2009 MLB season discussion*

[fren.]

Pitchers and catcher reported to ST today, so close!

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[Akiyama]

inc flops from AJ Burnett when he gets injured midway through the season, and boos when CC Sabathia loses 4 out of his first 6 games.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FOLKS!

Just kidding. I'm hoping Burnett can continue to do well from last year, and Sabathia has a good year. I love that guy.

[Viq]

I had to take my vacation a little earlier than usual this year. This is the first time in about six years that I'm not going to spend any time down in Fort Myers in March ;_;

[Melena]

Place your bets on the Matt Holiday Trading Deadline. I'm calling 6 days before the all star break, to New York Mets, for 4 prospects.

Sometimes it sucks being an A's and Giants fan

[Cephius]

Yay! Baseball is back!

My early impressions, and predictions!

The Yankees obviously are champions of the winter once again, but it hasn't done them much good in recent years. We'll see if this year is any different. If anything, their pitching staff should provide some stability should they all remain healthy. The lineup got a nice upgrade in Tex, we'll see how he does under the bright lights, but all past indications are he'll do just fine.

The Sox also did a great job of locking up Pedroia and Youk this offseason, for pretty bargain contracts.

I thought the Nats made a great pickup of Adam Dunn. He's a really great power and OBP guy who gets undervalued because of his poor average.

The Mets got a couple good relievers, but I think that they did a disservice by not improving their less-than-stellar lineup. They were 2nd in the NL in runs scored last year, I'd look for that to falloff a lot this year.

Pre-season Favorites:

NL

East: Phillies
Central: Cubbies
West: Dodgers, assuming they re-sign Manny
WC: Marlins

AL

East: Yankees
Central: Twins
West: Angels
WC: Red Sox

[Stiker]

Baseball is back! Time to watch my Rangers suck again. YAAAAAAAAAAAY!

BTW, asterisk in title = win.

[Soa]

Its going to be odd rooting for the defending champion for once in my life.

Speaking of them, they managed to lock up their core for 3 more years (sans Burrell who I will miss) and kept most of their team from last year intact. Losing Romero for 50 games will hurt but it looks like Utley should be ready to go at the start of the season.

I don't expect a repeat of last years success in the pen but they should remain one of the best in the league. Their starting rotation looks much stronger than last year with Blanton and Park/Happ/Carrassco in and Kendrick and lolAdamEaton gone. A lot of people are saying its still weak but I feel they are underestimating them (like in last years playoffs).

The tools are in place to make a run at repeating, and they should at the very least make it to the playoffs. I can't wait for the season to start, it should be a very interesting one.

[Viq]

Its going to be odd rooting for the defending champion for once in my life.

After the Phillies' home opener, you'll sort of get over the whole defending champ thing. I know in Boston, it was about a week into the 2005 season before people started bitching about everything as if 2004 had never happened.

[Ferien]

Can't stand baseball season here in NYC. Not because I don't love my Yankees, but because I have to hear everyone whine incessantly about our payroll and A-Rod and not winning the World Series every October. It's not enough that we had a playoff berth in 12 of the last 13 seasons (thanks Cashman and the Steinbrenners!), if we don't win the World Series, everyone becomes a Mets fan.

Besides that rant, I'm curious as to how they're going to do the lineup this season. Maybe they'll finally put someone behind A-Rod who can produce so the golden boy can do what he gets paid for. We've got a mean rotation and a powerful lineup, so it'll be business as usual. Sabathia, Burnett, and Tex will get injured in May and be out until September, A-Rod will be mauled by tigers, and our bullpen will, as has been the case for the last 9 years, suck a fat one.

[Soa]

After the Phillies' home opener, you'll sort of get over the whole defending champ thing. I know in Boston, it was about a week into the 2005 season before people started bitching about everything as if 2004 had never happened.

Oh I have no doubt about this, I mean its Philly, all people do around here is bitch about our teams non-stop.

[Headspace]

I had to take my vacation a little earlier than usual this year. This is the first time in about six years that I'm not going to spend any time down in Fort Myers in March ;_;

Good.

[Akiyama]

Can't stand baseball season here in NYC. Not because I don't love my Yankees, but because I have to hear everyone whine incessantly about our payroll and A-Rod and not winning the World Series ever. It's not enough that we had a playoff berth in 12 of the last 13 seasons (thanks Cashman and the Steinbrenners!), if we don't win the World Series, everyone becomes a Mets fan.

Fixed. Saying "every October" insinuates that he's won one before, but not every time. He's a class choke job in situations he can choke in.

Also, please don't bring more stats into it. We've seen them in the A-Rod does steroids topic and what not.

[Kyo]

Im extremly excited for baseball this season, boston/yankee's/rays all got better, but im a braves fan and we continue to have the worst front office in sports, I will however will be rooting for Smoltzy to do well in boston, even tho Im a closet yanks fan.

[Cephius]

Fixed. Saying "every October" insinuates that he's won one before, but not every time. He's a class choke job in situations he can choke in.

Also, please don't bring more stats into it. We've seen them in the A-Rod does steroids topic and what not.

SIGH

Why are you hating on him so much? What if Chipper Jones comes out as being on that list of 104 players who tested positive? Would you treat him the same way?

If A-rod chokes every time, who hit all 9 of those 9th-inning game-deciding home runs in 2007?

I guess if concrete stats doesn't change your mind, nothing will.

[Akiyama]

For one, thank you Ceph for providing a huge lol for me with that. If you're going to pick a Brave to say "What if he did something like this"... don't pick the guy who's on the DL every single year for the last five or so years. If he took Steroids.. sure that might not help his injuries, but HGH would help, so clearly he's avoided those drugs. =P Andruw Jones? Yeah, I'd believe that, and I'd bash him just as much as A-Rod.

As you quoted, I said October. I don't give a fuck what A-Rod does, and how he wins a game with a home-run in the marathon of a regular season that the MLB has. Joe Schmo can hit a game winning homer a lot of the time in the regular season. It takes a clutch guy to do it in the post-season, and since A-Rod's been a Yankee, he hasn't been clutch in October.

Oh, and if Chipper were on the list of 104? I'd be the same exact way. These professionals make millions of dollars to play a game that I personally love, and would play for a hell of a lot cheaper than that. I'd never want to cheat my way to the top. So they don't earn favorite spots in my heart to avoid the bashing I'd give them. My bashing does nothing to their careers and my opinion means absolutely nothing overall. I don't care though. It's my own personal thing. So yeah.. I don't care if it was Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Tom Smellsalot, A-Rod, Chipper, Griffey... I'd be the same exact way.

So please. Stop trying to turn it on me like I'd be "homerific" or choose sides/play favorites. If you cheat, you cheat.. no matter what uniform you wear. Case closed.

[Cephius]

My point was that you're taking it beyond the fact that he cheated, which obviously he should be blasted for. But why you (and others for that matter) say he chokes in October when not only is it a small sample size and therefore inaccurate, but he hit 2 HRs 2 doubles and had 8 RBI in the 2004 post season. Are those not clutch hits? Do they not count? Steroids or not... come on. There's no excuse for him cheating, and I really hate having to defend the guy at this point, but I'd defend anyone who had this kind of unfair stigma attached to them >_>

I wasn't suggesting you're homerific or anything, and I just chose Chipper as a random name because at this point, anyone could be on the list. Steroids don't prevent you from getting injured (in fact, they can increase your susceptibility to groin pulls and the like) anyway.

[Akiyama]

Answer me this. Did those hits.. did it change the momentum of a series and help his team win a Championship? The obvious answer to this is "No, Akiyama, the Cake Master. They did not." That's all I mean. His hits may have come with 1 out, 2 on, Top of the 2nd.. when the runs may not have meant nothing in a 10-6 sort of game, or something. If he had ONE game winning single/double/triple/homer in a playoff game.. I'd take back my statements, but if I remember right... he does not.

I'm not attacking him for the sake of doing it. I'm attacking him because I feel he was not clutch. That's my belief, along with a lot of New York. Also, a couple pitchers who weren't that amazing in the Post Season.. Glavine and Smoltz. Two three hundred+ game winners, and they had losing records in the playoffs. Then again, with the way the Braves made first round exits so quickly, that'd be easy. At least Smoltz dominated. D:

And yeah.. I guess I realize you weren't, but it's an easy cheapshot to go after one of the better players during the Braves run, so that's what got me. I know steroids can cause a strain on your body, but I was referencing Pettite's use of HGH to help him heal faster, and all that.

[Ferien]

Fixed. Saying "every October" insinuates that he's won one before, but not every time. He's a class choke job in situations he can choke in.

Also, please don't bring more stats into it. We've seen them in the A-Rod does steroids topic and what not.

Hi, I wasn't talking about A-Rod, I was talking about the Yankees.

[Akiyama]

Ahh.. really? That's not how I read it. Sorry for the misunderstanding then.

[Mumble]

Here's hoping the Braves don't blow it this year.
And here's to hoping the Mets will continue to choke again.