled that the D-Backs seem to be heading towards irrelevance. The Angels got a hell of a deal here, and I can't believe the D-backs GM cited "winning percentage" as a legitimate reason for acquiring Saunders - are we in 1983 here?

Poor Joe. Okay, he's certainly no Haren. But you just had to hear him today. He absolutely loved this team and the guys in the Angels' clubhouse.

Still glad we got Haren, of course, but I really do hope Saunders finds great success in Arizona.

[stevew]

Speaking of the Royals catching situation....

Supposedly the Yankees were willing to offer Jesus Montero in a package for Joakim Soria. I know it's hella important to have a closer when you expect to win 73 games though. Besides, it's fairly obvious that Montero needs a ton of aging and seasoning(at least 4-5 years worth) before he'd be old enough to start for the Royals.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by stevew

Speaking of the Royals catching situation....

Supposedly the Yankees were willing to offer Jesus Montero in a package for Joakim Soria. I know it's hella important to have a closer when you expect to win 73 games though. Besides, it's fairly obvious that Montero needs a ton of aging and seasoning(at least 4-5 years worth) before he'd be old enough to start for the Royals.

It's all part of Dayton Moore's plan. You just don't understand it.

[larrymcg421]

Someone tell Dayton Moore that he can take Nate McLouth off our hands whenever he wants.

[Logan]

I find it interesting that a no hitter was just thrown on national TV and not a word on it here.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Logan

I find it interesting that a no hitter was just thrown on national TV and not a word on it here.

Leaves the Mets and the Padres.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It was on TV? It's very rare that I watch baseball on ESPN out of fear of being subjected to Joe Morgan.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm starting to think that maybe the Pitchers are just smarter/better at avoiding drug tests than the hitters. This is pretty absurd.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Matt Garza threw a no-hitter on July 26,2010 against the Detroit Tigers, being the 5th pitcher that season to throw a no-hit/perfect game, And the 1st no-hitter in Tampa Bay history. He was also PIED in the face for being so ugly.

Heh

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Heh

That's great.

[DeToxRox]

Well, Garza did no hit the Toledo Mudhens + Miguel Cabrera & Johnny Damon.

[DeToxRox]

Dola, I'll add Austin Jackson to that mix. But the other 6, she not so good.

[jbergey22]

Angels did much better than the Rangers in these two trades IMO.

Rangers got a better pitcher at this point however the Angels didnt give up anything worthwhile and gets Haren for 3 more years.

[bhlloy]

The Rangers have to make the postseason. If they blow it again this year, it will absolutely crush them. In that sense, getting Lee makes a lot of sense.

Long term the Angels win, no doubt. Getting Haren for nothing much (sorry Joe) is a big deal when he's pretty affordable for 3 years and there's a team option in just in case he decides to become Scott Kazmir to boot. But I don't think you are factoring in just how important it is for Texas to start somewhere and that somewhere has to be actually delivering on the postseason. Unfortunately they picked a year when the Yankees and Rays are ungodly, otherwise I think we'd be talking about them as contenders. They might still surprise a few people.

[jbergey22]

Saunders is one of them guys I always expected to break down.

He doesnt strike many out (5.1/9) and he has very hittable stuff. He was always able to keep his BABIP pretty low for how hittable he is.(a lot of it had to do with the park he played in and the Angels defense I believe) I honestly think he could really struggle in Arizona.

This kind of tells me Arizona is out of it when it comes to any type of baseball theory such as DIPS. Saunders is not a guy I would have expected any team to trade for when it seems to me his performance has been better than the actual pitcher he is.