The 2008 MLB Season Thread (Update: Phillies Won)

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[quote name='traininvain']cubs lost to the brewers. looks like lou piniella was up to his old tricks, blowing up after some criticism for having soriano in the game. after those aquafina commercials, i thought he turned over a new leaf...[/quote]

Well I was wondering how well the Cubs would do once Soriano came back. You can't pin the loss on Soriano though. Zambrano gave us a quality start and they had a 3-1 lead going into the 9th. Kerry Wood is just not getting the job done. Also with a man on and one out in the bottom of the 9th why the hell did Lou not pinch hit for Pie? That guy is worthless at the plate.
 
[quote name='integralsmatic']yep, they were counting on Smoltz and Glavine to be healthy. and now that smoltz is out of the rotation..they are in trouble....although Jair Jurjens has been really solid for them.[/QUOTE]

Which is what we expected.

We didn't go and get anyone else because Hampton looked so good during spring, and offseason workouts. Frankly, if he can get over the injury bug, he's still got good stuff. We do still have a number of starters that can pitch for us, the question will be if they'll be any good. Glavine has been pretty good, Hudson has been great. Smoltz was very good for his first few starts before the shoulder started bothering him. Frankly, I have no problem with him closing again. When he closed, the only other time I can remember such enthusiasm to see a reliever come in was Rocker. I loved Smoltz being the closer for those couple of years. It was amazing to see him go from an effective starter to a dominant closer. If he can come back and be our shutdown guy, then I think we'll be ok.

We still have:
Hudson
Glavine
Jurrjens
James
Bennett (long reliever, spot starter)
Reyes

We still have bodies, but we'll have to see how they do. Am I worried? A little. If Hampton can't come back before the AS break, I'm worried we'll trade one of our nice prospects again for short-term help, something we were supposed to be able to avoid going into the season.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']Which is what we expected.

We didn't go and get anyone else because Hampton looked so good during spring, and offseason workouts. Frankly, if he can get over the injury bug, he's still got good stuff. We do still have a number of starters that can pitch for us, the question will be if they'll be any good. Glavine has been pretty good, Hudson has been great. Smoltz was very good for his first few starts before the shoulder started bothering him. Frankly, I have no problem with him closing again. When he closed, the only other time I can remember such enthusiasm to see a reliever come in was Rocker. I loved Smoltz being the closer for those couple of years. It was amazing to see him go from an effective starter to a dominant closer. If he can come back and be our shutdown guy, then I think we'll be ok.

We still have:
Hudson
Glavine
Jurrjens
James
Bennett (long reliever, spot starter)
Reyes

We still have bodies, but we'll have to see how they do. Am I worried? A little. If Hampton can't come back before the AS break, I'm worried we'll trade one of our nice prospects again for short-term help, something we were supposed to be able to avoid going into the season.[/QUOTE]

Hampton hasn't pitched since 2005 and only started 12 games that year. He has tried to come back a few times this year and each time has another injury. If the Braves were counting on this guy, that is just dumb. Even if he had a great spring. Hampton is done. I wouldn't count on him getting over the injury bug.

Even without him the Braves starting pitching was not bad with Hudson and Smoltz leading the pack, but now with Smoltz going to the pen, there starting pitching is pretty bad. After Hudson you have Glavine who can give you a good outing here and there but won't eat up innings. And then you got inconsistent guys the whole way down. They are going to need there offense to pick things up in a major way.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']They must have been, given not picking up more starting pitching in the off season.[/QUOTE]

They picked up Glavine.
 
[quote name='klwillis45']I'd like to thank the Cubs for putting the last nail in Turnbow's coffin. It shouldn't be too hard to get him to AAA now.[/quote]

Ask, and ye shall receive.
 
[quote name='DomLando']They picked up Glavine.[/QUOTE]

That's why I said not picking up "more." He wasn't enough unless Hampton was healthy. Now there really in trouble with Hampton of course not being healthy and Smoltz hurt and wanting to move to the pen.
 
Crap! The Cubs freefall continues... Soriano looked completely lost out in left field. He did hit the game tying homer in the 9th but the rest of the game he was awful.
 
I really don't understand francona some times...craig hanson was called up and pitched last night...he was signed to be a closer, most closers are 1ip pitchers...he was called up so the redsox could have a righthanded setup man as timlin and delcarmen have sucked. 8th inn setup guy usually pitches 1inn. So what the fuck was hanson doing going into the game in the 6th, setting down the side 1, 2, 3 and then brought out for a 2nd inn. I don't get it...the kid has had confidence issues last season. He has fixed his mechanics and has been throwing great in AAA. He gives you a 1,2,3 inn, why send him out there. If you wanted a long guy, that is the only reason julian tavarez is on the team.
 
2 innings isn't considered a job for a long reliever. Try 4-5 innings. If Paps is going to be your closer for awhile, anyone else that's considered a closer has three options:

A) go to another team
B) pitch more than one inning
C) go back to AAA
 
most teams don't have the setup guy throwing 2 full inn...they throw 1 full inn and maybe an out or 2. Very rarely do you see jobba coming out in the 7th...or rafeal bettencourt (when borrowski was closing). Yes it does happen, but not that often and for a young kid who they are trying to groom to be either a closer or 8th inn setup guy leaving him out there for 2 inn doesn't make any sense. For starters our long guy, julian tavarez has mostly been a 1 or 2 inn pitcher this year. He hadn't pitched since april 24th. He has pitched in 7 games and has a total of 10.1 ip. 2nd of all, it appears most of hansons appearances in AAA have been a tad over 1ip, so why throw him for 2. Watching the game, I could clearly see he was losing command of his pitches, and IMO probably because he was out there too long.

I agree a MLB setup guy should have the abillity to go 2ip. I also don't believe having a 24 year old kid, who was rushed to the majors and didn't perform well, with redsox nation who have no problem booing stars (ask david ortiz at the start of this year, or keith foulke in 05) to throw 2ip. He has nasty stuff, that is tough to hit when it is in the strike zone. He lost command off all his pitches in the 2nd inn. It isn't like he was throwing 2inn every outing in AAA. Let him get confortable, be dominant pitcher that he can be, and build up his arm strength.

It isn't like they didn't have pitchers who could have used some work. Julian Tavarez last threw on 4/24. Since 4/20, David Aardsma had pitched a grand total of 4ip. He has been very effective coming out of the pen so far this year. Lopez hadn't pitched in 3 days and timlin in 4 days. We had the majority of the bullpen that could have contribute 1ip
 
Sometimes the best thing you can do is put someone in a difficult situation and see how they handle it. No need to baby people, either they can handle it or they can't. As to that particular situation, I have no idea.

There's whispers floating that if the Padres keep sucking wind towards the AS break, Maddux might finish things up this year in Atlanta. As I predicted earlier this year....

It would be awesome, and suck at the same time. You lose someone in your system for a guy who will only pitch half a season for your club, and that would probably mean all three would retire at the end of this year. On the other hand, it would be fantastic to see the Big Three back together again for one last title run.
 
Well, the experiment is over, even though it never happened.

Barry Zito's going back to the rotation even though he didnt even make a relief appearance.
 
[quote name='TheRock88']Well, the experiment is over, even though it never happened.

Barry Zito's going back to the rotation even though he didnt even make a relief appearance.[/quote]

Tommorow baby.

After the debacle tonight, it won't make Zito look as bad giving up his usual 6 runs in 4 innings.
 
I just got back from watching Rich Harden make his rehab pitching assignment for the Stockton Ports. He looked pretty sharp tonight, going 6 innings and only giving up 3 hits while K-ing 9. No runs allowed, either. (He did hit 3 batters, which was pretty amusing.)
 
[quote name='Chitown021']LOL, the player's association is opening a collusion investigation because Barry Bonds didn't get any contract offers.[/QUOTE]

Kenny Lofton, too.

It can't be because they can't play anymore. No chance. It's because they're black, I know it.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']Kenny Lofton, too.

It can't be because they can't play anymore. No chance. It's because they're black, I know it.[/quote]

Wasn't it Sheffield that went off last year saying MLB was favoring the Dominican players over black players because they can control them better?

I was listening to sports talk on the way home from work and they were suggesting that the Royals sign Bonds to help their struggling offense...
 
IMO both loften and bonds are still capable of being on a MLB team. There are a ton of teams that have really shitty offenses.
 
I would have loved for Loften to come back to Cleveland this year but Mark Shapiro would have to justify the contracts of Micheals, Delluci, and holding back Ben Francisco and Brad Snyder to the fans.

They both might be hoping to join a team headed to the playoffs.
 
So the Mets score 12 yesterday on Penny. How there offense is going this year they just used up some runs so I would suspect them to score a total of 3 in there next 3 games.
 
lugo made his 10 error of the season last night and is on pace for 50 errors this season. While he is hitting decent (a hell of a lot better then last year), I wonder how much longer they will run the defensive liability out there when jeb lowrie has hit fairly well at the MLB level.
 
[quote name='ryanbph']lugo made his 10 error of the season last night and is on pace for 50 errors this season. While he is hitting decent (a hell of a lot better then last year), I wonder how much longer they will run the defensive liability out there when jeb lowrie has hit fairly well at the MLB level.[/quote]

Lugo's really lost it. He's always been a singles hitter - without acceptable defense, he's not a worthwhile part of this team anymore. Yes, he is hitting this season, but it's not anything incredible, and it's past due for the contract he got.
 
I wish they never signed Julio Lugo or J.D. Drew... Jed Lowrie and Brandon Moss or David Murphy could be starting instead.
 
He is hitting .293 with an obp of about .350 with a couple stolen bases....batting out of the 9 hole in the lineup that is totally acceptable offensive production...I would exect him to hit .270 and have between 20 and 30sb's. He is on pace to do better then that...granted it is a long season and who knows if he will go into a long slump

....defensively he is playing fucking horrible and should be benched for his defensive liabilities...we lost the game last night because of a bad fielding error on an easy softly hit ground ball.

I don't know what you meant by past due. His contract was too big and too large for the player he was and the player he most likely would be. It was a bad signing. They had been targeting lugo for several years before they signed him. I don't know why. They have done that with a couple of players. Tried to pick them up in a trade, and then signed them at a later point. JC romero is another player they tried to pick up in a trade IIRC in 04 or 05 and then signed him last year. I have no idea why they let him go, he pitched well. He did walk a lot, but his numbers were better then some of the other people they kept in the bullpen last year.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']I wish they never signed Julio Lugo or J.D. Drew... Jed Lowrie and Brandon Moss or David Murphy could be starting instead.[/quote]

They did need someone to bridge the gap. IMO without drew/lugo last year they wouldn't have won the world series....as horrible as lugo hit, he scored a lot of runs and he had a lot of rbis' for a guy batting so low in the order. The contracts were bad for the amount and for the length. They should have gone after someone like a lorretta. Someone that would sign a 1 or 2 year deal and play solid baseball everyday. I really don't think moss/murphy and lowrie could have performed at the MLB level in Boston for the entire season.
 
[quote name='DomLando']So the Mets score 12 yesterday on Penny. How there offense is going this year they just used up some runs so I would suspect them to score a total of 3 in there next 3 games.[/quote]

hahaha

we might not get any. They just love leaving their men stranded all day.
 
[quote name='integralsmatic']hahaha

we might not get any. They just love leaving their men stranded all day.[/quote]

The Cubs have been doing the same thing over the last couple weeks. We'll have one game a week where we score 12+ runs then we're lucky to score 3 for the next four to five games... The issues started about the same time that Soriano came back, hmmm:whistle2:k
 
[quote name='integralsmatic']hahaha

we might not get any. They just love leaving their men stranded all day.[/QUOTE]

I was reading that Oliver Perez is going to want a 5 year 60 million dollar contract. Hahahahahahaha. This is what happens when Scott Boras is your agent. Boras is comparing Perez to Bedard.
 
Just because we can, let's hand out some first-month awards, shall we?


AL MVP:
Casey Kotchmann .333/6/21 - much less SO than the other two
Kevin Youkilis .317/6/25
Manny Ramirez .316/7/24

NL MVP:
Chipper Jones .429/10/29 - average and less SO wins out
Chase Utley .350/13/27
Lance Berkman .361/11/33
Albert Pujols .342/6/24 (tie)

AL CY:
Cliff Lee 6-0, 0.81, 2/39 (BB/SO)
Ervin Santana 6-0, 2.02, 9/38
Joe Saunders 6-0, 2.61, 10/21

NL CY:
Carlos Zambrano 5-1, 1.80, 14/38
Brandon Webb 7-0, 2.49, 16/37
Edinson Volquez 5-1, 1.06, 24/52
 
[quote name='ryanbph']They did need someone to bridge the gap. IMO without drew/lugo last year they wouldn't have won the world series....as horrible as lugo hit, he scored a lot of runs and he had a lot of rbis' for a guy batting so low in the order. The contracts were bad for the amount and for the length. They should have gone after someone like a lorretta. Someone that would sign a 1 or 2 year deal and play solid baseball everyday. I really don't think moss/murphy and lowrie could have performed at the MLB level in Boston for the entire season.[/quote]

"as horrible as lugo hit" - that's what I mean by past due. We've been treated to an entire season of his ineptitude, so I'm not suddenly excited he's finally hitting. As for the RBI's...I would attribute that more to the offense he's playing in more than anything special on his part. He stays out of DPs because of his speed.
 
without a doubt the lineup he was in helped his rbi total...but the important thing to remeber is when you hit around .230 for the season like he did, at least he got his few hits when it mattered most, with runners on base. Personally I didn't like the signing when it happend, but we are stuck with him. Maybe if we are lucky when/if we trade taveres or crisp we could include him in the deal. The rockies are allegedly mildly interested in tavares, and the starting ss is going to be out a while.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']Just because we can, let's hand out some first-month awards, shall we?


AL MVP:
Casey Kotchmann .333/6/21 - much less SO than the other two
Kevin Youkilis .317/6/25
Manny Ramirez .316/7/24

NL MVP:
Chipper Jones .429/10/29 - average and less SO wins out
Chase Utley .350/13/27
Lance Berkman .361/11/33
Albert Pujols .342/6/24 (tie)

AL CY:
Cliff Lee 6-0, 0.81, 2/39 (BB/SO)
Ervin Santana 6-0, 2.02, 9/38
Joe Saunders 6-0, 2.61, 10/21

NL CY:
Carlos Zambrano 5-1, 1.80, 14/38
Brandon Webb 7-0, 2.49, 16/37
Edinson Volquez 5-1, 1.06, 24/52[/QUOTE]

Tough call between Zambrano and Webb IMO. Sheets could have been a contender too if he hadn't hurt his arm sort-of.

I think Surprise of the year has to go to Xavier Nady.
 
[quote name='ph33r m3']I'd go with Webb thus far, this guy is just filthy.[/QUOTE]

It's very close. Even closer after his win last night.

But looking at ERA, walks, strikes, walk-to-strike ratio, and what he means to his team...I went with Zambrano.

I'm sure it will change in a month, though.
 
I'll be interested to see if Big Z can keep this up for an entire season. Almost every year he'll hit a stretch where he has Cy Young quality stuff but then he'll hit a bad 4 or 5 game stretch.
 
[quote name='DomLando']I was reading that Oliver Perez is going to want a 5 year 60 million dollar contract. Hahahahahahaha. This is what happens when Scott Boras is your agent. Boras is comparing Perez to Bedard.[/quote]

Bwaahahaha

we should have traded Perez for Bedard straight up than lol.

60 million for a pitcher who is crazy inconsistent and cant seem to get his head out his ass. Boras is surely gonna get a great deal on this one. lol the sad reality to this is that some team who is desperate for pitching will pay this or even more for him. I cant see the Mets resigning him. Sure he has somewhat flourished and revived his career but the kid cant seem to get his head out of his ass. inconsistent should be his nickname. Shit we gave him alot of money through arbitration and i havent seen anything from him deserving from that.
 
Looks like the Marlins are getting ready to hand out a jumbo contract to Hanley Ramierez (yes, I just used Marlins and jumbo contract in the same sentence!).

6 year $70 million deal...
 
Uh, Edinson Volquez has 11 more strikeouts than Webb, despite pitching almost 14 fewer innings. Volquez leads the National League in strikeouts and ERA, and yet he's THIRD on your lists? Come on people. Wins, when it comes to starting pitchers, is such an overrated stat. Volquez has surrendered 1 run or less IN EVERY START THIS YEAR. If it weren't for a 2-0 loss to Atlanta and a 1-0 loss to the Pirates, Volquez would be 7-0.
 
[quote name='Illini Jeeper']Looks like the Marlins are getting ready to hand out a jumbo contract to Hanley Ramierez (yes, I just used Marlins and jumbo contract in the same sentence!).

6 year $70 million deal...[/quote]

Hanley Ramierez will probably reject that deal, or if I was his agent I would, he could get way more on the open market. I don't see a reason he can't get 100 Million. This guy is a stud, 5 tool player.
 
There's been a lot of talk on sports radio around here about how much money it would take the Royals to resign Zach Grienke if his great season continues.

EDIT: Wow, the Cubs had a 6 run 7th to take a 7-2 lead on the D-Backs. I never thought I would say this but GO BREWERS! Knock the Cards back into the pack!
 
[quote name='ph33r m3']In a league where Carlos Lee (Not saying he's a bad player) get's 100 Million for 5 years...Hanley Ramirez could get bank.

Good for the Marlins though, got a steal.[/quote]

Oh, no doubt about that at all. A better example of being overpaid would be Julio Lugo and Barry Zito. Hanley is making peanuts, well for a baseball player, compared to these 2 guys. Wish the Sox still had him, then there'd be no Lugo. But there would also be no Beckett and no 2007 World Series champs, so its a tough pill to swollow, but I'll take the rings.
 
It's a popular thing to wrap up young talented players for long contracts on teams that can't afford to compete for first rate free agents. I'm not surprised about the signing on either side.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Uh, Edinson Volquez has 11 more strikeouts than Webb, despite pitching almost 14 fewer innings. Volquez leads the National League in strikeouts and ERA, and yet he's THIRD on your lists? Come on people. Wins, when it comes to starting pitchers, is such an overrated stat. Volquez has surrendered 1 run or less IN EVERY START THIS YEAR. If it weren't for a 2-0 loss to Atlanta and a 1-0 loss to the Pirates, Volquez would be 7-0.[/QUOTE]

So? Stop bitching about other people's lists and make your own, Vag.
 
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