Major League Baseball 2012 Thread

[loneassassin]

That is kind of fucked up, considering that 75% of the reason why he doesn't have a win is because the Phillies are just absolutely shit at the plate this year

[killerbee1000]

19-2! Holy crap

[loneassassin]

So the All- Star game is on Tuesday and to me two pitchers who don't deserve to start have been chosen to start the game: The Giants Matt Cain for the NL and the Tigers Justin Verlander for the AL. Cain getting the start of the Mets R.A. Dickey (who leads or is in the very top of all the NL pitching stats: wins, ERA, strikeouts) is bullshit and the main reason why is that Buster Posey (the starting catcher for the NL) can't handle the knuckleball and Matt Cain is obviously comfortable with Posey. As for Verlander. the only reason why he is starting over the Angels Jered Weaver (who is exactly like R.A. Dickey, leading the AL in everything pitching wise) is because he was AL MVP and Cy Young winner last year.

[Malintex_Terek]

COME ON KERSHAW!

Man Harper. :\

[Wooden_Giraffe]

Anyone want to tell me why with the bases loaded Washington chooses to pinch hit the guy with the least likely chance of hitting a home run?

[loneassassin]

Anyone want to tell me why with the bases loaded Washington chooses to pinch hit the guy with the least likely chance of hitting a home run?

HE's doing cocaine again and his thinking is clouded?

[Malintex_Terek]

Kinsler's a Ranger and is a good average hitter, with the bases loaded they needed a hit there.

...

I guess Papelbon is going to pitch the 9th?

[tatermoog]

I'm glad they pinch-hit Kinsler. It gave us one of the few redeeming moments of this game when he clearly half-played Chipper's groundball to make sure he got a hit.

My other favorite part was Harper losing the ball in the sky and standing in the outfield like a dejected toddler.

[Nex]

Ugh. As a life long Ranger fan, this was a hard All Star game to watch. I thought that maybe, just maybe, if the AL could win it this year, then the Rangers would have the whole thing locked. Instead, it's gonna be the same damn thing as the past two years.

I mean, they're still gonna win, they're just not going to have as easy a time with it.

[Wooden_Giraffe]

Kinsler's a Ranger and is a good average hitter, with the bases loaded they needed a hit there.

Both Kinsler's average and home run count is below Trumbo, Trout, Jones, Konerko, A. Cabrera, M. Cabrera and Butler. Hitting him made no sense whatsoever.

[Malintex_Terek]

There's been a fudge ton of trades/moves in the past three days, but the big ones thus far:

1. Anibal Sanchez, Omar Infante to Tigers
2. Wandy Rodriguez to Pirates
3. Hanley Ramirez to Dodgers
4. Cole Hamels extended by Phillies
5. Ichiro Suzuki to Yankees

I wonder what's next?

[Ubiq]

Ichiro is the one that really surprises me simply because he's been the face of the Mariners ever since he came over from the Blue Wave. Beyond that, trading him seems destined to aggravate a fanbase that really hasn't had a whole lot to cheer about lately.

A-Rod broke his hand while the Yankees lost to the Mariners 4-2, which still made yesterday the best day for Seattle baseball fans in years even considering the Ichiro trade. It's a "non-displaced fracture" and there isn't any timetable for his return. A month and a half to two months seems likely though.

I'm still waiting to see if the Braves do anything; it's really hard to say what they need because the team suffers from the baseball equivalent of multiple personality disorder. Good pitching, no hitting. Good hitting, batting practice pitching. Both. Neither. It's like they have a team meeting after every series where they flip a quarter to decide whether they're going on a winning streak or a losing one.

[tatermoog]

There's been a fudge ton of trades/moves in the past three days, but the big ones thus far:

1. Anibal Sanchez, Omar Infante to Tigers
2. Wandy Rodriguez to Pirates
3. Hanley Ramirez to Dodgers
4. Cole Hamels extended by Phillies
5. Ichiro Suzuki to Yankees

I wonder what's next?

Apparently Greinke to Angels.

Braves are absolutely desperate for another starter and have highly-rated pitching prospects to trade. With the Dodgers waffling on Dempster, might still be a chance for him to accept a trade to Atlanta.

[Nex]

This Rangers v Angels game is insane.

Hopefully the Rangers can put it away.

EDIT: Holy crap. What a win. What a game.

What a comeback.

[Malintex_Terek]

I don't think Atlanta should have much trouble even with their starting pitching woes. The team is build solid head to toe, and bullpens are sort of under-rated right now. San Francisco won the World Series with a stellar bullpen, which was even more important than having good starters. The best bullpens this year are in Cincinnati and Atlanta.

In other news, I'm not surprised Neftali Feliz is going to have TJ Surgery. He was a solid closer but you just don't take a hard throwing closer and make him into a major league SP...that's asking for an arm eruption. They had success before, but not with pitchers who threw as hard as Feliz did. I'm sure Aroldis Chapman would have suffered the same fate.

I'm a bit late on this, but San Francisco acquired Hunter Pence from Philadelphia before the trade deadline. I didn't like the move...Pence is essentially a slightly worse right-handed version of the player we gave up (Nate Schierholtz) and we also lost one of our top catching prospects in the trade. Pence create a problem because he's going to be permanently entrenched in right field, which weakens the team defensively and also blocks Angel Pagan and/or Gregor Blanco if they get hot again. On paper, the team has more roster flexibility, but that's an illusion because the manager is a hard-arse about playing veteran players with established track records. The move was an over-reaction to the Dodgers acquiring Hanley Ramirez (who dramatically destroyed one of the best RPs in the league) and the Dodgers one upped SF anyway by getting Joe Blanton.

I don't think SF is a playoff caliber team right now...but I seriously hope the Pirates are. If the NL playoffs were today, we'd get

Pirates v. Braves [Wild Card]
Cincinnati v. Wild Card NLDS
Giants v. Nationals NLDS

It would be really awesome if Pittsburgh sailed into the post-season this year. Parity prayer!

[Doke no Buggy]

Who do you guys think the MVPs will be? And who do you think will get the Cy Young Awards? I'm a huge Giants fan so I'm deff biased towards Posey and Vogelsong for NL MVP and Cy Young.

[Wooden_Giraffe]

McCutchen deserves every bit of that MVP for the NL, and even though Vogelsong is a good candidate for it I expect Dickey to get Cy Young. As for AL, while Trout deserves MVP, his inexperience may lead voters to pick someone like Cabrera, with Weaver, possibly Verlander getting Cy Young.

[Green_vs_Red]

Jesus the Yankees can't catch a break with their starting pitchers (the good ones).

[Wooden_Giraffe]

I would talk about Rookie of the Year awards, but Trout and Miley make it pointless at the moment.

[tatermoog]

Melky busted with PEDs, out for the season.

Nothing against the Giants, but after his actions against the Braves earlier in the year, mild amount of gloating here.