MLB 2012

[Ingmar]

Didn't Lincecum just sign a big huge contract?

And yes, I don't see how any contending team with young pitchers to trade wouldn't want to rent Dempster. If your offense is even REMOTELY capable, he will win 8 out of 10 starts the way he's pitching this year. You'll be lucky to get 6 innings out of him, but they'll be 6 good innings. Not to mention that whole "leadership" and "great club presence" he brings. I hate to see him leave the Cubs but there's no reason to saddle his last few years in the bigs with a team that's rebuilding to the extent the Cubs need to.

Actually no, Cain was the one who signed a huge contract, they wanted to lock Timmy in for a while but he's been pretty adamant about going year-to-year until free agency. I can't begin to imagine how much money he's essentially lost since the start of the season.

[Sjofn]

Bumgarner was the other long, long contract. He's going to play for the Giants until the end of time, apparently.

[Teleku]

But we certainly do appreciate Tim deciding he needed to make our payroll situation much more manageable as we try to contend.   

In any event, Lincecum has earned himself a free a shitty season for past services rendered.  He can suck ass from here till the end, and it wont change my good will towards him in the slightest.

Next year, however....

[Sjofn]

Hm, I think I am finally getting into the Dodger hate thing, as Victorino becoming a Dodger did not make me hate him less, even though I fucking hate the Phillies more than Hitler.

[ghost]

As a Giants fan how can you not hate all the other California teams?  Particularly the NL teams?

[Sjofn]

Because I am not a native Californian, and I only started rooting for the Giants last season officially (although it was through their World Series run that I realized I actually can find baseball interesting, so I guess that was the actual start of it). The kind of sports hate that makes these sort of things fun can't be forced, man. My hate for the Dodgers must grow organically. Hating the Phillies came much faster, as I already hated the Eagles more than Hitler (being a NY Giants fan since birth). It was a natural next step. But I don't have the inborn hatred of Southern California so many Northern Californians have, so hating the Dodgers takes some time, man.

And I can't hate the A's! They're adorable.

[Ingmar]

Most of us don't hate the A's. There's a certain segment of A's fans who hate the Giants because they get the lion's share of the coverage/attention/etc, even when the A's are doing better.

I don't really hate the Padres either. And I only hate the Angels because of that fucking monkey.

[Paelos]

 

[Ingmar]

The other one. I hate the Braves for non-monkey-related reasons. 

[Sjofn]

Most of us don't hate the A's. There's a certain segment of A's fans who hate the Giants because they get the lion's share of the coverage/attention/etc, even when the A's are doing better.

Ohh, no wonder I think the A's are adorable. They're like the Jets!

[Ingmar]

A series of images explaining why fuck Shane Victorino:

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2012/7/31/3206511/dodgers-acquire-shane-victorino-open-trade-deadline-thread

[ghost]

I like the A's pretty well.  I also like the Giants.  I grew up with the Reds and like them pretty well (although they usually blow). That 1990 world series was pretty awesome.  I also like the Indians.  I liked old school Braves-  Bob Horner, Dale Murphy, Bruce Benedict, Glen Hubbard, etc.  I pretty much lost interes with the Greg Maddux era on.  I'm not sure why.  Teams I dislike-  Dodgers, Houston, Yankees, all the "new" teams, Mets. 

[Paelos]

A series of images explaining why fuck Shane Victorino:

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2012/7/31/3206511/dodgers-acquire-shane-victorino-open-trade-deadline-thread

Enjoy, fuckers! HAHAHAHAHAHA! 

PS - Glad he's gone!

[Ingmar]

Honestly I'm not sure we did any better. 

[JWIV]

Fuck, I should play D&D more often if it leads to the Orioles putting 11 on the Yanks.

[Sjofn]

A series of images explaining why fuck Shane Victorino:

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2012/7/31/3206511/dodgers-acquire-shane-victorino-open-trade-deadline-thread

That article has my second favorite baseball gif in it. <3

[HaemishM]

So Braves fans, enjoy one of the only two pitchers the Cubs had who was pitching worth a shit. And one of our better spark plug/scrappy bench guys.

Also, not really sure I'm feeling the trade the Cubs made to offload Dempster. Smelled like desperation to me, but let's face it, they HAD to trade him at this point. Trading Soto was probably another one of those because man did he fall off a fucking cliff. Too bad we couldn't offload Soriano. Anybody want a guy with 30 HR power, no legs, a cannon for an arm and no ability to draw a walk whatsoever.

[Paelos]

So Braves fans, enjoy one of the only two pitchers the Cubs had who was pitching worth a shit. And one of our better spark plug/scrappy bench guys.

Also, not really sure I'm feeling the trade the Cubs made to offload Dempster. Smelled like desperation to me, but let's face it, they HAD to trade him at this point. Trading Soto was probably another one of those because man did he fall off a fucking cliff. Too bad we couldn't offload Soriano. Anybody want a guy with 30 HR power, no legs, a cannon for an arm and no ability to draw a walk whatsoever.

I couldn't believe the Cubs unloaded their lefty that was under contract for a decent price. That's a steal for us. Throwing in a .300 hitting PH OF platoon guy was just gravy.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, I was a bit shocked about the Maholm thing as well. That's a sure sign that they don't think they'll be competitive in 2013 either. Hell, they were looking to unload Garza right up until the moment he sprained an arm labia. If Garza or Soriano makes it through the waiver trade deadline, the only reason they are still Cubs is because the Cubs won't eat enough of their contracts.

[Teleku]

As a Giants fan how can you not hate all the other California teams?  Particularly the NL teams?

Err, why would we?  Real rivalries have to be organic.  The Dodgers-Giants hatred goes back over a century.  I like seeing the Angles lose just because of that fucking monkey as well.  Other than that, I like the A's and will root for them as my AL team (seriously, how can anybody actually HATE the A's?  Half the time they're like the RL version of the team from Major League), and I have a soft spot for the Padres (went to college in San Diego and went to a bunch of games to get my baseball fix).  No reason to really hate them either.  The Rockies and Diamondbacks are way too new (and have had no serious drama with us) to cause any sort of rivalry or hatred.  Give them another half century or so to see what happens.

[Ingmar]

I pretty much hate the Diamondbacks and Rockies now too, actually. Tulo is largely to blame for the Rockies part.

[Sjofn]

Yeah I sort of hate the Rockies already because of that dude. The Diamondbacks I don't hate, but I MISTRUST. I see you back there, sneaking up on first place! Don't think I don't!

[ghost]

All the expansion teams suck, particularly the Rockies.  They're purple, for fuck's sake.  The Diamondbacks aren't so bad since they changed their color scheme to something decent.

[HaemishM]

All the expansion teams suck, particularly the Rockies.  They're purple, for fuck's sake.  The Diamondbacks aren't so bad since they changed their color scheme to something decent.

Purple is da bomb, y0.

[Sjofn]

I don't particularly have an issue with purple, especially the shade of purple the Rockies are. I can't really think of a uniform color I'd universally hate, just shades of color, and mixes of color.

[Ingmar]

If the Padres keep wearing camouflage that will move them up my hate list.

[Sjofn]

I thought hideous uniforms were part of the Padres' charm. 

[WayAbvPar]

I actually really like the Padres sand jerseys. The camo, not so much.

[Sjofn]

Before I started caring about baseball for real, I totally vaguely felt warmly towards the Padres, which made Ingmar so mad. 

[ghost]

Yeah, Camo jerseys is something I'd expect from the Braves or Houston, not San Diego.

[Teleku]

San Diego is a massively massive military town (really, I'm actually not sure you can get more military than it is.  Half of all the Marines, and two carrier groups, are stationed out of it).  Its the only major city in all of California that votes red.  

So they have to pander to the base.  But yeah, camo sucks.  However, I absolutely love the ugly ass brown and yellow retro jerseys/hats.

[ghost]

Yeah, I guess that's true.  I hadn't thought of that.  San Antonio is also highly militarized.  Unlike San Diego, San Antonio would disappear off of the map if the bases shut down. 

[JWIV]

So apparently the Orioles solution to the complete fucking lack of defense at 3rd base is to call up a AA player.     who just might be the top prospect in the organization and 9th best in the league

This year is just getting crazier and crazier. With a run differential somewhere around -54, leading the league in errors, the complete inability to hit with RISP (their overall batting average is actually WORSE than last year), common sense says this team is living in the basement. But instead, we're in a full on pennant race right now.   Hell, we're down to TWO opening day starters right now (Wei-Yen Chen and Tommy Hunter, who only sorta counts since he spent most of the season back down in AAA), but it really just comes down to how insanely good the bullpen has been.   Which going into the season I never thought I'd say, but they have been flat out nothing but excellent. 

Of course, insane things like a AAA pitcher coming up for his first career start in the bigs and making 9K's exactly 23 years to the day after his Dad won his first major league game for the Orioles also goes a long way.

[HaemishM]

Good for you. The Cubs, however, are on an 8 game slide, have gone 0-10 against the combined might of the Padres, Dodgers and Giants when they've played on the West Coast this year, and are basically putting a AAA team out there 2 out of every 3 days. I hope these young kids are learning because they are stinking up the place as a team.

[Sjofn]

Hey, of those three teams, only the Padres are REALLY shitty.