MLB 2013

[Ingmar]

Man, I feel bad for the Cubs after that series. Kinda.

[Paelos]

Don't feel too bad, the Cubs could be the Marlins.

The fact Selig hasn't removed their owner yet is a complete sham. That team is the biggest disaster in baseball. Nobody has been close to this bad in a decade. In fact, only 6 teams ever have lost 10 of 12 and scored fewer than 20 runs. In over a freaking century. Every player on that team should refuse to play until they get released from their contracts. Stanton especially. I feel horrible for that kid.

[HaemishM]

Man, I feel bad for the Cubs after that series. Kinda.

You should always feel bad for the Cubs. They are going to be abysmal this year. Yes, they have more offense than Miami but they are still going to be B-A-D bad. Trying to restock the farm system as well as not rush along guys too fast while basically having seat warmers filling 2nd and 3rd base and overpaying a guy in decline to be your #4 hitter while striking out over 100 times and barely hitting .260 will do that. Also, their pitching is pretty terrible too. And defense.

Holy shit, even San Diego has scored more runs than the Marlins in that park. Wow. The Marlins are really really bad.

[Ingmar]

It's not so much the badness as the WAY they lost the 3 games they lost, heartbreaking end of game stuff over and over again.

[Paelos]

Braves are 11-1. 

[Paelos]

WTF Matt Cain.

Also Braves are 12-2. They finally got shut out in a day game. Silly Royals.

[Ingmar]

Yeah he's been a little homer-ific this year so far. I'm pretty comfortable he'll get it together, he's not mechanically all weird like Timmy.

[Paelos]

Did he give up one to the pitcher?

[Ingmar]

Yeah, he gave one up to Kershaw earlier in the season too. It happens.

[Paelos]

Surprise team of the first 30 games? Colorado being 18-13 with a +27 run diff.

Surprise disaster of the first 30 games? The LA Angels and Toronto Blue Jays with only 11 wins, and run diffs worse than -30. Yikes.

[Teleku]

The obvious solution is for the dodgers to spend even more money.

[Paelos]

They are on the honorable mention disaster list, along with the Phillies.

[Fordel]

I thought the jays were supposed to be good!


I WAS LIED TOO 

[ghost]

Yeah.  Toronto is fucking awful. 

[Sjofn]

I don't want to jinx it, but I think maybe Matt Cain has remembered that he prefers to not be a shitty pitcher.

[Paelos]

I don't want to jinx it, but I think maybe Matt Cain has remembered that he prefers to not be a shitty pitcher.

He was fine, but that 4th inning would given any opposing pitcher confidence. It was just a death by 1000 cuts type of explosion.

There's a solid chance the Braves lose again today with Maholm on the mound since he does really poorly against Pence, Posey, and Pagan. If the Braves can't control 2 of those 3, they lose. On the other side, Justin Upton and Freddie Freeman can ruin Bumgarner's day if he gets walk happy.

[JWIV]

The Orioles express train of starting pitching from last year seems to have returned for this season.  Good times - this season is going to be the death of me at this rate.

[Paelos]

Look at it this way, you have more wins than the Yankees with a payroll that's less than half the size! 

[Sjofn]

I don't want to jinx it, but I think maybe Matt Cain has remembered that he prefers to not be a shitty pitcher.

He was fine, but that 4th inning would given any opposing pitcher confidence. It was just a death by 1000 cuts type of explosion.

There's a solid chance the Braves lose again today with Maholm on the mound since he does really poorly against Pence, Posey, and Pagan. If the Braves can't control 2 of those 3, they lose. On the other side, Justin Upton and Freddie Freeman can ruin Bumgarner's day if he gets walk happy.

Yeah, it's just Cain has been pretty not-good so far this season (although he was good versus the Dodgers, but uh. The Dodgers aren't very good right now), so it was nice to see him be good against an actual good team. Bumgarner has been one of the Giants pitchers that hasn't had a crappy start to the season (the other is fucking Zito, which I find both hilarious and ) so as long as he doesn't decide it's his turn to suck, that part of the game should not cause too much despair.


(now we're going to lose 11-0)

[Paelos]

Nah it's turning out like I thought. Maholm matches up poorly against that lineup. Medlen has a much better shot tomorrow because the Braves hit Lincecum better than most.

I think it's a 2-2 split at the end of the series.

[Paelos]

Or Medlen can pitch like he didn't look at a scouting report, and the Lincecum can have a career day.

Our road pitching has been terrible. 

[Sjofn]

It's nice to see Tim actually pitched like he remembered "oh right, it's totally more fun to not be a shitty pitcher." I hope it lasts, but I won't be surprised if he was just trolling the Braves. 

[Paelos]

The Braves starters are so hilariously shitty on the road, it might have just been a troll. I mean Tim Hudson has an ERA of 6.97 on the road, and 2.84 at home. The hell is that? Does he have a special old man back pillow he has to sleep with at home?

[Ingmar]

Cubs just signed Rizzo to a shockingly team-friendly deal.

[HaemishM]

 

SEVEN YEARS, $41 million extension, absolutely NO no-trade clause? He needs to fire his fucking agent, stat. Holy shit, talk about a hometown discount.

[JWIV]

I think the O's are trying to steal a bit of Tampa's mojo here, but since it gives us this, I'm okay with that.

Team Canadian Tuxedo

Close-up of AJ and Machado

[Paelos]

Some fun with our early predictions, now that we're past Memorial Day.

Calling it now: Yankees finish no better than 3rd and miss the playoffs.
...
(On BJ Upton) I'd put this as one of those 25% chance of awesome, 40% chance of appropriate value, 35% chance of Oh Fuck Aaron Rowand deals. It's risky, but the potential upside is really good. I think I'm glad it isn't us trying it though.
...
The Braves got a ridiculously good deal on (Justin) Upton.

(On BJ Upton) Knowing Frank Wren's "Big Money" moves, this will probably be a total clusterfuck. He's yet to make a big free agent signing over $10M a year that wasn't a letdown, if not a total fuckup.
...
(On Hamilton) He'll be fine for the first two years of that contract.
...
I think the Mariners might be better than .500 this year. Houston is a trashheap, I think Texas is due for some falloff, and the Angels/Oakland have some serious pitching questions coming out of training.

If Romero can sort himself out and the rest can pitch like they have in the past, the Jays could have the best starting pitching in baseball.

Sorry if this was (very likely) mentioned in here already, but the atmosphere here in Toronto regarding the club is echoing the feel of the early nineties with the Jays (obviously 92). Like everyone I'm super psyched, but I'm a bit more (okay a fucking lot more) of a pessimist than those around me, and I never count my chickens early. A sad, lonely part of me will be waiting every game for the wheels to fall off.

[Ingmar]

The Yankees are just baffling. Fuckin' Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells, out of nowhere.

[Fordel]

How are the Jays doing? Did we win the world series yet?

[Paelos]

The Jays are the biggest shock in a bad way. The Yankees are the biggest shock in a good way, and the Pirates for some reason actually have pitching that works.

[Ingmar]

Speaking of Romero:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/36515/can-ricky-romero-be-saved

I feel bad for the guy, but man, do I find Steve Blass Disease fascinating. Although I still think it should be called LOL STEVE SAX Disease.

[HaemishM]

Since I know and am resolved to the fact that my Cubs are going to SUCK IT HARD this year, I think I've decided to root for the Pirates. I feel bad for any team that has been held down that long by ineptitude. I won't root for them against the Cubs of course, but if somebody's got to win the Central, I want it to be the Pirates.

And holy fuck, AJ Burnett... when did he become a strikeout pitcher?

I also think it's criminal how bad the Angels, Dodgers and Jays have been considering their offseason moves and wish the Yankees would just fall off a cliff.

[Ingmar]

The funny thing is, if you told me at the beginning of the season that Carl Crawford would turn it around, I would have been REALLY worried about the Dodgers.

[Fordel]

I know the season isn't over yet, and in theory the Jays could go on like a 50 game win streak or whatever... but are people getting fired over this?

Like, coach, manager, GM? Who do I blame for this cluster fuck?

[Paelos]

I know the season isn't over yet, and in theory the Jays could go on like a 50 game win streak or whatever... but are people getting fired over this?

Like, coach, manager, GM? Who do I blame for this cluster fuck?

Well you have a manager you already fired once for being incompetant. Soooo, I'm going to blame the GM for hiring him a second time, and also for moving Doc Halladay, Vernon Wells, Mike Napoli, Juan Rivera, and he traded Aaron Hill for Kelly Johnson. I mean he's an idiot. How he still has a job is nothing short of amazing.