OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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dmiles2186 wrote:Congrats to AP on #500. Bittersweet it was in a different shade of red/white, but I'm happy for him nonetheless. Some of these idiots on social media saying Eff him and all that, it's ridiculous. The guy gave his heart and soul for us and took money elsewhere. We got 2 WS and 3 MVP's from him.
Agreed. I was pretty angry with him for awhile, felt betrayed etc. Hell, my dog's name is Albert, and then he left.

But, time heals all wounds. He did what he felt he needed to do. Maybe it could have gone down better, but it is what it is. He gave us the greatest 11 year stretch any player has ever had. Good for him on 500, and it's very "Pujolsian" of him to be the first to ever hit 499 and 500 in the same game.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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dmiles2186 wrote:So I haven't watched a second of the game until now, but Wacha strikes out the first 9 batters. Strikes out 10 in 4 innings. But walks 5 and is yanked after 4? What a weird stat line.
Yeah, it's a really weird line. He walked both runs in too. I didn't see it, but apparently he was close to the zone, just barely missing. Not sure if he was getting squeezed or if he was nibbling a la Lance Lynn.

I somewhat wonder if he was going for K's, not outs, if he had 9K's in 3IP. His pitch count was at 93 through 4 which is partly due to the K's. If that is what he was doing, I hope he learned a lesson from it at least. It's also nice that his bad starts are 4IP/2ER. Not what we want and need out of our number 2, but that's not THAT bad for a bad outing.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Michael Pineda is an idiot. I don't care that he's using pine tar (lots of em are), but learn some discretion. Getting caught once with that huge glob on his palm was kinda funny. Getting caught a second time in the same month against the same team? Dude . . .
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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We were joking that he should keep the pine tar on his balls. No way the umps want to check down there and he can just claim jock itch for all the times his hand goes south of the belt.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Grichuk up for Robinson didn't surprise me. I thought it was a few weeks away, but he was tearing up AAA and we needed some life. I bet he'll be up 10-15 days, be mediocre to bad (as most prospects are in their first stine) and then head back down to Memphis knowing what he has to work on.

Wong, however, came out of nowhere. I mean, sure he's been struggling after his ~hot start. But, as somebody on Twitter said, "Find another top 100 prospect that wins the starting job out of ST and ends April in AAA." That leash was incredibly short. I think they must have something specific for him to work on, and they don't want it to be in the majors. That or he has some sort of behind the scenes confidence issues that they are worried were going to become a big problem. I don't know, but it caught me off guard.

Greg Amsinger was on the radio yesterday and suggested Ellis will be the 2B the rest of the year (maybe, but I bet Wong gets a shot to win the job back). But, his idea for 2015 was interesting. mCarp to 2B. Peralta to 3B. Alemdys Diaz (who is having a good year in AA) to SS. I think it's too early to pencil Wong out of the future, but it's an interesting thought.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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There's a rumor going around that we're talking with the Marlins to trade Shelby Miller and Allen Craig for Giancarlo Stanton. There are always Stanton trade rumors going around, but I'd love if this is true depending on what else they want. I don't think Miller + Craig gets it done by itself. But, Jay has been mentioned as an add on. I'd do that as well. Realistically, this probably is nothing, but it's an interesting thought.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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cardsfan04 wrote:There's a rumor going around that we're talking with the Marlins to trade Shelby Miller and Allen Craig for Giancarlo Stanton. There are always Stanton trade rumors going around, but I'd love if this is true depending on what else they want. I don't think Miller + Craig gets it done by itself. But, Jay has been mentioned as an add on. I'd do that as well. Realistically, this probably is nothing, but it's an interesting thought.
I'm with you, I don't know if that would do anything for the Marlins, but if they would take those three for Stanton, I'd do it.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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I don't know what to expect the Marlins to want, but I know their opening offer would be much more than those 3. I think that's actually a decent pull for them though.

They would lose ~100 OPS points (I didn't look it up, but I'm guessing that's about right) going from Stanton to Craig.

In return:
-Get an all-star caliber RF who is good, just not a superstar, that has a club-favorable contract and is locked up beyond 2016.
-Get a starter with potential to be near the top of the rotation.
-Get a CF (with Miami ties, if that means anything) to replace Ozuna who is playing out of position.

I actually think this works out fairly well for both teams in the sense that I think both are better off after the trade than before the trade. However, if I'm the Marlins, I'm trying to get a big prospect in the deal as well.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Time to clear the cobwebs out of this thread for a minute.

Cubs and A's made a big trade yesterday.

A's get Samardzjia and Hammell.
Cubs get Addison Russell (SS), Billy McKinney (OF), Dan Straily (RHP)

I wasn't familiar with any of those guys the Cubs got, but seems that their farm system is loaded now. Russell is the 5th ranked prospect by Baseball Prospectus . . . and he plays SS which is 1 of the best positions to have a really high prospect. Cubs now have numbers 3, 5, 6, and 18 on the BP top 100 prospect list which makes the Cards system the past couple years look like child's play. Either 3 or 6 is another SS too, so I think Castro's days in a Cub uniform are numbered. McKinney was a 1st round pick out of HS in last year's draft. I don't know anything about Straily.

I don't know if A's overpaid or underpaid. But, adding Samardzjia to that rotation is pretty scary. They already have one of the scariest offenses in baseball. Adding a legit ace to an already decent staff makes them really tough. No AL team should want to play them in the playoffs. And apparently Hammel is better than I thought. In my mind he was a 3 or 4, but his numbers this year are pretty good. Averaging ~6.5IP/start. 1.021 WHIP. 8.6K/9. Those are very good numbers. Very legit number 2. I didn't realize he was that good.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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I don't know much about them either, but aside from Russell, apparently McKinney was a 1st round pick in 2013, so just going off of that, you know he's got talent. I'll admit, I was skeptical that Theo would be able to turn around the Cubs. But if you add up this trade, with the Garza trade and the Feldman for Arrieta/bullpen guys (forget names at the moment) heist from last year, the Cubs are re-stocking the shelves pretty well.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Yeah, I didn't think he'd do it either, but he's off to a great start. In Boston, I thought his payroll covered up a lot of his mistakes. While he has a potentially high payroll in Chicago too, I didn't think he would restock as well as he has. This might sound traitorish, but I almost want them to be good. Not winning WS good, but it would be fun if the rivalry actually had some meaning.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Ugh. Yadi out 8-12 weeks with a torn ligament. Happens right as we start to hit our stride.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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cardsfan04 wrote:Ugh. Yadi out 8-12 weeks with a torn ligament. Happens right as we start to hit our stride.
Yeah, and I just bought tickets for my first game of the season (next Friday against the Dodgers), so I'll take the blame for this one. But on a serious note, if we weren't in the market for offense, then we are now.

I'm glad the Peavy rumors subsided for now.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Yeah, Peavy is awful. I mean, if they wanted to give him away, I'm not necessarily opposed to an extra arm. Although, having him means he would have to pitch for us. I'd much rather have him as a last resort.

Some are speculating that Pierzynski could be signed. It kind of makes sense on the surface, but he's not that good anymore and apparently he got released because of how many teammates asked them to get rid of him.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Great news! The Yankees are falling apart and for some reason think that Brandon McCarthy and Jeff Francis will save their sorry asses. I just feel bad that Masahiro Tanaka feels the need to apologize for his injury. Not your fault you went from pitching once a week to once every 5. Joe Girardi should be the one apologizing.

This does bring up a very interesting point though... a lot of pitchers are going down hard and needing Tommy John because of gross misuse. So what would be your opinions of MLB allowing (mandating?) every club to hold an extra SP (26 man roster instead of 25 man roster) and have a six man rotation, to perhaps save some arms? Or designate three minor leaguers who get unlimited options for that season so you can freely shuttle fresh bullpen arms back and forth to accommodate a shorter bullpen?

I mean honestly, if I'm a GM of any team, contender or not, I'm honestly considering a 7 man rotation with 4 bullpen arms.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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I heard that Tanaka apologized. That was classy. I feel real bad for the guy. He's got some wicked stuff.

I laughed about the McCarthy/Nuno trade. That was straight up, right? McCarthy is too inconsistent to save any team's season. He might throw 7+ scoreless one start and then allow 6 runs in 2 1/3 his next start. But, I think the Yankees upgraded. Nuno is AWFUL. I play daily fantasy sports and whenever Nuno pitches I target the other team. I don't really understand why Arizona made the trade unless it was a salary dump or they got something extra in return that I'm unaware of.

As for the 26 man roster or extra options, I'm not necessarily opposed to it. It's an interesting idea. But, I don't think teams will jump on it. I heard it suggested that the Cards should have tried a 6 man rotation this year with all the starting pitching talent we had (before our 78967th injury to the rotation). The biggest objection I heard was that Waino would have made like 5 or 6 fewer starts. I don't think having a dominant ace should be a conversation ender or anything, but that will be a big obstacle to it catching on. Unlimited options might work a little better as teams might be more willing to skip somebody's start here and there.

I think a big part of the TJ issues might stem from how much ball kids are playing though. That and how much college coaches abuse pitchers. You have kids playing 100+ games per summer nowadays. And, then they get to college and the coach doesn't have any personal incentive (other than ethics) to worry about a pitcher's longterm health. Some of them really run pitchers into the ground.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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How will we remember the George Kotarras era? (I'm not happy w/ the Pierzsynksi signing)
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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I actually like the Pierzynski signing. I mean, he's a total douche canoe. But Cruz has been abysmal for us since Yadi went down. I don't have high hopes for Pierzynski, but for a prorated league minimum, I don't mind giving him a chance. If he works, great, and we have a bat off the bench for the playoffs. If he doesn't, we can just release him. If we would have signed him as a backup catcher in the offseason or traded for him, I would have hated it. I just don't think there's much risk since he was released elsewhere and we're not paying him the bulk of his salary.
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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Trade deadline should be interesting. All of a sudden there's a wealth of starting pitching on the market. Price, Hamels, Lester, Keuchel, McHugh, Cosart, probably some others. The last 3 aren't in the class of the first 3, but it's interesting that Houston is putting them out there. They're all cost controlled through 2018 or 2019 and pitching fairly well (although Keuchel has struggled of late).
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Re: OT: 2014 MLB Thread

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I'd be shocked if Houston traded any of their pitchers. That's a strong area for them, moving forward. One I'm excited to see at the mlb level is Nick Tropeano. Under the radar but very talented, putting up very good numbers at Oklahoma City. His w/l is misleading because he gets crap run support which will make Houston feel natural to him.
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