MontanaXVI

Well I guess no time like the present to start a new baseball thread.

No one has touched the last one for almost 10 days, we had a couple Spring games today.......THANKS FOR BEING BLACKED OUT NEW MLB NETWORK....damn Indians V. Giants game on so Ohio doesn't get to see the MLB Network during the game today.

Dodgers have given Manny a new offer to look over, this one in the 2 year 45mil range, which is a little less in years and money than he wanted but close to the 3 years 25+/year he was looking to get.

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Glory's Sun

Manny will sign with the Dodgers. There nobody else out there who wants him. So unless he just doesn't want to play this year..he'll be in blue.

I'm kind of surprised nobody from the AL even really looked at him. I mean a team could just shove him in the DH position and not worry about his fielding.. they would just have his numbers at the play to enjoy.

MontanaXVI

I think him going back to LA isn't a bad move really, but they are going to be sharing time again with those young OF'ers

Kemp, Pierre and Ethier already set, one of them is going to have to split time with Manny.

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MacGuyver

I love being a Sox fan, because everything they do will absolutely be on NESN unless it's nationally televised. So no having to deal with MLB Network!!

Manny didn't really get a look anywhere else because nobody wants to pay him. LAD is the only team that is willing to throw him the money he wants. Honestly, I think Pierre suffers the most from this deal. I think Ethier has a much higher ceiling than Pierre, and Pierre is going to have the worst numbers out of the lot of them, so his time should see a cut.

On a side note, something about Boof Bonser being out for the season already? I thought I saw something but haven't really heard much since.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

MontanaXVI

Dunno about Boof, but I just seen that Milton Bradley already left a game with tightness in his quad?

Could just be early spring kinks, but like I said in the 2008 thread, they paid a lot of money for a guy who won't make it the year as an everyday OF

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MontanaXVI

So I just woke up and got a text message from ESPN saying Manny has rejected the Dodgers 2 year 45mil offer.

What a shock, really. Boras is an utter fool at this point if he really expects to get Manny 25mil AND 3+ years.

I don't see anyone picking him up at this point, we are into spring games and teams are going to want to get those lineups worked out.

Also just read that Nomar is looking to join the A's or retire.....please retire. They already have one 3B who cannot stay healthy (Chavez) no need to bring in another one, especially one who probably was on steroids and can't stay healthy anymore.

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Glory's Sun

I'm not so sure Manny even knows what deals are out there. I mean..can he really be this stupid?? The new offer had an option to opt out after the first year and become a free agent. WTF??

Boras is a good agent, but he's trying to force an issue that isn't there on this one. He keeps saying there are 6 or 7 teams in the mix and they seem to be invisible. The yanks don't want him.. so really.. LA is the only other team (other than the cubs and boston and we know that isn't going to happen) that can afford him.

Maybe I should start burning all my manny memorbilia.

MontanaXVI

Just seen a note about Boof Bonser, exploratory surgery found tears in his labrum and rotator cuff.

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Glory's Sun

so it looks like Manny isn't so dumb after all.. looks like the Dodgers are to blame for the newest disaster. They said 2 years at 45 million but it was 10 million for '09 10 mil for '10 (if player option picked up and then 10 mil for '11 and '12 and 5 mil for '13.

Now if I was a player I would take deferred money but the kicker in all of this is that the dodgers said there would be no interest. So yeah that is kind of crappy. Plus Boras and Manny said yes to the contract at first because they thought it was 45 mil guaranteed for 2 years but it ends up they may have been trying to screw him after all

djtestudo

I saw somewhere that deferred money was part of every Manny offer from the Dodgers.

Methinks they really screwed up here, because they look like liars here.

Anyone watching the "30-in-30" shows on MLB Network? I watched tonight because they were discussing the Orioles (for 59:30 longer than ESPN will the entire rest of spring training ), and I really liked their format, with the interviews and discussions.

Plus, I got the added bonus of calling Harold Reynolds a moron and a genius within ten minutes of each other! (Going from saying Melvin Mora is a good base stealer/runner (he sucks on the bases) to saying Matt Wieters should start from day one (as opposed to leaving him in AAA for contract reasons).)

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Glory's Sun

the only thing I've watched on MLB network was that series they had on the red sox.. most of it I agreed with but some was eh..debatable.

Was like 3 hours long..

MacGuyver

This recent contract I've heard of the options format since it came out. The original 2 yr/$45 mil - I don't think was broken up into many options, maybe an option for a 3rd year but was mostly upfront. Now if I, Joe Spectator, had heard that it was broken up before the contract pitch was accepted then swiftly rejected, one would think that Scott Boras, agent of all agents, would read the damn fine print. What are you trying to sink a ship in this economy? Enjoy watching Opening Day from the couch, Maneulito, or start questioning your agent if you REALLY want to play baseball.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

kutulu

So f'n what if the money is deferred at no interest, it is a hell of a lot more money than any other team has right now. Sure, there may be several "interested" team but not for $20M+. Teams don't go into spring training with $20M to spare. It's obvious that the Dodgers also don't have the money.

After all the stunts he pulled to get out of Boston, Manny doesn't deserve shit. There should have been disciplinary action against him.

runtuff

Manny will sign eventually, but this is a great way to miss out on Spring Training which he loaths anyhow. We will get to watch Manny be happy and productive for a while, BUT he is a ticking time bomb. The Dodgers should know this and don't everyone else does.

Glory's Sun

a team like the dodgers needs manny's bat..that's the whole deal. They have good young talent but manny can wake up and hit 40 with his eyes shut.

Ridge

Griffey will put some new life into the Seattle clubhouse and the fans will cheer again in Seattle. Not sure if he will make them much better, but having him back will help. I think he still has some good years as long as he stays healthy.

MacGuyver

Agreed. I think he'll be on the good side of 20/80 with a revitalizing Seattle scenery to make him feel young again. Hopefully he spends some time DH as well so he doesn't wear out over the course of the season.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

djtestudo

I'd love to see The Kid become The Man again back in his real home, but I think he'll end up on the DL much of the year. He'll hit when he can, though.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

MacGuyver

On a side note, I really can't wait to do fantasy baseball. Let's just draft NOW!! Also expand rosters, especially if we only end up with 10 teams as it is now instead of the 12 that I think you had last year.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

MacGuyver

Just a little nugget... you know it's a slow news day when stuff like this comes up but: Curt Schilling points to Rays, Cubs when discussing possible comeback - ESPN

Schilling mulling playing again. Sure he only puts it at 20% so this shouldn't be a big deal, but let me give a word of advice. DON'T DO IT!! Just hang up your bloody socks, and go blogging.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

MontanaXVI

Schilling needs to stick to Everquest.

I am curious though if Paul Byrd will draw any interest from a team mid-season and if Schilling would be trying to do something like that. I am not a Byrd fan by any means, but Schilling wanting a comeback could kinda be like the Clemens deal, sign with a contender or whoever pours the most money his way come All-Star break time.

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MacGuyver

Looks like Oaktown picked up SS Orlando Cabrera and 3B Nomar Garciparra. I like these moves. Sure they're older, but hell, it will give the young'n's time to build themselves without getting crushed at the big league level. And as a Red Sox fan, I have to...


NOHMAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

MontanaXVI

I like Cabrera over Crosby at SS without a doubt, not a bad deal money wise either. I don't like giving up a 2nd round and supplemental 1st rounder too much but the A's usually do decent in the draft and make smart moves when they get young players or picks from other teams.

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Glory's Sun

Nobody talking about Manny agreeing in principle to 2 years $45 mil with the dodgers??

Guess nobody is surprised by this. It was pretty much take it or leave it at this point

MacGuyver

I'm just glad it's over with. Maybe I'm still a little sour but, hey who cares.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

MontanaXVI

A-Roid....er Afraud....errr Alex Rodriguez is having surgery to repair the torn labrum in his hip and is expected to miss 6-10 weeks and STILL has to have surgery at the end of the season for the issue with the cyst and make sure everything is in order.

Could this be one of those things that just crops up, or do you think this is the start of his body breaking down from the steroids?

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Glory's Sun

Who knows. I think it would be an amazing coincedence if it happened to be from the roids. I know it says he's going to be out only at most for 10 weeks... but if the surgery doesn't do what it's supposed to he'll end up like Mike Lowell and he'll be out for months and months.

MacGuyver

Come on... I've been trying to forget this. Let's not talk about it.

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

Glory's Sun

Hey he's on the comeback trail..supposed to play tuesday. Anyway, aren't we all hoping that A-Roid misses months??

pan6467

He's out 6-9 weeks. And yes, I would love the guy to be out for longer. But, I do not believe he will ever be the same. Too much pressure, people are going to heckle him more, I just think we are seeing the end of Afraud.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

MacGuyver

Hopefully. Most people don't want to see him break the home-run record now. He already sucks in the postseason because of the pressure during October. Imagine how he'll be now.

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

Glory's Sun

my comeback trail comment was directed towards Mike Lowell..

MacGuyver

yeah, I should have just put the second half in there, the A-Roid missing months bit. I know there are lots that are hoping that he's missing a whole lot more than months.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

MontanaXVI

Just a reminder that the TFP fantasy baseball league draft is tonight at 9pm Eastern.

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MacGuyver

I'll bring the chips. Draft party?

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

MacGuyver

Curt Schilling retires today... Goodnight sweet prince.

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

Mister Coaster

As per last year, I'll be mostly staying out of this topic. But I just have to pop in and say that my Angels are kicking some serious ass in pre-season... as of today 22-5! I know pre-season is just that, but promising nonetheless. And they actually picked up another LHP!

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pan6467

I'm worried about my Tribe... Hafner has no timing or power, Martinez is lacking power, Lee is pitching like shit..... it's going to be a long Summer if they don't get their shit together. Kansas City looks like the surprise team in the AL Central.

The Reds on the other hand may be a surprise team. If the pitching can be strong and Tavares truly does set a table, they could make a run at the wildcard (the Cubbies should have the Central locked up) and have a better record than any NL West team.

Other predictions....

I see the Skanks falling apart, I think the AL East will be: Tampa and Bosux battling first and second, Tampa was no fluke and may have the best young team in baseball... Their youth tho could be their downfall.... NY a disppointingly surprise third, Toronto and Baltimore fighting each other to to stay out of the basement.

AL Central: Wide open what used to be arguably the best division has been relegated to cash poor teams and management that is trying but taking serious gambles (youth in KC and Minnesota, reclamation projects in Cleveland and the elderly in Detroit and Chicago). Cleveland could run away with it if everyone plays to their talent level especially if Wood, Pavano, Hafner, Martinez and Carmona can stay healthy all season. If they play decent, they'll fight KC for 1 and 2... Detroit and Chicago will fight for last unless the Tribe totally falls apart and Minnesota will finish third.

AL West: it's going to be a very tough year for all 4 teams there. The Rangers have OFFENSE galore but no pitching. The Angels had a great preseason, I just don't see them really doing much during the season .... those are 2 will finish 1 and 2 solely because Seattle and Oakland totally suck and both teams may finish with 100 loss seasons.

The NL East maybe the tightest and most best division out of the 6, definitely in the NL. This could be anyone's division and all 5 teams will probably have winning records over all the West teams and even possibly the Central save for the Cubs and Possibly Cincy. I'm just going to guess here and rank them because this division is talented and wide open. NY, Wash, Philly, Atlanta and Fla. (watch that be the only division I get right and solely because I randomly chose.

The NL Central: The Cubbies will run away with it, quite possibly the best team in baseball this year. IF my Reds play to their talent, they could be the most surprising team in all of baseball this year and be second place. With the East teams beating each other up, the Reds could sneak into the race and take the wildcard. Houston, will actually overtake St. Louis this season, I like their SP a lot.... Oswalt is an ace anywhere, I'm really high on Wandy Rodriguez, Hampton could have a comeback year before retirement with Lee and Berkman knocking in Matsui, Pence and possibly Bourn they may score enough runs to let their SP keep them in the game, the problem lies in their bullpen... the RP won't be able to hold those leads. St Louis will be fourth, they just don't have a team direction right now, they have no pitching, other than Pujols their offense is hurting and they can't even really name a closer. Pitt and Milwaukee, they'll fight for 5 and last. Even IF the Astros pass the Reds, I don't see the Reds falling below 3rd in this division.... they have talent and some players I think that really can handle the pressure this year.

The NL West: This will be a runaway for the DBacks. No other team in the division comes close to their pitching and talented youth. LA is built on unproven SP.... yes, I know these guys stats last year, but that was one year... they may surprise but... LA does have some power and speed on the basepaths and a decent middle infield but Furcal, Blake and Hudson I don't see hitting the way this team will need them to, Martin is an injury waiting to happen, Manny is getting old and is well.... Manny so his fielding and brainfarts will cost a game or 2, not to mention we all know what happens when Manny gets upset with management... second in the division at best or because the other 3 suck worse. San Fran has some decent pitching but seriously? after Lincecum and Cain they got Zito who is an overpaid bum, Big Unit who is getting old, and kids and no offense save for Sandoval and possibly an aging Molina. They have some speed and on base guys but unless their pitching can hold the runs down... this team won't score the runs to win games. Colorado.... is well Colorado without any hitting, they have an interesting SP collection though Cook, Jimenez and Marquis may turn out to be a decent 1-2-3 punch but not enough to compete seriously. San Diego will trade Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez by mid season and finish with 100+ loss season... They may even get rid of Chris Young.... They may go after a record this year the worst record in the modern age of baseball.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

djtestudo

The Orioles are going to be a very interesting team. Every offensive projection I've seen suggests that the hitting is going to be top-five in the league. Especially once Matt Wieters comes up; he's being called "Mauer with power", though from the impressions I've getting he sounds more like Mike Piazza plus quality defense, and he completely annihilated single-A and double-A last season (and actually hit better at the higher level). Not that there's any expectations for him around here or anything

Between Wieters, Markakis and Jones (who a bunch of different national media have called a top breakout candidate), this team will score a lot of runs. Even Cesar Izturis at shortstop is going help the offense: with a mid-.600s OPS, he will be about a hundred points better than the OPS for Baltimore's shortstops last season. And this is with the team making an effort to focus on defense, signing Izturis and trading for Felix Pie as a reclamation project in left field.

The big problem is that the starting pitching is going to blow Roger-Clemens'-tiny-testicles. There are four new starters in the rotation behind Jeremy Guthrie, and only Japanese import Koji Uehara looks like a definite answer beyond this season. The Andy MacPhail Express from Chicago brought in Rich Hill, who looked decent in spring training and is going to be given a chance once he is healthy in a couple weeks, but the other three in the rotation now (Alfredo Simon, Adam Eaton and Mark Hendrickson) are just keeping places warm.

The Orioles have been making a conceited effort to keep their most-talented young pitchers earn their way through the minors the past couple years. Even though Brad Bergesen and Brian Matusz showed in spring training that they probably could hold their own in the majors right now, the team is sending them down, to triple-A and single-A respectively, to earn their promotions.

Hopefully, the young guys down in Norfolk will perform well early on in the season and the team will promote them to give them their chances soon; That Eaton-Hendrickson combo is going to KILL me.

Fortunately, the bullpen is setting up to be pretty good. The back end, with George Sherrill starting the season as closer, former closer Chris Ray coming back strong and last years' surprise Jim Johnson, is very strong.

The Orioles really aren't trying to win this season, but if Wieters is anything near his expectations and a couple of the young pitchers earn early promotions and pitch well in the majors, the O's will win a bunch more games than most expect.

Really, this team could win 70 games and finish last, or they could win 85 games and finish third (or even then likely fourth, with the strength of the division).

It's definitely going to be an interesting season...

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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

MikeSty

AL East will be the big division to watch with a huge 3-team race, but we'll see if the Orioles can put something nice together in the next few years.

A lot of people are tabbing Cincy to be this years' version of the Rays. I can sort-of see it, but the pitching will have to really have a freakishly good year like the Rays got last year, and I'm not sure if I can see that. Offensively, they will rake in the bandbox that is Cinergy Field - but why the hell did they cut Jonny Gomes? That guy could mash. Volquez was a pretty sharp pitcher last year, but lets see if Cueto and company can fill out the rotation. How about Homer Bailey?

Giants could be a decent team - they made a handful of little moves and are hopefully moving out of the Bonds era. I'm excited to see that freak Lincecum have another stellar year.

The Yanks are going to win it though