2008 MLB Thread

[shayd]

How about what the Twins do every year,especially this year? No one gave them a chance when they traded Santana and Hunter,but those damn Twin seem to be in it every year.I would have to look it up,but I think they have been a better team or pretty close,record wise,than the A's over the past 5 seasons and they are a small market team.

But they both share one glaring fact,they can't get it done in October.Kinda frustrating if you ask me.It's kinda like what the Dallas Maverick do,good every year in the regular season,get to the playoff,then choke. I know that the people in Dallas aren't happy about their basketball team choking every year,just like the people in Minnesota and you guy out in Oakland aren't too pleased that your teams can't seem to get over the proverbial hump.

The vast majority of the credit for the Twins should be given to Terry Ryan, the former GM who resigned last September. The new GM really hasn't done anything of substance to improve that team this year. And for what it's worth, the A's did sweep the Twins in the playoffs two years ago, and they did it going through Santana. So my money's on Billy.

Having a payroll consistently in the bottom 8 to 10 of the league has kind of handicapped our chances save for 2006, and that's probably the biggest reason for why we haven't won it all under Billy.

But then again, the whole notion that a team has to win a championship every year or management gets canned is hogwash to me. Billy Beane has in his tenure, save for three or four years, put a top level team out on the field. No, he hasn't won any championships, but that's why these trades, which many label as ludicrous, happen. He has to trade high level talent to get high level talent, and he is without a doubt the best GM in baseball at getting large quantities of high level talent for small quantities of talent. That's why as an A's fan, the future is so exciting, because we've never had this many prospects coming up at the same time, and they have the potential to absolutely dominate for years to come.

shayd, beane's other strength is knowing when to deal. for instance he knew santana would be on the market so by dealing haren when he did he got max value.then the swisher deal brought more talent and a better return than almost every deal at the deadline.
red001

You're absolutely right. :thumbsup:

Although I'm still not sold on Ryan Sweeney

I'm actually surprised to hear that. He's been one of our most consistant players offensively this year, and he's been stellar on defense. On a team that this year is struggling to collectively hit .250, his .299 average shows me he's definately going to be a good hitter. The power isn't there yet, but with that body build, you've got to imagine it's going to come along.

Gio Gonzales is going to be a stud some day

Starting tomorrow.

didn't we give up DeLo Santos in that deal too?

Yeah, but he probably won't be at the major league level for another couple seasons, because he had Tommy John this season. No doubt though that he will be special, I've seen him throw in person, and he absolutely dominated the top team in the division.

Soooo, how bout them Yankees? Welp, I got nothing, just trying to change the topic on sluggers hitting 50 HR's and amassing 200+ K's, eh so what. I got a team that didnt have a HR in 12 straight games, as well as nobody on the team having double digit HR's, it's the beginning of August and the team high is 9. So Im counting every run as a moral victory for the Giants and their futile effort to make contact with a baseball.

Well your team could be in the midst of an 8 game losing streak, and 17 of 19 overall

 

[rodfarva]

And now I really know that you don't know what you're talking about.You pull up my first quote about Ryan Howard(199 strike outs),then you say that I said that he sucked so you use my quote when I was talking about Mo Vaughn(181 strike outs)?:wtf:

Like I said before,I had to re explain my position or were you not paying attention,I also said that after looking back at what I said the I guess I did contradict myself.I looked at the stats again and I felt that,o.k. it's a good season but there still are way too many strike outs.

So what's the deal dude? Are you just paying attention to the first thing that I said and ignoring what I said afterwards?

I'm done debating this with you because you obviously don't understand the point that I'm trying to make about sluggers and striking out.You feel that it's irrelevant,and that's your prerogative,so I'm done.

That's fine. I'm done too. Just one thing though, I definitely know what I'm talking about, and clearly better than you.

 

[Red001]

well lucky me my stepsister scored tikets to this friday's dodgers vs giants game so i will get to see the new manny in person. yaheem the giants will never have a real hr hitter as long as they are unwilling to trade there pitching depth to get one because no free agent hitter really wants to sign here unless he's vastly overpaid ie rowand and yes i know rowand has pefromed but they where expecting 20+ hr's from him not the less than 10 he has currently.

red001

 

[yaheem]

This Friday is gonna be conflicting, we got the Niners and Raiders game(I know its preseason but its football dammit) and we got Giants and dodgers. Depending on whos pitching, with my luck its probably Zito or Correia, so ill get drunk and watch em both. As for the A's they worked in reverse this year, they got hot early, got rid of their players late in the offseason. Whatever happened to Street? Usually its Embree giving it up, welp if anything todays game against the Jays should be a good pitching matchup ending in a 1-0 score. Pick a winner.

 

[shayd]

This Friday is gonna be conflicting, we got the Niners and Raiders game(I know its preseason but its football dammit) and we got Giants and dodgers. Depending on whos pitching, with my luck its probably Zito or Correia, so ill get drunk and watch em both. As for the A's they worked in reverse this year, they got hot early, got rid of their players late in the offseason. Whatever happened to Street? Usually its Embree giving it up, welp if anything todays game against the Jays should be a good pitching matchup ending in a 1-0 score. Pick a winner.

He's pitched extremely poorly his past 9 outings. He called in to a local radio show last night and took full blame for his struggles. Last night was the worst I've ever seen him. His fastball had no bite, was in the middle of the plate, and slider, which is usually unhittable, got hit hard last night. From what I've seen and read though, I'm not entirely sure he's healthy right now, and that an injury isn't the reason he's struggling right now.

 

[bodie54]

*begin rant*

Joe Torre, you may be a nice guy buy you're just another jerk off when it comes to over-managing your team.

*end rant*

 

[maildude]

The Retractable Nest:--Blue Jays season update:

--After sweeping the A's, the Blue Jays cawed and croaked, dropping two in a row to the hapless Indians. Said wandering pitcher David Purcey: "I thought I'd start them out with a few good fastballs followed by an enticing look at my run-producing slider." Nothing like playing your strengths!
--CF Vernon Wells is STILL out with a strained hamstring. Get well, Vern! We could use that career .229 BA against the Tribe! Also with an ouchie is left-handed RP Brian Tallet. Hurry back, Bri! We could use that career 4.05 ERA against the Tribe!
--The BJ's bullpen leads the league with a 2.92 ERA. Plus they've recorded three four-game sweeps this season--a team record. STILL they're 11 games in back of the Rays. Boy...those fuckers must be good!
--Lastly, GM J.P Ricciardi confirms that Toronto manager Cito Gaston will return next season. "We're lucky we got him," Ricciardi stated. "If we hadn't acted so quickly, we'd have had nobody to fill in the slot after I canned John[Gibbons]."

 

[nealdrox]

Brad Ziegler is a machine.

 

[Magnet]

*begin rant*

Joe Torre, you may be a nice guy buy you're just another jerk off when it comes to over-managing your team.

*end rant*

How did he over manage? because Broxton is the closer and he blew the save?

What I didnt like is the Dodgers, especially the middle Infielders playing in when they finally got an out. If Kent was playing normal depth, or double play depth he probably wouldnt have turned 2 and the game could still be going on right now!

 

[bodie54]

How did he over manage? because Broxton is the closer and he blew the save?

I've been over this subject before, in general.

1-1 tie, bottom of the ninth. Kuo comes in and blows the Giants away without hardly drawing a deep breath.

Dodgers take the lead 2-1 in top 10th.

Broxton, for all his physical prowess, has a tendency to not pitch his best on short rest - whereas Kuo just showed he's sharp as a tack and is a pitcher that's accustomed to pitching multiple innings.

But like an automaton Torre brings in Broxton to start the bottom of the 10th. He proceeds to blow the save in a critical game, thus wasting great efforts by both Kuroda and Kuo, as well as further using Broxton up in the process.

Why not at least let Kuo start the 10th, then if he gives up a hit or a walk go to Broxton? Honestly this shit with automatically going to "the closer", no matter the circumstances, drives me nuts. It makes me wonder if some managers have any feel for their personnel at all.

 

[bodie54]

Interestingly enough we've got the exact same situation happening right at this moment. This time Kuo's being forced to try and finish because Broxton isn't available due to being used last night. And Kuo doesn't look as sharp today.

 

[zell]

I didn't see the game that you are talking about,brodie,but I can definitely relate.

Out here in Chicago,Ozzie likes monkey around with his pichters quite a bit.He'll march a guy out there in critical situations even though he knows that they are pitching like shit.Now I now that a manager should give guys a chance to succeed,but I do feel that a lot of the time they let these guys go on longer than they should.Like last night,Ozzie brings in Boone Logan,knowing that he's been struggling lately,into a critical situation,and he gives up a bases clearing double to Big Papi,that eventually cost the White Sox the game.

I'm also not to keen on guys coming in to face one batter,or pitchers going for only one inning,even though they've cruised through the first three batters they faced.Leave em in and let those guys go so you don't have to waste you're bullpen,for god's sake!

 

[bodie54]

They just lost again
:rofl:
Unearned runs or not, chalk both of those losses up to Torre's bonehead pitching substitution on Saturday night. If he'd managed his staff with any kind of feel they'd have won both games.

 

[bodie54]

hello there Zell.
I'm not familiar with the White Sox coaches/personnel (I'm an NL west fan) so I'm really not able to comment, except to say that depending on the circumstances I can relate to these points, for sure...

I'm also not to keen on guys coming in to face one batter,or pitchers going for only one inning,even though they've cruised through the first three batters they faced.Leave em in and let those guys go so you don't have to waste you're bullpen,for god's sake!

 

[Magnet]

:o Brodie :eek:

Here ya go Bodie, a nice article you would like to read.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/080805

 

[Magnet]

They just lost again
:rofl:
Unearned runs or not, chalk both of those losses up to Torre's bonehead pitching substitution on Saturday night. If he'd managed his staff with any kind of feel they'd have won both games.

Good news is still only 1.5 gamesback and they just lost a very important player to their team.

Hopefully we can get over the hump this week. Everytime we get the chance we loose the game.

 

[bodie54]

Here ya go Bodie, a nice article you would like to read.

Thanks, Magnet. It was an interesting read.
Obviously I agree with a lot of it.

Hopefully we can get over the hump this week. Everytime we get the chance we loose the game.

Gonna be tough to do. No offense to Yaheem but the Giants are a weak team, which made winning these last 2 games all the more important with 2 good teams (philly, milwaukee) coming up this week.

Plus there's obviously no way Manny's going to keep hitting .600. They needed to take advantage of his bat while it was blazing hot but as it turned out they didn't.

 

[Red001]

well of course the one game i go to the dodgers got zito and crushed him. luckly with the football game it was replayed 3 times fri-sat. the team to watch in the east is the marlins they've just gotten back two of thier better pitchers and they still hit a ton plus the finish with the mets this year those games are going to be real important

red001

 

[bodie54]

Magnet can you explain to me why broxton pitched the ninth inning tonight on short rest when his team had a 4 run lead and has six tough games in a row coming up the rest of the week?

I'm just baffled by the way torre is using this guy :wtf:

 

[Red001]

could be that torre doesn't trust any of his other relievers to get key outs. i want to know why nobody claimed adam dunn before arizona did especially the hitting starved giants.

red001