LorfTVP

I dont understand "The Yankees dont have depth" thing. Please explain..surely you cant be serious if you think a team not having good back up infielders will be the cause of their demise.

Maybe they have average depth...but by that I mean I don't like their age and how they'd use said depth to fill in holes. We saw what a lack of depth did to the Yankees last season and I'm one of those guys that thinks that you've basically been replacing lost production. Your rotation is strong though, I'm not a believer that Burnett will crack, Wang was starting to strike people out last year...Pettite. Eh, he has experience running the gauntlet. But over half your offense is on the wrong side of 30 and you really don't have too many options if Jeter gets injured or if Damon smashes his skull into Damian Jackson's again (Ooh, I feel bad talking about that). Plus there's the Yankees lack of defense. Moving Damon to left should help, plus you have speed in Gardner in CF now. You've added a GG winner at 1st.

Plus they're still all so gray and corporate.

Am I the only one? It's so close. I can smell it.

Hey, speak of the devil.

Red Sox!

I don't want to get in the argument of who's better, I'll take the line that they were both great, both unbelievably great. It would appear that accumulatively Johnson's career has been more distinguished. But for three seasons (1997, 1999, and 2000), Pedro was as dominant as any pitcher in the game EVER. He was flat out unhittable. The movement on his pitches just wasn't even fair. I remember watching him and he just made batters look ridiculously silly because you could tell that standing in the batter's box against Pedro, no matter how good a hitter you were, was the most nervous event in the world for them. It was like they were stepping in the box in their first little league game, it was so laughable. I remember Pedro in that 1999 All-Star game also, that Golfin' mentioned. In his two innings, he struck out 5 of his 6 batters, including the first four. The batters he struck out, in order, were Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Jeff Bagwell. Matt Williams reached base on an error before Bagwell's AB, and he was caught stealing in a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. That All-Star game was the greatest two innings of a pitcher I've ever witnessed in my life, for the total dominance against the level of greatness of the batters he was facing.

 

Amazingly, Pedro had already compiled 182 K's before that all star game that season in 1999. That is unreal. I would love to see Pedro pitch this year for somebody, hope I get the chance.

My first game was Pedro Martinez vs. Mark Redman of the Oakland Athletics on July 7, 2004. He pitched 7 innings allowing 5 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, and three runs, two earned. Manny bounced a homerun off the cap of the Coke bottle too. He is always going to be a god amongst men.

carpenter hasnt pitched in the big leagues in almost 3 years.

 

Grienke has yet to come into his own, but he could be great

 

Billingsly is good, but I think Hughes is better...plus I really cant give much credit to a pitcher in that division unless he completley dominates like webb, lincecum, cain ect.

 

Liriano is a question mark, wasnt he sent down last year before his injury?

Greinke's yet to come into his own? I guess you've missed the entire 2008 season then. The dude finally overcame all the mental handicaps which were holding him back and was able to put up a 13-10 record with a 3.47 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and 183 Ks to 65 BBs in 202.1 IP. Billingsley was one of the best SP in the game last year, and although his walk troubles are troublesome, the man's proven himself. I'd consider a 3.14 ERA completely dominating, especially considering the fact that it bests Webb and Cain. Lincecum's in a world of his own. I would also match up Yovani Gallardo, the de facto ace of the Brewers, next to Philip Hughes any day. Hughes has 106 ML innings under his belt and has mustered a 5.15 ERA. Gallardo, in turn, has managed a 3.35 ERA in 134 big league innings. These guys are actually relatively comparable. But seriously, Hughes has yet to prove anything. Once the Yankees' LACK of depth in the rotation shows itself, we'll see how he performs. But right now, Phil Hughes is still EQUAL to Clay Buchholz, he of the 98.2 ML IP and 5.56 ERA. Remember all the arguments and comparisons between the two just last year? I'm not trying to bash you or Hughes in general, just trying to say that you gotta prove yourself before you can be the Ace of a third of the teams in baseball.

I was writing a full list but my computer died and I don't wanna write it again. Then again...

AL East

Red Sox, Rays, Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays - I don't like the Yankees' lack of depth and I expect their age to be a hindrance. The Red Sox have depth, and although their offense isn't spectacular, they possibly have the deepest pitching staff in all of baseball. The Rays shored up their weaknesses (Pat Burrell, anyone?) and I'm scared shitless by BJ Upton after the ALCS. Their rotation still has to prove itself, and Kazmir has to stay healthy, but Shields is the real deal. I think the Blue Jays rotation, or lack thereof after Halladay, will prove its undoing and Baltimore, behind some good young players (Markakis, Jones, Wieters (pronounced White Ears)) will surpass the Jays.

AL Central

Twins, White Sox, Tigers, Indians, Royals - The Twins, remarkably, had the fourth best offense in baseball last year and should do fine, especially with that strong yet unheralded rotation. The White Sox are well rounded. The Tigers' rotation scares me, especially with Verlander and Bonderman. Although Miguel Cabrera is a monster. The Indians have to do too much mixing and matching for me to be too confident, and although I always hope for the Royals, this isn't the year they climb up.

AL West

Rangers, Angels, As, Mariners - No confidence in the Mariners, but there's no shame in that. A lot depends on where Brandon Morrow goes, rotation or closer. I'm not just appealing to VG here, but the Rangers have got to go somewhere eventually. With the league's best offense and an unending fount of young pitchers coming in, I think there is a lot of buzz and excitement around these guys. As far as the Angels, one can never count them out, but they made some really bad moves with Hunter and Matthews. Vlad just isn't as scary anymore...although Abreu should do wonders for them. They'll be at the top all season long. The A's always have promise but so long as they're taking the three run homer approach, they'll go nowhere.

NL East

Phillies, Mets, Braves, Marlins, Nationals - Pretty straightforward, you can't go wrong with the defending champs. As wary as I am about the Mets rotation, the fact that the bullpen has hopefully been figured out should do wonders. And to that remark about how few everyday players the Mets have, those that they do have are among the league's best (Reyes, Wright, Beltran) along with the ever-godlike Santana. The Braves, this is a different year for them, and I won't know anything until I see them. Marlins, Nationals...the Marlins actually always find a way to compete despite Loria's affinity for ass fucking his team, so they'll be in the mix. The Nationals. Need I say more?

NL Central

Cubs, Reds, Cardinals, Brewers, Astros, Pirates - Worried about Zambrano, but the Cubs still seem to be cream of the crop. The Reds are young, exciting, and have a sneakily good rotation. As far as their offense goes, let the homers fly. The Cardinals, Brewers, and Astros all have worrisome rotations, despite having some of the best players in the game (Pujols, Braun, Berkman). Astros did next to nothing this offseason. The Pirates, well, it's always exciting to see ex-Red Sox prospects such as Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss do their best to blossom.

NL West

Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Padres - Dodgers seem the most...least sucky of an unappealing group. The west does have some amazing pitchers though, many of whom are in the Giants rotation. The offense is FINALLY getting younger (Sandoval, anyone?) and they have some legs to take advantage of their big home park. The Diamondbacks still have that rotation and a younger offense while the Rockies have a rotation that's better than expected. Still, I only put them above the Padres because at least they have some semblance of an offense.

Just hasn't been the same since EA Sports was shoved out of the MLB game business. EA Sports, it's in the game.

Plus they're the best sports company as far as I've seen.

So, who would be the greatest "clean" player of our generation? Manny Ramirez seems to lead the hitters with...maybe Randy Johnson leading the hitters. Griffey, mrrm, guess so but his glory years were right before my time.

> Texas Rangers finish second in the AL West.

> Nick Markakis will be amazing for the cellar dwelling Orioles.

> The Yankees will trade for Matt Holliday in a three team deal.

> Jacoby Ellsbury steals 60+ bases.

> Alex Gordon finally hits 30 homeruns.

> More of the 114 names will be released.

> Selig, Orza, and Fehr will continue to be sleazebags.

> Felix Hernandez posts ERA under 3.50

Thats the Rangers new thing, they sign everyone to a minor league contract. I know they have signed at least 10 veterans to minor league deals with invitations.

Hey, if the veteran is generous, hard-working, and accepts his role with grace then more power to the practice. Sucks about Sheets by the way. I would've loved to see him in Texas.

Hehe, a minor league contract. Y'know how veterans take minor leaguers out to eat? Where would Andruw take them? Somewhere with bibs?

Lorf! You didn't die in laughter at that? I'm shocked and really hurt! I guess I'll go home now...

The word "sheeped" suggested that VG was being assaulted and that doesn't make wny sense. Seems backwards.

What bothers me more than who did what is the conspiracy between MLB, the MLBPA, and baseball as a whole. On the MLB Network, Selig bashed the Player's Union about warning plauers ahead of time and tried to blame everything on them. Of course it was industry wide...I wonder which agents pushed steroids. Boras?

[quote name='SocalDub' date='Feb 7 2009, 11:45 PM' post='

What next, VG actually sheeped?

No, SoCal actually being funny would be more of a shock.

Baseball ended for me in 2004, when the red sox won. It then became more of a money war between the Red Sox and Yankees, then a war on the field, the rivalry honestly has become stale. They don't even hate each other anymore, you see the players laughing and talking before and after the game, never seen that before. When the Yankees win, they buy world series, when the Red Sox they buy world series it's become about who can spend more

Joba Chamberlain throwing at Kevin Youkilis' head multiple times helps

The market for hitters is incredibly cheap now, look at Burrell, and the likes of Abreu and Dunn are still out there. Plus there are all those end of their ropes superstars out there.

But yah, not looking good. Still, with Reyes, Beltran, Wright, and Delgado as part of your core lineup, you should definitely crack 83-86. It's the pitching that'll do it in. But the NL East, like the AL, is a clusterfuck, and anything can happen with intradivisional games.

Just don't finish behind the Marlins. :brooding:

seriously he's fucking incredible. he doesn't get enough credit as being among the all-time greats

Agreed! I mean, if anyone was going to be a unanimous shoo-in, it would be Ricky. I've never understood HoF voters. What was it Jayson Stark said, 28 people didn't vote for Ricky? He mentioned that three were blank steroid protest ballots, and I respect that, but those other 25 people are smoking something. Sure he ruffled a few feathers but if you're on top of that many lists, including some of the most important stats in baseball, then god damn it, you deserve some respect. Even though he we was at the end of his days with the Red Sox, I'm glad I could see him play. Even though my fondest memory of him in a game is a golden sombrero in the Rogers Centre.

He never had the defense to be elected in his first couple of years but eventually, he deserves it. Now a tougher question, even though he has amazing stats, is Roberto Alomar.

Hahaha! Melky Cabrera. Hahaha!

:LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO:

Rickey for WBC!!!

I think the Yankees were overspending when they were handing out some of those goddamn awful contracts of theirs. Now they're handing out contracts which are at least a bit more reasonable. I remember arguing about the Yankees' spending in high school...but eh, let them be. I agree that the small market teams are killing baseball. There should be some sort of loyalty test for all baseball owners...something simple like naming all the players on your own team or at least exhibiting some general knowledge of the sport.

Padres aren't nearly as much of a waste as the Florida Marlins though. They find a way to compete every year and are fucked no matter what they do. They win two World Series since...what, '97, and are still equally fucked!

But to tell you the truth, for some reason, I think that this is going to be an incredibly competitive year throughout baseball. Maybe I'm just thinking about the AL East, which is going to be tough, but I feel like the sport has proven it's parity and will continue to produce surprise teams every year. What the sport needs though is for those surprise teams to continue to compete.

Its evident that that fat fuck in that video never dressed for gym in his entire life and the most exercise he ever gets is using that cowbell. Hopefully with the inflated prices and the need to pay back huge loans to the city and salary trash like that will be shut out at the new stadium and can stay home and listen to Suzyn Waldman.

Haha. Don't forget about the prospective fat tax in New York. Should help him out a bunch.

Tampa Bay does it with more class.

Not to sure if you can bank on Penny or Smoltz right now as a guaranteed spot. I would still say Wakefield has a solidified spot given that he is consistent and probably a lock for at least 13 wins.

 

I said about a month ago that I would take a shot on Smoltz if I were the Yankee, but the Red Sox are giving him a little more money than I anticipated given his injury and age right now.

Maybe...but to have John Smoltz and Brad Penny as depth is wonderful. Our rotation isn't as top heavy as the Yankees, although it's close, but it's definitely deeper at this point. At least so far as having veterans back there who CAN pitch. Your fifth spot is still up for grabs while the Red Sox have Penny, Smoltz, and Buchholz there with Masterson (although I hope he stays in the bullpen) and Bowden in the wings. I really do like this depth. Gonna be strange seeing Smoltz in a Boston uniform though. Penny...less so.

Brilliant moves. Smoltz is reportedly signing for a 5.5 million base salary that can reach up to 10 million while there are no details out on Baldelli yet other than people saying he's about there. Either way, Baldelli is a great player who was simply derailed by his misdiagnosed condition and the wrong treatments. So long as he can stay healthy, he's an excellent fourth outfielder. Though this does give us the need for our backup 1b to be a 1b/OF just in case Baldelli can't play on back to back days. Still, the speed off the bench really helps. As for Smoltz, I'm surprised that he's leaving the Braves, and he won't be back until May, but this is a very high upside move. I don't know if this spells the end of Wakefield's days as a starter or a trade of a young pitcher, but it's going to create some action. As they say, you can never have enough starting pitching, but as of May, Wakefield would seem like the odd man out with Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka, Penny, and Smoltz.

Slowly but surely, the Sox are improving themselves.