2015 MLB Regular Season Thread: Rights of Manfred

[Cail]

Coco Crisp needs shoulder surgery...expected to be out 6-8 weeks

[Pringles]

Josh Hamilton won't be suspended for drug use via arbitrator decision.

To celebrate, he shall do 3 lines of coke while pounding back some bourbon.

[Pringles]

Ervin Santana suspended for 80 games for popping positive for Stanozolol

[archibaldcrane]

What's the deal with these 80 game suspensions? I thought first offenders got 50 games and second offenders got 100?

[Melena]

I think they recently made a change to it but i could be wrong.

[Moss]

Ervin Santana suspended for 80 games for popping positive for Stanozolol

Arodys Vizcaino (Barves RP, former top prospect) got the same

[Pringles]

Apparently three so far have tested positive for the same steroids so they're looking into it wondering if it's the same source. Biogenesis 2.0!

Twins probably regretting that 4 year 54 mil contract now.

[Francisco]

Their starting staff and bullpen are both terrible, and their pitching "depth" are all flawed 5th starters and a guy who can't hit 90 on his fastball. If it wasn't for the fact that the AL East is barely a tick above the NL East nobody would be thinking about them as a playoff team. They can probably hit their way to the division title but they can just as easily pitch themselves into the basement.

Buchholz/Porcello/Miley/Kelly/Masterson isn't quite terrible, but I don't think it'll figure to be much better than average. Low realistic ceiling, high realistic floor.

Buchholz is an injury risk, coming off a terrible season - but he's just a year removed from posting a 1.74 ERA. He's probably the most unprojectable pitcher in the league.

Porcello, Miley and Kelly are likely to be average to very slightly above average. Any of the three could turn out to be very, very good, but it's not likely. Any of the three could be well below average too, but I'd also say that's unlikely.

Masterson, I don't even know. He's looked pretty good this spring, but he might wind up being absolute trash. We'll see I guess.

Lot of question marks in the bullpen... Uehara is already hurt, Tazawa is good, but gets brutally overused every season... we have questionable lefties in Layne and Ross, and Breslow who was a total disaster last year. Mujica is whatever... the rest is spare parts. Not sure if Chapman or Kimbrel will be shopped this season, but we might need to go after a top reliever come July.

I'm thinking the Red Sox win the AL East unless the pitching completely melts down. Even with a below average staff, I think our depth would trump the other four AL East teams, all of which just seem relatively week to me.

What worries me is the ALDS, if we go up against say Seattle or Chicago (for instance). Felix twice & Iwakuma once, or Sale twice & Shark once - makes it very difficult to advance - when your answer to Sale/Hernandez is whatever Clay Buchholz has left in October.

Stranger things have happened though. I thought the 2013 Red Sox had zero chance against the Detroit Tigers, but they basically won that series on two grand slams by David Ortiz and Shane Victorino, and two solo home runs by Mike Napoli.

[Xajii]

Buchholz/Porcello/Miley/Kelly/Masterson isn't quite terrible, but I don't think it'll figure to be much better than average. Low realistic ceiling, high realistic floor.

Buchholz is an injury risk, coming off a terrible season - but he's just a year removed from posting a 1.74 ERA. He's probably the most unprojectable pitcher in the league.

Porcello, Miley and Kelly are likely to be average to very slightly above average. Any of the three could turn out to be very, very good, but it's not likely. Any of the three could be well below average too, but I'd also say that's unlikely.

Masterson, I don't even know. He's looked pretty good this spring, but he might wind up being absolute trash. We'll see I guess.

Lot of question marks in the bullpen... Uehara is already hurt, Tazawa is good, but gets brutally overused every season... we have questionable lefties in Layne and Ross, and Breslow who was a total disaster last year. Mujica is whatever... the rest is spare parts. Not sure if Chapman or Kimbrel will be shopped this season, but we might need to go after a top reliever come July.

I'm thinking the Red Sox win the AL East unless the pitching completely melts down. Even with a below average staff, I think our depth would trump the other four AL East teams, all of which just seem relatively week to me.

What worries me is the ALDS, if we go up against say Seattle or Chicago (for instance). Felix twice & Iwakuma once, or Sale twice & Shark once - makes it very difficult to advance - when your answer to Sale/Hernandez is whatever Clay Buchholz has left in October.

Stranger things have happened though. I thought the 2013 Red Sox had zero chance against the Detroit Tigers, but they basically won that series on two grand slams by David Ortiz and Shane Victorino, and two solo home runs by Mike Napoli.

pleas explain this "depth" to me. I had a long conversation with my baseball fan chat group toda and we all reached the consensus that this depth on the red sox is a myth. it was seen as a deep team because of the young guys ready oin thew ing last season, but now those are.. just your starting players.. and there's no one behind them.

the closest thing to depth you have is a not-very-ready Brock Holt and Rusney Castillo being sent down, but he's "depth" for the completely hollow husk of Shane Victorino. it is not a deep team.

Buchholz is dunzo, Masterson too. Trash. Porcello, Miley, and Kelly are alright. Still a 4th place pitching squad in the division.

I think the Red Sox can compete for the division, but it sure as shit isn't because of "depth". It's a top heavy team if I've ever seen one. Good luck if Hanley, Pedroia, Ortiz, or Pablo go down.

I also think you vastly underestimate the rest of the division. Tampa, when healthy, will have stud pitching and some good young talent working on coming up; Toronto is on paper the best offense in the division, and - despite losing Stroman - has some real young talent in pitching (Hutchison, Sanchez, Norris, and then I'm liking Castro and the U-guy too).

Baltimore has 6 SP, 5 OF, 2 extra CI and an extra MI as depth along with a backup catcher that saved their ass last season down the stretch. Coming off of a 96-win season that had virtually no Wieters and about 1/4th of Machado, and a slumping/suspended Davis... I don't see why that's a weak team, but of course, I'm biased. People don't respect management and defense I guess.

[Francisco]

pleas explain this "depth" to me. I had a long conversation with my baseball fan chat group toda and we all reached the consensus that this depth on the red sox is a myth. it was seen as a deep team because of the young guys ready oin thew ing last season, but now those are.. just your starting players.. and there's no one behind them.

Re-reading my post, I meant to imply depth of lineup, as in few easy outs (basically catcher). But the other depth holds true too. There's a lot of flexibility position to position.

Ramirez could play SS, 3B and LF, for instance. Craig and Nava can play LF, RF, 1B. Holt can play every position except C. Betts can play 2B, RF, CF.

Rusney Castillo should be the starting RF for this team, but Farrell went with the veteran (Shane Victorino). Once Vic inevitably gets hurt, Castillo will probably be up for good.

Bradley Jr (GG caliber at LF, CF, RF), Swihart (top C prospect in baseball), Cecchini (decent 3B prospect) could all contribute this year if called upon. Swihart might take over the catching job by mid-season. There's a few other guys who might be close to MLB ready this season, but they're further down the depth chart and possible trade bait (Coyle, Brentz, Marrero, Shaw).

Definitely not a top heavy team though, despite having some star power. Look for Napoli and Pedroia to have strong rebound seasons, improvement from Bogaerts, a full year of Mookie Betts and whatever Rusney Castillo has to offer.

The way Napoli has been hitting the ball this spring, I wouldn't be shocked if he hit 35-40+ HR this season (he had some serious health issues last season, was basically on zero sleep - had corrective surgery in the off-season).

[Bregor]

Buchholz/Porcello/Miley/Kelly/Masterson isn't quite terrible, but I don't think it'll figure to be much better than average. Low realistic ceiling, high realistic floor.

Actually that is kinda terrible, and the floor is much lower than you think. Depth in this case just means you have a scratch-off ticket named Clay Buchholz and then a bunch of middling guys projected for under 1.0 WARP. Acquiring pitch-to-contact guys and letting them loose in Fenway is not a great plan IMO.

I also think you vastly underestimate the rest of the division. Tampa, when healthy, will have stud pitching and some good young talent working on coming up; Toronto is on paper the best offense in the division, and - despite losing Stroman - has some real young talent in pitching (Hutchison, Sanchez, Norris, and then I'm liking Castro and the U-guy too).

Baltimore has 6 SP, 5 OF, 2 extra CI and an extra MI as depth along with a backup catcher that saved their ass last season down the stretch. Coming off of a 96-win season that had virtually no Wieters and about 1/4th of Machado, and a slumping/suspended Davis... I don't see why that's a weak team, but of course, I'm biased. People don't respect management and defense I guess.

Tampa will be dogshit. Their lineup is just plain bad and it seems like all their pitchers except Archer are hurt.

Baltimore and Toronto will be very good. The Oreos have actual rotation depth and a very strong lineup. Toronto probably has the best 1-5 hitters in the league when healthy but their rotation needs to come together.

No clue which version of the Yankees shows up, but I imagine they'll be like Boston Lite where they score a decent amount of runs but the rotation implodes.

pleas explain this "depth" to me. I had a long conversation with my baseball fan chat group toda and we all reached the consensus that this depth on the red sox is a myth. it was seen as a deep team because of the young guys ready oin thew ing last season, but now those are.. just your starting players.. and there's no one behind them.

the closest thing to depth you have is a not-very-ready Brock Holt and Rusney Castillo being sent down, but he's "depth" for the completely hollow husk of Shane Victorino. it is not a deep team.

I think that's oversimplifying a bit. Even assuming we have no idea what kind of impact Rusney will make, they have plenty of bats for a good bench and to cover any normal assortment of injuries. Allen Craig, Daniel Nava, Brock Holt, and Jackie Bradley can all be useful players.

Every starter in the lineup except catcher is projected at over 2.2 WARP. If they stay healthy, they will score a metric fuckton of runs. And when Victorino or Hanley have their usual injury woes, other guys are capable to plug in.

I'm guessing their lineup keeps them afloat until June and then they trade for a starter or two and see what happens. Didn't talk about Swihart because he might be gone by the All-Star break.

[Francisco]

Actually that is kinda terrible, and the floor is much lower than you think. Depth in this case just means you have a scratch-off ticket named Clay Buchholz and then a bunch of middling guys projected for under 1.0 WARP. Acquiring pitch-to-contact guys and letting them loose in Fenway is not a great plan IMO.

The rotation could be a bit scary, but I don't see Porcello/Kelly/Miley being "terrible". Buchholz could be one of the best pitchers in the league, or the worst. Same with Masterson, but with a much lower ceiling than Buchholz. The guys they went out and got are all ground ball pitchers. Seems they're trying to take advantage of a mostly strong infield defense (Napoli, Pedroia and Sandoval are all gold glove worthy - Bogaerts not so much, but has improved since last season) and Christian Vazquez is an excellent pitch framer, steals quite a few strikes, which would have been extremely valuable with the number of sinkerball pitchers we have. Unfortunately, Vazquez is now done for the year.

I'm guessing their lineup keeps them afloat until June and then they trade for a starter or two and see what happens. Didn't talk about Swihart because he might be gone by the All-Star break.

Swihart won't be traded for a pitcher unless it's an elite one under team control or a reasonable contract for at least a few seasons. Swihart for Hamels was immediately dismissed by Boston, and he's not going to be had for 2-3 months of any pitcher, be it Cueto, Zimmerman, Price, etc... Something like Sonny Gray (4 years, 3 of them arb) could entice the Red Sox to move Swihart, but internally he's viewed as the next Buster Posey.

Historically, the Red Sox have only moved major prospects for long term acquisitions... (Casey Kelly and Anthony Rizzo for Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell). Very unlikely Swihart is moved for a rental.

[Bregor]

Might not be on a rental. I know Swihart is a huge chip and it could be used on an established starter under contract. Larger point is, if the rotation stinks for three months there's no way Boston just says "welp" and does nothing.

[Melena]

Season starts today bitches.

[Cail]

I'm excited

[Bregor]

Fuck the Cardinals forever. Go Cubs and your broken-ass stadium.

[Cail]

I hope we get a Rhinox return

[Melena]

I hope we get a Rhinox return

Whatever happened to him, did Poopdeck break him or was it GMarsh getting traded?

[Moss]

Fuck the Cardinals forever. Go Cubs and your broken-ass stadium.

sad it's where Heyward ended up. should've traded him to the A's or something

[Bregor]

Reminder for tonight:

Good news everyone, Joe Maddon is about to have the best season in baseball history: