Random MLB News And Discussion 2012

[jjfanec]

Bill Hall homered for the Orioles tonight!

 

Former Brewer SS's are doing pretty well for the Orioles lately

[bullox]

A different thread just reminded me of this, but I didn't want to derail it so I put it here. I definitely was given an Edgar Diaz baseball card from a Police Officer when I was a kid. Once of those Police baseball cards. Do they still do that?

[hawing]

A different thread just reminded me of this, but I didn't want to derail it so I put it here. I definitely was given an Edgar Diaz baseball card from a Police Officer when I was a kid. Once of those Police baseball cards. Do they still do that?

Yes, they do. And other police departments appear to have access to them as well. One of my family members is a police officer in Dane County and gave the S.O. a 2011 set of police Brewers cards last Christmas.

 

Stay in school! Make good decisions! Swim with a buddy!

[AZBrewCrew]

A different thread just reminded me of this, but I didn't want to derail it so I put it here. I definitely was given an Edgar Diaz baseball card from a Police Officer when I was a kid. Once of those Police baseball cards. Do they still do that?

Yes, they do. And other police departments appear to have access to them as well. One of my family members is a police officer in Dane County and gave the S.O. a 2011 set of police Brewers cards last Christmas.

 

Stay in school! Make good decisions! Swim with a buddy!

 

I actually found my baseball cards at my parents house a few months ago, and in there was a set of early 90s Brewers cards from Menomonie PD.

[Outlander]

Jeter passed Robin Yount yesterday on the all time hits list.

[3and2Fastball]

What do folks here think about the potential of Starlin Castro? He doesn't walk much and he doesn't hit for power, but he sure does seem to be a talented hitter: a .308 career batting average with nearly 400 hits already as a 22 year old, and he's batting .333 this season with 12 stolen bases.

 

Do you think Castro is a guy who can contend for the batting title year in and year out? Potential superstar? Or just a real good player whose liabilities with the glove and with OBP will prevent him from being one of the greats?

 

Seems to me that right from the start at age 20 he's always been able to hit

[jjfanec]

What do folks here think about the potential of Starlin Castro? He doesn't walk much and he doesn't hit for power, but he sure does seem to be a talented hitter: a .308 career batting average with nearly 400 hits already as a 22 year old, and he's batting .333 this season with 12 stolen bases.

 

Do you think Castro is a guy who can contend for the batting title year in and year out? Potential superstar? Or just a real good player whose liabilities with the glove and with OBP will prevent him from being one of the greats?

 

Seems to me that right from the start at age 20 he's always been able to hit

 

I think he is going to be a very good player - who gets treated like a great player since he is in Chicago. His inability to take a walk will hurt him in my eyes. He has never had an OBP above .350 so it is hard for me to call him great. He looks like a 10 -15 HR guy max so he wont have a ridiculous Slugging % to overcome his OBP. He does still a lot of bases but he gets caught a lot too. In his career he has stolen 44 but been caught 22. He makes a fair amount of errors but I am not sure if that is because he is able to get to a lot of balls because of his range.

[3and2Fastball]

Apparently Shoeless Joe Jackson & Vada Pinson are the only other 21 year olds in MLB history (along with Starlin Castro) to have 200 hits, 20 steals, 35 doubles and 65 RBI's in a season

[1992casey]

I've moved some posts about last night's Brett Lawrie incident into Countdown to Brett Lawrie Suspension.

[Funketown]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/rich-thompson-and-the-mlb-dream/

 

This is a great read, if you have the time. For those of you who haven't heard, Thompson last played in the majors with Kansas City in 2004. He notched one plate appearance and grounded into a double play. Now, after 7 years of toiling in the high minors, the Rays desperately needed an OF to start against the Red Sox. They called Philadelphia and traded for Thompson, and a few hours later he started, collected his first MLB hit, an RBI, a HBP, and 2SB's.

 

I always wonder how some guys like Thompson don't get a chance as a 5th OF at some point in their career. His batting lines from AA and AAA are pretty much all slightly to moderately above average; he hits for a very high batting average and stole 48 bases to just 4 CS last season for the Phillies' AAA affiliate.

[jjfanec]

Going into today not a single team in the AL Central had a positive run differential and the AL East didnt have a single team with a negative run differential. That is crazy

[jjfanec]

Cards are starting to have some serious injury problems. Berkman back on the DL. Jay is on the DL. Craig is on the DL. Beltran is back in the lineup but missed a few games with knee soreness.

 

On the pitching side sounds like Carp is out until July or Aug. Wainwright has struggled to regain his form. McClellen just went on the DL.

 

They have really come back to earth after their hot start. 4 games over and still leading the division but the Reds are just 1 back as of right now. As bad as the Brewers have been they could be only 5 out if the Cards lose again tonight

[trwi7]

http://i1.kwejk.pl/site_media/obrazki/5a36638d923bbee2dd864b4ead59820b.gif?1310133763

[3and2Fastball]

Aroldis Chapman had his first save today, vs the Yankees. He has the potential to be an elite Closer. 0.00 ERA and a 0.63 WHIP in 22 innings now....

[Baldkin]

I'd rather he close. He's more useful the way dusty had been using him.

 

Sounds like Berkman might've torn his ACL.

[dlk9s]

The ACL has replaced the oblique as the cool injured body part of MLB.

[The stache]

What do folks here think about the potential of Starlin Castro? He doesn't walk much and he doesn't hit for power, but he sure does seem to be a talented hitter: a .308 career batting average with nearly 400 hits already as a 22 year old, and he's batting .333 this season with 12 stolen bases.

 

Do you think Castro is a guy who can contend for the batting title year in and year out? Potential superstar? Or just a real good player whose liabilities with the glove and with OBP will prevent him from being one of the greats?

 

Seems to me that right from the start at age 20 he's always been able to hit

 

I think he is going to be a great overall player. He's already a .300 + hitter at 22. Most people his age are still in the minors. The subtle nuances of the game, taking pitches and walks, will come with time. He's young and a little impatient right now, but you can learn to be patient. You can either hit, or you can't, and this kid can. I think he'll improve somewhat at short, also.

 

I also think he'll end up hitting for more power than people think (not so much home runs, but extra base hits. 10-15 HR is his ceiling, imo). I've watched the Cubs a few times this year, and he hits the ball pretty hard. The Cub offense is struggling right now, but when they bring Anthony Rizzo and Brett Jackson up, that will start to change. LaHair, Barney, Castro, Rizzo and Jackson will score some runs.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm with you on Castro, except that I think he's going to wind up more like a 20-30 HR guy. His swing is so impressive, he's already pretty strong, & he's only going to get stronger.

[The stache]

He's certainly strong enough to hit that many, TooLiveBrew. One thing he doesn't have (right now at least) is a lot of loft in his swings. The times I've seen him, he's been a line drive hitter. That can change, however, and often does once hitters start to move into their mid 20's. If it does, the winds at Wrigley will bump up his home run totals substantially.

 

The guy that I think is going to absolutely rake at Wrigley, however, is Anthony Rizzo. 6'3" 220 lbs, and he can crush the ball. Trading him from the Padres and the Cavernous Petco Field to Chicago and Wrigley is going to have a serious impact on his power numbers when he gets called up. I think LaHair stays at first, and Rizzo ends up in left field once the Cubs can dump Soriano.

[The stache]

I caught a Cubs game-can't remember if it was late preseason or regular season, but the guys on WGN were talking about Castro's power. They think he's got some real upside. We shall see. All I know is that I'm buying Castro's Bowman Chrome auto rookie.

[dlk9s]

One thing about Castro is that even though the plate discipline isn't there yet, he seems to be able to hit balls outside the strike zone pretty well, not unlike Ryan Braun.

[JackNicholson1974]

Berkman is done it sounds like. Too bad,he is a good guy. On the bright side, it evens the playing field re: the loss of Gamel and Gonzalez. Now if only Matt Holliday starts hitting .156 and striking out 1/2 time it would make up or Weeks.

[jjfanec]

Berkman is done it sounds like. Too bad,he is a good guy. On the bright side, it evens the playing field re: the loss of Gamel and Gonzalez. Now if only Matt Holliday starts hitting .156 and striking out 1/2 time it would make up or Weeks.

 

The thing with the Cards is that two of the biggest injury concerns havent even been to the DL yet. I would be very surprised if Beltran and Furcal are not on the DL some time this season. They had a lot of injury prone guys coming into this year and it is showing up now. I think the Reds are the favorite right now to win the division. St. Louis is really coming back to earth.

 

Again as bad as the Brewers have played they are only 5 games out. If Gallardo gets back to himself, the bullpen can stabilize some and Weeks remembers how to hit this team will compete for the division. If not this team could compete for a top 5 draft pick

[JohnBriggs12]

The fact is the entire division is awful and the reality is somebody is going to win it. That certainly gives the Brewers hope but losing 2 of 3 at home to the woeful Twins doesn't bode well.

[Baldkin]

The fact is the entire division is awful and the reality is somebody is going to win it. That certainly gives the Brewers hope but losing 2 of 3 at home to the woeful Twins doesn't bode well.

 

Losing 4 of 5 to the Astros and Twins... sigh.