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The MLB 2010 Season Thread
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Oh thank goodness! I couldn't stand to listen to either of those guys. Most of the time I just watched it on mute when the Yanks played Sunday Night Baseball.
I haven't heard many games with the new guys, but it's a long shot that they will be more annoying than Morgan and Miller.
I haven't heard many games with the new guys, but it's a long shot that they will be more annoying than Morgan and Miller.
I usually just like listening to the commentators with a connection to either team, ya know? Everything is more personalized.
I remember one game this year where I think it was in July and it was the Twins vs. someone else that wasn't the Yankees, but Morgan couldn't stop mentioning the Yankees trade rumors and stuff like it had an effect on the game or something.
I usually just mute the game if the game is on national television with different commentators.
I would really like the Twins to sign Juan Uribe to play second base. His defense is good, his bat, while streaky is overall decent with some pop. I wouldn't mind throwing a 2-3 year deal his way for about $6-7 million a year. Plus, if we get JJ Hardy back which I hope we do, if he stays fragile Uribe can always back up at short.
This is what I hope the Twins end up like:
Starting Rotation
1. Liriano
2. Pavano
3. Duensing
4. Slowey
5. Blackburn
Trade Baker for some bullpen help.
Starting Lineup
1. CF - Span - Span was probably the worst defensive centerfielder I have ever seen last season... and his bat was terrible as well. I say give him another year to see if he can go back to form.
2. 3B - Danny Valencia - Not a prototypical 2 hitter, but he has a good eye
3. C - Joe Mauer - I honestly don't like Mauer in the 3 hole but Gardy does.
4. 1B - Justin Morneau
5. DH - Jim Thome/Andruw Jones - Jones would be an awesome addition.
6. LF - Delmon Young
7. RF - Michael Cuddyer
8. 2B - Juan Uribe
9. SS - JJ Hardy - we can afford JJ Hardy's lack of bat with his great defense
I remember one game this year where I think it was in July and it was the Twins vs. someone else that wasn't the Yankees, but Morgan couldn't stop mentioning the Yankees trade rumors and stuff like it had an effect on the game or something.
I usually just mute the game if the game is on national television with different commentators.
I would really like the Twins to sign Juan Uribe to play second base. His defense is good, his bat, while streaky is overall decent with some pop. I wouldn't mind throwing a 2-3 year deal his way for about $6-7 million a year. Plus, if we get JJ Hardy back which I hope we do, if he stays fragile Uribe can always back up at short.
This is what I hope the Twins end up like:
Starting Rotation
1. Liriano
2. Pavano
3. Duensing
4. Slowey
5. Blackburn
Trade Baker for some bullpen help.
Starting Lineup
1. CF - Span - Span was probably the worst defensive centerfielder I have ever seen last season... and his bat was terrible as well. I say give him another year to see if he can go back to form.
2. 3B - Danny Valencia - Not a prototypical 2 hitter, but he has a good eye
3. C - Joe Mauer - I honestly don't like Mauer in the 3 hole but Gardy does.
4. 1B - Justin Morneau
5. DH - Jim Thome/Andruw Jones - Jones would be an awesome addition.
6. LF - Delmon Young
7. RF - Michael Cuddyer
8. 2B - Juan Uribe
9. SS - JJ Hardy - we can afford JJ Hardy's lack of bat with his great defense
I like Jon Miller a lot. The only real annoying thing about him is he tends to get overexcitable at key moments of the game, and he over-enunciates when he says something en español. ¡Adios, pelota! Hopefully this means we hear him more frequently on Giants broadcasts. There's something about his play-calling style that works better on the radio.
Joe Morgan. Good riddance. For one of the most intelligent hitters to ever play the game, he sure was brain-dead in the announcer's box.
Joe Morgan. Good riddance. For one of the most intelligent hitters to ever play the game, he sure was brain-dead in the announcer's box.
I love Miller. Sure, he is always reminding us of how smart he is, and he is, but he does paint the picture, is willing to criticize bad play. "And that, ladies and gentleman, was the worst baserunning in the history of baseball". And it was.
I also want him to do more Giants games.
The championship Giants!!!!!
You know, and this rarely works out in the most difficult and cruelest game, but that pitching is indeed dominant from starters, middle relievers and the closer. They did have to get the blessings from the gods to get the hits they got and they will have to seriously upgrade the bats in order to repeat. I think two superior bats might do it and that is doable.
I also want him to do more Giants games.
The championship Giants!!!!!
You know, and this rarely works out in the most difficult and cruelest game, but that pitching is indeed dominant from starters, middle relievers and the closer. They did have to get the blessings from the gods to get the hits they got and they will have to seriously upgrade the bats in order to repeat. I think two superior bats might do it and that is doable.
I'm a die hard Yankees fan, but the Derek Jeter win came as a huge surprise to me. Not that I think he's awful, just not Gold Glove caliber. I am happy to see Robby and Tex get credit. They both played awesome defense this year. And DJ may want to give Tex a little something something when he signs his new deal, because I think Tex is a big reason that he was even considered for the award this year.
Definitely. And Tex saved him some errors this year. He's still has decent range, but it's not what it used to be. And the best in the league? Not so sure about that.
Though, I do feel bad for A-Rod...always left out of the party.
Actually, that is the opposite. He has poor range, but if he gets to it, the baserunner is usually out( and yes, Tex has helped him out on that). His poor range is way he doesn't have many errors.
Yeah I was under the impression Jeter basically has the range of an average second baseman but an arm of a third baseman?
All the starters and most of the relievers will be back. I imagine Jeremy Affeldt will be allowed to leave - Dan Runzler will take his place as a lefty reliver, unless the rumors of him being converted into a starter really come true. Can't see Guillermo Mota returning, nor can I see Chris Ray being better than the guys he has to compete against for a spot. Nice problem to have!
It's not going to be easy getting two "superior" bats within the Giants' budget. Only two of them - Crawford and Werth - are really available on the free agent market and they'll both be way out of the Giants' price range. I'd like to see Captain Caveman come over - he gets on base, has great power, and is a very good fielder, which is crucial at AT&T Park. Can't say I'm a huge Crawford fan. The speed is nice to have, but I'd rather have a guy who's better at getting on base.
I expect Uribe, Ross, and Huff will return. Hopefully Mark DeRosa is finally healthy in 2011, he can play left field or take over third base if Sandoval doesn't get his act together. Or, if Brandon Belt pulls a Buster Posey in 2011, Huff can move to left.
Beginning to wonder if the Giants want a more consistent starter than Jonathan Sanchez, and what they might be able to get for him through a trade. The emergence of Madison Bumgarner makes Sanchez somewhat more expendable.
Okay, this is starting to veer off into Hot Stove territory...
Actually, that is the opposite. He has poor range, but if he gets to it, the baserunner is usually out( and yes, Tex has helped him out on that). His poor range is way he doesn't have many errors.
That's exactly right. He scoops up everything hit right at him, but not many balls that he has to go after. Compared to other shortstops, he does not have good range, but that's a difficult thing to perceive on the field, where it looks like that ground ball was just too far for him to reach and he throws out the ones he can get to.
He's not the first to benefit from that type of fielding. Steve Garvey comes to mind, although in his case he may have just flat-out not tried to get to balls he would have had to stretch for.
When I think of infielders with poor range, I always think of Carney Lansford. The guy made loads of diving stops at third, but he had to because he had all the range of a fire hydrant.
Jeter winning a gold glove this year is a joke. I don't think he ever deserved any of them, but this one takes the cake.
Hardballtalk complied some quotes on the subject.
Hardballtalk complied some quotes on the subject.
It looks dramatic though, doesn't it? When a player falls to one side and knocks a ball down, then hops up to throw someone out? And most fans don't see what the fielder was doing before the ball got to him, so unless you're watching a replay that shows the player before the ball was hit, you'd never know that he dove because one foot might as well have been nailed to the ground.
And the opposite is also true, where the stats seem to deceive you about fielding. It's especially true with fielding stats, which until recently were very rudimentary. Pretty much every player who played with or against him seems to agree that Willie Mays was the best outfielder they ever saw, but he often racked up more errors than you would expect. Why? Because he went after pretty much every ball that was in his zip code, and sometimes that meant he dove and missed, or whirled around and air-mailed it over the cutoff man. But everyone watching at the time knew that when that happened, it was almost always (or at least until his disturbingly awkward Mets days) on a play that no player would have even had a chance at.
A similar thing happened with Roberto Clemente -- still lauded by many as having the greatest throwing arm ever seen on a rightfielder -- and Johnny Bench, ditto at catcher. For much of their careers, their assist numbers were fairly ordinary because no one bothered to run on them anymore.
Joe Posnanski had an interesting take (while agreeing that it's ridiculous). He figures that since the Gold Gloves are the only awards decided on by managers, they tend to prefer players who play the game the way they like it to be played. That helps explain why some good character guys often win the award and why players tend to keep winning them for years after they stop deserving them.
I'm glad to see Ichiro win another one though. It's worth watching a Mariners game just to seem him play the field. He always seems to take the quickest path to the ball, knows exactly how balls will ricochet off the outfield wall, and his arm might as well be a laser cannon. I wonder if anyone old enough to have seen Clemente play -- and can be impartial about it -- could make a good comparison between the two. If it's been done I'd love to read it.
Speaking of outfield throws, do yourself a favor and see if you can track down Bo Jackson gunning down Harold Reynolds from left field in a game from the late 1980s. (I know it's hard because MLB really cracks down on bootlegged clips online, but it's worth it.) One of the greatest throws you'll ever see. It was so improbable that it didn't occur to Reynolds until he was almost at the plate that the catcher would even receive a throw.
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The greatest throw that I ever saw, I think it might have been mentioned in this thread or maybe another baseball forum, was one when Vlad was still with the Expos.
A ball was lazered to the right field corner, and stopped rolling right at the corner.
The cameras went off Vlad and focused on the runner coming home from second, and all of a sudden a baseball comes out of nowhere, makes it right to the plate at the third base line, and the catcher tagged out the runner.
I was confused until everyone started cheering, and the replays just showed Vlad literally grabbing the ball, and wildly chucking it towards home plate like it was the last play of the season, and the ball was epically accurate and right there. It was breathtaking.
A ball was lazered to the right field corner, and stopped rolling right at the corner.
The cameras went off Vlad and focused on the runner coming home from second, and all of a sudden a baseball comes out of nowhere, makes it right to the plate at the third base line, and the catcher tagged out the runner.
I was confused until everyone started cheering, and the replays just showed Vlad literally grabbing the ball, and wildly chucking it towards home plate like it was the last play of the season, and the ball was epically accurate and right there. It was breathtaking.
If you haven't read it already, go to the fieldingbible.com and, under the excerpts pulldown menu find a article by Bill James entitled "Jeter vs. Everett." Why anyone votes for a gold glove for Derek Jeter is beyond me. Decent hitter, but his defense sucks. All i can imagine is that Yankees fans closed their eyes whenever Vizquel came to town. That, my friends, was brilliant defense. Omar and Ozzie - the standard by which all other shortstops should be judged.
Pretty good article. He does maintain a kind of aura that seems to buffer him from criticism about his defense. I remember thinking that when Alex Rodriguez joined the Yankees, they should have put him at first and moved Jeter to second or first base. I didn't even have any stats to back up that feeling, but it seemed like the smarter move. Of course, I also knew that the Yankees would never do that.
There are many legitimate things about Jeter that impress people though. He's been extremely durable and misses very few games every year. By all accounts he works hard and stays in great shape. He handles the New York media better than just about anyone in recent memory. He never seems to say the wrong thing or embarrass himself in public. He's highly respected by other players and managers. These things go a long way to explain why people give him a free pass on defense, although I don't think they justify giving him Gold Glove awards.
He's been a much better than decent hitter over his career, an OPS+ of about 120. To do that over 16 years, with so many clutch hits in the postseason, on so many championship teams, that makes him a future Hall of Famer.
Oh you meant a decent hitter now? Right, he's a below-average hitter now. For sure. He's not just costing them runs in the field, but also by hitting at the top of the lineup. That's probably what you meant.
What the Yankees should have done is kept Alex Rodriguez at shortstop, move Derek Jeter to either second or third base, then when Cano comes up put Cano where Jeter isn't.
If A-Rod would've stayed at short, I bet he would still be there for a couple more seasons. He wouldn't be good defensively anymore, but he would be slightly better than Jeter.
Honestly I don't see Jeter staying at shortstop much longer. Yeah, it's a shame and takes away part of the coolness factor to having Jeter at short, but honestly the guy is a trainwreck there now. His range is nowhere near acceptable for a shortstop.
I don't know if Cano can play shortstop... he probably lacks the range, but from what I've seen of him his arm is pretty damn accurate and stronger than most second baseman's.
If A-Rod would've stayed at short, I bet he would still be there for a couple more seasons. He wouldn't be good defensively anymore, but he would be slightly better than Jeter.
Honestly I don't see Jeter staying at shortstop much longer. Yeah, it's a shame and takes away part of the coolness factor to having Jeter at short, but honestly the guy is a trainwreck there now. His range is nowhere near acceptable for a shortstop.
I don't know if Cano can play shortstop... he probably lacks the range, but from what I've seen of him his arm is pretty damn accurate and stronger than most second baseman's.