The official 2008 MLB thread

[MikeVic]

Damn TSN score person. They showed 9-8 for whatever reason at the top of the 9th when it was really 8-8. And then there's a single, and a triple to make it 9-8 for the As. Thanks for the jinx!

[Buccaneer]

From this week's Power Rankings

After Week 1, the Cards have the major's best ERA among starters at 1.21. It can't possibly last, but pitching coach Dave Duncan is a genius.

Understatement of the decade.

If Trevor Hoffman hadn't gotten off to the anti-Jake Peavy start, the Padres might have the best record in baseball right now.

No shit. They could easily be 7-1 right now, better than the 5-1 O's and Brews.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

How many years of free agency did they buy out? Just 1 and a bunch of arby years?

SI

1, maybe 2 with the team option. It's very similar to what Colorado did with Troy. What's nice (in addition to the 1 or 2 years of FA) is that Arizona knows exactly how much he will cost each season. When you have a budget in the $70-80 million range ($20 mil per are deferred until 2010), it's nice to know that Young will make between $4 and $7 million in his arb years and $8 for his first season of FA eligibility.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

I love the Tigers, but even as a huge fan, I'm getting a sick, twisted sort of delight watching a team with a $130 payroll getting thumped, and looking confused.

I still think they'll pull out of it.

Meanwhile, the Royals, Orioles and Brewers are playing extremely well. Granted, the Orioles have a pretty good size payroll, but they're usually the team that finds a way to lose a ton of games with a $100M+ payroll. Evidently that role has been passed to the Tigers for the time being.

[Logan]

Teams locking up their young guys to long deals, even if it only keeps them in town for an extra year or two, is going to show to be one of the smartest ideas in awhile.

[Calis]

Greinke looking great again tonight.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Calis

Greinke looking great again tonight.

Yes sir. I'm glad he's on my fantasy team.

[Neuqua]

Cubs and Pirates are in the 15th inning.... Let me go to bed already...

[korme]

Corey Patterson is on steroids.

And BPhillips just straight up makes plays happens.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Calis

Greinke looking great again tonight.

I was at that game. It was cold and wet and miserable and we spent pretty much from the 3rd inning on in the concourse. Didn't seem to bother Greinke, tho.

Also, once we went up there in the third, I called John Buck's homer in the 3rd. Although I called it as a walkoff home run where they called the game after. When he hit it- my wife and friend just stared at me dumbfounded as I proclaimed that I am clearly a deity.

SI

[sterlingice]

Oh, another thing of note. The game was not really expected to get in and it was raining pretty much the entire game so Girardi scratched Ian Kennedy and started Brian Bruney, long reliever, instead. So, they burned through 4 pitchers (including Kennedy who gave up 2 in 2 innings), trying to be cutesy with the weather forecast.

SI

[Vince]

That's like what Bochy and the Giants did last week, only not as bad. In bullet form:

-Chance of Rain, Torre and co. decide to shelve Billingsley, and tell Bochy and co. so.
-Bochy decides to shelve Lincecum as well.
-Lincecum comes in anyways in the 4th, even though it started to lightly rain in the 3rd.
-Rain delay starts after the 4th inning, lasts one hour.
-Lincecum comes out AFTER the rain delay, continues to pitch.

I mean, what the f***? You decide that you want to protect Lincecum from a potential rain delay, put him in anyways as a reliever AFTER it starts to rain, and then keep him in there after he's been sitting around for an hour?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Vince

That's like what Bochy and the Giants did last week, only not as bad. In bullet form:

-Chance of Rain, Torre and co. decide to shelve Billingsley, and tell Bochy and co. so.
-Bochy decides to shelve Lincecum as well.
-Lincecum comes in anyways in the 4th, even though it started to lightly rain in the 3rd.
-Rain delay starts after the 4th inning, lasts one hour.
-Lincecum comes out AFTER the rain delay, continues to pitch.

I mean, what the f***? You decide that you want to protect Lincecum from a potential rain delay, put him in anyways as a reliever AFTER it starts to rain, and then keep him in there after he's been sitting around for an hour?

He should have been fired before Lincecum had a chance to throw a pitch after the delay. Stupid decisions similar to this is why Joe Girardi was fired and why the Marlins struggled to find any healthy pitchers last season.

[Chief Rum]

Not sure how the numbers stack up now, but I heard this on the radio yesterday after the Angels' 4-HR game against the Tribe: as of that point, they were leading either the AL or all MLB with 14 HRs.

Go figure (and how long can we make it last?).

[tucker rocky]

Brett Myers pitches 8 innings tonight against the Cubs FTW.
This after giving up back-to-back homers in the first.

Nice showing after a so-so(opening) and awful(2nd) start.

Now if the rest of the Phillie bats can get going....

[sterlingice]

I know he's on the Rays and I don't wish any ill will towards a struggling franchise, but can I be allowed to root for Evan Longoria "only" hitting .270 with 12 homers this season so all the "fantasy experts" get egg on their face for expecting every hot prospect that comes along to hit like Ryan Braun's rookie stats?

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sp...ezio_0412.html

Washington — Scott Spiezio was only two months out of a substance abuse treatment center when the Braves signed him to a minor league contract two weeks ago. It apparently wasn't long enough.

The Braves released Spiezio on Saturday after he showed up to a AAA Richmond Braves game unprepared to play Friday, according to Braves general manager Frank Wren.

"We had an agreement with Scott," Wren said. "There were three things we asked him to do: No. 1 is to continue his aftercare, which included testing, No. 2, that he attend AA [meetings] and No. 3 he would show up at the park every day ready to play. And yesterday he was not ready to play."

Wren declined further comment on why Spiezio was unprepared to play. Spiezio's agent Barry Meister declined to comment on specifics on Saturday as well.

"We appreciate the Braves being so sensitive," Meister said. "[Scott] is going to go home and spend time with his kids and continue to work on his aftercare."
...
Spiezio was hitting .333 (7-for-21) in five games for Richmond. The Richmond Braves were playing their first road game of the year Friday in Allentown, Pa., against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

"Dave Brundage, our AAA manager, was really saddened when I talked to him," Wren said. "He thought Scott was making good progress on all fronts. He just needs more time.

"He needs to be in an environment where he can get the care he needs. It's more important for him to be in a stable environment rather than traveling."

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sp...ezio_0412.html

Washington — Scott Spiezio was only two months out of a substance abuse treatment center when the Braves signed him to a minor league contract two weeks ago. It apparently wasn't long enough.

The Braves released Spiezio on Saturday after he showed up to a AAA Richmond Braves game unprepared to play Friday, according to Braves general manager Frank Wren.

"We had an agreement with Scott," Wren said. "There were three things we asked him to do: No. 1 is to continue his aftercare, which included testing, No. 2, that he attend AA [meetings] and No. 3 he would show up at the park every day ready to play. And yesterday he was not ready to play."

Wren declined further comment on why Spiezio was unprepared to play. Spiezio's agent Barry Meister declined to comment on specifics on Saturday as well.

"We appreciate the Braves being so sensitive," Meister said. "[Scott] is going to go home and spend time with his kids and continue to work on his aftercare."
...
Spiezio was hitting .333 (7-for-21) in five games for Richmond. The Richmond Braves were playing their first road game of the year Friday in Allentown, Pa., against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

"Dave Brundage, our AAA manager, was really saddened when I talked to him," Wren said. "He thought Scott was making good progress on all fronts. He just needs more time.

"He needs to be in an environment where he can get the care he needs. It's more important for him to be in a stable environment rather than traveling."

bummer. sad to hear

[Logan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I know he's on the Rays and I don't wish any ill will towards a struggling franchise, but can I be allowed to root for Evan Longoria "only" hitting .270 with 12 homers this season so all the "fantasy experts" get egg on their face for expecting every hot prospect that comes along to hit like Ryan Braun's rookie stats?

SI

They've had egg on their face for years. When was the last time the "surefire ROY" actually won it? Your boy Alex Gordon was a colossal failure last year from that perspective.

[Cringer]

Is "showing up not ready to play" them trying to say he was drunk/hanged over in a nice way for us sensative civilians?

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I know he's on the Rays and I don't wish any ill will towards a struggling franchise, but can I be allowed to root for Evan Longoria "only" hitting .270 with 12 homers this season so all the "fantasy experts" get egg on their face for expecting every hot prospect that comes along to hit like Ryan Braun's rookie stats?

SI

How many times has he been called Eva Longoria by fans or anyone else? I know that is how I read it and I was confused for a second on why you where talking about her playing baseball.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Logan

They've had egg on their face for years. When was the last time the "surefire ROY" actually won it? Your boy Alex Gordon was a colossal failure last year from that perspective.

That was why I was trying to temper people's expectations of Gordon last year. Rookies just don't hit that well very often no matter how good they are.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Cringer

How many times has he been called Eva Longoria by fans or anyone else? I know that is how I read it and I was confused for a second on why you where talking about her playing baseball.

I had to go back and make sure I didn't put in "Eva Longoria" myself

SI

[Arles]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

That was why I was trying to temper people's expectations of Gordon last year. Rookies just don't hit that well very often no matter how good they are.

SI

I'm going nuts over Justin Upton right now. He looks like a right-handed Griffey Jr and has been insane so for this season. I'm sure he'll come down to life soon, but he is amazing to watch.

[watravaler]

So, I'm watching Cole Hammels pitch, and I notice the Cubs are hitting every ball hard/far/etc...but have nothing to show for it...any Saber-heads want to point me in the right direction regarding how to tell if a pitcher is getting lucky? Thanks in advance...

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by watravaler

So, I'm watching Cole Hammels pitch, and I notice the Cubs are hitting every ball hard/far/etc...but have nothing to show for it...any Saber-heads want to point me in the right direction regarding how to tell if a pitcher is getting lucky? Thanks in advance...

Disclaimer: Small sample sizes are dangerous.

Through 7 innings Hammels struck out 5, walked 2, and allowed 1 hit. So he faced 24 batters, 17 put the ball in play, only 1 had a hit. So the Cubs had a .058 BABIP against him today and league average is roughly .300. You'd expect the Cubs to have 5-6 hits instead of just 1.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Arles

I'm going nuts over Justin Upton right now. He looks like a right-handed Griffey Jr and has been insane so for this season. I'm sure he'll come down to life soon, but he is amazing to watch.

I wouldn't expect him to come down too far. I'd be surprised if he didn't put up a 20 year old season similar to A-Rod's.

[MrBug708]

Gotta love the Giants. Dude pitches a no hitter threw 6, goes deep even, and still loses

[Bad-example]

Cain is the ace
Lincecum in your face

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Gotta love the Giants. Dude pitches a no hitter threw 6, goes deep even, and still loses

That's Matt Cain for you. I think he ran over a family of black cats at one point or went crazy in a mirror shop. Or maybe he has a Dodgers shirt buried in the foundation of his home.

SI

[lordscarlet]

Finally the 9 game losing streak is over. Ugh.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Gotta love the Giants. Dude pitches a no hitter threw 6, goes deep even, and still loses

Well, so far, the Giants and Dodgers have pretty similar records...

[MrBug708]

Indeed

[sterlingice]

Was last night the game that gets the Tigers going? Down 5-0 in the 6th and 9-4 in the 7th, they rally for 1 in the 7th and 6 in the 8th to beat the Twins.

Royals get another nice pitching performance as Bannister and Greinke both improve to 3-0 with back to back complete game wins.

SI

[miami_fan]

PING: Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge

Why is Joe Borowski still closing for your Indians?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Royals get another nice pitching performance as Bannister and Greinke both improve to 3-0 with back to back complete game wins.

SI

Greinke and Bannister are throwing some absolutely filthy stuff. They're not biting corners either. They're throwing strikes, which is wonderful to see. If Meche pulls himself together, that's a stiff 1-2-3 to deal with for any team.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

PING: Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge

Why is Joe Borowski still closing for your Indians?

We Tribe fans have no idea. Wedge and Shapiro knew Joe Blowsavski's velocity was down and his previous outing was a horrendous failure so I'm not sure why they'd put him in that situation last night. And I do blame Wedge and Shapiro for this one. They've done a lot of great things for the organization but clearly Joe Borowski is done as a ML pitcher. The organization's insistence on keeping him in that role until yesterday, in the face of numerous blowups and failures, is mind-boggling to say the least.

[samifan24]

This just in: Zack Greinke is still nasty.

[Logan]

Borowski's been placed on the DL with a wounded ego.

[MikeVic]

A Royals/Reds World Series would be cool.

[sterlingice]

We're going to have to fix our offense and our 4th starter first. Bale was doing ok until last night (a pair of 6 IP, 4 ER games until not making it out of the 4th last night) but nothing special. Tomko has actually done good in the 5th spot with a pair of quality starts. Meche has started walking a ton of people, nibbling a bit too much, and that's going to have to stop. He'll get a chance tonight against Anaheim.

The bigger problem is that in 14 games, they have scored 6 once and 5 twice and the other 11 games, 4 or less. That's going to have to change.

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

We're going to have to fix our offense and our 4th starter first. Bale was doing ok until last night (a pair of 6 IP, 4 ER games until not making it out of the 4th last night) but nothing special. Tomko has actually done good in the 5th spot with a pair of quality starts. Meche has started walking a ton of people, nibbling a bit too much, and that's going to have to stop. He'll get a chance tonight against Anaheim.

The bigger problem is that in 14 games, they have scored 6 once and 5 twice and the other 11 games, 4 or less. That's going to have to change.

SI

Hochaver has a 1-1 record and a 2.60 ERA through 3 games at Omaha. Bale's probably got 2 starts at the most to straighten himself out. He had a 5.79 ERA coming into last night, which isn't even doing OK IMO. It's inevitable that Hochaver will be in the rotation, hopefully sooner rather than later.

[Lathum]

John Maine needs to start throwing some strikes

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Lathum

John Maine needs to start throwing some strikes

I tend to disagree.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

It's about time that Meche gave KC a quality start. Hopefully this will settle him down. Excited to see if Bannister and Greinke can both go 4-0 over the next two nights.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's about time that Meche gave KC a quality start. Hopefully this will settle him down. Excited to see if Bannister and Greinke can both go 4-0 over the next two nights.

I'm pretty sure that will be a tall order as Tomko is pitching tonight

That said, cut Gil some slack. He was lights out last year and if he struggles for a couple of games early, I think he's earned a little bit of a free pass. Have you seen Roy Oswalt's ERA until last night? Or Josh Beckett or CC Sabathia?

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I'm pretty sure that will be a tall order as Tomko is pitching tonight

That said, cut Gil some slack. He was lights out last year and if he struggles for a couple of games early, I think he's earned a little bit of a free pass. Have you seen Roy Oswalt's ERA until last night? Or Josh Beckett or CC Sabathia?

SI

Ah, hadn't checked the starters yet. Guess the off-days have mixed up the rotation already.

I like Gil........as long as he pitches like a $11M pitcher.

[MikeVic]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3351418

Tejada is two years older than everyone though.

[Coffee Warlord]

Bet Soriano is prolly 4 years older.

[MikeVic]

Pujuols is six years older.