Baseball Talk

[eastcoastrider27]

As a Red Sox fan, I can't really complain about payroll expenditures...

...But I feel bad for fans of small-market teams. There really should be a salary cap for the MLB.

I don't think Teixeira is worth what the Yankees paid him, though. He's worth probably 16-18 million a year for 6 years. Tops.

But if the Yankees want to go out and buy the best team on paper, more power to them. Hasn't done them a lot of good in the past, and it won't do them much good in the future.

Will the Yankees be good in 2009? Undoubtedly. Do all these free agent signings guarantee them a WS? Far from it.

Oh, and as a Red Sox fan, I'm glad the Yankees signed Teixeira as long as it means they can't sign Manny.

[Chicken]

^ yeah, until teams like red sox and yankees keep dominating year after year, it'll be a little harder to put a strict cap on MLB. seattle put quite a bit of money in last year themselves, and they stunk beyond belief too.

btw, i can't doubt manny's talent, but i'm also not sure if you'd want him in the clubhouse, either.

[soonami]

You know say what you want about the way the spend money, but it's playing as a team that counts most and if you look at many of the recent WS winners, it's not always clubs that goes out and blows huge amounts of cash on players, but clubs that can make a group of players play together, oftenwith players that were drafted and played through the minors together.

Look at the Phillies: Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Brett Myers were all drafted by the Phillies, then you add in a couple of guys like Victorino, Lidge, and Werth picked up for minor leaguers or Rule 5 draft and you have a WS team.

And then the seven other teams that beat the Yankees in the play-offs since their last win in 2000, like the 2004 Marlins, with Josh Becket that just mowed down the Yanks. The Yankees teams that won WS were mostly homegrown player like Jeter, Bernie, Andy Pettite... They go out and get Pavano for 16M a year, Giambi for 25M, Matsui for 16M, trade for A-Rod, Abreu and get nothing.

Let them buy whatever players they want, any hitter only hits 4 times a game and a starter only pitches once every 5 games. Even the best hitters get on base like 40% of the time and the best pitchers will still let guys on base a 1 per inning. With a little luck and team spirit you have to give any team a chance. With bad luck and clubhouse unrest, well that would be Boston before Manny's departure this season or the Seattle Mariners

[dunkin deeznuts]

if the Yankees get E. Bedard for Matsui, I will puke!

[notesee]

Even as a Yanks fan ... I gotta say Mariners would be crazy to go through with that trade.

Matsui's done. Two busted knees, a bad wrist, and no throwing arm. And will probably will get hurt again if he has to play the field. NY's gotta dump him off for whatever they can get.

I wanna check out the MLB network when it starts up in January, I should be able to get it with my current cable package.

[jake431]

I don't want to let this thread die.

Manny's a retard. And Boras is the devil. He should take that sick one year offer from the Dodgers. Waiting around for a multi-year deal, I hope he gets saddled with some shit team, like the Nationals (sorry Nationals fans) if he wants a multi-year contract so fucking bad.

Okay, rant over.

I keep having dreams that Kenny Williams will sign Adam Dunn, but that's because the young consistent version of the kind of players he likes: shit average, lots of power, good OBP. But I know it won't happen.

[Hendodo]

I don't want to let this thread die.

Manny's a retard. And Boras is the devil. He should take that sick one year offer from the Dodgers. Waiting around for a multi-year deal, I hope he gets saddled with some shit team, like the Nationals (sorry Nationals fans) if he wants a multi-year contract so fucking bad.

Okay, rant over.

I keep having dreams that Kenny Williams will sign Adam Dunn, but that's because the young consistent version of the kind of players he likes: shit average, lots of power, good OBP. But I know it won't happen.

i agree with you about manny. but also , hes getting old, he wants a team that he can compete in and get some security.

[hawkeye]

He confessed to Gammons today

[kunk75]

^not surprised/don;t care. everyone else takes whatever measure necessary to stay at their job, players are doing the same. doesn;t make you hit it farther, just keeps you off the DL.

[jake431]

^not surprised/don;t care. everyone else takes whatever measure necessary to stay at their job, players are doing the same. doesn;t make you hit it farther, just keeps you off the DL.

If that is what players are going to do, then they need to be open about it. If they are going to say they are all clean, they need to be clean. I don't care for the current situation where they all say no one uses steroids, but seemingly a great percentage of the players, in fact, do use steroids. I just want consistency.

[eastcoastrider27]

The easiest defense is to say that you did it because others did it.

Bud Selig allowed steroids to run rampant on his watch. If he wasn't going to police it, why shouldn't player A take steroids to keep up with player B.

Sure the players should take some blame. Especially when it comes to lying about it, but most of the blame should fall squarely on the decrepit shoulders of Bud Selig. He turned a blind eye toward steroids because he was afraid of what the union would do if he tried to come down on them.

Now the fallout is apparent. When all is said and done, Selig's legacy will be that he not only presided over the steroid era but allowed it to flourish.

[jake431]

Fuck Selig indeed. He can sit there and talk about attendance, etc. But the fact is he did allow such a culture of performance enhancing drugs to flourish. He came damn close to ruining the sport, as far as I am concerned. I am thankful that the numbers players put up have begun to retreat to historical norms.

The players need to take responsibility for their actions, period. My opinion is the players all need to undergo mandatory random drug testing, or if they can't agree that drug free is the way to go, they need to basically never test anyone, and have a laissez fair attitude towards whatever steps players use to stay healthy - and we can all sit around and watch 52, 53 year old home run bombers play at Dh for 12 million a year. Real life will slowly turn into a baseball video game with bullshit stats. But I can't abide this half and half shit.

[kiya]

Yankees Building New Vacation Stadium In The Hamptons

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/yankees_building_new_vacation

[Chicken]

and what's amazing is that bud selig's salary is highest among the sports commissioners:

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/61475

MLB Bud Selig $18.35 million

NFL Roger Goodell $11.2 million (prorated)*

NBA David Stern $10 million (est.)^

NHL Gary Bettman $5.59 million

PGA Tour Tim Finchem $4.8 million

[dunkin deeznuts]

The easiest defense is to say that you did it because others did it.

Bud Selig allowed steroids to run rampant on his watch. If he wasn't going to police it, why shouldn't player A take steroids to keep up with player B.

Sure the players should take some blame. Especially when it comes to lying about it, but most of the blame should fall squarely on the decrepit shoulders of Bud Selig. He turned a blind eye toward steroids because he was afraid of what the union would do if he tried to come down on them.

Now the fallout is apparent. When all is said and done, Selig's legacy will be that he not only presided over the steroid era but allowed it to flourish.

I think Bud Selig should defintely take some blame, but players knew what they were doing. When i was a kid first starting to work out, I knew taking steroids was a no no if you wanted to compete. Trainers and managers/owners all knew as well. Everyone one is to blame.

i think a big reason Selig turned a blind eye was that he had to contend with the players strike in 1994, only 2 years after becoming commish. I remember the interest in baseball definitely waned after that, as it should. However, McGuire and Sosa's runs at Maris' home run record in 1998 helped get people excited about baseball again (i remember a lot of the Dominicans in my neighborhood updating the number of hrs Sosa hit by writing it in soap on the windows of their cars). And anyone seeing mcGuire and Sosa and not knowing/thinking they were using some kind of steroid or HGH is blind or stupid, or like me, didnt really care cause it was fun to watch.

So steroids definitely had a hand in bringing baseball back to popularity as quickly as it did. Would baseball have pretty much disappeared after the strike (like the NHL) with out the breaking of the HR record? Probably not, but like they say "chicks (and guys) dig the long ball".

[sarcasticone]

like they say "chicks (and guys) dig the long ball".

McGwire: Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to

see me sock a few dingers?

Crowd: Dingers! Dingers!

[McGwire hits the long ball]

Oooh!

[scotty2]

the Nationals just signed Adam Dunn to a 2 year $20 million dolor deal.and Boby Abreu signed with the Angels for one year.Also one more baseball note Miguel Tejada lied and he really did take steroids.

[jake431]

I'm not real sure why Dunn signed to the Nationals, doesn't he ever want to play for a contender? People hate on his shitty batting average, but his on base percentage is consistently 100 points + higher than his batting average.

[scotty2]

I'm not real sure why Dunn signed to the Nationals, doesn't he ever want to play for a contender? People hate on his shitty batting average, but his on base percentage is consistently 100 points + higher than his batting average.

i know why did he sign with them all he is good for is home runs.hahah thats mean but his batting average is like only 270. he even weighs more that his batting average last year hahaha.

[jake431]

i know why did he sign with them all he is good for is home runs.hahah thats mean but his batting average is like only 270. he even weighs more that his batting average last year hahaha.

His career batting average, over 8 seasons, is .247, but his OBP is .381, 140 points higher which means he walks a TON. Not to mention he's hit 40 homers each year since 2004, when he hit 46.

Maybe I have a soft spot for players like that since the White Sox tend to accumulate then after they are past their prime. I would have liked to see the Sox have him now, rather than when he's 34 and done.

[scotty2]

His career batting average, over 8 seasons, is .247, but his OBP is .381, 140 points higher which means he walks a TON. Not to mention he's hit 40 homers each year since 2004, when he hit 46.

Maybe I have a soft spot for players like that since the White Sox tend to accumulate then after they are past their prime. I would have liked to see the Sox have him now, rather than when he's 34 and done.

a white sox fan huh??

didn't you cry when the lost the one game playoff last year?

Adam Dunn will hit 35 to 40 home runs this year but the Nationals will be crap (as always)

[jake431]

a white sox fan huh??

didn't you cry when the lost the one game playoff last year?

Adam Dunn will hit 35 to 40 home runs this year but the Nationals will be crap (as always)

Nah, I had no expectations last year. And uh, they won the one game play off last year against the Twins. We won our division when everyone thought the White Sox were going to maybe finish 3rd. We got good performances out of our young starters, and I expect John Danks to be even better this year. We have three pretty solid pitchers in our rotation, it just remains to be seen how 4 and 5 work out and who they even wind up being. I just don't see Bartolo Colon going 180 innings, and I don't see Contreras being great when he comes back either. So it should be an interesting season this year.

[scotty2]

Nah, I had no expectations last year. And uh, they won the one game play off last year against the Twins. We won our division when everyone thought the White Sox were going to maybe finish 3rd. We got good performances out of our young starters, and I expect John Danks to be even better this year. We have three pretty solid pitchers in our rotation, it just remains to be seen how 4 and 5 work out and who they even wind up being. I just don't see Bartolo Colon going 180 innings, and I don't see Contreras being great when he comes back either. So it should be an interesting season this year.

sorry about that i forgot. I'm just cheering for my Giants now who have a great pitching staff ( the best in the league) with Matt Cain and Tim Lincicum.

they added some ok players in the offseason like Edger Rentera and bullpen help and if they get manny they will be favored to win the NL West. since the Dodgers mite not sign manny. so im expecting my Giants to go a few games over 500 and make the playoffs but lose in the first round but its ok cus they will have next year and im just happy they will make the playoffs. thats just my predictions.

[dunkin deeznuts]

im excited for the heart ache that is the Mets

its like having constant blue balls for 8 months

[scotty2]

hahah don't worry your mets will choke again.

[dunkin deeznuts]

hahah don't worry your mets will choke again.

neg rep when i can

[soonami]

^^lolz, can't say shit when its true...

[kiya]

Scotty2, i think you belong in the Baseball thread more than any of the denim threads on Sufu.

[KyleFall]

If you think you know your baseball join sufu fantasy baseball league!

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=144751

[scotty2]

Scotty2, i think you belong in the Baseball thread more than any of the denim threads on Sufu.

thanks for the kind word kyia.