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2015 MLB Hot Stove?
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It's a good deal, especially considering how much Pablo Sandoval got.
I keep forgetting about A-Rod. At this point, it looks like he'll be sharing time @ DH with Beltran, and based on how he does, they'll go from there.
And Prado at 2nd with Refsnyder waiting in the wings.
Darn. We need him over in SF when we lost 3rd baseman Sandoval.
That leaves pulling out the wallet big for Scherzer (3.15) or Shields (3.21).
It's been mentioned we can also sign one of our free agents Peavy (3.73, 2014) or Vogelsong (4.00, 2014), both dual WS winners, to fill single vacancy in our rotation. I assume it will be Madbum and Hudson, with a hopefully rejuvenated Cain and Lincecum to make up four of the five spots. Peavy and Vogelsong are past their prime but have done great things in the past.
Scherzer may be too expensive for us but James Shields should be worth us outbidding any other team to get or else we will probably make this an "odd year" and totally miss the playoffs altogether.
Jed Lowrie to the Astros, as well.
Looks like SF is either going to a) usher in the Adam Duvall era next season, or b) trade for a third baseman out of the blue. Brian Sabean is sure good at keeping us in suspense.
Can't say I'm too excited about the prospect of signing Shields, but he won't be expected to be the ace of the staff. Scherzer is going to cost way too much, so forget that one.
Looks like SF is either going to a) usher in the Adam Duvall era next season, or b) trade for a third baseman out of the blue. Brian Sabean is sure good at keeping us in suspense.
Can't say I'm too excited about the prospect of signing Shields, but he won't be expected to be the ace of the staff. Scherzer is going to cost way too much, so forget that one.
This sounds a lot like an excuse for bad baseball. The Cubs have been bad because of bad teams.
I don't think you ever win a championship via luck. That roster was pretty brilliantly constructed. I get your frustration about Lester, but the luck argument is pretty lame.
I would too as a Red Sox fan
I do think they screwed up royally by not signing to an extension. I mean they spent a boat load of money on two players already this offseason and tried to get Lester for 135 million. I don't believe you can call them cheap. You can question their business sense in not locking Lester up last year.
I think the Red Sox have their valuations and try and stick to them. Yeah, I think if they could go back in time (and know Lester would have a career year), they would have made a better starting offer in spring training. But the Red Sox are built to reload, and their motto has been to not hand out super long contracts to players in their 30s. Pitchers especially, it hasn't worked out for nearly any team.
A fatso who is an above average defender and a great hitter. Why must Red Sox fans do this every time?
Let's just see what other moves the team makes before we crucify the front office. They've done a great job as of late and our farm is stacked.
The only thing worse than the "luck" argument is the asinine "Marathon bombing" argument.
ever?
OMG, tell that to the Giants.
Yes, most teams get there through hard work and often being the best and having them from the start as the Yankees can attest to with so many championships.
On paper and during regular season there's nothing indicating that the Giants should even make it to postseason thus the poor showing at beginning of year with oddsmakers. Yes, in most cases a great team is brilliantly constructed, but does that mean having other team castoffs suddenly turn hot in October, or having mediocre or over the hill players step up, or having backups do the work when very key people are hurt? Who can predict that, and who would? Only people who knew absolutely nothing about baseball thought SF would get there simply because they were great. No, there weren't great as the ERAs and batting averages of the entire year showed, but they somehow played great together as a team and there's a big difference there.
I don't know if the emotional events of the marathon bombing or shedding the curse only ten years ago are factors to the success of Boston, but some teams have similar things happen that could be seen as devastating and that can drive them. Don't you think Hurricane Katrina and the way New Orleans had to band together put a certain spirit to home games during the Saints run to the Lombardi?
Over here for many years, Barry Bonds was almost everything for San Francisco but the team went on without him in 2009 leading into the big 2010 year. Many thought it was over for SF to get anywhere without Bonds who was key for the team getting to the 2002 WS. Other big years for SF recently were made without key stars (no Lincecum in WS rotation, and no Lincecum, Cain, or Zito in most recent WS rotation as well as being without big stars Scutaro and Pagan). Luck played a huge factor as the team made the biggest opportunities possible from the smallest errors of other teams who had their full cast of starters with better batting averages and lower ERAs. I think your 2013 Boston year was a miracle, not unlike SF's 2012 or 2014 and the usual suspects of teams most expected (LAD, Rangers, Reds, LAA, Washington, and Cardinals) didn't win the WS.
Sometimes the first thing people want to do is heap a lot of credit on Bruce Boche or consider him some sort of genius doing something different than other skippers. He will be the first to tell you how puzzled how well things turn out, especially in situations where the team is facing elimination. Through 2012 NLDS, NLCS, and 2014 Wild Card Game, the team faced 7 elimination games but won each of those 7.
That being said with your acquisition of the Panda and a big hitter from LAD, the Red Sox should be in pretty good contention. As long as you keep Panda from getting too fat (problem we had sometimes with him in SF), you should get a few extra games next year from him. Ramirez should also be worth a few extra games, too. If you go all the way, it will be because you spent well and did so with your crew of 2013 who should take their experience and have a nice addition of a couple of west coast guys. If you got Lester I would predict you go 100+ games.
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Luck certainly helps win championships, but with baseball having such a long, multiple round postseason now, the luck factor is a lot less than meets the eye IMO. You have to be a good team and you have to consistently execute in order to win twelve October games (including the WC play-in game) to earn that Commissioner's Trophy.
Baseball history is filled with average players who caught fire in October and became legends; it's not just a Giants' thing. Don Larsen is probably the greatest example. David Freese in 2011, anyone?
I really think the Giants' success is mostly down to Bruce Bochy. He has really mastered the art of managing baseball games in October. It's a significantly different skill set than you need in the regular season. When you can put guys like Travis Ishikawa or Juan Perez in positions where they can make big contributions on the biggest stage, you know you're doing something right. The Giants' front office doesn't get nearly enough credit for identifying role players that can execute when called upon.
Speaking of the Giants' front office, I really wonder what their plan is. They've been awfully quiet, and quite a few free agents that seemed like a good fit have signed with other teams. Have to assume a trade or two is in the works, but I have no idea who would be coming and who would be going.
Baseball history is filled with average players who caught fire in October and became legends; it's not just a Giants' thing. Don Larsen is probably the greatest example. David Freese in 2011, anyone?
I really think the Giants' success is mostly down to Bruce Bochy. He has really mastered the art of managing baseball games in October. It's a significantly different skill set than you need in the regular season. When you can put guys like Travis Ishikawa or Juan Perez in positions where they can make big contributions on the biggest stage, you know you're doing something right. The Giants' front office doesn't get nearly enough credit for identifying role players that can execute when called upon.
Speaking of the Giants' front office, I really wonder what their plan is. They've been awfully quiet, and quite a few free agents that seemed like a good fit have signed with other teams. Have to assume a trade or two is in the works, but I have no idea who would be coming and who would be going.
Without really knowing any of these people personally, I think if you had to pin their weird, unlikely WS runs on anything, Boche would be the best guess. It's been said that whether he loses a game to stupid errors or wins the WS, his blood pressure and pulse remains constant. Nothing stirs him up either way and he has only the facts, his eyes and ears, and his knowledge to propel him through every inning, every out. Emotion never gets the better of him.
I recall where he mentioned the day after a WS win, his first thought is how to put together a team/strategy for next year. Where most Giants can relax in their job well done, he can't even have a good night's sleep the night of. I think hot stove must be on his mind more than anybody else. I don't know if this steady, unidirectional behavior is typical of any other coaches in any sport, but it seems to have worked for Boche.
As for hot stove, we lost Michael Morse from the outfield which is totally puzzling. I sure hope we get an amazing third baseman and starting rotation pitcher to keep us healthy for a shot at 2015. If it comes down to not getting a pitcher from outside we can still do fairly well with Peavy and Vogelsong and sign them to short contracts. I don't know where a strong third baseman will come from, and then after that a big hitting outfielder. We can do better than most teams with two free agent pitchers and existing outfielders but going against LA we have to get the best we can just to make postseason.
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Brian Cashman says Alex Roidriguez will be a full time DH.
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/12037429/alex-rodriguez-now-full-dh
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I can't even imagine him as a full time DH, to be honest. We can't expect either Beltran or Tex to play ~140 in the field, so they're going to be taking AB away from him.
It all depends on how he's hitting. And how they're hitting.
White Sox unveil Samardzija, Robertson, Melky
Huge offseason for Chicago. Still so many holes on both sides of town, but I think both clubs (especially the White Sox) should be watchable this season.
Huge offseason for Chicago. Still so many holes on both sides of town, but I think both clubs (especially the White Sox) should be watchable this season.
I hope D-Rob does well next year. He was a good guy.
But those wannabe pinstripes have got to go!
I hope D-Rob does well next year. He was a good guy.
But those wannabe pinstripes have got to go!
Yeah, that's not happening. While the Yankees are famous for their pinstripes, the White Sox first debuted pinstripes at the same time the Yankees did.
They also originated the term "Sox", when Chicago newspapers wouldn't write "Stockings" in their headlines.
In fact, I believe the Cubs wore pinstripes when they were the White Stockings long long ago. Charles Comiskey named his team the White Stockings to mock the Cubs (Former White Stockings).
I'd be down if they had the uniforms with the big S and the o and x inside (from the early 1900's). Those were awesome!
I'm a huge fan of tradition and would love to see some of the older teams revert back to their original uniforms. All these uniforms now can be sometimes too much. With their crazy colors and multiple "alternate" jerseys.
And the names on the back! How stupid looking.
To be fair the Rays can keep their new unis.
And the names on the back! How stupid looking.
To be fair the Rays can keep their new unis.
White Sox were also the first to put names on their jersey. That was a Bill Veeck product. He pioneered the exploding scoreboard (fireworks) and he put the Ivy in Wrigley Field.
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And disco demolition night. We can't forget about disco demolition night.
Though, that may have been his son's fault.
If not Shields as new ace, what about Cole Hamels to Giants?
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/10433...-phillies-pitcher-cole-hamels-keeps-open-mind
Red Sox and Dodgers can also be possibilities. Going to Dodgers would really suck for us but it's a good thing Lester didn't go to Dodgers.
As for closers, we re-sign three time World Series champion Romo!
We also got Jake Peavy back who threw 2.71 ERA. Madbum, Hudson, Cain, Peavy, and Lincecum should do us OK but there's not safety valve there. Shields is probably too rich for our blood now with Romo and Peavy back on board so we need a third baseman, preferably who can hit well. While Madbum is our best 9 inning guy, the rest can go six or seven and rely on our strong bullpen who have gotten us out of a lot of jams in the past couple of years.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/10433...-phillies-pitcher-cole-hamels-keeps-open-mind
Red Sox and Dodgers can also be possibilities. Going to Dodgers would really suck for us but it's a good thing Lester didn't go to Dodgers.
As for closers, we re-sign three time World Series champion Romo!
We also got Jake Peavy back who threw 2.71 ERA. Madbum, Hudson, Cain, Peavy, and Lincecum should do us OK but there's not safety valve there. Shields is probably too rich for our blood now with Romo and Peavy back on board so we need a third baseman, preferably who can hit well. While Madbum is our best 9 inning guy, the rest can go six or seven and rely on our strong bullpen who have gotten us out of a lot of jams in the past couple of years.
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Apparently Eovaldi has a big arm. Young, high upside. I'm interested in seeing what he can do.
This also opens up the door for Pirela and Refsnyder to win the 2nd base job outright in Spring Training.
I like this trade.