2017 Baseball Season: Let's Play Two! (1 Viewer)

[jazzeum]

That rumor has been around but I can't see it happening for two reasons: it would cripple the Giants budget to take on that contract (especially for a player who's never completely healthy) and second, the Marlins are going to be sold soon; that's too important a decision to be left up to the present ownership.

 

[lancer]

That rumor has been around but I can't see it happening for two reasons: it would cripple the Giants budget to take on that contract (especially for a player who's never completely healthy) and second, the Marlins are going to be sold soon; that's too important a decision to be left up to the present ownership.

The sooner the Marlins are under new ownership the better. The Marlins need someone who cares about the team and the fans. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

I think the front runner is Jorge Mas, one of the world's richest persons. I don't think the Jeter group can compete with his kind of money. I suppose it doesn't hurt that Mas is Latino, helping him with the community.

Note: After I wrote the above, I read an article that Mas and Luria haven't been able to agree on a few issues and MLB is afraid he will drop out.

 

[Warrior]

Note: After I wrote the above, I read an article that Mas and Luria haven't been able to agree on a few issues and MLB is afraid he will drop out.

Cleary a case of "No Mas"......................:wink2:............

 

[Panzer ace]

Heard that the Giants are hot on the trail of the Marlin's Giancarlo Stanton. Would be an excellent building block for next season. -- Al

This rumor has picked up some steam in the last few weeks. It is due in part to the trade rumors surrounding Cueto. The Giants stand to shed about $60mil in salaries via trades (Cueto) and contracts ending (Cain) etc. Add to that management saying that they want to add a big name bat and will maintain their $175mil overall team salary and the rumor mill kicks into overdrive.

I personally can't see it happening.

 

[lancer]

Alright, alright, alright. O's got excellent pitching and just enough offense to start their push for the playoffs with a 3-1 win over Texas. Only 47 more wins to 90. -- Al

Excellent pitching by Bundy, excellent hitting by Davis and company, and the O's now need 46 to get to 90. A nice recovery, so far, after the Cubs series. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Slight error in the above statement. The Nats play the Angels starting tonight, not the Dodgers. Interleague play got me again as I saw the LA on the schedule and just assumed it meant Dodgers. Anyway, Trout vs Harper should be good TV. -- Al

It was good TV. Harper and Trout both homered in the 1st, and Harper ended up going 4-4 and was an inch from hitting for the cycle as he was thrown out trying to stretch a single, confirmed on review. Biggest surprise was journeyman pitcher Edwin Jackson, brought up from the minors by the Nats to start the game. He went 7, giving up 2 runs on only 3 hits. Jackson was in 3 games with the O's, was bad, and got DFAed, and the Nats picked him up. Go figure. The game got exciting in the 9th as the Angels scored 1 to trail 4-3 with the tying run at second. New Nat LHP Doolittle got Pujols to end the game. Great game. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Yankees made a good deal yesterday but, other than trying to shorten the game with more relief pitching, they didn't address starting pitching. I still see them as one of the WC contenders.

I see Kershaw won his 15th and it's only July. They appear to be having a magical season. They are the team to beat, at least in the NL.

 

[lancer]

Yankees made a good deal yesterday but, other than trying to shorten the game with more relief pitching, they didn't address starting pitching. I still see them as one of the WC contenders.

I see Kershaw won his 15th and it's only July. They appear to be having a magical season. They are the team to beat, at least in the NL.

The Dodgers are so good right now that they have made a shambles of the NL West race, leaving Colorado and Arizona (the likely NL WC teams) in the dust, some 10.5/11 games back. Also read that the Dodgers are interested in putting Zach Britton in the pen alongside Jansen. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Fun with numbers: The Nats currently have 4 of the top 7 rated batters in the NL. They have very similar numbers considering that they bat 3-4-5-6 in the line-up. From the top, BA wise:
Murphy ------ BA .340 - 30 2b, 16 Hr, 71 RBIs - WAR 1.8 - bats 5th
Harper ------ BA .337 - 22 2b, 24 Hr, 73 RBIs - WAR 4.0 - bats 3rd
Zimmerman - BA .326 - 22 2b, 20 Hr, 65 RBIs - WAR 2.2 - bats 4th
Rendon ------ BA .320 - 22 2b, 20 Hr, 64 RBIs - WAR 4.7 - bats 6th

It is a tough line-up to wade through. So far all have stayed pretty healthy and have only experienced minor slumps. Baker manages to get them some days off here and there which has helped keep them healthy and relatively fresh. Still, the dog days of August creep closer and Nats fans clearly hope these guys can keep ticking away as injuries have 2nd string or 3rd string players in 3 of the other 4 starting positions. -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

Fun with numbers: The Nats currently have 4 of the top 7 rated batters in the NL. They have very similar numbers considering that they bat 3-4-5-6 in the line-up. From the top, BA wise:
Murphy ------ BA .340 - 30 2b, 16 Hr, 71 RBIs - WAR 1.8 - bats 5th
Harper ------ BA .337 - 22 2b, 24 Hr, 73 RBIs - WAR 4.0 - bats 3rd
Zimmerman - BA .326 - 22 2b, 20 Hr, 65 RBIs - WAR 2.2 - bats 4th
Rendon ------ BA .320 - 22 2b, 20 Hr, 64 RBIs - WAR 4.7 - bats 6th

It is a tough line-up to wade through. So far all have stayed pretty healthy and have only experienced minor slumps. Baker manages to get them some days off here and there which has helped keep them healthy and relatively fresh. Still, the dog days of August creep closer and Nats fans clearly hope these guys can keep ticking away as injuries have 2nd string or 3rd string players in 3 of the other 4 starting positions. -- Al

The numbers do not show one important stat/fact. When a team is this deep offensively you simply can't pitch around someone. Essentially opposing teams have to pick their poison, anyone of these guys can beat you.

 

[Panzer ace]

I am listening to local sports talk and one announcer just mentioned that since signing his 5 year $103 mil contract Matt Cain is 19-37 with an ERA of 5.34. That is just about $5.5 mil per win.

I had to turn it off before he gave any more stats as nausea was setting in.

 

[jazzeum]

That is why multi year contracts for pitchers of more than 3 years are a terrible idea. Unfortunately, if you stand on principle some stupid team will say "sure, no problem."

My son and I were looking at Pujols' stats today. He is in the sixth year of his contact and is hitting 238, with 14 HRs and 56 RBIs and he has four years to go after this! He should think about retiring now. He will never make it to year 10. The Angels will have to buy him out.

 

[lancer]

Excellent pitching by Bundy, excellent hitting by Davis and company, and the O's now need 46 to get to 90. A nice recovery, so far, after the Cubs series. -- Al

Don't want to be overly optimistic here, but it seems all that the O's need to contend for the AL East title is to play the rest of their games against the Texas Rangers. After getting their third straight QS in this series (by Gausman tonight) and once again pummeling Texas with their offense, the O's currently lead tonight's game 10-1 in the bottom of the 7th. 6 more outs and the O's are halfway to their 90 wins. -- Al

 

[sammy719]

Maybe some of the O's read Treefrog and read my rant about selling off the team ^&grin^&grin or better yet they heard all the National media outlets begin talking about the dismantling of this team by month's end and it caught a fire within the team???? either way, 1 series does not make life all grand again in Baltimore....BUT....if the O's hold tonight's lead (9-5 in the 7th now) maybe....just maybe they can at least get off life support and get up graded to critical, at this point I'd be ok with that.

 

[lancer]

Maybe some of the O's read Treefrog and read my rant about selling off the team ^&grin^&grin or better yet they heard all the National media outlets begin talking about the dismantling of this team by month's end and it caught a fire within the team???? either way, 1 series does not make life all grand again in Baltimore....BUT....if the O's hold tonight's lead (9-5 in the 7th now) maybe....just maybe they can at least get off life support and get up graded to critical, at this point I'd be ok with that.

The O's took it, so that's a sweep in the right direction. Beats me how they looked so awful against the Cubs and then totally reversed course against Texas. But it is now 44 more to 90 and things are looking up for now. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

In the AL, where almost everyone is a contender, the question for GMs is whether they should be buyers or sellers. Some will futilely grab for the brass ring but some will be realistic and ask themselves if they are good enough to win more than a WC.

 

[Panzer ace]

Interesting note from one of the baseball shows/games yesterday about the upcoming trade deadline (sorry I can't remember the exact one). Apparently there are some GMs that think the Dodgers might pick-up players that they do not necessarily need as they do not want other teams in contention to have them.

 

[lancer]

Interesting note from one of the baseball shows/games yesterday about the upcoming trade deadline (sorry I can't remember the exact one). Apparently there are some GMs that think the Dodgers might pick-up players that they do not necessarily need as they do not want other teams in contention to have them.

I've heard of this strategy but it seems kind of self-defeating. Why handcuff your own roster with a player that may not fit team plans just to keep him out of another teams hands? In LA's case, they have a huge lead, so what player could another team get that will turn that race on it's head? And what team/player does LA see as the threat that they must address? Certainly they can't address all threats/teams that they might face in the playoffs so why not just concentrate on building the strongest team they can and let the chips fall as they may? It is a lucky and strong team that can even contemplate such a strategy but it seems a waste of effort to me. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

This is a very old strategy. That is why, in part, the Yankees did the Frazier deal. They knew that the Red Sox wanted some of the White Sox players and they made sure the Sox didn't get them.

The Dodgers are going to be one of the favorites to win the WS and if you can deny one of your likely opponents a key player, while not weakening your team, you should do it.