Major League Baseball (MLB)

[ADRossi]

With pitchers and catchers reporting in less than 25 hours, I decided to make this thread

http://www.springtrainingonline.com/features/reporting-dates.htm

We can start this off with early predictions if you like, off season comments, etc.

I'm a Tigers fan, I think we had a productive offseason, though our defense is going to be absolutely terrible. If Porcello develops our 1-2-3 of Verlander, Scherzer and Porcello will be lethal. So yeah, welcome all, and lets have a good season

 

[Coasterfreek]

YAY! Baseball Talk! Let's Go A's!!! I'll probably start a Hockey thread eventually.

You know what's really funny? I consider New Mexico as "Dodger" territory. I wish the A's land was a little larger than that, but in reality, it's all Giants... and it SUCKS! I had to not talk baseball the entire offseason as they won it all.

 

[ADRossi]

I love hockey

And A's eh? Do you actually still endorse Beane being your GM? I feel like the guy has lost some of his magic lately. Though, the young arms you guys have coming do look impressive, especially Cahill

 

[Lionheart]

So who's the INTERNAZIONALE of the baseball world & by that I mean the team who won every fuckin' trophy out there? I don't know nothing about baseball. All I know is this:

Diamond shaped field, ball, glove, baseball bat, hit & run fast like a motherfucker

 

[Coasterfreek]

I love hockey

And A's eh? Do you actually still endorse Beane being your GM? I feel like the guy has lost some of his magic lately. Though, the young arms you guys have coming do look impressive, especially Cahill

I still do. We'd be nowhere without him. This is a must-win year. You can thank us for taking Gio Gonzalez from the White Sox. There weren't many good bats available in Free Agency, so we settled well for what we got. But the bullpen and starting pitching will be rock solid. People don't realize how elite our pitching staff really is. And the fact that they're all under the age of 28 is even crazier.

So who's the INTERNAZIONALE of the baseball world & by that I mean the team who won every fuckin' trophy out there? I don't know nothing about baseball. All I know is this:

Diamond shaped field, ball, glove, baseball bat, hit & run fast like a motherfucker

The New York Yankees have won 27 Titles since 1901. They basically pay for a title with the wads of cash they own. The "NY" symbol should be pretty famous. The Yankees are the team you either love or hate, which most people in this world hate. I can imagine the Yankees and Red Sox are two teams that are liked internationally.

You can only win ONE trophy in each of the 4 main North American sports. In this case, that's the World Series.

That's why alot of people get confused of how Association football teams can win 3 or 4 pieces of silverware.

Think of the game similar to cricket.

 

[AFCA 1900]

Angels country here.... front office isn't exactly raking in the compliments.

"Most Unimproved Teams (AL)

1. Angels
2. Yankees
3. Mariners

For eight years (2002-09), the Angels dominated the AL West by such a ridiculous margin, there was only one team within 100 wins of them. And that was Oakland, which was 46 wins back. But all of a sudden, things ain't going so hot in Orange County. After his team staggered to a sub-.500 finish for the first time in seven years, owner Arte Moreno plunged into the offseason vowing to do and spend what it took to get the mother ship back on course. So how'd that work out? Hoo boy. One of our poll participants used the word "disaster" to describe the Angels' train wreck of a winter. And that was one of the gentler descriptions. They took such a hard line on the two free agents who fit their needs most -- Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre -- that they lost both of them. Then they reacted, in the words of one AL exec, with a "total panic move," by trading for Vernon Wells without even getting the Blue Jays to eat a major chunk of his money. When you consider that the Angels got almost twice as many most-unimproved votes (10) as two teams that did just about zilch this winter -- Cleveland and Seattle -- it tells you exactly how many people in this sport have spent the past few weeks asking: "What the heck were they thinking?"

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2011/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=6107998

 

[Visca]

The Yankees are more like Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man City... they've got a lot of money and buy all the stars and that's a large part of why they're so successful. Hate them.

I would actually go so far as to say the San Francisco Giants (my home team) are like Inter because they went a long time without winning and then out of nowhere won the big one (if you only compare the World Series to the CL).

Fucking hell I love my team, serious underdogs and comeback kings this past season.

 

[Coasterfreek]

The Yankees are more like Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man City... they've got a lot of money and buy all the stars and that's a large part of why they're so successful. Hate them.

I would actually go so far as to say the San Francisco Giants (my home team) are like Inter because they went a long time without winning and then out of nowhere won the big one (if you only compare the World Series to the CL).

Fucking hell I love my team, serious underdogs and comeback kings this past season.

That sucked. Don't remind me Haha. As an A's fan, I think we deserve the "torture" theming now.

Gotta say, the Angels were the losers of the offseason indeed.

 

[ADRossi]

The Yankees are going to flop this year. Where's the pitching going to come from? Burnett is done, Hughes is nothing special, Pettitte is gone. Sabathia can't win 30 games for them.

And actually more than anything I'm glad the DBacks stole Daniel Hudson from the Sox, if you check out what that kid did down the stretch last year, it was flat out scary.

Right now I'm calling the obvious WS favourites have to be the Red Sox and Phillies.

 

[Coasterfreek]

Right now I'm calling the obvious WS favourites have to be the Red Sox and Phillies.

I hate saying this, but the San Francisco Giants matchup really well with Philly. The Phillies have the stuff on paper, but head to head, I think the Giants will own them. I predict the Giants to repeat... but I really want to be dead wrong. I got the entire NL predictions correctly last year... AL not so much.

Red Sox, Phillies and Giants are the three teams I consider to be "elite" and in the true race.

I assume you live in an area of Canada that borders Michigan? I hear people can go to Canada right at Detroit.

 

[Visca]

The only differences in the Giants roster this season compared to last are the losses of Renteria and Uribe, and we gained Tejada.

Still can't believe Uribe went to the Dodgers.

 

[ADRossi]

I literally live across the river from Detroit in Canada. About a 15 minute drive to the stadium, minus going through customs and such.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_Bridge

If we go

Halladay -Lincy
Lee - Cain
Oswalt - Sanchez
Hamels - Bumgarner

in a playoff series, man that would be sweet

 

[Coasterfreek]

Still can't believe Uribe went to the Dodgers.

Uribe is expendable. I don't see him getting hot again like he did. He'll probably lay an egg with the Dodgers like Jason Schmidt did. You shouldn't have to worry.

I literally live across the river from Detroit in Canada. About a 15 minute drive to the stadium, minus going through customs and such.

If we go

Halladay -Lincy
Lee - Cain
Oswalt - Sanchez
Hamels - Bumgarner

in a playoff series, man that would be sweet

That's the problem, the Giants already owned those 4 guys for the most part during the playoffs. I don't see the Phillies beating them head to head.

My A's have a killer pitching staff, which I'm fine with.

 

[ADRossi]

Lee really changes things though.

The Tigers have a decent staff. Verlander is great, Scherzer was great last year for the most part. Porcello is a huge X factor, reminds me a lot of Webb pre-injuries. Brad Penny and Phil Coke are nothing great, but Penny is capable, and Coke is left-handed anyway. My biggest concern with this team is how bad they are on D. VMart + Inge and his 20 errors, + Jhonny Peralta, + Magglio + Raburn = worst defense in the entire American League.

 

[Coasterfreek]

Lee really changes things though.

The Giants beat him twice in the World Series.

I agree the Tigers fielding has issues. You guys have a ridiculous payroll that hasn't been worth it. Cahill, Braden, Gonzalez, and Brett Anderson are 4 solid pitchers. Even whoever wins the 5th spot will be fine, because our starters did their job last season.

 

[ADRossi]

True, but personally when you take a guy who's the only one in his rotation really and put him into an elite one, I just think that has an effect on everyone, as the rotation is harder to deal with, more consecutive days, and less focusing on that player. Even though Lee sucked down the stretch last year, he's a playoff killer, and we all know Tommy Hunter, Wilson, and Lewis isn't up to par with the Phillies rotation.

And yeah, Dombrowski is an idiot. About the only thing I can say regarding that.

 

[Coasterfreek]

And yeah, Dombrowski is an idiot. About the only thing I can say regarding that.

Yea Billy Beane gets criticism no doubt, but it does take time to build another "big 3" of his. I believe we have our new big 3 after waiting a few years. Remember it took him a good 3-4 years to build a Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder. Usually the A's have nothing the lose, considering our payroll. This season though, the expectations are higher. I expect alot of 4-3 or 3-2 wins. It's gonna be ugly, but pitching needs to carry us.

 

[vitomins]

The worst sport ever created. Be careful, because if you have this on the TV that is near a freshly painted wall, you may get confused as to which one is the sport and which one is the paint drying...

 

[Coasterfreek]

The worst sport ever created. Be careful, because if you have this on the TV that is near a freshly painted wall, you may get confused as to which one is the sport and which one is the paint drying...

It is an acquired taste. Maybe it's because I grew up playing this game as a kid as to why I like it so much.

 

[ADRossi]

The worst sport ever created. Be careful, because if you have this on the TV that is near a freshly painted wall, you may get confused as to which one is the sport and which one is the paint drying...

Obviously you've never tried to watch an NBA game.