MLB 2011

[Ingmar]

The issue is much much older than ESPN.

[Musashi]

So you're saying if the ESPN HQ was in Oakland instead of Bristol, I'd somehow hear less about the Yankees and more about the Angels?

Somehow I doubt it.

While yes, the issue is older than ESPN, I'm still saying that.  It wasn't anywhere near as bad before ESPN hit it's stride with SportsCenter in the 90's.  Before that the Yankees mostly sucked for at least a decade.  And even before that it wasn't as bad because Billy Martin was actually news worthy.  And when he chumped Jackson in front of thousands, I have to admit that was must see TV.  Joe Girardi/Joe Torre/Derek Jeter/Bernie Williams' shitty flamenco styles/ARod's dick in a hookers ass?  Not so much. 

If ESPN were in LA, You'd have the god damn, vile, repugnant, Dodgers shoved up your ass.  If ESPN were in Oakland, they'd be insane.  But you'd probably be tired of hearing about everyone's man crush on that baseball genius Billy Beane.  Send 'em somewhere else, Billy!  That was sarcasm for those not familiar.  If they were in Seattle, HORY SHIT ICHIRO!  If they were in San Francisco, they'd be high.  And no one would care.

In fact, since the point you seem to be trying to make is that the Yankees somehow deserve the slurping they get because of their amazing feats on the field, I'll do you one further.  If ESPN was pretty much anywhere on the West Coast, you might be tired of hearing ESPN vilifying the Evil Empire.  Because the culture over here...  We really don't care for how they go about their business.  Alot.

[ghost]

I think it's a bit silly, but when you don't use a neutral site or large amount of interleague play, I don't see a fairer way aside from alternating years to decide home field during the WS.

Best record of the two teams involved? Total Interleague record? League with the best team with the best record?

I think they should dress a pack of monkeys up in the jerseys of each team.  Then let them loose and let them try to fuck a football.  The team that adorns the jersey of the monkey that accomplishes this goal first should get home field advantage. 

[stu]

BoSox traded two of their top three prospects to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez. Booya. Sometimes I wish I was back up north. I'd been looking forward to seeing those prospects in the majors, but Gonzalez is awesome.

[Ingmar]

Yeah the balance of power is shifting away from TB and towards Boston in the AL East now I think, especially if they also sign Werth as it sounds like they're trying to do.

[Azuredream]

Didn't Tampa Bay's GM (I think it was him) basically come out and say before the playoffs started "enjoy this year, because we're going to suck after this"? I remember all the ESPN people saying what a shame it was, that if this was a popular franchise with money and fans behind it that they would be good for a while with the young talented roster they had.

[Ingmar]

And Werth signs with the Nationals, for a long long time. Didn't see that one coming.

[stu]

I'm actually relieved about that one. His batting average with runners in scoring position was well below .200 this past season. It might have been different because I've read that he has excellent opposite field power which would have been a fit for Fenway's shallow right, but still.

[Rasix]

That is a Vernon Wells style bad contract.  Holy shit, they overpaid.

[HaemishM]

7 year, $126 million? Are they fucking nuts?

Oh right, Nationals.

[Ingmar]

Crawford to Red Sox for 7 years, $142 million.

Thoughts:

He's very good but I am not convinced he's a 20 million/year talent over the next 7 years. Thinking perhaps the Werth deal inflated his target amount a little. Then again the rumor is Adrian Gonzalez is going to get an even bigger 7 year deal from them, so maybe that's just where the numbers are these days. Still a far, far better deal than the Werth one in terms of likely performance over the lifetime of the contract. Players with Crawford's athleticism tend to age pretty well.

Has to suck for the Rays to have him move inside the division.

[WayAbvPar]

Miguel Olivo? The guy who hit like .150 last time he was here? Jesus fucking christ. Meet the new boss, as dumb as the old boss.

[HaemishM]

Miguel Olivo? The guy who hit like .150 last time he was here? Jesus fucking christ. Meet the new boss, as dumb as the old boss.

Holy shit, they paid him $7 million for 2 years based on the numbers he had in fucking Colorado? I begin to see how the Cubs unloaded Milton Bradley.

[Ingmar]

3.5 million a year is kind of chump change these days, but yeah Olivo's road splits from 2010 are brutal which is not a good sign. .211/.276/.322 away from the friendly confines. 

[HaemishM]

In a hitter's park like Safeco Field, he should absolutely mash the ball. 

[WayAbvPar]

Welcome to life as a Seattle sports fan. It is a neverending series of kicks to the crotch.

[stu]

I'll never forget when they drafted Jason Varitek and then lost him for a season of eligibility of cash. Then they traded him and Lowe to the Sox.

At least the M's have Justin Smoak to look forward to.

[Trippy]

Cliff Lee was on the Phillies last year too. Their pitching staff this year could've been: Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee and "it doesn't really mattter" (Cole Hamels)

[stu]

Still, if they had re-signed Lee, Halladay wouldn't have come over as part of the multi-team trade which brought him to Philly. They managed to get Halladay at $20m over only three seasons when Lee was looking for something more extensive (which he'll get anyways...). I'm not a Philly fan, but I might subscribe to mlb.tv just so I can watch them pitch back-to-back. They'd be an even better combo than Johnson/Shilling.

edit: As much as I love Lester/Buchholz, I'm not keen on facing Sabathia/Lee. They'd be great games to watch, though.

2: Oh. Wow. wtg Phils.  my bad

[caladein]

That rotation is easily on par with the best of the 90s Braves staffs but we'll have to see if the Phillies can reinforce their lineup enough to make it matter much.

Really though, I'm glad my Angels aren't the only team to have free agent awesomeness snatched away from nowhere this week.  On a related note, what are the Yankees going to do about their rotation now, especially in light of that beefy new Red Sox lineup?

[Ingmar]

Didn't see that one coming. Little surprising, I would have expected the Phillies to spend on hitting, not more pitching.

[Paelos]

Fucking Phillies are the Yankees of the National League now. They topped the Red Sox in payroll with these moves.

[HaemishM]

Are you fucking kidding me? Why would you take LESS money to go to Philadelphia, with some of the worst fucking fans in the world? It's like asking to get kicked in the balls every five days.

[Ingmar]

Missed this the other day, but Greinke to the Brewers really throws the NL Central into an interesting race. They better hope it pays off because their farm system has a whole lot of nothing, they traded basically every player of note for Greinke.

[WayAbvPar]

Are you fucking kidding me? Why would you take LESS money to go to Philadelphia, with some of the worst fucking fans in the world? It's like asking to get kicked in the balls every five days.

If you like the organization and the city well enough, the fans are pretty easy to ignore. And it is not like NY fans are paragons of virtue and social graces 

[Sjofn]

They aren't, and yet they still aren't the giant assholes Philly fans are.

[HaemishM]

The Greinke trade is interesting, but the whole NL Central is in flux. The Cubs are an unknown quantity because they have the talent to win if they get normal performances from their stars, the Cards probably won't be anymore improved and I think the Reds may be a 1 year wonder. Both the Pirates and Astros will likely continue to suck. I don't think the Brewers were one pitcher away from respectability, and there's talk they'll get rid of Fielder which certainly won't make them better unless they get a ton back.

[Bokonon]

I'm actually relieved about that one. His batting average with runners in scoring position was well below .200 this past season. It might have been different because I've read that he has excellent opposite field power which would have been a fit for Fenway's shallow right, but still.

Fenway's shallow outfield is LF. There was a reason Ted Williams complained and successfully lobbied to get the bullpens out there (Look up "Williamsburg"). Yeah, down the line is really short, but it gets deep out there very quickly.

[stu]

Ah yeah. Yeesh. The right field wall is deceiving. A dwarf could hurdle it. It's like an optical illusion, even towards the triangle. I think they saw Werth as someone with the power to drive it out there on a regular basis. I'm just glad they didn't land him. Some of Boston's free agent signings under Epstein have been head scratchers. They paid Drew $55m to hit a home run in the 2007 ALCS. Renteria was a silly replacement for Cabrera, whom they still haven't replaced. Julian Tavarez, the biggest flake in baseball. Bronson Arroyo for Willy Mo Pena? WTF were they thinking, I don't know. That's like the guy who dumps his girlfriend for the bimbo with gigantic fake tits and then finds out she's a fecal freak with permanent dragon breath.

Lackey looks like he has constant indigestion on the mound. Even SI's Peter King ragged on him this year:

d. Re the train wreck that is John Lackey. I'm at the Red Sox-Jays game Friday night at Fenway, and Lackey gets lit up ridiculously -- 4.1 innings, eight hits, two walks, three hit-batsmen; 13 outs, 13 baserunners -- and in the Globe Saturday morning, this is the quote I read, in part, from Lackey: "They just kind of found some holes.'' Dude, were you even at the game you pitched? You got shelled.

Their big moves this winter have been sure things, at least. I'd love to see Beckett bounce back this year. He seems like one of those low-key guys who gives 100% but gets screwed by injuries.

The constant need to compete at the very top has hurt them in the long run. They're drafting higher than they have in a long time thanks to the Tiger's signing of Martinez, so I'd like to see more homegrown talent emerge over the next several years. It's just more fun that way.

Anyways, that was longer than I meant for it to be.

[Ingmar]

Ton of deserving players didn't get into the Hall of Fame, yet again. Lot of voters still wearing their pants on their head apparently. Jeff Bagwell should have been first ballot.

[WayAbvPar]

Ton of deserving players didn't get into the Hall of Fame, yet again. Lot of voters still wearing their pants on their head apparently. Jeff Bagwell should have been first ballot.

There are significant questions regarding Bagwell and steroids, from what I have heard.

[Ingmar]

The "significant questions" for Bagwell boil down to "look at his arms."

He never tested positive, wasn't in the Mitchell report, has never been named by a Canseco type accusation, etc. It is literally just the era he played in and "look at his arms."

[WayAbvPar]

I am just going by what I read from the local beat guy (who is one of the voters)- http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2013849644_jeff_bagwell_poses_new_hall_of.html

He is really wrongheaded about a lot of different topics (and gets lambasted by the guys and posters @ USSMariner.com constantly), so grain of salt and all that.

[Paelos]

Ton of deserving players didn't get into the Hall of Fame, yet again. Lot of voters still wearing their pants on their head apparently. Jeff Bagwell should have been first ballot.

Except for the fact he was smack in the middle of the juicer problem. Can a player set his career high of HR's when he's in his 30s? Yeah. Gehrig did it at 31 and 33 with 49 HRs. The caveat is that he hit 47 when he was 25. He wasn't that far over the mark of his best season in his younger years. Bagwell went from averaging 28 HRs in his 20s to averaging 37 HRs in his 30s to the end of his career. Gehrig averaged 33 HRs in his 20s to 37 in his 30s.

You can see an increase in slugging later in your career because you understand the pitching better. What you don't see is a player skyrocketing by 10HRs a year average on playing ability alone in their 30s.

[Ingmar]

Bagwell's career high in HRs corresponds to the first year he didn't have to play in the Astrodome for half his games. You may not be aware but the Astrodome was one of the most extreme pitcher's parks in the league, and in particular had a large effect on depressing HR totals. If you use a park adjusted stat like OPS+ to evaluate him, his peak is the normal age, late 20s/early 30s.