2012 MLB Season Discussion: Off-Season

Baseball always looks cool in slow motion.

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8-0, and now the Cards are trying to start something in the 8th. Not sure they have that kind of miracle power.

Have faith!

sh*t.

I think you misunderstand. I don't really care, not cheering for them. And semi-against them after that silliness with the Braves. But honestly with the Yankees out, I'm good with whoever.

Jayhawker wrote:

Have faith!

After watching some of the crazy sh*t STL has pulled off the past 2 years, it would not surprise me at all to see them score 9 runs in the 9th.

Gumbie wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

Have faith!

After watching some of the crazy sh*t STL has pulled off the past 2 years, it would not surprise me at all to see them score 9 runs in the 9th.

The magic done run out.

Jayhawker wrote:
Gumbie wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

Have faith!

After watching some of the crazy sh*t STL has pulled off the past 2 years, it would not surprise me at all to see them score 9 runs in the 9th.

The magic done run out.

Man, that was a brutal game to watch. I was hoping for an '06 rematch, but looks like it wasn't meant to be. I'm actually kind of worried about seeing the Tigers play the Giants now as they definitely are on a roll now. Here's hoping that they used up their good mojo taking out the Cards.

Plus it doesn't help that the story out of the Tigers camp is that Valverde still is sucking it up during the simulated games that Leyland organized. I guess Cabrera was actually giving him crap because he just doesn't have his stuff at all. It's going to be an interesting World Series since I think both teams have different strengths and weaknesses that appear to balance out. Tigers have starting pitching and some power hitters, Giants have excellent defense and a great bullpen. Plus, the fact that this is the first time we've seen these two teams play a World Series together makes for an interesting story.

I think it is going to be a great series. I'm pulling for the Giants, as I have have kind of liked a lot of their players for years. I like some on the Tigers, too. But I'm not Prince Fielder so much. I was rooting for Texas in the AL, but their collapse was pretty horrible.

It's nice to have the AL East shut out, though. So the Tigers get credit for making that happen.

Yomiuri vs. Hanshin!

No? This isn't the NPB?

This was for me a tale of two former Mets centerfielders whose success I could enjoy. Nice to see Pagan as the post-game interview. We may have stolen Zack Wheeler, but Pagan/Torres didn't exactly work out in our favor.

I'm rooting for the team that didn't have the cheater playing for it.

Non-surprise of the day: Ozzie's out in Miami.

EDIT: Here's the story.

Things you should have realized before but only did recently: Prince Fielder is playing for his dad's old team. I don't know why, but that just hit me for the first time, and struck me as odd.

Edit: That guy won American Idol?... maybe I've got a bad ear, but he didn't have much of a singing voice. Or didn't show it.

A lesson in greed.

I wanted to bet on the Giants to win the series. I think they have a better starting rotation as a whole. The odds were 2.55. I said to myself 'hmmmm, Verlander is lights out. Just bet it after the Tigers win the first game'.

Getting a win in game 1 Verlander vs Zito is huge if this stands.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Edit: That guy won American Idol?... maybe I've got a bad ear, but he didn't have much of a singing voice. Or didn't show it.

Agreed--not sure if that's just his style or what, but it didn't sound very good to me. Ah well.

jowner wrote:

Getting a win in game 1 Verlander vs Zito is huge if this stands.

Yeah man--the key to getting to Verlander is to get to him early, and the Giants definitely did that. Sandoval is a freaking beast--I still don't know how the crap he hit that first one out of the park. And Zito brought his A++ game.

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It's going to be an interesting series.

1-0 in the 8th. Finally we have a close game. Seems like it's been a week or so.

Wow, can't help but think having all those days rest tamed the tigers a bit. Giants seem to have everything going in there corner; momentum is certainly on their side.

I think the Reds woke the sleeping Giant!
Great pitching though. I loved the announcer's comment after one of Romo's wicked sliders. "That pitch is just filthy!"

I guess such a boring WS is only natural after so many close and interesting series leading up to it. Meh.

At least tonight's game went extra innings. But yeah, a sweep is a sweep.

Yep, that was a yawner.

Just 106 days until Spring Training!

I hope Rat Boy is waking up with quite the hangover today. Really sorry he couldn't be here to enjoy this ride with us.

On the plus side, just like the NHL playoffs, St. Louis got ousted by a California team that was beyond hot. No shame in that.

It should be an interesting off-season.

Jayhawker wrote:

On the plus side, just like the NHL playoffs, St. Louis got ousted by a California team that was beyond hot. No shame in that.

Yeah, my feelings exactly. We had three chances to seal the deal and threw them away. Story of the season, in a way, but it was a helluva run. Should do wonders for the team's confidence for next year.

The thing that I enjoyed about the Giants that is really good for baseball is the team nature of how they played when they caught fire. Yeah, panda had a big game 1, batted .533 and ended up with the MVP but any number of guys earned it. Scutaro, Posey, Zito, Romo (heh I guess we officially have an actual "good" Romo now!). Lincecum was huge, Blanco's bunt and other guys like Pence, Pagan and Crawford that probably didn't deserve the MVP but were crucial to the red hot play.

Sure it was a sweep and Fox would rather make more commercial money, but I thought the series had great stories which is always a core component to baseball.

So the Blue Jays just acquired everyone on the Marlins.

This is at least the third major fire sale in Marlins history, so it's hard to be surprised. It's also hard to feel any empathy for the players involved. They should have known this was going to happen, but they jumped at the big money, accepted contracts with no-trade clauses and bought into whatever b.s. Jeffrey Loria was selling at the time (new stadium, a commitment to winning, blah blah blah). And yes, I'm bitter about Jose Reyes.

That's going to be one empty ugly stadium next season.

On the flip side, the AL East is going to be even more crazy good/interesting to watch next season.

I'm interested in Jose Reyes terrorizing the Yankees next year. But jeesh, what a gross move by Loria.

B Dog wrote:

This is at least the third major fire sale in Marlins history, so it's hard to be surprised. It's also hard to feel any empathy for the players involved. They should have known this was going to happen, but they jumped at the big money, accepted contracts with no-trade clauses and bought into whatever b.s. Jeffrey Loria was selling at the time (new stadium, a commitment to winning, blah blah blah). And yes, I'm bitter about Jose Reyes.

That's going to be one empty ugly stadium next season.

On the flip side, the AL East is going to be even more crazy good/interesting to watch next season.

Do you mean contracts that didn't have no trade clauses?

As for the actual trade people up here in Canada are buzzing… Can’t fault them for trying but I don’t think they make the playoffs still.

Deal hinges on what they get out of Johnson and I’m not very confident when a pitcher goes NL to AL… especially in that division on top of it.

jowner wrote:
B Dog wrote:

This is at least the third major fire sale in Marlins history, so it's hard to be surprised. It's also hard to feel any empathy for the players involved. They should have known this was going to happen, but they jumped at the big money, accepted contracts with no-trade clauses and bought into whatever b.s. Jeffrey Loria was selling at the time (new stadium, a commitment to winning, blah blah blah). And yes, I'm bitter about Jose Reyes.

That's going to be one empty ugly stadium next season.

On the flip side, the AL East is going to be even more crazy good/interesting to watch next season.

Do you mean contracts that didn't have no trade clauses?

Yep. Sorry. I meant no "no-trade clauses."

Buster Olney pointed out that these big-money players are going from a very favorable tax environment in Florida to a very unfavorable one in Toronto. That is a major financial hit for someone like Jose Reyes.

But I'm also with Slumberland—I'll be happy to see Jose terrorize the Yankees and Red Sox on a regular basis.

That's going to be one empty ugly stadium next season.

This is different from every year how??