2011 MLB Season Discussion: Joey Votto MVP Edition

[Trichocyst]

I am all for banning bunting, if we want to use injuries as an excuse that's fine with me

Ty Cobb would be spinning in his grave to read that. And because of the ethnic players in the game today.

[Soa]

Its beginning to feel like there will be another Wilson Valdez sighting on the mound tonight.........

[FNH]

J.P. Arencibia is having a great year so far, got me a grand slam in fbl. Makes losing Posey not hurt so bad.

[Demosthenes11]

Can we just play baseball in bubbles from now on, and change turf/grass to clouds? Jesus christ, the bitching in this thread is starting to sound like parents who are afraid that (zomg) their kids might get a scratch so they ban playgrounds and make everything out of nerf materials.

I mean I get it, people get hurt, why are we bitching about all this shit for the past like, six pages? That's the fucking risk they take, you could get hurt just as easily falling down the stairs, ban stairs now? FFS.

dumbest shit ive ever heard.

still not one argument other than "its been that way" has been made. archi tried to blame posey even lol

[Headspace]

Demos is used to having the leagues make special rules for his star players.

[Cephius]

As an authority on internet arguments about baseball, not one of you has made a coherent point about the Posey play. CARRY ON

[Conrad]

https://twitter.com/FanSince09/status/76838038638034944

FanSince09 is great

[Akiyama]

https://twitter.com/FanSince09/status/76838038638034944

FanSince09 is great

fucking lol

[FNH]

Here's a stat line on a trade I offered earlier today that got declined:
Player A I would be trading: 51/207 33 9 30 5 .246

Player B I was wanting in return: 63/233 28 0 18 14 .270

I'll leave out names for the moment, to see if I'm not seeing how player A would be a deal breaker considering the person I'm trading with was saying the other day he needed HR's. He countered with a trade offer where I would be giving up Joey Bats.

[Akiyama]

Hrm. Really depends on who the players are and injury history.

[FNH]

Player A is Ben Zobrist and Player B is Ichiro. I think people care too much about a name.

[Cephius]

That guy was a fool to turn you down. Zobrist is a pretty good player and plays like 5 different positions. Ichiro clearly is on the decline, all he's worth is some stolen bases. Might as well get Coco Crisp..

[Conrad]

Was posted in Spam

[Conrad]

Also

http://stripclubwithstanton.spreadsh...tomize/color/2

[*Shinzon*]

Finally a catcher, and a fucking great catcher comes out and gets on Posey.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6625504

Bench blames Posey for injury. Go ahead and tell Bench he's wrong Sabean. Enough already.

Hall of Famer Johnny Bench says Buster Posey's season-ending injury was the result of a mistake -- on the Giants catcher's part.

Bench, who knows all too well the physical toll of playing catcher in the major leagues, says preventing collisions at the plate is a major key to the success of any catcher.

"Buster was a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award (as the top collegiate catcher in 2008) and is a great kid -- I called him after the World Series last year," Bench told the Tulsa World this week. "When I heard about the injury, I was anxious to see how this happened. Buster put himself in such a bad position."

Posey, last year's NL rookie of the year, was knocked out for the season on a play at the plate with Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins last week, a sequence that resulted in widespread, vexing rhetoric -- and apologies from both sides.

Bench, a spring training instructor for the Reds, was playing in his third All-Star Game in 1970 when Cincinnati teammate Pete Rose barrelled over Ray Fosse at the plate for the game-winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.

Fosse, a rookie catcher for the Cleveland Indians, was seriously injured on the play, his promising career permanently scarred.

Cousins' run also came in the 12th inning to send the Marlins past the Giants 7-6.

"First of all, my catchers don't sit in front of home plate. They stand away from home plate and work back to the plate," Bench told the Tulsa newspaper. "But we (catchers) are just fair game. You've got a guy running around third base at 210 to 220 pounds with 3 percent body fat and with sprinter's speed."

Cousins, a rookie, has been receiving death threats despite repeatedly apologizing for the May 25 collision that left Posey with a broken bone in his lower left leg and three torn ligaments in his ankle. He's had surgery and is done for the season.

"I teach my kids to stay away from the plate when you don't have the ball so the runner actually sees home plate and his thought is, slide," said Bench, who has undergone hip replacements on both legs in the past seven years after a 17-year career that ended in 1983. "But Buster is laying in front of home plate, and it's like having a disabled car in the middle of a four-lane highway. You're just going to get smacked."

Posey has said he felt Cousins could have slid around him but also said it was a legal play.

"Show them the plate," Bench said. "You can always catch the ball and step, or step and catch the ball, as long as you've got the runner on the ground. And if you have the runner on the ground, there's less chance of any severe collision."

Giants general manager Brian Sabean criticized Cousins on his weekly radio show, calling the play malicious and unnecessary. Sabean also said "if I never hear from Cousins again, or he doesn't play another day in the big leagues, I think we'll all be happy."

Sabean's comments got the attention of Major League Baseball, and executive vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre spoke with Sabean on Friday. The Giants also issued a statement saying Sabean's comments were made out of frustration, and the GM was trying to reach Cousins.

"We intend to move beyond conversations about last week's incident and focus our attention on Buster's full recovery and on defending our World Series title," the team said in the statement.

Cousins also issued a statement Friday and apologized again for the collision.

Florida manager Edwin Rodriguez said before Friday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers that he doesn't have to defend his young outfielder because Cousins didn't do anything wrong.

"As a team we don't have anything to say," Rodriguez said. "If people want to keep talking about that, let them talk."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Soa]

Darren Daulton does a radio show in Philly and he said pretty much the same thing Bench did about the incident (ie he never should have been in front of the plate and his footwork was bad, which caused his leg to get twisted up behind him). I hope they don't change the rules because of this, the last thing they need is to turn into the NBA or NFL in that respect.

[Demosthenes11]

sure was blocking that plate

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...seysmashed.jpg

[*Shinzon*]

You don't think so? Had he been in the right position not only would he have been blocking, but he'd still have his ankle together. He screwed up, period.

[Demosthenes11]

You don't think so? Had he been in the right position not only would he have been blocking, but he'd still have his ankle together. He screwed up, period.

you do know there are different ways to play that right?

[*Shinzon*]

He got hurt for playing it differently. Isn't that the point? Every catcher is taught the right way to play the ball to avoid injury. I still don't see why that's anyone's fault but posey's. Sabean is quick to continuously blame cousins despite posey being 100% in the wrong.