Random MLB News & Discussion 2014

[Dead Simmons]

DBacks hire Tony LaRussa. If you wanted to go from evil to cartoonishly super evil, that is one way to do it.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10946204/tony-la-russa-hired-arizona-diamondbacks-chief-baseball-officer?ex_cid=espnapi_public

It amazes me how the media can skew the truth and create a "star". TLR is the classic example.

[TURBO]

Dead Simmons,

 

Does it bother Cards fans that TLR is with another organization?

[pretendastronaut]

Prince Fielder has a herniated disc in his neck that has stopped his consecutive game streak at 574.

 

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/10946999/prince-fielder-herniated-disk-neck-texas-rangers

[Dead Simmons]

Dead Simmons,

 

Does it bother Cards fans that TLR is with another organization?

Oh my yes. But Card fans that were around in the 80's and saw Herzog can't stand the guy and were elated to see him fired. Yes, regardless of what the announcements were, he was asked to resign.

 

The GM got tired of being the second Banana.

 

We play Ariz tonite and I have never wanted to sweep a team as bad as I want to sweep this one! In your face Tony!

[Dead Simmons]

nm

[DocLuna7]

Dead Simmons,

 

Does it bother Cards fans that TLR is with another organization?

Oh my yes. But Card fans that were around in the 80's and saw Herzog can't stand the guy and were elated to see him fired. Yes, regardless of what the announcements were, he was asked to resign.

 

The GM got tired of being the second Banana.

 

We play Ariz tonite and I have never wanted to sweep a team as bad as I want to sweep this one! In your face Tony!

 

No offense, but I have a hard time believing that most Cardinals fans were elated to see La Russa leave. Are you serious with that?

[Warning Track Power]

DBacks hire Tony LaRussa. If you wanted to go from evil to cartoonishly super evil, that is one way to do it.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10946204/tony-la-russa-hired-arizona-diamondbacks-chief-baseball-officer?ex_cid=espnapi_public

The DBacks are the Dodgers fan equivalent of the Cardinals. DBacks FO constantly talk about the unwritten rules and respecting the game. I couldn't think of a more ideal situation for TLR.

 

Will give me even more reason to "hate" him.

[Outlander]

Random Brewers news but was looking at the probables for the Miami series and see that Randy Wolf will be starting. Good news as Gallardo is scheduled the same day and his status is certainly up in the air.

 

Also, didn't realize this until today but this Monday will be the first time JJ Hardy has faced the Brewers. With interleague play would have certainly thought he would have played the Brewers by now.

[Thurston Fluff]

2. The star factor. When that stuff was going on with major stars like Bonds, Mcgwire, Sosa, and more recent ARod/Braun today, it leaves a bigger taint than most guys getting busted in the NFL. For the most part, it's mainly just the quarterbacks and some elite skill position players who are the stars in football. They aren't the ones getting busted usually.

 

A lot of good points but I am not so sure about this one. Fans can name name football players than baseball players. The NFL is just so much more popular that it is inevitable. Go back to the season Shawne Merriman got busted for PEDS. He was one of the defensive stars in the league at the time. He was even being mentioned as a defensive player of the year candidate despite being suspended for PEDS.

[danzig6767]

2. The star factor. When that stuff was going on with major stars like Bonds, Mcgwire, Sosa, and more recent ARod/Braun today, it leaves a bigger taint than most guys getting busted in the NFL. For the most part, it's mainly just the quarterbacks and some elite skill position players who are the stars in football. They aren't the ones getting busted usually.

 

A lot of good points but I am not so sure about this one. Fans can name name football players than baseball players. The NFL is just so much more popular that it is inevitable. Go back to the season Shawne Merriman got busted for PEDS. He was one of the defensive stars in the league at the time. He was even being mentioned as a defensive player of the year candidate despite being suspended for PEDS.

 

I was just saying that non-stars in baseball who get busted for PED's rarely receive much attention. It's mainly just the big name stars in baseball which have become front page news stories after getting caught. In football, if some big time quarterbacks were to get caught for PED's, i do think it would become a major story.Same if say an Adrian Peterson got busted after where he broke an NFL record for most rushing yards in a season. I will grant though that even a hypothetical situation like that with Peterson, it wouldn't be as big of a story as Bonds and Mcgwire were since certain baseball records are simply more revered than football records are.

 

My guess as to why certain baseball records are more highly revered is that baseball is much more of an individual sport compared to football. A hitter completely controls his own destiny at the plate as to whether he hits a home run. An NFL running back certainly needs tons of talent and heart to break records at his position, but he also needs a quality line in front of him to open holes consistently. A great back can only gain so many yards with a mediocre or bad line in front of him. A great hitter or pitcher only needs their own gifts to be special.

[Bombers]

Also, didn't realize this until today but this Monday will be the first time JJ Hardy has faced the Brewers. With interleague play would have certainly thought he would have played the Brewers by now.

 

And sorry but I didn't believe you until I looked up the Twins 2010 year. JJ was hurt when we played them that year. The last time we played the AL East (2011) we didn't draw the Orioles either. In fact, the Brewers are the only team in Baseball Hardy hasn't played against.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=hardyjj01&year=Career&t=b

[Thurston Fluff]

Both he and Gomez won gold gloves since the trade. I was just looking at Hardy's stats. Low OBP with some power. He's Yuni B. with defense!!!

[JohnBriggs12]

Pirates just DFA'd Wandy with about $9 million still due on his contract this year. Must be making room for Wang in their rotation when they get him back from the Brewers.

[ewitkows]

Since this is Year 3 of the two-wild-card era, I took a look back at the standings after 40 games in the first two years of this system and found:

 

Of the 20 teams that made the playoffs, 13 (or 65 percent) were in playoff position after 40 games.

Six of the other seven were no more than three games out of a playoff spot.

And the final team -- the 2013 Dodgers -- made all that math moot by going 53-13 between late June and early September.

 

from ESPN

[TheCrew07]

Pirates just DFA'd Wandy with about $9 million still due on his contract this year. Must be making room for Wang in their rotation when they get him back from the Brewers.

 

http://awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/dead-horse.gif

[logan82]

Both he and Gomez won gold gloves since the trade. I was just looking at Hardy's stats. Low OBP with some power. He's Yuni B. with defense!!!

JJ and Yuni are about as far from each other on the spectrum as 2 players could possibly be. Yeah it looks like Hardy hits like Yuni lately. At least how Yuni hit in his "good" years.

[lcbj68c]

Fielder done for the year?

 

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/10970992/prince-fielder-texas-rangers-considering-season-ending-neck-surgery

[PrinceFielderx1]

Fielder done for the year?

 

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/10970992/prince-fielder-texas-rangers-considering-season-ending-neck-surgery

 

Wow, him and profar done for the season.

[trwi7]

Pirates just DFA'd Wandy with about $9 million still due on his contract this year. Must be making room for Wang in their rotation when they get him back from the Brewers.

 

http://awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/dead-horse.gif

 

That looks more like a camel than a horse.

[SRB]

Fielder is the perfect example of why mega-contracts are a bad idea for small markets. Imagine if we had signed him for $200M like some people wanted? Team would be wrecked for years to come.

[lcbj68c]

Fielder is the perfect example of why mega-contracts are a bad idea for small markets. Imagine if we had signed him for $200M like some people wanted? Team would be wrecked for years to come.

 

If teams are smart, they take out insurance policies for contracts like Fielder's and then they aren't wrecked for years to come.

[reillymcshane]

Fielder is the perfect example of why mega-contracts are a bad idea for small markets. Imagine if we had signed him for $200M like some people wanted? Team would be wrecked for years to come.

 

If teams are smart, they take out insurance policies for contracts like Fielder's and then they aren't wrecked for years to come.

The problem isn't the insurance policy. Most teams have that for injuries. The problem is if Fielder comes back next year and just isn't any good because of the injury. Insurance doesn't cover bad play.

[Thurston Fluff]

If I understand how those policies work correctly they are for when a player suffers a career ending injury. I do not believe they cover portions of the contract that are lost to injury even if the injury is long term.

[reillymcshane]

How awesome is this - the Lake County Captains - the Class A affiliates of the Cleveland Indians - are giving away Jobu bobblehead dolls at their Aug. 1 game.

 

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0523/mlb_bobblehead_d1_200x300.jpg

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10973576/lake-county-captains-offering-jobu-bobblehead-major-league-night

[TheCrew07]

That is awesome!