MLB 2009 thread
- Thread starter Becks...poamr
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Obtaining Cliff Lee, does that make the Phil the team to beat in the NL? I still think the dodgers are the best team in the MLB. Now I just heard some not so great news. Giants have traded for Freddy Sanchez and gave up Tim Alderson in the deal. That sounds kinda steep for a really good player. I would have preferred a deal that included Alderson in a package for something better. Alderson was the #4 prospect in the Giants organization, is Freddy Sanchez worth it? As for the Giants anything is better than what they have at second base right now. Dont know how to feel about the deal. All along they said Alderson was untouchable. Well, playing for '09.
The Phillies in my opinion were already the team to beat for two reasons
1. defending world series and NL champs...simple enough
2. i dont think the dodgers are necessarily a good playoff team...the phillies as we already know can do it
I think the phils make it back to the world series
but i dont think they or the dodgers are the best team in mlb...how can you say that when the AL was 23 games better than the NL in interleague....to me that means by default the best team should come from the AL...which you could make a case for the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, or Angels
as for the Giants deal....they need that playoff push...if they get in...no one will want to face Lincecum-Cain in games 1 and 2 and more in a 5 or 7 game series
they could be a big threat
Ace Bandage
The one and only.
Damn it! I must have jinxed Johnson when I was wishing for him to be in the lineup. He fouled a ball off his left foot, fractured it, and is probably out for a month. That likely means that Sam Fuld will be brought up from Triple A Iowa. It's going to be hard without Reed, but Fuld is a decent replacement.
The Cubbies are quietly starting to play better in the fiercely contested NL Central. They are 10-3 since the break (if I can add correctly) and the offense is finally coming to life with A-Ram back at the hot corner. Soriano is beginning to hit the ball and D-Lee has been on a tear for at least the last month. I really hope the Cubs can put some distance between themselves and the Cardinals. It's going to be a two horse race this year. I can't wait to see how it plays out...
The Cubbies are quietly starting to play better in the fiercely contested NL Central. They are 10-3 since the break (if I can add correctly) and the offense is finally coming to life with A-Ram back at the hot corner. Soriano is beginning to hit the ball and D-Lee has been on a tear for at least the last month. I really hope the Cubs can put some distance between themselves and the Cardinals. It's going to be a two horse race this year. I can't wait to see how it plays out...
You do know that interleage play hasn't meant shit as far as who wins the World Series,right?
The AL has dominated the NL since interleage play began.An NL won last year with a team that finished 5th in over all wins.The 03 Marlins finished 6th in the standings and ended up winning it all.The 01 Diamondbacks finished 6th in the overall standings and won it all.
There is no "by default" winner in baseball,or sports in general for that matter.each league is designed so that any team that makes the playoff has a legitimate shot to win a title.
None of it means a damn thing if the Cubs can't get a win in the playoffs.I think that if they get swept again in the first round,or if they don't even make it,Lou's getting the fuck out of there,one way or another.
That sounds more like Pittsburgh's yearly plan.
When the fuck are they gonna get rid of Travis Hafner?That guy ain't done shit since the big almost come back of 05(albeit he's been hurt).
I'm not debating that the farm team has contributed. With 19 of the 25 people on the active roster on the big club, of course they're going to contribute something. There's absolutely no expectation that they'll all be elite, but the problem is that only 5 of them are above league average statistically, 5. That's an awful proportion. The Royals, who at first glance probably wouldn't be considered to have a good farm system, have produced 9 above average prospects in that same time period. And don't get me wrong, the Giants have had about 12 people in the same time period that didn't pan out, that is, the guys with the big club are supposed to be the best the farm has to offer, and that doesn't reflect well on the farm system.
Just to give you an idea of how good some of those players are (in terms of runs above the league average):
Lewis -10 offensively, +1 defensively
Ishikawa -14 offensively, +9 defensively
Schierholtz -14 offensively, 0 defensively
That's absolutely awful. Sandoval, Romo, Cain and Lincecum are the only prospects that have come from the Giants system that are above league average out of the 19 other Giants prospects on the 25 man roster. Let me repeat that, I'm not talking about prospects that have become elite players, I'm talking prospects that have turned out to be league average. And it's actually not as difficult as one might assume to project prospects to be at least league average in this day and age. Prospects with respectable K/BB ratios, OPS numbers, and for pitchers FIP tend to become at least league average, and more often great ML players.
If you want to talk about the Wild Card race, or moreover the contention for the division, you're right, there is a reason they are in the hunt: pitching. As I've said, I have no problem granting that Cain, Lincecum, and Romo have been excellent coming from the Giants farm system, but let's examine the others in the rotation a little more closely. Last year, the rotation not named Lincecum or Cain was: Sanchez (FIP of 3.85, which is good), Zito (FIP of 4.87 which is horrendous, and Correia (FIP of 5.10 which was beyond atrocious). Compare to this year the starting rotations (outside of Lincecum and Cain) FIP: Zito (4.36) Johnson (4.83) and Sanchez (4.32). The pitching has improved by on average about a run and a half from last year to this. The Giants offense has been nearly identical to last year, it's just getting more attention now that the entire rotation has performed solidly. That's the reason the Giants are in the hunt right now. But again, it just shows that the Giants don't have a good farm system. Add to that the fact that they just within the last week traded two of their top 10 prospects for minimal upgrades, and you're asking for disaster for the ML team.
There really isn't such a thing as a "good playoff team". It's relatively easy to project performance in relation to making the playoffs primarily because you've got 162 games to see how players will perform. This isn't true about the playoffs, as it's pretty much a crap shoot with such a small sample size.
The Cliff Lee deal was an absolute robbery for the Phillies. They gave up a +4 win pitcher for two decent, not great infield prospects, a solid pitching prospect with a lower upside in Carrasco and a good teen arm who's got injury issues. All four of the guys going to Cleveland have significant question marks in terms of projectability, and for someone worth so much as a starter, there was really no reason not to get more, or just a better return.
As for the Giants, this is really a bad trade. I just can't see why they made this deal. I understand that they need offense desperately, but Sanchez isn't good enough to justify this. Sanchez is at .296/.334/.442 this year, but consider that the Giants already have a guy putting up very similar numbers at .284/.314/.431. That player? Juan Uribe. The Giants just traded within a week their #2 and #3 pitching prospects for a league average first baseman, and a slight upgrade at second. The Giants are definitely going for it this year, and there is a very good chance Sabean will pay for it with his job.
The Pirates are doing pretty well right now stocking up on high upside guys in the minors for their aging veterans. The Pirates may just be competitive in 3 or so years.
^^^No the Pirates will end up trading those guys in two to three years. Maybe a chance the Giants can get Alderson back if he turns out to be any good. And that goddamn list from 2003, just release all the names instead of this stupid one name every 2 months business. I agree with Ozzie Guillen "Can somebody in baseball, please, we're all begging people, get that stupid list out and move on." Insert your own expletives as you please. Ozzie did keep it nice and clean though.
^^^No the Pirates will end up trading those guys in two to three years. Maybe a chance the Giants can get Alderson back if he turns out to be any good. And that goddamn list from 2003, just release all the names instead of this stupid one name every 2 months business. I agree with Ozzie Guillen "Can somebody in baseball, please, we're all begging people, get that stupid list out and move on." Insert your own expletives as you please. Ozzie did keep it nice and clean though.
Eh, I've warmed a bit to the deal for San Francisco, but I still think the Pirates won here.
As for the list, I agree, the list needs to just be released. I believe it's been stated here before, but I think it's pretty universally believed that the list should be released. I mean, MLB can have it one of two ways: 1. They release the list, there is a huge deal made of it for a couple of months afterwards, then baseball can finally move on, or 2. Donald Fehr continues to stick his head in the sand and continue to try to block the names, unsuccessfully as we've seen, and one by one, the names leak out over a number of years, and with every name comes another media storm and more controversy, dragging this damn saga on for years and years.
The choice seems pretty clear to me.
They still couldn't get rid of Travis Hafner though(don't know if they were trying to move him or not,but they should've been).
I like that the Sox picked up Peavy,but I think that they kinda gave up a lot to get a guy that's not even gonna be on the field until no earlier than late August.The good thing about getting him is that our rotation,1 thru 4,will probably be the best in baseball for at least the next few years.
I think that last nights game against the Yankees is exactly the type of team that Ozzie has been looking for.
If Carlos Quentin can turn it on and play like he did last season,this could end up being the most dangerous team in baseball by the time September rolls around.
Yeah, the Peavy deal looks pretty rough from the Sox perspective, even if he was healthy right now. His contract is ridiculous the from the end of this year until it's up, and they gave up three power arms and a control guy (basically everyone who could have taken his spot were he not there), to get Peavy. I'm sure Peavy will be a good for at least a while, but I wouldn't at all be surprised to see the deal sour on the Sox side.
i think peavy might be more of a 2010 forward kinda of deal. since nobody knows if he is going to pitch this year at all and anything he contributes will be considered bonus.
i think hafner was offered but not wanted without the indians paying some of his contract and the indians do not want to do that
red001
i think hafner was offered but not wanted without the indians paying some of his contract and the indians do not want to do that
red001
See, but therein lies the problem. Peavy's contract was backloaded, meaning the after this year he's going to be making $15 million+, which could potentially end up costing the Sox in terms of being able to afford, say, a decent Center Fielder.
Hafner has been on the block for the past two years. But at this point his permanent position is DH, and he's making a ton of money for a DH in a time when most teams can't afford good players that play in the field.
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